Copyright: ®Copyright 1995 By  CMP Publications Inc.
Citation: ®Copyright 1995 By  CMP Publications Inc.


August 1994

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Win.INI: Quadruple the speed of your modem?

.EXE File: I doubt I'd want CD-ROMs...on a desert isle.

Windows at Work: When was the last time that you committed a felony?

Dialog Box: : E-mail...could turn out to be a letter bomb.

Exit Windows: Aug 1994


Letters

Letters:August 1994


News

News: August 1994


New Products

New Products: August 1994-Part 1

New Products: August 1994-Part 2


First Impressions

First Impressions: dBASE 5.0-dBASE's Debut: Well Worth the Wait

First Impressions: CorelDRAW 5.0-Only the Kitchen Sink is Missing

First Impressions: Approach 3.0-Approach Nears Database Ideal

First Impressions: OS/2 Offers Peaceful Coexistence

First Impressions: August 1994 Pt 1

First Impressions: August 1994 Pt 2

First Impressions: August 1994 Pt 3


Features

OLE 2.0-The Next Step

Macros: Cruise Control for your PC

Award-Winning Newsletter Design

Putting Multimedia to Work


Reviews

Laser Printing is Reborn

Graphics Utilities Lighten Image Overload


How-To

How to Buy Removable Storage

Optimizing Windows: Trim Your DOS Windows

Getting Started: When You Need Help With Help

Power Windows: Orchestrate Your Apps With OLE Automation

Networking Windows: Fail-Safe WaysTo Optimize Mail

eNTerprise Windows: Speed Up Your Sluggish NT

Programming Windows: Protect Your Privacy

R&R; Resources and Recreation: August 1994

Superior Shareware: August 1994


Win.INI: Quadruple the speed of your modem?

By: Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Well, soon you'll be able to do just that. Right about now, the international committees that govern telecommunications standards are voting on the new V.Fast protocols. When they're fully implemented, we'll be able to upload and download at speeds that will feel more like being on a LAN than on an ordinary phone line.

In addition to the new protocols (which control high-speed transmission, error correction and data compression), new, more robust chip sets and other hardware advances are pushing voice-grade phone lines to near their theoretical limits for data communications. It's nothing less than a quiet revolution in modem technology.

I got my first extended taste of this new breed of modems early this year when I upgraded a trusty old 9600-bit-per-second home-office modem. My home office's phone line is noticeably scratchy and noisy even to a human ear, and the high noise levels meant that my modem spent most of its time requesting packet retransmissions, yielding an effective throughput closer to 2400bps. At times I thought smoke signals would have been faster.

What a difference a new modem makes: I now routinely achieve a speed of 38.4 kilobits per second. And on days when the lines are very bad, I usually still can bull through at 9600bps. When there are more V.Fast modems in the world to connect to, I'll be able to connect at speeds up to 115.2Kbps.

A good portion of the speed increase I'm seeing (without the V.Fast protocol) comes from the fact that new modems have the ability to shrug off line noise that would have choked a modem only a few years ago, like my two-year-old 9600bps model. Once you have a modem that can overcome line noise, you then can employ any or all of the various high-speed protocols--soon to include V.Fast--to good effect. The result: reliable connections and throughput rates far above the nominal connect speed.

Newer modems also help overcome a weakness inherent in Windows: It just isn't very good at high-speed communications. You see, with a high-speed modem, an unrelenting torrent of data pours through the serial port. But as Windows multitasks and periodically turns its attention away from the serial port to service other software, it may lose track of the data stream and drop some bits. This can lead to excessive retransmissions or even a totally hosed comm session.

But newer modems often come with a kind of serial port chip (on the modem or on a separate plug-in card) called a 16550 UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter). In contrast to the 8250 UART found in many older and lower end PCs, the 16550 UARTs do a much better job of buffering the communications data stream, so communications can continue unbroken even when Windows is off juggling some noncommunications task. (You can see what kind of UART your system has by running MSD.EXE, which is usually in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory. Look under MSD's COM Ports menu item.)

For even higher speeds, some modems have enhanced serial ports with dedicated coprocessors that can boost speeds between like modems to a theoretical maximum of 230Kbps. Still others bypass the serial port entirely and use the printer (parallel) port, because that port can pump data eight bits at a time, as opposed to the serial's one bit at a time. And all but the least-expensive modern modems also have full send/receive fax capability thrown in at no or little extra cost. (Some early V.Fast-compatible fax modems already cost less than $200.) For any of these reasons, updating your modem makes a lot of sense.

If you're waiting for the other shoe to drop, here it is: All V.Fast modems built prior to ratification of the ``official'' V.Fast standard can be a gamble. The manufacturer has to guess how V.Fast will finally work. If the manufacturer guesses wrong, your modem will achieve its maximum (V.Fast) speeds only when talking to a modem of the same brand and model.

You can reduce the risk by: finding a vendor who guarantees that your modem will be V.Fast compatible no matter what the final standard turns out to be. To fulfill this promise, the vendor must design the modem so you can upgrade it yourself, either by: swapping a chip on the modem or by: running a small program to update the modem's firmware electronically.

But even with this minor glitch, the payoff of very fast, reliable communications is just too good to pass up. If, like me, it's been a while since you upgraded your modem, the dawn of the V.Fast age is a perfect opportunity to step up.


.EXE File: I doubt I'd want CD-ROMs...on a desert isle.

By: Jake Kirchner

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

At least, not when I consider the paucity of compelling multimedia software. Mind you, I'm not trying to jump on multimedia software publishers. Their wares are on a par with the rest of the multimedia industry today. I'm just disappointed at how slowly the multimedia "revolution'' is developing.

Multimedia is finally real, as evidenced by the booming sales of multimedia hardware and software. But it still isn't real world. It hasn't attained the "must have'' status of telephones, televisions and desktop computers. And it certainly hasn't become so central to our lives that it's something we can't live without--like food, water, shelter and NFL football.

One major factor in the slow development of multimedia products is that they have almost no impact on the business world. No one has come up with a really compelling application for multimedia in the corporate sphere. The markets for CD-based manuals and multimedia presentations are too limited to pull multimedia gear into every office the way word processing, spreadsheets and e-mail caused PCs to be plunked down on every desk in corporate America.

What we've got is a technology devoted almost entirely to entertainment and education, more frivolous than fundamental, more gee-whiz than gotta-have. So it's no surprise that multimedia is making its mark primarily in home computing markets. Some of the major business hardware vendors (IBM and Compaq, for example), are making a lot of noise about multimedia. But the fact is, Packard-Bell, Gateway 2000 and other PC makers that are big in the home market are selling a much higher percentage of machines with preinstalled CD-ROM drives than are Compaq, IBM, AST and other vendors who sell predominantly to the workplace.

Of course, you need more than just a CD-ROM drive to enjoy multimedia. You want at least a sound card and stereo speakers as well. But the CD-ROM drive is the sine qua non of desktop multimedia. Distribution data indicates that many more of you have added multimedia capabilities to your home PCs than to the ones in your offices.

Need more proof that multimedia's not yet big in business? Check out the best-selling CD titles. For every CD version of Lotus 1-2-3 or Quicken, you'll see scores of CDs full of games and educational software.

Look around your office and you may find the same thing I did. My PC has a double-speed CD-ROM drive, a Sound Blaster Pro sound card and a pair of powered Bose speakers--top-notch multimedia hardware. Yet the CD-based software next to my computer includes little more than Microsoft's TechNet CD, the Computer Select CD-based database of computer company and product information, and a slew of audio CDs I play to disturb my boss. Many of you plan to buy multimedia hardware in the coming year, but have you figured out what to do with it?

I took a stroll around our offices to make sure I wasn't missing something. The lab guys have tons of CD-based software development tools, CDs of drivers and patches, discs of technical manuals and the like, but nothing that resembles real multimedia. The production crew uses Photo CDs for image storage, and our editors use CD-based dictionaries and other reference works. For our purposes, the CD-ROM drive is just a higher capacity disk drive, not a tool for multimedia.

At home, though, it's an entirely different picture. There I find a cornucopia of multimedia offerings: Twain's World, Quicken CD-ROM Deluxe Version, PC Karaoke, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, Microsoft Word & Bookshelf, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, Bodyworks 3.0, Space: a Visual History of Manned Spaceflight, Tuneland with Howie Mandel, The Sporting News Multimedia Pro Football Guide and much more.

Sure, some of these titles are thin fare. But clearly there's some good stuff here--well worth what I paid to add a good double-speed CD-ROM drive and Windows Sound System to my home setup, as well as the time I spent patching the whole shot into my stereo system. Still, how many of these CDs would I want to have with me on that desert island?

Those of you who are audiophiles probably recognize the reference to desert-island discs. Many music magazines engage their readers in discussions about which 10 albums they'd choose to have if they were marooned. It's an entertaining enough way to while away a few hours. Not only do you have to consider which 10 you can't live without, you have to make sure they're ones you can live with. Remember, they may be all you get to listen to for the next 20 or 30 years.

When I contemplate my own alphabetized record collection, I usually start off grabbing Live at the Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers Band and end up choosing the 1969 Frank Zappa classic Hot Rats. In between I struggle with such devilish choices as: Erroll Garner or Oscar Peterson? How could I give up either for the rest of my life? But if I don't toss out one, I won't be able to take any of Jimmy Buffet's island music. On the other hand, if I'm marooned on a desert island, will I really want to listen to island music? On the third hand, if I really do want island music, shouldn't I dig through my reggae section rather than settle for an ersatz version from Jimmy and the Coral Reefers? You see how you can get caught up in this thing, and we haven't even started on the classical, blues and country selections.

Somehow I can't bring as much interest to the task of paring down my multimedia titles.

That isn't to say I wouldn't want to have computing power out there on the atoll. I'd definitely want my notebook computer to record my thoughts. Good thing laptop batteries have such long lives now. And boy, wouldn't that cellular modem come in handy! Speaking of peripherals, a CD-ROM drive and set of headphones would let me play both multimedia and audio discs. So if I'm stuck out there with multimedia capabilities, the question is whether I would miss my multimedia titles if I left them at home.

Well, I don't think I'll need the CD versions of 1-2-3 and Quicken. Tracking and managing my finances won't be a problem, because, after all, I won't have any. The complete works of Mark Twain on the Twain's World CD would be nice to have. And as a writer, I think it would be swell to have Word & Bookshelf, which provides on one CD all the writing and reference tools I'll need to record my adventure.

Let's see - if the kids are marooned with me, it would be good to have a couple of games to keep them away from the jungle and the shark-filled lagoon. Come to think of it, someone must publish an interactive CD version of nutrition, health and first-aid manuals to help me treat monkey bites and sunburn.

Well, I'm not up to a full 10 yet, but I'm getting there. Maybe there's something to this multimedia stuff after all. Of course, with my bad luck, I'd probably have to choose a total of 10 CDs--audio and multimedia--instead of 10 of each. For every reference work I packed, I'd have to leave out a music CD. For every Mavis Beacon accompanying me to my island, I'd have to leave a Merle Haggard behind.

And that's how I know multimedia isn't yet real. After all, if I have to spend 20 years on a desert island, I'd rather spend them with Emmylou Harris than with PC Karaoke Elvis. Wouldn't you?


Windows at Work: When was the last time that you committed a felony?

By: Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

It could have been just this morning. Chances are, as an active Windows user, you show up at the office, turn on your computer and load seven or more applications during the day. Can you be sure you're complying with all seven licensing agreements? If you're like most of us, you've never taken the time to read the fine print on the paperwork that comes with those apps. Indeed, unless you install all your own software, it's likely you've never even seen the paperwork.

Or, just maybe, you saw someone else in the office using a neat application, so you made a copy to use on your PC. Of course you had every intention of buying your own copy--eventually. Guess what?

You just broke the law. Funny, but people who wouldn't steal a stick of gum often think nothing of copying software. Get caught with the gum and your hand is slapped; get caught with the software and you're up for a felony.

Avoiding felony charges is a big incentive to honoring licensing agreements, but it's not the only one. Most of us don't want to promote the activities of crooks who copy software in large numbers. And we all want to avoid the virus-laden disks that are more likely to show up on illegal copies than on copies that come directly from the software publisher. Moreover, look at the big picture: If software publishing becomes unprofitable, then fewer people will do it. It certainly wouldn't benefit us to drive talented software developers out of business.

Industry associations such as the Software Publishers Association (SPA) and Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimate that publishers lose $7 to $12 billion dollars a year because of pirated software. Some even go so far as to say that one out of every two software packages in use is pirated. Those numbers include a lot more than the illegal copies made by John or Jane Q. Public. Much of the loss comes from dishonest distributors, professional counterfeiters, and hardware manufacturers or dealers who spray on software as new PCs go out the door.

Software piracy turns out to be a global crisis for software publishers. France, Japan and the United States hold the largest dollar loss. Some countries actually steal more software then they sell: According to the SPA, 95 percent of the software used in India and Pakistan is acquired illegally. Users in Brazil, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico and Taiwan share the dubious honor of filching more than 80 percent of their software.

To counter some of the abuse, software publishers are working with industry organizations such as the SPA and BSA, or even taking matters into their own hands. For example, Microsoft has set up a piracy hotline, 800-RU-LEGIT, and encourages customers to report suspicious activity. But what about the regular office worker? How easy is it to stay in sync with licensing rules and restrictions? Not very. The many different kinds of licenses, along with complicated networking and Windows issues, have left most people completely confused.

Here's a brief history: Back in the good old DOS, single-user, standalone PC days (okay, so they really weren't that good), maintaining software legally was pretty easy. You simply took an application out of the box and installed it on your PC. Most licenses in those days let you use the software on only one computer. Then Borland broke ground in the mid-1980s with licenses that made it okay to share software, as long as only one person used the application at a time. With these so-called user licenses, it was legal to take office software home and put it on your own PC, because you couldn't be in the office and at home at the same time.

Networks complicated matters. When networks became popular, administrators realized it was infinitely easier to install software on the server than on each individual PC. This practice saved oodles of administration time, but it also set up an environment conducive to sharing software illegally. Some software publishers responded by issuing server-based licenses, which allowed everybody on the server to use the software. These licenses worked fine when most LANs consisted of one server for every 8 to 12 people. But they became too good a deal when companies started installing one server for 50 to 250 people. Software publishers revised many of these licenses, and today you'll generally find them only for utilities.

At some point, another variation emerged: the concurrent license. This type of license lets you share software among users up to the number of licenses (or license packs) you buy. Let's say you buy three copies of a software package. Rather than making the software available to three specific users, a concurrent license allows any three people on the network to use the software at one time. It's a great idea, but hard to administer without special metering software.

The plot thickens. Now that Windows has become the prevalent office environment, the "in use'' condition of the concurrent license has become a point of contention. Most software publishers argue that if a user loads an application, then the application's in use--even if it sits minimized on the desktop all day. Users disagree, saying that software is in use only when it's up and running.

Finally, somewhere along the way, software publishers invented yet another type of license: the site license. Most site licenses are based on the number of users in the company, and they are much less expensive than single copies. The terms are simple: Pay the software publisher one big fee and feel free to copy the software for everyone in the company. The problem is that these licenses aren't always practical. It makes no sense for a company to buy a site license for a certain application if only 20 percent of the employees will ever use it. And most IS (information services) departments don't--and shouldn't--have the clout or the budget authority to demand that the entire company standardize on certain packages.

With all the different types of licenses and conditions, what's a want-to-be-honest user to do? Borrowing a few tips from the SPA, I've put together a list of ways that companies can help keep their users on the straight and narrow.

•	Appoint a software supervisor who has the power to implement procedures for the acquisition, handling, storage and registration of software.

•	Establish a written policy and software code of ethics, and go over it carefully with all new staff. Let employees know that they are subject to termination for software misuse, just like any other criminal conduct.

•	Maintain a corporate software log/library that contains pertinent information, such as the number of copies, purchase dates, serial numbers, documentation and installation locations. Try to hook these records into your company's fixed assets system so you can be sure you're properly writing them off your corporate taxes.

•	Conduct periodic audits of installed software and remove unauthorized or unexplainable software. Apply network software tools to monitor the installation location and usage of software. (This practice has the added advantage of helping you determine how many copies you actually need. For instance, if 25 users need access to a spreadsheet package but only 10 employees ever access it at one time, it's not necessary to buy a 25-user copy.)

•	Adopt system configurations that inhibit unauthorized copying, such as diskless workstations, if you suspect a serious problem with piracy. This might be a drastic measure for some companies, but it carries the added benefits of reducing your exposure to virus infections and tightening up security.

I know, I know --software licenses are a real pain to read, understand and administer. We've all got better things to do with our time. But unless you want to end up doing time, keeping your software affairs in order should be a top priority.

Cheryl Currid is president of Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. Reach Cheryl on AOL in the Letters to the Editor folder in the Message Exchange.


Dialog Box: : E-mail...could turn out to be a letter bomb.

By: Eileen McCooey

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Something about e-mail prompts even the most sedate users to ignore the constraints of normal business communications. The timid turn truculent, shrinking violets issue impassioned declarations, and sticklers for propriety show an alarming lack of discretion. What accounts for such unorthodox--and often unwise--behavior? Ironically, the very characteristics that make e-mail an invaluable business tool also make it potentially dangerous.

E-mail is an ideal way to stay in constant and immediate communication with your colleagues. You don't have to worry about busy signals, closed doors, conflicting schedules, time zones or long

distances. You can communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, in a matter of seconds. Dash off a message, click on a button or two, and you've zapped your thoughts across the hall or around the world. You can brainstorm with legions of far-flung colleagues with nary a meeting. It's quick, easy and incredibly convenient--and therein lies the trap.

How much care did you put into that message you just dispatched? Did you compose it painstakingly, then review it for good measure? Did you consider how it could be interpreted on the other end? In fact, did you even reread it before sending it on its merry way?

If you're like most of us, you didn't. You typed something as fast as you could, with little thought for niceties like spelling and grammar, then hit that Send button. Whether you knew the recipient well or not, you probably spoke familiarly, with the instant intimacy that only e-mail seems to foster. And you most likely gave free rein to your emotions. If you were in a snit at that precise moment, heaven help the hapless recipient!

Would you be so rash--never mind reckless--in a face-to-face or phone conversation? Probably not. Most of us choose our words with care, observe the conventions of polite society, and try to avoid unpleasant confrontations (not to mention the occasional punch in the nose). Yet we barely hesitate before engaging in a round of electronic fisticuffs.

Would you commit yourself to paper so cavalierly? Certainly not. Most people communicate quite formally in print. We dutifully include salutations and complimentary closings, run the spell checker, and take care not to say anything tactless. Yet that decorum goes right out the window when we're committing our thoughts to the LAN rather than to letterhead.

In most cases, the off-the-cuff style that characterizes e-mail is harmless. In fact, it's become part of the culture--emoticons, colorful user names and all. The easy, breezy style is fun and often refreshing to those of us who don't care to stand on formality. But don't be lulled into a false sense of security by that delightfully unbuttoned feel. Go too far and grow too careless, and e-mail indiscretions can come back to haunt you.

It's all too easy to respond intemperately to a suggestion or criticism, only to regret it afterward. And you're only a button-click away from a myriad of mortifying mishaps--like broadcasting a highly personal message to the entire office, or annotating a message with a rude remark, intending to forward it to a third person but instead returning it to the sender.

Discomfiting as such faux pas can be, they're minor league compared to other, more serious, consequences. Send flame-mail to a coworker in the heat of anger, and you could destroy a good working relationship or jeopardize your position. Use offensive or derogatory expressions, and you could be called to account by your company or a court of law. Charges of sexual harassment, discrimination and wrongful termination have all been upheld on the basis of e-mail records.

These examples illustrate what most of us conveniently forget: We should use e-mail as thoughtfully and carefully as we would any other form of business communication. In fact, we should exercise even more prudence. Many companies routinely back up messages routed over the internal e-mail system, preserving seemingly private missives for posterity and possible perusal. And Internet messages travel through who-knows-what systems before reaching their final destinations. Play it safe: Assume someone else will be seeing your messages and act accordingly.

With these caveats in mind, make the most of this marvelous tool. Just don't shoot from the hip, or you could wind up shooting yourself in the foot.

Eileen McCooey is WINDOWS Magazine's senior editor. Have an opinion--or a gripe--about Windows computing that you'd like to share? Send it to Susan Rich on AOL at SusieRich


Exit Windows: Aug 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Find Out

"What's Up, Doc?'

How would you like animated Looney Tunes characters to pop up on your screen and remind you of appointments? Bugs Bunny and his pals, Daffy, Elmer, the Road Runner and others appear on-screen and deliver messages you've entered at the times and dates you set. Includes real cartoon sound tracks.

Remind Me for Windows, $49.95; Velocity, 800-VLO-CITY, 415-274-8840,

Easter Egg o' the Month

In Norton Utilities 8.0, you can see a very graphical gang screen photo by opening any Windows app, selecting Help/About, then N+U+8. Nice screen, Symantec!

Click-on Cost-Cutters

Ca$h In Coupon Management System helps you organize your coupons, and sort them by expiration date, category, value and so on. Just type in the coupon information with the help of C Otter, Ca$h In's friendly tech-support creature. The program uses this information to help you compile shopping lists that you print out and take to the grocery. Ca$h In assigns each coupon a number which you match to the pocketed Coupon Holder so you'll know where to find the coupons you need once you're in the check-out line. After shopping, just click on Ca$h In's register icon to report which coupons you've used.

Ca$h In Coupon Management System $69.95; C Otter Software Inc., 800-444-3119, 714-489-3130,

Cyber-Champagne and -Caviar?

Looking to schmooze with your favorite actors, writers or political celebrities over the Internet? Now you can with E-Mail Addresses of the Rich & Famous, a new book from Seth Godin Productions. The book contains more than 1,000 e-mail addresses from popular on-line services such as CompuServe and America Online and includes such celebrities as Ross Perot, Ed Asner, MTV's Adam Curry and Tom Brokaw. What's next... .BMP autographs?

E-Mail Addresses of the Rich & Famous by Seth Godin. Published by Addison Wesley, $7.95. 800-358-4566, 617-944-3700 x2614.

Field Guide to Windows Icons

Now you can identify those rare breeds of icons at a glance with the new A Field Guide to Windows Icons. This pocket-sized, tongue-in-cheek guide is informative for novices and entertaining to all.

A Field Guide to Windows Icons, $9.95; Microsoft Press, 800-677-7377, 615-793-5090.

Screen Saver o' the Month

A new fully configurable shareware screen saver called Smear gradually wipes the pixels on your desktop, making a real mess. It's designed to simulate wet paint being smeared all over your screen.

CI Software, Shareware registration: $5. SMEAR.ZIP is available in the WinMag area on America Online (keyword: WinMag) and in the WinUser forum on CompuServe (GO WINUSER).

If you've seen any offbeat Windows-related tidbit, please send it to us! We'll send you a cool WinMag coffee mug and T-shirt for each item we publish. Send items to Mike Elgan at the e-mail or postal addresses on page 16.


Macros: Cruise Control for your PC

Macros

Ready Made Macros


Macros

By: Jim Boyce

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

MACROS

You've just spent the weekend relaxing, giving barely a thought to work. Yet when you walk into the office at 9 a.m. Monday, your weekly reports have already been updated with the latest sales figures, neatly formatted and e-mailed to your colleagues. Your boss compliments you on your hard work, while you silently thank your system macro for giving you a running start on the day. You don't have to wait for technology to catch up with your imagination. This scenario can be re-created right now, using one of many currently available utilities. A macro connects your computer to the office network, implements an SQL query and downloads a selection of data. Next, it exports the figures to a spreadsheet, generates a set of projections, and creates a report with charts and background information. From there, the macro instructs your PC to e-mail or fax the report to your colleagues.

Macros are not a new concept, but today's macro utilities are almost like application development tools with their ability to integrate applications and automate complex tasks. In addition, advances made in OLE (object linking and embedding) and DDE (dynamic data exchange) technology bring new levels of power even to traditional keystroke recorders.

Here's a look at some of the tools available for writing system macros, along with some ideas for macros you can create on your own. W've included a listing of preprogrammed macros available on-line (see Ready-Made Macros)

We've Come a Long Way

Even if you don't need a system macro as complex as the one outlined above, macros can enhance your workday by handling simple tasks that you would otherwise have to perform manually. Macros not only free you to do other work (or enjoy your weekends), but in many cases they execute routine tasks more quickly and consistently than you would.

Macros generally fall into two categories: application macros and system macros. Application macros typically support a single application and usually are developed with that application's own macro development tools. A macro that you write for Word using WordBasic is an application macro because it has no function outside Word (although it could communicate with other applications). System macros, as the name indicates, work throughout your system, performing tasks like launching applications, automating file management functions and integrating applications. In this article, we'll focus on the more general-purpose system macros.

Record Your Own

The simplest type of macros are those created by Windows' own Recorder applet. Although keyboard recorders that record and play back keystrokes have been around since the pre-DOS days of computing, Recorder introduced many Windows users to the idea of implementing system macros. Recorder does just what its name implies--it records keystrokes and mouse actions. When you play back the macro, the recorded actions cause the computer to press its own keys and click its own buttons. Although its functions are limited, Windows' Recorder allows you to automate many common tasks.

Development environments such as Microsoft's Visual Basic, Applications Edition (most commonly called Visual Basic for Applications or VBA) and Lotus Script are at the higher end of the spectrum. With these tools, you can automate tasks within an application or integrate multiple applications, moving data among them with OLE and DDE. These higher-end utilities are a short step away from full-blown development environments, offering outstanding capability. They generally require some programming background to use effectively.

A wide range of products falls somewhere between keystroke recorders and development environments. Products such as Central Point's ScriptTools (which is a component of PC Tools), Symantec's ScriptMaker (included in Norton Desktop) and Wilson WindowWare's WinBatch provide hybrid batch/scripting languages. They also have the ability to create and display dialog boxes and to make your macros look and act like Windows applications. In addition to providing scripting languages, PC Tools and Norton Desktop include system-level utilities for backup, scheduling and system management that you can either use directly or incorporate into your macros.

Choosing a Macro Utility

Utilities use one or more of three primary development mechanisms: recording, objects and scripts. Most Windows utilities let you record events like keystrokes, mouse clicks and menu selections. Recording is the easiest way to create a macro. You simply turn on the recorder, perform the actions you want the macro to handle, then turn off the recorder.

Unfortunately, this simplicity often limits macros in terms of power and flexibility. For instance, you generally can't add any conditional branching to these types of macros. In addition, their ability to handle runtime errors is virtually nonexistent. Most also lack any knowledge of other applications, so integration usually consists of recording keystrokes for each application rather than communicating directly with the applications via DDE.

If you buy a macro utility that uses recording as its primary mechanism, make sure the utility allows you to edit macros after you've recorded them. You should at least be able to delete, modify, insert and move events in the macro.

You should also look for a utility that is capable of intelligent recording. Rather than simply recording keystrokes and mouse actions, many macro utilities record the results of an action, rather than the action itself. For example, instead of recording the keystrokes used to select a menu item based on its location in the menu, an intelligent recorder remembers the name of the menu item. This means that the macro will select the correct item at runtime even if there are more or fewer items in the menu, something that's a distinct possibility as more users customize menus and toolbars.

Some utilities construct macros with predefined objects. These objects include message boxes, dialog boxes that pause the macro for a specified amount of time, and "vaults'' that you can use as multiple Clipboards. For example, hDC Power Launcher combines objects with a selection of predefined commands and standard Windows actions.

If you have some programming knowledge, scripting utilities like ScriptTools, ScriptMaker or WinBatch will let you create more complex and powerful macros. These scripting languages include support for dialog box development, control structures for conditional execution, error handling, hooks into the Windows environment and Windows API (application programming interface), and support for DDE and OLE. If you want to create complex cross-application macros, scripting utilities--or development tools such as Visual Basic, VBA or Lotus Script--are a must. Most of the scripting utilities for Windows use a language similar to BASIC.

There are a couple of important issues to consider when you're deciding which scripting utility is right for you. One is the utility's debugging and testing capabilities, which will help you create an error-free macro. Unfortunately, debugging features are generally lacking in these products. Debugging and testing are virtually nonexistent in ScriptTools and ScriptMaker. WinBatch, on the other hand, lets you process the macro one step at a time, and allows you to view variable values as you test the program.

You also need to decide whether you want to distribute your macro scripts to other users. Not all utilities will let you share macros over a LAN environment. For example, PC Tools' ScriptTools compiles its scripts, but doesn't create standalone executable files. As a result, you can distribute a ScriptTools script, but users who don't have PC Tools won't be able to run it.

Norton Desktop's ScriptMaker, on the other hand, generates standalone .EXE files that can be distributed to and used by those without Norton Desktop. While WinBatch does not directly provide the ability to distribute scripts as standalone applications, Wilson WindowWare offers a $395 compiler for creating standalone .EXE files.

Automate Away!

Once you've chosen your macro utility, you'll probably want to jump right into macro development. Here are some examples of macros to spark your imagination.

Launch applications. You don't have to hunt through a minefield of icons in Program Manager to launch a set of applications. Instead, use a system macro to start up one or many applications with a single action. A program-launching macro is a great help when you are working with a set of related applications.

Back up your system. Do you think system backup is a hassle? You can automate the whole process with a macro and let the system back itself up while you're gone. If you're working on a network, you can schedule a backup of your working files to a network server on a daily basis at a preset time, then you can schedule a complete backup of your system to occur each weekend.

Automating backup requires a backup utility and a scheduler. PC Tools and Norton Desktop include both. If the program you're using doesn't include a scheduler, use a macro utility to drive the backup process.

Automate system configuration changes. If you switch system configurations fairly often, a macro is a great way to move back and forth quickly and easily. For example, you may have to switch between Super VGA and monochrome VGA to perform screen captures. Although some video adapters provide on-the-fly resolution changes, most require that you change the system's configuration with Setup and restart Windows. There are two approaches to changing system configuration settings with a macro. The first is to construct the macro to run Setup and implement the change. A simple recorded macro could handle this task. The second approach is to maintain multiple copies of SYSTEM.INI, one for each hardware configuration, and have the macro copy the correct file into the WINDOWS directory and restart Windows. A recorded macro or a script would work here.

Be the First One on Your Block

The shift from application-based computing to document-based computing has had a major impact on applications and will soon have a major impact on operating systems. If you want to stay ahead of the crowd, learning to integrate your applications will become more and more important. Whether you choose a simple macro recorder or a scripting utility, take a good look at how you can develop custom solutions to your day-to-day computing needs. If nothing else, automating routine and repetitive tasks will improve your productivity and make computing a more pleasant experience all around.


Ready Made Macros

Searching your favorite on-line service will turn up a treasure trove of macros for every conceivable purpose (and then some). Here's a selection of macros that are available in the CPSWINMAC (PC Tools), SYMUTIL (Norton Desktop) and WINAPA (WinBatch) forums on CompuServe. You can also pick up PC Tools macros on America Online in a compressed file called SCRIPTS.EXE in PC Tools' software library. Wilson WindowWare has macro files available in its forum, called windowware. Of course, you'll need PC Tools, Norton Desktop or WinBatch in order to run these macros.

CPSWINMAC Forum, Library 6:

SHLSWT.ZIP: Automatically switches between twoWindows shells.

OBJECT.ZIP and OBJECT.SCT: Adds object-oriented features to the PC Tools desktop to automate document creation.

PAPER.ZIP: Changes wallpaper at user-specified intervals.

NOTEPD.TXT: Enables printing with user-defined margins via Notepad.

TIME15.TXT: Timer script senses when 15 minutes of inactivity has elapsed and executes a program of your choice.

AOT.TXT: Lets you add "Always On Top'' capability to applications that don't normally provide that feature.

SYMUTIL Forum, Library 3:

FAXSLE.ZIP: Allows communications applications to turn off WinFax and access comm ports.

FREE2.ZIP: Places a label on the desktop indicating free resources and available memory.

1234OF.ZIP: Lets you automatically run applications on specific dates, like the first Tuesday, third Wednesday and fourth Friday of the month.

ONETIME.EXE: Executes a user-specified application the first time Windows runs during the day, but not on subsequent start-ups during the same day.

SHLLSW.ZIP: Switches between Program Manager and Norton Desktop as the shell.

WINAPA Forum, Library 15:

NAVCIS.WBT: Enables the unattended, scheduled execution of NavCIS for retrieving and sending CompuServe mail.

WB-40L.ZIP and WB-40K.ZIP: WinBatch 4.0 shareware.

SAYTIM.ZIP: Batch file creates a clock that speaks the time using .WAV files, and also chimes like a grandfather clock.

ARJNDW.ZIP: Provides a front end for ARJ compression utilities and supports other file compression methods.

SHELL.ZIP: WinBatch-based shell for Windows that includes user-definable menu system, text search and view using GREP, phone dialer and context-sensitive help for WinBatch.

Sidebar- PUT MACRO POWER in YOUR MOUSE

Recording macros and writing scripts may not be your style, but you can take a different tack to automation by programming your mouse. With a simple mouse utility, you can perform standard Windows actions like minimize and maximize, run user-defined macros and open user-defined pop-up menus, all by clicking your mouse buttons.

Numbers & Co.'s Whiskers is a good example of a mouse-customizing utility. You can assign the Enter key to the right mouse button, for example, or you can make one middle-button click act like the equivalent of a left double-click. Whiskers lets you assign up to a total of 56 different functions to individual mouse buttons, to combinations of mouse buttons and keys (such as Shift+Alt+left click), and to button chords (two mouse buttons pressed in unison).

Whiskers is available on-line as shareware, and is also available in a more fully featured retail version directly from Numbers & Co. (509-476-2216, fax 509-476-3172). The retail version, which sells for $38, includes its own mouse driver that adds button chording and the ability to simulate a three-button mouse with a two-button mouse.

There are other options for customizing your mouse. Logitech includes a utility with its MouseWare that enables you to assign any one of 31 predefined actions and keystrokes to the middle and right mouse buttons. MouseWare doesn't support button chording, and you can't assign functions to the left mouse button. But if you have a Logitech pointing device, you can start taking advantage of mouse macros without investing in any additional software. Other mouse manufacturers, including Kensington, also provide macro programming capability for their mice. If you're an hDC Power Launcher user, try the Power Mouse utility that comes with the program.

Mouse programming might seem like a minor change in the way you work, but you should give it a try. You'll soon wonder how you got along without it.

Jim Boyce, a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine, is the author of Understanding Visual Basic, Keeping Your PC Alive and numerous other books. Contact Jim care of the Letters to the Editor folder in the Message Exchange on AOL.


OLE 2.0-The Next Step

OLE 2.0

Try the OLE Way


OLE 2.0

By: Karen Kenworthy

Everyone says computers are such great labor-saving devices. Then why do I feel like I'm working harder than my PC? Whenever I want to do something interesting, I have to micro-manage my system, issuing detailed instructions every step of the way. It takes a lot more keystrokes and mouse clicks than it ought to. My mouse has too many miles on it -- and so do I. I want my computer to work smarter so I don't have to.

Macros can help, but only up to a point. Windows' Recorder applet, for instance, can record each keystroke, mouse click and mouse motion you make in performing a task, but the communication is all one way. Recorders send information to an application, but they can't retrieve information from it. They can't even detect varying conditions--such as what other applications are running--let alone respond to them.

As a result, automation based on tools like Recorder is fragile. Sometimes it works, but at other times it fails, often spectacularly. There's got to be a better way. And there is, thanks to OLE (object linking and embedding).

OLE 1.0, which Microsoft Corp. released three years ago, was a step toward reliable automation. OLE 2.0, which arrived last year, is a giant leap ahead. Although OLE 2.0 isn't the only way to automate applications, it's a very important one. Not only is OLE 2.0 becoming a part of many major applications, but it is also one of the core technologies used by Windows 4.0 (also known as Chicago). Clearly, it's worth taking some time to understand what OLE is and what it can do for you.

OLE 1.0: The First Small Step

OLE 1.0 now seems like a pretty small first step, but it did usher us into the world of objects and compound documents. An object is like a suitcase containing data and the name of a program that "understands'' the data. For example, an object might contain a .BMP file and the name of Windows' Paintbrush applet (PBRUSH.EXE). Thanks to the suitcase, you can drag both the program and data into a compound document with one handle.

A compound document is a data file created by a word processor, spreadsheet or other OLE-compliant application. What makes the file special is that it contains one or more objects in addition to its normal data. For example, a word processing document might contain not only text, but also the aforementioned Paintbrush object. Compound documents, and the applications that created them, are called containers.

You can create an OLE 1.0 object by dragging a file from File Manager, or by opening a file and then copying and pasting portions of it into another application via Windows' Clipboard. An object can exist only inside a container, and only a container application can see an object's data and give instructions to its program. As far as other applications are concerned, the object doesn't exist.

What's more, the container's control of the object is very limited. The container can order the object's program only to open or print, even if the program is a powerful app like Excel, WordPerfect or Quattro Pro.

OLE 2.0: A Giant Leap

OLE 2.0 sets objects free. No longer confined to compound documents, objects are appearing inside OLE 2.0-compliant applications. When Windows 4.0 arrives, they'll be part of Windows itself. That will enable you to access and manipulate an object from many programs, not just the one in which the object resides.

Creating objects is easier than ever. As in OLE 1.0, you can drag a file from File Manager or copy and paste it via Clipboard. In OLE 2.0, you can also drag and drop between applications. Just select data in one application (for example, select a group of cells in a spreadsheet), and then use your mouse to drag that data onto your container file, which might be a word processing document.

Activating an OLE 2.0 object--causing the object's program to open its data--has also been improved. Double-clicking on the object still causes the object's program to run. But now, instead of creating its own windows for editing the data, its program can take over the window of the container, replacing the container's menus and toolbars with its own. Microsoft calls this editing in-place, since the object's data can now be edited inside the container's window. The series of screenshots above shows this feature in action.

Even better, OLE 2.0 places no limits on what objects can do when asked. OLE 2.0 objects can do whatever their programmers allow. Existing OLE 2.0 objects can create charts, send e-mail, check spelling and more. The capability of future objects is limited only by a programmer's imagination.

OLE 2.0 provides this level of control by means of a new form of communication called OLE Automation. OLE Automation allows any program (not just container applications) to take control of an object. The program talks; the object listens and obeys.

To see how this works, let's join the Army. In the OLE Automation platoon, an object is a private who's been trained in a specialty, such as word processing or spreadsheets. A few have mastered specific functions such as checking spelling and creating charts.

The program that controls the objects is a sergeant, who issues orders to be carried out by the privates. Notice the division of labor? Sergeants know what needs to be done, and privates know how to do it. OLE Automation works in much the same way. Programs that control objects need to know only which task they want carried out. They don't need to know how to accomplish that task. Objects handle that.

This division of labor may soon lead to a new way to design and use applications. For example, a word processor that makes extensive use of OLE Automation wouldn't perform tasks such as mail merge. Instead, it would delegate assignments to objects specializing in these functions.

These objects could be built into the word processing program itself. However, placing each object into a separate program created specifically to hold it would allow each user to create a customized word processor. Microsoft, and many industry experts, believe there soon will be a bustling market in "component ware,'' providing a wide variety of interchangeable component objects. If you don't like the spell checker that comes with your word processor, replace it with one created by another company. Component ware is already starting to appear. Visio Express by Shapeware is one of the first such applications on the market.

VBA: A New Kind of Macro Language

If objects are privates, and the applications that control objects are sergeants, who's the general in this outfit? You are, of course. You're the one who gives ol' Sarge his orders, clicking on the application's buttons and making choices from the menus. A few mouse clicks later, your orders are passed down the chain of command.

Sometimes you may find written orders more appropriate, especially for complex tasks you perform repeatedly. That's why many programs provide macro languages, which are essentially simplified programming languages. Word, for instance, has a macro language called WordBasic.

The intimate relationship with the host application allows the macro language to peer inside the host, see the data it contains, and make decisions based on what it finds. For example, most spreadsheet macro languages contain statements that report the values or formulas stored in cells. A program written in such a macro language can vary its behavior depending on what a particular cell contains.

Unfortunately, application-specific macro languages are usually helpless when asked to control other applications. Third-party macro languages can work with more than one application, but they are limited by one-way communication. They are unable to detect the data managed by the application being controlled or to adapt to it. A truly useful macro language would allow control of multiple applications and be able to see inside the application, modifying its behavior based on the actual data maintained by the applications being controlled.

Microsoft has designed a common macro language named Visual Basic, Applications Edition (generally referred to as Visual Basic for Applications or VBA) that can perform this magic. VBA is the first macro language that fully exploits and supports OLE 2.0. Thanks to OLE 2.0, VBA overcomes the limitations of previous macro languages. It can control several applications at once, allowing you to create suites of applications working in concert. And it can examine the data maintained by those applications, making decisions based on the data, even transferring data from one app to another.

Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Project 4.0 already include VBA. What's more, Microsoft has promised that future versions of its Office suite of programs (Excel, Word, Access and PowerPoint) will include VBA too. Microsoft has said VBA is its universal macro language, destined to appear in all of its major applications.

And VBA won't be alone. Other companies are working on OLE-compatible macro languages and development tools. Lotus Corp.'s LotusScript macro language will be available across the Lotus product line. WordPerfect, thanks to its acquisition by Novell, will support Novell Visual AppBuilder.

A Bright Future

One way or another, objects, OLE 2.0 and OLE Automation are in your future. Excel 5.0, Word 6.0 and Project 4.0 already support OLE 2.0. Popular applications from other vendors, such as CorelDRAW! 5.0, support OLE 2.0, and more are coming. Lotus and WordPerfect say future versions of their products will support OLE 2.0.

What's more, Microsoft has said OLE will become an increasingly important part of Windows itself. Eventually, Windows will become a collection of component objects, each controlled via OLE Automation. This transformation is expected to begin in earnest with Windows 4.0, which may be on the market by the end of the year. The evolution will be completed when Microsoft releases the next major version of Windows NT (code-named Cairo) sometime in 1995.

by the time you read this, OLE 2.0 should have appeared on Apple Macintosh computers too. Microsoft has announced that this summer it will release extensions to the Macintosh operating system that provide OLE services to OLE 2.0-compliant applications. And Microsoft intends to be the first company to take advantage of this new capability when it releases its new Macintosh applications this year.

Changes are also in store for OLE itself. The current implementation of OLE requires all objects, and the programs that control them, to reside on the same computer. But a future implementation of OLE will allow OLE Automation communication to take place between computers and across networks. Microsoft calls this distributed OLE.

What will this mean to you? Let's say you have a spreadsheet on your PC with cells linked to a database program on a remote computer. As the data on the other computer changes, your spreadsheet will be automatically updated.

The remote computers needn't be running Windows, either. Microsoft's OLE Automation communications technique (Remote Procedure Calls) is compatible with a standard known as DCE (Distributed Computing Environment). DCE is, or will be, supported on systems running OpenVMS, MVS, IBM's AS/400 and more than 20 varieties of UNIX.

Large applications with several component objects will be able to spread themselves throughout a network. Each object will be allowed to reside on a different machine, providing performance a single computer couldn't match. This will enable a network to function as a large multiprocessor computer system. Microsoft says these capabilities will be added to OLE by updating Windows' OLE support DLLs (dynamic link libraries). Changes to OLE 2.0-compliant apps won't be needed.

Storm Clouds

Although the future of object technology is bright, it isn't clear. Other object standards-- notably OpenDoc, developed by IBM and Apple--are on the horizon. These competing technologies will affect the evolution of OLE, just as OLE will affect them. Incompatible object standards will be a fact of life.

What's more, OLE 2.0 isn't the ideal solution. Many applications were already large and complex before OLE 2.0 arrived, and the addition of OLE support only makes them more so. Inevitably, the coming crop of OLE 2.0-compliant applications will be bigger, and more fragile, than the applications we use now.

All the new object technologies, OLE 2.0 included, will increase the need for more RAM and faster CPUs. Once several large programs begin communicating with--and controlling--each other, typical PCs become overloaded.

To thrive, resource-hungry objects require 32-bit environments like Windows NT and the forthcoming Windows 4.0. These operating systems leave behind the 192KB resource limit that hobbles Windows 3.1. Several large apps running at once can easily demand more resource storage than Windows 3.1 offers, but scarcely make a dent in the vast resource storage capabilities of these newer operating systems.

But every cloud has a silver lining. Over the long run, OLE 2.0 may actually reverse (or at least slow) the trend toward ever-larger applications. If the component-ware concept gains hold, applications may eventually become simpler as more of their functions are assigned to external components.

And competing standards may not pose many problems. OLE 2.0 has a head start, thanks to support from major software vendors, and it will be the basis of future versions of Windows. OLE is almost certainly here to stay, and that will pressure rivals to provide a fairly high level of compatibility.

The bottom line is this: If you're not already "object oriented,'' you soon will be!


Try the OLE Way

Maybe you haven't experimented much with OLE yet. If that's the case, give it a try. Here's how you'd create an object in OLE 1.0, which is still the more common version.

Creating an OLE 1.0 object and placing it in a container is pretty easy, but not especially convenient. To create an object containing an entire data file, run the container program and open the file that will contain the object. Next, run File Manager and cause it to display the directory containing the file. Finally, use your mouse to drag the file's name from File Manager onto the container.

If you hold down Shift + Ctrl while dragging, your new object will be a linked object that contains the name of a data file, but not the data itself. Dragging without Shift + Ctrl creates an embedded object, which contains a full copy of the original data file.

OLE 1.0 allows you to create an object containing only a portion of a data file, such as a few cells from a spreadsheet. To do so, you must run the data file's application (for example, the spreadsheet program) instead of File Manager. Once the application is running, open the data file, select the desired data, and copy it to Windows' Clipboard.

Now switch to the container application and open the file, which will contain the object. To paste the Clipboard data into the container file, don't use the normal Paste choice that appears under the Edit menu. Look for choices like Paste Special, Paste Object or Paste Link. Unfortunately, there are no standard menu choices, so you may have to experiment. Choices refering to a link, such as Paste Link, create a linked object; other choices usually produce an embedded object.

Linked objects require that the original data file exist and remain in its original location. As a result, linked objects can be used only on the computer on which they were originally created. Embedded objects are completely self-contained, so they no longer need the original data file. They are the object of choice when the container file will be transferred to another system (for example, via e-mail). --KK

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing). She is also a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine and the manager of WINDOWS Magazine Online on America Online. Reach Karen on AOL as WinMag1.


Award-Winning Newsletter Design

Newsletter Design

Make the Most of Your Newsletter

La Cultura

The Icon


Newsletter Design

By: Katherine Shelly Pfeiffer

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

What's the secret to a successful newsletter? Take a look at these top-notch newsletters and learn how to make yours a real winner.

Stop the presses! It's time to announce the results of the WINDOWS Magazine Newsletter Contest. The winning entries demonstrate that you don't have to spend a fortune to turn out a quality publication. Follow some basic principles of design, take advantage of the latest Windows software, and you're already halfway there.

This is clearly a hot topic for many of our readers. Our contest announcement last November generated more than 1,500 entries from a broad spectrum of Windows users: businesses of all sizes and types, schools, churches, an embroidery club, a U.S. Navy hospital, a high-school marching band, a rock-climbers group, a karate academy and a club for motorcycle-riding law-enforcement officers, to mention just a few members of this extremely diverse group.

Many of the newsletters submitted are first issues--truly hot off the presses--and most of the "editors'' are not professional designers, but typical PC users. Clearly, easy-to-use Windows software is encouraging PC users from all walks of life to venture into desktop publishing.

The entries run the gamut in terms of how they were produced, and at what cost. Some of the issues are high-end output printed by service bureaus and professional printers, while many were created on laser printers, and a few were produced on dot matrix printers. There's equal variety on the software side. Some of the entrants use high-end desktop publishing (DTP) software, while others work with lower-end DTP programs or even word processors.

Selecting the Winners

While sorting through these entries was fun, singling out a handful for recognition was a challenge. Rather than awarding formal prizes, we decided to select a few publications that are outstanding examples of various types of newsletters. The winners that are featured on the following pages represent the spectrum of publications we received.

Five of the winners use Aldus PageMaker and two use QuarkXPress. Both of these programs provide detailed control of all aspects of page layout as well as the output process. They also take full advantage of Windows' graphical user interface. We would point out, however, that simpler, less expensive programs such as Microsoft Publisher and PagePlus from Serif Inc. can also produce handsome results.PagePlus, for example, includes an impressive array of type fonts and clip art. It can also produce sophisticated effects like rotating text and controlling text wrap around graphics--and it's priced at less than $100.

The description of each newsletter explains what we liked about it and gives you an idea of what went into the creation. We'd urge you to pay attention to the details and apply them in your own work. If you see a design you like, don't hesitate to imitate it, right down to the specifics. That's how most of us learn and improve, so don't feel you must invent something original. Even if you use a word processor or basic desktop publishing program, you should be able to re-create several of these winning designs.

Why They Work

As different as they are, all the winners have something in common. Each has mastered the biggest challenge of document design: arriving at the right blend of harmony and contrast. Newsletters combine areas of body text, which serves as a harmonizing element, with contrasting attention-getters such as headings, photographs, artwork and boxed items. Use too many attention-getters and the design becomes chaotic; too few and the design becomes boring. The winners also incorporate ample white space and limit the number of fonts. In addition, they use subheads to divide long text into sections that are easy for the reader to digest.

Most of these documents show careful attention to the fine details that reveal serious craftsmanship, such as aligning type in adjacent columns. Unless you watch the spacing of headings, graphics and other elements, the text may not line up from column to column. While inconsistent alignment may not be obvious to most readers, it can be a subtle distraction.

As we indicated in our contest announcement, we also wanted to identify common design problems and suggest easy solutions. In that vein, we've chosen a few publications that could benefit from a little design help to achieve their potential. (See Make the Most of Your Newsletter) If you have encountered similar challenges, you just might pick up a pointer or two that will help you make a good thing even better.

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to all of you who took the time to send us your entries. We enjoyed reviewing them and meeting you, in a sense, through your publications. Keep up the good work!

Winning Ways-

These seven noteworthy newsletters illustrate the basic principles of good design, careful craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Aire-Ways

The design of This newsletter relies on elegant simplicity,deliberately removing all distractions. Copious white space gives an open, uncluttered look to every page. The interior pages each have only one or two attention-getting devices: the large quotation mark and calculator on the inside page shown, for instance.

The front page features one wide column of type, while the following pages have three narrower columns. Note that there is more space between the lines on the front page, which is important for readability. With wide columns, you must either use a larger font size (about two points larger as a general rule of thumb) or increase the spacing (again by about two points) to help your reader travel from one line to the next. In another effort to ensure readability, the newsletter uses subheads on inside pages to break long columns of text into easy-to-read sections.

Douglas Burton, a professional graphic designer, has been using PageMaker for the last three years to create this newsletter for Aire-Master of America. He designed the handsome graphic on the front page of this issue using Aldus FreeHand.Field & Fry

Field & Fry uses a 2 1/2-column format on its opening page, then reverts to a traditional three-column layout inside. The front-page design provides two larger columns for the introductory article, with the publishing information and whimsical artwork on the left.

This nameplate (the title of the newsletter) is a good example of effective use of uppercase letters. It uses full-size letters only for the initial letter of each word, with small caps (shaped like uppercase letters, but smaller) for the rest. The size variation adds contrast and avoids the tight, closed effect that would result from all caps of the same height.

The newsletter is published by McCain Foods. John Walsh, an amateur designer, uses Microsoft Word, PageMaker and Micrografx Windows Draw!

The RAD Report

This newsletter uses a 2 1/2-column format that permits varied page layouts combined with maximum text area. The thoughtful combination of elements of varying column widths--from a half column to 2 1/2 columns wide--creates a rich variety of shapes throughout the newsletter. But as varied as they are, all these elements fit the underlying column structure (often called a grid), preventing the design from becoming chaotic.

The RAD Report demonstrates a subtle use of color on buff paper. Each issue uses a different color ink. The sample issue features Pantone Green 328 on Fusion Offset Light Cream, 60-pound paper.

Publisher Robert Van De Velde produces this newsletter using QuarkXPress. He created his own design, then consulted with professional designers who refined it and also recommended a good, reasonably priced printer.

Fullerton Museum Center News

Here's the most unusual newsletter in this group. It is designed to have the look of a brochure because it functions as the primary marketing device for the museum.

The clever artwork on the edge of the opening page invites us to turn the page. The asymmetrical folding of the 11- by 17-inch sheet leads to an interior with columns of three distinct sizes. Despite the diversity, the consistent use of bullets and only two basic fonts prevents it from appearing disorganized.

In keeping with the other nontraditional aspects of this publication, the type treatment is unorthodox. While most publications use a serif font (serifs are small ornamental finishing lines at the end of strokes) for body text and a sans serif font for headings, it does just the opposite. Each issue sports a different, unusual color of ink and a change of paper stock, creating a certain sense of newness in each.

Linda Cortright, a self-trained graphic designer with a background in business and typesetting, uses PageMaker and CorelDRAW! to create this for the Fullerton Museum Center.

Mundi Medicina

This publication stands out for its low-key elegance. The quiet combination of cream-colored paper and moss green ink complements the traditional elegance of serif typefaces for text and heads. Photographs fit the grid established by the column widths, as seen on the inside page depicted here.

While it has an orderly feeling, the newsletter is not stuffy or heavy. Ample white space and frequent use of pull quotes in large italics keep the design open and delicate.

The newsletter is published by Holy Cross Monastery. Its self-taught designer, Dominic Wilson, says he has to fight for the white space at the top of the page. He's wise to do so. Don't succumb to pressure to save money by cramming more text on a page. If you produce a newsletter with long articles, you'd do well to follow the example of this excellent model, which is created with Word, CorelDRAW! and PageMaker.


The Icon

This complex cover, which might have become chaotic in lesser hands, is especially well done. The word ICON, in solid caps, was carefully crafted so that it would take up a significant amount of vertical space but be condensed laterally. Note the use of uppercase and lowercase letters in the word The.

The full right-hand column of the front page is always used for the table of contents. This area is set off by a solid color bleed, a most effective treatment. The newsletter uses many high-end features, including two colors throughout.

Visual elements add excitement to the layout without becoming too distracting. The large numerals in the table of contents lend visual interest, as does the "Concepts Report'' stamp angled at the top of that column.

The Icon is published by the Windows Prepublishing Association. Rob Kerr, the principal designer, has a background in prepress services. He uses QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, CorelDRAW! and Aldus PhotoStyler.


La Cultura

Exotic-looking bordered paper gives this handsome publication an expensive, custom-designed feel, yet production costs are quite modest. The paper is commercial stock from Paper Direct. Sheets preprinted with a full-color border cost $19.95 per 100; matching borderless paper ranges from $9 to $14 per 100 sheets. Printing costs are also kept to a minimum: The newsletter is printed on a Hewlett-Packard 4M PostScript printer and photocopied.

La Cultura uses the flexible 2 1/2-column format to advantage. On the front page, the designers leave the half column nearly empty, with just a large initial capital letter on a textured background. Inside, there are two columns of text, and the half column holds anecdotes and photos. Occasionally, the half column is left blank to provide visual breathing room.

Greg Kalin and Jackie Nell use PageMaker to design La Cultura for the NSIAD Core Group.


Make the Most of Your Newsletter

Designing a good newsletter is a real challenge. Many of the newsletters we received are on the right track, but could be even better with a few changes. Here are some of the most common problems we found in perusing the entries, along with possible solutions. To illustrate our points, we've selected several newsletters as representative examples. In addition, we redesigned one that shows potential--Our Newsletter, published by Charschan Chiropractic and Sports Injury Center--to demonstrate exactly what you can achieve by implementing these principles.

Challenge 1:

Designing a Compelling Nameplate

The nameplate--a term referring to the name or title of a publication--should have visual impact and, ideally, reveal something about the newsletter's purpose or the organization that it represents.

Here are some general observations on type. The type size of the nameplate should be large enough to catch the reader's eye--24 points and up for key words is a safe bet. Script and italic faces tend to have much less visual impact than roman faces. Solid caps of the same size can be difficult to read, since the letters create a block that lacks internal variation. Also, because the letters take up so much horizontal space, you may be forced to use relatively small type.

In our makeover, we've changed the typography of Charschan's Our Newsletter, replacing the solid caps with a combination of caps and lowercase letters in dramatically different sizes. The beautiful shapes of ITC Stone Serif italic provide ornamentation and a slight informality appropriate to a newsletter. We also took the liberty of changing the title to identify the publisher in the nameplate.

Similarly, we made some subtle revisions in the nameplate of The Village Green. We changed the solid caps to initial caps for readability and reversed the type (white on a color, rather than vice versa) to increase the impact.

As with most rules, there are always exceptions. You can use all caps effectively if you vary the size of the letters to avoid creating solid blocks of type. John Reinhardt's Book Design News uses large and small caps to create an easy-to-read nameplate that virtually jumps off the page. The designer also used reversed type to produce a dramatic effect.

However, not all programs or font collections provide standard as well as small capitals. (Book Design News was designed in PageMaker.) If you don't have small capitals, be creative: Use regular capitals in different font sizes.

Here's another example that shows how to bend the rules effectively. The nameplate of Desk to Desk contrasts the formality of the elegant serifed capital letters with the informal, almost primitive, drawing style and primary colors. The space dedicated to the nameplate enhances the artwork by setting it apart from the rest of the page.

Challenge 2:

Managing Type Fonts

Multiple typefaces can be visually distracting and may clash if not chosen wisely. It's better to stick with a basic type family or two, and achieve visual variety by using different sizes and weights (such as italic and bold). In redesigning the Charschan newsletter, we substituted two type families--ITC Stone Serif roman and italic and ITC Stone Sans roman and italic.

Challenge 3:

Creating a Focal Point

Using a few large objects, rather than many scattered small ones, can create a visual focus for a page. In the makeover of Our Newsletter, we simplified the column structure, used a single large photograph, and dedicated a full column to the table of contents to simplify the design.

Challenge 4:

Structuring the Page

As a general rule, the horizontal division of a page disrupts its flow and visual coherence. To better organize the front page of Our Newsletter, we created a single strong section, placing one article in a single wide column with an integrated photo. (Note: we used a stock photo in our makeover.)

Challenge 5:

Handling Text Boxes

Boxed text adds a nice element to a page--if the spacing is appropriate. We felt the Index box in Our Newsletter deserved more attention, so we expanded it to a full column, used bold type in a spacious area, and added a pale screen and a graphic. The result: The contents box is functional and adds visual excitement.

Challenge 6:

Taming Unruly Rules

Rules used to surround boxes and to separate columns of type can create a sense of order and add emphasis, but they can become confusing if not applied properly. Our Newsletter, for instance, mixed solid rules and dotted lines. We eliminated the dotted lines and stuck with all solid rules for consistency.

Renaissance uses rules quite effectively, but its front page becomes confused with the addition of rules that divide the "Town Views Restored'' column from the rest of the text. The design of The Articulator relies on boxes surrounded by heavy rules to isolate elements of the nameplate, the subtitle and the issue contents. This design would have been fine, except for the fact that the boxes don't line up. Note the slight misalignment in the boxes at the top of the page.

Challenge 7:

Using Photographs Effectively

Don't be stingy when sizing photos--bigger is usually better. In the Charschan makeover, we've replaced multiple photos and generic artwork with one large photo that fits into the column grid.

Also, keep photos of similar items approximately the same size and make sure unlike items are in scale. In other words, don't have two headshots of wildly different sizes or a tiny image of a car and a giant photo of a pen sitting side by side on the same page.

In most cases, photos and artwork should conform to the grid on which your newsletter is designed. The edges of the art should line up with the edges of the columns. You may have to crop some pictures to make them fit properly into the width of one, two or three columns.

Runarounds can be effective (see The Icon and La Cultura), but they can also be tricky. Unless you're practiced at this, avoid placing photos into columns in such a way that the type must run around the photos. The photo in The Articulator shows the type spacing problems that can result.

Challenge 8:

Choosing a Layout

Remember that less is generally more when you're designing pages. Follow tried-and-true templates in DTP programs for starters.

For instance, Microsoft Publisher includes a number of Page Wizards, which are templates for creating newsletters and other documents. The New Jersey Discharger uses a Wizard that offers a simple, straightforward design incorporating artwork and shaded boxes.

However, not all Wizards are created equal. The Wizard used by The Sayreville Marching Unit Newsletter contains too many distracting elements--boxes, type fonts and striped borders--which could be toned down a bit without taking away from the energetic spirit that this newsletter conveys.

Our thanks to Charschan Chiropractic and Sports Injury Center and our other readers for submitting their newsletters. The design of the Charschan makeover follows one in the Word for Windows Design Companion (Ventana Press).

Katherine Shelly Pfeiffer is the author of Word for Windows Design Companion and LaserJet Font Book. She holds a Ph.D. in art history and teaches desktop publishing at East Los Angeles College. Reach her on AOL in the Letters to the Editor section of the WINDOWS Magazine message exchange.


Putting Multimedia to Work

Putting Multimedia To Work

An Author's Wish List

Director's Chair

Clip' 'N Play

Clip Art


Putting Multimedia To Work

By: Russell Lipton

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Ready for Prime Time -You've got all that exciting content for your multimedia application. Now make sure your users can move through it with ease. The latest authoring tools are at your service.

It wasn't much more than a year ago that multimedia authoring tools left a lot to be desired. Too many pieces were missing and too many compromises were made. The situation is different today. Authoring packages have evolved into tools that are accessible to anyone who wants to create a multimedia application. In this article, we'll take a look at the best authoring tools currently available, and we'll outline a formula to follow as you design your interface, take your application through the testing process and put the finishing touches on the navigational structure.

The Medium Is the Message

With the impressive storage capacity of a CD-ROM and the combination of sound, graphics, text and animation, you have an unparalleled opportunity to grab the hearts, as well as the minds, of your audience. But you also need the glue that holds all those elements together.

That glue could be something as simple as a traditional presentation package, or it could be the industrial-strength glue of an authoring tool. Authoring tools actually do more than just hold your application together. They allow you to create the user interface and navigational structure that will ultimately give viewers access to your content. To decide when you should use a multimedia authoring tool, ask if it is essential for users to interact with your content. If not, you're better off with conventional presentations.

However, if your application is suited to an interactive format, you'll need an authoring tool. An authoring tool lets you engage users in a free-flowing exploration that isn't restricted to one narrative thread. You no longer merely tell your story--you show it, simulate it, organize it, sound it and otherwise invite users to enter your universe.

What's Your Line?

You can categorize most multimedia applications in terms of how much interaction there is between the viewer of the title and the title itself. Presentations, such as business slide shows, require the least interaction. You are assuming that the viewer is a high-tech couch potato, with an empty mind for the title to fill. Documents provide a more interactive environment. The user controls the order in which fixed content is viewed. Such applications can be relatively simple, like a Windows Help file, or as complex as an encyclopedia-type application incorporating hypertext hotlinking. Simulations are on the high end of the spectrum. These applications establish a virtual world in which the user interacts in a free-form manner. Computer games or flight training programs are simulations.

Once you've determined whether your application will be a presentation, document or simulation, you have to decide how interactive to make the program. It's impractical to include much give-and-take in a business slide show. But you can program in a certain amount of interaction between the presenter and the application, so he can react to the audience's interests on the spot.

Documents are generally viewed by only one person at a time, and you can program in as much interactivity as the content permits. Simulations can be as interactive as time, money and imagination will allow.

Now that we have the theory out of the way, let's take a look at some of the tools for building interactive multimedia titles.

Multimedia Tool Time

The top four multimedia authoring tools for Windows are Multimedia ToolBook, IconAuthor, Authorware Professional and Multimedia Viewer. Each of these products brings a distinct style, approach and application focus to multimedia.

Multimedia ToolBook from Asymetrix is the most programmable of the four. It's well-suited to edutainment and entertainment applications, but it is also commonly used for marketing demos and tutorials. The current version of ToolBook is much faster than its predecessors. Although ToolBook is a bit difficult for nonprogrammers to use, its scripting language (called OpenScript) is fairly simple and straightforward.

ToolBook builds applications in a manner similar to HyperCard on the Macintosh, using a book metaphor. An application is a book, and the pages contain various multimedia elements such as buttons, fields, graphics, sounds, bitmaps and video clips. Functionality is added to objects with OpenScript commands. OpenScript also provides access to multimedia hardware devices through Windows' Media Control Interface (MCI).

ToolBook lacks built-in drawing tools, but imports most common Windows graphics formats. It also sports robust hypertext features, including the ability to jump from page to page or execute other programs from within a ToolBook title.

Those with moderate to serious programming skills will find that ToolBook is a superb authoring environment. If you can put together simple Visual Basic applications, you are well equipped to build sophisticated ToolBook titles. ToolBook's scripting language has just about reached the end of its capability for major future enhancements--so expect Asymetrix to emphasize visual development more in the future. ToolBook is a Windows-only product, so it's not a good choice if you want to support multiple platforms.

AimTech's IconAuthor offers the most sophisticated authoring environment of the current batch of Windows authoring tools. It is particularly well suited for computer-based training, edutainment and kiosk applications. IconAuthor features a graphical interface that you use to build a flowchart of your application, with each event represented by an icon. A Smart Object editor lets you create objects such as timers, buttons and scroll bars. Using IconAuthor is easy, and nonprogrammers can quickly create applications with a standard Windows look and feel.

The program's other strengths include data masks and validation, the ability to read and write dBASE files directly, OLE support, and control over all types of Windows media elements through MCI. IconAuthor also leads the way in cross-platform compatibility, with both Windows and OS/2 versions and runtime players for the Macintosh and UNIX.

IconAuthor is an excellent authoring environment, suited to a wide range of applications. Its multiplatform support outstrips competitors by a wide margin, and its development model comes closest to enabling you to actually see your application while creating it. However, AimTech would be wise to add some scripting capability, which is currently lacking in the product.

Authorware Professional from Macromedia has long been the premium product of choice for corporate training and performance support. Its power comes at the price of a fairly steep learning curve, but it's still easy to create interactive simulations with movable objects, drag-and-drop, hyperlinks and path-based animation. Authorware also has excellent video capabilities, including extensive video for Windows controls and laserdisc drivers. Applications are built as icons on a flowline where the position of the icon indicates the order of execution.

The program also incorporates a wide range of video capabilities, including access to laserdisc players. Unfortunately, it does so through proprietary drivers rather than the standard Windows MCI interface, so you'll need to ship appropriate drivers with your application. Authorware is available for the Macintosh and Windows.

Authorware is elegant and straightforward but somewhat brittle and rigid. If what you want to do fits Authorware's linear model, then it's a good choice.

Microsoft's Multimedia Viewer was used to develop the company's award-winning Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedia. Viewer's great strength is a full-text search and retrieval engine. Consider Viewer if the management of large, text-rich, multimedia applications is your goal.

Unlike the other big-name tools, Viewer doesn't supply its own authoring environment. Instead, you author the title in Word, embedding graphics, sound, video and other elements as OLE objects in the document text. Then you save the document in rich text format (.RTF), which gets converted into a Viewer title.

Using Word as an authoring tool has obvious advantages if your title contains large amounts of text, but it makes things needlessly difficult for applications that contain little or no text. Viewer can also be difficult to use, especially if you don't understand the .RTF codes that implement hypertext jumps. Viewer has no built-in drawing or animation tools. It supports Windows and the CD-ROM/XA standard.

Beyond the Big Four

The previously mentioned tools are the ones most often thought of when people develop multimedia titles for Windows. But there are others that deserve your attention as well.

Macromedia Director, which for years has been a standard development environment for Macintosh-based multimedia, is now coming to Windows. Its arrival is long overdue. Since the launch of Windows 3.1, playback-only support for Macromedia Director .MMM files has been included in every copy of Windows.

Director's great strength is its portability. Director files are compatible with Windows, Macintosh and 3DO. Director is also extremely flexible and has been used to create several award-winning commercial CDs, including Grandma and Me. It supports hot spots, video, and both .WAV and MIDI audio.

Programmed in a scripting language called Lingo, Director also offers a visual programming metaphor called a score, which works like sheet music. Objects, or actors, represent steps and sequences on the score. Director is probably as powerful as Authorware Professional or Icon-Author, but it may be a bit more difficult to use. However, that's a small price to pay if you want your app to run on the 3DO environment.

Microsoft Video for Windows (VFW) 1.1 is the tool used to create .AVI (Audio/Visual Interleaved) files. This special-purpose tool is used in conjunction with a video camera and a frame-grabber (or image digitizer) card to create digital video clips that you embed in an application created with other programming tools. VFW cannot create complete multimedia applications by itself, although version 1.1 does include the ability to embed hot spots within a video clip. If you want to create your own video clips, then you'll need VFW.

ViperWrite, from Looking Glass Software, is mainly a text editor with hyperlink capabilities. It imports .RTF files and also supports OLE, allowing you to link images and sounds with text. You can build links to video clips or multimedia movie files, but ViperWrite won't run them for you. This tool is best suited to text-based projects with some linked multimedia content. It is easier to use than Viewer.

Cheetah 3D, also from Looking Glass, lets you create original 3-D animations like walk-throughs. You can rotate objects 360 degrees and even play an .AVI video clip inside another object. Like Video for Windows, Cheetah 3D is not suitable for building a complete multimedia application. However, it might work well for creating some of the elements of your application.

HyperWriter from Ntergaid is a hypertext linking tool similar to ViperWrite and Viewer. It supports graphics, sound and video clips, as well as DDE (dynamic data exchange). It also offers customizable user interfaces and strong hypertext linking tools, but HyperWriter has weak search tools and limited font choices. The program directly imports ASCII, Word and WordPerfect files. It contains no built-in drawing tools, but can link to external files, including many graphics formats.

Autodesk Animator is a special-purpose animation application. The .FLI and .FLC formats generated by Animator have become standards over the years. Animator can also import and animate AutoCAD drawings.

trueSpace, Caligari's 3-D animation program, provides a large set of tools for creating 3-D objects, including splines, shapes and rendering tools. Perspectives, as well as textures, can be added, and you can even take a slice out of an object. You animate objects in trueSpace by drawing a path and having the object follow it. You can set up cameras to follow and rotate objects. Image rendering is fast, and animations can be saved to formats usable by other programs.

Q/Media from Q/Media Software is an entry-level multimedia development tool arranged like a presentation graphics program. You work in frames that are similar to slides, but which also include time lines. You can create multiple hot spots, which when clicked will launch animations, sounds or other events.

The Design Process

We've talked about the variety of tools you can use to create multimedia applications--but tools are only half the story. Let's step back for a moment and think about how an application should be designed.

You pay a price for building interactivity into a multimedia application. As the author, you lose control over how your material is presented. Putting the viewer in the driver's seat also demands a shift in perspective on your part--it is vitally important to envision the application from the user's point of view.

It's necessary to have a clear picture, throughout development, of how your application will look and act. This is much easier if your authoring tools include the ability to sketch, prototype, test and modify your applications visually. IconAuthor in particular fulfills more of the requirements for visual programming than many other programming language tools.

There is no single model for authoring multimedia applications, but you should follow the general rules that apply to any software development process: Write a formal specification, perform a careful design with reviews, institute good coding practices (be especially generous with the use of comments), and put your product through rigorous testing routines.

Beyond that, there are seven steps to follow specifically for multimedia authoring: assembling materials, writing case-by-case scenarios, designing the user interface, partitioning tasks, building a prototype, testing and completing navigational mechanisms.

Let's look at each step in order. As an example, let's use an interactive multimedia newsletter that I produce.

Collection and Design

First, you should collect at least a significant subset of the materials, or content, comprising your application. In the case of my newsletter, I need text (newsletter articles), charts, photographs, video and audio clips.

Next, list the specific tasks or interactive pathways most likely to be pursued by users of the application. You can then test your initial assumptions and arrive at a preliminary design. A reader of a multimedia newsletter might want to scan an interactive table of contents, browse summaries of available articles and explore articles at random. Alternatively, a user might come to the newsletter seeking information about a particular area. In that case, you would want to place threads throughout multiple articles to help readers find the information they need.

Now you can take a first cut at designing the user interface. How you implement the design depends on the authoring tool you are using. IconAuthor and Authorware provide the strongest support for logical design, enabling you to lay out the interface (menus, buttons) and control the flow of the application by dragging and dropping icons onto the design screen. Each icon represents either an interface object or a user decision point (for example, a button that the user clicks on to branch to another part of the application). You can test objects immediately as you add them to the design, or you can test them at will. Director's score feature works in much the same way.

You can also directly manipulate user interface elements with ToolBook, but there is no visual representation of the application and how it flows. The elements are placed directly onto pages, which become part of the application. In hypertext tools such as Microsoft Multimedia Viewer, there's an even greater disconnect from the flow of control, because the actual authoring is done in a completely different application (a word processor) than the user will be running. If you are using a tool like this, it's important to write down the steps so you can verify that the application actually does what you wanted it to.

Evolving, Testing and Polishing

Well-designed multimedia applications modularize the tasks that a user will carry out. You can often partition your title development based on such modules. For example, my newsletter is naturally structured by the various articles it contains. Another way of thinking about this is to consider the materials you collected at the beginning. How can they best be assembled? Are there natural divisions? Developing a title section by section simplifies testing and lets you take a completed component to users for evaluation.

With user interface in hand and a plan for partitioning tasks, you can perform the actual assembly of the title. This is an iterative process of building a prototype and evolving it into the final application. In the case of the newsletter, I assemble each of the articles, attach some (not necessarily all) graphics, video and audio clips, and create some of the linkages between the articles.

The most serious testing occurs at this point. This is where the debugging capabilities (if any) of your development tools become significant. ToolBook and IconAuthor let you perform serious debugging. ToolBook relies on the programmer to insert breakpoints into the scripts in a conventional manner. Breakpoints allow you to look at how well the code is working up to that point. IconAuthor's visual debugger steps you through icon execution and gives you a chance to inspect the values of variables and other components as the title steps through its run sequence. Other tools may have more or less debugging capability--and you can always resort to general-purpose approaches such as hard-coding (marking off the code) of suspect parts of your application. Of course, testing will be occurring in stages as each iteration of your prototype is ready for user evaluation.

When the title has been through the testing mill, it's time to add final navigational and indexing mechanisms. This is not an optional exercise--user satisfaction with your title will probably depend on the sophistication and ease of use you provide for navigation. Navigational mechanisms may include tables of contents, indexes, context-sensitive advisors and tours. Tours provide readers with a single-thread path through the compound material. For instance, my newsletter contains several articles on the same topic. Of course, readers can read each article in turn or browse among them using buttons and hypertext links. But I have also provided several tours that take readers on a ride through various articles, focusing on themes that they might otherwise miss in their browsing.

Real Testing Means Real Users

The longer you work on polishing your title without ongoing input from users, the more certain it is that they will respond to your multimedia masterpiece with an unmitigated "Huh?'' Remember: Common navigational cues that have evolved over centuries for printed material are largely absent in multimedia. You can't assume that something is as obvious to a user as it is to you. Here are some simple, tested suggestions for reducing gridlock on your own information superhighway.

"Chunk'' your material. Don't think in terms of chapters, pages or even screens. Consider the smallest logical unit that makes sense of your content and divide your material accordingly.

Think MTV. Design visual outlines. Create graphical maps that reassemble the chunks so readers can discern the overall relationships among the various information components. If you can, make it possible to jump directly from the map to a desired component.

Create two-way paths. Readers become uncomfortable if they cannot quickly undo their navigation and return to a previous point. This is no great feat for hypertext tools, but you may have to bend over backwards to achieve this effect with an authoring product.

Design single-threaded tours. Sometimes readers like to explore the multimedia jungle on their own. At other times, they want to take a guided tour. Provide linear pathways through portions of your material. This provision ensures that at least some of your original intent will be grasped while making it easier for readers to go off on their own, using tours as conceptual or thematic anchors.

Offer histories and bookmarks. If your tool supports it, make sure readers can display a window that records the content trails they have traversed over one or more sessions. This lets them know what they haven't seen yet. With bookmarks, readers can mark their place and jump directly to it after randomly browsing.

"You are here.'' Create a status bar that tells readers where they are in the overall scheme of things. This should resemble the status bars common in most software applications.

Despite your best efforts, some of your readers will complain of disorientation and conceptual seasickness. You won't entirely eliminate their criticisms, but you owe it to them to supply as much virtual Dramamine as possible.

Above all, remember that navigational aids are not simply window dressing on top of content. Although your content is of primary importance, ill-conceived navigational support will keep your readers from enjoying (or even finding) your content. Well-designed navigation will make using your multimedia title a delight rather than a chore.

Russell Lipton is the author of Multimedia Toolkit from Random House Electronic Publishing. You can reach Russell care of the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag Message Exchange on AOL.


An Author's Wish List

Although authoring tools are getting steadily better, there is still room for improvement. For example, it's too difficult to reuse the structure and content of multimedia applications. In addition, there is not enough support for features that perform database functions. And little or no integration exists with other applications.

Once you've put together the structure of your multimedia app, you may want to reuse it for future projects. I write a multimedia newsletter that grows with each new issue, with each issue providing links to others. The content can't be hardwired to a single issue, because I have to be able to retarget and cross-link materials every month. Of course, I can always create an empty interactive newsletter template and stuff new content into it for each issue--but that's not an elegant solution.

I also need to utilize previously published content in new and different ways. For example, I might want to break a long article into several short ones for a separate multimedia tutorial application. That's impossible if the article has been sucked into the interactive newsletter and inextricably bound to its structure. IconAuthor, an authoring tool from AimTech, solves this problem by letting me link data into the newsletter without permanently embedding it. Most other authoring tools weave content into the application's structure, and you can never pull it out again.

Another area that warrants more attention is database support. Database features play a crucial role in the development of electronic catalog-style applications and in managing the components of the titles themselves. Ideally, authoring tools should incorporate a database that manages each multimedia object and content component within an application. It's not only users who feel like they are lost in space--just imagine being an author who is trying to juggle a full gigabyte of multimedia content.

Integration is a new--and unexplored--frontier for multimedia. What if you could integrate your multimedia project into a software suite or a groupware-based application? Users would be able to launch your application with a single mouse click from Word or Paradox, where you embedded it as an OLE-enabled object.

The good news is that the number of consumer-oriented CD-ROMs and multimedia systems on the market is continuing to grow. More than 2 million multimedia PCs shipped last year, according to Microsoft, and 2.5 million are expected to ship in 1994. In addition, there are 155 Windows-based CD-ROMs currently available to the consumer market. Those increasing numbers will force multimedia into the mainstream--and that's what will finally make authoring tools what they are supposed to be.


Director's Chair

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Doing it Right

Remember your first Windows word processor? The lure of that font dialog box, with its melange of sizes and styles, probably proved too tempting to resist. Although your documents took on a very "distinctive'' style, the montage of fonts most likely obscured the content. Hopefully, you learned to use fonts judiciously and, as a result, got your message across more effectively.

Multimedia applications offer the same pitfalls and opportunities. Video, animation, sound and interactivity can provide unprecedented levels of communication, but they can also muddle your message. The key is choosing which medium to use when.

Let's take a look at an application that works well on every level, to see how the choices made by the developers and designers can be applied to your own work. The application we'll discuss is a title from Time Life Books called A View From Earth. This CD-ROM covers the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991, using animation, sound and pictures to communicate its content.

After a short introductory sequence, A View From Earth presents an interface that allows you to select the path you would like to take through the application (1). The options are the four major categories of information involved in the topic: Sun, Moon, Earth and Eclipse. The clever use of graphics in the interface provides three advantages. First, the image presents information before a mouse button is even clicked. Just looking at the choices lets users know the presentation's four elements. The graphic also makes the choices more compelling, raising interest in each option with an intriguing image. Simple buttons labeled Sun, Moon and so on just wouldn't have the same impact. Finally, the interface is very simple, even for novice computer users, since they can click anywhere on any image that interests them.

There are two general principles to keep in mind as you organize your application's main menu, and A View From Earth follows both (2). First, divide the information in your application into a relatively small number of main categories. That will simplify entry into a particular area of information. Keep your menus simple, and use submenus when necessary. Limiting the choices at this point will keep users from getting confused. A View From Earth carries a miniaturized version of the opening menu throughout the application, allowing users to get from one place to the next quickly and easily.

Next, use clear pictures as the buttons to lead your users to the application's different sections. The main menu buttons that run at the bottom of the screen in A View From Earth again show images of the sun, moon, earth and eclipse.

Each type of information is best presented using a particular medium. Some applications use sound effects like exploding bombs to enhance the presentation, or they may provide the pronunciations of unusual words. A View From Earth takes advantage of sound by using narration and music. The program also uses a slide-show technique to enhance the narration (3), and music to enhance the images' presentation. This helps keep users involved. In addition, the program employs maps and overlays to present information that could have been no more than a boring list of data.

A View From Earth uses animation where it makes sense. Here users can watch the progress of the eclipse through an animation sequence (4). Note the strong association between the information being presented and the medium selected. The eclipse, obviously, is a moving object, so animation is an effective way to show it in action. Unfortunately, multimedia authors often include video even when it does not enhance a presentation. For example, talking heads shouldn't be used just for the sake of showing video. On the other hand, it would be fine to use a short clip of a CEO to introduce a demo of a company's products. Also, it is crucial to use high-quality video. The quality of .AVI (Audio/Visual Interleaved) images can vary, and if not done well they can ruin your application's appearance.

When you break up your information into submenus, you trade off between complicated menus and complicated menu structures. You may simplify each menu level, but you end up with a lot more levels. To get around this problem, it's good to have a table of contents. A View From Earth offers users a guide (5). This screen presents each menu level and provides random access to each path.

Even with the liberal use of sound and animation, there is plenty of space left on a View From Earth's disc. That allowed the developers to include a lot of useful related information in the library. For example, users can access a listing of every total solar eclipse from 1940 through 2039. The path of the eclipses can be tracked with map overlays (6). The glossary contains more than 200 definitions, and the index leads users through hundreds of pages of text, photographs and animation. These are the actual documents used to create the application, providing access to some very powerful information.


Clip' 'N Play

By: James E. Powell

If you think clip art is just another black-and-white line drawing, you ain't seen nothin' yet. The clip art now available on CD-ROM and diskette--from colorful illustrations to photographs and video--could be just what you need to enhance your multimedia application.

Many presentation programs are packed with clip media. You can also buy discs of clip media separately. These are not slap-dash Products: -the companies putting together these compilations go to great pains to scan in the images, crop them appropriately and balance the colors.

A word of caution--''royalty free'' or "limited use'' may not always mean what you would expect. The clip media company may put limits on the use of its works, such as preventing you from using the image in commercial products or distributing more than 10,000 copies of your final product.

Here's a quick look at some of the best of the clip media available.


Clip Art

Clip art consists of illustrations, not photos. Prices for collections of this type are dropping quickly.

For sheer number of images at a great price, try SoftKey International's PC Paintbrush ClipArt Library, which includes 3,003 color clip-art pieces in .CGM, .PCX, and .WMF formats for $79.95. The collection is packaged with PowerAlbum, which lets you view thumbnails or choose images by category. Topics range from religion, food and computers to transportation and letters of the alphabet. A smaller selection of 2,500 of the images, called Key Color ClipArt, is available for $39.95. (800-227-5609, 617-494-1200)

With Art la Carte, 3G Graphics offers 150 clip-art images on each of three diskettes themed Holidays and Fun, Office, and Out & About. The images are available in .WMF, .CGM and Print Shop Deluxe formats (3 diskettes or 3 CD-ROMs, $49.95 each). Images with Impact, also from 3G Graphics, is a more full-featured line with colorful, professional illustrations--there's little filler in these collections. The company produces seven volumes of Images with Impact in encapsulated PostScript format only ($99.95 to $129.95) on diskette, or a six-volume set on CD-ROM in .EPS, .WMF and .BMP formats for $499.95. For the budget-conscious, Images with Impact for Windows takes a sample of 1,053 images from the six packages in .WMF format only. That selection is available on diskette or CD-ROM for $119.95. (800-456-0234, 206-774-3518)

Lotus SmartPics is a collection of 2,000 professional images on diskette. Packaged with a browser, the program costs $119 and features clip art in 30 general business categories as diverse as medical illustrations and international icons. A SmartIcon can be added to 1-2-3 or Ami Pro to launch SmartPics directly from those applications. A printed example of every image is included. (800-343-5414, 617-577-8500)

WordPerfect's Main Street line (800-451-5151, 801-225-5000) includes Clip Art for the Home and Clip Art for the Office, both on diskette. Each contains 450 images for $39.95, $29 for a limited time. The Premium Collection includes 4,800 images on CD-ROM for $109, $79 for a limited time. It contains vector-based WordPerfect graphics formats, as well as .CGM format. The Premium Collection includes the InSpace Kudo Image Browser (for examining thumbnails) with images arranged in logical categories. If your application supports OLE 2.0, you can drag images directly into your documents from Kudo. (619-272-2600)

Clip Photography

PhotoDisc is a 13-volume set (most for $299 per volume) of professional images from PhotoDisc's stock photography collection, which includes 4,800 images and features a volume of black-and-white photos from the 1920s through the 1950s. The photos are provided in high-resolution JPEG-compressed TIFF format with an average file size of 10MB, as well as low-resolution, 300KB TIFF versions for browsing. The quality of these images is top-notch. The company's new line, called ClipPix, offers 500 images in formats including TIFF and BMP with content designed specifically for multimedia and priced at $199 for each volume. Trial versions of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere are included. ClipPix also comes with a browser so you can view the images. (800-528-3472, 206-441-9355)

Corel collected a high-quality assortment of images for its Corel Professional Photo series, which includes more than 250 titles with 100 images each ($49.95). Each set is tightly focused on a subject, from sailboats to auto racing to Death Valley. Sets of 25 titles are available for $595 each. A booklet showing the images is also provided. The consistent quality and usefulness of the photos in these collections is impressive. (800-836-3729, 613-728-8200)

SoftKey International's PC Paintbrush Photo Library includes 2,503 TIFF and .BMP images on two CD-ROMs for $79.95. Like the PC Paintbrush ClipArt Library, this product comes packaged with the PowerAlbum browser for previewing and organizing the images. The company's Key Photo Clips offers 2,100 photos for $39.95, making this package a steal. (800-227-5609, 617-494-1200)

Seattle Support Group (SSG) created some of Corel's early titles and now has some programs of its own. Each of SSG's Vintage Albums contains 300 photographic images at $124.95 per disc. The Color Digital Photo (CDP) series features 200 images for $79.95 per disc. The CDP discs are best suited to desktop publishing and presentations, while the Vintage series is aimed at professional graphic designers, video producers and illustrators. (800-995-9777, 206-395-1484)

Allegro New Media's two-CD-ROM set, InPrint Art Library Volume 2, offers landscapes and still lifes on one disc and images of plaques, trophies and musical instruments on the other, for $59.95. (800-424-1992, 201-808-1992)

Backgrounds

ArtBeats' Marbled Paper Textures is a $349 collection of 40 high-resolution TIFF images ready for prepress work, plus 120 multimedia backgrounds for slides and presentations. This is a particularly attractive set of patterns and colors.

The company also offers Backgrounds for Multimedia volumes 1 and 2, each with 40 backgrounds stored as 8-bit TIFF images in a 256-color palette. The package includes buttons that use the same patterns. Volume 1 is $229; volume 2 is $289. (800-444-9392, 503-863-4429)

Allegro New Media's InPrint Art Library Volume 1 offers graphic textures on CD-ROM. More than 200 images in color and gray scale depict everything from jelly beans and marbled textures to space-age grids and patterns from a wicker basket. The $59.95 package includes 101 cartoon idioms, most of which are completely forgettable. (800-424-1992, 201-808-1992)

Pixar's One Twenty Eight CD-ROM features 128 high-quality photographic images for $299. You get TIFF files of roof, siding, skin, stone, wall, ground, fence, floor and fabric textures with dramatic edges and lighting effects, as well as plug-in applications for Photoshop and PhotoStyler. (800-888-9856, 510-236-4000)

Publisher's Paradise Background Images from Media Graphics International is a $69.95 package that's hard to beat, with 250 full-color background images on a CD-ROM. The collection was designed especially for desktop publishing and multimedia presentations, and it shows. It's a good selection of horizon shots and geometric shapes with an emphasis on subtle shadings. You even get the opening image from MGM films, sans lion, for adding a light touch to your presentation. (800-598-2037, 303-427-8808)

Combinations

Aris Multimedia Entertainment offers a wide selection of CD-ROMs for about $30 to $40 each. Aris' products combine 100 still-life photos with 100 music clips per disc. Some titles also have video, and all come with a slide-show previewer that lets you instantly copy an image or music file to your hard disk. Topics include animals, New York scenes, jets, the rain forest and underwater scenes. The Business Backgrounds package features scenes of stamps and keys from an antique typewriter. (800-228-2747, 310-821-0234)

Jasmine Multimedia features a variety of photography, sound and video in its collections, most for $29.95 to $59.95. Need to include Kennedy's speech about sending men to the moon? Or how about a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night? Maybe a clip of an imploding building will suit your video needs. Jasmine has all of these and more. (800-798-7535, 818-780-3344)

Sound

Special-effects discs can add zip to your presentation and emphasis to the various points you are trying to make. InterActive Publishing Corp. (800-472-8777, 914-426-0400) offers 1,000 of the World's Greatest Sound Effects for $39.95. The title pretty much sums up what you get in the package. Wayzata Technology (800-735-7321, 218-326-0597) includes animal, nature, sports, tool and transportation sounds in its 1,200-clip Sound Library Pro. The package is available for $25.

Movies

There's nothing like a movie trailer to pep up a presentation, and nobody has a better collection than Starlite Productions. Classic Clips comes on 4 CDs and is priced at $49.95 per disc. It includes collections of famous film trailers in full-motion video and sound. Put trailers from Psycho (the five-minute version with Alfred Hitchcock), The Maltese Falcon and Mothra at your fingertips. (800-788-0787, 314-965-5630)


How to Buy Removable Storage

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

FIRST CHOICES

User Requirements

Different storage technologies are best suited for different jobs. Ask yourself how you plan to use your storage device.

•	If you need to back up data from a permanent hard disk, then consider a removable hard disk or a standalone device that uses removable cartridges. Both offer much faster access than magnetic tape drives and are readily compatible with your computer's operating system.

•	If you need to exchange data with someone, and you do not have access to a network or electronic mail, removable hard disks and removable cartridges provide highly portable storage. You can send the drive or cartridge via mail, or hand-deliver it to coworkers, a method sometimes called sneakernet. They also make sense when there is too much data for electronic delivery.

•	Optical devices, such as CD-ROM and WORM (write-once, read-many) drives, quickly and economically provide access to many megabytes of information on-line.

Storage Capacity

How much data do you need to store in removable form? Here's a breakdown of the capacity of different storage types:

•	Removable hard disk--various sizes up to 1GB

•	Removable cartridges--various sizes up to 270MB

•	Floptical cartridges--21MB

•	CD-ROM--650MB

•	Optical cartridges--from 128MB to 6GB

Data Permanence

Permanence is a relative matter in data storage. While all storage media can be damaged, optical media cannot be erased accidentally by electronic or magnetic fields, which can damage magnetic media.

•	Data is most permanent when you cannot change or erase the data, and the medium cannot be reused. CD-ROM recorders record data permanently, typically in a single session, whether or not the entire disc is filled. Optical WORM devices record data permanently, but can be filled up gradually in numerous recording sessions. Legal information and bank transaction audit trails are examples of data that must be recorded permanently to satisfy legal requirements.

•	Rewritable optical cartridges are reusable, allowing you to write over previously recorded data. However, they may meet legal requirements for permanence since they can't be damaged magnetically.

•	Data is alterable when it can be easily changed or overwritten. Any magnetic medium is readily altered. The data can be changed and the media can be reused. Data can also be destroyed by stray magnetic fields, making this type of media unsuitable for archival purposes.

Terms to Know

Bernoulli: The name for Iomega Corp.'s magnetic drives and removable cartridges.

CD-ROM technology: A CD-ROM recorder writes data to, and a CD-ROM drive reads data from, a CD-ROM.

Floptical: The trademark for a specific type of diskette and floppy disk drive developed by Insite Peripherals Inc. Floptical technology records data magnetically, but uses grooves in the diskette to optically align the head over the tracks. Floptical diskettes typically hold 21MB of data and look exactly like standard 3.5-inch diskettes. Floptical drives can also read and write standard diskettes.

Magnetic technology: Uses an electromagnetic recording mechanism that reads or writes magnetic zeros and ones onto a platter.

Optical technology: Uses a laser to etch zeros and ones onto a recording medium.

Removable or portable hard disks: Hard disks built so you can take them out of your system easily. They attach to your PC through various interfaces. Some units occupy a drive bay inside your computer, others mount externally.

SyQuest: The trade name for SyQuest Technology Inc.'s magnetic drives and removable cartridges.

Troubleshooting

Here are some general questions to ask yourself when troubleshooting a removable storage device. Refer to the product's documentation for more specific and detailed questions.

Device makes no sound or its busy light does not appear when computer is powered up:

•	Are the cables connected securely and oriented correctly? (Most cables are keyed to prevent accidental miscabling.)

Device is not recognized by hardware:

•	For PCMCIA card: Is the card properly inserted in its socket?

•	Are the jumpers on the interface card set correctly?

•	Are the jumpers on the device set correctly?

•	Is the interface card completely seated in its slot?

•	For SCSI devices: Is the SCSI bus terminated correctly?

•	Are the cables connected securely and oriented correctly?

Device is not recognized by operating system or software drivers:

•	Is the required software installed in CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT?

•	Are the command-line parameters correct for the software?

•	Did you double-check to make certain that the command-line parameters match the hardware configuration of the device?

Errors occur when device is used with application software:

•	Do software diagnostics show that the device is operating properly?

:Storage Built for Pocketing

Relatively new to the removable storage market, PCMCIA cards offer true portability. Slightly longer and thicker than a credit card, a PCMCIA card slides into a specific type of expansion slot, now a commonplace option for notebook and desktop systems.

PCMCIA removable storage comes in three different types. PCMCIA hard disks are actual spinning hard disks, similar to the one in your PC. The disks are miniaturized to fit on a Type III PCMCIA card, the thickest of the PCMCIA card types. A flash RAM PCMCIA card is nonvolatile--it does not lose its zeros and ones when electrical power is removed. Data stored on a flash RAM card is not lost until you overwrite or delete it. Think of flash memory as mass storage with no moving parts. Unlike a hard disk, it is impervious to shock. Disk compression software, such as Stacker, allows you to double the storage capacity of flash RAM cards in much the same way that conventional hard disks can be compressed. Many flash RAM cards come with compression software already installed. Flash RAM cards are typically available as Type I PCMCIA cards, which are slightly slimmer than a Type III. Battery-backed static RAM PCMCIA cards also provide nonvolatile storage.

As with most fledgling technologies, PCMCIA cards are very expensive. For example, Maxtor Corp. (800-4-MAXTOR, 408-432-1700) offers a 105MB Type III PCMCIA hard disk for around $539, and an 8MB flash card for around $581. So, if price per removable megabyte is the most important factor, PCMCIA will not be the portable storage solution for you.


First Impressions: dBASE 5.0-dBASE's Debut: Well Worth the Wait

By: Paul E. Schindler Jr

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Anticipation. It worked in a Carly Simon song and a ketchup commercial, too. And it looks like it worked for dBASE for Windows. The long anticipated Windows version of the popular database was worth waiting for.

Now that it's here, it prompts two other questions. The legions of users with DOS dBASE applications will want to know how it handles the upgrade to Windows. Database administrators and end users will also want to know if dBASE for Windows is appropriate for a nonprogrammer.

I tested a beta version of dBASE and was impressed with the scrupulous attention that was paid to easing the upgrade from DOS. Database files retain the same format and DOS dBASE programs can run unchanged. The DOS programs had a decidedly DOS appearance but--as a bonus--Borland now automatically enables mouse support even if it wasn't written into the program. You can write new programs using exactly the same dBASE commands you already know. And you can translate existing programs to make them more Windows-like, by converting menu structures to Windows.

The forms created with a DOS application can be translated into Windows dBASE forms using a utility that Borland supplies, though forms conversion can get a little tricky. Simple forms translate smoothly, but more complex forms are translated on a best-guess basis. dBASE does the best it can to reorganize the existing form into objects. It isn't complete automation, but it is easier than starting from scratch. On the other hand, forms design is now so easy you might want to start from scratch anyway.

As for the question of whether dBASE for Windows is an end-user tool--don't give it to someone who has never seen a database before. Any of a host of simpler products would be a better choice. You need familiarity with database concepts to use dBASE, and familiarity with DOS dBASE is a big plus.

Historically, dBASE always has been a favorite of application developers and a tool for power users. Those user profiles won't change much with the move to Windows. While its visual programming environment will let some less experienced users create more sophisticated dBASE applications faster than they could with the DOS product, it's still filled with enough jargon to scare off a casual user.

DOS dBASE was often praised, and cursed, for its unique traits. The Windows version has its unique personality, too. For instance, no other major Windows database can match its automatic translation of every move you make on a visual-design surface. Every mouse click, menu selection and button push--everything you do--is transformed by dBASE into program language statements.

Borland took it a step further. You also can type in statements and immediately see the results. Borland calls this two-way tools. I call it spectacular. Plus, you can cut and paste these statements into programs.

The dot prompt lives on in the form of the Command window. Experienced programmers need not feel hobbled by a visual interface. In fact, they will have flexibility that they never before experienced. The results of a command appear either in the File Viewer or the Command Results window and, if it works as planned, a programmer can cut it and paste it directly into a program.

Different programmers have different styles. Some undoubtedly program the way Mozart wrote music--in ink, creating a perfect first draft. However, most people probably write dBASE code interactively, one line at a time, testing every few lines to see if it is behaving as expected. The product supports this mode of composition in several ways. There is the dot prompt/File Viewer interconnection. Then there are execute buttons available at all times while you are writing in the program editing window. The buttons let you execute a line of code or the entire program at a time. Finally, there is a world-class debugger that lets you step through your program to isolate and diag-nose problems.

There has never been anything like the File Viewer in a dBASE development environment. It is the principal point of interaction with dBASE. It features drag-and-drop, point-and-click and right-mouse button sensitivity--signature functions of Borland's Windows products. Left-click on an object (a table, a program, a form) to select it. Double left-click to execute it. Right-click to bring up a menu of properties, and double right-click to bring up the editor for that file type.

With dBASE, Borland practices the object orientation it's been preaching. For example, when you design a form, the data-entry field-object default doesn't point anywhere. If you have experience with another Windows database, this might seem odd. But, if you right-click on the field, then go to the data properties, you can assign a field to the object. It's an extra step that preserves Borland's object purity, and makes the data-entry field object more flexible, although it sacrifices some clarity and simplicity.

Fortunately, there are few other compromises in dBASE. The Form Designer is as good as any visual forms design environment on the market. The Object Palette is the best toolbar of its type yet offered for Windows database forms design. You can select from a visual menu of existing object types (fields, boxes and buttons) and you can program your own custom objects in the dBASE language and place them on another toolbar. You can even use Visual Basic VBX custom controls. Once you have defined a custom control so that dBASE understands it, you can use it as you would any other dBASE object.

For simple forms, there is a forms Expert (Borland's version of a Wizard) that automatically designs a form with the look of your choice, then places fields on it. Such forms are rarely exactly what you want, but they provide a good starting point.

For the syntactically impaired, the Expression Builder (a button available on many screens) offers a point-and-shoot methodology for building valid dBASE expressions, including an evaluate button for testing. With the Expression Builder, you can eliminate typos in field names and stop guessing which verbs to use.

The menus and the button bar represent a clever solution to the problem of providing a friendly and familiar interface for newcomers, transfers from other Windows databases or users upgrading from DOS dBASE. The wording in the menus, as well as their organization, mirrors that of DOS dBASE, while the toolbar buttons use familiar Windows graphical representations. If you still can't deduce the functions of the buttons, roll the mouse over them and read their descriptions on the status line. Thus, a dBASE programmer can find Set Relation To on the menu and a convert from another Windows database will easily pick out the Join icon. So no matter what terminology you're used to, you can still get the job done.

dBASE comes with a customized built-in copy of the Crystal Reports report writer package. Future versions of the program will probably switch to ReportSmith, which Borland recently purchased. But if ever the switch occurs, you won't be stranded. You could still use the standalone version of Crystal Reports, since its reports are generated from the standard dBASE file format. The decision to use a third-party report writer was a smart choice by Borland; most of the bundled-in report writers in databases either are difficult to use or lack flexibility.

Borland not only maintained complete backward compatibility with the existing dBASE language, it extended it for the world of objects. Borland uses the concepts of object classes, inheritance and encapsulation. You can create an object--a dialog box, for example--in which you establish color, size and typefaces. You can then create specific dialog boxes that are instances of this class. They inherit the characteristics of the class. You might end up with dozens of dialogs in your application, but by changing the class definition, you can modify all of them at once.

Encapsulation, another object concept Borland supports in dBASE, means you can launch multiple instances of an object or program, and they can function independently, without any special programming effort. You can see this in the Browse window of the File Viewer: Open two Browse windows using the same database and you can scroll them independently.

Object orientation is based on each object (icon, button, field, etc.) having properties and methods. Properties include such things as color, font or associated database field. Methods are actions an object will take under certain circumstances (when clicked, when entered, when it is left). Virtually everything you see on the screen in dBASE is an object, including elements of the program itself.

Lots of programs now are using some object concepts. Borland is taking the idea to the limit. For the most part, it works, but in some cases, it makes tasks more awkward. However, the rigorous consistency of the object model--always the same results triggered by the same action--lowers the learning curve.

With dBASE you can bring your whole pile of DOS dBASE applications into Windows tomorrow, unchanged. If you have the time and interest, you can use your existing dBASE files and your knowledge of the language to build new and better versions relatively painlessly. If you're not carrying around a lot of legacy code and databases, dBASE is still worth considering as a serious developers' tool or as a place for power users to tinker.

dBASE for Windows 5.0

Price: $495; upgrades, $199.95

In Brief: This is worth the long wait--unquestionably the smoothest upgrade path for existing DOS Xbase applications and a serious competitor for users who don't yet own a Windows database.

Borland International Inc.800-331-0877 ext. 1209, 408-431-1000


First Impressions: CorelDRAW 5.0-Only the Kitchen Sink is Missing

By: James Bell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

CorelDRAW 5.0 is one giant step closer to what Corel aimed for with version 4.0: a one-stop solution for any graphics project.

Most of CorelDRAW 4.0's bundled programs--painting, charting, presentation and animation--weren't really in the same league as CorelDRAW's core drawing application in terms of functionality or performance. Corel has improved CorelDRAW's five modules--DRAW, Photo-Paint, Chart, Show and Move--and added Corel Ventura 5.0, a full-fledged desktop publishing package. You'll also find utilities ranging from bitmap tracing and OCR to clip art and font management, 825 fonts and 22,000 pieces of clip art (though a CD-ROM drive is mandatory to take advantage of all these extras).

Corel has revised its memory management under Windows, and modules are noticeably faster than in previous versions. There is also more resource sharing between applications; for example, modules now share the same set of line and fill patterns and use the same printing engine. The program supports OLE 2.0's drag-and-drop functionality; however, it does not support in-place editing or OLE automation, and the drawing module still only lets you open one drawing file at a time.

Corel redesigned the program interfaces for ease of use and consistency. It added ribbon bars and tabbed dialog boxes for quick access to command options, and balloon help and hint lines to make it easy to keep track of which tools do what. Additional information is available in the two volumes of documentation and in a slick CD-based multimedia QuickTour, which has replaced the videocassette tutorial that came with CorelDRAW 4.0.

CorelDRAW also has added new color and font controls in most components, including Candela's color management for calibrating scanners, screen displays and output devices, and Panose font-matching technology for intelligent substitution of missing fonts.

Users concerned that Corel might shortchange its drawing application by focusing too much on the other bundled programs should be reassured after seeing the new CorelDRAW.

Even with the addition of a ribbon toolbar, CorelDRAW retains an uncluttered drawing screen by continuing to implement many of its tools and formatting controls in handy roll-up dialog boxes that can be reduced to just a floating title bar when not in use.

The Extrude roll up now includes up to three light sources for more realistic three-dimensional effects, and you can control the vanishing point for perspectives.

You'll also find improved tools for precision drawing. Using the Transform roll up, you have precise numeric control over object placement, size, rotation and skewing. CorelDRAW 5.0 supports user-defined scales, and smart dimension and callout lines. Additional tools let you weld or clip overlapping objects.

You also can create and apply presets or macros for automating complicated object formatting.

Corel has revamped text handling, too. The maximum number of characters in a text block has doubled to 8,000 (somewhat less if you apply special formatting to artistic text). Paragraph text displays much faster and no longer automatically converts to curves when printing. You'll also find a spell checker, a thesaurus, an auto-correct option that automatically fixes common typos, tab settings and text controls for paragraph formatting.

With increased speed, fast printing and word processing features, CorelDRAW 5.0 is a much more efficient tool for producing short, design-intensive page layouts.

The two most interesting new tools in CorelDRAW are PowerClip and Lenses.

PowerClip lets you embed one object inside another to produce sophisticated masking effects. Until now, this capability was available in Aldus FreeHand, but Corel goes Aldus one better by letting you edit the embedded object at any time.

Lenses let you apply special attributes--such as transparency, color shifts and inversions, and magnification--to an object. These attributes affect any items the object overlaps. What makes this unique is that lenses are adjustable--move or resize a magnification lens, for example, and the elements that appear under the lens are automatically altered.

Photo-Paint has been rewritten completely in version 5.0. It is now a paint package on equal footing with products like Adobe Photoshop and Micrografx Picture Publisher.

Better memory management means Photo-Paint can handle multimegabyte images, or you can save memory and processing time by resampling, cropping or editing just a portion of a larger image when opening files. Also, you can now create and edit in CMYK mode.

Photo-Paint includes a much wider range of masking options, including transparency and color masks. More special-effects filters have been added, such as Spherize, 3D Perspective and Mesh Warp, and you can use Photoshop-compatible filter sets like Kai's Power Tools or Aldus' Gallery Effects. New brushes are available and you can add your own custom brushes.

Another major enhancement to Photo-Paint is the ability to maintain selected bitmap images as independent objects that can be edited and repositioned at any time. This makes producing collage-style graphics much easier.

The other main modules--Corel Chart, Corel Show, and Corel Move--each have similar improvements. For example, Chart now includes a full spreadsheet with mathematical operators, Show lets you add text charts directly to slides and Move includes a morphing feature for quickly generating animation frames.

CorelDRAW 5.0 will include the updated Corel Ventura Publisher, but it won't ship initially with CorelDRAW 5.0. Customers will receive a coupon entitling them to a copy when it is available.

Corel Ventura 5.0--which I reviewed in beta--has a more Windows-like interface, better performance, and easier access to text and graphics tools. It also takes advantage of CorelDRAW's shared color and font management utilities, and line and fill options.

Other improvements include formatting and tagging roll-up tools, irregular text wraps, rotation of text and graphics in .01 degree increments, expanded import options (including the ability to directly read Word 6.0, WordPerfect 6.0, and CorelDRAW's own new .CMX file format) and tools that make it easier to manage publication files.

Corel Ventura 5.0's strength continues to be longer, structured documents, which makes it a good complement to CorelDRAW's short design-intensive desktop publishing capabilities.

Last year's first release of CorelDRAW 4.0 left many users complaining about the number of bugs that were never shaken out of the shipping product. Corel responded by shipping a maintenance release almost immediately.

In contrast, CorelDRAW 5.0 looks remarkably solid. Corel attributes this improved stability to better testing tools, a larger-scale beta test program, and a commitment to not ship products prematurely. The decision to delay the release of Corel Ventura 5.0 suggests that Corel is taking quality control issues seriously.

Corel also has started unbundling its bundle. Ventura 5 together with Photo-Paint will be available for $595 on diskette/$495 on CD-ROM, and Photo-Paint is available alone for $249/$199 on diskette or CD-ROM. Corel will continue to sell Ventura 4.2, CorelDRAW 3.0 and CorelDRAW 4.0 at reduced prices ($249/$229, $199/$149 and $595/$395 for diskette or CD-ROM versions).

But advanced users who want high-end drawing, painting and desktop publishing tools that are well integrated probably won't want to consider anything less than the whole package: the best CorelDRAW 5.0 yet.

CorelDRAW 5.0

Price: $895 (diskettes); $695 (CD-ROM)

In Brief: This high-end graphics suite offers updated drawing, painting, charting, presentation, and animation tools and adds a full-fledged desktop publishing program.

Disk Space Required: 50MB (full installation)

System Resources: Varies

RAM: 8MB minimum (16MB recommended)

Corel Corp. 800-772-6735, 613-728-8200


First Impressions: Approach 3.0-Approach Nears Database Ideal

By: Rich Castagna

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Okay, I'll say it. Approach has become even more-- approachable. Version 3.0 surpasses earlier releases of this database program with a more graphical interface that not only looks better, but also puts the tools you need to design and use applications closer at hand.

This is the second version of Approach to come from Lotus since it acquired the program a year ago or so. The first was little more than a Lotus-ized release with a few additions that gave it a Lotus application personality. Version 3.0, which I tested in beta, has a lot more than just the company's fingerprints on the product with about 200 big and small enhancements and additions.

As soon as you start up Approach, you'll see a difference. A dialog, which later can be toggled off, appears immediately, presenting two choices. You can select an existing database to use from a pull-down list or create a new one from scratch, or use one of the supplied templates. The sample databases provide a good starting point for both business and personal database applications.

The main work area also has a new look. It has tabs for each of the views included in an application so that you can switch among them with a single-click rather than having to make menu selections.

Approach's support of multiple file formats hasn't changed. You can still use dBASE, Paradox, FoxPro and Oracle data files, among others, and ODBC support is still there for additional file access. Applications created with earlier versions of Approach can be imported easily, but once converted to 3.0 they're no longer usable by the other versions.

To create a new database, you can pick one of Approach's samples and easily modify it to suit your needs. But building your own from the ground up is also a no-sweat operation. In a redesigned dialog box, you just type in a field name, choose the field type from a pull-down list and indicate the length of the field. Field names are no longer limited to the restrictions of the native database format; they can be up to 32 characters long and can include spaces and punctuation.

As you name and define fields, you also can set some rules for data entry. An Options button enlarges the dialog and displays two tabbed areas. One tab panel lets you establish validation criteria such as limits and ranges, formulas, or selection lists to ensure correct data entry. The other lets you define a default value for a field. The Options section of the dialog can be left open as you continue to create other fields. Lotus also provides a button to print the record description.

When you finish creating the database, the display switches to a default screen form. But unlike the previous version where fields were just stacked up in a work area, the default form that Approach now builds for you has a polished, 3-D look. In fact, it is so close to being finished that you may need to move only a few fields and add a new title.

But if your needs are more exotic, you'll love the new design desktop. The design tools for drawing shapes, adding buttons and fields, and so forth, now float over the workspace so you can move to wherever accessing them is easiest for you.

The best addition to forms design is the InfoBox. If you right-click on a selected object such as a field, a menu pops up from which you can select Styles & Properties to open the InfoBox. You also can open the InfoBox by clicking on a SmartIcon at the top of the display. The InfoBox is a marvel. Virtually anything you might want to do to change the look of a form object is there. It, too, has a tabbed display that provides access to formatting options such as font style, colors for fills, lines and text, numeric formats and field labels. You can even get back to a field definition and modify it.

Perhaps the slickest thing about the InfoBox is that you can leave it open and float it around over your form. As you select different objects, the tabs in the InfoBox change dynamically to reflect the appropriate options for the type of object currently selected. And as you make your picks among the tabs, the changes appear immediately, so you can experiment freely until you find the right combination.

Formatting objects on forms gets even easier with Fast Format. When you click on this SmartIcon, the cursor turns into a paintbrush. You can use the brush to dip into an object and "lift'' its format and then apply it to another form object. All of the original's attributes are carried over. In addition to the forms you create, you can browse database information on a new Worksheet View that's similar to spreadsheet-like display, in Access and other database programs. The columns on the worksheet can be re-arranged by dragging them to new locations, and the columns' widths can be adjusted in a similar manner. If you don't want to include a column in the view, you can just drag it off. You can also sort columns, add and edit records, and search for data while in the worksheet view.

The report writer was Approach's weakest feature in previous versions.

For 3.0, that, too, has changed. When you create a report, the Report Assistant helps step you through the process. You first name the report and then you can choose a style that describes the appearance of the report. Next, there's a pick list of SmartMasters that describe the physical format of the report, such as columnar, standard or grouped-with summaries.

As you make your selections in the Report Assistant dialog, a thumbnail representation appears on the right showing what the report will look like. The thumbnail of the sample report is large enough to see clearly, so it makes it easy to try out different combinations of styles and formats before actually creating the final report.

After you've made your design choices, the Report Assistant opens another tabbed panel where you indicate which fields you want to include in the report. With a click on the Done button, the report is generated. You can switch to design mode to make adjustments to the report with the same set of tools used for screen form design.

New links to other Lotus applications such as 1-2-3 and Notes have been added to make exchanging and sharing data easier.

Approach is now mail-enabled, too, with support for both VIM and MAPI e-mail protocols. When you pick Send Mail from the File menu, a dialog box presents two choices: You can send either a snapshot of the current record or a file which could be an entire Approach application. It then finds your installed mail system and starts it up. You can then address the mail, add a subject and an additional message, and send it off or place it in your e-mail outbox. In my tests, the e-mail feature worked fine with Microsoft Mail.

Approach has had a loyal following from the day it hit the streets with version 1.0. It put database information within reach of database novices and those who think programming only refers to television.

Approach was easy to use then and, in its third full incarnation, is even easier now. Best of all, Lotus has managed to add simplicity to the program while adding more muscle with sophisticated database management tools. That's no mean trick.

Approach 3.0

Price: $495; $129 until 12/31/94; upgrades from Approach 2.X or Smart Suite, $79

Lotus Development 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500


First Impressions: OS/2 Offers Peaceful Coexistence

By: Arthur H. Germain III

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IBM calls its new release of OS/2 2.1 for Windows the Performance Beta because of its ability to run in 4MB of RAM. The early beta that I tested justifies the optimistic name.

This version of OS/2 is designed primarily to address two perceived problems: relative slowness and a healthy appetite for RAM. While we don't normally focus on speed and size when reviewing betas, these attributes are at the heart of this version, so they are worth a look even in beta. It should be noted that performance may change in the final version of the product, which will likely be called Personal OS/2 for Windows.

I tested the beta on a 33MHz 486DX with 8MB of RAM, a Diamond Viper video accelerator, an Adaptec SCSI adapter, a 500MB hard disk and a CD-ROM drive.

The OS/2 Performance Beta installs over Windows 3.1. The beta's setup routine didn't ask where it should search for Windows files. Because I had both Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on the hard disk, the OS/2 installation set up applica-

tions and system information for both. This caused a minor problem, since Windows for Workgroups 3.11 is not supported by this version of OS/2. I re-installed the beta over Windows 3.1 without further incident.

I installed the Diamond Viper OS/2 2.1 and Windows 3.1 video drivers, and was able to toggle between the OS/2 Workplace Shell and Windows 3.1. The ability to run at separate resolutions for full-screen Windows and the OS/2 Workplace shell is a handy feature. The beta provides seamless Windows sessions so that a Windows application can be started from the OS/2 Workplace Shell without first toggling to Windows.

Prior to installing OS/2, I ran WINDOWS Magazine's Word 2.0 and Excel 4.0 macro tests under Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 to determine performance baselines.

The Word macro took 66 seconds and the Excel macro took 75 seconds under Windows 3.1. With Windows for Workgroups 3.11, the scores were 67 seconds for the Word macro and 79 seconds for Excel. Because the system had a SCSI disk adapter, I couldn't use the 32-bit file access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 which would have improved performance.

I ran the same tests under full-screen Windows--switching to Windows and launching the applications from Program Manager. The results were close to the Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 times: 70 seconds for the Word macro and 77 seconds for Excel.

I tested disk access using the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune test. Disk access under Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was 2.25 megabytes per second (MBps) and 3.30MBps, respectively. For full-screen Windows under OS/2, disk access was measured at 0.57MBps. With an IDE drive and Windows for Workgroups 3.11's 32-bit file and disk access, Wintune typically shows 5.5 to 6.0Mbps data transfer rates.

Running Windows apps in seamless sessions was impressive. In this mode, I created DDE links and embedded objects between two Windows applications.

Next, I tested the OS/2 beta with only 4MB of RAM. While the system took noticeably longer to reboot, both full-screen and seamless Windows applications were able to run. In full-screen Windows mode, the time required to complete the Word macro climbed to 124 seconds. With Windows 3.1 running on the 4MB configuration, the same macro took 74 seconds.

IBM is targeting this OS/2 version for users with limited RAM but with the need for the power of both OS/2 and Windows. With a few loose ends still left to be tied up, it appears that IBM is well on the way to meeting that goal.

OS/2 Performance Beta

Price: Not available at press time

In Brief: The improved version of OS/2 for Windows features seamless Windows sessions and the ability to operate in low memory.

IBM Corp. 800-342-6672 (United States), 914-765-1900


First Impressions: August 1994 Pt 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

COMMUNICATIONS MADE EASIER

By: DAVID GABEL

Here's the good news: Procomm Plus for Windows 2.0 is really easy to use. And here's the better news: It probably has every communications feature you're likely to need.

I tested a beta version of Datastorm's second release of its Windows communications program. Originally available as shareware, Procomm has long been popular in the DOS world. The program's earlier Windows incarnation suffered from a hankering back to its DOS roots. It was a Windows program, but it was tough to use because it worked more like a DOS program.

Version 2.0 of the program is a different story. Procomm Plus is now clearly a Windows program. It just feels right, as the old automobile commercial used to say.

Installation is simple. The setup program creates a program group where it places icons for Procomm Plus and a host of ancillary programs, including fax, a .GIF file viewer, a scripting language editor and more.

At start-up, a blank terminal screen fills most of the display. A fully loaded button bar and a menu bar with enough choices to delight even the most jaded Windows user fill out the remainder of the display. The program is easier to use now because of new features and interface enhancements. For example, the menu bar now has separate pull-down menus for Setup and Online activities.

The Setup menu includes selections to control all communications settings and options as well as the environment. From a colorful dialog box, you can change communications port assignment, transmission rate, and just about everything else with just a few button clicks. You also can choose a transfer protocol to associate with a particular dialing directory entry, and as you step through the available protocols (including IND$FILE for file transfers with IBM mainframes) settings relevant to each entry appear in the box. Still without leaving this dialog, you can change screen colors, font style and size, and other display characteristics.

The Action Bar, Procomm's toolbar, also has been improved. Previously, your only option was to turn it off. Now, you can tailor it to fit your needs with buttons for the operations you perform most often. You can even add your own custom buttons to launch scripts or other routines.

The new interface also provides more information and help. As you pass the cursor over an Action Bar button, a label pops up with a short description of the button's function. Datastorm expanded the status bar to show the current connection's settings, and added modem-style status lights to indicate receive, send, clear to send, and carrier detect.

The program's much-improved directory dialog lets you classify entries as data, fax or voice by clicking on the appropriate button.

Procomm 2.0 also adds an integrated fax program. You can fax from other applications by selecting a printer driver option, or you can fax from the program itself. It includes logs of sent and received faxes, and a cover sheet editor.

Aspect, Procomm's highly regarded scripting language, has been upgraded, too. It's a full-fledged programming language designed specifically to automate communications. For example, you can write an Aspect script to create a front end so that you can access a BBS or commercial e-mail on-line service with only a few mouse clicks. The first Procomm for Windows included scripts for MCI Mail, CompuServe and other services, and it is expected that this version will also come with sample scripts.

Aspect's additions include support for arrays of all data types, and access to all of the new Procomm functions, such as fax. Also memory constraints have been eased when compiling big scripts. Though most of Version 1.0's commands remain, there is a conversion utility to bring older scripts up to 2.0's level.

Datastorm has added enough ease-of-use and new functionality to position Procomm as a total communications solution. From my look at this beta, it appears Datastorm is right on target.

Procomm Plus for Windows 2.0

Price: $179

In Brief: A host of new features and a more logical interface makes communications--including faxing--easier than ever.

Datastorm Technologies Inc. 314-443-3282, fax 314-875-0595

LAN SCANNER KEEPS TABS ON NET

By: ARTHUR H. GERMAIN III

McAfee's BrightWorks is a useful set of network management utilities for Novell NetWare servers that is marred by a difficult installation. Formerly known as Fusion, the program has five main functions: software metering, security, inventory, software distribution and report generating.

BrightWorks will not install on a Windows for Workgroups 3.11 system, so for my testing, I used Windows 3.1 with Novell networking enabled. I chose Custom from among the three installation options, but the process failed to properly modify my AUTOEXEC.NCF file or install and load the required NLMs on the server.

McAfee's recommended that I use the Basic option for installation. This worked, although I still had to load the NLMs for the first time.

To use software metering, you define the LAN applications to be metered and the number of active users permitted. Usage can be monitored from the BrightWorks console, which also shows queued users waiting for active users to quit the app. The program notifies queued users when they may access the application and for how long.

You also can set up directory access rights for individual users to control creating, deleting and modifying files while a metered application is in use. I found that these rights weren't always removed when I exited the metered application and I could erase files. A spokesperson for McAfee said this shortcoming will be addressed in a future version.

The security feature works similarly to metering. You add applications to a list of authorized files. If any of these files are changed, a notification will be sent to the administrator by cc:Mail, MHS, Novell SEND, a pager or a report. You can also stop unauthorized files from being executed from the network. If network users try to launch executables not on your list, they are notified that the program is unauthorized.

Inventory collection for hardware, software and system files is performed via a DOS executable. You execute this program and specify its frequency through NetWare system log-in script commands. The frequency and scope of the inventory (the types of hardware and software, including file servers and workstations) can be set by the administrator.

I had no problems collecting information about the file server and connected workstations. However, BrightWorks' library of known software wasn't very helpful. It didn't recognize COMMAND.COM, WIN.COM and some of its own executable files. You can manually identify program files that BrightWorks doesn't recognize automatically.

Software distribution was the most interesting module. With this, you can send packages to connected stations to install software locally. Distribution and package delivery is fairly flexible; you can choose recipients based on their equipment configuration as determined during hardware and software inventories. A scripting language lets you control software installation and customization, including the ability to change system configuration files. A log maintains the details of installation attempts.

BrightWorks uses Crystal Reports to generate reports on software metering, security, inventory and software distribution.

BrightWorks is promising, but its installation and setup need to be improved.

BrightWorks 1.0

Price: $1,499 (100 user), $2,999 (250 user), or per node.

In Brief: McAfee's network administration software includes some useful tools for monitoring network usage, but installation is often confusing.

McAfee Associates 908-530-0440, fax 908-530-0622

EASY ENTRY INTO THIRD DIMENSION

By: LYNN GINSBURG

The third dimension is just seconds away with trueSpace, a real-time 3-D modeling program. Compared with other applications with similar features, trueSpace is a bargain. It boasts accelerated rendering, broadcast-quality output and an incredibly well-designed and attractive interface.

From the start, trueSpace is different. Rather than traditional menus, most of its menu items are presented as 3-D icons. Clicking on an icon brings up a submenu with more choices. For example, a house icon brings up a submenu of different representations of the house, each showing a different point of view. Other icons represent more abstract functions and may be difficult to identify, but the status bar provides explanations. Toolbars that can be configured horizontally across the top or bottom of the workspace also make the program easier to use.

trueSpace places its wireframe, the basic metaphor of 3-D modeling, on a grid that can be zoomed in on, panned and rotated. One of the program's strengths is its ability to manipulate objects in real time. You can reshape, add points to, distort or otherwise modify the wireframe and instantly see results without having to wait for a full-screen redraw. A view of an object changes as it would in the real world: If you push it to a distant edge on the grid, it grows smaller as it's moved farther away.

trueSpace's unified work area for wireframe and rendering modes gives you instant feedback and results. While working with multiple wireframes, you can render an object without having to change modes or wait for an entire scene to redraw. You also can access animation tools in this same work area without having to exit to a separate animation module. The program's modeless interface makes tasks that are hard labor in other programs a pleasure in trueSpace.

You can quickly render wireframes with a dazzling and powerful array of texture, bump and environment maps that are accessible with icons. Texture maps include such materials as ceramic, stone, textile, water, weave and wicker; bump maps include surfaces such as orange peel, iron and tiles; environment maps determine ambiance, shininess, roughness or transparency of surfaces. You also can create your own with any software supporting .TGA or .BMP formats.

Animation is easy, too. A single click brings up the animation panel where all the necessary key-frame tools reside. You first define a starting position for an animated object and the number of frames. Next, you drag the object through space to its final frame position and the program automatically generates the intermediary frames. The spline, the path that the object travels, also can be edited using the tools in the Spline property panel. The animation tools are so simple to use that it's easy to overlook the program's potential for creating complex, professional-quality animation.

The program includes an array of special-effects tools such as beveling, deforming and lathing. Ray tracing requires more rendering time but creates a more accurate re-creation of space and refracted light. Fog simulates an aerial perspective, with objects diminishing in clarity as they recede in space. The program also supports scalable TrueType fonts, which can be manipulated as 3-D or animated objects. Objects can be imported from .BMP, .TGA and TIFF files; the program also supports 3-D formats such as .DXF, 3D Studio, WaveFront, Imagine and LightWave. trueSpace creates 24-bit broadcast quality output, with maximum resolutions of up to 8,000x8,000 pixels for slides. Animations can transferred to videotape or saved in .AVI file format.

trueSpace's accessible power and sophistication, and its elegant ease of use can unlock another dimension for a Windows PC.

Caligari trueSpace

Price: $795

In Brief: Caligari trueSpace offers professional-quality 3-D graphics in a package that combines ease-of-use with high-power performance and a price that's a trueBargain.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 4MB

Caligari Corp. 800-351-7620, 415-390-9600

THINKPAD IS AT HOME ON THE ROAD

By: KAREN STRAUSS

If you think notebook computers have gotten predictable, check out IBM's ThinkPad 755C, Big Blue's new top-of-the-line portable.

The 755C is powered by a 75MHz Intel DX4, and features built-in sound and a stunning 10.4-inch active-matrix color display. Its speedy processor is supported by fast 70-nanosecond RAM and a 540MB hard disk. This computer makes multimedia presentations a snap and deftly plows through routine tasks.

The 755C weighs a managable 6.5 pounds, and its large screen displays bright images with well-saturated colors. At 640x480-pixel resolution, it supports 256 colors and provides such sharply defined colors that even six-point type is readable. On the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune video test, the 755C's accelerated local-bus video scored an impressive 3.4 million pixels per second, surpassing the DX4-based notebooks from Toshiba and Texas Instruments that were reviewed in the June 1994 issue.

The 755C accommodates either two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA card. A Windows applet will identify a card when it's inserted and can be set to launch an associated application. You might take advantage of this, for example, to start up your e-mail program when a modem card is inserted or to automatically begin downloading messages with a PCMCIA pager card.

Mobile multimedia mavens will like the 755C's built-in 16-bit sound card, speaker and microphone, and its support for both .WAV and MIDI files. Stereo miniplugs for headphones or speakers, and an external microphone are included, as are drivers to emulate popular sound cards. Software packages for managing audio are part of the kit, too, including Monologue for Windows, a voice annotation application.

The IBM PC Co. bundles a generous amount of software with the ThinkPad 755C. In addition to Windows 3.1 and IBM's PC DOS 6.3, the preloaded programs include SofNet FaxWorks; cc:Mail, Organizer and ScreenCam from Lotus; America Online and Prodigy; OAG Flight Disk; and sound and system utilities. Missing from the bundle, however, is Windows for Workgroups 3.11, with its fast file and disk access.

On the road, the intelligent NiMH battery will help you get through a long day or a coast-to-coast flight. Battery life ranges from just over 3 hours to 8 hours. With full power management enabled, I consistently got about 6.5 hours of working time. All of the standard power management facilities are available, including APM, suspend/resume, standby and hibernation modes.

The evaluation unit was configured with a 540MB hard disk and 8MB of RAM. The standard memory configuration is 4MB and the notebook will accept up to 20MB. Other hard disks are available, including 170MB, 250MB and 340MB capacities; and an 810MB drive should be available by the time you read this.

With ample processing power and fast video, the 755C offers a reasonable alternative to juggling work between a desktop PC and a notebook. Combined with the optional Dock I docking station, it becomes a 12-pound multimedia workstation that works as well down the road or down the hall. Dock I has stereo speakers, a full-size AT-bus slot and one SCSI bay that can house a CD-ROM drive. The docking station, with the notebook sitting on top, requires only slightly more space than the notebook alone.

IBM includes the host module of Triton Technologies' Cosession remote control program. With the host software running on the ThinkPad 755C, IBM's technical support can use Cosession's remote access module to diagnose setup or software related problems.

Power has its price: A fully equipped 755C costs about $7,000. But, if you use your ThinkPad 755C while traveling and in the office, it's a bottom line that's not so hard to justify. And you can become a one-PC person again.

IBM ThinkPad 755C

Price: $6,894 (as tested)

In Brief: The 755C is a powerhouse multimedia machine that can work as capably on the road, or on the desktop.

The IBM PC Co. 800-426-2968, 914-765-1900

LOTUS PUTS 1-2-3 ON THE MAP

By: JONATHAN BLACKWOOD

Lotus' latest version of 1-2-3--Release 5.0--builds on the success of the year-old Release 4.0. Though Lotus stumbled with the first two Windows versions of its flagship product, it redeemed itself with 1-2-3

Release 4.0, which introduced an elegantly intuitive new interface and workgroup functionality, as exemplified in its Version Manager and its links to Lotus Notes. These features haveyet to be matched by either Excel or Quattro Pro.

Release 5.0 helps 1-2-3 catch up to its competitors in a number of key areas--including partial OLE 2.0 implementation.

by partial implementation, I mean the new version lets you drag and drop any element of a worksheet across files; it also lets you drag and drop a chart into an OLE 2.0 client application such as Word 6.0. It does not, however, provide the edit-in-place features of OLE 2.0. With 5.0, when you click on the 1-2-3 chart you dropped into your Word document, rather than being able to edit the chart in Word using 1-2-3's tools, you'll launch 1-2-3. The advantage to this is that it frees 1-2-3 from the stability-endangering resource gluttony of the similar procedure done utilizing Excel and Word.

SmartMaster templates--which will be familiar to users of Lotus' Freelance and Ami Pro--is one of the new features in the beta version I looked at. Other new or improved features include bubble help; a multipage print preview; the ability to open multiple files in one operation; and document summary sheets. The macro language also boasts some significant improvements, including the ability to access DLLs directly.

Release 5.0 also has 16 new @functions, as well as Range Routing, which lets you share a portion of a worksheet with coworkers, either sequentially or concurrently. And in response to Excel's Pivot Tables and Quattro Pro's Data Modeling Desktop, 1-2-3 now provides Dynamic Crosstabs. With Dynamic Crosstabs, a 1-2-3 Release 5.0 user gains some Lotus Improv-like data modeling functionality without having to buy and learn a new product. Lotus has improved the spreadsheet's integration with Approach and Notes as well.

Release 5.0 gets a leg up on its spreadsheet competition with a newly integrated mapping tool. Lotus Maps lets you plot numerical spreadsheet data geographically.

For example, you could illustrate the performance of a company's sales force by state or county, using color coding to contrast regional performance. The application's map displays are dynamic. If you change the plotting data, or formulas used to derive the information, the representations on the map will change simultaneously.

However, it's not a full statistical mapping system, and though a generous number of maps are included, you may need additional maps or information for your specific needs. The maps expected to be included with the spreadsheet are the United States by state, Canada by province, Mexico by state, Japan by prefecture and the European Community by region. There will also be 1,500 world cities and countries in the package. More detailed maps--such as by zip code, County or metropolitan area, for example--as well as related demographic information can be ordered from Strategic Mapping, 408-970-9600.

Release 5.0 places Lotus 1-2-3 on par with its peers again, and it adds a new wrinkle with its mapping tools. It still has the best workgroup features of the big three and its backward compatibility is unequaled. You can even use the slash-key menus if you need to.

1-2-3 Release 5.0

Price: $495; upgrade, $129

In Brief: With this new release of 1-2-3, Lotus fires the latest round in the spreadsheet wars--and hits the mark.

Lotus Development Corp. 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

WINDOWS WELCOMES OLD PIM PAL-RICH CASTAGNA

If you've been around PCs longer than Windows has, it's likely that you have used--or at least tried--Sidekick, one of the first DOS pop-up PIMs. Sidekick is back. After seeming to slip into the oblivion of DOS relics, the popular PIM is making its return in a brand-new Windows version. I got reacquainted with Sidekick while testing a beta version of the software.

If you like speed and simplicity, you'll love the new Sidekick. You may grow so enamored of this personal assistant, you will not want to leave it--especially since it can also be used as an effective Windows shell.

Sidekick's start-up screen looks somewhat like a desktop blotter, with icons to the right for access to the program's three principal parts: cardfile, calendar and notepad.

The cardfile is Sidekick's key component. It's so customizable that you can define every field, not just the handful that most PIMs offer. The cardfile screen has a series of tabs on the left where up to three fields of each record can be displayed. The fields on the tabs are the indexes for the cardfile, and they determine its sort order, making it easy to browse through a set of cards based on the information that's important. The screen also has alphabet tabs across the bottom for quick access to records based on the primary sort field.

You can find specific cardfile information in two ways. Key in search criteria in a field above the index tabs, and Sidekick will instantly locate the information in the first index field as you type. To search the second or third index field, you have to press Enter after keying in the search argument.

Sidekick also offers full text searches in which every field--including associated notes--is searched. For both types of searches, you can easily view all found occurrences by either picking from a drop-down list or clicking on an arrow to display the next record. You can also do conditional searches with greater- and less-than arguments, and Boolean operators. Whatever method you use, it's fast.

The calendar is also flexible. You can set up appointments, to-dos and a phone-call list. You can open a window with a view of your cardfile and set appointments by dragging a name from the cardfile listing and dropping it into a time slot on the calendar. You can also set appointments or tasks in a dialog box that lets you choose from a list of activities such as, "Call {name} at {phone},'' and Sidekick will fill in the field information automatically.

The calendar has tabs, as well, so you can switch easily among daily, weekly, monthly and yearly views.

The notepad is more like a miniature word processor. In addition to random jottings that can be associated with a cardfile record or appointment, it has a merge facility to create correspondence or other documents. There are three types of merge documents already set up, which are available by clicking on yet another set of Sidekick's ubiquitous tabs.

Sidekick will work the way you want it to. You can set up its Launchbar to start up other applications, and switch back to Sidekick by clicking on the icon it installs in the application's title bar. Almost everything is customizable, too, such as the speedbars in each of the main functions.

If you use another PIM, Sidekick facilitates importing your data. A separate import utility lets you bring in records in dBASE III and IV, Paradox, Windows' Cardfile, .DIF or ASCII formats.

Borland says three million copies of the DOS version of Sidekick were sold and about twice that number of pirated copies were less-than-legally loaded on PCs. You don't have to resort to larceny: With a low introductory price and a bundle of features, Sidekick for Windows is already a steal.

Sidekick for Windows 1.0

Price: $29.95 (for the first million copies sold)

In Brief: Once a DOS favorite, the Windows version of Sidekick is sure to win a legion of fans on its own merits.

Borland 800-UPGRADE, 408-431-1000

STAY ON TOP OF TIME AND TASKS

By: JONATHAN KARL MATZKIN

Some of us live by our calendars, others by contact lists--and there are no shortages of personal information managers (PIMs) for both camps. Time Planner Deluxe takes a different approach: It's designed for people who manage other people and delegate work. The software combines elements of free-form note taking, spreadsheet analysis and project management to track the progress of tasks and the people assigned to them.

Almost all the information entered into Time Planner is in the form of notes. When you create a note, you can associate properties with it, such as a due date or priority. You then can assign the note to one or more folders to file it by project, employee or any other category that you define. Time Planner lets you create as many folders as you need to maintain order.

The program shows off its flexibility with its choice of views for your notes and folders. You can cycle through the views--Calendar, Report, Timeline, Graph and Browser-by clicking on the appropriate buttons prominently located at the top of the application's main screen.

The Browser is a spreadsheet-like view that gives you an overall look at your notes and folders. The notes run along the left edge of the display, like a spreadsheet's row labels. The folder titles are across the top of the grid, like column labels. To assign a note to a folder, you just click on the cell where the note's row intersects the column of the folder. You can remove notes from folders with a single click, too.

These flexible procedures let you rearrange the contents of folders quickly. Also, by right-clicking on a note, you can pop up a menu of related actions, such as viewing or deleting a note.

The Timeline view is another grid with notes on the left side of the screen once again, but with an adjustable timeline along the top. This view is very similar to a project manager's growth chart. You can look at tasks on the timeline by day, week, month or year. The Timeline provides a summary view of projects and tasks in relation to time and allows drag-and-drop rescheduling.

While the Timeline view is task oriented, the Calendar is interval oriented. That is, it shows you what's going on for a given day, week or month. New tasks or events can be scheduled by clicking to bring up a blank note.

The Report view consolidates and summarizes activities over a given interval. It's useful if you bill clients for your work, because it lets you automatically list tasks, elapsed time and revenue due. Of course, some planning is required to ensure that folders are organized appropriately so that you may produce relevant reports.

While not primarily a contact manager, Time Planner does provide a facility for tracking names, addresses and related contact information. It also includes a telephone dialer that provides access to all of the phone numbers associated with contact. You can time calls too, with a single click to start and stop the timer.

You can import notes that you created with other applications, but Time Planner only accepts ASCII text in .CSV format.

Time Planner, with its unique interface, takes more time to get used to than some other PIMs. But an hour or two spent with the excellent, example-based tutorial should give you a running start.

When it comes to keeping tabs on time, tasks and projects, Time Planner Deluxe's versatile approach leaves less-flexible PIMs far behind.

Time Planner Deluxe 2.0

Price: $129

In Brief: A PIM optimized for those whose primary activity is managing tasks or people. Time Planner provides five basic views of information entered as free-form notes.

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 4MB

H.M. Hinsch & Co. 800-952-3530, 718-237-1977


First Impressions: August 1994 Pt 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

ENVOY'S MEDIUM IS ITS MESSAGE

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Envoy is WordPerfect's entry in the fast-growing electronic publishing field. With products such as Acrobat, Common Ground and Replica already on the market, the competition is hot. But Envoy, which I tested in beta, can stand the heat.

You create an Envoy document from any Windows application by printing to the Envoy printer driver. You can control the image quality (colors and resolution) and page size so that, for example, pages will fill just a screen rather than a standard piece of paper. A document can also contain vector or bitmap graphics.

If you have a copy of the program, you can open any Envoy document. You can also create an executable file that incorporates Envoy Viewer. The executable file can be freely distributed and doesn't require Envoy to view the document.

Viewer displays a document just as it was created. You can even select text or graphics and copy them to the Clipboard. Envoy is resolution independent and will maintain document formatting. If Viewer doesn't find the TrueType or PostScript Type 1 fonts used in the document, Envoy will substitute with the closest match available, adjusting width and point size to preserve formatting. With certain TrueType fonts, Envoy can embed the font characters so everything appears in Viewer exactly as it does in the original.

Viewer creates thumbnail images of pages to help in navigating a document. You can set bookmarks and jump directly to "marked'' pages. A zoom feature lets you view portions of text and graphics at 3 to 2000 percent of the original size. The Viewer toolbar lets you toggle views, so you can quickly move back and forth between full and zoomed views, for example.

Envoy's perfect for team projects where a number of people need to view and comment on a single document. A document can be annotated with colored highlighters. You can add notes, and drag and drop thumbnails to rearrange pages from several documents into a new one--even if the original pages were created with different applications. With Envoy's fast Find, you can search for text strings, notes, highlights, OLE objects, hypertext sources or bookmarks.

Envoy is fast. Viewer loads only the pages it needs to display while it forms the remaining images in the background. It interrupts drawing thumbnails when you annotate a document or chose another menu option, so you don't have to wait for a screen redraw to finish before continuing your work.

Hypertext jumps can be added to a document, but you have to add them in Viewer and then save the updated file. WordPerfect says that its next release will support the hypertext links that can be embedded in WordPerfect documents.

When you create an Envoy document you can specify a password to secure the document. You also can limit a reader's access privileges to view only or view and print.

An Envoy document can be sent as an e-mail message as the program supports both VIM and MAPI mail specifications. Envoy also provides OLE 1.0 client support, so you can insert objects into a document. The text is not reformatted, rather, the inserted object is added on top of the document.

A two-page document that included a Corel illustration took 30KB as an Envoy file and 456KB when it was created as an executable file.

WordPerfect also offers a Macintosh version of Envoy that can read documents created with the Windows version.

Envoy is a beauty. It's easy to create an Envoy document and the resulting files are small and manageable. Viewer is easy to use, too, and its annotation tools are excellent. And Envoy is fast--even in the beta version I tested. It has some minor deficiencies, though, such as the lack of an undo feature.

The next time you have to get the word out, let Envoy carry your message.

WordPerfect Envoy 1.0

Price: $189; competitive upgrade, $99; volume and commercial-use pricing available

In Brief: An electronic publishing tool for sharing documents, Envoy lets readers view and annotate files

while maintaining the original file's format.

WordPerfect Corp. 800-451-5151, 801-225-5000

PICTURE PUBLISHER'S NEW NT IMAGE-JOHN D. RULEY

Picture Publisher has always been a good, basic image-editing package--often shipped with optical scanners. With a new Windows NT version, Micrografx has made a serious move to position the product as a tool for professionals.

The NT version comes on a CD-ROM that contains four versions: one for MIPS R4x00-compatible CPUs, one for DEC Alpha AXP CPUs, and two for Intel processors--a 386/486 version and one optimized for Pentium processors. The setup program detects which CPU you have and loads the appropriate version along with 13MB of image files.

Picture Publisher for Windows NT has all the features of the Windows version, including tools for color separation, layering, macros, color mapping, image enhancement, and Picture Publisher's signature Fast Bits (thumbnail editing) and unique macro features.

Micrografx's NT features in Picture Publisher focus on multithreading. Almost all of Picture Publisher's tasks are executed in separate threads so it never locks up or refuses input. You can start loading one image and immediately load another without waiting for the first one to finish. Similarly, you can start a slow special effect and then continue editing another image without waiting for the effect to complete processing. Micrografx even added a Task Manager with a VCR-like panel to control multiple jobs, so you can stop, pause or continue tasks.

Multithreading also lets Picture Publisher take advantage of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems. You can even use more than one processor to speed up special effects on a single image, as is done automatically for filters.

Even with a standard Intel processor, Picture Publisher benefits from the 32-bit flat model design. With a beta version, performance results are rarely conclusive, but this program is impressive: Its speed nearly doubled that of the 16-bit Windows version running on a Pentium system and executing compute-intensive image effects. For graphics professionals who may wait minutes for an effect to complete processing, this may be reason enough to switch to the NT version.

Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT isn't quite perfect. It maintains application settings in two .INI files, for instance; rather than using NT's central configuration registry. It also doesn't appear to use NT's systemwide event log or make information available to the NT performance monitor application.

Strangest of all, while it's possible to run Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT under 16-bit Windows 3.1 (using version 1.15 of Microsoft Win32s libraries), the setup program won't run from anything other than Windows NT. This seems particularly odd because, given the NT version's high performance, it's likely that many users who aren't prepared to convert to NT might well want to run this application. Given that Micrografx has done the necessary work to make Picture Publisher run under Win32s, it's difficult to understand why the company didn't do the same for the setup program.

But with all that said, Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT is a near ideal example of how NT applications ought to be implemented. It runs on all the current platforms (Micrografx tells us that a PowerPC version is under development), installs cleanly regardless of CPU type, and exploits SMP technology. And it achieves all of this without compromising its excellent image-editing features.

Other software publishers could learn something about writing NT applications by taking a look at Miccrografx's Picture Publisher

Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT

Price: Free to registered owners of Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows ($595)

In Brief: Micrografx's image-editing application is the first in its category to offer 32-bit performance on all NT architectures.

Micrografx Inc. 800-676-3110, 214-234-1769

CLIENT/SERVER POWER ON DESKTOP

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Application developers will applaud Powersoft's downsizing of its flagship PowerBuilder client/server database development tool. PowerBuilder Desktop brings the top-flight features of its big brother to a standalone environment, but it's far from a stripped-down version: All it lacks is support for enterprise databases, such as DB2, Sybase and Oracle.

PowerBuilder includes a graphical application builder with tools to create data-entry forms, reports, charts and graphs. It can access most popular database formats, such as Paradox 3.x and 4.x and dBASE III and IV, via ODBC. ODBC drivers also are included for FoxPro, Access, Excel, Btrieve, ASCII and NetWare SQL.

Data-entry forms are more difficult to develop with PowerBuilder than with Access or Approach. You can create a form and place the fields on it, but you must add buttons (and scripts) to open a database and add, edit or delete records. It's not difficult, but it reflects the product's programming orientation.

When you build a database you create a data dictionary. The dictionary may contain validation rules with custom error messages, formats, default labels and so forth. There's also a data viewer that lets you inspect data on a form or a grid.

The banded report writer includes shortcuts for creating mailing labels, columnar reports and grouped reports with sorts, breaks, subtotals and totals. The Query Painter lets you easily specify sort order or Boolean conditions.

Powersoft ships the program with Watcom SQL database, which adds features such as referential integrity, and bidirectional and scrollable cursors that let you move back and forth through the records in a database-an operation that's often difficult with SQL databases.

PowerBuilder uses object-oriented technology extensively. An application that I built incorporated inheritance and encapsulation. The program also supports class libraries and encapsulation of processing logic. Everything is built in pieces, and is then tied together with either scripts or by setting options in the application builder. An application hierarchy map lets you view application components (screens, menus, and so on) where you can double-click on any item and bring up the appropriate editing tool.

You can design an application with custom toolbars and menus, a status bar, picture buttons, scroll bars and radio buttons. Support for multiple document interface (MDI) windows is available for tiled or cascading windows. Everything you do is translated into SQL syntax and then executed. This adds some overhead, and a 20-record database seemed to drag through some simple sorting routines, even when it was the only application running on a 33MHz 486 with 8MB of RAM. The SQL code is editable using PowerBuilder's built-in editor.

The program's own interface includes customizable toolbars, right-click menus, diagrams that illustrate primary keys and related fields, and drag-and-drop editing.

PowerBuilder Desktop is well-suited for complex applications, and those apps that may eventually find their way into a client/server environment. But it takes time and patience to learn. The Getting Started guide and user guide are good, but the documentation doesn't always provide full explanations. Eight more reference books and booklets are included, in addition to a CD-ROM with a large technical support database. Powersoft suggests joining a user group or attending the company's training seminars to get up to speed.

PowerBuilder Desktop is not for quick, end-user application development--Approach or Access are better-suited for that. For more elaborate applications that are likely to grow, it's an excellent choice. Although it requires some study and experimentation, the payoff could be a scalable application that serves current needs with an eye to the future.

PowerBuilder Desktop 3.0a

Price: $695; $249 for limited time

In Brief: The smaller version of a popular client/server development tool doesn't lack power, but it has a steep learning curve.

Disk Space Required: 8MB

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 8MB

Powersoft 800-395-3525,508-287-1500

SUM OF PART EQUAL PERFORMANCE

By: JIM FORBES

Sometimes you don't need the latest whiz-bang technology to get the job done. Gateway proves this with its ColorBook DX4-75. While no individual part stands out, the package as a whole provides convenient portable power.

The ColorBook DX4-75 weighs less than 6 pounds and measures approximately 1.75 by 11.7 by 8.5 inches. It has a large 10.25-inch dual-scan passive-matrix screen that's bright and easy to read. The display controls are conveniently located to the right of the screen.

The notebook has two stacked Type II PCMCIA slots that can also be used for one Type III device. I had no problem installing several different PCMCIA cards. It also includes the usual array of ports: serial, parallel, external monitor and PS/2 port.

The ColorBook's battery lasted for about 2.2 hours of normal operations and recharged in 2 hours.

The test unit came with an ample 250MB hard disk. It also was equipped with a whopping 12MB of RAM, although 8MB is standard.

The main attraction is, of course, the Intel 75MHz DX4 processor. The fast CPU, coupled with accelerated graphics, yields excellent performance. In my tests, the ColorBook made short work of spreadsheet recalculations and database searches.

The keyboard is responsive, and, although some keys are in nonstandard locations, it doesn't take long to adapt. The ColorBook's integrated track-ball slides out from underneath the spacebar. Its buttons are mounted on the sides of the trackball unit. Despite a small size that makes it more "track pearl'' than trackball, the pop-out pointing device is easy to use and its slide-in compartment provides some protection.

Gateway is one of the few vendors to ship notebooks with Windows for Workgroups 3.11. This is important because 3.11 supports 32-bit disk access, which greatly improves performance. Other software included with the ColorBook includes DOS 6.21, Microsoft Works for Windows, a PCMCIA socket and card services program, and power and screen management utilities. Gateway's OnLine Guide also is included. This program is especially useful for first-time notebook users, with its walk-through tour of the ColorBook.

There are some entries on the negative side of the ColorBook's ledger. Most are related to materials and design, such as the peg hinges that secure the door over the ports. They are, at best, fragile. And after about a week of use, one of them broke off while I was connecting an external monitor. The portable's power switch also lacked a solid feel.

But the combination of components is more impressive when you consider that similar offerings from other vendors often weigh at least a pound more than Gateway's new top-of-the-line notebook.

Gateway ColorBook DX4-75

Price: $3,764 (as tested)

In Brief: With a fast Intel DX4 processor, accelerated graphics and a large hard disk, this notebook performs exceptionally.

Gateway 2000 800-846-2000, 605-232-2000

IT ISN'T EASY BEING A GREEN MACHINE

By: DAVID GABEL

Green has become PC (politically correct) for PCs. But just because a PC is called "green,'' don't assume it's Energy Star compliant. Though First Computer Systems (FCS) calls its new system the FCS Green Pentium, it lacks the logo that identifies a PC as meeting EPA Energy Star standards.

Green or not, this is a competent Pentium machine. On the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune benchmarks, the FCS Systems's 66MHz Pentium racked up a 65.31 MIPS rating in CPU performance testing.

Disk performance was impressive. With a VL-Bus IDE controller and a Conner 500MB drive, it clocked a transfer rate of 3.90 megabytes per second (MBps).

The video system features a Diamond Viper VLB card, one of the fastest available. The monitor was a low-radiation ViewSonic 15 that's VESA DPMS-compliant. Its display was solid at most reso-lutions, with slight flicker at 1024x768 pixels due to the monitor's 60Hz vertical scan frequency at that resolution.

The tower case is spacious, with five 5.25-inch bays and four 3.5-inch bays. Two of the 3.5-inch bays are externally accessible and one is used by the floppy drive. Of the three VL-Bus slots, two were occupied by the graphics card and the combination IDE controller and I/O board. There are also five ISA slots.

The system can accommodate up to 128MB of RAM in its four 72-pin SIMM slots. Two slots were filled with 8MB. Without replacing those SIMMs, RAM could be expanded to 72MB by adding two 32MB SIMMs.

Along with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, FCS Green Pentium 66 included OptiGreen power management software. The OptiGreen software controlled the monitor nicely, and the CPU could be set to half speed after an elapsed time specified in the BIOS setup.

To earn the Energy Star tag, computing equipment must draw less than 30W when in idle or standby mode. Though it lacks the official designation, the FCS Pentium system does incorporate power-conserving modes.

The ViewSonic monitor lived up to its Energy Star rating, drawing 87 watts (W) at full power, but dropping to a miserly 18W in standby. The system, however, exceeds the 30W limit, requiring 42W in standby: mode.

The system's three fans pull power and are partly responsible for the 42W draw. Toss in the Pentium itself, which consumes enough power to need its own fan, and you'll find it really isn't easy to be green.

Still, this is a powerful PC with the capacity for expansion. Though it lacks an official Energy Star seal, it does have some energy-saving features. If you're shopping for a Pentium system, it's worth a look.

FCS Green Pentium 66

Price: $2,599

In Brief: Fast video and disk systems highlight this Pentium performer, though it's not as "green'' as its name suggests.

First Computer Systems 800-325-1911, 404-441-1911

WORKSTATION DELIVERS ONE-TWO PENTIUM PUNCH

By: RANJIT SAHAI

The Intergraph TD-4 is a dream machine for power CAD, CAM and CAE application users looking to migrate to Windows NT.

I tested a preproduction version of a TD-4 unit running Windows NT in a typical engineering environment and was very impressed. The TD-4 is a dual 90MHz Pentium symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) system with ultra-high resolution graphics display capabilities. It comes standard with 32MB of RAM, a 1GB Fast SCSI-2 hard disk, a double-speed CD-ROM, 3.5-inch high-density floppy disk drive, integrated Ethernet, an enhanced keyboard and a three-button mouse. The video subsystem includes Intergraph's 4MB video RAM G91 accelerated display adapter which is capable of 1600x1280 pixels with a color depth of 65,000 simultaneous colors.

The TD-4 has the usual peripheral connectors: a parallel port, two serial ports, ports for a keyboard and a PS/2 style mouse, and video port. It also has 10BaseT and AUI Ethernet ports, and an external SCSI port. The TD-4 is designed around the PCI and EISA bus standards. Windows NT is the standard operating system because it can take advantage of the TD-4's SMP capabilities.

Intergraph offers a choice of 17-, 20-, 21-, or 27-inch monitors. The systems are available in single- or dual-screen setups, the latter being popular among users of MicroStation, Intergraph's high-end CAD software. All of the monitors support 24-bit true color; the 20- and 27-inch models are capable of up to 2-megapixel resolutions. Other options are advanced display adapters, such as the GLZ and GLI, that accelerate 3-D and OpenGL graphics and digitizing tablets. Ergonomic digitizing tables, a common option for Intergraph workstations, are also available.

Because the TD-4 supports SMP, when you run multiple processes--either multiple applications or a single multithreaded application--the tasks are distributed among the TD-4's two Pentiums to yield noticeably improved performance. The hopped-up performance was obvious when I ran the extensively multithreaded Hamilton C shell for Windows NT. With the Pentium processors, you do not suffer an emulation penalty when running DOS and Windows applications as you would with RISC-based workstations. It also lets you integrate Windows-based applications such as Microsoft Excel with high-end Windows NT-based computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE) applications.

The superb performance of the TD-4, with its stunning video resolution and color depth, left no doubt about its suitability for serious CAD work. A power user migrating to Windows NT will find that the TD-4 is one fast machine.

Intergraph TD-4

Price: $14,500 (TD-4 with single 21-inch monitor)

In Brief: Proof that Intel-based systems can compete with RISC workstations in power and performance.

Intergraph Corp. 800-345-4856, 205-730-5372


First Impressions: August 1994 Pt 3

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

FRUGAL PROGRAM IS FEATURE RICH

By: JAMES E. POWELL

PagePlus straddles the desktop publishing fence: It contains features that rival high-end packages such as PageMaker and QuarkXPress, but its price puts it in competition with the likes of Microsoft Publisher. Despite its low price, the program is absolutely top notch.

I tested a late beta version of the program. Version 3.0 improvements include left and right master pages, automatic page numbering in a variety of styles, new text import features and hyphenation.

The Story Editor is PagePlus' new built-in text processor. It displays paragraph styles in the left margin with the text shown in blocks to the right. When you double-click on a section of text in a document, you automatically launch the Story Editor. You can then add or edit text, control fonts, check spelling, search and replace, or do a word count.

Earlier versions made it easy to flow text between pages, but version 3.0 makes it even easier by creating extra pages when imported text is too long to fit in a previously defined frame. It's equally effortless to set or change the number of columns and the spacing between them. And setting margins, adding boxes and lines, setting colors, zooming in or out, and jumping among pages are all easy operations. The Layout Checker checks for widows and orphans, blank pages and objects that don't fit properly.

Serif has improved the app's graphics control. You can flip or rotate graphics and text, and wrap text inside a graphic or around an irregular shape. Version 3.0 now imports Corel .CDR files and supports JPEG and Kodak Photo CD images. OLE support lets you import files as objects.

PagePlus doesn't have Wizards like Publisher, but its templates provide shortcuts for creating newsletters, brochures and other documents. AutoHelp pops up hints in yellow boxes or on the status line, depending on the level of expertise that you set. More help comes from PagePlus' Assistants, which suggest next steps based on your last activity.

Experienced desktop publishers will welcome the new custom CMYK palette, automatic trapping, color mapping of imported metafiles and support for Aldus' OPI format. Printing options now include automated tiling of oversized documents, and imposition and booklet printing.

You'll appreciate PagePlus' unbeatable combination of low price and high powered features--especially as you glide comfortably along its gentle learning curve.

PagePlus 3.0

Price: $59.95

Disk Space Required: 14.2MB (complete installation)

System Resources: 12%

RAM: 4MB

Serif Inc. 800-697-3743, fax 800-869-8909

CURSOR CONTROL FROM AFAR

By: RICH CASTAGNA

It may not be polite to point, but if you have to, ProPoint, a hand-held pointing device, makes it easy.

The ProPoint is about 4 inches long and 1.5 inches wide. Its shape--slightly tapered at one end and rounded at the other--makes the device fit comfortably in large or small hands. It has a 6-foot cord that attaches to a serial point, and comes with a 6-foot extension.

You control cursor movement by applying thumb pressure on a rubber-coated knob, similar to the eraser-sized pointing devices found on some notebook-computer keyboards. by pressing gently on the knob's edges, you can send the cursor skittering in any direction you choose, and the harder you press, the faster it goes.

A button carved out of the round end corresponds to the right mouse button, and a bar below the knob does the job of the left button.

It takes practice to control a cursor with the ProPoint confidently. The product is intended for presentations, where you want to roam the room and still be able to change a slide or click on a screen object.

But hang on to your mouse. Once the show is over and you're back at your spreadsheet, you'll want to holster the ProPoint until your next presentation.

ProPoint

Price: $129

Interlink Electronics 805-484-1331, fax 805-484-8989

NOT JUST ANOTHER SHELL GAME

By: SARA G. STEPHENS

Part ProgMan, part FileMan, SideBar is a neat and easy Windows shell that provides organization and customization without infringing on performance.

During installation, you decide whether to run SideBar as your Windows shell or keep Program Manager, with SideBar as an application.

The IconBar on SideBar's desktop provides access to folders. Folders replace Windows' program groups, but they can hold programs, data files or even other folders. You can drag files and drop them into folders; and because desktop objects don't take up disk space, you can have folders with duplicate files.

To create a new folder, you right-click anywhere within the Folders View window. A menu appears where you name the folder (using up to 128 characters) and assign it an icon. The FileMan-like Drives View displays the first line of text from each file as you highlight its name.

Double-clicking on SideBar's Preferences icon opens a tabbed dialog box where you can tweak your desktop's look. You can specify the IconBar's position, the size of icons, and how folders and directories are arranged. You also can enhance the IconBar with Toolbar, a DOS prompt for entering DOS file management commands. Another option puts the Status Bar at the bottom of the IconBar with its display of available memory and system resources.

SideBar makes printing easy, too: You just drag a filename and drop it on the program's Print Manager icon. For this to work, the data file's extension must be associated with an application that uses Windows' Print Manager. To create these associations, you double-click on the file's icon and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

If you're picky about your Windows desktop, you'll like SideBar. It's an effective way to maintain order, but it's not so different from the standard Windows fare that you'll need hours to learn it and to get things just right.

SideBar 1.0

Price: $59.95

Disk Space Required: 0.8MB

System Resources: 20%

RAM: 0.5MB

Quarterdeck Office Systems Inc. 310-392-9851, fax 310-399-3802

PARK PCMCCIA CARDS IN DESKTOP DOCK

By: WILLIAM GEE

Y our hard-traveling PCMCIA peripherals can work for you back home, too, with the CardDock. The CardDock fits into a 5.25-inch bay in your PC and offers dual PCMCIA slots that accept Type I, II or III cards. The drive comes with installation and support software, but be prepared to tinker because of the lack of standards for PCMCIA driver and interface software.

You can slip either a 3- or 5-volt card into the CardDock without shutting your system down. A front-mounted telephone jack provides easy access for PCMCIA communications cards.

The manuals clearly illustrate how to install and use the CardDock with your PCMCIA peripherals. You have to install an interface card and four 40-pin flat ribbon cables connecting the card and the unit--all of which require a fair amount of space. The driver and utility software installed quickly and made all of the necessary modifications to system files.

The CardDock accepts any PCMCIA version 2.01 device. I tested the unit with two PCMCIA peripherals: a modem and a hard disk. I discovered the pitfalls of misconfigured or conflicting drivers but, after some trial and error, I got both cards working.

The CardDock is affordable and backed by a one-year warranty but, given the state of the PCMCIA market, is far from plug and play. It may take a little patience, but once you get the proper drivers sorted out, it's a good way to get your PCMCIA cards to do double duty.

CardDock Universal Card Drive

Price: $299

Greystone Peripherals Inc. 408-866-4739, fax 408-866-8328

MIX AND MATCH TO FORM FONTS

By: ELLEN DENDY

Font Chameleon provides an impressive font library and lets you fashion your own fonts, too. The program installs 220 descriptors and uses only 2MB of disk space. A descriptor has information about a font's appearance and is about a tenth of the size of a traditional font file. Descriptors work with a rasterizer and a master outline file to create a reproduction of the font. The program includes descriptors for over 40 font families.

Working with Font Chameleon's slider bars is a little like genetic engineering. You control a font's weight, width, slant, x-height and tracking. And because you can blend any two fonts into one, hybrids such as combined serif and sans serif fonts are possible.

As you blend fonts, the results are displayed. When you save your creation, you have a number of options. You can add the new descriptor to an existing family, or create your own. The program records the "recipe'' for the new font, displaying the size and orientation settings, as well as blend percentages.

To use a font in an application, you select a descriptor, save it as either a PostScript or TrueType font and choose Build Font. Once your font is built, you use Windows' Control Panel to make it available to any application that supports PostScript or TrueType fonts.

Ares deserves kudos for making this program so easy to use. You can excercise your creativity while managing an abundant font collection.

Font Chameleon 1.0.1

Price: $295

Hard Disk Space: 2.1MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 2MB

Ares Software Corp. 800-783-2737, 415-578-9090

PRESTO! PROGMAN GETS A MAKEOVER

By: JAMES E. POWELL

WindowMagic makes Program Manager a friendlier base of operations for your Windows work. The utility makes numerous enhancements without putting a big dent on system resources. My tests never depleted system resources by more than 5 percent, and often used less.

Get-It, WindowMagic's task manager, makes task switching a breeze by adding an icon to the title bar of the current application. Get-It also lists the apps you put in a Favorite Applications program group. You can turn any program group into a floating toolbar and keep it in view with an always on top option. Toolbars can be minimized to save screen real estate. There are also 3,800 colorful icons included that you can assign to a program or group, but many of the icons are similar and some major applications aren't represented.

WindowMagic's printer manager lets you quickly set the default printer, select printer options or connect to a network printer. You can customize printer names, assign an icon to a printer or fax driver, and redirect output to a file. With Print-It Press you can save the names and locations of frequently printed files and print them using shortcut keys.

Disk icons show the amount of available space along with information such as capacity or disk label. A right-button mouse click provides shortcuts to labeling or copying a disk, opening a DOS box or launching File Manager. You can set a two-level alarm to alert you when available disk space dips to 20 percent and again when it hits 10 percent. Four resource icons help you monitor memory usage and system resources.

WindowMagic's digital prestidigitation lets you streamline Windows with its floating toolbars and shortcuts, while adding some color and diversity to your Windows desktop.

WindowMagic 3.0

Price: $89.95 (introductory price, $49.95); upgrades $25

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

WinWear Inc. 800-803-9358, 206-635-0856

ADMIRING ENSONIQ'S SOUNDSCAPE

By: WILLIAM GEE

Ensoniq tapped its experience with professional keyboards, synthesizers and samplers to develop the Soundscape 16-bit, 32-voice wavetable-synthesis sound card. It offers superior sound quality at a reasonable price as well as compatibility with most popular sound cards.

The card has a joystick/ MIDI port, CD/aux and MIC/ line-in jacks, and connections for Sony, Panasonic or Mitsumi CD-ROM drives. The software installation was simple, with software-selectable IRQ and DMA settings. The card's default hardware configuration worked fine, without any adjustments to the jumpers.

Bundled software includes Voyetra's Audiostation editing and playback program and Blue Ribbon Soundworks' SuperJAM! composition application.

With its 2MB wavetable, the Soundscape offers a realistic set of instruments. Its excellent sound library includes 128 General MIDI instruments, 61 drum programs and 128 MT-32 instruments. The Soundscape's wavetable sound quality rivals more expensive wavetable cards, while its price is comparable to that of a high-end FM synthesis unit. The superior quality should come as no surprise, as Ensoniq has over a decade of experience building sound libraries for the professional-musician market.

The product is also compatible with sound standards including Sound Blaster, Ad Lib and Roland MPU-401, ensuring access to a broad range of existing applications.

Ensoniq back the card with a 60-day money-back guarantee and a three-year warranty. For high quality at an affordable price, Soundscape is a sound choice.

Soundscape

Price: $279

Ensoniq 800-942-0096, 215-647-3930

TAME TIME, TASKS GRAPHICALLY

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

With Milestones Etc. 4.0, you can create employee and project schedules--from simple Gantt charts to complicated cycle and milestone schedules. And you don't have to be a graphics or page layout pro to create a good-looking schedule.

You can start by giving your schedule a title, and then adding a heading with the date in terms of years, months, days or hours. You can even schedule projects down to the minute. The Text tool lets you add descriptive text in the columns or in boxes on the schedule itself. Page Layout, a button on the toolbar, lets you enter column widths, lines per page and legend height.

Add start and end symbols for tasks by right-clicking and moving across the chart area until the displayed date is correct. Links between start and end dates are created by clicking on the start date, selecting a connector, and clicking on the end date. Symbols and connectors can be customized on the toolbar by choosing another shape from supplied samples. The color, shading and fill are also customizable.

You can easily modify a schedule by dragging the start or end date to a new location. The Symbol/Task Dependency Mode links start and end dates so that if one changes, the other shifts accordingly. This feature eliminates the need to manually update linked information. You can add a legend by clicking on a button and typing in the text.

The chart display can be blown up to four times its actual size or reduced to half its original dimensions. The Fit in Window command effectively provides a print preview. Import tools and support for MS Project's .MPX format let you build links to other files. The program also supports OLE 2.0.

Milestones is a good choice for displaying scheduling information graphically. Its ease of use--with most tools available with just a point and a click--is its best feature.

Milestones Etc. 4.0

Price: $149.95, upgrades $49.95

Disk Space Required: 25MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 2MB

Kidasa Software Inc. 800-765-0167; 512-328-0167

CD DRIVE TAKES INSIDE TRACK

By: JONATHAN BLACKWOOD

Plextor's 4PLEX is the first internal quad-speed CD-ROM drive on the market. I tested a preproduction unit and was impressed with its performance. Both NEC and Pioneer have quad-speed drives, but those units are external versions, because the motors used in them would not fit in an internal unit.

Plextor ships the 4PLEX with a 16-bit Future Domain SCSI controller and drivers. The drive comes with 1MB of on-board cache. In a recent WINDOWS Magazine review of CD-ROM drives (July 1994), most of the units we tested had 256KB caches. Plextor says its larger cache improves performance in video playback, and our subjective tests with .AVI files supported that claim.

The 4PLEX also turned in respectable scores on the MPC Wizard 2.0 tests. Its test results were roughly equal to those of the NEC MultiSpin 4X Pro, with the exception of seek time scores. The 4PLEX's scores were average, while the NEC drive's were excellent.

4PLEX's performance is more impressive when you compare its price to NEC's quad-speed. The NEC, with an interface card, lists for about $1,100. That's $400 more than the external 4PLEX model and $500 more than the internal drive.

Plextor is the largest maker of stepper motors--the kind used in CD-ROM drives. That knowledge is aptly applied. With quad-speed perfomance at a triple-speed price, the 4PLEX merits serious consideration.

Plextor 4PLEX PX-43CH Internal CD-ROM Drive

Price: $549; With 16-bit SCSI board, $599; external, $649; external with 16-bit SCSI board, $699

Plextor 800-886-3935, 408-980-1838

BLUE LIGHTNING POWERS COUGAR PC

By: JOHN GARTNER

It has an Alaris nameplate, but the Cougar EnergySmartPC has a distinct IBM look and feel. There's a lot of Big Blue on the inside, including IBM's clock-tripled 75MHz Blue Lightning processor, and an IBM motherboard with five ISA and two VL-Bus slots.

The 15-inch IBM monitor provides bright, clear images. It has pincushioning and color temperature controls, but lacks a degauss button, so you have to power down to clear magnetic interference. The sturdy keyboard is from IBM spin-off Lexmark. The only non-IBM peripherals are a Toshiba double-speed SCSI CD-ROM drive and a Microsoft Mouse.

Though it's clock-tripled, on the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests, the Cougar performed more like a 66MHz DX2. In the CPU test, it outscored a Gateway 2000 DX2/66 42.17 MIPS to 37.41, as expected. But in application-based tests using Word and Excel macros, the Cougar's performance was barely distinguishable from the 66MHz machine's. The Blue Lightning chip includes a 16KB internal cache that bolsters CPU performance, but it doesn't have an integrated floating-point unit. The Cougar also has a Cyrix 33MHz 83D87 math coprocessor.

The disk subsystem uses a motherboard-based local-bus IDE interface and a fast 540MB Maxtor disk. Video performance is unimpressive; the DRAM-based Sky Eagle graphics card lacks the performance of many VL-Bus cards.

The EnergySmart software lets you select time-out periods to put the system into sleep mode. The "sleeping'' system reawakens at the touch of a key, although somewhat sluggishly. Alaris says power consumption is less than 28 watts during inactivity, a level that conforms to Energy Star ratings.

The full-figured chassis offers more expandability than most green PCs. Two externally accessible 5.25-inch drive bays are free, but the nearby power supply may make cable-connecting cumbersome. The test unit had 16MB of RAM installed in one of the four SIMM sockets. An OverDrive socket accommodates a future CPU upgrade.

While it's not the fastest Energy Star available, the Cougar offers expansion that few can match.

Alaris Cougar EnergySmartPC BL3X/75

Price: $2,967

Alaris Inc. 510-770-5700, fax 510-770-5769

CARD-CARRYING COMMUNICATIONS

By: WILLIAM GEE

The WorldPort 14,400 Fax PCMCIA is U.S. Robotics' latest offering in miniature communications devices. The Type II PCMCIA card offers both data and fax communications at 14.4Kbps. It is compatible with a wide range of transmission speeds and protocols, including the Class 1 fax, V.32bis, V.42/MNP2-4 error control and V.42bis/MNP5 data compression standards.

The fax modem installs in a PCMCIA 2.0 Type II or Type III slot, and has an external phone jack that connects to a standard RJ-11 phone cable, which is included with the WorldPort package.

The end of the WorldPort that connects to the phone wire is thicker and extends about an inch. This could present a problem if you have another PCMCIA card in an adjacent slot.

The package also comes with the PhoenixCard Manager Plus software for installing the necessary drivers. The DOS-based installation went smoothly, although the program indicated that I had to exclude a memory range, which must be done manually. The user manual helps with resolving driver conflicts, especially if you're installing the modem in one of the dozen or so systems the manual specifically addresses. U.S. Robotics also provides support on CompuServe and its own BBS (708-982-5092).

The product includes a two-year warranty, an introductory CompuServe membership and QuickLink II fax/data software. With a street price of under $300, the WorldPort PCMCIA modem is an affordable and convenient way to add data and fax communications to a notebook computer.

WorldPort 14,400 Fax PCMCIA

Price: $339

U.S. Robotics Inc. 800-342-5877, 708-982-5001

GETTING ROUND THE SYSTEM

By: LYNN GINSBURG

Metz Task Manager cuts through the sometimes-bureaucratic ways of Windows with one-step access to file management and application launching.

The beta version of Task Manager that I tested included a file manager, program launcher and task scheduler. The file manager, Metz's main program, is available at any time by pressing Ctrl+Esc. From its pop-up window, you can search files and text, create a directory, change directories, and move, copy and rename files. You also can get a quick readout of current system resources or a complete run down of system specs, including CPU, graphics system and hard disk information. You can open an editor with a click of a button to make changes to your system files.

In the main module, you can configure a launchpad to start up your favorite applications with a single click. To set up the launcher, just choose from a list of installed programs by dragging program icons and dropping them on the launchpad. Then, to start a program, a single click on the appropriate icon in the Task Manager pop-up window does the trick.

METZ's third module can automate your Windows environment even further. The METZ Scheduler lets you set a specific time to kick off an application. You can direct it to run a program at a specified frequency or to run multiple routines. For example, you can set it up to back up your disk, run a virus-scan program and compress your hard disk, all in your blissful absence.

More than just a grab bag of gadgets and gizmos, Task Manager is a collection of things that Windows forgot, and that makes your everyday tasks easier.

METZ Task Manager 2.1

Price: $39.95

METZ Software 800-447-1712, 206-641-4525

BRING ORDER TO CD-ROM DISC ARRAY

By: KAREN STRAUSS

CD Essentials wants to help put your CD-ROM collection in order, and it tries to learn and remember how you use the information and programs in your collection. It's a program with possibilities, but the execution falls a little short.

CD Essentials' catalog and inventory organize your discs and their files. With an interface that resembles a VCR remote control, CD Essentials monitors your CD-ROM drive and senses when you've swapped discs. The first time you load a disc, you add it to the library, enter the program location information and set your usage preferences. The next time you insert the disc, CD Essentials automatically will run programs, play sounds and .AVI files, or take other actions based on your settings. A multimedia player that works with .AVI, .WAV, MIDI, Photo CD, and other graphics and audio files is included.

You won't find some of these excellent tools anywhere else, and they go a long way toward making your CD-ROM easier to use. Unfortunately, the program requires about 3.5MB of memory, so it's almost impossible to leave it running in the background while you run other applications. With 8MB of RAM and a 5MB permanent swap file in my system, I received out-of-memory messages whenever I tried to use Word, Excel or even Paintbrush with CD Essentials running. If CD Essentials isn't running, then it can't be monitoring your CD-ROM drive.

The memory overhead mars an otherwise excellent and useful product. If Phoenix Technologies significantly can reduce CD Essential's memory usage, the company will have a winner.

CD Essentials

Price: $49.95

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 3.5MB

Phoenix Technologies Ltd. 800-452-0120, 617-551-4000

CLEAR COURSE FOR DATA REPORTS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Crystal Reports, already a leading report writer, has added more muscle. Version 3.0 supports more file formats than the previous version and adds a data dictionary that lets you assign simple names to database fields, links and formulas.

Crystal Reports is a fast, feature-rich banded report writer. You can choose a report style from the new Report Gallery and use the WYSIWYG designer to place data in the header, footer, detail and summary bands. To add a column, you can drag a field from a list and drop it at the desired location. Special fields, such as page numbers or the system date, are available from a pull-down menu. The screen layout now includes a button bar and a toolbar with font, alignment and formatting options within easy reach. Context-sensitive menus are new, too.

Crystal Reports supports OLE 2.0 and has 100 built-in functions. Its crosstab calculations are easy to set up. Crystal Services has added Microsoft Access 1.x, Excel and ASCII to its file support list that already included dBASE, FoxPro, Clipper, Paradox and Btrieve. The Pro version also works with a number of SQL databases.

There are several new performance-boosting features. Last Saved Data lets you reuse query data when running or previewing a report. Browse Data displays field values to verifiy that you've selected the right one. It picked up some speed, too, and is faster than its rival, ReportSmith.

Version 3.0 is easier to use, but it's still a mixed bag. For example, you can change a crosstab cell width, but you adjust the height by using a larger font. Drag-and-drop isn't consistent either: You can drag a field to a row or column heading, but you can't drag it off to remove it. The designer uses placeholders for data locations, so you have to switch to print preview to adjust the layout with actual data. But in print preview you can modify only data fields, not labels or other text. It also lacks an undo feature, and the on-line help often refers to Private Tutor, unindexed help section.

Crystal Reports file support and design tools are solid. With the addition of some basic ease-of-use features, it'll be even more formidable.

Crystal Reports Pro Edition 3.0

Price: $395

Hard Disk Space: 15.4MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Crystal Services 800-663-1244, 604-681-3435

LOW COST VIDEO FOR DESKTOP DIRECTORS

By: JIM FORBES

Logitech's MovieMan can turn a PC into an audio-video editor.

I tested an engineering sample of the new board.MovieMan slips into a 16-bit ISA slot and has connectors for video-in, audio-in, audio-out and control-l (a remote-control signal used by camcorders). Logitech supplies drivers for popular sound cards and CD-ROMs that install with just a point and click.

MovieMan comes with EasyClip, for capturing and integrating video; Adobe Premier, a multimedia editor; and FotoTouch, an image editor. A runtime version of Microsoft's Video for Windows is also included.

MovieMan accepts video in NTSC or PAL formats, from cameras, VCRs or as .AVI files. The standard video display is 320 by 240 pixels, but with EasyClip you can create custom formats.

Desktop video is demanding. You'll need a lot of hard disk space and a powerful processor--probably no less than a 66MHz DX2. And Logitech recommends a whopping 16MB of RAM.

If you have the horsepower it needs, check out this video capture card.

MovieMan

Price: $299

Logitech Inc. 800-231-7717, 510-795-8500

MARKER IS MAGIC FOR MAKING NOTES

By: JAMES E. POWELL

You can make your mark in the world digitally with Electronic Marker.

Most presentation programs let you add lines and other notations to slides displayed on-screen, but few other applications provide the same facility. Electronic Marker lets you add your jottings to the display of any Windows application.

Electronic Marker includes a highlighter tool that works like familiar felt-tip pens.

You can draw a line through text on the screen and the text will remain visible through the splash of colorful highlighting. The highlighter's color and width are adjustable, and the program can highlight in perfect horizontal or vertical lines, or reproduce your freehand strokes exactly.

There are other annotation tools, including small lines, arrows and pointing fingers, that you can add to screen images. There's also a check mark graphic that's perfect for emphasizing key points, and special text selections, such as New Record, that can embellish screens with explanatory phrases.

You can designate a hotkey to start the program and assign a function key to each marker. The hotkey makes Electronic Marker available from within any other application. When it pops into action, the program works like a clear plastic overlay stretched across the screen. You select the highlighter or another marker and press and hold the left mouse key to draw on the screen. To place a graphic such as a pointing finger, you just press the appropriate function key and left-click to add it to the overlay. Another hotkey will erase the overlay and return you to the application.

I tested a late beta version of Electronic Marker with about a dozen applications and it worked fine in all cases. Electronic Marker is useful for training sessions and group editing projects, too. The program is available separately or packaged with a digitizing tablet and pen.

Electronic Marker

Price: $79.95; with Electronic Marker pad, $295

Disk Space Required: 600KB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 4MB

Consumer Technology Northwest Inc. 800-356-3983, 503-643-1662

MINI DRIVE FOR MOBILE MEGABYTES

By: WILLIAM GEE

The PocketFile 170 provides pocket-sized portable storage. The 10.5mm Type III PCMCIA hard disk has a healthy 170MB capacity, yet the slim card weighs only 3 ounces.

With the PocketFile, you can easily move substantial amounts of data among portables or PCMCIA-equipped desktop PCs. Swapping the tiny drive between systems is faster and more convenient than transferring data over cables or on diskettes. And its small size provides an easy way to secure sensitive data. Most notebook computers now come with at least one PCMCIA Type III slot, so exchanging data stored on a PocketFile 170 should be no problem.

The DOS-based SystemSoft program loads the PCMCIA driver and makes all the necessary file modifications (including a D000-DFFF memory exclusion). Once configured, the drivers let you hot swap the PocketFile in both Windows and DOS without having to shut down the system.

The PocketFile 170 doesn't match the performance of a standard IDE hard disk, but it exceeds other removable media such as tape and floppy disk drives.

The PocketFile is capable of withstanding up to 750G of nonoperating shock, so it's ready for some hard traveling. It also comes with a form-fitting carrying case for added protection.

The drive is a little pricey in comparison to similarly sized standard drives. But it's a good solution for mobile users who need to move data as well as themselves.

PocketFile 170 PCMCIA

Price: $649

Integral Peripherals Inc.800-566-STOR, 303-449-8009

ON-LINE NEW THAT YOU CHOOSE

By: JAMES E. POWELL

With PED Software's Journalist, you can have a custom newspaper delivered to your electronic doorstep every day. Journalist downloads news stories and pictures from Prodigy into a format that you design. You define the columns and their contents, select fonts, and even add a logo. Tell Journalist what stories to retrieve and the program fills your paper's pages. Layouts can be reused, with fresh news replacing the old. Several layouts are included that, with a little tweaking, may be all you'll need.

A version for CompuServe is also available.

After Journalist downloads news, you can click on any column to read the story, or choose a story from the table of contents. At 9600 bits per second, Journalist took about 15 minutes to download and format 40 stories on 15 pages. A scheduler is included, so you can specify a time for Journalist to "go get the news.''

When you print stories, Journalist flows them to as many pages as needed. You can format the main page, but not the overflow pages.

Stories can be retrieved only from the Prodigy topics that Journalist recognizes, but most news, sports, computer and business stories are recognized. The program uses background communications, but another application can interrupt it, so you should probably quit other work when Journalist is running. And while you can get stock prices and company news by stock symbol, you can't filter other news by topic.

Journalist can update itself to accommodate Prodigy's frequent service changes. PED provides free, 24-hour support.

In an age of information overload, Journalist makes it possible to get news you need the way you want it.

Journalist for Prodigy 1.1

Price: $79.95

Disk Space Required: 5.5MB

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 4MB

PED Software 800-548-2203, 408-548-2203, Prodigy: "jump journalist'' for information

CUSTOM TOOLBARS GIVE APPLICATIONS A GUIER LOOK

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

SmartPad adds automation tools to your favorite Windows applications. This handy utility is a little like a snowball rolling down a mountain. The more you use it, the bigger it gets.

SmartPad lets you add toolbar shortcuts for frequently performed operations. You can use it to beef up anemic apps or to add graphical elements to powerhouse programs.

SmartPad's opening display features five tabbed sections. In the first, you assign a name to a new toolbar. The Build section shows icons that you can copy or drag onto the toolbar construction area. The icon selection is varied, from familiar icons for standard Windows activities such as File/Open, to icons for Microsoft Office, Lotus SmartSuite and others. You can add spaces and line breaks to group the icons. If you change your mind, just drag the icon to SmartPad's shredder and witness some colorful icon elimination.

The Layout and Style tabs let you add the finishing touches by adjusting color, spacing and placement of icons. SmartPad defines icon operations for those that launch popular applications, but you can define a custom icon's purpose in the Actions section. To do this, you enter the appropriate menu commands. It's somewhat involved, but well-documented in the manual. The final tab is Associate, where you assign toolbars to applications.

To use a toolbar, you click on the SmartPad's light-switch icon. Your application will start up with the custom SmartPad toolbar ready for use. I had no problem adding toolbars to Microsoft Mail and Schedule+.

SmartPad is a well-designed tool for customizing and automating your favorite Windows applications.

SmartPad 3.0

Price: $95

Disk Space Required: 1.5MB

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 4MB

Softblox Inc. 404-892-0202, fax 404-892-0981


Optimizing Windows: Trim Your DOS Windows

By: John Woram

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

If you devote much of your adult life--or at least the part of it spent at the keyboard--trying to evacuate conventional memory, sooner or later you'll probably ask yourself: Why am I doing this? The answer is, of course, so that your computer can better handle all those DOS applications that run only in conventional memory. If that answer brings up another question--what DOS applications?--then maybe it's time to put MemMaker away and get down to running your Windows apps, some of which might make better use of your RAM resources.

Nevertheless, there are times when even the most devoted Windows user wants to sneak back to the C: prompt. Maybe you just need a peek at what's going on out there in inner space, or perhaps you want to run what Microsoft refers to as a non-Windows application (it being bad form in polite Redmond society to utter the D-word in public). Now, as much as I enjoy Microspeak, I have trouble saying non-Windows window.

So, I hereby introduce the DOS window, which is what I call the thing you see after double-clicking on the MS-DOS prompt icon and then pressing Alt+Enter. Its obvious reason for existence is to let you occasionally run a DOS app from within Windows. I say occasionally because if you run the same DOS app repeatedly, you'll probably set up a dedicated icon for it. This will lead you into the mysteries of the PIF Editor, which could easily eat up a column or two all by itself. In this column, though, I'm going to show you different ways to use and optimize the DOS window.

Checking your desktop alignment

Here's a handy way to use the DOS window as a quickie display-alignment tool. First, maximize the window, then carefully move its upper-left-hand corner into the upper-left-hand corner of your Windows desktop. Next, open the DOS window's Control menu and select the Fonts option at the bottom of the list. When the Font Selection dialog box appears, note the Window Preview section in the center. The black rectangle indicates the size and position of the DOS window, and the rest represents the screen area occupied by the Windows desktop. You can adjust the size of the DOS window by selecting a different character matrix in the Font box to the left.

But before you switch matrixes, note the apparent position of the DOS window with respect to the complete desktop area. Assuming you previously moved the window into the upper-left-hand corner of the desktop, the black rectangle should be flush with the top and left borders of the desktop rectangle. If it's not, that's a visual clue that your basic Windows desktop display area needs some attention. For example, if the Window Preview shows that the top of the DOS window is slightly below the top of the desktop, that means the top of your desktop is off the screen.

To optimize your display, adjust the monitor's vertical position control until a thin strip of black appears at the top of the screen. Continue adjusting until horizontal strips of the same width appear at the top and bottom. Then adjust the vertical size until both strips disappear. If necessary, repeat the same general procedure using the horizontal controls. (On some monitors, horizontal position is labeled as horizontal phase.) When you're finished, reposition the DOS window in the upper-left-hand corner of the desktop and return to the Font Selection dialog box. The DOS window should now appear flush.

Selecting a font matrix

The Font selector at the left of the Font Selection dialog box is really a font matrix selector. The font itself is Windows' Terminal font, which comes to you from a variety of sources, depending on which matrix you select. One of the 10 available matrixes is contained in the default OEM font for your system, which is specified in the [boot] section of your SYSTEM.INI file by one of the following two lines:

oemfonts.fon=EGAOEM.FON

(EGA system, 8x8 matrix) or

oemfonts.fon=VGAOEM.FON

(VGA or SVGA system, 8x12 matrix).

The specified file replaces the file below with the same matrix (that is, either CGA80WOA.FON or EGA80WOA.FON). Six of the other matrixes are located in a single file, DOSAPP.FON, while the remaining three are in the xGAx0WOA.FON files, one per file.

Matrix Font filename

4x6 DOSAPP.FON

5x12 DOSAPP.FON

6x8 DOSAPP.FON

7x12 DOSAPP.FON

8x8 CGA80WOA.FON

8x12 EGA80WOA.FON

10x18 DOSAPP.FON

12x16 DOSAPP.FON

16x8 CGA40WOA.FON

16x12 EGA40WOA.FON

As if that's not complicated enough, this collective Terminal font has two styles: The six matrixes found in the DOSAPP.FON file are all sans serif, while the other four are a serif style similar to the Courier or TrueType Courier New fonts. To see this for yourself, open a DOS window and examine the style of the boxed message that initially appears at the top of the screen. Unless you've previously made some changes, the message is displayed in the default 8x8 (EGA) or 8x12 (VGA) matrix. Now switch to any font matrix in the DOSAPP.FON file (according to the chart above) and note the style change from serif to sans serif.

When the font matrix changes, the size of the DOS window changes as necessary to display 25 lines of 80 characters each. Vertical and horizontal scroll bars appear in the window whenever the current video resolution doesn't provide sufficient room for the complete display. For example, the 10x18 matrix extends across the complete horizontal desktop area. Because 80 charactersx10 pixels/character = 800 pixels, this indicates that the system is set for 800x600 video resolution.

If you load the ANSI.SYS driver during boot-up, you can use the DOS MODE command to increase the number of lines in the window (for example, MODE,43). This command may cause the bottom of the window to drop off the screen, in which case a vertical scroll bar will appear. Because the bar takes up the space of a few horizontal characters, a complete 80-character line will no longer fit in the window, so a horizontal scroll bar will show up too.

by the way, if you select a language other than English, the DOSAPP.FON file is replaced with APP850.FON, whose multilingual character set replaces the IBM extended-character set found in DOSAPP.FON. And that brings up yet another oddity: The 4x6 matrix retains the IBM extended-character set.

Copying text from a DOS window

When you copy text from a DOS application to a Windows one, you may not get what you expect, as illustrated by the following example. Open the MS-DOS Prompt, Clipboard (or Clipbook Viewer, if you use Windows for Workgroups) and one more applet (either Paintbrush, Write or your own Windows word processor). Adjust each applet's window size so that it occupies approximately a third of the available vertical screen area. Now open the DOS window's Control menu and select the 7x12 matrix, or any other matrix from the DOSAPP.FON file.

Select the Edit option and mark the boxed message for copying. Do this by dragging the blinking box in the upper-left-hand corner diagonally across the screen until the entire message is highlighted. Press the Enter key to copy the highlighted area to Clipboard. Now note what happens to the parallel lines surrounding the message while it's in Clipboard. In each corner, a plus sign replaces the corner bracket, and the horizontal and vertical borders are converted to a series of dashes and vertical bars. Also, the font is not the one in the DOS window. Although both are sans serif, the former is a monospaced font, the latter a variable-spaced font.

The problem here is that the Terminal font in the DOS window contains the traditional IBM extended-character set, which has all those nifty line-drawing symbols that Windows thinks nobody wants anymore. When such text is copied, Windows displays it in Clipboard's own default font, the variable-spaced System font (VGASYS.FON). Because the System font follows the Windows/ANSI format, all those high-bit symbols in the IBM extended-character set get tossed out in favor of whatever can be found in the System font.

The good news is that Clipboard also holds a copy of the original Terminal font. If you want to take a look at it, open the Display menu (or the View menu if you're running Windows for Workgroups) and then select the OEM Text option. Clipboard will display a reproduction of the original DOS screen, complete with IBM extended-character symbols.

The bad news is that you can't use the Terminal font. If you now paste the Clipboard text into Paintbrush, Write or whatever other Windows application you placed at the bottom of your desktop, you still get the System font version, regardless of what you saw on Clipboard itself. You can preselect the Terminal font in Paintbrush and Write, and in other apps if your installed printer supports that font (for example, an IBM Proprinter). But even if you do, the extended-character symbols still get trashed.

There's yet another variable to take into account here. If the OEM Text option on Clipboard's View (or Display) menu is selected, text is displayed via the default OEM font, which happens to be a Courier-like serif style. So even if the DOS window itself shows the text in sans-serif style (because one of the matrixes in DOSAPP.FON was selected), that text shows up on Clipboard in the serif style of the VGAOEM.FON file (or the EGAOEM.FON file).

Maybe Clipboard access will be improved in the not-too-distant future. Or maybe in the distant future. In the meantime, if you want to compare the character sets of the Terminal (xGAOEM.FON), System (xGASYS.FON) and Fixedsys (xGAFIX.FON) fonts, run three copies of Character Map concurrently and select a different one of those fonts in each.

Disabling the exit message

When you double-click on the MS-DOS Prompt icon, apparently Windows thinks you've just made a terrible mistake, for it immediately tells you how to return to Windows. You can easily disable the message if you'd rather not be reminded. Just add the following line to the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file:

DOSPromptExitInstruc=OFF

Note that this entry is not in SYSTEM.INI's special [NonWindowsApp] section, in which Windows looks for other instructions related to DOS apps. The location of this command in the [386Enh] section serves as a reminder that it has no effect in Standard-mode Windows.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook and The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House).


Getting Started: When You Need Help With Help

By: Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

What do you do when you want to learn a new task in one of your applications? Go for Help, of course. Help files are great on-line sources of information. But where do you turn if Help itself is giving you a hard time?

A well-behaved help file is supposed to stay put and remember where you want it placed on your desktop. But sometimes help files are obstinate, putting their windows wherever they please. Well, I've discovered the cause of the problem--and I'll show you how to get around it.

I'll also share two unusual things you can try that may help you bring a moribund PC back to life. And I'll explain all you need to know about swap files.

Finally, for you would-be Windows cyberspace cowboys, I've developed a document that gives you information about getting on-line with Windows. I'll tell you where you can get your hands on it.

Q: Whenever I click on Help, the Help window is almost maximized, but not quite. Each time, I have to double-click on the title bar to make the window full screen. Is there anything I can do to make Help stay put?

A: Sounds like you're a Word user. When you execute Help in Word 2.0 or 6.0, it checks your WIN.INI file to see whether Help was maximized the last time you exited it. If it was, Help actually modifies WIN.INI's settings to place the upper-left corner of the Help window four pixels from the top and left of your screen, and the bottom right corner completely off the screen.

To make matters worse, the change in your WIN.INI file causes the help files in all your other applications to open the same way. I find this annoying, so I've come up with a way for Word users to trick Windows into opening all Help windows full screen. Word changes the Help settings in your WIN.INI file only if Help was maximized when you last exited. So, the solution is to edit WIN.INI yourself, setting Help to be "non-maximized,'' but to have a window size and placement that actually takes up your whole screen.

To do so, go into Program Manager or File Manager, then open the File menu and select Run. Type SYSEDIT in the Command Line box, then click on the OK button. Click on the title bar of the WIN.INI window to bring it to the foreground. Then scroll down in the file until you find the [Windows Help] heading. Under the heading, you'll see (among other things) the following line:

M_WindowPosition=

After the equal sign, you'll see five numbers, separated by commas, in a pair of brackets. The first number is the distance, in pixels, that the left border of your Help window will be from the left side of your screen. The second number is the distance from the top of your screen to the top of your Help window. The third and fourth numbers are the width and height of your Help window. The last number is either 1 or 0: 1 means the window is maximized and 0 means it isn't.

To make Help open up "non-maximized'' but full screen, edit the line so it looks like this:

M_WindowPosition=[0,0,640,480,0]

(If your display driver is running at 8002600 or 10242768, substitute those numbers for 640 and 480.)

Now save and close the file. The next time you go for Help, it'll be right where you want it.

Are you curious about the other settings under [Windows Help] in your WIN.INI file? They control other Help windows.

H_WindowPosition=

controls the History window,

C_WindowPosition=

controls the Copy window, and

A_WindowPosition=

controls the Annotate window. If you don't have one or more of these lines in your WIN.INI file, don't worry: Help writes them only if you have ever opened the corresponding windows.

Q: I'm totally stumped. When I boot my system, DOS tells me it can't find my configuration. My PC company's tech support reps can't figure it out either. Help!

A: When all else fails, you can try two things that computer tech support reps rarely tell you about.

•	Check for loose connections. It's surprisingly common for chips or connections inside your PC to move or slip out of place. This is most likely to occur in hot, humid regions or in areas where the air temperature fluctuates widely.

To see whether loose connections are causing your problem, unplug your PC from the outlet and open the case. Next, touch the metal case surrounding the fan to make sure you don't shock one of your chips and damage it. Then gently jiggle and push in all your chips and wire connections, one by one. When you're done, put the case back on, then plug in your PC and see if it works.

•	Replace your CMOS battery. If your PC still isn't working after you check the connections, then you might have a dead CMOS battery. The CMOS battery keeps your PC's clock working, and provides enough juice for your system to remember what kind of hardware it has. If this cheap little battery goes dead, your system won't be able to boot up.

PC manufacturers do whatever they can to cut costs, including putting low-cost, low-quality CMOS batteries in their machines. PCs purchased in the late '80s or early '90s are likely to have batteries that are at or near the end of their functional lives.

If you don't feel comfortable opening your machine, take it to a reputable computer repair shop and ask for your CMOS battery to be replaced with a long-lasting one. (Even if your system's running okay, it's a good idea to replace original batteries that are more than three years old.)

If you're a do-it-yourselfer, get out your system's documentation and find out how to read the configuration information. (For example, on my system, I can read it by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Esc at the DOS prompt.) Then grab a pencil and some paper, and carefully copy down all your configuration information--because when you unplug that battery, all the information will be lost.

Next, go to your friendly neighborhood PC dealer and buy a new battery (it'll generally cost less than $20). Unplug your PC from the outlet, open the case, touch the metal case surrounding the fan (so you don't shock anything) and find the CMOS battery. The system documentation will tell you what it looks like and where it is in your system. Replace the old battery with the new. Finally, put the case back on, plug in your PC and type in all your configuration information.

Q: What is a swap file? Why do I need one? Can I use a swap file with DoubleSpace? How big should it be?

A: Windows uses a swap file as fake RAM, enabling your system to run more and bigger programs concurrently than it otherwise could. You don't have to worry about the file--just the settings.

To check your swap file's settings, open Control Panel and double-click on the 386 Enhanced icon, then click on the Virtual Memory button. The Virtual Memory dialog box that pops up will tell you four key things about your swap file: which drive it's on, how big it is, whether it's permanent or temporary, and whether your system is set up to use Fast Disk's 32-bit access (if it is, you'll see the words "using 32-bit access'').

A temporary swap file is created anew each time you start Windows. It changes size during your Windows session to accommodate the needs of your programs, and is usually broken up into pieces that are scattered all over your hard disk. In contrast, a permanent swap file is one big file that remains intact when you open and close Windows or reboot your system. Permanent swap files are faster than temporary ones and, therefore, preferable. A permanent swap file with 32-bit access is better still.

If the Virtual Memory dialog box says you have a temporary swap file or a swap file that is not using 32-bit access, then press the Change button to bring up the rest of the Virtual Memory dialog.

Look at the bottom of the dialog box. If the Use 32-bit Access line appears in black (not in gray), that means your system supports it. Click on the box next to the line so that an X appears. Next, in the Type box, change the setting to Permanent. Then choose a size for your permanent swap file no larger than the size Windows suggests.

If your hard disk is compressed with DoubleSpace, Stacker, SuperStor or SuperStor Pro, or a comparable utility, make sure to create the swap file on a drive that is not compressed. (Note: With IIT's XtraDrive and Stacker 4.0, it is possible to place your swap file on the compressed drive, but I strongly advise you not to try this unless you're an experienced user.) If you don't use a disk compression utility, go ahead and create the swap file on your hard disk (probably C:).

At some point when you're running Windows, you may get a message stating that your swap file is corrupt. If this happens, click on the message's Yes button to create a new swap file, and then follow these same steps.

Cyberspace update

Since I wrote my February column about accessing the information highway, I've been flooded with requests for more information about Windows and the Internet. Because space here is limited and there's much to tell, I wrote a document that answers most of the questions I've received. The document, a .WRI file called The Winternet, explains how to build Internet addresses, send e-mail between on-line services, join Windows mailing lists and get files through e-mail, and it lists a variety of Windows Internet products.

To get a free copy of The Winternet, download WINTER1.ZIP from the WINDOWS Magazine area on America Online (Keyword: WinMag), from the WinUser forum on CompuServe (GO WINUSER) or via anonymous ftp from ftp.std.com in the pub\winmag directory. (Note that the document is not available via regular-mail shareware distributors, and I can't send it to you on diskette.) After you read it, please drop me a line. I'm interested in hearing what you find useful--and not so useful--about The Winternet.

Mike Elgan is the managing editor of WINDOWS Magazine. Send Getting Started questions and comments to Mike on AOL at Melgan.


Power Windows: Orchestrate Your Apps With OLE Automation

By: Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Creating OLE Automation servers--programs that you can remotely control--is extraordinarily easy. And, for most of us, it's totally unnecessary. Programmers the world over are busy creating OLE Automation servers for us. With all these people teaching programs how to dance, the rest of us can concentrate on learning to play the fiddle.

To that end, Microsoft developed Visual Basic, Applications Edition (VBA). VBA is already a part of the newest versions of Microsoft Excel and Project, and Microsoft has promised to include VBA in future versions of its other major applications. Like traditional macro languages, VBA enables you to automate repetitive tasks. But instead of limiting you to automating a single application, VBA lets you orchestrate a suite of applications, causing them to work together to solve a single problem.

The conductor of this symphony must include VBA, but the individual performers don't have to have it. To be controlled by a VBA-equipped application, an application must merely support OLE Automation.

Martin Heller's Olecrypt program is a perfect example (see Programming Windows: Protect Your Privacy). Olecrypt doesn't include VBA, but it does support OLE Automation. As a result, applications that do include VBA, such as Excel 5.0 and Project 4.0, can control it. To control Olecrypt, I've devised a VBA program called CryptTest, which I'll show you how to enter and use. But before we begin, I'll give you a bit of background on object methods and properties, and explain the function of Olecrypt.

Object methods and properties

An object is a combination of data and a program. In other words, an object contains information along with ways to process that information. Some of the information and processes are private, used internally but not available to others. But in order to be useful, an object must make some of its data and processes public. Object data and processes that other programs can access are said to be exposed. When an object exposes some data, the data is called a property. And when an object exposes one of its processes--one of the ways it can manipulate its data--that process is called a method.

Microsoft's new object specification, OLE 2.0, provides a way for one program to access another program's objects, and thereby its properties and methods. One program calls the tune and another program dances. Microsoft calls this OLE Automation. The OLE part of the name is a bit misleading. This capability should probably be called O Automation, because no linking or embedding is involved. But whatever it's called, OLE Automation is the wave of the future. For a variety of reasons, programmers are eager to embrace this sort of remote control. (For more information, see the "Automation'' feature in this issue.)

All about Olecrypt

The program I'm going to show you how to control is called Olecrypt. The function of Olecrypt is to encrypt and decrypt text. Send Olecrypt a text string (the plain text) and a number (the seed), and it will return a seemingly random sequence of text characters (the cipher text). The cipher text is an encrypted version of the plain text.

The actual encryption depends on the seed. Given a different seed, Olecrypt will produce a different cipher text. Most importantly, without the original seed, you can't recover the plain text. The seed is a unique key that unlocks the decryption process.

The Olecrypt program contains one object, which it calls Document. This object exposes two properties and two methods. This means Olecrypt gives you access to two of the bits of data it maintains, and lets you ask it to perform two different actions.

One of the properties, Encryptor, is a number you use to select the encryption technique. Martin's version of Olecrypt supports only one technique: exclusive-or (XOR). Olecrypt "XORs'' the original text one character at a time with a sequence of pseudo-random characters. Because only one encryption technique is supported, the Encryptor property is currently extraneous. But it's available so that alternative encryption techniques can be built into future versions. For now, you should always set the Encryptor property to 0.

The other property, Seed, is the encryption/decryption key. Olecrypt's encryption technique makes use of Seed values in the range from 0 to 65,535. But the object's Seed property allows for larger numbers, again allowing you to add more sophisticated algorithms later.

Olecrypt's two methods, Encrypt and Decrypt, perform the actual encryption and decryption. Both methods accept a single argument--a text string--and return another string. The Encrypt method encrypts the string passed to it and returns an encrypted string. Decrypt performs the opposite task, accepting an encrypted string and returning plain text.

Taking control

Using a VBA program called CryptTest, you can expose Olecrypt's properties and methods. The sample CryptTest program shown below uses Olecrypt to encrypt the phrase "Hello World!'' In order to enter this program, you'll need either Excel 5.0 or Project 4.0.

Excel stores VBA statements in special workbook pages known as modules. Project stores VBA statements in modules too, but its modules are special project file views. To create CryptTest, you start by creating a module.

If you're using Excel, open a workbook, then open Excel's Insert menu and select Macro. When the Macro submenu appears, select Module. Excel will immediately add a new module sheet to the workbook and open the book to that sheet.

If you're using Project, open a project file, then open Project's View menu and select More Views. When the More Views dialog box appears, apply the Module Editor view. Finally, open the Insert menu and select New Module. Project will then display its New Module dialog, in which you can give your module a name. Pick any name you like, then click on OK, and your new module will appear on-screen. Now you're ready to enter CryptTest.

A module is like a blank sheet of paper on which you can type anything you like. But when you press the Enter key to start a new line, Excel or Project will look at the line you've just typed to make sure it's a valid VBA statement. If it's not, you'll get a warning message and a chance to correct your mistake. Be sure to do so before you enter the next line.

If you don't want to enter CryptTest yourself, you can download it from WINDOWS Magazine Online on America Online (Keyword: WinMag), CompuServe (GO WINSHARE), or the ftp/periodicals/winmag directory of ftp.std.com. Look for PWVBA.EXE. The archive includes both Excel workbook and Project files.

Before you can try out CryptTest, you'll need a copy of Olecrypt. If you have Microsoft's Visual C++ 1.5 (VC++) compiler, you can use the instructions Martin Heller provides in his Programming Windows column.

If you don't have VC++, you can download it from the same on-line sources as CryptTest. Look for OLECRYPT.ZIP. Included in the .ZIP file are some OLE 2.0 support .DLL files. You must copy the .DLL files to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, but you can place the OLECRYPT.EXE file in any directory.

After you copy the files to the right directories, you must run Olecrypt manually one time. To do so, open Program Manager's File menu and select Run, then enter OLECRYPT.EXE in the Command Line box (specify the full path if the file's directory is not in your path).

When you run Olecrypt manually, it stores information about itself in Windows' registration database. Once registered, Olecrypt displays an empty window, then waits for you to tell it to quit. You can do so by opening Olecrypt's File menu and selecting Exit. You need to run Olecrypt manually only once. From then on, whenever Olecrypt is needed, it will run automatically.

Putting CryptTest to the test

Now that you've entered CryptTest and installed Olecrypt, you're ready to take them both for a whirl. First, launch either Excel or Project. Next, with the module containing CryptTest in view, click once anywhere inside the text of CryptTest. This tells Excel or Project which VBA procedure you'd like to run. Finally, open the Run menu and select Start. Almost immediately, you'll see a Cipher Text message box containing a sequence of characters. The characters are the encoded version of your original plain text that Olecrypt's Encrypt method has returned.

Click on the OK button in the cipher text box and you'll see a Plain Text box that contains the words "Hello World!'' Your original plain text is now back. Olecrypt successfully encrypted your text, then recovered the plain text from the cipher text for you.

CryptTest's inner workings

The first line of the program doesn't do much. Sub is short for subroutine (programmer-speak for a small program), and CryptTest is the program's name.

Each of the next three lines allocates a small storage location, or variable, where the program will temporarily store information. In each line, the word Dim is immediately followed by the storage location's name (Crypt, PlainText or CipherText), then by a phrase indicating the type of information that will be stored. The PlainText and CipherText variables will be used to store ordinary text, which VBA calls a string. The Crypt variable is more exotic. The phrase As Object suggests that CryptTest will be storing an object here, but that's not quite true. Instead, it'll store information about an object. The actual object will be stored in the Olecrypt program.

The program really gets down to work in the line that begins with Set Crypt. This statement relies on CreateObject, a part of VBA's built-in function library. CreateObject executes a Windows application (the OLE Automation server) and establishes a link with it for future communication. Once executed, the server stays in memory, responding to requests from your program (the client). CreateObject uses the information immediately following its name ("OLECrypt.Document") to determine which application to execute. Remember how you had to run Olecrypt once before you could control it via OLE Automation? Running Olecrypt that way enables it to record information about itself in Windows' registration database file, REG.DAT. Specifically, Olecrypt records the unique name for the type of object it contains (Olecrypt.Document), and informs Windows that henceforth, whenever an Olecrypt.Document object is needed, the program Olecrypt should be run.

CreateObject searches the registration database, obtains the information about Olecrypt.Document objects, and runs Olecrypt. Olecrypt responds by providing information about the object it contains, allowing you to access that object's properties and methods. Set Crypt tells VBA to store the information that CreateObject has obtained in a variable named Crypt.

The Crypt variable now contains all the information VBA needs to allow direct access to the object inside Olecrypt. At this point, you can modify and examine the Olecrypt object's properties (Encryptor and Seed) and call its methods (Encrypt and Decrypt). For this example, I've chosen an Encryptor value of 0 (because that's currently the only encryption technique Olecrypt supports) and a Seed value of 123. To access an object's property or method in VBA, all you need to do is enter the object variable that's linked to the object itself, followed by a period (.) and then the name of the property or method.

The text that appears in parentheses after the Encrypt method's name, ("Hello World!"), is the plain text, which is sent to Crypt.Encrypt for encryption. The cipher text that Crypt.Encrypt creates is then stored in the variable CipherText. To make sure, the first MsgBox line of the program causes a small dialog box to pop up and display the contents of the CipherText variable.

Next, the program calls Olecrypt's Decrypt method. In this statement, the text to be processed is found in the CipherText variable, and the returned text is stored in the other string variable, PlainText. If everything worked correctly, a dialog box will display the original plain text. The last line ends the program.

You may be wondering what will happen to Olecrypt, which has been running in memory since CryptTest executed it. VBA sees to it that Olecrypt runs only as long as the link between it and Crypt, the object variable, exists. Destroying or resetting the variable breaks the link. Because Crypt is declared inside the CryptTest program, it is destroyed as soon as CryptTest ends. This breaks the link, causing Olecrypt to end. If you wish, you can break the link without destroying the object variable. Simply set the variable to a value of Nothing (for example, Set Crypt = Nothing).

A helping hand with VBA

Microsoft has released a wonderful CD-ROM containing the Office Developer's Kit (free in VB, Professional Edition or $99.95 from Microsoft Direct, 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080). The kit is a must if you're working with VBA or doing any other customization of Microsoft's Office apps (Word, Excel, Project, PowerPoint and Access). Included in the kit are the full text of each manual, sample VBA programs, and information about the objects built into the Office apps.

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing), a nonprogrammer's introduction to VBA. Reach Karen on AOL as WinMag1 in the WINDOWS Magazine message exchange.


Networking Windows: Fail-Safe WaysTo Optimize Mail

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

MS Mail is one of the most useful of the extra goodies you get with Windows for Workgroups. With this free, full-featured e-mail system on your network, coworkers can communicate instantly with just a click of the mouse. MS Mail is easy to install and use, but you can do lots of tricks to make it work faster and better. First, I'll talk about what to consider when you set up your Mail post office. Then I'll explain how to get Mail to work with NetWare. Finally, we'll look inside the MSMAIL.INI file, where you can tweak Mail's settings to optimize them for your system.

The MS Mail system bundled with Windows for Workgroups comes with two components: client and server. The client is the same product you get when you buy MS Mail separately, except it lacks a spell checker. The client software provides the front end. This presents the user interface from which you can compose messages, read your mail, and perform basic housekeeping functions, such as creating folders.

The server component is a specially modified version of the MS Mail server that allows any machine in a workgroup to act as the post office. To understand the function of a post office, it's helpful to realize that an e-mail system is basically a client/server database. The post office is the database server. MS Mail's server component comes with a post office manager utility that is available only on the machine that hosts the post office.

Setting up shop

by default, when you install Windows for Workgroups, Mail is transparently installed right along with it. But the first time a user starts up Mail, he or she will be prompted to specify whether to connect to an existing post office or to create a new workgroup post office. Except in unusual circumstances, you want only one post office, so you need to decide ahead of time which station to use.

An important consideration when choosing the post office host is disk space. Because many new applications support MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface), the Microsoft-sponsored standard for interacting with a mail system, it has become common practice to exchange documents by attaching them to Mail messages. The host machine needs a considerable amount of disk space to store these attachments. You can avoid this problem by accepting Windows for Workgroups' default setup, which stores each user's messages on his or her own machine. The drawback is that you can't have centralized backup and security.

Another thing to think about is traffic: Will your workgroup send a lot of e-mail? If so, the host machine can expect a lot of Mail activity. Setting up the post office on the machine of a power user could create CPU-time conflicts. If you plan to take extensive advantage of your new Mail system, it makes good sense to dedicate a machine for the post office, or at least to choose one that doesn't get a lot of use.

Finally, when you set up your post office, you need to keep security in mind. The machine that gets the post office also gets the ability to create and delete users and passwords. To secure your Mail system, you'll need to ensure the physical security of this machine.

Making Mail NetWare-aware

If you're running NetWare, Mail will take advantage of the NetWare file server. The post office uses a shared file system, which means the post office itself does not manipulate files. It simply acts as a repository. Thus, you can use the NetWare server as a Windows for Workgroups post office just as long as all the clients can find the directory. To set this up:

1. Create a directory that you'll use for the post office. Be sure to put it on a volume that has plenty of space and that all your users can access.

2. Create a group to identify Mail users, so you can map a drive for them in the system log-in script. (If all users will have access to Mail, eliminate this step.)

3. Add a drive mapping for the Mail group, and give those users access rights to read and write but not file scan. This prevents users from scanning directories for .MMF files they don't own. (If you don't have a Mail group, do this for all users.) The best choice for a drive letter is M:, if it's available. The full-blown version of MS Mail for NetWare requires you to use this drive letter, and you may want to upgrade someday.

4. Run Mail for the first time from the workstation that the administrator will use, and create a post office on the network drive you mapped.

Now, the first time a user runs MS Mail, he or she can easily point to the NetWare drive by choosing to connect to an existing post office and then specifying the mapped drive.

If you already have a Mail post office on your NetWare server, the Windows for Workgroups Mail client will work with it just fine. But to make this happen, you need to know a small trick that involves editing the MSMAIL.INI file to tell Mail where to find the server. You can specify this location for NetWare in two ways. The first, if you've mapped drive M:, is simply to add this entry:

ServerPath=M:

This works because your post office must be drive M: to satisfy the requirements of previous versions of mail. Alternatively, this command:

ServerPath=server/volume:

directory path

will cause Mail to connect dynamically and automatically to the NetWare server that's been allocated an unused drive letter.

You can upgrade a Windows for Workgroups post office into a full-blown MS Mail post office by buying the Extensions package ($495) from Microsoft Direct (800-426-9400, 206-882-8080). This package comes with everything you need to upgrade the bundled versions of the Mail client and Schedule+ (which uses Mail as a transport) to the standalone versions. Also included are additional administrative capabilities and the ability to connect to other post offices and gateways so that you can forward mail.

Looking in the .INI file

Often, the key to understanding a Windows application lies in its .INI file. The MSMAIL.INI file has quite a few possible entries, some of which are rather arcane. Fortunately, the ones you're most likely to want to manipulate are easily understood. Note that each user has his or her own MSMAIL.INI file.

The first section in MSMAIL.INI is labeled [Microsoft Mail]. This section contains general settings and is most likely where you'll do your editing. Here's a look at the more interesting entries:

LocalMMF=n

This entry determines where the user's .MMF file (Mail message file) will be created the first time he or she runs Mail. If n=1 (the default), the .MMF file is created on the local drive, reducing the storage requirements on the post office machine. If n=0, the message file will be placed on the post office machine. Although the latter requires a larger drive on the post office machine, it facilitates backup because all the mail files are in a single location.

Login=x

Password=x

The Login= entry sets the default user name that will appear in the log-on dialog box when the user first starts Mail. If the Password= entry is set to the password of the user, the log-on dialog is bypassed completely. This may be slightly more convenient than having to type a password, but it eliminates any security the password offers. Anyone who launches Mail will get instant access to the account. For this reason, I recommend omitting the Password= setting, except in situations where physical security ensures that unauthorized people will not be able to access the machine. Note, though, that the password stored in this entry is in an encrypted format. If you do decide to include this entry, use the Remember Password check box in the log-on dialog to set it.

PollingInterval=n

This entry specifies the number of minutes that the Mail client will wait between attempts to find new mail on the post office. The default setting is 10. Setting too short an interval may hamper performance on slower machines. Unless you have an unusual need, it's best not to set this any lower than 5.

NetBios=n

This entry is related to the PollingInterval entry in a roundabout way. If NetBios=1 (the default), then the Mail client on a machine originating a message will send a NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) message to the intended recipient's station. This message instructs the Mail client to look for new mail, because a message was just sent. For large sites that have long mailing lists, this can lead to a lot of network traffic every time a message is sent.

Setting this entry to 0 will stop the notification, and that's where the PollingInterval entry comes in. If notification doesn't occur, then the soonest you can expect a person to receive a message is the value of his or her polling interval. For this reason, it's important to make sure the intervals are frequent enough.

NextOnMoveDelete=n

This entry determines how Mail behaves when you move or delete a message you have open for reading. Set this entry to 0 to have Mail close the Read Note window, to 1 if you want Mail to open the next message, or to -1 for Mail to open the previous message.

The default is 1, which is supposed to make it easier for you to scan the Inbox. Personally, this drives me crazy. I prefer to return to the list of unread messages and choose which one I'd like to read next, so I set this entry to 0.

NormalFont=typeface name, size,0,1/0,1

This entry's purpose is to make reading your mail more comfortable. It allows you to select the proportional font that Mail will use to display your messages. The entry has four parts, separated by commas. For typeface name, you'd enter not the filename but rather the English name of a typeface as it appears in a font selection dialog box (for example, Arial or Times New Roman). The size entry is the size of the font in points, such as 10 or 12. For the first 0/1 entry, choose 1 for boldface type or 0 for regular. For the second, 1 selects italic type and 0 selects upright.

When you're reading a message, you can open the View menu and select the Change Font option to switch between the font you specify in this entry and the fixed font (such as Courier) that you specify in the FixedFont= entry, which follows the same syntax.

ReplyPrefix="string"

With this entry, you select the string that you want to have placed in front of each line of a message when you click on the Reply button. This helps to distinguish your message from the message you're replying to. You need to enclose the string in quotation marks. For example, ReplyPrefix=">>" places >> before each line of messages you reply to.

For a complete listing and explanation of all the possible entries in the MSMAIL.INI file, get copies of the Windows for Workgroups Resource Kit ($29.95) and the version 3.11 supplement ($19.95) from Microsoft Direct (800-426-9400, 206-882-8080).

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration Inc., an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. Contact Jeffrey on AOL in the WINDOWS Magazine message exchange.


eNTerprise Windows: Speed Up Your Sluggish NT

By: John Ruley

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

I ended last month's column with plans to get my Windows NT-based WinMailAgent application converted into an NT service by this month. That didn't happen--partly because I ran into some surprising problems, and partly because I ran into something more interesting. I've discovered why NT is so slow when it runs 16-bit Windows applications, and I have some suggestions on what you can do to improve it.

As NT went through beta testing last year, many people--including me--were optimistic about its performance when running both 32-bit NT applications and 16-bit "legacy'' applications written for DOS, Windows 3.x or OS/2 1.x. Unfortunately, our high hopes sank when the system went into release. True, the few native 32-bit applications now available for NT are fast--in some cases, blazingly fast. For example, Microsoft's SQL Server for Windows NT is more than twice as fast as the 16-bit OS/2 version that preceded it. But NT runs 16-bit applications substantially slower than expected. Some of the performance loss is undoubtedly due to thunking, which is the conversion between 16-bit API calls made by the applications and the 32-bit interface the APIs used in NT. But that accounts for only about 10 percent of the slowdown. NT's many advantages ought to more than compensate. So why do we often see 16-bit applications running slower under NT than under Windows 3.x?

Part of the answer is that Windows NT 3.1 doesn't give you nearly as much memory space for your applications. The graph on the following page tracks memory access speed for various array sizes under Windows NT and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (WFWG). At an array size of 8,000KB, NT's access speed drops to less than 3 megabytes per second. That indicates the onset of swapping, in which the system runs out of physical RAM and substitutes disk space instead. Under NT, swapping starts at 8MB. In contrast, WFWG doesn't begin to swap until 16MB.

Where's all the RAM?

Windows NT can allocate memory as pageable or nonpageable. Pageable memory can be swapped, but nonpageable memory can't. It appears that NT 3.1 allocates a large block of nonpageable RAM to itself upon start-up (perhaps as much as half the available RAM). Applications are left with a limited amount of physical RAM, and the system is forced to swap in situations where it would run just fine with WFWG. This accounts for most, but not all, of the performance drop when you run a 16-bit application under NT 3.1.

The good news here is twofold. First, there's a simple (if expensive) solution, and second, Microsoft is about to make the problem much easier to live with. The simple solution is, of course, to buy more RAM. It appears that getting good desktop performance out of Windows NT 3.1 requires about twice as much RAM as for WFWG, so a 32MB system running NT should give about the same performance as a 16MB system running WFWG.

If you can't afford any extra memory, you can at least cut down on the memory you're using. Try pruning the network drivers (Control Panel/Network Settings) and disabling services (Control Panel/Services) that you don't use, because every loaded driver takes extra memory. If you're running more than one network stack, consider cutting back to just one. And if you don't need RAS (Remote Access Services), remove them, and disable or remove the associated service. You can save a lot of RAM this way.

As for Microsoft making things better, the beta version of Daytona (the code name for Windows NT 3.5) is much less of a memory hog than NT 3.1. In fact, I'm hearing that the memory requirements will be cut in half. Instead of the system itself locking up 16MB of RAM in a 32MB system, Daytona locks up only around 8MB. Allocating less system memory on start-up and making most of it pageable makes Daytona less likely to swap when running applications. And if it does swap, it's more likely to page out unused system components, leaving your applications more room to run in.

Cache or credit?

Clearly, the first step to getting reasonable performance out of NT 3.1 when you run 16-bit applications is to have enough RAM to avoid swapping. But it's not the only step. Secondary CPU cache factors into performance as well.

Intel processors up to (and including) the i386 series didn't have any internal cache memory. The CPU was wired directly to memory on the motherboard. Beginning with the i486 chip, Intel started building a small amount of RAM directly into the CPU: 8KB in the 486, 16KB in the Pentium. This is especially important on the Pentium, because it's so fast that buying a motherboard full of compatible memory would cost a fortune.

A 50MHz 486, for instance, requires 20-nanosecond RAM to keep up with it, and 20ns RAM isn't cheap. With cache RAM built into the chip, manufacturers can use slower RAM (typically 60 to 80ns) on the motherboard, relying on the cache to handle most memory access (90 percent in typical configurations running DOS software). But in this day and age, especially when you run an advanced operating system like Windows NT, 8KB simply isn't enough cache.

For example, adding 256KB of cache significantly improves performance in the critical range from 8KB to 128KB, as illustrated in the graph on the following page. Why is this range critical? 16-bit Windows software is segmented, meaning that it's organized in 64KB memory blocks called segments. Applications can have one or more code segments for the program itself, and one or more data segments for information the code operates on. Because even one code segment will operate on at least one data segment, you need to cache at least two segments (128KB) to see full performance from your system.

What I've said up to this point applies regardless of the operating system you're using. But now consider that you're running Windows NT 3.1, which we know is a memory hog. When you're running NT, you have your application sitting on top of an immense amount of system code and data that isn't organized into convenient 64KB segments. Windows NT programs are written in a "flat'' model, in which there is just one code segment and one data segment for each program, with each segment storing up to 4,096MB of code or data. The code and data are organized into 4KB pages, which can actually improve the operation of the cache. But the simple fact is that NT is the biggest operating system that has ever been run on a PC, and it really benefits from additional cache. Although Daytona will improve the situation, we still can't expect NT to run well on low-end equipment.

The 32-bit advantage

Because we've been talking about 16-bit applications, you may well be wondering what the story is for 32-bit applications, memory-wise. The graph on the following page shows memory access speeds for 32- and 16-bit versions of a memory test application that I call RAMprobe. Both versions are running on the same system with the same settings. The 32-bit version is faster than the 16-bit one over the entire range of tested array sizes.

Why? Because a 16-bit application, unless it is programmed using special techniques, moves data 16 bits at a time. This means that on a modern local-bus 486 system, the application isn't using half the data lines on the internal CPU bus. Just moving to the 32-bit model without making any other changes doubles the data-transfer rate, because those idle data lines are now carrying information. Beyond that, moving to the flat model eliminates the overhead involved in manipulating those 64KB memory segments, and it makes the programs easier to write and maintain. Instead of figuring out the most efficient way to match a program to the segmented model, a programmer can figure out the most efficient way to store and manipulate his or her data regardless of segment size. Overall, moving to the flat model produces a gain of more than two times in memory performance.

That doesn't necessarily mean a 32-bit application will automatically be twice as fast. In general, 32-bit apps are larger than 16-bit apps, and they may have a larger memory footprint (although programmers can play special tricks to optimize it). Moreover, the speed of the memory access makes little difference if a program spends most of its time waiting for you to type on the keyboard or move the mouse. On the whole, though, 32-bit programs should be faster than 16-bit ones.

I've recently done some testing of Micrografx Picture Publisher in 16- and 32-bit incarnations, and for computation-intensive tasks like a Gaussian blur of an image, the 32-bit version is indeed twice as fast as the 16-bit version. It's also multithreaded, so it doesn't lock up while a Gaussian blur is taking place, leaving you free to work on another image.

But whether an application is built for a 16-bit model or a 32-bit model, it's still an application. And if you don't have enough RAM to handle the app, the operating system will start to swap and, as a result, slow down. I've found that the 32-bit version of Picture Publisher is twice as fast as the 16-bit version under Windows NT, even when an image is so large that heavy swapping occurs. But--and this is a big "but''--if you move the 16-bit version to WFWG, it'll speed up. Because there's less of an operating system overhead with WFWG, less swapping occurs and overall performance improves.

To sum it all up, make sure you have enough RAM to prevent your system from swapping. You shouldn't see the hard disk light in NT unless you're loading or saving an application. If you already have enough RAM, then get more cache. That will keep things moving as fast as possible in the memory.

John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor-at-large and the principal author of Networking Windows NT (Wiley, 1994). Contact John on AOL at JRuley.


Programming Windows: Protect Your Privacy

By: Martin Heller

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Using a device equipped with the government's proposed Clipper encryption standard would give you a lot more practical day-to-day privacy than you have now. But, like most things, the privacy has a price: The government can get the keys for the device out of escrow and listen in on you if they have "sufficient'' cause. What can you do about it? Well, it isn't illegal to use your own codes and ciphers (not yet, anyway).

In last month's column, I talked about the history of codes and ciphers, the Enigma machine, and the Clipper chip, on the way to explaining how to develop a framework for an enciphering engine that you can access via OLE Automation. This month, I'll show you how to generate the OLE Automation server program using Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5, and we'll remember the Vegematic.

Our OLE Automation discussion will amount to a point-and-click demonstration. If you have Visual C++ (VC++), by all means, follow along at your computer. If not, the illustrations should give you a pretty good idea of what's going on.

To start, load VC++, open the Project menu and select App Wizard. Next, type in Olecrypt (the application name) and the name of a new subdirectory to hold the project. Select Options and disable everything except Medium (under Memory Model) and Generate Source Comments. Then set the OLE Options to disable Compound Documents and enable OLE Automation support, as shown in the figure at the top of the following page. You could build an encryption engine that acts as a server for OLE compound documents, but there's no need to do so just to get OLE automation support.

If you wish, you can select Classes and set the document file extension to cry, as shown in the figure in the middle of the following page. But, in fact, you won't really use this extension, because you won't implement serialization methods for your document class. Also, you can't get the OLE document type name the way you want it in this dialog--you want Olecrypt, but the Wizard is limited to six-letter OLE- document-type names. So just accept the default and you can fix it up later. Now go ahead and let App Wizard generate code.

Adding properties and methods

Voile! You have a compilable shell program for Olecrypt that supports OLE Automation. Now you have to expose some properties and methods. To allow for the simple pseudo-random exclusive-or algorithm, you need encrypt and decrypt methods and a seed. The two methods should accept and return string parameters. The seed needs to be 16 bits for the VC++ srand function, but make it a long integer to allow for the use of a better key-generation algorithm in the future. Also, to allow for the future use of other encipherment methods, you need a switch variable for the method. Finally, add two key string properties to satisfy the needs of the DES (U.S. Data Encryption Standard) algorithm. The same strings can be used to hold extremely large integers (typically 100 digits) for the RSA (Rivest, Shamir and Adleman) algorithm.

How do you do all this? Again, it's pretty much point and click. In the VC++ editor, press Ctrl+W or open the Browse menu and select Class Wizard. Pick the OLE Automation tab in Class Wizard, select COlecryptDoc in the Class Name box, then click on the Add Method and Add Property buttons to add your two methods and four properties. When you're done, the Class Wizard display should look like the figure below, and the COlecryptDoc class in OLECRDOC.H should have a dispatch table that matches the code shown in the box at the top of the following page.

Adding the code

Finally, you have to write a little code. In OLECRDOC.CPP, search for TODO: and you'll quickly find the COlecryptDoc constructor. Add some code to initialize the two numeric OLE properties to zero, as shown in the code box in the middle of the following page.

Search for TODO: again, and you'll find the reinitialization and serialization methods. You don't need to bother with these. Continue searching and you'll find the COlecryptDoc commands. Now add the code for the encrypt and decrypt methods, which you'll find in my July 1994 column.

You're almost ready to compile, but you need to fix up the document type name. From the VC++ editor, open the Tools menu and select App Studio. Double-click on the first string segment, then select the first string in the segment, which should be IDR_MAINFRAME. Edit this string as shown in the figure at the bottom of the following page, changing Olecry to Olecrypt everywhere. Save your work and return to the editor.

Now you can compile the application. The project will default to building for debugging--you can leave that alone if you want to try stepping through the code later on. For production, though, you'll definitely want to open the Options menu, pick Project, and change the build mode to Release. Either way, pressing Shift+F8 or clicking on the middle Build button in the VC++ toolbar should set off the process, and you shouldn't encounter any serious errors unless you mistyped some code. If you get frustrated finding your transcription errors (or you don't have VC++ 1.5), you can download the whole application from WINDOWS Magazine Online on America Online (Keyword: WinMag).

Now what? Now you use the server. First, run it so that it can register itself with the OLE system. Then use Visual Basic, or any other language that can act as an OLE Automation client, to create an instance of Olecrypt.Document, initialize its properties, and call its encrypt and/or decrypt methods. To get started, try the sample VB code shown on the last page of this column. For more detail, turn to Karen Kenworthy's Power Windows column (in this issue).

OLE controls

No discussion of OLE would be complete without mentioning OLE controls. The current VBX architecture, which has been a wildly successful way to add components to Visual Basic applications, relies on the VB application passing information to the VBX through a property sheet. The property sheet interface for a VBX is implemented on top of the ordinary calling mechanisms of a DLL.

In its wisdom, Microsoft has chosen not to extend the VBX architecture to 32 bits. Instead, the company has implemented a new architecture, the OLE custom control (OCX), which extends the VBX functionality but is built on OLE automation instead of DLLs. The OCX architecture will be implemented both for 16- and 32-bit Windows (in other words, Windows 3.x, Chicago and NT). It also works on multiple platforms. Presumably, OCX controls will be available wherever OLE 2.0 is implemented--which should include the Macintosh and Power Mac.

The OCX implementation is defined in terms of Windows and VB message processing, the OLE Interface and IDispatch methods, and some new OLE

methods such as IControl and ISpecifyPropertyPages. If you use MFC to implement your OCX--and Microsoft expects that you will--the OLE functionality you need to implement will go into your own classes derived from the new base classes, COleControl and CPropertyPageDialog. OCX development will be assisted by a new Control Wizard, which among other things can get a good start on an OCX by looking at an existing VBX. You'll also be able to use Class Wizard to add properties and events to your OCX, in much the same way that you added properties and methods to Olecrypt.

VBX controls that work

Even with the Control Wizard, you can imagine that VBX vendors will have an interesting time converting their existing controls to the OCX architecture and debugging the resulting OCX controls. OLE is a whole new world for most vendors, and not all of them are ready to jump on the magic carpet. After all, many of these vendors are still having trouble getting the bugs out of their VBX controls.

You may recall that I've run into a few buggy VBX controls, but that so far I haven't named names. For reasons of courtesy as well as on legal advice, I'm not going to share my Wall of Shame--but I will share my Hall of Fame. The VBX controls and other tools for VB that I'll discuss really work, not only for me, but also for other developers who have used them heavily and recommended them to me. If a product is mentioned here, I'm willing to stand by it. If a product isn't mentioned here, it doesn't mean anything in particular. It might be something I haven't heard about, something I haven't had a chance to look at, something I didn't think was of general interest, something I liked but didn't have room to discuss, or--just possibly--something I've looked at and found wanting.

The first product VB programmers usually mention when I ask them which tools they can't live without is QuickPak Professional for Windows (QP4WIN), a $199 collection of custom controls, subroutines, functions and utilities from Crescent Software (800-35BASIC, 203-438-5300). One programmer went so far as to say he didn't really want to mention QP4WIN, because he considered using it one of his competitive advantages. Now that I've finally looked at QP4WIN myself, I can see why. This thing has an incredible amount of functionality, good documentation and complete source code. The custom controls are written in C, the functions are written in assembly language(!), and the utilities and demo programs are written in VB. Listing everything included in QP4WIN would take the entire space I have for this column: It has 30 custom controls and more than 400 functions. Suffice it to say that many of the things you'd like to do in VB will be faster, better and easier if you take advantage of QP4WIN. This product is the equivalent of the Master Craftsman toolset--the one that used to take four pages in the Sears catalog to describe.

The one control supplied with QP4WIN without source code is TrueGrid, which Crescent licensed from Apex Software (800-858-APEX, 412-681-4343). QP4WIN also includes a discounted upgrade certificate for TrueGrid Pro. The TrueGrid Pro package, in turn, includes three of the 30 QuickPak controls. In fact, TrueGrid Pro is another control that has stood up to heavy fire: Several developers have told me it works well for them as a bound control for browsing and editing databases and also as an unbound spreadsheet. I find it quite flexible, and reasonably easy to use considering how much it can do. While I regret the lack of source code, I am somewhat comforted by what looks like an honest version history shipped as part of the product's massive Help file. Any company that describes problems that have been fixed as clearly as features that have been added is okay in my book.

I've often noted that making VB forms look attractive in multiple languages and at multiple screen resolutions is a challenge. VSVBX, an inexpensive set of three controls from VideoSoft (800-547-7295, 510-547-7295), can be a big help in that area. The "elastic'' control acts as a container for other controls, automatically resizing its children when the form is resized. It can also give its children a 3-D look and automatically label its child controls. The second control in the set provides tabbed indexes, of the sort you'll find in Word 6.0 and in Chicago. The third control gives you AWK language text processing and expression evaluation capabilities. Fans of VSVBX tell me it saves them a lot of design work.

My final recommendation this month (I expect to have more in the future) is VBAssist from Sheridan Software (516-753-0985, fax 516-753-3661). VBAssist, which is not primarily a VBX control but rather a set of enhancements to the Visual Basic development environment, seems to be the Vegematic of VB tools.

(Is my age showing? Would it help if I explained that I first heard the Vegematic pitch live in Atlantic City when television was only black and white and the closest you could get to gambling on the Boardwalk was playing Ski Ball and the Skill Crane? Or does that just make it worse? Excuse me while I put my head in the oven.)

VBAssist helps you align controls at design time (as opposed to VSVBX, which helps you realign them at runtime), manage control arrays, visually edit your tab orders, manage and use templates for control properties, quickly design forms from databases, maintain databases, organize your VB code across multiple projects, and generate Windows dialog and menu resources from VB forms (so you can use VB as a prototyping tool for C programs). VBAssist does include one VBX control, VBAScroll, which makes its parent container (be it form or picture box) scrollable. VBAssist: It slices, it dices, and that's not all!

Martin Heller, author of Advanced Windows Programming and Advanced Win32 Programming, used to be just like Bill Clinton. Martin inhaled. Contact Martin at mheller@bix.com, or on AOL in the WINDOWS Magazine message exchange.


Letters:August 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

SEEKING 32-BIT APPS

The only problem I see with the Dialog Box column (May 1994) is that it puts the blame on Microsoft. The fault is not with Microsoft or other developers. It lies with ourselves. If we want better, faster, 32-bit software, do what Martin Heller and John Ruley suggest: Drop Bill Gates a line.

And while you're at it, drop one to Borland, or any other manufacturer that you think should get to work on 32-bit apps. It's up to us.

Leo Soderman

via the Internet

You suggest writing to Bill Gates about the future of NT and Win32. I have taken your advice. I have also added a complaint about the lackluster marketing effort Microsoft has made in promoting the product. It seems they have left much of the horn blowing to their NT partners, like NEC and Digital. This is a mistake. If you're going to sell a product, then I think you should sell it.

Doug Vincent

via the Internet

Martin Heller and John Ruley argue that Microsoft's future dealing with 32-bit applications lacks promise. I disagree. You don't make 32-bit operating systems just for the hell of it. Besides, Microsoft doesn't give the public a 32-bit C/C++ without its future being involved. They have a plan. In fact, the company recently showed previews of 32-bit Word and 32-bit Excel.

Sean K. Maxey

via the Internet

I wholeheartedly agree that Microsoft has been tardy in giving us 32-bit applications, but I was surprised at the omissions in your article. Microsoft has announced that the 32-bit Office will be released about 30 days after Daytona is released. The reason these apps have to wait for NT 3.5 is that there is no OLE 2.0 support in NT 3.1.

David LeBlanc

via the Internet

DEFENDING DES

I really must take drastic exception to the description in your May Superior Shareware column of the Private Cryptographer, which states that the utility uses cryptography rather than the data encryption standard (DES). Please, DES is cryptography.

You also state that DES is known to have "built-in back doors.'' I find that statement highly offensive. The DES algorithm, released to the public by the National Bureau of Standards long ago, is utilized by a large number of commercial programs. It has been analyzed, dissected and inspected at length for as many years as the mathematics have been publicly available. I think you owe an apology to your readers.

Donnell L. Williams

via the Internet

REACHING EDINBURGH

I wish to correct some of the statements made in the June article "Assemble an NT Information Arsenal,'' which says the University of Edinburgh can be reached on the Internet by sending a message to mailbase@uk.ac.mailbase. This address is incorrect. The correct address is mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk. In addition, I tried to join this mailing list using JOIN windows-nt but received an error message from mailbase. The message should contain the words JOIN windows-nt YOUR_NAME.

Stuart Mason

Waukesha, Wis.

GETTING THE LAST WORD

As the president of Mustang Software, I wanted to thank you for the nice First Impression we received in the May issue of your magazine.

I did want to tell you that we agree that the fax routines are not really great. We're working on version 1.10 (a free update), which includes the ability to set QMWIN up as a printer driver so the fax routines can be launched right from any Windows application. We have also added fax support in the scripting language so our host mode can handle both data and fax calls.

Regarding the toolbar, we also agree that you should be able to edit, add and remove items. To be honest with you, this is our first Windows app. We hope to polish it up in the months to come and release free updates to our installed base.

As for the index, I really thought we had just about everything covered. I've passed your comments on to our documentation department for review.

Jim Harrer

President

Mustang Software

Thanks for leading off your "Fiscal Fitness Programs'' article (May 1994) with Kiplinger's CA-Simply Money 1.0. You're right: "Simply Money is an easy-to-use program that is perfect for simple situations.'' But author Christopher Vogt's thorough job missed one important point: If you tire of the drag-and-drop technique, there are menus, keyboard shortcuts, checkbooks and registers similar to other products. Version 1.5 adds a Jump key that takes you directly from one account to another. Unlike other products, Kiplinger's CA-Simply Money gives you a choice.

Beth Roach

Product Manager

Computer Associates

RESPONDING TO REENGINEERING

Cheryl Currid's April 1994 column on reengineering American business was right on the money. We have just completed a $33.2 million renovation program at our facility in Ohio, and I wish I had read the column five years ago. The program would have gone a lot smoother.

Alex Wilson

Siemens Energy & Automation Inc.

DEFENDING WORDPERFECT

I agree with the June EXE.FILE column, which argues that WordPerfect has been a jewel of a company. Unlike the two flaming letters reprinted in the same issue, and indeed what others have complained about on the Internet, my experience with WordPerfect 6.0 has been almost entirely positive. I think it's far and away the best application.

On the other hand, from what I've seen, WP's legendary toll-free support is just that--a legend. All I can figure is that customer support was one of the departments that took a major hit in the restructuring.

Sanford M. Miller, M.D.

New York, N.Y.

BRAVING HIGH RESOLUTION

Who started that lie that Jonathan Blackwood repeats in "Fine-Tune Your Windows Environment'' in your recently published Windows Visual Guide? He says, "A resolution of more than 640x480 (standard VGA) on a 14-inch monitor results in icons and text that are too tiny to be useful. You'll need at least a 15-inch monitor before you graduate to 800x600 resolution, and a 17-inch monitor before you go to 1024x768.''

My reply? Horse hockey! I'm running Windows 3.1 on a Tandy 4833 (486/33) with a 14-inch Packard-Bell monitor in the 1024x768 mode with 256 (count 'em!) colors. Granted, things are somewhat reduced in size, but not at all to the point of being "too tiny to be useful.'' All this and trifocals, too!

For those cases where magnification is helpful, if the program doesn't already offer a zoom feature I use a customized video driver from Binar Graphics called AnyView Screen Commander for Windows. I can drop to either of the lower resolutions with a click of the mouse, move across a virtual desktop with one more click, and even get a hardware zoom with a third click.

So never fear, Windows fans! Load that SVGA driver and give it a whirl.

R. Dan Park

Houston, Texas

CORRECTIONS

The June 1994 review of DX4 PCs should have noted that the Hewlett-Packard Vectra VL2 DX4/100 (page 252) comes with a three-year warranty.

The June 1994 Superior Shareware column (page 297) erroneously included a commercial product, SmilerShell Pro 2.0. The shareware version, SmilerShell 2.0, is a command-line utility and does not include the button feature mentioned in the June write-up.

The June 1994 review of Personal Daily PlanIt 1.0 (page 276) listed incorrect phone numbers for Media Vision Inc. The correct phone numbers are 800-845-5870 and 510-770-8600.

The June 1994 review of flatbed scanners quoted an incorrect price for the Epson ES-800C Pro Scanning System (page 286). The correct price is $1,499; the document feeder costs $599.

The June 1994 article on microprocessor-chip testing performed by Lone Star Evaluation Laboratories ("Compatible or Not?'', page 216) should have noted that the laboratory used Cybex's Commander for the system control centers and Phar Lap's TNT DOS-Extender for the DOS extender portion of the study. In addition, the correct address for the laboratory is Lone Star Evaluation Laboratories Inc., Rte. 2, P.O. Box 115, Georgetown, TX 78626.

We incorrectly listed the toll-free phone number of Idek Iiyama North America in our June New Products section. The correct number should be 800-394-4335.

We want to hear from you. Please send letters to: Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, 600 Community Dr., Manhasset, NY 11030, or by e-mail to 5648326@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


News: August 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

INTEL MAY REPOSITION DX4 CHIP

By: JIM FORBES

Hardware makers warn that 100MHz 486-powered desktop computers could have a short life in the marketplace. Partly because of a repositioning of Intel's clock-tripled DX4 processors, buyers are likely to see yet another major price war in the desktop market in the coming months, according to analysts and executives of companies such as AST Research.

When it introduced the 486DX4 CPU, Intel rounded up numerous PC makers who said they would deliver desktop and portable computers that would use 75MHz or 100MHz versions of the new 486-class processor. Both Intel and the potential manufacturers claimed those machines would begin shipping this summer. While a handful of manufacturers have made good on those promises, the anticipated flood of 100MHz desktop systems had yet to materialize as WINDOWS Magazine went to press.

The reason, say analysts and industry executives, was a sweeping change in Intel's analysis of the PC marketplace. Intel has lowered the price of 60MHz Pentium processors, thus making Pentium-class performance available to users who would have otherwise bought less capable 486 systems. Meanwhile, the chip maker will channel the DX4 processor toward the portable computing market.

"It may have been a blunder for Intel to ever let the DX4 appear with a clear path to the desktop,'' says Erik Jansen, an analyst with investment bankers Alex Brown and Sons' office in San Francisco, Calif. Jansen adds, "And it takes a whole lot of arrogance for Intel to withdraw a product that they have primed the market for and which their customers have endorsed.''

Part of the reason Intel has softened its position on the DX4 chip as a desktop processor is its competitors' use of the now "public domain'' 486 processor name, says Martin Reynolds, head of Computer Intelligence/InfoCorp's Technology RoadMap research service. "But more importantly, they are paving the way for millions of 90MHz Pentium processors--which will move to PC makers later this year--and tens of millions in the coming year.''

As a result of Intel's shift in its DX4 processor marketing, users can expect to reap the benefits of a price war that will break out in the market for 60MHz Pentium-equipped desktops, says Dan Sheppherd, a marketing executive with AST Research in Irvine, Calif. Like other vendors, AST has had to revise its projections for systems that use DX4 processors. While that company is expected to introduce desktop systems that use the 100MHz part, much of its marketing muscle will be thrown behind Pentium-equipped systems, Sheppherd says.

The narrowed gap in prices between the DX4 and Pentium chips makes the latter more attractive in the desktop market. But portable computer makers report there is a strong demand for 75MHz and 100MHz notebook systems, which typically can command much higher than usual profit margins.

PENTIUM TOPS RISC CHIPS IN WINMAG PERFORMANCE TESTS

By: JOHN D. RULEY

An initial series of tests using the marketing beta version of Micrografx Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT shows that a Dell Dimension P90 system running the latest 90MHz P54C Pentium CPU outperforms both a 100MHz Mips Magnum R4000SC-based system and a 133MHz DEC Alpha AXP system for compute-intensive tasks such as image processing. Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT is a 32-bit port of Micrografx's popular image-editing app that comes bundled with many desktop scanners.

The WINDOWS Magazine tests also show that, as Intel has claimed since the Pentium's introduction, optimizing a Pentium-specific version of an application substantially improves performance. Micrografx provides both''generic'' (386 or better) and Pentium-optimized versions on the Picture Publisher for NT CD-ROM. The optimizations account for about 15 percent of the P54C's impressive performance. The rest of the performance is due to the 2:1 advantage given by running 32-bit code, as reported in the "PowerPC Takes On Pentium'' feature in July's WINDOWS Magazine.

Of course, RISC processors continue to gain in performance, as do Intel's. Mips Technologies has 150MHz versions of its R4400 CPU in production, and recently announced a 200MHz version. The latter will in all probability outperform the Pentium on these tests. DEC has 150MHz and 200MHz Alpha CPUs in production, and has demonstrated a 333MHz version. Intel is reportedly working on a 100MHz Pentium.

Then there is the matter of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP). In an SMP system, multiple CPUs operate in parallel, executing many tasks at once--or even dividing up a single task into multiple threads of execution. The latter approach allows a single program to take advantage of more than one processor, but requires special programming. Picture Publisher for NT is multithreaded, and can exploit more than one CPU for many (but not all) compute-intensive tasks, so it is likely that an Intel-based SMP system can equal--or even exceed--the performance of even the latest RISC CPUs (in single processor systems) when using Picture Publisher for Windows NT for image processing.

Microsoft, Motorola and IBM had not released beta versions of Windows NT for the PowerPC at the time of our tests, so we can't say exactly how the PowerPC will fare in these tests. However, based on the published specifications and the performance we've observed from Apple's Power Macintosh (see Power PC Takes On Pentium) we expect the PowerPC 601 to deliver results comparable to those of the other RISC processors in these tests. It is possible that future generations of the PowerPC will perform better; but it doesn't appear realistic to expect the kind of 2:1 advantage over the Pentium that has been claimed elsewhere in the press.

READ/WRITE CDS COULD BECOME STANDARD WINDOWS EQUIPMENT

By: JIM FORBES

Even as CD-ROM drives finally settle in as standard equipment for today's multimedia systems, the next generation of end-user CD-ROM technology looms on the horizon. Inexpensive drives that allow not only playback but also WORM (write-once, read-many) recording of CD-ROM data are expected to become integral parts of Windows systems in the not-too-distant future.

Within the coming six months, Creative Labs Inc. of Milpitas, Calif. (408-428-6600), is expected to introduce a product that will allow end users to master CD-ROMs using a technology called CD-Recording (or CD-R). Creative has publicly stated it expects to unveil this breakthrough technology in 1994, but its executives have been reluctant to provide further details.

First shipments of CD-R systems and accompanying disc mastering tools will be made to software developers sometime this fall, say sources close to the company. The developers are expected to deliver software tools to simplify the process of authoring custom CD-ROMs.

Like most new technologies, CD-R will not be cheap, but prices should be markedly lower than the current cost ($4,000-$5,000) of read/write CD-ROM drives. Sources close to the Creative project say the first units are likely to add between $1,500 and $2,000 to the end-user cost of computers. That cost could drop precipitously in the coming 18 months, to a point where CD-R adds only about $500 to the overall cost of a typical end user system.

"Current prices make [CD-R] too expensive for most users,'' according to Sean Burke, director of product marketing and planning for desktop computers at Dell Computer Corp. "But, when the price begins to fall, say to a point where it adds only $500 or $600 to the cost of a system, we will offer this as an option for some of our systems.''

OPENDOC DEMONSTRATES OLE COMPATIBILITY

By: PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR. AND JAMES E. POWELL

OpenDoc will have an effect similar to the effect GUIs had on users in 1984,'' said Geurrino De Luca, vice president of marketing at Apple's AppleSoft division. Created by Apple, supported by IBM and WordPerfect, and now administered by Component Integration Laboratories (CIL@cil.org), OpenDoc offers an alternative to Microsoft's object linking and embedding technology.

Apple is developing the Macintosh System 7 implementation, WordPerfect is handling the Windows implementation, and IBM will move OpenDoc to the OS/2 and AIX operating environments. Thus, OpenDoc will be in the hands of Windows, OS/2 and AIX developers this summer, in addition to the 20,000 Apple developers who will have it.

Complaints among users working with OLE in Microsoft's Office suite have centered on poor performance. Applications are slow to launch when invoked to edit components, and resources are quickly consumed on even simple documents when several components are included. Users also note that switching menus and toolbars may be more jarring than the alternative: simple drag-and-drop functionality. OpenDoc supporters, including representatives from IBM and WordPerfect, told WINDOWS Magazine that users can expect these problems to be solved this fall, when OpenDoc begins to gather momentum.

Believing that applications are well on their way to becoming components, rather than full-featured, do-everything programs, the committee also expects quick developer acceptance. "For programmers, adding OpenDoc functionality is like picking up your application and subdividing it into objects rather than making radical changes internally,'' an OpenDoc spokesperson said.

Citing a reduced number of API calls for programmers "to get the basics done,'' the OpenDoc participants also expect to see shorter development cycles with more OpenDoc-compliant applications available in record time. A frequent complaint of OLE application developers is that OLE programming is labor intensive and complex. In contrast, programmers writing to OpenDoc may need to learn far fewer technical details and learn a smaller number of essential API calls. Further, these calls are standard across all three platforms (OS/2, Mac and Windows) that OpenDoc supports.

Committee members also boast that the standard will include published specifications and source code for a cross-application language, in contrast to Microsoft's Visual Basic, Applications Edition (VBA) which is proprietary to Microsoft and currently available only in Excel and Project.

A key selling point is that OpenDoc will support all of OLE's functions, though the reverse may not be true. "It's like getting OLE for free,'' a WordPerfect official told WINDOWS Magazine. He also hinted that by fall users may see a complete suite of products supporting OpenDoc.

Mark Ericson, an object architect at WordPerfect, is in charge of creating OpenDoc for Windows. He demonstrated OpenDoc and OLE interoperability to reporters and analysts at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif.

"OpenDoc and OLE coexist seamlessly for users and developers,'' Ericson said, adding, "If you program to the OpenDoc API, you get OLE for free.'' He said programming OpenDoc will require about the same amount of effort as programming OLE, but that OpenDoc will have performance advantages, and that it allows for overlapping and irregularly shaped objects (which OLE does not allow).

LAPTOPS TO GET A BIG CHARGE FROM NEW BATTERY

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

Right now, users of battery-powered laptops have two options for getting a full day out of their systems: working a four-hour day or buying multiple battery packs. But a third alternative may finally be on the horizon.

AER Energy Resources Inc. (404-433-2127) has created a zinc-air battery that can run 10 hours between charges while adding only a pound to total system weight. The Smyrna, Ga.-based battery maker has also signed a letter of intent with Zenith Data Systems (708-808-5000) that will allow Zenith to offer AER's batteries as an option on notebooks and subnotebooks.

"Inherently, zinc-air is going to give you longer runtime per cycle, and that is appealing in certain environments,'' said John Wagner, senior product manager for Zenith's Portables Product Group. No plans for specific product rollouts have been set, Wagner added. Currently, Zenith uses nickel metal hydride batteries in most of its systems.

There are some trade-offs involved in the new technology. The cells cannot be recharged as often as some other batteries: only about 50 or 100 times compared with 250 to 500 cycles for nickel cadmium. Unlike nickel cadmium batteries, zinc-air cells do not suffer from memory effect, and so can be efficiently recharged before they fully discharge.

Meanwhile, AER Energy will make its batteries available to consumers in the form of the Power 20, a 20-hour rechargeable battery system. Available in the second half of 1994, the Power 20 will power a cellular phone and a computer simultaneously. The unit, which measures 11.6 by 5.75 by 2.95 inches and weighs 6 pounds, will cost $649.

MICROSOFT TO ADAPT WINDOWS FOR FUTURE CABLE TV SERVICES

By: JIM FORBES

According to Greg Riker, Microsoft's director of advanced consumer technology, Windows technology will be adapted for controlling video, audio and other services piped into consumers' homes on broadband networks now under development by cable companies. While Windows for television will lack the familiar icons and menu bars, the new interface is expected to let channel surfers readily ride future cable information streams, and winnow available channels for useful information.

But will that interface be found on familiar cigar-box-sized television set top controllers, or be run from desktop personal computers? "Microsoft thinks personal computers have the same chances for success as the device that controls information to cable services as do (set top) boxes,'' Riker added.

"I think by the year 1996 it's extremely likely you'll find a lot of desktop, and perhaps mobile, systems equipped with tuners and/or cable modems,'' he said.

Microsoft has also made a series of announcements regarding a software architecture that, combined with the company's plans to participate in the development of set-top box technology, could result in Windows NT-like servers delivering on-demand video and multimedia to homes. In mid-May the company announced "Tiger,'' a scalable software architecture that can be deployed across networks, enterprise cable and telecommunications systems, and in individual homes.

Microsoft's Tiger software is hardware independent and is based on Windows NT technology. Once Tiger networks are implemented, users will be able to call up and play videodiscs, audiotapes and other forms of information using the interface Microsoft's Greg Riker has demonstrated throughout this year.

When Tiger was announced, Microsoft said it would begin installing this service in conjunction with a Seattle cable operator. The first users of this product, according to Microsoft, will be its own employees.

WORDPERFECT UPGRADES AND RENAMES OFFICE

By: RICH CASTAGNA

Acknowledging that the word "office'' is more often associated with application suites than with e-mail, WordPerfect changed the name of its messaging system from WordPerfect Office to Symmetry. The product has also been upgraded with a roster of significant new features intended to position it as a serious contender in the enterprise-wide communications arena.

The new version, designated Symmetry 4.1, adds support for the PowerMac and seven UNIX environments, and now supports a total of 12 client platforms. MAPI support has also been added for Windows clients.

Symmetry is also designed for smoother integration with other applications. For example, applications can be registered. When a user receives a message with an attached file that was created using a registered application, a unique icon appears in the mailbox next to the message. Opening the message launches the application and displays the file.

Another feature called Custom Commands provides access to other applications via any Symmetry pull-down menu. ListServer, also new in this release, is an Internet-like feature that facilitates sharing of information among users via discussion forums and subscription services.

WordPerfect says that Symmetry improves on Office's installation, administration capabilities and maintenance requirements. Other additions include synchronization with the NetWare bindery and centralized, automated updating of client software. Symmetry 4.1 is available now and is compatible with its predecessor, Office 4.0a.

CMP, MICROSOFT TEAM UP TO HONOR WINDOWS PIONEERS

By: JONATHAN KARL MATZKIN

On the eve of the Spring Comdex show in Atlanta, Ga., the Windows community paused to honor some of its best and brightest. The 1994 Windows Pioneer Awards, cosponsored by Microsoft Corp. and CMP Publications, publisher of WINDOWS Magazine, recognized the accomplishments of seven exceptional individuals who paved the way to today's Windows workplace. The event was cohosted

By: William S. Gates, chairman of Microsoft, and Michael S. Leeds, president of CMP.

Alan Cooper, founder and president of Cooper Software, was named a Windows Pioneer for his groundbreaking design work on the user interface for Microsoft Visual Basic, among other accomplishments. The evening's second honoree was Lyle Griffin, who developed Micrografx In-A-Vision, the first retail application for Windows. Griffin also developed a host of other applications that have become daily tools for many Windows users. Joe Guthridge, currently of Lotus Development Corp., was cited for leading the development of Ami Pro, the word processor, and for his continuing development efforts. Honoree Ted Johnson was recognized for writing PageMaker for Windows, and for his involvement in a host of other projects at Aldus Corp.

Ian Koenig was lauded for his involvement as a corporate developer on every version of Windows since version 1.0, and specifically for his involvement with the Reuters Terminal product. The Reuters Terminal was one of the earliest commercial Windows products at the time of its release in 1987.

Ray Ozzie was accorded the status of Windows Pioneer for his development, along with a small group of collagues, of Lotus Notes. Before forming his company, Iris Associates, Ozzie worked at Lotus Development, where he created the Symphony spreadsheet. The evening's final honoree, Charles Petzold, authored Programming Windows, a trailblazing text. He has also published hundreds of influential articles in PC Magazine, many of them devoted to Windows issues.

NEWS BITS- COMPILED

BY: PHILIP ALBINUS

•	America Online and Redgate Communications have agreed to merge in order to incorporate multimedia capabilities into America Online. Redgate Communications, an interactive marketing and media concern, will add multimedia services and business to America Online and accelerate America Online's entry into interactive advertising and transactional marketing. Redgate Communications shareholders will receive 444,184 shares of America Online common stock for all outstanding Redgate common and preferred stock and warrants. Ted Leonios will remain as president of Redgate Communications and will serve as an officer of America Online. Following the merger, Redgate will operate as a subsidiary of America Online and will remain located in Vero Beach, Fla.

•	Single-platform applications that never ran under Windows or the Macintosh may now be making the switch. Three computer industry entrepreneurs have formed Jump! Software Inc., a software development company that will port Macintosh applications to the Windows platform. Dick Mathews, a former Aldus and Xerox executive, joined forces with Lee Lorenzen, (a coauthor of Ventura Publisher and a cofounder of Fractal Design Corp.) and with Jan Mathews, a former CEO of BumbleBee Software. Jump! also plans to port Windows applications to the Macintosh in the wake of the reease of the PowerPC, said Dick Mathews, Jump! president. The company will release the first as yet unnamed Macintosh-to-Windows application by midsummer and will ship the first Windows-to-Macintosh application in the fourth quarter, according to Mathews. Jump! plans to publish and market the ported software (under the Jump! name for both Mac and Windows applications) and will pay the application's author and developer a royalty on sales.

•	Seagate Technology has acquired Crystal Computer Services for a stock transaction of $18.6 million. Crystal will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Seagate and will remain at its Vancouver, Canada, headquarters. Crystal Services manufactures Crystal Reports, a Windows-based data access and report writing tool. Crystal Reports is bundled with Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition, Peoplesoft's HR and Financial packages, and will be bundled with Borland dBASE for Windows when it begins shipping later this year, according to Seagate.

•	Joining other software and hardware manufacturers, Microsoft abandoned its policy of suggested retail prices for its products. Since July 1, Microsoft no longer publishes list prices for products sold in the United States and Canada. The company eliminated suggested retail prices in Europe nearly one year ago. Microsoft decided to eliminate suggested retail prices following research into the difference between suggested retail prices and so-called street prices--the actual prices consumers pay.

•	E Ware, a division of Visual Cybernetics, has acquired WinSleuth from DorSoft for $360,000. WinSleuth, a diagnostic application, helps users install, maintain and troubleshoot hardware and software under Windows. The diagnostic segment of total software sales totals $150 million, and is growing at a 40 percent annual rate, according to an E Ware press announcement. WinSleuth will be sold with other E Ware division software and will be bundled with all Northgate personal computers.

•	IBM has agreed to license voice messaging technology from AudioFile. TalkWorks for Mwave is a Windows-based voice messaging system that has the ability to record, play back and edit voice messages in Windows applications. TalkWorks for Windows includes AudioRecorder; an OLE server for recording, embedding and playing audio; and AudioEditor for editing compressed and uncompressed audio files. TalkWorks is compatible with the Windows Sound System, Compaq Business Audio and all major digital audio standards.

•	Microplex Systems announced that its M202 print server now works with Microsoft Windows NT. Microplex added the ability to work with networks using NetBIOS over TCP/IP to the multiport, multiprotocol server.

•	Advanced Logic Research has been awarded a patent for its microprocessor upgrade technology that allows users to upgrade their central processing unit to i486 and Pentium technology.

•	My name is Robert and I use ACT! If you have ever wanted to meet and exchange information with fellow users of the popular Windows contact manager, the International ACT! User's Group has been formed for you. The IAUG promotes ACT! products, program usage, add-on products and third party services. The IAUG will provide ACT! users with group services such as a bulletin board system, newsletters, membership directory and related product discounts. For information, call 404-822-1668.

•	If your business reports need some pizzazz but your budget is tight this month, then here's some good news. Micrografx Inc. is giving away copies of its ABC SnapGraphics 1.0 for free until September 30, 1994. ABC SnapGraphics 1.0 is an automated business graphics tool that allows you to add eye-catching graphics to your business communications. The template-based business graphics tool has a list price of $249, but until the end of next month, Micrografx is charging only $8.95 to cover shipping costs. For more information, call Micrografx at 800-653-3510 or 214-234-1769.


New Products: August 1994-Part 1

New Products: Compiled By: Hailey Lynn McKeefry

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

CD-ROM HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

This CD-ROM is a speedy player

How soon do you need it? The TEAC SuperQuad, a quadruple-speed CD-ROM drive, features 195ms access times and a 600KBps data-transfer rate. The drive has a 64KB data buffer.

The SuperQuad supports CD-ROM XA (extended architecture) and is multisession Photo CD capable and MPC 2 compliant. The unit is compatible with Creative Lab's Sound Blaster and with Sound Blaster-compatible boards. It includes a motorized disc tray with an Eject button, a front-panel-mounted headphone jack and rear-panel audio line-out jack for a sound board connection.

TEAC SuperQuad

Price: $655

Contact: TEAC America Inc., 213-726-0303, fax 213-727-7652

Home Shopping From Your Windows PC

If you're addicted to the home shopping channel, you'll love this. CD-ROMs are the newest way to shop for new software or even test drive the latest shareware programs without having to go on-line to find them.

If you want shareware that you can "try before you buy,'' check out ASP Advantage CD-ROM from the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). Choose from 1,000 programs that run the gamut from games to business tools.

Each program on the CD-ROM adheres to the ASP's quality and virus protection standards. The association also requires that the shareware programs be full working versions (not demo or "crippled'' versions), and that the publishers provide full documentation.

CD-ROM Selector from Save The Planet Software provides a detailed directory of the newest CD-ROM titles available. It contains over 1,600 disc titles from more than 230 publishers. The titles are divided into six major categories: business, education, home, games, clip media and software.

The database displays title, price, description, category, hardware requirements, and publisher contact information. In addition, the disc features more than 235 screen shots from the listed titles. The directory is updated annually.

ASP Advantage

Price: $26.95

Contact: Association of Shareware Professionals,

616-788-5131, fax 616-788-2765

CD-ROM Selector

Price: $39.95

Contact: Save The Planet Software, 303-641-5035

Use your CD Player to Financial Future

You can consult financial management experts via CD-ROM with the Charles J. Givens Money Guide from Friendly Software and Jonathan Pond's Personal Financial Planner from Vertigo Development Group.

For the Money Guide, Givens draws on his three best-sellers for advice on how to spend, buy, borrow and manage money. The CD-ROM also offers help with organizing and maintaining financial records and information. The advice is transmitted through 131 full-motion video clips and over 800 answers to commonly asked financial questions. The disc also contains more than 70 different financial applications and worksheets, and a financial calculator with 17 custom tools.

Jonathan Pond's Personal Financial Planner helps users build a personalized financial plan through an interactive process involving text, quizzes and tests.

The Wealth Test assesses your financial situation to create a personalized reading plan. Pond's Planner covers topics such as organizing records, accumulating wealth and planning for later life. The program's book metaphor lets users skip around, take notes in the margin, and look up topics.

Charles J. Givens

Money Guide

Price: $59.95

Contact: Friendly Software Corp., 800-968-4654, 419-868-6090

Jonathan Pond's Personal Financial Planner

Price: $49.95

Contact: Vertigo Development Group, 800-688-4750, 617-225-2065

Get Yourself a Tower of CD-ROM Power

The Alpine CD-ROM towers furnish up to 4.2GB of storage and allow multiple users to simultaneously access different drives.

The towers can accommodate four to 16 Toshiba CD-ROM drives and feature a universal 110/220 volt auto-switching power supply and software volume control. You can attach multiple towers to your networks and map each drive as an independent NetWare volume for compatibility with all CD-ROMs. Towers are also available with built-in NetWare security features that let you limit access to specific CD-ROMs.

Alpine Towers

Price: From $1,765 (four drive system without software)

Contact: PCM Technologies, 800-232-1347, 714-961-7000

Personal Archiver Indexes Your Information

The Personal Archiver supports track-at-once, incremental and multisession recording. The unit records and plays back incremental data before finalizing the CD-ROM. It labels each session, then creates a table of contents. Recorded information can be read by any standard CD-ROM drive. The package consists of a half-height JVC CD-ROM drive, recording software and a SCSI adapter. The recorder meets the Hi-Sierra and ISO 9660 format standards.

Personal Archiver

Price: $3,295

Contact: Marcan Inc.,

206-635-7477, fax 206-635-7479

Record CD-ROMS in Three Modes

The CDE100 and CDR100 CD-ROM drives record and play data at up to four times the normal speed of drives based on older technology.

The drives record information in three modes: Disc-at-once to record an entire disc at once; track-at-once to record one track at a time; and multisession for stopping after recording part of the disc. They support all four compact disc formats: read-only CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA (to store multimedia files), CD audio and CD-Interactive.

Both half-height devices require a separate SCSI-2 interface. The CDR100 is an internal drive, while the CDE100 sits beside your PC. Both have sustained transfer rates of 600KBps, asynchronous burst transfer rates of 4MBps, and an average access time of 500ms.

CDE100 and CDR100

Price: CDE100, $5,500; CDR100, $5,000

Contact: Yamaha Systems Technology Division,

800-543-7457, 408-437-3133

Store Data for a Nickel a Megabyte

The Plasmon Data Systems RF-4100 CD Recorder allows you to record data on CD-ROMs for as little as five cents per megabyte, according to Plasmon. The unit is designed to store data and create preproduction audio or CD-ROM masters.

The RF-4100 recorder includes a SCSI-2 interface and supports single- or double-speed data-transfer rates. It has a maximum data-transfer rate of 5MBps and an average access time of 1,000ms. The system can record on CDs with unformatted capacities of 660MB or 780MB.

RF-4100 CD Recorder

Price: $4,995

Contact: Plasmon Data Systems Inc., 408-956-9400, fax 408-956-9444

Hire a Personal Scribe to Write Your CD-ROMS

The Personal Scribe 1000 and the Personal Scribe 250 let you record single-session, multisession bridge, and audio CDs. The recorders include Personal Scribe 2.0 software that allows you to control and format the information you record. The drives also ship with SCSI adapter cards. The software can add incremental files to a CD without replicating the unchanged files.

The Personal Scribe 1000, a quad-speed drive, has a maximum data-transfer rate of 600KBps, while the Personal Scribe 250, a single-speed drive, has a data-transfer rate of approximately 180KBps. Average access time for each is 500ms.

Personal Scribe 1000 and 250

Price: Personal Scribe 1000, $6,995; Personal Scribe 250, $4,195

Contact: Meridian Data Inc., 408-438-3100, fax 408-438-6816

MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE

Event Recorder Whips Up Multimedia Shows

Dog & Pony Show creates multimedia presentations by activating a recorder that tracks all screen activity, including every mouse movement and key click. This authoring toolset comprises WinRecorder software for recording and WinPlayback shareware for presentation playback.

Dog & Pony Show works at the driver level to deliver full-screen, full-motion video, at a data-transfer rate of about 150KBps. Once finished, your presentations aren't written in stone. WinRecorder time stamps all the activity it records, creating a file you can edit later with controls that use a slider metaphor.

You can paste, save, insert and append events. You can also insert bitmapped graphics and text boxes, or attach voice annotations or musical segments.

Dog & Pony Show

Price: $495

Contact: Highland Software, 800-795-6066, 415-493-8550

App Takes Control of Video Capture

Buying a video capture board is only half the battle in producing digital video; the other half is finding software to control the board. MediaRecorder combines a number of software-control features to speed and simplify digital video production.

The program can play back QuickTime or .AVI full-motion video files and record .AVI files. You can use thumbnail videos to facilitate the preview or capture of video clips. MediaRecorder can control a VCR, camcorder or laserdisc player, using either the supplied MCI interface or one from Lenel Systems' library of controllers. The software can also control any device with the Sony ViSCA interface, as well as LDP and MDP series videodisc players.

Slide controls ease capture adjustment. When you fast-forward through a video, MediaRecorder lets you examine every frame. You can choose whether to set your capture rate at frames per second or seconds per frame. The program will produce graphics files in such formats as .GIF, .BMP, TIFF, .TGA, .PCX, .DIB and JPEG.

MediaRecorder

Price: $149

Contact: Lenel Systems International Inc., 716-248-9720, fax 716-248-9185

Match a MIDI Recorder to your needs and Budget

You can perform most MIDI recording and editing functions in Windows at a bargain price with SeqMax Presto! from Big Noise Software, or you can get full MIDI functionality at a premium price with Cakewalk Professional 3.0 from Twelve Tone Systems.

With Big Noise's SeqMax Presto! you can choose SMPTE IMPC or MIDI sync. The package includes a graphics editor for MIDI data and support for multiple MIDI ports. You can have as many as 64 linear tracks, and you can insert 255 patterns in each song. A Graphics Edit window lists MIDI drum names to speed drum-music editing, while the Score window allows you to add lyrics or view and edit any track in standard musical notation.

A 64-channel mixer (with two user-definable knobs) is included, giving you control of volume, mute, solo and pan. SeqMax Presto! supports MCI command playback so you can control the play timing for .WAV or .AVI files.

Cakewalk Professional 3.0 from Twelve Tone Systems includes a 96-channel mixer to control its 256 tracks.

Each fader can be assigned to any MIDI channel, and can transmit both MIDI control and note events. You can also tie multiple faders together to create "gangs'' for cross-fade and converge effects.

The program features multitrack staff printing, a MIDI event programming language and MCI support. You can copy the "feel'' of one track to another using the Groove Quantize function, and share that information with other DNA (Digital Network Architecture) groove-compatible products. The MIDI Machine Control standard lets you start, stop, locate and punch in/punch out on compatible tape-recording decks, such as the Fostex R-8, Tascam 688, and Alesis ADAT.

You can include lyrics in your printed notation and Cakewalk will automatically match them to existing notes in a selected track. Drum tracks can be edited using a modified Piano Roll view that displays percussion instrument names for any defined MIDI instrument.

SeqMax Presto!

Price: $124.95

Contact: Big Noise Software Inc., 904-730-0754, fax 904-730-0748

Cakewalk Professional 3.0

Price: $349

Contact: Twelve Tone

Systems Inc., 800-234-1171, 617-926-2480

MULTIMEDIA HARDWARE

Don't Let Add-Ons Break the Bank

Recording and playing high-quality sound takes more than high-tech software and sound cards: The tools of the trade also include microphones, speakers and headphones specifically designed for use with computers that run Windows. Adding the right hardware needn't cost a bundle--most of these products cost from $10 to $200 each.

Sony's SRS speakers have built-in amplifiers that range from 2 watts, in the SRS-PC20, to 20 watts, in the SRS-D2KPC. All of the speakers have shielding to protect them from the magnetic fields given off by PCs and their peripherals. The shielding also protects your monitor from the speaker's magnetic field. The Sony F-PC30 dynamic microphone features a built-in talk switch. The MDR-007PC open-air stereo headphones feature a 23mm driver and 20 to 20,000Hz frequency response, while the MDR-009VPC model offers the same performance and adds a volume control.

The ATR35s lavalier microphone from Audio-Technica U.S. is based on condenser microphone technology. The clip-on microphone reduces ambient noise (such as fan and hard disk sounds) through proximity to the user's mouth. The microphone comes with a clothing clip, battery, windscreen, 1/4-inch adapter plug and a 20-foot built-in cable.

Jazz Speakers has just started selling its speakers directly to consumers. All of them include amplifiers and magnetic shielding to protect them against interference. Among its offerings are the J-520, which has a response of 50Hz to 20,000Hz and on/off, bass and treble controls. The 14-watt J-818 adds a graphic equalizer. The J-312 has a 100Hz to 15,000Hz frequency response, 5 watts per channel, and controls for power, volume and bass only.

The new RS380 amplified speakers from Reveal Computer Products offer 80 watts, 4-inch woofers and 1.25-inch tweeters, as well as power, volume, treble and bass controls. The speakers are magnetically shielded.

SRS speakers, F-PC30 microphone and MDR headphones

Price: SRS, $39.95 to $199.95; FPC-30, $29.95; MDR, $9.95 and $19.95

Contact: Sony Electronics,

800-342-5721, 201-368-9272

ATR35s

Price: $39.95

Contact: Audio-Technica U.S. Inc., 216-686-2600, fax 216-688-3752

J-818, J-520 and J-312 speakers

Price: J-818, $299.95; J-520, $175.95; J-312, $95.95

Contact: Jazz Speakers, 818-336-2689, fax 818-336-2489

RS380

Price: $179

Contact: Reveal Computer Products, 800-669-3559, 818-704-6300

Wire Your System For Sound...And More

Multimedia kits let you get into multimedia without investing in a whole new system. These kits, which adhere to the MPC 2 specification, include sound boards and CD-ROM drives. Some also include video boards and speakers.

The DE-200 and DE-250, from Advanced Logic Research Inc., come with a DSP-based sound card that uses wavetable synthesis. The DSP offloads the burden of sound processing from the CPU; it handles the task instead, and provides improved system performance and sound quality. New features can be programmed into the DSP with a software upgrade.

The kits also provide a double-speed, Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM drive and a pair of Labtec speakers. The DE-200 includes one CD-ROM-based software package and three utilities on a diskette, while DE-250 offers a dynamic microphone and seven CD-ROMs.

Aztech Labs' Voyager and Asteroid upgrade kits include a 16-bit sound card; a double-speed Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM drive; and several education, entertainment and business CD-ROMs, such as Learn to Use Windows, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Software Toolworks Multimedia Encyclopedia, Macromedia, Professor Multimedia, and Wired for Sound Pro. The Voyager has a Sound Galaxy Nova 16 sound card, and a CDA 268-01A CD-ROM drive. It also comes with a microphone and a pair of amplified speakers, plus seven CD-ROM titles. The Asteroid includes the same sound card and CD-ROM drive, a pair of headphones, but only four CD-ROM titles. The sound card supports the Sound Blaster, Microsoft Windows Sound System and Ad Lib sound standards.

DE-200 and DE-250

Price: DE-200, $399;

DE-250, $499

Contact: Advanced Logic Research Inc., 800-444-4ALR, 714-581-6770

Voyager and Asteroid

Price: Voyager, $399;

Asteroid, $349

Contact: Aztech Labs Inc., 800-886-8859,510-623-8988

SYSTEMS AND NOTEBOOKS

Put the Pedal to the Metal with a Pentium

Push the speed limit with a Pentium system from Advanced Digital Systems or Micron Computer.

ADS has brought Pentium performance to its ProSeries line with the ADS:5100, which employs a 100MHz processor, and the ADS:590, which uses a 90MHz processor. The base configuration for both systems includes a 1.44MB floppy disk drive, IDE controller, 8MB of RAM (expandable to 128MB), and a 256KB cache (expandable to 512KB). Both come standard with a desktop case with a 230-watt power supply, DOS 6.2 and a keyboard.

Micron's P90PCI PowerStation series of 90MHz systems incorporates a PCI bus and 64-bit memory architecture that can support up to 192MB of RAM. Standard features include a 256KB Micron 15ns level 2 write-back cache (upgradable to 512KB); an integrated Mode 3 IDE interface with transfer rates of up to 10MBps; a 2MB PCI bus graphics accelerator; a double-speed, multisession CD-ROM drive; and a choice of desktop or tower case.

ADS:5100 and ADS:590

Price: ADS:5100, $3,676; ADS:590, $3,251

Contact: Advanced Digital Systems Inc., 617-890-0330, fax 617-890-0222

Micron P90PCI PowerStation series

Price: From $2,999

Contact: Micron Computer Inc., 800-243-7615, 208-465-3434

Pick Your Own Pointing Device

If you are picky about your pointers, you don't have to commit to just one device. The WinBook XP offers a standard 19mm TrackPoint, but you can add an optional Logitech 19mm trackball centered in the palm rest for $29.95.

WinBook XP configurations include hard disks with capacities of 120MB to 540MB. The units feature 4MB of RAM (expandable to 32MB), a removable 1.44MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots. In addition, the systems offer serial, parallel, VGA and external keyboard/mouse ports.

The WinBook XP comes with a 10.3-inch dual-scan display, but may also be purchased with a 9.5-inch monochrome, dual-scan or active-matrix color screen. It includes video acceleration from Western Digital's RocketChip 32-bit local bus and 1MB video RAM.

The XP weighs between 5.4 and 6.1 pounds, and uses a NiMH battery pack. Additional options include a 3.3-volt L2 cache, internal audio, an internal 14.4-bps fax modem and a four-slot docking station.

WinBook XP

Price: From $1,999

Contact: WinBook Computer Corp., 800-468-2162, 614-481-8041

Notebook Offers High Power and Multimedia

Aquiline has added Intel's 100MHz DX4 chip to its line of Hurricane multimedia notebooks. The notebooks feature Western Digital's newest 1MB graphics accelerator chip.

You can choose either a 10-inch active matrix, 10-inch dual-scan color, or 10-inch monochrome display. The Hurricane has a built-in 16-bit sound chip and includes 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB), two Type II PCMCIA slots and an IDE hard disk (with capacities from 120MB to 540MB). The I/O ports include one bidirectional parallel port, two serial ports and a 200-pin docking station connector.

The unit comes with speakers and a carrying case. It weighs 5.9 pounds, including the NiMH battery, and measures 1.9 by 11.8 by 9 inches. Optional peripherals include an internal 5.25-inch CD-ROM drive, a LAN PCMCIA card, an automobile adapter and a docking station.

Hurricane DX4-100

Price: From $3,340

Contact: Aquiline Inc., 518-272-0421, fax 518-272-0547

Take Desktop Power on Safari

The Safari 3181 notebook provides desktop performance in a notebook case.

The Safari features a 50MHz Intel SL-Enhanced 486DX2 processor; a 209MB or 340MB removable hard disk; and 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB). The unit, which weighs 6.9 pounds, has a 9.5-inch TFT color screen and a front-mounted trackball.

The Safari 3181 features a removable 3.5-inch floppy disk drive that can be replaced with an optional NiMH battery pack for extended system life. Expansion capabilities include two Type II or one Type III PCMCIA slot. The computer comes bundled with Windows 3.1, AT&T Access Plus 2.5 and BitFax.

Safari 3181

Price: $4,300 (209MB hard disk, 4MB RAM)

Contact: AT&T Global Information Solutions, 800-225-5627, 513-445-5000

FINANCIAL SOFTWARE

APP Unmuddles Mutual Fund Strategies

FundPro's financial tools help you mind your mutual funds. You can screen and rank funds to pinpoint investment opportunities based on individual risk and return criteria. Each fund description includes investment strategy, investment minimums, a list of associated fees or loads, date of inception, contact information, and a dividend history.

The Chart Analysis feature lets you compare the performance of different funds graphically, while the Portfolio Manager lets you analyze the composite performance of multiple funds held in one portfolio.

For $25 a month, you can also use FundPro to download current pricing data from Manhattan Analytics' database of more than 700 no-load and low-load mutual funds and 30 market indexes.

FundPro

Price: $400

Contact: Manhattan Analytics Inc., 800-251-FUND, 310-374-2142

Mobilize Your Expense Reports

You don't have to wait until you get back to the office to fill out those expense forms. Expense It! 1.0 lets you track expenses and generate printed expense reports while you're on the go.

The package offers a choice of eight portrait- or landscape-oriented formats, or you can create your own. The program also includes a pop-up Currency Converter and a calculator. Expense It! tracks cash advances and reimbursements to help you reconcile your expense accounts on a weekly, monthly, quarterly or user-defined basis.

Expense It! 1.0

Price $129.99

Contact: On The Go Software, 619-546-4340, fax 619-546-0430

Calculate the Cost of Home Ownership

Home Ownership Plus can help resolve the difficult question of whether to buy or rent.

This mortgage and personal financial analysis application guides you as you determine the cost of renting versus buying, decide whether or not you qualify for a home loan, and calculate how much cash you will need to close on a house.

The software gives you a graphical comparison of mortgage packages. You can examine the differences between the monthly payments of each, and estimate the achieved savings through the prepayment of a home loan.

The program also allows potential home owners to determine the break-even point on a home loan.

Home Ownership Plus

Price: $69.95; limited time, $49

Contact: Personal Vision Inc., 800-764-2235, fax 508-760-3785

You Don't Need A Seat On The Exchange

Even if you aren't planning to take Wall Street by storm, you can learn more about stock and index option investments with Options Laboratory. You can use real or simulated prices to explore options strategies.

The program performs all the arithmetic associated with these financial transactions and allows you to track the progress of an individual option and its relationship to your portfolio. The Options Laboratory also lets you determine fair value and the implied volatility of American and European options, as well as the future market value of a position.

A textbook called A Course In Options, which outlines several accepted pricing models for options, as well as analytical tools for risk management, is included.

Options Laboratory

Price: $129.95

Contact: Mantic Software Corp., 800-730-2919, 303-224-1615

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE/HARDWARE

Add Color Printing To your Network

Workgroups and midsized companies that require laser-quality color and black-and-white printing should consider the Xerox Color Laser Printer. The new printer exploits "quad dot'' technology to provide print resolutions of up to 1200x300 dots per inch. Quad dot technology eliminates visibly coarse dot structure in halftone reproduction by randomizing the halftone pattern used by the laser as it sweeps the page.

The Xerox Color Laser Printer prints up to 3 pages per minute in full-color printing operations and up to 12 ppm for monochrome operations. The printer automatically adjusts to achieve optimum speed.

The included Printer Services software lets you control the printer from your desktop through a control panel that displays printer status, maintenance needs and toner level. The Color Laser Printer also includes automatic PDL sensing and switching, which eliminates the need for user configuration. The printer is capable of printing on plain paper, transparencies, labels, envelopes and other stocks. It is based on the AMD 29030 RISC processor operating at 25MHz, and ships with 12MB of RAM standard (upgradable to 48MB). The unit supports Adobe PostScript Level 2, PCL 5 with 4900 HPGL/2 emulation.

Xerox Color Laser Printer

Price: From under $10,000

Contact: Xerox Corp., 800-ASK-XEROX, 716-423-5090

Graphic Editor Creates Charts and Schedules

You don't have to be Picasso to create presentable charts, graphs and diagrams for your presentations. Charts Now! lets you control font and color for each symbol and task on your chart. The Shrink-to-Fit feature adjusts chart symbols to allow everything to be printed on a single page.

You can create a flowchart, network or block diagram, or view graph by choosing symbols from the floating symbol palette and dragging and dropping them. A variety of line symbols, including straight, elbow, cranks, loopbacks and bends, are supported. The Intelligent Wizard feature assists you in creating common symbol groupings. You can also choose between a positioning ruler and a time scale at the top of the screen. The Note Field function lets you add an unlimited description to any symbol in the chart. Charts Now! can exchange information with a variety of project management packages, such as Microsoft Project, Time Line, InstaPlan and Quick Schedule Plus.

Charts Now!

Price: $99.95; upgrades, $39.95

Contact: Foundation

Microsystems Inc., 510-814-1695, fax 510-814-1696

Try and Get a Grip on Your Clip Art

The CorelGallery clip-art manager lets you drag and drop images into any OLE 2.0-compatible package or export images in a variety of formats. The program is compatible with many Windows word processing and desktop publishing packages including Word, WordPerfect, Ami Pro, PowerPoint, Freelance and Harvard Graphics. The package comes with 10,000 images in 50 categories and is published on a single CD-ROM. The disc includes a reference guide in English, German, French and Spanish.

CorelGallery

Price: $59

Contact: Corel Corp., 800-836-3729, 613-728-8200

Accelerator Gives You a Choice of Local Bus

The VideoBlitz II graphics accelerator comes with 2MB of VRAM standard (upgradable to 4MB) and is capable of running at a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 pixels (up to 64,000 colors). It also delivers true-color (16.7 million colors) PCI graphics acceleration at resolutions of 1280x1024.

You can choose either a PCI or a VL-Bus configuration. The VideoBlitz II ships with drivers for Windows, Windows NT and OS/2 2.1, as well as for Ventura, Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. Turbo DLD drivers from Panacea support AutoCAD, AutoShade, AutoSketch, 3D Studio and other Autodesk applications.

The VideoBlitz II

Price: PCI, $539; VL (2MB), $499

Contact: Genoa Systems Corp., 800-93-GENOA, 408-432-9090


New Products: August 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

FONTS

Macintosh Fonts Come to Windows

Adobe has added support for multiple master fonts, previously available only for the Macintosh, to version 3.0 of its Adobe Type Manager for Windows. Using the Font Creator utility, you can vary a multiple master font's optical size and style to create variations, from light to bold and condensed to extended. Font Creator manipulates only multiple master typefaces, not existing Type 1 fonts.

ATM 3.0 includes the 13 basic typefaces found resident on most Adobe PostScript printers. It also provides 17 additional typefaces, including Adobe's Tekton multiple master typeface. Typefaces include headline, display and text fonts. The program supports 10 languages, including French, German, Italian and Spanish. Version 3.0 also lets you install and run ATM via a network server independent of the network protocol. Users can perform a node installation of ATM 3.0 from a shared version of Windows, even to a diskless workstation. ATM 3.0 requires Windows 3.1 and is TrueType compatable.

Adobe Type Manager 3.0

Price: $60; upgrades, $29.95

Contact: Adobe Systems Inc., 800-83-FONTS, 408-986-6555

Get Just the Type of Font

Special projects deserve special fonts. RRKeyFonts from RoadRunner Computing is a complete set of typefaces designed for computer documentation and training materials, while C39Tools 2.5 from Azalea Software provides commonly used bar codes.

RRKeyFonts includes a complete set of PC keyboard keys (including Backspace, Delete, Enter, Tab and Scroll Lock) and a set of all ASCII characters (including A-Z, 0-9, and special symbols such as @, # and $). Another set of included fonts illustrates most Windows screen elements. The documentation covers instructions for creating macros and includes keyboard diagrams for Ami Pro 2.0 and 3.0, Word 2.0 and 6.0, and WordPerfect 5.x and 6.0.

C39Tools 2.5 offers the most common bar codes for identification, inventory and tracking (such as bar codes used for videotape rental). Included are eight Code 39 fonts in various aspect ratios and wide:narrow ratios in both TrueType and Type 1 formats. C39Tools also gives you sample database routines written in Microsoft Access, FoxPro, Visual Basic or Borland Paradox to cut and paste into your applications.

RRKeyFonts

Price: $49

Contact: RoadRunner Computing, 800-414-4268, 504-346-0019

C39Tools 2.5

Price: $149

Contact: Azalea Software Inc., 800-48-ASOFT, 206-932-4030

Add Personal Twist to Your Type

Become a type artist with Type Twister 1.0, a type-enhancement package that lets you create special text effects such as twisting spirals or panoramic curves for use in brochures, banners, presentations and invitations. The program, which is compatible with TrueType and Adobe Type 1 fonts, also lets you apply any of 242 custom colors to your designs or edit and apply one of 50 pre-created designs. You can save up to 50 of your original type designs within the program. Drag controls let you change the size, rotation or sheer of a text object. Type Twister's interactive preview lets you perfect your designs before copying them into a document using Windows' Clipboard or OLE. The program also includes 20 fonts.

Type Twister 1.0

Price: Estimated street price, $29.95

Contact: Aldus Consumer Division, 800-888-6293, 619-558-6000

UTILITES

Banish Unneeded Applications from Your Net

Getting old apps off the network isn't as simple as it sounds. UnInstaller 2.0 eases the task by removing applications from the server, and excising the artifacts of their presence (such as .INI file references and DLLs) that are scattered throughout client machines across the network.

When an application is removed from the server, it is replaced with a "SmartDecoy,'' so that when users attempt to launch the application, they are notified it has been removed and asked if they wish to have all traces of it eliminated from their hard disk. The File Viewer makes it possible to check files before deleting them. Also provided are utilities to clean .INI files, eliminate duplicate files, find "orphans'' left by manual deinstallation, and remove unneeded video drivers and Windows system components.

UnInstaller 2.0 for Networks

Price: $995 per server

Contact: MicroHelp Inc., 800-922-3383, 404-516-0899

Create Order Out Of Floppy Chaos

Many times copying a file from your hard disk to a diskette is like throwing that information into a black hole. One retrieval mechanism is Diskette Catalog Manager 2.0. The program creates a database of diskette files so you can sort and search files on multiple diskettes. Each diskette in the database is assigned a unique identifier number. You can add diskettes to the database by clicking on a single button. The Diskette Catalog Manager displays the contents of two or more diskettes. You can assign 80-character titles to diskettes and files and a 20-character location tag to each diskette. Zip files are supported.

Diskette Catalog Manager 2.0

Price: $49.95; until Sept. 1, $9.95

Contact: Redstone Technology, 800-871-8010, 713-280-8010

Redecorate Windows With Color and 3-D

Your days of drab, colorless Windows dialog boxes may be nearing an end. Do-Over! lets you change the look and feel of the Windows GUI by modifying title bars, menu bars, captions, windows frames and borders. You can also mimic OS/2, X Windows and Chicago using predefined colors and styles. Do-Over! lets you convert any common dialog from the standard two-dimensional appearance to a sculpted three-dimensional appearance by varying weight, shadow, outline, zoom and color.

Do-Over! supports inward or outward bars, buttons and frames, as well as the modification of list boxes, combo boxes, radio buttons, drop-down menus, edit controls and check boxes.

Do-Over!

Price: $59; until Dec. 31, $29

Contact: Kansmen Corp., 800-200-9881, 408-263-9881

Create Your Own Installation Program

Even nonprogrammers can create installation instructions with PC-Install. The program checks to see if the computer has the resources (disk space, CPU type) needed to support the installation, then provides customizable on-screen instructions and status information. You tell PC-Install which files to copy or compress, and what messages need to be displayed while the files are being installed. The program can automatically update CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT and WIN.INI files.

PC-Install can automatically create multiple directories and subdirectories, as well as Windows program groups and icons. You can have it execute external programs, launch the installed program immediately after installation, and automatically display a READ.ME.

The included, royalty-free PC-Shrink file compression utility compresses multiple files into a single file and splits large compressed files over multiple disks.

PC-Install

Price: $179

Contact: 20/20 Software Inc., 800-735-2020, 503-520-0504

Purge Those Mailing Lists!

TrueList 1.1 can whittle the duplicate addresses, and the associated time and expense, from your mailing lists. The program reads from an input file, searching for similar addresses. Misspelled names, a common duplication error, are also filtered out. Once a probable duplicate has been found, both addresses are displayed so that you can choose which to keep. When removed, addresses are placed in a separate file, with an explanation of why each was removed.

TrueList 1.1

Price: $99

Contact: Data Discovery, 800-808-3838, 919-339-4378

NETWARE MANAGEMENT

Intel Adds Management Component to Print Server

Intel has added print management capabilities to its NetportExpress EL print server for Novell NetWare. Via Windows, the NetportExpress management system provides centralized printer management functions, including support for bidirectional printer communication and integration with Novell's NetWare Management System. There are also built-in SNMP MIN II (management information base) agents for both the NetportExpress EL and XL print servers.

The NPManager print management GUI is backward compatible with all NetPort and NetPort II print servers, so that Intel print servers can be managed from a single workstation. The domain management feature allows you to group print servers by floor, by department or according to self-defined groupings.

The system is capable of receiving information, such as printer model and serial number, memory, and paper tray sizes from the printer. The server supports NetWare 4.0 in Bindery Emulation mode.

NetportExpress EL

Price: Ethernet, $499;Token Ring, $699

Contact: Intel Corp., 800-538-3373, 503-629-7354

Ease CD-ROM Access on Your Network

Two new software programs enhance CD-ROM sharing on your Novell NetWare LAN.

OPTI-NET Lite from Online Computer Systems increases CD-ROM access speeds on your network. The program adds data caching and data prefetching to shared CD-ROM drives installed on a peer-to-peer network. The CD-ROM data caching feature lets you store recently and frequently used applications and data in high-speed extended memory for quick retrieval.

The application installs as a transparent complement to the Microsoft MS-DOS CD-ROM extensions and to device drivers supplied by the CD-ROM vendors. The OPTI-NET Lite software is Kodak Photo CD compatible.

CD-LINK, a software-only solution, turns a nondedicated PC with a CD-ROM drive into a CD server. It lets every user on a Novell network access several CD-ROM players linked to the network.

The program, a 17KB TSR, lets you access up to seven CDs per PC with five or more simultaneous users.

OPTI-NET Lite

Price: $179

Contact: Online Computer Systems Inc., 800-922-9204, 301-428-3700

CD-LINK

Price: 10 users, $199; 25 users, $299

Contact: Cross International Corp., 800-288-2887, 303-440-7313

Ensure Data Safety and Peace of Mind

Colorado Backup 2.0 adds support for Colorado Memory System's high-capacity tape backup systems, enhanced support for NetWare 2.x and 3.x servers, new file archiving capability, and advanced backup and restore options.

The software also supports Colorado Memory Systems' higher capacity minicartridge drives, including the Colorado 700; the PowerTape 1100, 2400 and 4000 series; and the PowerDAT 6000.

During data backup and move operations, Colorado Backup 2.0 saves the name and location of archived files to the on-disk library. The program automatically retries backups of files that are found to be in use when a backup is initially attempted.

Other features include the redirection of files on restore (which lets you restore files to locations other than their original locations), and the option to partially erase previously recorded tapes.

Colorado Backup 2.0

Price: $49.95

Contact: Colorado Memory Systems Inc., 800-845-7905,303-669-6500

Keep Your Remote Users Chatting

ChatConnect can adapt your network to meet the communications needs of remote employees.

The system combines Novell NetWare Connect software and J&L's ChatterBox, a network resource server that consolidates network hardware such as modems, hubs and processors into a single cabinet. Novell's Connect supports inbound and outbound connectivity and lets users remotely access and exchange data across your network. The hardware component comes configured with all the necessary hardware, including hard disks, modems, power supplies and cables. The ChatterBox has hot-swappable CPUs so that you do not have to bring your server down in order to change a processor unit.

Several versions of ChatConnect are available. The IS-CHCN-8, an eight user version, consists of the NEZ-486SX-33MHz processing unit with 8MB of RAM installed, a 130MB hard disk, a 16-bit Ethernet network interface card, and an eight-port multiport adapter. It also comes with a runtime copy of NetWare 3.12.

ChatConnect

Price: From $6,665

Contact: J&L Information Systems, 818-709-1778, fax 818-882-9134

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

CC-Rider Puts You at the Programming Helm

CC-Rider helps you navigate through your Windows programming projects with source code analysis and pop-up browsing windows. The program can produce a detailed log of your system's modules, headers and symbols. CC-Rider also generates function prototype #include files and creates hypertext jumps for all symbols defined. Hierarchical trees display where source code calls a class data member or where a macro is expanded.

The program works with C++ compilers from Borland, Symantec and Microsoft, among others, and supports nested classes, templates and exception handling.

CC-Rider Professional 5.0

Price: $279

Contact: Western Wares, 303-327-4898, voice and fax

Maximize Your SatisFAXtion

The InstantCom//CAS Fax Developers Toolkit gives your application access to 10 Intel SatisFAXtion fax modem boards. This upgrade to the Intel CAS Toolkit includes a CAS-compatible API, as well as a simpler API with a smaller driver. It also adds support for the standards set by the DMTF. The drivers are TSR modules that can be loaded into high memory. The CAS support for multiple modems means existing CAS single-modem applications can employ multiple fax modems without code modification. The program includes debugging versions of the drivers.

InstantCom//CAS Fax Developers Toolkit

Price: $595

Contact: Instant Information Inc., 503-692-9711, fax 503-691-1948

Put a Little ZIP Into Your Applications

DynaZIP 2.0 allows your applications to read, test, create, modify and write industry-standard .ZIP files. The royalty-free DLL can read and write files that are compatible with PKZIP 2.04G, though PKZIP is not required to use DynaZIP.

New in version 2.0 is the ability to span multiple disks, encrypt or decrypt data with user-defined passwords, and use Windows-hosted self-extracting .ZIP files. The DLLs are compatible with C, C++, Visual Basic and other development tools. The DynaZIP API can provide information about .ZIP files, as well as error and status reports.

DynaZIP 2.0

Price: $249

Contact: Inner Media Inc., 800-962-2949, 603-465-3216

Shield Yourself From Installation Headaches

InstallShield 2.0 takes the pain out of creating installation programs. It uses a single script to let your end user selectively install an application's components in Windows, Windows NT or OS/2, either on a single PC or a LAN. Version 2.0 adds the ability to compress and decompress files and subdirectories with a single command. Also new are functions to modify or add system files locations.

InstallShield can also install device drivers in the 386 Enhanced section of a SYSTEM.INI file with a single command and call any DLL from your installation program, including the entire Windows API. The package includes three ready-to-use examples and 35 prebuilt modular dialog boxes.

InstallShield 2.0

Price: $395

Contact: Stirling Technologies Inc., 800-374-4353,708-240-9111

Author Real-Time NT and Chicago APPS

Now you can create Win32 real-time applications for Windows NT and Chicago (Windows 4.0), and directly access I/O port, I/O memory and interrupts, without braving the complexities of the Windows NT Device Driver Kit (NT DDK). The WinRT Tool Kit eliminates the need to learn the over 250 API calls in the NT DDK by providing only three API calls. You can use the toolkit and its drivers to connect Windows NT applications to unsupported peripherals and custom hardware. The NT Registry Manager enforces security and system integrity for hardware resources. The kit includes source code samples, a full-featured example, and templates for developing real-time threads and connecting them to Visual Basic and Visual C++.

WinRT Tool Kit

Price: $595

Contact: Blue Water Systems, 206-771-3610, fax 206-771-7758

AND

Harness OLE 2.0 Without Programming

Nonprogrammers can tap into the power of OLE 2.0 with Capsule, a visual interface that allows you to link existing, third-party programs such as Word, Excel or Lotus 1-2-3.

Capsule is aimed at users who perform tasks, either repetitively or periodically, that require the use of several different applications in sequence. Linking such applications together creates compound applications without the use of a scripting language or macros.

Capsule presents a menu of registered OLE 2.0-compliant applications and several different kinds of links that you can establish between them. You can also access program actions that can be controlled via OLE. by drawing lines from one application to another to indicate the direction of data flow, and then answering simple questions in dialog boxes, you can compose a custom application. Although designed for OLE 2.0 applications, Capsule includes "wrappers,'' which make DDE and OLE 1.0 calls that simulate OLE 2.0 calls. These calls allow the program to operate with Excel 4.0 or Ami Pro.

Capsule

Price: $199; introductory, $99

Contact: Metaphor, 415-961-3600, fax 415-961-8282

Reduce Your Monitor's Energy Appetite

You can muzzle your power-pig monitor with Opti-Green 2.01, which instructs your monitor to power down when not in use. Instead of consuming the typical 75 to 100 watts needed for full operation, the monitor can be set to revert to standby, suspend and off modes after a certain number of minutes. Standby brings the monitor to 80 percent of full capacity, while suspend uses only 25 watts. The monitor can be restored to full power in under three seconds from the standby and suspend modes, while powering up from the off mode takes about 20 seconds. The standby timer lets you set each mode's timer individually.

Opti-Green 2.01

Price: $29.95

Contact: Optiquest Inc., 800-843-6784, 909-468-3750

:Sales APP Gives You a Plan of Action

WinSales helps you organize and plan sales strategies and track the stages of the sales process on a network. The Action Plan feature automates selling by prompting you through a predefined sales plan that might include a course of letters, seminar invitations or field calls. Once you have created and implemented several action plans, you can measure the results of each to determine which campaigns get the desired results.

The organizational chart creates a hierarchy of contacts at each client. The activity log allows you to view each client's contact history and scheduled meetings. Searches can be filtered by contact, sales rep, campaign, status, date, activity, or a combination of filters. You can also create bar, pie, line, scatter or area graphs and cut and paste them into word processing documents. Other features include a report writer, a calendar with alarms, autodialing, expense tracking, and a form-letter generator.

WinSales 2.0 includes an Out-and-About data synchronization feature that lets mobile users synchronize data between remote and corporate databases.

WinSales 2.0

Price: Single user, $495; five users, $1,495

Contact: WinSales Inc., 206-854-9580, fax 206-852-5434

Take a cure for Home-Buying Heartburn

Making major life decisions can give you indigestion. But if you're buying a home, here's a program that might reduce your angst (and stomach acid) through education. The Homebuyer's Guide 1.0 is a set of interactive worksheets and checklists that walk you through the purchase process from preparation to closing.

You can analyze the economics of buying versus renting, determine how much you can afford to spend on a house and calculate monthly mortgage payments. You can create a checklist of your housing preferences (three bedrooms, garage and so on); create a database of homes you have viewed; estimate how much cash you'll need at the closing; and generate a standard loan application. Informational screens explain the role of the real estate agent and give tips on how to find a good one.

The Homebuyer's Guide 1.0

Price: $49.95

Contact: Tetra Solutions Inc., 415-802-9896, fax 415-424-0322


Laser Printing is Reborn

Laser Printing

Putting Printers on the LAN

Info Files

Report Card

600 DPI Printer Table


Laser Printing

By: John Gartner, and Serdar Yegulalp

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

The dark ages of poor quality laser printing are now officially over. Gone is the plague of inconsistent, jagged type and printing at the speed of quill-wielding monks. Instead, we enter the renaissance of fast 600-dot-per-inch printing, in which everyone can be an artist, composing impressive letters, stunning charts and professional newsletters.

This enlightenment brings us fast, inexpensive, high-resolution printing, with four times the dot density of yesterday's 300-dpi printers (both the vertical and horizontal resolutions are doubled). Printers now come loaded with scalable fonts, print engines that race along at up to 12 pages per minute, options for networking and added paper capacity. Once the exclusive domain of slow, expensive PostScript printers, 600-dpi printing is now fast and affordable; nearly every major laser printer manufacturer offers, or will shortly introduce, a 600-dpi model. What's more, these printers cost only about half what they did just a year ago. No wonder these printers are taking over the personal and workgroup printer markets and may soon cause the 300-dpi laser printer to go the way of the dinosaur.

But this is a 1990s renaissance, so these printers are also environmentally correct. They all include low-power modes, and most offer a draft mode, which uses less toner. Many of the printers also include I/O slots for network cards that let you directly attach your printer to the network without a dedicated print-server workstation. (To find out the strides made toward reducing the LAN administrator's print management headaches, see the $$Hooking Up: Putting Printers on the LAN)

We searched high and low for 600-dpi laser printers that listed for under $2,000 in their base configurations. Our roundup includes 600-dpi PCL and PostScript printers. The PostScript printers offer 300-dpi PCL emulaton, with the exception of the Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus, which does double duty as a 600-dpi PostScript and PCL printer. The Okidata is not a true 600-dpi printer (it doesn't have a 600-dpi engine); it uses software enhancements to approximate 600 dpi, so we gave it a look to see if it lives up to its "600-dpi quality'' billing.

The NEC Silentwriter 1097 (800-NEC-INFO), 708-860-9500) did not arrive in time to be included here. We also received a prerelease version of the Epson ActionLaser 1600 (800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770), but didn't review it because, for group reviews, we consider only those products that are actually shipping.

Canon LBP-860

Canon print engines are the basis of many leading laser printers, so it's no surprise that Canon's LBP-860 produces sharp text and graphics output. Text prints with crisp lines and smooth curves, but graphics is where the Canon really stands out. The LBP-860 prints deep, rich blacks and gray-scale images with definition and gradients that equal the best that PostScript printers have to offer.

Canon's 8-ppm print engine delivers performance in the middle of the pack: It was not as fast as the 12-ppm models, but faster than the 4-ppm types. The Canon's built-in support for HPGL/2 emulation allows vector graphics to print relatively quickly, as evidenced by the impressive AutoCAD print score. The 2MB of base memory was not enough to complete our full-page graphic test. We upgraded the memory by installing a 4MB SIMM module, which was made unnecessarily difficult as a result of the instructions in the manual being a bit unclear. The Canon LBP-860 is one of the few printers that does not provide a network card option.

The large Canon LBP-860 will eat up most of the space on an average desktop. The manual feed slot supports the printing of multiple envelopes, but we had problems getting the auto-load to work. Even after specifying the paper tray and size, we had to press the control panel's on-line button to print an envelope. There's no straight paper path for face-up output, surprising in a full-sized printer.

The printer's interface lacks features we expected to see. The self-installing Windows driver has limited options for adjusting the output, and its integrated help dumped us into the table of contents after we had searched the help system's fonts topic and selected a subcategory to read. The printer's control panel doesn't provide a setting for time-outs; Canon suggests adding a line to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to control time-outs instead. The documentation, unfortunately, isn't very helpful; it offers little Windows-specific information.

The printer was packaged very carefully. In order to prevent damage during shipment, Canon installs numerous Styrofoam inserts in the unit and carefully tapes down nearly every moving part. Installing the integrated toner/developer completes the installation.

The LBP-860 offers very good print quality. You have to pay a bit for it, but the price does include a two-year warranty. The poor paper handling and lack of network options keep the Canon behind the other printers in this evaluation, though.

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4P

The diminutive LaserJet 4P has the form factor that's perfect for one-person businesses or cramped office quarters. Although it's only a few inches smaller in width and depth than other personal printers, this low rider is only 6.8 inches high. And while many printers use input and output trays that jut out several inches, usurping even more of the tabletop, you won't find that inconvenience with this one. The LaserJet 4P is an entirely self-contained unit. But paper handling is the trade-off. Manually feeding envelopes or single sheets can require repeatedly inserting the paper because there's no supporting tray beneath the manual slot; as a result, the paper is left dangling half in and half out of the printer.

Thanks to its memory-doubling technique, the LaserJet 4P passed all our character and graphics tests, even the memory-hogging four-page newsletter and full-page graphic.

The 4-ppm Canon engine generates eye-catching text and superb graphics: Small and large fonts print equally smoothly, even when observed under the scrutiny of a magnifying lens. Differentiating between the outstanding output of the LaserJet 4P and LaserJet 4 Plus is nearly impossible.

The LaserJet 4P's Achilles heel is speed; it finished at the bottom in nearly all of our character-oriented document tests. It's also slow at generating graphics, although it's fast enough that it still easily outpaces the PostScript printers.

Setting up the LaserJet 4P is a snap. Just push the button on the right side of the printer, and the top of the unit springs open for you to drop the small toner/drum cartridge into place. Because the plastics used are lighter weight than those used in larger workgroup printers, it's easy to position this unit exactly where you want it.

The toner cartridge is small and rated to print fewer pages during typical use (3,000) than all but one of the printers here (the Okidata). If you're planning on doing a lot of high-volume printing, you may wind up swapping a lot of toner cartridges.

The Windows driver is a pleasure to install and use. Custom and express setup options provide a choice of installations. Express setup installs the driver, sets up the LaserJet 4P as the default printer, and installs 44 TrueType fonts. The Printer Travel Guide applet provides a graphical tour of all printer features, including a helpful overview, as well as detailed information about fonts, troubleshooting and controlling the printer. The printer control panel has a menu structure that's very easy to navigate and a button for Economode that enables a toner-saving draft mode.

Options for the LaserJet 4P include PostScript Level 2 and a network card, but the slow speed of the print engine would inhibit one from installing either option. The LaserJet 4P is a good solution for cramped offices and small budgets that demand high-quality output. But those users must be prepared to wait; speed is not among this printer's excellent features.

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 Plus

The LaserJet brand name has become synonymous with quality laser printing and the 4 Plus lives up to that reputation. Among the numerous "pluses'' that are to be found in the LaserJet 4 Plus are blazingly fast printing, superior print quality and plentiful paper and network options.

You have to see the 4 Plus' text output to appreciate it fully. Even in a crowd of 600-dpi sample outputs, the LaserJet 4 Plus' finely sculpted letters and lines stand out. The print density is equally impressive; blacks are dark and evenly distributed, with sharp edges. Only the best of the PostScript printers delivered better gray-scale output, and gray-scale printing is a PostScript strength.

The LaserJet 4 Plus is also the fastest printer we tested, finishing near or at the top in every test. The other 12-ppm printer reviewed, the Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus, couldn't keep up with the LaserJet 4 Plus, although it came close in our graphic application tests.

Printing is easy, too, thanks to the standard and adjustable paper trays. The manual tray holds as many as 10 envelopes at a time, and the printer intelligently executed our request to print an envelope without requiring us to change a setting. The only significant paper-handling limitation is the lack of a face-up output tray.

The LaserJet 4 Plus uses a self-contained toner/developer unit with guides and instructions that make it easy to install. Completing the printer preparation requires running the Windows driver setup program, which configures the printer in Control Panel. The driver provides bidirectional communications with the printer, graphically informing you of print job interruptions, including paper jams and paper out.

You can make the LaserJet 4 Plus a network printer because the I/O slot accommodates a variety of network cards. Because it supports the HPGL/2 graphics language, the LaserJet can work as a plotter for use with CAD and statistical applications.

Overall, the LaserJet 4 Plus is a fine printer, continuing the family tradition as the de facto standard for high quality laser printing.

Lexmark WinWriter 600

Everything about the Lexmark WinWriter says this is a Windows printer. It's the Windows driver that's in control of the printer; the printer's control panel contains only pause and continue buttons. The WinWriter uses Microsoft at Work software, in conjunction with firmware on the printer, to play an animation clip of the paper's journey through the printer, and to provide an estimation of the total print time. Error message handlers illustrate paper jams or other problems, and play back recorded voice files, such as "Printing continued.'' The Microsoft at Work software provides understandable, intuitive communications that break down the barrier between man and machine, letting you get your work done, without worrying about computer-peripheral arcana.

But the WinWriter is more than just a pretty interface. The intelligent software also balances the computing task between the system and the printer to maximize performance. On our benchmarking system, a 486/33 with 16MB of RAM, the 8-ppm WinWriter provides performance that's competitive with that of Lexmark's 12-ppm model. Systems containing less than 16MB of RAM will not see this level of speed, but adding memory in either the system or the printer increases performance because of this resource-sharing capability. The printer's 2MB of RAM was not enough to complete our full-page graphic test, so we had to insert an expansion module; it turned out to be an easy task that took just a few minutes.

Another testament to this printer/software's intelligence came during our paper-handling test. We forced an error by opening the printer during a print job. After we removed the offending page, the printer immediately went back to work and reprinted the page that had jammed.

The WinWriter 600 prints text that's sharp, but has some jaggedness on diagonal letters such as v or k. Lines in graphics and text uniformly printed too thick, which caused them to cut off the bottoms of letters and run together on our AutoCAD drawing tests.

The Lexmark WinWriter 600 stands over 12 inches tall and has a 20.9 by 14.9 inch footprint, pretty big for tight workspaces. But once you've found the space it requires, setting up the WinWriter is a breeze. The one-piece toner/drum unit installs simply--without risk of spilling toner--and the paper trays slide into place easily. The driver installation program does everything: It installs the PC speaker driver and TrueType fonts, sets the WinWriter 600 as the default printer, and even prints a test page to make sure the unit is functioning properly.

The WinWriter is an excellent alternative to the LaserJet 4P. It lacks a serial interface and does not offer PostScript or network adapters as options, but these are not problems when you use it as a Windows printer. Furthermore, the WinWriter is undoubtedly the simplest Windows printer to set up and operate of those we tested.

Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus

The Lexmark LaserPrinter 12R Plus offers the unique advantage of printing both PCL and PostScript emulations at 600 dpi in its base configuration. Thanks to the 4MB of RAM included, full-page graphics can be printed in either emulation, and the printer automatically switches between data-stream types. Lexmark includes a proprietary Printer Accelerator Mode for speeding up graphics printing.

Consistent with other PostScript printers, Lexmark's PostScript graphics output offers superior print quality at the cost of much slower performance. In PostScript emulation mode, our full-page graphic printed with smooth halftones, although some banding occurred. While the PCL output was not as impressive, the graphic output printed in three and a half minutes, compared with nearly half an hour for the PostScript version. Text printing is uniformly sharp, although some smaller fonts and lines showed bulges and rough edges.

Lexmark reduces the learning curve by providing messaging, extensive documentation and detailed on-line help in its MarkVision software. Five manuals give cogent descriptions of fonts, options and operating the printer. The MarkVision applet allows direct control of the printer by providing an illustration of the printer's status LCD and letting you click on the control panel buttons to enact changes. The help screens have snapshots of the feature being discussed, and an explicit and friendly interface.

Installing the Windows driver, however, isn't as easy as actually running the printer. You must first insert the DOS and OS/2 setup disk and select the model of printer to be set up. Then you choose Windows from the list of application drivers. The procedure requires swapping in a driver disk, and reinserting the setup disk to complete the installation. The hardware portion of the setup requires inserting the main paper tray and attaching the manual-input tray and face-up output tray.

The Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus's size and options make it a viable solution as a workgroup printer. You can attach the printer to the network via optional network adapters. Adding a second paper tray to the bottom of the unit will add to the paper capacity, but it also adds to the 16 inches of clearance that the base unit requires.

Okidata 410 E

With a list price of under $1,000, the Okidata 410 E is the only printer reviewed that has laser-quality printing at such a low cost. Its small footprint allows operation in cramped quarters, but its slower print speed suggests that its primary usage is as a standalone printer. The Okidata printed faster than the other 4-ppm printer in our character-oriented tests, the HP LaserJet 4P, but it trailed the 6-ppm.

Instead of using a 600-dpi print engine, the Okidata 410 E uses software enhancements to emulate high-resolution printing. Custom drivers instruct the printer to plot smaller dots, and, although the output is clearly better than 300-dpi output, it isn't quite on par with 600-dpi quality. The printer's only emulation is an older version of Hewlett-Packard's PCL, Level 4, and a PostScript option is not available. The 2MB of memory is stretched with hardware-level memory doubling techniques, allowing more complicated documents to be printed than 2MB would normally allow.

Traversing the printer's setup menus can be confusing. There's more than one kind of menu, and there are many menu levels. Fortunately, the manual has an explanatory map to guide you through the menu hierarchy.

The slot in the front of the machine for manual feeding is concealed behind a drop-down flap, and has flanges that can be adjusted to handle envelopes to legal-sized paper. The chassis, trays and covers are lightweight plastic, and consequently they feel less substantial than those in the other printers we tested.

The Okidata makes optimal use of its small size by using neat pull-out trays for face-down and face-up output. To open the 100-sheet paper tray, you need to push in both sides of the tray, and gently slide it out. The Okidata 410 E smartly recognizes that a page isn't printed until it successfully lands in the tray; if something happens (like a paper jam) before the page exits completely, the printer automatically reprints the page. Clearing out a paper jam can be cumbersome because it often involves lifting out the toner cartridge.

Okidata's manual comes with plenty of step-by-step illustrations for setting up, installing toner and changing paper. Missing, however, are descriptions of how to add font cartridges or memory. We experienced problems when the settings in Windows and the hardware control panel conflicted, which can happen inadvertently. If your printout doesn't look like you'd expected it to, check to make sure that the default resolution on the control panel is set to 600 dpi. According to Okidata, jobs submitted to the printer through the 600-dpi driver may not print correctly if the printer's control panel is set to 300 dpi, an unusual situation that won't happen with the other printers we tested.

Consider the Okidata if you're looking for an inexpensive way to crisp-looking output, and if you don't need true 600-dpi resolution.

Sharp JX-9460PS and JX-9660PS

These two printers have a lot in common: PostScript compatibility, high-quality output, and similar design and controls. The JX-9660 features two 250-sheet trays and a maximum speed of 8 ppm. The JX-9460 is the smaller of the two, with one 250-sheet tray and a 6-ppm engine under the hood. To accommodate the extra paper tray, the JX-9660 is just over 2 inches taller.

The Sharp printers both use almost exactly the same case and front-panel control configurations as the TI microLaser Pro 600. The manual paper-feed tray hangs loosely off the feed slot in front and can be knocked off easily. The toner cartridge on the JX-9660 came shipped in a foil bag with its toner window unsealed and leaking extensively. The print drum is exposed on the bottom side, and, along with the opened toner tank, must be carefully handled to prevent damage.

We had to install a 4MB memory upgrade in each unit to complete our full-page graphic test. This was simply a matter of plugging the SIMM into the motherboard and closing the printer back up. The JX-9660PS generated superior text and graphics output, especially in PostScript mode. As is the case with all PostScript printers, graphics print slowly. In fact, it took the JX-9660 over an hour and a quarter to print an image that the slowest PCL printer required under four minutes to print. But you can easily see the superior quality and programmability of PostScript printing in the subtle gradients and sharp images. You can get 600-dpi output only in PostScript mode; PCL output is limited to 300 dpi. Users of PageMaker 5.0 should note that the .PDF (printer definition) files necessary to print from PageMaker in PostScript mode don't come with the unit; they must be requested separately.

Instead of the most current version of PostScript, both Sharp units use Level 1. Both printers also lack the useful capability to switch automatically between emulations. The Windows drivers for the JX-9460 and JX-9660 do not include a setup program and therefore you must manually install them through the Printers subsection of Control Panel. Once installed, the driver's interface keeps the most important settings in the initial screen while saving secondary functions for successive drop-down dialog boxes.

Both units are good choices for printing text quickly and efficiently; the higher-priced JX-9660PS offers extra speed, higher quality and better paper capacity compared with the JX-9460. However, neither printer is well suited for large graphics files; both printers slowed to a relative crawl on our graphics tests.

TI microLaser Pro 600

The two-tray TI microLaser Pro is a good choice as a workgroup printer. If you load both 250-sheet cartridges to capacity, there won't be many out-of-paper complaints for a while. Crammed with 6MB of memory, the printer emulates PostScript at 600 dpi and PCL 5 at 300 dpi. There's only one out-of-the-box interface--a parallel port--but serial communications or a SCSI interface are available as options.

The 8-ppm engine prints text fast, and graphics pretty quickly too, for a PostScript printer. While the text output looks reasonably sharp and consistent from a normal viewing distance, closer scrutiny reveals jagged edges and incomplete character formation. Our Photoshop image printed exceptionally well, with smooth gradations and dark blacks. We encountered problems printing in both Microsoft Excel and PageMaker that required workarounds. PageMaker users can request instructions on how to install the .PDF (printer definition files); such instructions are not provided in the documentation.

A green release lever on the top exposes the printer's insides; you must open a second compartment to install the toner brush. When not assembled with the drum unit, the toner repository has a quarter-inch opening at the top. This design allows toner to leak out easily, and exposes the sensitive drum to serious damage.

The manual-feed tray on the front panel can be knocked out of place easily. Envelopes are fed in flush with the right edge of the slot, not centered. Also, paper-feed errors are not as intelligently handled as they are on some of the other printers. For example, pages more than two-thirds of the way through the internal paper path are considered printed. The printer will not repeat such pages automatically in the event of a jam or other error.

The microLaser Pro ships with either 23 or 65 built-in PostScript fonts. If you would like to see a complete font report, it is available through the printer's self-test. This report can be used to compare the printer's fonts against your computer's TrueType typefaces. (This information can be very helpful, since printing with built-in fonts is faster than first downloading identical TrueType fonts, and then printing.) TI offers a PowerStep processor upgrade, which is supposed to reduce the processing time required for very complex pages. The upgrade should be especially helpful for PostScript documents.

All the actual printer options--language emulation, standby time, and so forth--are set via the printer's front-panel menus (but note well that there's no corroborating explanation of these menus in the manual). TI's documentation is set in large, readable type, profusely illustrated, and written in clear, everyday language.

The Texas Instruments microLaser Pro 600 provides the power of PostScript for high-resolution images, and the speed of 300-dpi PCL emulation for less demanding jobs. It provides flexibility and quality without demanding a premium payment, and seems well-suited for workgroup settings, especially where PostScript compatibility is paramount.


Report Card

	REPORT CARD
		Setup and installation	Printer interface	Paper handling	Print quality
	Canon LBP-860	B	C	C	B
	HP LaserJet 4P	A	B	C	A
W	HP LaserJet 4 Plus	A	A	A	A
W	Lexmark WinWriter 600	A	A	A	B
	Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus	B	B	A	B
	Okidata 410E	B	B	B	C
	Sharp JX-9460PS	C	B	B	B
	Sharp JX-9660PS	C	A	A	B
	TI microLaser Pro 600	C	B	A	B
•	Setup and installation: How easy is it to install the toner cartridge, paper trays and Windows software?

•	Printer interface: How easy is it to understand the control panel and to change settings? How much control over the printer function does the Windows driver provide? Are status messages provided?

•	Paper handling: What are the paper tray capacities, and how easy is it to resolve paper jams? How well does the printer handle envelopes and odd-sized paper?

•	Print quality: Is the text output sharp, with complete, crisp letter formation? How well does the printer handle graphics, including gray-scale and solid images? Are lines and curves evenly edged?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

THE HEWLETT-PACKARD LaserJet 4 Plus exceeds the performance and capabilities of the best-selling laser printer in the world and earns the WINDOWS Recommended seal. The combination of intelligent, flexible paper handling, stable driver software, stellar performance and network options makes this the complete personal and workgroup printing solution.

•	The Lexmark Winwriter 600 provides unparalleled usability and control through its Microsoft at Work software. The hardware/software implementation provides detailed status messaging and allows you to maximize system and printer resources. This WINDOWS Recommended printer is a low-cost, personal 600-dpi workhorse of a printing machine.

•	The Texas Instruments microLaser Pro 600 deserves mention as the best printer for those who require PostScript compatibility. The 8-page-per-minute engine provides excellent performance and print quality. The Okidata deserves acknowledgment as an inexpensive printer offering better than 300-dpi output, although it does not have the output quality of true 600-dpi engines.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\AUG2.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Info Files

Canon LBP-860

Price: $1,839; with additional 4MB memory module, $2,199

In Brief: Canon makes efficient use of its 8-ppm engine in generating outstanding text and graphics.

Canon Computer Systems Inc. 800-848-4123, 714-438-3000

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4P

Price: $1,229

In Brief: HP's personal laser printer maintains the high-quality output of its faster big brother but in a small footprint.

Hewlett-Packard Co. 800-752-0900, 415 857-1501

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 Plus

Price: $1,839

In Brief: Fast printing with uncompromising text quality means that this printer improves upon a classic earlier model, providing the solution to all the printing needs a workgroup might have.

Hewlett-Packard Co. 800-752-0900, 415 857-1501

Lexmark WinWriter 600

Price: $1,399; with additional 2MB memory module, $1,588

In Brief: Ease of use in Windows is the key for this printer, which maximizes system and printer resources; its intuitive bundled software keeps you in touch with your printing tasks.

Lexmark International Inc. 800-358-5835, 606-232-2000

Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus

Price: $1,749

In Brief: A really flexible printer, it ships ready to output at 600 dpi in either PostScript or PCL emulation and offers network capability and a proprietary high-speed mode.

Lexmark International Inc. 800-358-5835, 606-232-2000

Okidata 410 E

Price: $899

In Brief: This budget-conscious machine offers near 600-dpi quality and paper-handling options that are surprisingly generous for a small unit.

Okidata

800-OKIDATA, 609-273-0300

Sharp JX-9460PS

Price: $1,199; with additional 4MB memory module, $1,656

In Brief: The smaller of the two Sharp printers comes equipped with inexpensive PostScript Level 1 compatibility and 6-ppm speed.

Sharp Electronics Corp. 800-BE SHARP, 201-529-9593

Sharp JX-9660PS

Price: $1,499; with additional 4MB memory module, $1,956

In Brief: Outstanding PostScript graphics, an AppleTalk interface, and dual paper trays make Sharp's offering a logical choice for shared environments.

Sharp Electronics Corp. 800-BE SHARP, 201-529-9593

Texas Instruments microLaser Pro 600

Price: $1,599

In Brief: It includes enough memory (6MB) for the most demanding of tasks and won't make you wait long for the results.

Texas Instruments Inc. 800-TI-TEXAS, 512-794-5970


600 DPI Printer Table

600-DPI PRINTERS

NA: Not Applicable

PRODUCT	List price	Warranty (years)	Print engine speed at 600 dpi (pages per minute)	Engine manufacturer	Number of pages per imaging cartridge (5% coverage)	Minimum/ maximum memory (MB)	Dimensions (HWD, inches)	Number of installed fonts (PCL/ PostScript)	Number of font cartridge slots	PCL version	PCL resolution (dpi)	PostScript Level 2	HPGL/2 supported	Bidirectional communications through Windows driver	Automatic emulation sensing	Interface switching	Network adapter options*	Standard input tray, maximum sheets	Standard output tray, maximum sheets	Face up/face down output	Optional envelope feeder	Maximum print area (WxL, inches)
Canon LBP-860	$1,839 (with additional 4MB, $2,199)	2	8	Canon	6,000	2/66	12x16x17	46/0	1	5 enhanced	600	optional	yes	no	yes	yes	LT	250	250	no/yes	yes	8x10
HP LaserJet 4P	$1,229	1	4	Canon	3,000	2/26	6.8x14.7x15.4	45/0	1	5 enhanced	600	optional	yes	yes	yes	yes	LT,Eth,TR	250	100	yes/yes	no	8x10.5
HP LaserJet 4 Plus	$1,839	1	12	Canon	6,000	2/64	11.7x16.4x15.9	45/0	1	5 enhanced	600	optional	yes	yes	yes	yes	LT,Eth,TR	350	250	no/yes	yes	8x10.5
Lexmark WinWriter 600	$1,399 (with additional 2MB, $1,588	1	8	Lexmark	4,000	2/16	12.4x14.9x20.9	50/0	0	4	600	no	no	yes	NA	NA	no	200	100	yes/yes	yes	8x10.8
Lexmark IBM 4039 LaserPrinter 12R Plus	$1,749	1	12	Lexmark	7,000	4/16	16x14.9x21	48/39	1	5 enhanced	600	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	LT,Eth,TR	200	500	yes/yes	yes	8x10.8
Okidata 410E	$899	1 (5 on print engine)	4	Okidata	2,000	2/5	6.3x14.2x12.6	13/0	1	4	300	no	yes	yes	NA	yes	no	100	100	yes/yes	yes	8x10.5
Sharp JX-9460PS	$1,199 (with additional 4MB, $1,656)	1	6	Sharp	5,000	2/9	10.5x14x13	27/35	1	5	300	no (level I)	no	no	yes	yes	AppleTalk	250	250	no/yes	no	8.17x10.7
Sharp JX-9660PS	$1,499 (with additional 4MB, $1,956)	1	8	Sharp	5,000	2/9	12.8x14x13	27/35	1	5	300	no (level I)	no	no	yes	yes	AppleTalk	500	250	no/yes	no	8.17x10.7
TI microLaser Pro 600	$1,599	1	8	Sharp	15,000	6/16	12.8x14x13	23/65	1	5	300	yes	no	no	yes	yes	Eth, TR	500	250	no/yes	yes	8.3x10.8
*Eth: Ethernet, LT: Local Talk, TR: Token Ring

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\AUG1.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Putting Printers on the LAN

Network printing has been around ever since PCs could be linked together. But now you no longer need to add a dedicated print-server workstation or a $10,000 to $15,000 network printer. Upgrading a personal/workgroup printer's memory, paper-tray capacity, and input/output slots can turn it into a network printer at a fraction of the cost. In fact, Hewlett-Packard estimates that by 1995, nearly half of its LaserJets will be used as shared devices.

For a small additional cost, you can add a network adapter to give you high-speed, direct connection to the network. These adapters--available with Ethernet, token-ring or LocalTalk interfaces--install in the printers' I/O slots and have much higher throughput capabilities than parallel ports. Network cards instantly recognize and support multiple protocols so that cross-platform environments can seamlessly share printers.

There's more. Some vendors (for example, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark) bundle Windows utilities to make the network operating system (NOS) transparent. Such network-administrator tools make it easier to manage print queues and jobs, and user utilities give you bidirectional feedback previously limited to local printing. Third-party programs, such as ADS Net Tools (McAfer Associates, 408-988-3832, fax 408-970-9727) or Saber LAN Workstation (Saber Software Corp., 800-207-8754, 214-361-8086), provide similar printer management tools as part of a network utility bundle.

Hewlett-Packard offers JetDirect adapters for many of its laser and ink jet printers. For mixed environments, there's the LaserJet 4M Plus, which, for $2,479, includes 6MB of RAM and a JetDirect card with both 10BaseT Ethernet and LocalTalk connections. The new JetDirect cards support many NOS protocols, including Windows NT, Windows for Workgroups, LAN Manager, Novell NetWare and UNIX, and will switch among protocols on the fly.

The JetPrint utility extends Control Panel and Print Manager functions by providing icon-driven access to printers, printer status and file servers. You can delete print jobs, receive notification of a job's completion, and change the printer setup. You can also see all network and local printers from within JetPrint, not just LaserJet printers. The JetAdmin utility simplifies NetWare operations for setting up and managing print queues. Configuration, printer status and diagnostics replace running multiple NetWare applications.

We installed a JetDirect card in a LaserJet 4 Plus and were pleased with the results, once we got past some problems attaching to our NetWare network. We were thrown off right from the beginning by the appearance of a cryptic I/O Card Error message that's supposed to indicate that the card is installed but not connected to the network. Errors are one thing, but this particular message seemed out of place. We also found the network-configuration menu on the printer's control panel troubling. The LCD invariably informed us that the printer wasn't configured for a network, even after we'd made the required changes to the control-panel setup. It took a call to tech support to figure out that everything was okay, and that Hewlett-Packard designed the message this way to prevent users from turning off the network connection.

Lexmark offers Ethernet, token-ring and AppleTalk network adapters for its 4039 series of printers, and supports NetWare, OS/2, AppleTalk and LAN Manager networks, but you have to open up the printer to install each of the adapters. It's not all that easy to do.

From within the MarkVision driver, you can launch the network utility for supervisors, which includes functions for reconfiguring the network adapter via software, and NetWare-like utilities for viewing, printing and managing print queues and file servers. Only the network administrators can view or terminate print jobs, but a dialog box informs users when the tasks are completed. Bidirectional communications did not work with our Windows for Workgroups setup, which employed an IPX/SPX-compatible transport with a NetBIOS driver. Removing this driver under the Networks Setup option eliminated the problem, and Lexmark confirmed this incompatibility. We also could not get a detailed listing of the printer configuration while using the network utility.

Translating the Printer Control Languages

Ever since the LaserJet 4 printer hit the streets with its new Printer Control Language in 1992, users have had a choice between PostScript and PCL 5 for 600-dpi output. PCL printers do not require the overhead of PostScript printing and offer competitive output quality and similar programmability. But PostScript is still the publishing industry's de facto printing standard. Many service bureaus and printing agencies exclusively use PostScript, and PostScript offers cross-platform compatibility from high-end graphics workstations through the PC and on to the Macintosh.

When you purchase a 600-dpi laser printer, you should know not only the printer control language, but also its version. Manufacturers list PostScript or PCL compatibility on the marketing materials, but may not specify whether or not the most recent version of the language is included. Look to our features chart to find out which version of printer-control languages is included with each of the printers we reviewed. Here's the breakdown on the latest enhancements to each printer-control language, and how the major enhancements can be beneficial.

PCL Level 5e (Enhanced)

Bidirectional communications are perhaps the biggest extension of PCL 5's capabilities. You won't be surprised by an empty paper tray or jammed printer with this version because status messages, which include illustrations of the location of printer jams, now alert you to any problem and help you to minimize the unexpected. The HPGL/2 printer control language uses vector graphics for line and circle drawing and prints faster than dot-by-dot raster graphics. It also has more PostScript-like control over dot placement through the units-of-measure command, which specifies the fine spacing of cursor movements in numbers of units per inch.

PCL 5e

•	Provides bitmap-font support

•	Supports user-defined patterns

•	Has additional scalable Intellifont typefaces

•	Contains improved HPGL/2

•	Allows bidirectional communications

•	Supports printing 300-dpi jobs at 600 dpi

•	Has the units-of-measure command

•	Supports TIFF, run-length encoding and adaptive compression

PostScript Level 2

Major enhancements to Adobe's PostScript page description language are in the areas of data handling. Graphics performance has never been the strong suit of PostScript printers; they take minutes, or even hours, to print jobs that PCL printers can often complete in only seconds. One of the ways this performance lag has been addressed is through improved memory management. Level 2 printers now require less memory in order to print a document than Level 1 printers needed.

Filters have been added to minimize the amount image files (such as TIFF, .GIF or .PCX) are enlarged once they are submitted to the printer. Level 1 PostScript converts files from binary format to hexadecimal code, a conversion that doubles the size of the file. But Level 2 translates data into the more compact ASCII format, which increases the file size by about only 25 percent, resulting in improved performance. The most important improvement in Level 2 may be in the support of data compression, which speeds up the printing of large graphics files. Using JPEG compression, for example, a 10MB file can be compressed to 1MB, transmitted to the printer, and then decompressed in less time than it takes just to send an uncompressed file.

PostScript Level 2

•	Supports forms

•	Provides faster pattern fills

•	Supports indexed color and color separations

•	Contains compression filters for LZW, RLE, CCITTFax, JPEG

•	Can work with smaller binary files instead of hexadecimal files

•	Has unlimited character sets

•	Prints flexible halftone screening

•	Features improved memory management


Graphics Utilities Lighten Image Overload

Graphics Utilities

Compressing Graphics: Looks Great, Less Filling

Report Card

Graphics Utilities Table


Graphics Utilities

By: James Bell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

"This, above all, to thy GUI be true. And it must follow as the night the day, thou must needs then manage images.''

Okay, so it's not from Hamlet. But it could have been one of Polonius' admonitions to his son Laertes had Windows computers been on every desk in Denmark. That wasn't the case, of course, but in today's thoroughly window-ized world, almost everybody is starting to get a taste of image overload. Whether you just collect clip art or are creating your own graphics every day, sooner or later you'll probably face the same two problems.

First, how can you possibly keep track of all these pictures? Looking through directories of wimpy eight-character DOS filenames certainly isn't the answer. It could take you forever to find a particular image, especially if you're searching through multiple CD-ROMs each with possibly thousands of files.

And since many computer applications are limited in the graphics file formats they can read, what can you do if your favorite pictures and applications aren't on speaking terms?

Microsoft Word, for example, can directly import over a dozen different file types, but that doesn't include .TGA files. WordPerfect for Windows and Lotus Ami Pro have never heard of CompuServe's .GIF graphics format. And none of these word processors can read Kodak Photo CD or JPEG compressed files.

We looked at eight multipurpose utilities that deal with both of these problems and help keep you in control of your graphics resources.

Each includes graphics cataloging, conversion, image manipulation, screen-capture capabilities, and direct support for TWAIN-compatible scanners.

Cataloging involves building small, low-resolution thumbnail images of graphics files and then organizing the thumbnails into a visual index, usually called an album, through which you can browse. In some cases, you can add keywords and comments, and then sort and search the album like a graphical database.

All these programs allow you to do basic image editing. You can flip, rotate, crop and resize pictures for placement in word processing or presentation packages. You can adjust color controls such as brightness and contrast, or convert color images to black-and-white or gray scale for printing. Some of these utilities go far beyond the basics to offer options that rival those of high-end paint programs.

To insure compatibility with a wide range of applications, each utility has conversion options for common-and not so common--file formats.

Most graphics belong to one of two classes: raster or vector. Raster files, created by paint programs, store a picture as a pattern of colored dots (pixels). Vector files, created by drawing programs and CAD packages, create pictures by mathematically describing the objects, such as curves and lines, that make up the picture. Vector files generally are more compact (for example, it takes less space to say a line is so long and so wide than to list all the dots that would make up the line) and can be resized without loss of quality; raster files have the advantage of being able to describe very complex images with constant changes in color, such as photographs.

The programs we selected for review offer raster-image editing and raster-to-raster format conversions, along with easy-to-use screen-capture capabilities. A few of the programs also provide vector-format conversions, both vector-to-vector and vector-to-raster. None offers direct raster-to-vector conversions, though DoDOT does provide a "bitmap tracing'' option.

Utilities should be designed to help solve problems, not compound them, so in reviewing these products we paid careful attention to how easy the various modules of these programs were to use, how well they worked together, and how well they worked with File Manager and other Windows applications.

Collage Complete 1.0

Collage Complete's screen-capture utility, Collage Capture, is without doubt one of the best available. In addition, this program from Inner Media Inc. also incorporates capable cataloging, image editing and conver-sion utilities.

Creating a catalog is straightforward: The program allows you to select single or multiple files via an Add Images dialog box, or you can drag and drop files from any OLE (object linking and embedding)-compatible application, including Windows' File Manager or Collage Capture. You can also open multiple albums and drag thumbnails (miniaturized images) from one album to another.

You can add a description and comments to any thumbnail, and even assign a .WAV sound file to be played when you access the thumbnail. Thumbnails can manually be rearranged or automatically sorted, and Collage Complete provides an extensive query dialog box for searching long albums.

The image editing features are less sophisticated. You can adjust colors, brightness and contrast; scale and rotate images; and use basic drawing tools to add lines, rectangles, circles and text. Unfortunately, you won't find advanced tools such as airbrushes, special-effects filters or freehand selections. Moreover, although you can undo editing changes, there are no preview options that will provide you with a visual indication of the effect a given setting will have on your image.

The Collage Capture module is definitely the shining star of Collage Complete. It lets you grab just about anything, including full screens, windows, pull-down menus, title bars and specific screen coordinates. The only thing missing is freehand capture. Options are exhaustive: You can specify color settings, file formats, rotation angles and borders for each image. Screen captures can go directly to files--with auto-incrementing filenames--to the printer, to Windows' Clipboard, or to a preview window for basic color manipulation and cropping. For more detailed editing, you can drag and drop images from the Capture screen to Collage Complete. Another utility, also included, captures DOS screens.

The program supports a basic set of ten raster file formats, and allows you to select individual or multiple files in your album to convert to other formats. There are no batch conversion capabilities. Collage Complete acts as an OLE server so you can drag and drop files into your favorite OLE-compatible applications.

DoDOT 4.0

DoDOT, Halcyon Software's set of graphics utilities, has five self-contained modules. You can run each separately or call any of the others from the core DoDOT image-editing component.

DoThumbnail lets you build image catalogs, assign keywords and comments, and search on the basis of various criteria. However, you won't be able to sort your thumbnails.

The main DoDOT module generally offers only basic image manipulation, but does add a couple of surprises. You can flip, rotate, resize and crop images; invert colors; and adjust brightness, contrast and gamma. Color controls allow you to modify a picture's palette, change color levels for the entire picture or specific colors, and produce direct color separations in RGB or CMYK modes. DoDOT supports TWAIN-compatible scanners and includes a bitmap tracing option so you can to convert raster images into vector versions.

DoSNAP, the screen-capture utility, has an extensive set of options. The only drawback is that you can't bring captured screens directly into the DoDOT editor.

DoConvert handles both single-file conversions and sophisticated batch processes with multiple formats, input, and output directories. It supports 23 vector and raster formats, and 11 fax "flavors.'' However, it lacks support for exporting some of the newer file formats, such as JPEG or Photo CD. These conversion modules are available on Halcyon's BBS (408-378-9934)--along with TIFF Group IV, Micrografx Designer, Charisma .GRF, Windows Draw! and AutoCAD .DXF. Halcyon doesn't notify users of updated conversion modules.

DoDOT's biggest problem is that it reflects state-of-the-art technology for 1992, not 1994. In the two years since DoDOT's last upgrade, there have been lots of innovations in the Windows world--including OLE and new graphics file formats. While DoDOT supports DDE and a less-than-full complement of new file formats, it lacks OLE support.

DoDOT's technology is good--its conversion options are fast and accurate, and it offers batch features most competitors don't--but it's overdue for an overhaul.

Graphics Tools! 1.05

With integrated image editing, cataloging, screen captures, scanner support and file conversions, you'll find that DeltaPoint's Graphics Tools! is ready for just about any graphics project.

Graphics Tools! Media Manager stands out by letting you add thumbnails for audio, video and animation files, as well as a large number of graphics formats and any file associated with Windows. You can tag any thumbnail with up to 32,000 characters' worth of commentary, and sort and search through thumbnails.

The only major drawback with Media Manager is that there is no way to open multiple albums--or multiple copies of the application--which makes it impossible to merge albums. A less important point, but certainly one worthy of note, is that the application has no slide-show option.

Graphics Tools! includes two basic image-editing tools: Image Tools and Image Processor. Image Tools lets you apply simple changes--rotations, flips and cropping. Image Processor is a full-blown bitmap image editor, with paint tools, color-correction options, and 10 special-effects filters. Image Processor was licensed from Media Cybernetics, the makers of HALO Desktop Imager. DeltaPoint has made some minor changes, including the addition of a command bar that provides easy access to the other Graphics Tools! modules.

A separate utility provides most of the basic screen-capture options--full screen, window or user-defined area. Captured screens can be sent to Windows' Clipboard, a printer, a file, or brought directly into Image Processor for editing.

The program tightly integrates modules, and Graphics Tools! is both an OLE 1.0 server and client, which allows you to drag and drop images between modules, Windows' File Manager and other applications.

Graphics Tools! can export to 33 different file formats, including JPEG, Photo CD and several fax formats. Conversions can be done on individual files or via a batch process.

Graphics Tools! includes a CD-ROM with almost 1,000 pieces of clip art and digitized photos.

HALO Desktop Imager 2.2.02

Media Cybernetics' HALO Desktop Imager combines powerful image editing with less-sophisticated cataloging, conversion and screen-capture options.

The Gallery cataloging feature lets you create thumbnails and add descriptive information--including title, artist, date and comments. Unfortunately, you can sort only by filename or size, and there are no search options at all. Although you can have multiple open albums, you are limited to viewing them one at a time. Aside from making it inconvenient for you to compare albums, this shortcoming also makes it impossible to move thumbnails between different albums.

HALO Desktop Imager offers sophisticated image editing, including 10 special-effects tools, color maps and histograms, RGB and CMYK color separations, and a handy option that displays test strips to let you preview multiple variations of brightness, contrast, gamma and halftones on an image. The print options give you the ability to specify custom halftones and tile printing to produce posters.

Media Cybernetics has also licensed its technology to DeltaPoint and International Microcomputer Software Inc. These companies have added options to improve the interface and ease of sharing files between applications, but HALO Desktop Imager still lacks these features.

The screen-capture utility is a disappointment, compared with the other modules. It has only the most basic options and can save only to disk, making any post-capture manipulation a two-step process.

File conversions are equally basic--you can write files to nine raster formats. You can convert multiple files at one time, but in order to do so you must specify different directories for source and destination files.

HiJaak PRO 2.0

HiJaak PRO, from Inset Systems, remains the undisputed king of conversions, even though the program's other options are not quite up to the same caliber.

In terms of cataloging, HiJaak PRO takes an approach that differs from every other program. You specify whether you want to create a directory folder (an album that reflects all graphics files in a specific directory), a mirror folder (an album that shows the contents of removable media), or a custom directory. Only the last choice allows you to add or delete specific thumbnails--the other two automatically build themselves based on the directory or drive specified. You can also nest folders inside of folders--which makes a lot of sense if you want to represent the hierarchical structure of DOS directories visually.

But HiJaak PRO won't let you add comments to your thumbnails, and, although you can sort them, you can't conduct a search. Thus, the cataloging system works very well as a browsing utility, but doesn't offer the database functions to work with a large collection of images.

The program doesn't provide true image editing, but it does let you rotate, scale, crop and adjust image color levels, brightness, contrast and gamma.

The application includes utilities for capturing both Windows and DOS screens. Captured screens can be sent to a file, printer, or brought directly into HiJaak PRO for manipulation. Cursors can be captured and borders can automatically be added.

But HiJaak really shines in its extensive format conversion options. You can convert files by using Save As with an image loaded, by using the Convert selection, or by using batch commands from a DOS prompt for both converting and printing.

HiJaak supports over 50 file formats, each with a wide variety of options. A particularly handy option for TIFF and .CGM file formats, which have many minor variations, is the ability to select the program to which you want to output; HiJaak determines the best settings.

HiJaak also supports the greatest number of compressed formats, and even includes support for competitor LeadView's CMP compression techniques. The program also includes special drivers that allow you to add HiJaak import filters to other applications like Aldus PageMaker, Microsoft Word, Lotus Ami Pro, and WordPerfect for Windows.

HiJaak includes a 300-piece clip-art sampler, and you get another 200 when you register the program.

ImagePals 2.0

The most expensive package we reviewed was Ulead Systems' ImagePals 2.0. But, with an intuitive interface, powerful features and tight integration, it may just be worth the price you'll pay for it.

To create thumbnails, you can drag images from other applications--including Ulead's own image editor--or you can select individual files, or scan directories. The program supports a wide variety of graphics formats, and can catalog .WAV sound files, .AVI video files, and .FLI and .FLC animation files.

You can add multiple keywords and more than 4,000 character descriptions, and you can sort or search albums on the basis of many different criteria. You don't have to remember what keywords are available because the program automatically maintains a list of keywords and a set of search icons on the command bar.

You can open multiple catalogs, and drag and drop thumbnails among them. In addition, the program allows you to access the ImagePals 2.0 image editor, capture utility and CD-ROM browser, as well as the viewer module by means of the drag-and-drop toolbar from the catalog option.

This product demonstrates Ulead's experience in designing high-end editing programs. Its bitmap editor includes all the basic image manipulation options and color-editing features, plus over 20 special-effects filters, a slick warp option, auto-stitching (including variable transparency for overlaying images), and the ability to use process-editing commands in batches and on multiple images. Other things we were happy to see: freehand selection tools and the ability to save and reuse selection masks. Most options provide a preview button that lets you see what you get before you commit yourself to it.

The screen-capture module shows the same tight integration and extensive options, competing head to head with the best products in terms of features. Interestingly enough, ImagePals' screen-capture utility bears an uncanny resemblance to the one in LeadView 3.0.

ImagePals supports more than 40 file formats--including JPEG and Photo CD--and can convert individual files or multiple files. Ulead also provides a CD-ROM with 2,000 JPEG files and 40 Photo CD images.

LeadView 3.0

LeadView 3.0 offers an all-around package for cataloging, conversions and image editing, as well as an excellent screen-capture utility.

The screen-capture module offers extensive customization options. You can capture windows, menus and selected areas--including an oval area. You can't define specific screen coordinates, but you can include the screen cursor or any one of several custom cursors. You can send captured screens directly to a file, printer, viewer or the LeadView image editor. You can also set color levels and resolution, and automatically place borders, white space and shadows around the captured information.

Cataloging options are comprehensive. You can add thumbnails, assign comments, and search and sort on a variety of criteria. The program supports multiple open albums.

LeadView's image editor goes beyond the basic painting and color manipulation tools to include eight special-effects filters, including sharpen, blur, line detect, emboss and mosaic. It also offers the widest range of dithering options for reducing the number of colors in an image. The program supports TWAIN scanners and has an auto-stitch feature for combining multiple pass scans into a single image.

Bundled in with everything else, you'll find an option for playing .AVI videos, and MIDI and .WAV audio files. You can send graphics files over modems with the program's basic communications module.

LeadView's strong file conversion options allow you to convert individual files or multiple files to 17 different formats, including its own compressed CMP format.

Picture This! 1.0

Like Graphics Tools!, IMSI's Picture This! is a graphics utility based on Media Cybernetics' HALO Desktop Imager, but it comes with several minor enhancements that improve on the HALO original.

Creating a visual catalog in Picture This! is easy. You can select files from within the program or drag and drop files from Windows' File Manager. The program supports multiple open albums and allows you to drag thumbnails easily from one album to another. But Picture This! lacks search capabilities, and offers only limited sorting options.

Double-click on any image in your album and the image will load into an editing window; your menus and icon bars will change to reflect your edits.

The editor in Picture This! offers the same basic features as those in Graphics Tools! and HALO Desktop Imager. However, IMSI has added several helpful enhancements: combining the various icon bars into a single toolbar; adding icon buttons for opening, saving, scanning and capturing images; and improving the link between the editor and catalog function. For example, you can edit an image, save it to disk, and then just drag the image from the editing window back to your album to update the album.

Although Picture This! doesn't include HALO's color separations option, it does offer the same 10 special-effects tools, color mapping, and preview options for brightness, contrast, gamma and halftones.

The screen-capture utility, accessible directly from the main Picture This! application or via a separate utility, also has the same limitations that HALO's does: It saves only to disk and offers only the basic capture options.

Picture This! supports 10 raster file formats. You can convert multiple files in one pass, but, to protect images, the program won't let you convert files with the same directory for source and destination. While safe, this may not be convenient, especially if you organize projects into individual directories.


Graphics Utilities Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\AUG3.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Report Card

	REPORT CARD
		Cataloging	Conversions	Image manipulation	Screen captures	Integration	Ease of use
	Collage Complete 1.0	B	C	C	A	B	B
	DoDOT 4.0	C	B	C	B	C	B
	Graphics Tools! 1.05	B	B	B	B	A	A
	HALO Desktop Imager 2.2.02	C	C	B	C	C	B
	HiJaak PRO 2.0	C	A	C	B	B	B
W	ImagePals 2.0	A	B	A	A	A	A
	LeadView 3.0	B	B	B	A	B	A
	Picture This! 1.0	C	C	B	C	B	B
•	Cataloging: How easy is it to create and maintain albums of graphics thumbnails? What formats are supported? Can you add keywords/comments? What search and sort options are available? What kind of integration is there between the catalog and other applications?

•	Conversions: How many formats are supported? Are there both raster and vector formats? How easy is it to convert files? Are there batch options or other time saving features? Are conversions fast? Are they accurate? How up-to-date is the package with new formats?

•	Image manipulation: How well can you control the sizing, rotation, resolution and colors in an image? Are there bitmap-editing options for actually changing the contents of an image? Are there advanced or special- effects options?

•	Screen captures: How much control do you have over what parts of the screen are captured? Does it allow you to capture cursors? Can you preset sizing, resolutions and color levels captured? Are there post-capture editing options? Can you capture both Windows and DOS screens?

•	Integration: How easy is it to move between the various features? Do they share common commands or controls? How easy is it to move images from one component to another? How easy is it to move data between this program and other Windows programs?

•	Ease of use: Are operations logical and easy to learn? How intuitive is the interface? Does it take advantage of current Windows standards? Is documentation--both printed and on-line--logically organized and helpful? Does this product require a specific level of expertise for effective operation?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

ALL THE PROGRAMS WE looked at handled the basics of image cataloging, manipulating, converting and capturing. Ulead's new ImagePals 2.0, however, stood above the rest, offering a friendly interface, tight integration between features, and powerful, professional-quality tools - including the most sophisticated image editor reviewed. The only major drawback is the price tag, which was the highest of all the products we reviewed.

•	On specific tasks, other programs beat out ImagePals and deserve their own recognition. LeadView edges ahead with screen-capture options, and Collage Complete is only slightly behind. HiJaak Pro continues to provide the most file conversion controls, and makes it relatively easy to take advantage of its file savvy--even from within other programs. Lastly, Graphics Tools! offers a strong suite of tools that does just about everything well.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\AUG4.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Compressing Graphics: Looks Great, Less Filling

Computer graphics have a well-deserved reputation for being space hogs that can quickly consume your hard disk's free space. High-resolution color-bitmapped TIFF and Photo CD images, for example, can use several megabytes each. But using the right file format can reduce your storage needs by a factor of 100 or more.

A typical bitmap graphics file stores the location and color of each pixel. Lots of pixels and colors equal huge file sizes. Compressed formats save space by identifying patterns of similar pixels in the original image and recording data defining these patterns, instead of detailing each constituent pixel.

There are two basic types of compression: lossless and lossy. Lossless compression formats include all the data needed to replicate the original image exactly when read back off disk. Because they don't change the picture, compression levels depend on each format's ability to find encodable patterns.

Simple lossless formats--like RLE (run-length encoding) used by .BMP files--search only for sequences of pixels with the same color value; images with large areas of the same color can be reduced, but a checkerboard pattern of alternating colored pixels can't be compressed at all. The LZW (Lempel-Ziv-

Welch) compression format available for TIFF files can also compress all sorts of reoccurring and alternating color patterns.

If you're willing to trade a little quality for a lot more disk space, then lossy compression formats can reduce your storage needs. Lossy compression discards information when writing files. These formats use sophisticated algorithms to drop the least significant visual data. It's amazing how much data can be removed from an image before you can spot changes. The down side of lossy compression is that it's a one-way process: You can never get back to the quality of your original.

JPEG, a lossy format developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, offers several levels of compression from least compression/best quality to most compression/least quality.

CMP, another new compression format, developed by LEAD Technologies, offers even higher compression rates, but it's less widely supported--currently only LeadView 3.0, HiJaak PRO 2.0 and CorelDRAW! 4.0 can handle CMP files.

Which solution is best for you? It really depends on your application and image-quality needs. If you need the highest image quality possible, then lossless compression is the only way to go, but if some image degradation is acceptable, then lossy compression formats, such as JPEG and CMP, can free up a lot more disk space. But remember: You must back up lossy compressed files. Safeguard your important images by keeping copies of the original, uncompressed versions.

Collage Complete 1.0

Price: $149

In Brief: You can grab just about anything off a screen with this program, and then manipulate that image with a complete set of management, editing and conversion tools.

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 4MB

Inner Media Inc. 800-962-2949, 603-465-3216

DoDOT 4.0

Price: $189

In Brief: This product is useful for its TWAIN support, bitmap tracing and the ability to produce color separations.

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 1.5MB

Halcyon Software 408-378-9898, fax 408-378-9935

Graphics Tools! 1.05

Price: $169.95

In Brief: Because it's an OLE 1.0 server and client, you can drag and drop images among this program's modules, File Manager and other applications.

Disk Space Required: 11MB for full install

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 4MB

DeltaPoint Inc. 800-446-6955, 408-648-4000

HALO Desktop Imager 2.2.02

Price: $169; upgrade, $49.95

In Brief: Its excellent image-editing capabilities include 10 special-effects tools, color maps and histograms, and RGB and CMYK color separations.

Disk Space Required: 3MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 3MB

Media Cybernetics Inc. 800-992-4256, 301-495-3305

HiJaak PRO 2.0

Price: $169

In Brief: A program that shines in its image conversion capabilities--it remains the king of conversion programs--and includes a 300-image clip-art sampler.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 2%

RAM: 4MB

Inset Systems 800-374-6738, 203-740-2400

ImagePals 2.0

Price: $249; until September 30, $129

In Brief: With a wide assortment of image-editing tools and screen-capture capabilities, this program may convince you that its price is worth paying.

Disk Space Required: 10MB

System Resources: 2%

RAM: 4MB required (8MB recommended)

Ulead Systems Inc. 800-858-5323, 310-523-9393

LeadView 3.0

Price: $99

In Brief: Its bundled communications program, for easily sending images over the phone, combines with the standard capture, editing and conversion tools to make a complete product.

Disk Space Required: 8MB

System Resources: 13%

RAM: 4MB

LEAD Technologies Inc. 800-637-4699, 704-549-5532

Picture This! 1.0

Price: $99.95

In Brief: While it has several features that are almost identical to those of other programs found in this review, the user interface has been nicely integrated, making it somewhat easier to use.

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 2MB

International Microcomputer Software Inc. 800-833-8082, 415-454-7101


R&R; Resources and Recreation: August 1994

Compiled By: Donna Tapellini

THE HOT LIST

The Haldeman Diaries

H. R. "Bob'' Haldeman was the seemingly clean-cut Nixon administration chief of staff who later went to jail for Watergate crimes. A new CD-ROM rendition of his journals, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House, will thrill the Watergate scholar in you. The disc contains more information than the paper version does. The diaries in the book were edited, but the disc contains the complete text, includes pictures not found in the book and offers 45 minutes of revealing Haldeman home movies. A bonus: a 120-page letter Haldeman never mailed to the prosecutor who put him away. (Bob, far right, and cohort John Ehrlichman flank Henry Kissinger .) --Paul E. Schindler, Jr.

$69.95; Sony Imagesoft, 800-922-SONY,

310-449-2999.

Complete Baseball

Microsoft's Complete Baseball is a fun romp through the history of America's national pastime, back to its beginnings in the nineteenth century. The CD-ROM contains histories of players and teams, along with results of past World Series. It includes video clips, box scores, an outstanding trivia game, great sound support and an interesting almanac of baseball history. Statistics are the heart of this program. The information is easily accessed and presented in a digestible, fun-to-read format. The Rotisserie baseball crowd will love the accompanying on-line service that offers the latest team results and current box scores for about $1.75 per download. -Jim Forbes

$79.95; Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

BodyWorks 3.0

Take a tour of the human body with Bodyworks 3.0, where you can click on diagrams of the major bodily systems to get more information and zoom in to greater levels of detail. Select a topic, and explanatory text appears in a scroll box. The CD-ROM also offers QuickTime animations, and movies of various organs and body parts in action. There are still pictures and diagrams of many anatomical structures, and 15 3-D renderings that you can zoom in on or rotate. A quiz section tests your newfound knowledge of anatomy. If you're an educator, a student or simply curious, you'll spend many hours exploring BodyWorks.

-Jonathan Karl Matzkin

$69.95; Software Marketing Corp., 800-545-6626, 602-893-3377.

BEST GAME

Spectre VR CD

The original Spectre took the gaming world by storm with its lightning-fast 3-D graphics and multiplayer free-for-alls. Now, Spectre VR CD takes you to the next generation of virtual combat with new enemy vehicles, smoother graphics and integrated videos. Your trusty Spectre vehicle comes equipped with an

arsenal of new weapons, plus the ability to hover above the playing field or sink into "negative cyberspace.'' -Ian Etra

$69.95; Velocity Software, 800-856-2489, 415-776-8000.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Underground Guide to Word for Windows

Woody Leonhard's The Underground Guide to Word for Windows: Slightly Askew Advice from a WinWord Wizard, is not your typical rewrite-the-manual book. This irreverent, tip-filled tome contains a section on Word bugs that Microsoft certainly wouldn't clue you in on. And although the author is not enamored with Word's design, he tells you how to set things right with clever customization tips and macros.-David W. Methvin

$19.95; AddisonWesley Publishing, 800-358-4566, 617-944-3700.


Superior Shareware: August 1994

Superior Shareware: Recommended Downloads-Compiled

By: :Julie R. Blumenfeld

From America Online (Keyword: WinMag) and CompuServe (GO WINUSER)

BytesFree 1.04 Here's a handy utility that combines a disk-space meter with a drag-and-drop trash can. Use File Manager to locate, sort and select files, and then drag them onto BytesFree. As files are deleted, BytesFree tracks the amount of disk space made available.

$12

Patrick Brennan

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

BFREE104.ZIP

79,429 bytes

CleanUp 2.01 Tidy up your hard disk with CleanUp. This utility quickly scans and displays duplicate files located on your hard disk (or other media) and tags unneeded files for deletion. You can even display a graph of the directory space used. Displays include zero-length, back-up (.BAK) and tagged files.

$29.95

Foley Hi-Tech Systems

An unzipping utility

CLW201.ZIP

206,194 bytes

Fonter 6.2 Want to get a handle on your fonts? With Fonter, you can view and print all your TrueType and ATM fonts in different styles and sizes. The utility also lets you install TrueType font files to be downloaded on a temporary or permanent basis, copy special characters and paste them into other apps.

$20

George Campbell,

OsoSoft

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL, 2MB RAM, printer

FONTER.ZIP

142,388 bytes

Mom for Windows 2.1 Mom's the perfect PIM if you don't have heavy-duty business needs. The program offers a calendar, a note editor, a database for addresses and phone numbers, and a dialing function. An events database has alarms that can play sound files and run other programs.

$15

Kyle Lutes Computing

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

MOMWIN21.ZIP

991,113 bytes

Plug-In for Windows 2.1 The popular Plug-In dramatically improves Program Manager with features like a history list of the last 25 commands used, QuickDOS, icon browser and alarms. This new version also supports alternative desktops, resource alerts, custom cursors and full sound.

$20

Plannet Crafters

An unzipping utility (sound card or speaker driver optional)

PLUGIN21.ZIP

455,885 bytes

RipBar 6.0 It's an icon toolbar--it's an application launcher-- it's RipBar! This multipurpose utility provides drag-and-drop and command-line launching, and lets you track resources, post notes and access hotkeys. You can configure RipBar to work with any application and even use it as a Windows shell.

$25

Jonathan Carroll

An unzipping utility

RIPBAR.ZIP

241,123 bytes

Rockford 3.5 Add a personal touch to business cards with clip art, borders, lines, and any Windows, ATM or TrueType font. Rockford's screen shows what your cards will look like when printed. You can print ready-to-cut cards or camera-ready copy for a print shop using an HP LaserJet or DeskJet printer.

$20

George Campbell,

OsoSoft

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

RCKFRD.ZIP

199,038 bytes

Vidvue 2.3 The Vidvue multimedia player, slide show and viewer supports .GIF, JPEG/.JIF, .BMP/.DIB, .PCX, TIFF, .TGA and .DCX file formats. In addition, it plays .AVI, .WAV, MIDI and .FLI/.FLC files. Features include editing, full-screen decoding and file-format conversion.

$35

Lawrence Gozum

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

VIDVUE23.ZIP

352,066 bytes

WhizNotes 2.0 You'll be a whiz at managing information with this notepad utility. Create ``topics''--as many as you want--and group them in parent topics (WhizNotes). Then open multiple WhizNotes and conduct searches. Using the Microsoft Help Compiler, you can even turn WhizNote files into a Help file.

$49.95

Sanjay Kanade, Advanced Support Group Inc.

An unzipping utility

WHIZNT20.ZIP

440,268 bytes

WinClip 3.5 View and catalog .BMP, .GIF and .PCX files with WinClip. The program lets you copy, move and delete images, as well as print catalogs and one-inch thumbnails. WinClip will automatically load any image editor. It also supports CD-ROM clip-art collections and Windows-compatible graphics printers.

$20

George Campbell,

OsoSoft Software

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

WNCLIP.ZIP

123,669 bytes


September 1994

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Win.INI: I've been using the Chicago beta for about 2 weeks.

.EXE File: Today, confusion is the state for micro buyers.

Windows at Work: Watch out for road blocks...

Dialog Box: When privacy and technology crash...

Exit Windows: Sep 1994


Letters

Letters: Sep 1994


News

News: Sept. 1994


New Products

New Products: Sept. 1994-Part 1

New Products: Sept. 1994-Part 2


First Impressions

First Impressions: Paradox 5.0 No Puzzle: Paradox Equals Power

First Impressions: Aldus FreeHand 4.0-Artistic Freedom Is at Hand

First Impressions: Lotus Forms 1.0-Scripts Direct Form's Roles

First Impressions: Sept. 1994-Part 1

First Impressions: Sept. 1994-Part 2

First Impressions: Sept. 1994 Pt 3


Features

Zoom In on Your Spreadsheet Data

Backups

Equal Access Windows


Reviews

Pixel Perfect

Mucho Tasks? Get A Macho Pim

On-Ramps To The Information Highway


How-To

Optimizing Windows: Take Control Ofcontrol Panel

Getting Started: Overcome The Windows Obstacle Course

Power Windows: Give Your Interface A Lift

Networking Windows: Windows For Workgroups' Missing Link

eNTerprise Windows: All About Daytona's New Network Support

Programming Windows: Arm Yourself with Open GL Graphics

R&R: Resources and Recreation-Sept. 1994

Superior Shareware: Sept. 1994


Win.INI: I've been using the Chicago beta for about 2 weeks.

By: Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

That's long enough to begin forming some preliminary opinions--"preliminary'' because this is an unfinished prototype of the next version of desktop Windows. Lots can and will change before Chicago becomes a real product late this year or early next year.

The cover story in the July issue of WINDOWS Magazine provided the industry's most detailed coverage to date of what's in this beta, so I won't repeat what we covered there. Instead, I'll talk about the surprises--good and bad--that we've encountered since preparing that story.

Chicago's performance looks pretty good, even this early on. Microsoft says its goal is to have Chicago perform at least as well as Windows 3.x on the same hardware. That's no small trick, considering everything that's been added to Chicago. So far, Chicago looks to be on track toward this goal.

Multitasking looks okay, too. I tested multitasking with LapLink, a DOS-based application that will eat as many CPU cycles as you feed it. In Windows 3.x, with LapLink running as a high-priority background task, system performance is very slow and spasmodic. In Chicago beta1, things run more smoothly, and the rest of the system doesn't get as CPU-starved as before. Chicago's multitasking still isn't as smooth as NT's or OS/2's, though. We'll have to wait and see if Microsoft does any tuning in later betas.

Speaking of DOS, while I was experimenting with LapLink, I wondered what would happen if I used Chicago to format a boot diskette. In Windows, formatting a boot diskette puts DOS on the diskette. You can then boot to plain-vanilla DOS from the diskette. What would Chicago put on a boot diskette, and what would happen when you booted from it on a non-Chicago system?

Well, Chicago created a boot diskette just fine (I just typed the utterly conventional DOS command format A: /s inside Chicago's DOS emulation box). I carried the Chicago-formatted diskette down the hall and used a coworker's machine to boot from it. As the machine started, the full-color Chicago logo screen came up(!), and then was replaced by a standard, DOS-like, character-based text screen that said "Starting Windows.''

When the boot process stopped, I found myself at a standard, DOS-like, character-based command prompt. But when I typed the DOS command VER, the system reported itself as "Chicago Version 4.0.'' Weird? Well, it gets even weirder. When I later examined the diskette's system files in a hex editor, I found the line "MS-DOS Version 7 (C)Copyright 1981-1994 Microsoft Corp.'' buried in one of the files. Clearly, Microsoft doesn't yet know exactly what to call this GUI-less subset of Chicago. Maybe it'll still be called Chicago, maybe it'll be Windows, maybe it'll be DOS 7.0.

But whatever it's called, the new version of Windows will support disk compression. This is great news. The issue of disk compression got murky when the lawsuit between Microsoft and Stac erupted, and Microsoft was forced to stop shipping DoubleSpace. Chicago beta1 was released before the suit was resolved, so this version comes with no provision to compress a disk on its own. However, it works just fine with previously DoubleSpaced disks. And now that the suit is settled, Microsoft says that beta2 of Chicago will work with disks compressed with DoubleSpace, Drivespace, Stacker and SuperStor.

On the downside, this prototype version of Chicago does not yet resolve what I consider to be the number-one flaw in Windows 3.x and Windows for Workgroups: resource limitations. You can bring your current version of Windows to its knees by opening, say, Word 6.0, Excel 5.0 and PowerPoint 4.0, and then doing heavy OLE 2.0-based editing in all three applications. Alas, the Chicago beta also will choke under the same load. True, it allows you to shut down the resource-hogging apps instead of just crashing. But the problem is still there and will remain there until Microsoft redesigns some parts of Chicago and/or until we all get Chicago-specific 32-bit versions of our mainstream business applications.

The best immediate solution is to improve Chicago, and we've been very aggressive in bringing this problem to Microsoft's attention. Microsoft has responded by changing the way Chicago allocates "device contexts.'' We'll see the effect of these changes in beta2 and let you know if the resource issue is improved. I hope it is, or Chicago may be fundamentally limited for power users.

Meanwhile, we'll keep using beta1. Next month, I'll discuss the interface, and tell you how you can make sure your hardware is ready for Chicago.


.EXE File: Today, confusion is the state for micro buyers.

by Jake Kirchner

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Over the next two or three years, much of that confusion will dissipate as the industry reaches greater standardization and interoperability among different vendors' wares. But for now, hardware and software purchasers like us must suffer through a period of unwelcome and uncomfortable befuddlement.

The "what to buy?'' confusion is a by-product of having too many choices--not necessarily a bad state of affairs, but one that requires some consideration. You might think that with Intel's continued domination of hardware platforms, the preeminence of Microsoft in desktop operating systems, and the consolidation of applications software publishers, our choices would be pretty clear. Unfortunately, life just isn't that simple any more.

Until about six months ago, buying your next dose of hardware and software hinged on a few key considerations: how much Intel firepower you could afford, how much memory and storage you needed for the flavor of Windows you planned to run, and which of the two or three leading software packages you wanted to buy for your particular application needs.

You took that information and handed it--along with your wallet--to your chosen retailer, mail-order house or value-added reseller, and said, "Please be gentle.'' If you didn't get exactly what you wanted or had hoped for, you probably got at least what you needed to keep up with your computing requirements.

That was back in the good ol' days, which by my calculation ended the second week of January, 1994. I remember the date well because it was the same week I bought my current home PC, the one I'm writing this column on. Nine months later it's ready for the Smithsonian, but if I had to replace it right now I haven't a clue what I'd buy.

Today we're faced with an entirely new set of decisions.

On the platform side, you have to decide whether you want to stick with Intel or go with the PowerPC chip. And if you opt for continued reliance on Intel, do you go with a Pentium-based system or try out the DX/4 machines? Keep in mind that between the time you read this and the time you get your wallet out you may find the Pentium chip has dropped in price by another 30 percent--it's practically a weekly occurrence--and the once highly touted DX/4 may have dropped out of the market altogether. The chip markets are that volatile.

Brace yourself, too, for questions about your preference on local-bus variations. It used to look like VESA was down and PCI was up, but that's not quite so clear today. And what about this plug-and-play thing?

Ah, but at least there is the old standby DOS-and-Windows duo to anchor your computing strategies, you may be thinking. Just be prepared to decide among Windows 3.11, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, NT in its various forms and the soon-to-hit-the-market Windows 4.0. And DOS? Don't even get me started. There are the versions with and without DoubleSpace disk compression that may or may not be installed on the machine you get, depending on what the courts say today and whether or not your vendor is sufficiently up to date.

On the business applications side, things are even trickier. Although it's still pretty much a three-way race among Lotus, Microsoft and WordPerfect (with Borland bucking in the starting gate), the race gets harder to call every day. Microsoft continues to hold superior mind share among software buyers while Lotus fights tooth and nail for every inch of market ground. WordPerfect, although still struggling through its corporate transformation as a new part of Novell, has hit the back stretch with a stunningly revamped set of office software suites.

With all three leading software vendors claiming "best of breed'' applications, you can't just pick a vendor, lay your money down and hope for the best. If you're in the Microsoft camp, you have to decide whether to upgrade to current versions of Word, Excel and the rest, or to wait for 32-bit versions. Of course, first you have to figure out whether your operating system choices in the coming year or two will make 32-bit applications important to you. In the meantime, you look for OLE 2.0 compatibility and wonder why the heck it really matters.

Lotus presents the same conundrums and further muddies the issue by trying to steer you toward Notes at every turn. Remember when suites were supposed to make all this simple? Ha! Suddenly WordPerfect is a real player in the suites market. Not content just to give Lotus a run for the money for second place to Microsoft in suites sales, WordPerfect is feeling its oats so much it's touting a design-your-own version that will keep everyone confused.

Finally, if you're a corporate buyer you probably have to worry about things like internetworking, remote e-mail access, shared databases and micro-mainframe connectivity. Godspeed and good luck to you as you wade through considerations of ODBC versus OpenDoc, VIM versus MAPI, and UNIX versus OS/2 versus NT.

As if all that weren't bad enough, things are going to get worse before they get better. A high-level IBM exec recently told me that the company is now working on six-month hardware product cycles (they used to be 18 months). On the software side, for all the hoopla about delayed delivery dates, product cycles are even shorter.

And just when you thought the Intel versus PowerPC situation was starting to make sense, you have to try to figure out the impact of the new joint chip development agreement between Intel and Hewlett-Packard. The two companies hope to develop a common architecture for a broad range of future machines, from desktops to mainframes. There's no end to how "interesting'' this business can be.

On the plus side, some of the confusion will dissipate on its own. Hardware prices continue to plummet at the same time computing power increases. It's unlikely you'll end up with insufficient computing capability no matter which chip you choose. DOS and Windows will merge in the next version of Windows, and, with the type of computing power you'll have on your desktop, you won't have to worry as much about whether you can or should opt for NT versus Windows 4.0. And by 1997, you'll probably see a consolidation of the various versions of Windows into one product anyway.

That's down the road, though. Today you have micros to buy, software to install, users to support. The good news is that, despite the proliferation of products, you can cut through the fog of competing vendor claims. It will just take a little more time and effort than before. You'll simply have to work a little harder to educate yourself. Ask more questions. Spend more time attending trade shows. Compare notes with your colleagues. And study WINDOWS Magazine.

At least that's my plan. The big change for me is that I'll be pursuing the plan from a new location down the road at one of WINDOWS' sister publications. But if, in my new posting, I have to work a bit harder in the coming months and years to keep ahead of the micro game, I know the payoff will be worth the effort. It will be for you, too.

Jake Kirchner, former executive editor of WINDOWS Magazine, is editor-in-chief of CommunicationsWeek, published by CMP Publications.


Windows at Work: Watch out for road blocks...

By: Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

 on the information superhighway. That is, if you're planning to use the Internet as your on-ramp. Despite all the hype surrounding this publicly accessible network of computers, obtaining big business benefits from its use remains an elusive goal for most companies.

The problem arises when we mistake the Internet with the information superhighway itself. Here's the difference: The Internet is real--here today--while the information superhighway is still just a vision that experts claim will cost about $200 billion to build.

Compared with what people want, the Internet is a dirt road. Created by the Pentagon a quarter century ago, this loosely organized network was intended to help researchers working on military and government projects to access large databases and exchange information. In a sense, the Internet was developed by and for computer pioneers, early adopters and assorted propeller heads. It didn't need to be particularly friendly: The original users had no objections to cryptic commands and arcane naming conventions. Today's point-and-click generation, on the other hand, expects more ease of use.

Nor did the Internet need to be fast. First, no one sent hefty, bandwidth-guzzling graphics back in 1969--the information was all text. Second, the communications gear was slow. When remote users dialed in, they considered themselves speeding along if they could get on at 300 bits per second. Today's popular modem speeds are 32 to 48 times faster, and straight network speeds are hundreds of times faster.

Furthermore, in the early days, the Internet didn't need a lot of security because it was closed to the public. The system was set up for people to share, so nobody made it a priority to figure out how to lock things up. And back then, nobody but the very rich and the intellectually elite had computers anyway. Now that computers are commonplace, security is a crucial issue.

Also contributing to the Internet's messiness is the fact that it was designed to be indestructible. Its creators accomplished this by making the network noncentralized. As a result, the whole state of California could slip into the ocean and your e-mail would still get through. The downside is that the tangled web of computers can be quite a challenge to navigate. And although many Windows front ends for the Internet are now becoming generally available (see On-Ramps to the Information Highway in this issue), they're still merely interfaces that make it easier to access a confusing, archaic and deliberately complicated mess.

Despite the difficulties of getting around on the Internet, pundits say that the number of Internet users is growing by the minute, and is now more than 30 million. The Internet Society boasts that more than 30 percent of the Fortune 500 companies have already connected to the Internet and that two-thirds of the individual users work for big corporations.

In fact, it seems that everybody's on the Internet--even heads of state. President Clinton jumped on earlier this year to exchange e-mail with Sweden's Prime Minister Carl Bildt. Bildt noted that as two communications superpowers, it was fitting for Sweden and the United States to be the first nations to use the Internet to exchange official communications electronically. In his reply, Clinton commented that this demonstration of electronic communications is an important step toward building a global information superhighway.

The chief-to-chief exchange does illustrate the Internet's most reliable and easy-to-use feature: e-mail. The Internet enables you to exchange messages with others around the world, regardless of the type of e-mail software you use. It's like a telephone system for text messages. For phone conversations, you don't have to have the same type of phone or carrier as the person you're calling. Through the cooperation of phone companies, everybody can link to everybody else. Similarly, the Internet's global web of computers links disparate e-mail systems. And most commercial services (CompuServe, MCI Mail, Prodigy, America Online, Delphi and others) have an Internet gateway so your message can be routed around.

Getting an e-mail-only connection to the Internet is worth considering if you haven't got the time or resources to set up a full connection. An e-mail connection will let you communicate with any other Internet user, and will also enable you to join discussion groups and exchange information about a mind-boggling array of topics. You can find services that will automatically send your mailbox regular postings on subjects ranging from trade opportunities with the Pacific Rim to listings of events that happened on any given day in history.

To go the e-mail-only route, you can use a commercial service, such as America Online, CompuServe or Delphi, to get yourself an instant Internet mail address. Or you can hook up to gateways available for the most popular local area network e-mail products. If you hook up a hub into your own e-mail package, you'll spare yourself some headaches by piping all the mail into your LAN e-mail boxes. Doing it this way eliminates the need to deal with multiple mail boxes.

If you want more than just e-mail, a full-access connection will get you an e-mail box plus a passport to all the computers and databases available on the World-Wide Web. But be forewarned that complicated naming conventions and access procedures can prove difficult for the uninitiated. You could spend days surfing the Internet looking for good research information. For example, before you can explore the Library of Congress--the best place on earth for research--you need to know how to get there. But it's just not intuitive to "telnet to 140.147.254.3'' or "connect to the Gopher server at marvel.loc.gov.''

It might be cheaper and easier to log onto a commercial service, such as Dow Jones or CompuServe, for your research. Both have Windows access software and provide consistent, well-documented search capabilities. You might not get directly to the Library of Congress, but chances are you'll find what you need. Although these services may charge high hourly rates, the cost can be offset by the time you save.

Once you decide to hook up to the Internet, you'll find that integrating it with your company's LAN-based facilities requires a good bit of work. Usually you'll need to use terminal emulators running somewhat fragile scripts that don't always work right. There are plenty of powerful tools and utilities, but they require people who understand the complexities of UNIX and awful interfaces. Most corporations, large or small, lack a staff trained in the idiosyncrasies of Internet access. Moreover, many hosts let you hook up only in first gear--9600 bits per second. At that rate, if you want to send a 1MB PowerPoint file, you should expect it to take nearly 20 minutes.

Alternatively, you can hook up your company with direct IP connections to the Internet. This works if you have a large company with many users and need higher speed connections. A direct IP connection lets you choose any performance level you need. Through a direct IP connection, the users on your LAN can run Internet tools directly from their desktops. If you choose this approach, it's imperative that you have a technically qualified staff that understands how to keep your communications and computers running. They'll need to know about TCP/IP, FTP, digital and analog connections, UNIX and a plethora of other technologies.

No doubt about it, the Internet provides great e-mail connectivity and access to gobs of information. Just beware of overly high expectations. If you're using an on-line service for research, plan your activity well: Your search may lead you down a lot of dead-end roads. Cruising the Internet can be an intellectual delight for home edutainment, but for business it's often a congested thoroughfare. It's not all net.surf.fun.

Cheryl Currid is president of the Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. She is also the author of The Electronic Invasion: Survival Guide for the Brave New World of Business Communications. Reach Cheryl care of the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag Message Exchange on AOL..


Dialog Box: When privacy and technology crash...

By: Peter Lewis

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

, you may hear no more than a click. I first heard that click nearly a decade ago in a small village in the Andes, a place so remote from modern technology that the old woman had never seen a photograph of herself, let alone the camera I pointed at her. After the shutter clicked, as she gazed at the Polaroid image developing in her hand, she was first amazed, then amused, then alarmed.

Her consternation confused me, because I thought I was showing her something almost magical. But now, as I watch my own digital image slowly materialize in cyberspace, I think I understand. Yes, the new electronic world is almost magical, but I'm not sure I want strangers taking my picture. And that's just what they're doing.

Every time I use my personal computer to log onto the Internet, little pictures of my digital persona are stored on a hard disk somewhere. My credit report is floating around on some distant mainframe. The PC at my favorite bookstore keeps track of all the books and magazines I buy; the local supermarket computer memorizes what I eat. My employer's computer holds copies of my electronic mail for who knows how far back. And the last time I saw my medical records on a computer screen, they had been called up by a clerk wearing a Beavis 'n' Butt-Head necktie.

Now Uncle Sam wants to get into the act. If the Clinton administration gets its way, someday soon all my computer, telephone, wireless, fax and even interactive cable communications will be filtered through a data encryption system that the government will be able to unlock. And the telecommunications industry will be required to offer me only those services that authorized law enforcement agents can easily tap.

You don't have to have a checkered past or even a touch of paranoia to be concerned about privacy and personal computers. With some regret, I confess little reason for the government to be interested in me. My only brush with the FBI occurred nearly 20 years ago when, as a joke, I wrote "Patty Hearst, Symbionese Liberation Army Hideout'' on the return address of an envelope. (The Feds, who were chasing the fugitive heiress at the time, had no sense of humor.) Other than that, I refuse to let people copy my software, couldn't hack a gumball machine, and never remove the tag on my mattress.

But all of us, regardless of political sympathies, should be concerned about two proposals by the administration: the so-called Clipper key escrow encryption system and the Digital Telephony bill. Just as the Communications Act of 1934 shaped radio and television for the next 60 years, the choices facing this Congress and administration could define our privacy rights for generations to come.

Clipper is a tamper-proof microprocessor that contains a powerful data encryption algorithm called Skipjack, which the National Security Agency developed. The government says Skipjack is needed because the current data encryption standard, DES, is showing cracks. DES safeguards everything from our nuclear weapons secrets to our automatic teller machine transactions, so even a theoretical weakness is cause for concern. There is general agreement that a newer, stronger encryption scheme would be a good thing.

The disagreement arises from President Clinton's desire to make Skipjack the standard and to encourage the inclusion of a Clipper chip in every phone, computer, fax machine and set-top box. It is exacerbated by the administration's refusal to allow more than a small, selected panel of encryption experts to examine the Skipjack algorithm, and by the ominous restrictions it places on rival encryption schemes to compete in the world marketplace. But most of all, Clipper is controversial because the government has designed it with a back door to which only the government holds the key.

To assuage fears about potential abuse of the Clipper key, it is to be split in half and divided between two agencies (held in escrow). The government promises that it won't give the keys to the police or national security agents without a court-authorized warrant.

Clipper's defenders say the plan has been misrepresented. They stress that it is a "voluntary standard'' to provide all Americans with robust data encryption while making sure the encryption cannot be used against the government by criminals. If you want to use some other data encryption software on top of Clipper to keep the government out, fine.

Okay, I will. But rather than let it drop, let's look at the same argument in a less technical scenario: In an attempt to reduce burglaries and increase safety for all citizens, the government wants to provide everyone with tamper-proof combination locks for their houses, cars and safety deposit boxes. But the government also says it needs to hold the master key to everyone's locks so that criminals can't use them to hide stuff from the police.

Now, I'm no criminal genius, but if I really were a Symbionese Liberation Army terrorist, I suspect I would not rely exclusively on Fedbolt locks. And if I were a drug dealer, I wouldn't shop at "Bust Buys'' for an encrypting device that has the FBI seal of approval on it. In other words, if I were smart enough to use encryption, I wouldn't be dumb enough to use Clipper.

Everyone agrees that Clipper would snare only intellectually challenged criminals, and perhaps some politicians. That hardly seems justification for asking millions of law-abiding citizens to proactively rig their computer to enable easier government snooping.

By the same token, it also seems unfair to ask us to give up such popular phone company services as call-forwarding just because drug dealers abuse it. That's where the FBI's proposed Digital Telephony legislation comes in.

The government contends that consumer telecommunications technology has outstripped law enforcement technology. Call-forwarding, for example, can frustrate law enforcers who are trying to trace drug calls or kidnappers' demands. Packet-switching networks do not allow computers to sniff all overseas telephone calls for such words as bomb and cocaine, a chore that for years has been performed by banks of NSA computers in caverns under the Maryland countryside.

On the other hand, the Feds have other tricks. They can bounce lasers and microwaves off your windows, pick up conversations or even re-create memos typed on a computer. Or, they can install remote access software on a suspected spy's home PC and simply back up his hard disk while he's at work.

If the FBI's proposed Digital Telephony bill is introduced and passed by Congress, all common-carrier telecom companies--wired, cabled or wireless--would be required to make wiretapping capability an integral part of all services in the national information infrastructure. Unlike Clipper, Digital Telephony is not voluntary. Companies that don't comply will risk substantial fines and penalties.

Most responsible citizens agree on the need for strong law enforcement tools. But with Clipper and Digital Telephony, what the government is proposing represents a profound shift not just in technology, but also in social philosophy. Until now, wiretapping technology was applied (officially, at least) only after a person was suspected of wrongdoing. With Clipper and Digital Telephony, the technology will be applied before there is any indication of criminal intent. The result will be that the phrase "innocent unless proven guilty'' will sound a little more hollow over digital phone lines.

According to the government, Clipper and Digital Telephony are the best solutions, balancing the need for privacy with the needs of law enforcement and national security. As citizens who are familiar with computer technology, we can, and should, debate these contentions.

The government also assures us that it will not abuse the trap door. Those of us from the Vietnam/Watergate era have good cause to be suspicious. And besides, there's no guarantee that subsequent administrations and Congresses will hold privacy in the same regard. Basically, the whole issue comes down to trust in our government.

I am reminded of a question posed several years ago to an audience of computer users. Would you approve, the audience was asked, if a quasi-government agency installed a device in your home that would allow anyone to ring a bell in your bedroom at any hour of the day? The response was nearly unanimous: No! But that's exactly what we already had, in the form of the telephone system.

Now the question is whether you would approve of a national information infrastructure that gives the government the ability to eavesdrop on your conversations and data transmissions. The quick answer, again, is no. But, of course, that's what we already have today.

So, the real question is: Must we compromise our privacy in order to get greater security, or to get through checkout lines more swiftly, or to keep a small minority of people from cheating the government on welfare or income taxes? And the quick answer is: I hope not.

As computer users in an increasingly wired age, we need to reflect on how much privacy we are willing to sacrifice in the interests of law, order and convenience. After all, those "clicks'' aren't cues to look over our shoulders to see if Big Brother is taking our picture. Rather, they're reminders to look ahead and decide which values we want to preserve.

Peter Lewis covers cyberspace for The New York Times. Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those held by WINDOWS Magazine.


Exit Windows: Sep 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Crystal Wallpaper

Turn your desktop wallpaper into an animated portal and travel to other worlds with Domain Virtual Worlds' Crystal Walls. The 18 original productions create a lively world while you work on your applications, showing everything from a cowboy bar to Saturn, Chinese paper-cut-design mobiles to a world of gargoyles (shown here).

Crystal Walls, $49.95; Domain Virtual Worlds, 800-VWORLDS, 206-328-7200.

Did you know? ...

When using Windows' Calculator, 3.11 minus 3.10 equals 0.00. The bogus answer is caused by a bug in the Calculator software.

Dogs and Flaming Fish

Is the corporate jungle driving you bananas? Take a break with those crazy Far Side characters by syndicated funnyman Gary Larson. Delrina provides password protection, too. The animated scenes include perils of goldfish, dogs in hell and ballooning bison, and use the Intermission screen-saver engine.

Far Side Screen Savers, $39.95; Delrina Corp., 800-268-6082, 408-363-2345.

Funny Face Faxing

Here's a sick way to make people notice your faxes: The Digital Funhouse gives you the tools to distort photos and send them from your Windows PC using your fax software!

Symsoft Digital Funhouse For Windows, $79.95; Symsoft Corp., 702-832-4300, fax 702-832-4310.

If you spot a stray tour bus

It's possible that young Mr. Gates skipped a few days of geography class. A T-shirt promoting Microsoft's 23-city technology tour places Atlanta in mid-South Carolina. No wonder Chicago's delayed.

The Last Place to Smoke

Can't smoke at your desk? Well now you can smoke on your Windows desktop with the new Desktop Cigarette. It's part of the Toggle Booleans Non-Productivity Pack, a collection of totally useless Windows programs that includes the Desktop Coffee Mug, the Elvis Detector, the Bit Recycler and more.

Non-Productivity Pack, $10; Toggle Booleans, P.O. Box 4204, Station E, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S 5B2.

Screen Savers o' the Month

Two hot new fractal screen savers bring visual excitement to your Windows PC. Mandel and Tubes boil and churn with color and smooth fractal motion. Freeware from Forben Software Inc. Filenames: MANDEL.ZIP and TUBES.ZIP. Available on America Online (keyword: WinMag) and on CompuServe (Go WINFUN).

If you've seen any offbeat Windows-related tidbit, please send it to us! We'll send you a cool WinMag coffee mug and T-shirt for each item we publish. Send items to Mike Elgan at the e-mail or postal addresses on page 16.


Zoom In on Your Spreadsheet Data

Spreadsheet Data

The Ultimate Data-Manipulation Tool


Spreadsheet Data

You're just a few simple steps away from turning the rows and columns of numbers in your spreadsheet into information-rich packages. All it takes is a little focus.

by John Walkenbach

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Putting numbers into a spreadsheet is easy. The challenge is getting the information you need out of it. Why does it always seem like your data is an exception to the rule, and there just isn't a command that will do what you want? Maybe you need to count the number of nonnegative cells in a range, or perhaps you want to extract last names from a client list. You can search all day and you won't find a command that will do so, but tasks like these are child's play if you have a few tricks up your sleeve.

This article reveals some techniques that can help you pull information from a spreadsheet. It covers topics like counting, generating frequency distributions, crosstabulating data, calculating subtotals and extracting information that meets your criteria. We'll discuss the steps you would take to perform these tasks in the major Windows spreadsheets: Lotus 1-2-3 Release 4.0, Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Borland Quattro Pro 5.0.

CROSSTAB

Crosstabulating data is a good way to distill the information in a database and present it in a concise format. For example, your database might include the unit sales of clamps, sprockets and cogs in the North, South and West regions. To generate totals for each product type in each region, you would perform a crosstabulation

1-2-3 Release 4.0

The crosstab table above was generated using 1-2-3's Tools Database Crosstab command. It's a simple three-step process in which you specify the database you're using, the fields for the table's row and column headers, and the field that you want to tabulate. In this example we tabulated by adding up the values in the Units field, but you can also choose average, count, minimum or maximum. Note that the crosstab table does not contain formulas; if your data changes you must regenerate the table.

However, you can get your crosstab table to update automatically if the data changes. First, create the table yourself and use the @DSUM database function. Then insert the following formula into cell F4, and copy it to F4..H6:

@DSUM($A$1..$C$17,"Units",+PRODUCT=$E4#AND#+REGION=F$3)

Excel 5.0

Excel's new Pivot Table feature is an extremely powerful and flexible tool that can generate just about any type of crosstabulation you can think of. Unlike 1-2-3, it doesn't limit you to simple two-way tables. The feature is easy to implement--it uses a step-by-step Wizard to guide you through the process. (For more on pivot tables, see The Ultimate Data-Manipulation Tool?)

Quattro Pro 5.0

Use Data Modeling Desktop to generate crosstab tables in Quattro Pro. This is a separate application that accesses your spreadsheet data using DDE (dynamic data exchange). Data Modeling Desktop lets you choose your crosstab options, and then returns the table to a location you specify in your spreadsheet. If you like, you can activate a DDE link so changes in your data will be reflected automatically in the table.

COUNTING

Counting is a common spreadsheet task, but it's not always easy to figure out how to do it. For example, you might want to find out how many departments are over budget, so you would count the number of occurrences of the appropriate value or text string. Here's how.

1-2-3

Lotus 1-2-3's @COUNT function may sound like just the solution you need, but this function simply picks up the number of cells in a range. To count specific types of values, you would use the @DCOUNT function. Unfortunately, @DCOUNT will work only if your data is in the form of a database. You'll need to set up the data so that the range has field names in the first row, and each subsequent row represents a database record. The good news is that in Release 4.0, the database @functions are much more flexible than in previous versions, and no longer require that you define a separate criteria range. Rather, you can specify the criteria as the third argument for the @function.

Converting your data range to a database is no big deal. Simply make sure the data is in a single column and insert a field name above the first value. Let's assume that you have a range of 100 values in A2..A101, and you want to count the number of negative values. First, add a field name in cell A1, such as Field1. Then, enter the following formula to calculate the number of negative values:

@DCOUNT(A1..A101,"Field1",+FIELD1<0)

The first argument is the range to be counted, including its field name. The second argument is the field name that contains the data to be counted. The final argument is an expression that specifies your criteria. In this case, we want to count the number of values in Field1 that are less than zero.

If your data spans multiple columns, you can insert additional field names and use a more complex formula. For example, if you have two columns of data in A2..B101, the following formula will do the trick (it assumes that the second column is Field2):

@DCOUNT(A1..B101,"Field1",+FIELD1<0)+

@DCOUNT(A1..B101,"Field2",+FIELD2<0)

If you must, you can extend this formula to handle even more columns--but you'll notice that the formula will quickly get unwieldy.

Excel

Excel 5.0's new COUNTIF function makes counting easier than ever. To count the number of negative values in a range named Scores, just enter the following formula into any cell:

=COUNTIF(scores,"<0")

The first argument is the range that you're counting; the second argument is the criteria upon which the count is based. Unlike 1-2-3, Excel does not require that the data be in the form of a database. It can be any valid range, including a range made up of noncontiguous cells.

If you're still using Excel 4.0, you won't have access to COUNTIF, so you'll need to use an array formula to do this sort of counting. To count the number of negative values in the range named Scores, use the following formula:

=SUM(IF(scores<0,1,0))

You enter an array formula by pressing Ctrl+Shift when you press Enter. Array formulas appear in the edit line with brackets around them. This formula evaluates each element in Scores, and if it's less than zero the SUM function kicks in and adds 1. Otherwise, it adds 0, indicating ``no effect.'' The formula displays the total number of 1's that were summed.

Quattro Pro

Like 1-2-3, Quattro Pro requires that your data is set up in the form of a database. Unlike 1-2-3, however, Quattro Pro's version of @DCOUNT demands that you create a separate criteria range to hold your specifications. You can't enter the criteria as an argument. Figure 3 shows an example that counts the number of negative values in the range A1:A14. The formula in cell C2 is:

@DCOUNT(A1..A14,0,E1..E2)

The second argument--0--refers to the first and only column in this particular database. The criteria range is E1:E2, and cell E2 contains the formula, +A2<0. If you don't like the idea of cluttering up your worksheet with criteria ranges, you can simply hide the column that contains the criteria range.

FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION

If you want to summarize a range of data, you'll need to produce a table of frequency distributions. This is often done in preparation for creating a chart. In this section, we'll discuss several ways to generate frequency distributions.

1-2-3

1-2-3's Range Analyze Distribution command will automatically generate a frequency distribution using a range of ``bins'' that you specify. Unfortunately, the results of this command are numbers, not formulas. If your data changes, the frequency distributions will not be up to date and you'll have to reissue the command.

However, you can generate a dynamic frequency distribution table in 1-2-3 by using a simple extension to the counting procedure discussed above. This technique also requires that your data reside in a single column, with a field name as the first entry in the range. It uses the logical #AND# operator in the criteria argument.

For example, say you want to calculate the distribution of 100 scores in 10-point increments. All of the scores would be placed in row A, and you would set up bins in rows B and C showing the lower and upper scores for each bin (B2 would be 1, C2 would be 10, B3 would be 11, C3 would be 20). The formula below would be placed in cell D2 and copied to the nine subsequent cells.

@DCOUNT($A$1..$A$101,"Scores",+SCORES>C1#

AND#SCORES<=C2)

Each of these formulas displays the number of scores that are less than or equal to the adjacent values in the bin ranges in columns B and C. It's exactly the same output you would get using the Range Analyze Distribution command, but the formulas are updated whenever the data changes.

Excel

For frequency distributions in Excel, you can use the Histogram option in the Analysis ToolPak add-in. But, like the comparable command in 1-2-3, this procedure does not generate formulas. A better approach is to use formulas to calculate frequency distributions. Again, you can use the COUNTIF function to do this.

Figure 4 shows an example that counts the number of test scores that fall within each 10-point bin. As in the counting example, there is no need in Excel to arrange your data in database form.

Each formula uses the COUNTIF function twice. The range A2:C12 is named Scores. The formula in cell F2 is shown below, and it was copied to the nine cells below it.

=COUNTIF(scores,">="&E2) - COUNTIF(scores,">="&E3)

With Excel 4.0, you'll need to use array formulas to create dynamic frequency distributions. Again, make sure you hold down Ctrl+Shift when you enter the formula. In this case, E2 refers to the first bin value and E3 is the second bin value.

=SUM(IF(scores>=E2,1,0))-SUM(IF(scores>=E3,1,0))

Quattro Pro

Quattro Pro has two commands to create frequency distributions. Neither of them generates formulas. Creating a dynamic frequency distribution table is possible only if your data is in the form of a database. And it requires lots of additional effort since you must set up multiple criteria ranges. The procedure is essentially an extension of the example provided earlier for counting, but you'll need a separate criteria range for each bin.

SUBTOTALS

Spreadsheet tasks such as budgets usually need calculations of subtotals and grand totals. For example, you might need to subtotal each budget category and then have a grand total at the bottom. This procedure has caused countless headaches, since it's very easy to inadvertently double count. But there are ways to get around this problem.

1-2-3

Release 4.0 has two new @functions that come to the rescue: @SUBTOTAL and @GRANDTOTAL. The @SUBTOTAL function works just like the standard @SUM function. The @GRANDTOTAL function also works like @SUM, but it ignores any cells that have an @SUBTOTAL function. Consequently, you can include the cells that have subtotal formulas in the range that calculates your grand total with no danger of double counting.

Excel

Excel is the only spreadsheet that can automatically create subtotal and grand total formulas. Its Data Subtotals command displays a dialog box (Figure 5) that lets you specify how and what to subtotal. There's no limit to the number of subtotal levels you can create. When you close the dialog box, your worksheet is updated with appropriate formulas that use the new Subtotal function. Excel even generates an outline so you can hide details and show only the totals. If you later decide to remove the subtotals, you can do so with a single command.

Quattro Pro

Quattro Pro doesn't provide any special assistance with subtotals. It's up to you to make sure that your formulas refer to the correct ranges and there's no double counting.

EXTRACTING

The original release of 1-2-3 included a method you could use to extract specific fields and records from a worksheet database. The method was relatively clumsy, since it required that you explicitly define a criteria range for your selection criteria, plus an extract range for the qualifying data. Today's spreadsheets make this process much easier and can handle databases stored in a worksheet or in external files.

1-2-3

When you upgrade to 1-2-3 Release 4.0 you can forget everything you ever knew about criteria and extract ranges. The new Tools Database command makes it incredibly easy to set up database queries. It works identically for both worksheet databases and external databases. After identifying your database, you specify your query in a clever dialog box, shown in Figure 6. The example illustrated will extract all records for the South or North region with sales greater than 40,000.

The results of this data sorting procedure are placed in a special Query range. It's easy to modify an existing query. If your data changes, a single command will perform the query again to refresh the results.

Excel

Excel's new Data Filter AutoFilter command is the easiest way to display only the data you want. After selecting this command, Excel automatically identifies your database and converts the field names into drop-down lists that contain all of the unique values in each field. Simply choose the value that you want to use as the filter, and Excel hides all the rows that don't qualify. The field names actually become drop-down lists.

Quattro Pro

Quattro Pro still requires that you set up a separate criteria range and extract range in order to perform extractions.


The Ultimate Data-Manipulation Tool

Pivot tables are one of Excel 5.0's most innovative features. Extending well beyond simple crosstabulation functions, pivot tables let you view and manipulate the numbers in a spreadsheet in ways you may not have considered before.

To create a pivot table, you need to set up your data in the form of a database--either in a worksheet or in an external file. To illustrate the workings of pivot tables, we'll use a simple worksheet database designed to store sales information for a real-estate firm. This company has three offices, and tracks sales by month, location sold, sales amount and property type (house, condo or land).

Once the data has been converted to a pivot table, you'll be able to find out just about anything you need to know about it. Quickly crosstabulate any number of fields, look at grand totals and subtotals, and view the data in terms of sums or percentages, among many other options. Reconfigure the pivot table layout instantly using simple drag-and-drop operations. You can even create a chart that graphs the data, and the chart will update automatically to reflect the current table.

Building a Pivot Table

Excel's PivotTable Wizard walks you through the steps involved in creating a pivot table. The Wizard lets you easily specify the initial table layout. A dialog box displays all of the field names from the database, and you simply drag the field name buttons to the desired location in the table--row, column or page.

As you convert the real-estate firm's data to a pivot table, you can display the three sales offices in rows (Sales Office), and the locations of the sales in columns (Location). Third and fourth dimensions (Property Type and Month) are added by assigning them to the page dimension.

The drop-down lists allow you to choose a value from each of these fields, so you can view a particular ``slice'' of data. Figure 2 shows the sales of houses for all months. To view the data for all property types you would choose the All option from the drop-down list under Property Type. Similarly, you can limit the display to a particular month by selecting a value from the Month pull-down list.

Reconfiguring the Pivot Table

The drop-down list next to the Month field button can show all months or any single month. But what if you need to see a month-by-month breakdown of sales? Here's where the drag-and-drop operations enter the picture. You need to display the Month field as either a row or a column. Do so by simply dragging the Month field button to either the row or column position in the table. The table will update automatically to show the new information. In Figure 3, the Month button was dragged to the row position. This shows the sales by month for each sales office. Displaying the subtotals for each sales office is optional.

It's often useful to view the data as a percentage rather than a total. Again, this is a simple operation once you create your pivot table. Right-click on any data cell in the pivot table and choose PivotTable from the Shortcut menu. You'll get a dialog box that lets you choose the summary method for the pivot table. The data can be presented as a percentage of the row totals or in a variety of other summary formats.

Creating Charts From Pivot Tables

A table of data doesn't always tell the full story. Often, creating a chart from the data will get your point across more clearly. You create a chart from a pivot table using the standard charting commands. Once the chart is created, it will update itself automatically if you rearrange the pivot table by dragging field buttons.

Other Pivot Table Features

There are many other functions you can perform with pivot tables; we've barely scratched the surface. For example, you can group fields together. If your data is categorized by month, a few mouse clicks is all it takes to group months into quarters. You can also hide the details and show only the totals for the quarter. You exercise complete control over which fields to show in a pivot table. For example, if your company plans to sell an existing location, you can hide the data for that location to see what the totals would be without that site.

Pivot tables do not use formulas, so if you change any of the data in the source database you'll need to refresh the pivot table by clicking the Refresh Data button on the Query and Pivot toolbar (which appears automatically when you're working with a pivot table).

The best way to master pivot tables is to start out with a simple database like the one used here, dig around and discover what you can do. Once you get a feel for how pivot tables work, you'll be comfortable using them for databases of any size.

John Walkenbach is a freelance writer, consultant, shareware developer and author of 10 spreadsheet books. Reach John care of the Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag Message Exchange on AOL..


Backups

Backups

Tape Drives Or Diskettes?

What's The Difference?

Three Popular Programs: Pointers And Pitfalls

Backing Up Windows' Config Files

On A Network?


Backups

Tick-- tick-- tick--it's only a matter of time. Sooner or later a mechanical failure or natural disaster will trash you data. Don't letthings blow up in your face! Follow these fail-safe backupo strategies to minimize the inevitable hit.

By: robert lauriston

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Don't you just hate the way that computer magazines--including WINDOWS Magazine--constantly lecture you about how important it is to back up? I do. So let's be perfectly frank here: Most of us never even think about backing up until the day our hard disk fries itself. Then we run around like maniacs, willing to pay anything to salvage our precious data from that smoldering drive. Or we get religion when a bug in UltraWrite 6.0 translates our almost-finished 500-page proposal into Finnish, or the Big One strikes California and six months of accounts receivable data falls into the center of the earth. Suddenly, the virtues of backing up become painfully clear.

For those of us who've learned the hard way, backup is simple self-defense, as essential to everyday life as flossing. But are you doing enough? Is your data really safe? To help you ensure that it is and to restore your peace of mind, we offer the following guide to the complete Windows backup.

Triple Threat

There are three main goals to keep in mind when planning your backup strategy. First, if something goes wrong with your hard disk and you lose your apps and data, you need a copy you can load onto a new (or repaired) drive. Second, you may want to be able to recover individual files if they become corrupted or are otherwise damaged. Finally, you want any data that's crucial to your business to be backed up off-site, so it will still be available if a fire, flood, earthquake or other disaster destroys your office.

Each of these goals makes different demands on backup software--and on you. Let's examine each in turn, from the perspective of someone using a standalone PC. (If you're on a network, the issues are different, as we'll explain later.)

GOAL #1: RESTORING ALL DATA AFTER DISK FAILURE

Sooner or later, all disks fail. (If you haven't experienced this yet, knock on silicon.) The simplest way to protect yourself against the inevitable is to make full backups on a regular basis. What's regular? Tape drive and backup software vendors typically recommend once-a-week backups. There are two drawbacks to this: The backup is out of date as soon as you save any new work on your files, and it can be time-consuming. Depending on the size of your hard disk and the speed of your backup device, it could take anywhere from half an hour to several hours.

In theory, you can handle this in the background and keep working, but I have yet to see a backup program capable of handling that tricky task quite right under Windows. You're better off doing something else while backing up files. The best workaround is to get a tape drive large enough to hold all your data on a single tape. Start the backup running when you go home for the day, and presto, it will be finished when you return. However, if all your files won't fit on one tape, you'll have to stick around to change tapes.

Alternatively, you can back up only portions of your hard disk. To do so, partition your hard disk into multiple logical drives and put files that seldom change or don't need to be backed up on a separate partition. For example, I have a 500MB hard disk split into two 250MB partitions: I keep active files, applications and other current information I need to back up on C:; I use D: for stuff that I don't want backed up, like beta software and temp files. When C: starts to get full, I move some files to the D: drive--old magazine articles, business records from 1989, and so forth--and then do a full backup of C:.

To reduce the amount of time and tape needed, back up your apps separately from your data. Install all your programs in subdirectories of C:\APPS, and you'll need to back up that directory only when you install or reconfigure something--right? Not necessarily. Some ill-behaved apps insist on storing settings, templates, macros or even data files in their program directories. Whether this approach will work for you depends on what apps you use, how good (and patient) you are at tweaking their preferences, and how much time you're willing to spend messing with .INI files and configuration files.

As for keeping your backup current, the best (but not necessarily most convenient) solution is to do a full backup every day. That takes time and discipline, but it will eliminate many problems should your hard disk crash.

GOAL #2: RESTORING SELECTED FILES

Sometimes you don't want to restore a whole backup set, but just want to retrieve a few files. While you can use DOS's Undelete to retrieve a file that's been deleted accidentally, you'll need to turn to your backups to recover files that have been corrupted or otherwise damaged.

Sometimes it takes days or weeks to discover that a file has been corrupted, especially if it's a program you use infrequently--say a database you use only for monthly invoicing. In such cases, the more old backups you have around, the greater your chances an intact file still exists. This is one time that it's not to your advantage to back up every day--at least not on the same tape. If you keep copying over the old backups, you won't have much of an archive of old (and possibly uncorrupted) file versions on hand.

To get around that, consider making periodic full backups, with daily incremental backups of files that have changed since the last time you did a full backup. DOS indicates which files have changed since the last backup by setting an archive bit in the on position; it leaves the archive bit off for files that haven't changed. (See the What's the Difference?) If your hard disk crashes, you simply restore the full backup and the incrementals, and you've got all your files back. One popular strategy is to do a full backup on Monday, with incrementals Tuesday through Friday. Storing a week's incrementals typically takes one additional tape beyond what you need to do a full backup.

Since incremental backups are so fast and easy, you might be tempted to do 10 or 20 or even 100 of them between full backups. That sounds good, but there's a hitch: You could wind up with more data on your backups than your hard disk will hold. How is that possible? In a normal workday, you probably delete as many files as you create, thus keeping the amount of data on your hard disk fairly constant. But none of the popular backup utilities tracks those deletions. As you keep adding incrementals to a full backup, you may wind up with more files than ever existed on your hard disk at once, and the set will eventually be too large to be restored to your hard disk.

In fact, you can get burned by the too-big-to-restore problem even with a very limited number of incrementals if you happen to create and delete a lot of files, or a few very large files, before the drive goes south. (I've been complaining to backup vendors for years about this problem. Maybe one of them will read this and fix it.) In the meantime, here's a simple workaround. Before starting an incremental backup, make an inventory of all files currently on your drive with the command DIR /ON /AH-H /L /B /S > C:\DOS\FILELIST.TXT. If necessary, retrieve the copy of FILELIST.TXT from the most recent incremental backup to select which files to restore. (Some restore utilities may even let you use that file as a selection list.)

GOAL #3: PROTECTING YOUR DATA FROM DISASTER

Backup tapes can preserve your data if your hard disk self-destructs, provided you protect your tapes from a similar fate. Just storing them in a desk drawer will leave your data at risk. If your whole office goes up in flames, your backup tapes will be gone along with your computer. What's the solution? Periodically make a full backup and store it in a secure site, preferably away from your regular place of business.

The classic strategy for handling this is to rotate several sets of tapes on a multiweek schedule. Here's how a four-week rotation would work: The first week, you'd use set #1 to do a full backup on Monday and incrementals the following days. The second week you put set #1 aside and back up to set #2. The third week you back up to set #3 and send set #1 to off-site storage. The fourth week you back up to set #4, send set #2 to storage, and have set #1 returned to the office. The fifth week you recycle by backing up to set #1, and keep the circle moving ad infinitum. Four sets are better than three, since you can always have a week or two of old file versions on hand, while still keeping at least one backup safe and sound in secure storage at all times.

The only glitch in the rotation approach is that your secure copy is always a week or two out of date. If that's not good enough for your purposes, you can do a daily "copy'' backup (copying data to tape without resetting the archive bit) to send off-site. Alternatively, you could use a modem or network connection to copy your most important files to your home PC, a trustworthy employee's home computer, or a server in another office.

If you're self-employed, the expense of secure file storage may be a bit daunting. A low-tech solution is to keep your off-site backups at a friend's home or office, or in a safe deposit box. Some users tote tapes in their cars, but that can be a risky practice. In a hot climate, your tapes could actually melt or the cases could warp.

These backup strategies are admittedly less than perfect, but they're a good safety net given what we have to work with today. Life should get a little easier with the arrival of Windows 4.0, which is expected to offer direct support for tape drives. Since they'll no longer have the expense of developing their own device drivers, smaller software developers will be more likely to get into the backup utility act with products that fill in the gaps left by current choices.

Until that day arrives, take the time to protect your data. When the worst happens, you'll be glad you did.


Tape Drives Or Diskettes?

Tape drives are by far the most common choice for backups, although there are alternatives. For backing up the 200MB to 500MB drives that most Windows users are buying these days, the best tape-drive value is a QIC-80 drive. These cost around $150 to $200 and can store up to 250MB on a $15 to $20 tape.

If you want something larger than that, it's hard to beat 4mm DAT (digital audio tape) drives, which start at around $850 and hold up to 2GB on a $15 tape. Removable hard disks are another high-capacity option, capable of storing up to 1GB, but they cost more than other storage devices. Most drives run from $300 to more than $500, and the cartridges average over $100.

Depending on the kind of work you do, simply copying current work to diskettes may be faster and more convenient than doing an incremental backup to tape. At least it is for me. My hard disk is often so cluttered with mucho megabytes of beta software that there's absolutely no reason to back up. (For example, today I have four versions of Windows installed--don't ask.) Since a day's work seldom generates more than a few hundred kilobytes of data, diskettes work great for daily backups. I organize my work by creating a separate directory for every article--for example, this article is stored in C:\MAGS\WINMAG\BACKUP. At the end of the day I just pop my current backup diskette into the drive, open up File Manager, and drag a few directories to the A: icon. To preserve older file versions for Goal #2, every so often I make copies of my work in progress (DRAFT.01, DRAFT.02 and so on). If something happens to my desktop PC, I can just grab the backup diskette, stick it in my laptop, get to work, and meet my deadlines. However, diskettes aren't a practical choice for extensive backups, since they take up 40 times the space tapes do and cost 10 times as much.

There's no reason to use your tape drive or other backup device only for backing up. Use it any time you want cheap bulk storage and can live without fast random access. This is an ideal solution for archiving data you don't use, but can't throw away--like old financial records.


What's The Difference?

A full backup (called "normal'' in Windows NT) is simple: Everything on the drive is copied to tape. DOS has a feature called an archive bit to indicate whether a file has been backed up since it was last changed. Whenever you back up a file in DOS or Windows, DOS automatically sets the archive bit to 0 (off); 1 (on) indicates a file has not been backed up since it was last worked on. You can see this in File Manager by opening the View menu and selecting All File Details. The presence of the letter a in the right-hand column indicates the archive bit is on, meaning a file has not been backed up.

An incremental backup includes only files with their archive bit on. Like a full backup, it sets the archive bit off as it backs up each file and clears the letter a. That way, as you append a series of incrementals to your full backup, each contains only those files that are new or have changed since the last backup, thus keeping your backup set up to date using a minimum of time and tape.

A differential backup is similar to an incremental, except it doesn't set the archive bit to the off position after backing up the file. Thus, if you do a series of differentials, each backs up all files created or modified since the last full backup, not just those that have changed. Normally, you keep only the most recent differential backup on hand. This minimizes the size of your backup set, since it will never contain more than two copies of any file--one in the full set, and one in the differential. This method is mostly of interest when you're backing up to diskettes. The downside is that it won't back up files that were created and deleted before the differential backup.

There is another type of backup called a full copy ("copy'' in NT). This is just like a full backup, but it doesn't change any archive bits. Use this when you want to make an extra full backup without interfering with incrementals.


Three Popular Programs: Pointers And Pitfalls

Here are some pointers to help you make the most of these backup Products: -along with some "gotchas'' you should be aware of.

Norton Backup

Norton Backup has built-in networking capabilities. Install this software on a Novell network, and you'll be able to share your tape drive with other users on the LAN (or even across a wide area network, if you need to).

Norton Backup's manual is pretty confusing on the subject of full restores. The fastest way to restore a full-plus-incremental backup set is to choose Retrieve from the Catalog Options dialog box that appears when you start NRestore, and retrieve the master catalog from the most recent incremental. This will automatically restore only the most recent version of each file. (The default No Catalog option is slower, since it will restore every file in the full and each incremental backup, overwriting older versions along the way.)

For fastest full restores, make sure you have the Store Copy of Catalog on Tape checked in Norton's How/Customize/Settings dialog. This is the program's default setting, but selecting the tempting Speed preset will uncheck it (and storing a catalog really won't have much effect on backup speed).

Symantec Corp., Peter Norton division, The Norton Backup 3.0, $149; 800-441-7234, 503-334-6054.

Central Point Backup

One odd aspect of Central Point Backup is its distinction between Incremental and Separate Incremental backups. The company tries to make this sound like an extra feature, but actually it's an annoying limitation. CP Backup can restore Incremental (as well as full) backups in one automatic operation, but that forces you to append incrementals to the end of the tape holding the full backup. It can take quite a bit longer to restore selected files. Separate Incremental backups can go on a separate tape, but there's a trade-off: To do a full restore, you have to restore each incremental backup separately, in sequence.

One of the best things about Central Point Backup is the way its Search History command lets you do wildcard searches through several or all of your backup sets. This has numerous uses. For example, you can often track down an uncorrupted version of a file by scanning the list for unexpected file-size changes.

Central Point Software Inc., Central Point Backup 2.0, $129.95; 800-846-5903, 503-690-8090.

Colorado Backup

Colorado Memory Systems' Backup program uses its own terminology for just about every backup operation. In addition, it doesn't offer the usual menu of backup types. Listed below are the specific settings that you should use for full, incremental and differential backups. To do a full copy or incremental copy, you should just uncheck the archive attribute option.

While in other programs Copy means a backup that doesn't reset the archive bit, here it simply means you're copying from disk to tape. The Move option deletes files after backing them up, which could be useful for archiving old data.

Although the manual for Colorado Backup doesn't make it clear, you can restore the tapes it creates using the DOS tape utility that ships with the company's drives.

Colorado Memory Systems, Colorado Backup 2.0, $49.95; 800-845-7905, 303-669-6500.


Backing Up Windows' Config Files

Before installing new apps or hardware, it's a good idea to back up your Windows configuration files so you can easily switch back if something goes wrong. Here's a series of commands you can use to back up all the config stuff to a subdirectory (you might want to stick them in a batch file):

c:

cd c:\windows

md bak

copy *.ini bak

copy *.grp bak

copy *.pif bak

copy *.dat bak

copy *.cfg bak

copy win.com bak

If, after you install the new app, you find it has messed up your system, exit Windows and enter the command:

copy c:\windows\bak

c:\windows /y


On A Network?

If your PC is on a network, you may not have to worry about most of the problems discussed in this article. You probably have a personal directory on a file server that you can use as a backup for your local hard disk. Most backup programs will allow you to specify a network directory as a backup target. Even DOS 6.0's backup--which due to its lack of support for tape drives is otherwise pretty useless--will handle that task. Doing a daily incremental backup to a network drive usually takes less than a minute.

Check with your network administrator first, though. It's possible that your network's backup system is already backing up your local drive. It's also possible that there may be a size limit to your directory or company policies about what you can store there.

As far as backing up your laptop: Most tape backup software is compatible with DOS 6.0's InterLnk utility, which means you can back up your laptop's hard disk to your desktop's tape drive. Be sure to make the laptop the server (run intersvr.exe) and make the desktop PC the client (reboot your system with the line

device=c:\dos\interlnk.exe in your CONFIG.SYS).

Robert Lauriston is a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine and coauthor of The PC Bible (Peachpit Press).


Equal Access Windows

Equal Access Windows

Directory Of Vendors And Products

For More Information


Equal Access Windows

Windows opens up a world of computing opportunities for pc users with disabilities and makes it easier for employers to comply with the American Disabilities Act.

By: Joseph J. Lazzaro and Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Computer Skills, once the province of a small band of oddballs, have become mainstream. If you can't drag-and-drop, menu pick and double-click, your chances of getting a job or being promoted to a higher position are significantly reduced.

Gaining access to computer technology isn't a simple proposition for everyone, however. An estimated 30 million to 45 million Americans have physical disabilities that make it difficult, if not impossible, to tap the power of PCs

To ensure that people have the tools they need to overcome such challenges, President George Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. This act, which affects all companies with 15 or more employees, prohibits employment discrimination based on disabilities and requires companies to provide "reasonable accommodation'' to the needs of disabled workers.

What does reasonable accommodation mean? That depends on many factors, including the nature of the job, an applicant's specific disability, even the condition of the hiring company. In a nutshell, it means the common-sense use of available technology to enable a disabled worker

Fortunately for all concerned--both employers and employees--Windows itself makes computing easier. If that's not enough, there's also a wealth of adaptive technology available for Windows PCs. Literally thousands of inexpensive and readily available hardware and software products open up the computer workplace to those who once were excluded.

As a result, reasonable accommodation of disabled workers doesn't have to be an onerous legal obligation. It's easy, and it makes sense in many ways. It not only offers physically challenged people the opportunity to be productively employed, but it gives your company access to many valuable employees who would otherwise be on the outside looking in. Here's a look at Windows features and add-on products that address special needs.

Motion Impairments

Using computers requires a surprising amount of physical dexterity and stamina. Keyboards are bad enough, what with the delicate finger movements and arm strength required to hold your hands suspended above the keyboard. But with Windows, you've also got a mouse to contend with. This demands an even greater degree of hand-eye coordination, dexterity and patience.

Most of us get frustrated with these gizmos from time to time. But for some of us, keyboards and mice pose major challenges. At least 3.4 million Americans are affected by motor or motion impairments caused by limb, spinal cord or head injury; stroke; cerebral palsy; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly called ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease); multiple sclerosis; muscular dystrophy; or arthritis. Adaptive technology is clearly in order for such situations.

Happily, Windows has special features to make the computer more accessible to people with motion impairments. Microsoft's Access Pack of special drivers makes these features available to users of Windows 3.0 and 3.1. These same features will be built into Windows 4.0.

One feature, called StickyKeys, allows key combinations like Ctrl+X or Shift+A to be keyed sequentially rather than simultaneously. In other words, you'll be able to press the Ctrl key, release it, and then press the X key, instead of pressing them both at once. That enables you to type using one finger.

A feature called RepeatKeys gives you greater control over the keyboard repeat rate, allowing more room for error. For instance, you can tell Windows to ignore keys that were depressed for a short period of time or depressed simultaneously, either of which might have happened by accident. This makes typing with unsteady hands a good deal easier and less frustrating.

Users who find it difficult to manage a mouse (or who prefer not to) can turn to the keyboard's arrow keys instead, thanks to the MouseKeys driver. It enables the keyboard to do anything a mouse can do.

Those who can't, or don't wish to, use a keyboard or a mouse haven't been forgotten either. Another driver, called SerialKeys, allows you to operate a PC without using either a keyboard or a mouse. It does this by taking advantage of special capabilities of Electronic Communication Aids (ECAs).

ECAs were originally developed to give the power of speech to users who lack it. Most ECAs consist of a large keyboard, electronic speech synthesizer circuitry and a speaker. You select letters, numbers or phrases from a keyboard, and the selected text is spoken aloud by the system.

Some ECAs, such as the Prentke Romich Liberator and Light Talker, offer other options for users who cannot operate a keyboard. You can select letters by using a sip-and-puff device, an infrared light beam on a headband, or switches activated by head motions.

These devices can be adapted for PC use as well. Using an ECA, you can issue commands and input text, which is transmitted to the PC's serial port. The SerialKeys driver converts this input into mouse actions (such as clicking on a button) and keystrokes. Once an appropriate ECA has been programmed to transmit the special commands expected by the SerialKeys driver, a glance of the eye or a tilt of the head can move the on-screen mouse pointer, or enter a letter, word or phrase.

Microsoft's Windows drivers go a long way toward providing all users with access to Windows, but they're not a complete solution. That's why there are many third-party software and hardware products designed to assist motion-impaired PC users.

When it comes to mousing, folks who lack strength in their arms or whose hands are not steady may find that switching from a mouse to a trackball is the best solution. A trackball--basically a stationary, upside-down mouse--doesn't require large-scale motions of the arm, and the hand can rest on the trackball during operation.

There are even hands-free "mice,'' which are actually mouse emulators. Pointer Systems' DButton for Windows is a software program that simulates a mouse. Used in conjunction with the company's HeadMouse head pointing system, such products enable you to move the mouse cursor around the screen simply by moving your head. DButton also provides an on-screen toolbar of common mouse actions (such as "click right button'' or "click left button and drag''). An external switch, such as a foot switch or a sip-and-puff breath control, can be used to select mouse actions from the toolbar. Alternatively, you can simply place the mouse cursor over a toolbar button for a predetermined amount of time, and the desired mouse action will be carried out.

Other devices work with keyboards. Prentke Romich's PRC KeyGuard is a plastic shell that fits over the keyboard, with finger-sized holes over each key. The shell supports the hands, while allowing access to the keys. Ailmed Inc. provides arm supports that attach to a desk or table, immediately in front of the computer's keyboard. The arm supports swivel, allowing your hands to reach anywhere on the keyboard without the need to move your arms.

There's even a Windows program that minimizes the need for typing. OMS Development's Keycache is a word prediction program that monitors your typing and finishes commonly used words, saving keystrokes. You can add words to its vocabulary list with any text editor.

When typing on a keyboard is completely out of the question, there are several keyboard alternatives. Prentke Romich's WiViK is a Windows-based keyboard simulation program that allows keystrokes to be selected by mouse motions and clicks. When used with the mouse emulators mentioned earlier, WiViK makes it possible to operate a computer hands-free.

Other keyboard replacements use combinations of software and hardware. The HeadMouse/DButton system displays an image of a keyboard on-screen. Head motions move a pointer over the keyboard, allowing you to select specific keys.

Finally, there's speech recognition. This technology uses hardware that converts sound to digital information, along with sophisticated pattern-recognition software. When it works well, you can speak normally into a microphone attached to your PC, and your computer will recognize the words you've spoken. Each word is then acted upon (if you've issued a command), or entered as text into whatever program you're using.

Although this technology has considerable promise, many products are either expensive, unreliable or both. Fortunately, there are a few products that work reasonably well. The best speech recognition products, such as Kurzweil Voice for Windows and Verbex's Listen, make use of special hardware to digitize the sound and to perform the statistical analysis necessary for recognition. While these products do a decent job, they are expensive.

Other speech recognition products are software-only, relying on low-cost standard Windows sound boards, such as Sound Blaster, for the digitization. These programs use your PC's CPU to perform the actual recognition. The software-only version of Listen is one such product. Listen comes prepackaged with a very large vocabulary that allows control of Windows itself, most Windows applets and more than two dozen popular Windows applications. While add-on hardware is not needed, the software does require a speedy CPU (486/66 and up recommended) to recognize speech efficiently.

Hearing Impairments

Not so long ago, computers were the strong and (nearly) silent type. Until the arrival of Windows 3.1, computers were mostly limited to issuing the occasional beep or squawk. But nowadays, thanks to Windows' multimedia support and low-cost sound boards, computers can literally talk and sing.

This is good news for most of us. The computer's newfound talent for making sounds has made possible such marvels as dictionaries that pronounce words, and encyclopedias that not only describe music, but actually play it.

But the increasing reliance on computer-generated sound has created new challenges for those with hearing problems. This includes approximately 15 million Americans with some hearing loss and another 2 million who are profoundly or totally deaf. Since hearing loss is a natural part of aging, these numbers are sure to grow as the population of PC users ages.

For many people with limited hearing, multimedia not only creates a problem, but provides a solution as well. Precisely because they are so noisy, most sound boards and multimedia computers come with headphone jacks or outputs that can be connected to amplifiers. Headphones alone often provide sufficient sound levels to accommodate hearing-impaired computer users. For those who need higher volumes, external amplifiers may do the trick.

But for people who are totally deaf, nothing is loud enough. For them, another sense--usually sight--must fill in. Unfortunately, there are no products on the market that provide an ideal solution. There are no speech-to-text converters currently available for Windows, for example.

Fortunately, it's not always necessary to know what sound a computer has made. Simply knowing that it has made some sound is often sufficient. For example, most computers beep or make another attention-getting sound just before displaying warning or error messages. It's not necessary that the warning be audible--any attention-getting device would work as well.

Windows can perform this little trick. Using the Access Pack drivers, you can tell Windows to flash either the entire screen or the title bar of the active application whenever the computer beeps. This capability will be built into Windows 4.0.

There's also an easy way to enable deaf people to communicate more readily with the rest of your office or the outside world. Many deaf people use a TTY (teletypewriter) or TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf). Like a computer modem, such gadgets convert text to sound, and vice versa, allowing the text to be sent over telephone lines. Most TDDs include their own keyboard and display.

You already have a keyboard and display attached to your PC, so all you need is the telephone interface to convert text to sound and back to text again. Such devices are available. These TDDs look like a normal modem to a PC. Connect one to your PC's serial port, run Windows' Terminal program (or another telecomm program) and you're connected to the nonhearing world!

Visual Impairments

For those with impaired vision, there are four basic assistive technologies: speech output, screen magnification, braille and optical character recognition. You can run assistive software as native Windows applications, or from DOS boxes, depending on the nature of the product.

•	Speech output systems, which are popular due to their relatively low cost, verbalize keystrokes and whatever is displayed. They can also speak portions of the screen on command when a hotkey is pressed.

To configure a talking computer system, you need to install both hardware and software. You can choose the flavor of speech hardware right for your system: an internal circuit card, an external serial- or parallel-driven box, or a device that fits in a PCMCIA slot. The DECtalk Speech Option Kit from Xerox Imaging Systems, a natural-sounding voice synthesizer with nine voices, works with most screen-reading software on the market. The full-length card has an unlimited vocabulary.

Screen-reading software controls the voice hardware and reads defined regions of the screen on command. Screen readers exist for DOS, Windows, the Macintosh and OS/2. Some screen readers are capable of speaking only Windows apps, but can work hand in hand with existing third-party DOS-based screen-reading software if the need arises. Other screen readers can verbalize DOS and Windows software.

Windows-based screen readers can verbalize icons, dialog boxes, buttons and other objects. As you move the mouse pointer around the screen, highlighted objects are spoken by the screen reader and voice synthesizer. A package capable of speaking under both operating systems, Slimware Windows Bridge from Syntha-voice was the first Windows-based screen reader to hit the market. It offers a choice of speech output, braille output or both.

Also capable of verbalizing both DOS and Windows apps, the WinVision Ultra Pack from Artic Technologies includes a screen reader for DOS and Windows, headphones, a speaker and a half-length unlimited vocabulary speech synthesizer. Biolink's ProTalk is a Windows-only screen reader that works with speech and braille output systems. It can also drive multimedia-compliant sound cards, and can verbalize DOS boxes running under Windows. Similar to ProTalk, but lacking DOS-box support, Blazie Engineering's Windows Master and Speech System's WinkLine are native Windows screen readers capable of driving a number of commercial voice synthesizers.

While the technology shows promise, Windows-based assistive devices for the blind are in the early stages, and many have shortcomings. Screen readers sometimes fail to read checked items, window titles and other objects. Some lose their position and cannot faithfully track the mouse, leaving the blind user unsure of what is happening on-screen.

Windows programmers can make their applications more accessible to blind users by using the Microsoft API (application programming interface) functions to draw text, dialog boxes, buttons and other objects. If you're a developer, you should take the time to consider how your user interface might sound if it were spoken through a voice synthesizer. Campbell Services' OnTime personal information manager is one application that supports systems for vision-impaired users. With all the inexpensive sound cards on the market, you can easily afford to test your applications with speech output systems. The goal is to reliably track the cursor as it moves around the screen, providing as much information as possible.

It's also a good idea to have keyboard commands for your programs. This is because few blind users employ the mouse; most use commands like Ctrl+Tab and Alt+Tab to navigate the display.

•	Screen magnification is an inexpensive and powerful access technology for users still able to read with optical assistance. Screen magnification software can increase the size of text and graphics from 1.5 to 16 times on average, allowing the user to display text in a readable font size. Many programs can alter the contrast, allowing you to choose from black-on-white or white-on-black.

Thanks to the widespread availability of VGA graphics video adapters and monitors, many computers can run screen magnification software right out of the box. The first screen enlargement software program to enter the adaptive market, lpDos Deluxe from Optelec USA Inc., can magnify the screen in Windows from 2 to 16 times and under DOS 2 to 8 times. Other screen magnification software packages include Magic Deluxe from Microsystems Software Inc. and ZoomText Plus from AI Squared.

•	Braille began its life as a secret military code, used by French troops for communicating under cover of darkness. Louis Braille adapted it for blind people, and in 1829, the braille system was first published as a tactile alphabet. Thanks to the PC, braille is enjoying a renaissance. In the past, you had to be a skilled braille transcriber with a solid knowledge of the braille alphabet and transcription rules to produce braille materials by hand. Now, using state-of-the-art braille translation software, you can produce high-quality braille with little or no knowledge of the braille alphabet.

In order to produce braille documents, you need both a braille printer and braille translation software. Braille printers interface to computers through a serial or parallel port, similar to standard printers. Translation software is not unlike utility programs that reformat text and then output it to an external device for printing. First create the source document on your favorite word processor, then save the text to disk. You then send the original file to the braille translator, which reformats and translates the text. Finally, you send it to the braille printer for embossing. A number of printers and embossers on the market run under Windows.

A DOS-based program, Duxbury Braille Translator from Duxbury Systems Inc., can drive several commercial braille printers. The software will translate WordPerfect files and standard ASCII text files in about 20 languages, including English, Spanish, German, French and Russian. Duxbury Systems also has a Windows-based braille translation program, BrailleBoard, for making braille signs.

A reliable braille printer is necessary for a complete transcription system. Enabling Technologies makes braille printers ranging from personal-class embossers to high-speed units. The Thomas Brailler, a serial- or parallel-driven embosser, is the newest addition to the company's line. Thomas can print one-sided braille at up to 40 characters per second. Blazie Engineering manufactures the Braille Blazer, a 20-character-per-second braille embosser with a built-in speech synthesizer.

•	Reading Machines Optical character recognition (OCR) systems enable blind people to read books and other printed material independently, when used with a voice output system. Kurzweil Computer Products rolled out the first reading machine in the 1970s. The Kurzweil Reading Machine cost as much as a house. Reading systems can now be configured for around $1,500, and this price is dropping.

To configure a reading machine, you need a flatbed scanner and interface card, plus speech-friendly OCR software. You can also use a ready-to-read computer system. Open Book Unbound and ArkenClone from Arkenstone Inc. are Windows-based reading systems that include a 486/66 desktop or portable computer, a scanner and scanning software based on Calera WordScan text recognition software, with a speech front end for blind users. Arkenstone also sells the software and scanner for use with existing PCs.

TextBridge from Xerox Imaging Systems is a Windows-based OCR package that can work with the current generation of Windows-based screen readers. Because it is not written with the blind user in mind, it may be somewhat more difficult to use than a package designed specifically for voice output. Reading AdvantEdge from Xerox Imaging Systems is a DOS-based OCR software package designed for blind computer users. It supports a number of popular flatbed scanners and will run in a DOS box under Windows.

Some standalone reading machines are portable. Reading Edge from Xerox Imaging Systems is a standalone reading machine about the size of a briefcase. It has a built-in flatbed scanner, control keypad and unlimited-vocabulary DECtalk synthesizer. The unit can read printed material aloud and can transmit scanned text into a PC via its serial port.

While making products accessible to the disabled community is a challenge for developers, it takes very little effort to make considerable strides. Microsoft and other Windows developers should include disabled users in their alpha and beta tests to detect problems before the products reach the market.

The ADA has made equal access to the workplace (and its computers) a top priority. Employers who don't comply face stiff penalties--as much as $100,000 for repeated violations. While that's grounds enough to provide "reasonable accommodation,'' it's not the only, or even the best, reason to do so. Providing everyone a chance to contribute benefits employees and employers alike. Equal access isn't just the law--it's also good business.


Directory Of Vendors And Products

AI Squared

802-362-3612, fax 802-362-4513

ZoomText Plus, $595

Arkenstone Inc.

800-444-4443, 408-752-2200

ArkenClone, $4,084

Open Book Unbound, $995

Open Book 486 Special, $5,395

Unbound with scanner, $1,594

Artic Technologies International Inc.

810-588-7370, fax 810-588-2650

WinVision Ultra Pack, $1,995

Biolink Computer Research And Development Ltd.

800-561-6222 (Canada), 604-984-4099

ProTalk, $895

Blazie Engineering

410-893-9333, fax 410-836-5040

Braille Blazer printer, $1,695

Windows Master, $495

Campbell Services

800-345-6747, 810-559-5955

OnTime PIM, $64.95

Duxbury Systems Inc.

508-486-9766, fax 508-486-9712

Duxbury Braille Translator, $495

Enabling Technologies Co.

800-777-3687, 407-283-4817

Thomas Brailler, $2,995

Kurzweil Applied Intelligence Inc.

800-380-1234, 617-893-5151

Kurzweil Voice for Windows, $995

Microsoft Corp.

206-936-6735 (U.S.), 905-507-3022 (Canada)

Windows 3.0/3.1 Access Pack Drivers, free on Microsoft BBS

Microsystems Software Inc.

800-828-2600, 508-879-9000

Magic Deluxe, $295

OMS Development

800-831-0272, 708-251-5787

Keycache, $40

SwitchMouse, price to be announced

Optelec USA Inc.

800-828-1056, 508-392-0707

LPDos Deluxe, $595

Pointer Systems Inc.

802-658-3260, fax 802-658-3714

DButton for Windows, $85

HeadMouse, $495

Phone TTY Inc.

201-489-7889, fax 201-489-7891

CM4 TTY modem (includes Futura), $359

Futura TTY software, $59.95

Prentke Romich Co.

800-262-1984, 216-262-1984

HeadMaster Plus, $1,195

PRC KeyGuard, $200

PRC Tongue Switch, $135

WiViK--Windows Visual Keyboard, $290

Liberator, basic, $7,345; with head pointer $8,390

Light Talker, $5,895 (basic configuration)

Speech Systems For The Blind

508-226-0447 CompuServe, 73030,3644

WinkLine, $45

Syntha-voice Computers Inc.

905-662-0565, fax 905-662-0568

Slimware Windows Bridge, $595

The American Library Association

800-545-2433, 312-280-5105

Adaptive Technologies for Learning and Work Environments, $35

Trace Research and Development Center

608-263-2309, TTY: 608-263-5408

CO-Net CD-ROM, $27

Trace ResourceBook, $40

Ultratec Inc.

800-482-2424, 608-238-5400

Intele-Modem TTY/TDD modem, $329

Verbex Voice Systems Inc.

800-ASK-VRBX, 908-225-5225

Listen for Windows, $99; with microphone, $139

Xerox Imaging Systems Inc.

508-977-2000, fax 508-977-2435

Reading AdvantEdge Software, $795; with Book Edge scanner and DECtalk, $2,995

Reading Edge reader, $5,495

TextBridge OCR software, $99


For More Information

Adaptive technology is evolving so quickly that keeping up with all the new products is a formidable job in itself. Three reference works make this task a great deal easier. One, the Trace ResourceBook, is a 1,000-page directory of adaptive devices and computer programs. Published every other year by the Trace Research and Development Center, this guide includes descriptions, manufacturer contacts and prices for more than 19,000 products.

The Trace R&D Center also produces a CD-ROM version of its ResourceBook called the CO-Net CD-ROM. Updated twice a year, this contains Windows, DOS and Macintosh interface software. In addition to the product directory, CO-Net contains a document library of 38 disability-related texts (including the full text of the Americans with Disabilities Act), a directory of organizations offering disability-related services, and a 41,000-entry database of publications and other materials.

Another excellent resource is Adaptive Technologies For Learning And Work Environments, written by Joseph J. Lazzaro (American Library Association, 1994). This book describes in detail how to adapt personal computers for individuals with vision, hearing, motor and speech impairments. The book also explains how to select appropriate adaptive hardware and software, and points out sources of training, technical support and financial aid. The adaptive technologies covered includes all those mentioned in this article, along with closed-circuit television systems, assistive listening devices, signaling systems, alternative communications systems, environmental controls and much more.

Joseph J. Lazzaro is the author of Adaptive Technologies For Learning And Work Environments. Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing), a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine and the manager of WINDOWS Magazine Online on America Online. Reach them care of the Letters to the Editor folder in the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange on AOL.

NOT A SIDEBAR PUTTING MULTIMEDIA TO WORK

Publish Or Perish-If you have a wealth of data to share--or sell-- CD-ROM is the perfect distribution medium. Should you publish your own, or take data to a service bureau? We'll help you decide.

by Steve Bosak

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

There's a new form of vanity publishing, and it's especially geared toward your company's data. It's called CD-ROM. And with the price of CD recorders falling fast, vanity publishing is becoming increasingly accessible to businesses of all kinds.

Three years ago, recordable CD-ROM drives were in the $10,000 to $15,000 price range, making them a costly storage medium used mainly by commercial CD-ROM publishers. However, competition, increased manufacturing capabilities and higher volume production are pushing prices as low as $2,700. As a result, CD recorders are downright affordable for business use, and new features like support for multiple formats and more advanced software are adding to the attraction.

In this final installment of our four-part multimedia series, we'll outline your publishing options, tell you about CD-R (recordable CD) and the various formats you'll encounter, and list several products to get you started in your hunt for a CD-R system. If you haven't yet decided to produce your own multimedia CD-ROM, we'll give you some food for thought on why CD-ROM might be the medium for you.

THE "UNDISCOVERED'' MARKET

Commercial CD-ROM publication has skyrocketed in the past year. Most of the attention is focused on multimedia edutainment and games, but there is another, less-visible boom under way as more and more businesses use CD-R and mass-produced CD-ROMs for everything from training to catalog publishing. In fact, the archiving of corporate data is fueling remarkable growth in sales of CD-R machines, according to the Dublin, Ohio-based Optical Publishers Association, which says that more than 40,000 CD-R systems will be sold by the end of this year.

One CD-ROM can hold up to 650MB of data on a disc the same size as an audio CD, making CD-ROMs an impressive and cost-effective storage medium for any company seeking long-term archiving and the quick retrieval of corporate data. Here's a brief look at what some businesses are doing on CD-ROM.

Company Databases

Databases are the heart and soul of most businesses. Lose the database and, quite possibly, you could lose your business. Most companies do a good job of protecting their current, active data, but are lax in preserving old data. CDs are an efficient way to archive historical information.

CDs also make it easy to grant employees access to data without compromising the security of the company database. Publishing a week-old version of a database on CD would give most employees all the information they need, without jeopardizing current data. In addition, infrequently used company data could be loaded onto CD-ROMs and published on the network, leaving space for day-to-day traffic on the server.

Company Catalogs

CD-ROMs are for more than just text. CD-based versions of company catalogs can provide photographs, 3-D renderings, animations and short film clips in addition to product prices and descriptions. It's also less expensive to revise CD-ROM catalogs when new products have to be added or prices change.

Service industries may find video-clip and animated descriptions of their services far more appealing and representative than a standard swath of catalog copy and photos. Short audio segments can also produce a warmer impression of a company's products and image.

Training

Videotape, the undisputed king of corporate training, is coming under pressure from CD-ROM. Interactive multimedia CD-ROM training can cost thousands of dollars less than videotape productions, while providing real-time test feedback. For example, every person taking an interactive training course in a new data-entry system can be scored as they take the course. Results are captured for each individual, and the training specialists have a comprehensive profile of which training sections are the most, or least, effective.

Documentation and Customer Service

Products with complex and intimidating documentation are well suited to CD-ROM distribution. For example, instead of thumbing through the printed index of Novell's 12-volume NetWare support package, users can perform a quick search of the entire support encyclopedia on one CD-ROM.

Customer-service discs can also include animated instruction and other visual cues that their printed counterparts can't deliver. Production costs, even with multimedia extras, are often far less than the costs of printing, warehousing and shipping multiple-volume manuals.

Marketing

As more computers come equipped with CD-ROM drives, you can expect CD-ROM to become the latest and greatest marketing tool. Mail-order companies, software developers and automobile manufacturers are already delivering special CD-ROM infomercials of their wares and services. The price of production can be as cost-effective as print, and CD-ROM can give prospective customers a greater understanding of a product than short commercials or print ads. Complex issues, in-depth market research and important data can be presented in a variety of multimedia formats.

Not all data is useful. Some will inevitably end up in the historical slag heap, no matter how you slice and dice the database. But you might be surprised at the value your data--both current and past--could have for an audience beyond your four corporate walls. For example, a chain of driver's education schools will find a welcome home in insurance companies or car dealerships for statistics on their graduates. The most economical way to market, sell and distribute the potentially valuable data your company has gathered--such as statistics, databases, references and listings--is on CD-ROM.

DO IT YOURSELF?

You have three options for getting your application onto a CD-ROM. You can go to a commercial replication house to reproduce a large number of discs; you can buy a CD-R machine and do a small run of discs; or you can take a master disc (we'll discuss mastering software below) to a one-off shop, which can publish up to a few hundred discs economically.

The cost for any of these methods has come down significantly. For example, one-off charges are less than half of what they were three years ago, making even moderate publishing needs affordable to many businesses. Blank discs are also lower in price than ever, at about $20 apiece wholesale.

The answers to the following three questions should help you come up with the best method, or combination of methods, for reproducing your CD-ROM application.

Who is my audience?

Be realistic. Even if you'd love to put your entire catalog of dog-grooming products on CD-ROM, think about how many of your customers have multimedia PCs in their pet stores or kennels. On the other hand, if your field sales representatives are equipped with portable computers with CD-ROM drives, they'd be perfect candidates for your venture. Your audience will also affect the way you present your data. Don't do a multimedia application unless it's called for. If your customers' only needs are the names and addresses of potential sales leads, they probably don't have to hear a musical sound bite of "Hit the Road, Jack'' while doing a search and retrieve.

How many discs will I need?

This question is of ultimate importance. Recording a few dozen discs on a CD-R machine is no big deal, but replicating hundreds of discs using CD-R is pushing the envelope--and your luck. CD-R makes sense for up to about 50 copies of your application, since your only cost is $20 per disc. You perform all the premastering and mastering with the software that comes with the CD-R system.

Once you go beyond runs of about 50 discs, you'll find that you save money by going to an outside service. It takes about an hour to press one disc using a CD-R system. In addition to devoting more time than it's worth to pressing each disc this way, you will be taxing the capabilities of your system by running it for such long periods of time.

For moderate runs of up to a few hundred discs, you're better off using a one-off service. While these services are marginally more expensive than a CD-R system, you'll save time and avoid the potential mechanical failures that can result from pushing a CD recorder to its limits. Mastering a CD-ROM so you can take it to a one-off shop costs between $1,000 and $2,000 for the mastering process plus $2 per disc, making this a cost-effective option for moderate quantities. One-off services accept CD-R discs and most tape backup media as originals. Most major cities have a few one-off shops, but the number should increase as more CD-publishing novices enter the market.

Once you move beyond the range of a few hundred discs, check with a professional replication service such as JVC, Nimbus or Metatec for mass-publishing your work. These services provide everything from premastering (data formatting) your data to recording, packaging, warehousing and order fulfillment.

How long must the disc and data last?

Don't go with CD-R if the discs must sustain heavy or prolonged usage. While the medium is very stable, the process used for recording CD-R discs is not at all like pressing commercial CD-ROMs. Recordable CDs contain a base of dye covered by a thin, reflective coating. When the CD-R laser records on the media, dots are physically burned into the reflective coating, melting and releasing a small portion of dye to fuse with the coating. All the physics that make the discs recordable in the first place make them more susceptible than their commercially produced brethren to dirt, contamination and other elements.

PREMASTERING AND MASTERING

Like hard disks and diskettes, CD-ROMs--and the data to be recorded--need to be formatted. Premastering software is used to convert data into a CD-ROM image, while mastering software takes the image and records it to the disc. You can also record the CD-ROM image onto a tape backup device if you're sending your data to a one-off shop or replication company. The best premastering software allows you to run your CD-ROM application before you record it. That way, you can debug the application before running off hundreds or even thousands of discs that ultimately won't work properly.

A good premastering software program will also give you the ability to order your data. In other words, you should be able to tell the system where, physically, the data will reside on the disc. Access times for data packed into the first available section of the CD-ROM, toward the center of the disc, are significantly lower than access times for data closer to the outer rim of the disc. Placing the most frequently used data into the most accessible portions of the disc will increase runtime performance.

The mastering software itself is very straightforward. It copies the data onto your disc in the format you requested. Some mastering software allows you to perform on-the-fly formatting.

As if dealing with data formatting weren't enough, you have to sort through a number of CD-ROM formats as well. As the demands on CD-ROM technology grew, the disc formats evolved to support various data types. The following list shows a general breakdown of CD-ROM formats, and the data types each format is suited for:

ISO 9660:

Text, graphics, sound and text-based databases.

CD-ROM XA:

Multimedia with sound and video interleaving.

Photo CD:

High-resolution photos only.

The ISO 9660 format is the most prevalent. ISO 9660 is analogous to the format of a standard PC diskette. The initial tracks are used by the disc to identify itself to the operating system, synchronize the reading of the data, and point to the table of contents or disc directory.

ISO 9660 is a versatile enough format to allow applications to store virtually any data on the tracks. Formats like CD-ROM XA and Photo CD evolved for specific purposes like compressed and synchronized audio and video, and high-resolution photography. The ISO 9660 format, on the other hand, simply stores data and relies on the multimedia application to handle specialized audio and video functions.

Don't look for another format to usurp ISO 9660 any time soon, except in specialized applications. All CD-R drives support ISO 9660, and it's the format you'll no doubt use to record your own CD-ROMs.

Although most good CD-R machines support all major formats--as do virtually all CD-ROM drives--there's no reason to master a text-only database into a CD-ROM XA format. You get no payoff, and you may risk skewing the performance of your application.

In short, ISO 9660 is it for now. Any other format is used only for Photo CD, Sony MMCD players, Philips CD-I home entertainment systems or for multiple-session recordings. Stick to ISO 9660 unless you need multisession capabilities for creating your applications.

RECORD TIME

Besides using a CD recorder to publish short runs of an application, you can also treat a recorder like your own one-off shop. You can author and master a multimedia training CD-ROM, distribute the application to a few test users and gather the results before committing to a larger print run. Although most replication houses accept CD-ROM images on tape, CD-R delivery is the most common and the preferable format. Finally, if mastering a CD-ROM causes the application to crash, all you lose is the cost of an inexpensive, recordable disc.

Most CD-R drives are variations on two popular recording engines from Yamaha and Philips. Third-party vendors, however, add value with premastering and mastering software, hard disks with enough storage space for a CD full of formatted data, and connectivity software for CD-R use on LANs. If the list price for a drive seems too good to be true, look carefully at what you're getting as far as mastering software and other extras.

CD-R systems are available in a wide range of prices and capabilities. Here's a preview of what you'll encounter when you go shopping for a CD-R system.

Pinnacle Micro RCD-202 PC

This compact, highly capable CD-R system carries a great price of just $2,695 for a CD-R recorder; premastering and mastering software; and support for all CD-ROM formats, including CD-A (standard CD audio), CD-ROM XA and CD-I, the interactive CD-ROM format for Philips' CD-I home entertainment systems.

Windows-based premastering software allows users to record data by dragging and dropping it directly onto the CD-R icon. It formats data on the fly to the CD-ROM standard you choose.

The system requires hard disk space for the original data plus 2MB used for buffering, DOS 4.01 or later, and Windows 3.1.

Price, performance and ease of use are all reasons to consider the Pinnacle recorder. The company has led the pack in price reductions, making CD-R a more competitive and affordable technology.

JVC Windows Personal RomMaker

For extensive premastering software, including the ability to troubleshoot and run applications before committing them to disc, the JVC RomMaker is an all-inclusive CD-R system that offers all the bells and whistles. The price of $6,695 includes Windows-based premastering and application emulation software, as well as a 1.2GB SCSI drive where you can park your premastered data for testing before committing it to disc.

While the JVC system may seem pricey compared with its competitors, you are getting a virtual CD-ROM testing ground to prerun and test your application before recording. The software allows for the optimization of data as well. While a cheaper on-the-fly system may be fine for quick-and-dirty CD-ROM recordings, only full-blown development systems like this one are right for creating more polished and performance-tuned applications.

JVC also offers a less expensive, less decked-out recorder that's called the Windows Personal Archiver. It sells for $3,095 and should be used primarily for copying and distributing databases or large files.

Young Minds SimpliCD

This CD recording studio in a box, similar to Pinnacle Micro's offering, is available for $6,495. The Young Minds' premastering software formats on the fly, allowing you to drag and drop your runtime multimedia application or database directly to disc. Multiple sessions allow you to return to the same disc for appending multiple applications or files.

Creating CD-ROMs with this system is as easy as dragging files, directories or entire disks to the CD icon. Although the software doesn't support data placement, the interface is easy to use. Your own common sense and a few practice discs are all you need to figure out the best placement.

Meridian Data Personal SCRIBE

Meridian Data also offers on-the-fly premastering in its Personal SCRIBE series of CD-R recorders. Single-speed recorders with premastering software are just $4,195; double-speed versions are $5,995; the high-end, quad-speed model is $6,995. The Meridian Data software and drives support all major CD-ROM formats and allow multiple session recording.

Meridian also offers the best networked CD-R solution on the market. The system is particularly suited for archiving networked data or for making on-the-fly CD-ROMs available on the network for small workgroups.

IncatSystem Easy-CD Pro

IncatSystem's Easy-CD Pro is aptly named. Its premastering software allows application testing and easy disc creation. This software is drag-and-drop at its best. Data placement is also supported to help you optimize the final disc. Although the $6,495 price may seem steep compared with other recorders without a hard disk, the quad-speed recorder is at the heart of the premium price. When you're recording a 650MB disc, speed can be a big concern. What may take an hour on an older single-speed CD-R will take minutes on this machine.

Speed, easy disc creation and virtually no complex operations make the Easy-CD Pro live up to its name.

Sony CDW-900E

This double-speed recorder packs a SCSI controller, and it contains connectors for daisy-chaining up to 16 units for simultaneous recording. The unit also includes a 4MB buffer and can record a disc to its full capacity in about 30 minutes.

The CDW-900E is compatible with CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I and CD audio formats. It does not include premastering software. The system has good performance characteristics, but it is mainly targeted toward OEMs and integrators. The ability to record on 16 units at once should provide integrators with some interesting multimedia and archiving opportunities.

GET PUBLISHED!

So you want to publish? Pick your recording medium, match your content with your tools, and let your audience and volume determine the CD-ROM medium your final draft takes. The cost of publishing is down, the price of content is climbing, and the time couldn't be better for becoming a media mogul.

Steve Bosak is the coauthor of The CD-ROM Book from Que Corp. He has been writing about the computer industry since 1980. You can reach Steve care of Editor in the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange on AOL

SIDEBAR-HELP FILE HELPERS

By: JOHN GARTNER, TECHNICAL EDITOR

Behind every great interactive application there's a great help file. Although the help file is not the first thing users will encounter while exploring your application, it is every bit as important as the app itself for communicating your message.

You can create help files by hand, laboriously inserting the specialized codes, or you can use one of the many help authoring tools currently available. In either case, help files are built using .RTF (rich text format) files developed around Windows' Help Engine (WINHELP.EXE), which comes with every copy of Windows 3.0 and later. .RTF, Microsoft's standard document interchange format, uses codes to specify keywords, insert graphics and indicate special formatting such as underlining.

After the help files are created and the links established, the whole package must be compiled into an executable file. If you are creating your file without the aid of an authoring tool, you can compile it with Windows' Help Compiler. Part of the Windows 3.1 Software Development Kit, Windows' Help Compiler is available on CompuServe (Go WINSDK) or on Microsoft's bulletin board (206-736-6735).

You don't need to be a programmer to create your own help files. Help authoring tools provide varying levels of aid, depending on the program. Microsoft's Windows Help Authoring Tool (WHAT) includes a help compiler and Word templates with special menu items geared toward formatting help files. You can find WHAT on the Microsoft Developers Network CD. It's available for $195 a year.

Visual Help is an inexpensive help authoring tool that is available as shareware. It includes everything you need to create a great help file by using drag-and-drop objects to develop topics or categories. Objects like Titles, Headings, Sub Headings, Paragraphs, Jump Labels and Images can be annotated for further editing. An outline viewer shows you the overall structure and lets you edit topics. No word processor is required. ($49; available on America Online in WINDOWS Magazine's Shareware Library.)

Commercial help authoring tools go a step further with automation. Many of these programs let nonprogrammers automate the code insertion process necessary to develop .RTF files. You can also add graphical elements like screen captures and dialog boxes. Each of the following five help tools has special features geared to a variety of needs.

Doc-To-Help. Your printed documentation is created in a snap with Doc-To-Help, which uses just one document for both printed and on-line help. (WexTech Systems, 800-WEX-TECH, 212-949-9595.)

ForeHelp. Unlike most help authoring programs, ForeHelp does not require a word processor. It also does not need a help compiler, because its database-style approach for the real-time testing of links and jumps does not require recompilation. The program uses hypertext and includes Navigator and Grapher views for displaying the structure of the help file. (ForeFront Inc., 800-357-8507, 303-499-9181.)

HelpBreeze. Solutionsoft's HelpBreeze works with Word to create on-line and hard-copy documentation. Wizards guide you through various processes, and extensive on-line documentation makes the program easy to use. Flexible control over buttons lets you associate their functions to specific topics. (Solutionsoft, 408-736-1431, fax 408-736-4013.)

MasterHelp. This program automatically inserts jumps, which let you move from one location in the help file to another, and pop-ups, which bring up windows to add further clarification. (Performance Software Inc. 804-794-1012, fax 804-794-0210.)

RoboHELP. You can use RoboHELP to add context-sensitive help capabilities to your files. The program also includes an Error Wizard that finds and explains errors. Multimedia WinHelp, while not a help authoring program, adds the ability to run video, audio and bitmap images from within a help file. (Blue Sky Software, 800-677-4WIN, 619-459-6365.)

SIDEBAR-DIRECTOR'S CHAIR A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS

By: JOHN GARTNER

Your multimedia application is finally ready for mastering and publication. You've already put it through rigorous tests, verifying that all the buttons work, watching out for dead ends, and making sure you are satisfied with the application's overall interface.

But even the best-designed program may leave users with some unanswered questions or in search of a little guidance. What you need, as the developer, is an easily searchable, graphical help file to give users an alternative method for navigating through your application. Keep these tips in mind as you set up your help files.

•	Before you get down to the business of establishing links, get organized. Make a list of the words, functions and features to be defined, and set up the menu hierarchy.

•	Help files should include an index, a table of contents and hypertext links to shuttle from one level of detail to another.

•	Make sure there are no circular references or endless loops in your definitions. Keep the number of menu levels in your help file manageable. Menus with more than three or four levels tend to become confusing and disorienting.

•	Add hot spots wherever you can, within reason. Besides helping users move around your application, hot spots will break up text with graphical representations. Hot spots are "clickable'' screen regions that let users jump to other locations in the help file.

•	After your help file is complete, run through your entire application one more time to see if adding a help button to a specific screen would be beneficial. Adding a question mark button makes it easy to access help in areas where some clarification might be necessary.

•	Just as you checked your application to confirm that all of the parts were in running order, put your help system through its paces to make sure it won't break down.

VENDOR INFORMATION

IncatSystem

Easy-CD Pro

800-774-6228

408-379-2400

JVC Co. of America

Windows Personal Achiever

714-261-1292

Fax 714-261-9690

Meridian Data Inc.

Personal SCRIBE

408-438-3100

Fax 408-438-6816

Pinnacle Micro Inc.

RCD-202 PC

800-553-7070

714-727-3300

Sony Electronics Inc.

CDW-900E

800-352-7669

408-432-1600

Young Minds Inc.

SimpliCD

800-YMI-4YMI

909-335-1350

NOT A SIDEBAR How To Buy A Notebook-Sept. 1994

How to Buy A Notebook

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

FIRST CHOICES

1. Display Models

Consider cost, what you'll be doing and where you'll be working when choosing a display type.

Monochrome notebook computers are lighter and generally have longer battery lives than color units, both of which are pluses if you do most of your computing on the run. They usually cost less than color models and may be all you need for basic functions such as word processing and e-mail. However, color notebook prices have dropped considerably in recent months, and some vendors are discontinuing their monochrome lines. Some monochrome displays are upgradable, so you can move up to color when you have the need (and the money).

A color display is vital for graphics-oriented applications such as presentations. Dual-scan passive-matrix color units cost less than active-matrix color models, but the latter have brighter displays and a wider viewing angle. That's important if several viewers need to see the screen. If you plan to use an external monitor, make sure the notebook has a video connector that supports the resolutions you need.

2. Keyboards and Pointing Devices

Test the keyboard and pointing device for comfort.

The closer the keyboard comes to standard keyboard size, the more familiar it will feel and the easier it will be to use. A well-designed keyboard includes an inverted "T'' arrangement for the arrow keys, a generously sized Enter key and logical placement of frequently used keys like Backspace and backslash. You'll save time and keystrokes if the keyboard has dedicated navigation keys (Page Up, Home, End) instead of requiring key combinations.

Integrated pointing devices vary in design from one notebook to another. Recent models feature a trackball near the bottom of the keyboard, a pop-out minimouse or a pencil-eraser joystick located mid-keyboard. Lefties, take note: Make sure the model you're considering doesn't have the pointing device fixed on the right side.

3. Power Management

WINDOWS, FAST PROCESSORS and color displays consume batteries quickly, so most notebooks implement power management.

Low-voltage, SL-enhanced processors reduce power consumption, as does Advanced Power Management (APM), a specification that allows hardware and software to work together to extend battery life.

Experiment with the power management features. Make certain battery life is at least as long as the minimum time quoted by the manufacturer. Learn how to optimize your notebook's battery life.

TERMS TO KNOW

Active matrix: Active-matrix displays use a layer of thin-film transistors to address each pixel individually, providing a bright, high-contrast display. These displays are also heavier, consume more power and are in shorter supply than any other screen currently on the market.

Advanced Power Management (APM): A software specification developed jointly by Microsoft and Intel for portable computers. A software driver enables the operating system to communicate with the system's BIOS in order to power down, or turn off, the display, CPU, hard disk and other peripherals. APM drivers ship with DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1, and many notebooks ship standard with APM-compliant BIOS.

Battery types: Nickel cadmium batteries were widely used in earlier machines, but have been largely replaced by nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. These are a little pricier, but last longer on one charge than nickel cadmium batteries.

Passive matrix: Single-scan passive-matrix displays suffer from slow redraw, and some are fraught with streaking and ghost images. Dual-scan models provide a slightly better image by dividing the screen into two sets of lines that are simultaneously refreshed. They also refresh the screen in half the time of single-scan displays.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Batteries run out too quickly:

•	If your notebook uses APM, try the following: Load DOS's POWER.EXE and place it in your CONFIG.SYS file. Enable the power management features from either a special utility or the CMOS setup screen. Run Windows Setup utility from DOS to verify that the system is set to MS-DOS System (or proprietary system) with APM.

•	Use your notebook's configuration utility to turn off ports and features not in use, such as parallel ports and internal modems. Some models come with software that can be run from a batch file, to enable or disable ports, depending on whether the PC is running on batteries.

•	Shorten the screen-blank and disk spin-down times. These forms of power management can be distracting, so look for notebooks that use them only while running on batteries, when power saving is essential.

•	If your notebook uses nickel cadmium batteries, discharge them fully before recharging. To do this, use your notebook's rundown feature or shut off all power management features and allow the notebook to run until it stops.

Hard disk isn't big enough:

•	Use compression utilities such as Stacker (Stac Electronics, 800-522-STAC, 619-431-7474) to conserve space. Compress large files with utilities like WinZip (Public Software Library, 800-242-4775, 713-524-6394).

•	Consider purchasing a portable or PCMCIA hard disk.

•	Trim the space that applications take up by eliminating unnecessary files such as fonts and wallpaper. Many software applications have install programs designed to conserve space.

Purchase an integrated software application. These usually include spreadsheet, word processing, database and drawing modules. Integrated applications take up very little space when compared with standalone applications or suites.

ACCESSORY CORNER

Alps kpx-17: Available in serial- and parallel-port versions, the ALPS KPX-17 is a keypad that duplicates the numeric layout of a fullsize keyboard. $95. Alps Electric, 800-950-2577, 408-432-6000.

CD Porta-Drive T4100: Take CD-ROM technology wherever you go with the one-pound CD Porta-Drive T4100. The double-speed CD-ROM drive works at any angle and uses a Toshiba SCSI mechanism to achieve an access time of 320 milliseconds. Drive, $500; adapter, $250. CD Technology, 408-752-8500, fax 408-752-8501.

HP DeskJet 310: Weighing 4 pounds and about half the size of a standard notebook PC, the HP DeskJet 310 printer uses ink jet technology to yield black-and-white and color output at 300 dots per inch. The unit prints black text at three minutes per page. Equipped with an optional color cartridge, it outputs a color page in around four minutes. $379; color kit, $49. Hewlett-Packard Co., 800-752-0900, 415-857-1501.

PORT-ABLE Sound Plus: A 16-bit sound device that plugs directly into your notebook's parallel port, Port-Able Sound Plus provides a pass-through port for connecting a printer or other device. The sound dongle connects to an amplified, monaural speaker (included), or to external stereo speakers via the line-out jack. Also featured are a built-in microphone and audio-in and headphone jacks. The peripheral uses AC power or AA batteries. $198.95. DSP Solutions, 415-494-8086, fax 415-494-2093.

Toshiba PC Pack: The Toshiba PC Pack is a heavily padded nylon backpack that protects your investment while providing pockets for the AC adapter, a spare battery and other notebook accessories. $59. Toshiba Accessories, 800-959-4100, 602-902-1159.

SIDEBAR-Batteries of the Future

The battery in your portable PC today may bear little resemblance to the unit that will power your notebook in the future. Battery manufacturers are constantly searching for alternatives with higher energy densities, which lead to longer lives and lower weights. Bellcore's Energy Storage Group recently unveiled a plastic lithium-ion technology (which uses lithium-based oxide and carbon) that may answer some of these concerns.

The batteries weigh half as much as the currently available nickel cadmium cells, but offer equal or better performance, according to the company. A single AA plastic lithium-ion cell has an energy density of 75 watt hours per kilogram (Wh/kg) compared with 30 Wh/kg for an AA nickel cadmium cell or 51 Wh/kg for an AA nickel metal hydride cell. Lithium-ion batteries operate at 3.8 volts, and nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium operate at about 1.2 volts. Like the rechargeables now in use, plastic lithium-ion batteries can be charged and discharged several hundred times.

Lithium-ion batteries also provide an environmental advantage because they don't contain mercury, lead, cobalt or cadmium.

Bellcore, the research arm of the Bell telecommunications companies, has been granted several patents on the technology. The company is currently searching for manufacturers and raw-materials suppliers to bring the batteries into production.


First Impressions: Paradox 5.0 No Puzzle: Paradox Equals Power

By: James E. Powell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Paradox has a new look on the outside and dozens of new features under the hood. Borland has added new training wheels for the casual user and plenty of power for applications developers. It's a good mix.

For beginning or occasional users, Paradox 5.0's Experts step you through the basics of creating forms including building table relationships for multi-table forms. Experts also help with building reports and mailing labels. Programmers can build their own Experts using ObjectPAL and the Paradox Development Kit, available separately.

Paradox 5.0 also adds a feature called Coaches. Coaches are more than just a list of instructions. They take you through a process step by step, showing you which button to click or option to select. Coaches let you select your own data or sample data as you learn to navigate through tables, build new tables, edit records, create queries or print reports. The best thing about Coaches is that you can't go wrong because they won't let you select the wrong menu options. Not all the Coaches were available in the beta I tested, but the ones that were working were well designed.

The most visible change is Project Viewer, which replaces Folder of previous versions and is now also in the new dBASE for Windows. It lists all object types (forms, tables, queries, scripts and so on) by filename or displays objects by type from any directory--including those on a network. You can modify Project Viewer by creating a list of frequently used files--regardless of what directories they may reside in. We'll probably have to wait for Chicago to get longer filenames, although Access provides this today.

Paradox always has included a wide variety of field types, including formatted memo fields and BLOBs (binary large objects, which can store data as diverse as word processing documents, pictures or sound files). New in 5.0 are logical, long integer, time, date and time, auto-increment, byte (used by applications developers to store data that Paradox doesn't need to interpret, such as bar codes) and binary-coded decimal (for precise calculations not available with the other numeric field types).

If you include any of these field types in a table, Paradox stores your data in a new Paradox 5.0 file format. If not, the program defaults to the 4.0 format. Until other applications begin to incorporate support for Paradox 5.0 files, you may wish to avoid the new field types. Some field types have been renamed, too; for example, alphanumeric fields now are simply referred to as alpha fields and currency has been changed to money.

In previous versions, the results of a query were deposited in an Answer table, which held the records that met the query criteria. With the new Paradox, you now can create live Answer tables where the data is completely editable. This feature is similar to Access' Dynasets, but Paradox 5.0 takes this facility one step further: If you delete a record in an Access Dynaset, you'll see the word Deleted indicated on the record in the dynaset. In Paradox 5.0, the record is completely removed from the Answer table with the original table kept in synch with the Answer table. Likewise, if you add a record to the original table, the live Answer table is updated automatically--you don't have to reissue the query. There's a limitation, however. Live query Answer tables are supported only for single tables in a CheckPlus query where the query includes all field values (including duplicates) and the table is unsorted.

OLE 2.0 support is another highlight among the list of impressive new features. Borland has added client (container) and server support. OLE 2.0 client support means that you can embed a Word document into a Paradox table or an Excel spreadsheet range into a Paradox table, form or report. OLE 2.0 server support for tables means that you are able to embed a table within your Word document. When you double-click on the table in Word, in-place editing allows you to add, change or delete records, sort files or use data filters.

If you prototype an application using local data and then try to use your design with other databases, you'll often have to redefine tables, forms and queries so that objects point to the new database. Version 5.0 streamlines this process by using aliases and data models. When you use an alias in your application, you can simply replace the local database file with one from your network in a few steps. Paradox handles all the messy details for you throughout your application, ensuring that objects on forms point to the right data. This eliminates the need to recode any ObjectPAL scripts.

Right mouse button support, called Object Inspection, is everywhere. Right-click on a table object in Project Viewer and you can print it. Right-click on a field on a form and you can change everything from the font and border style to validation rules and the type of GUI elements you want to use to display values, such as radio buttons or drop-down edit lists. Filters, which let you quickly select a subset of records on a table, form or report, now can be set simply by clicking a button on the toolbar and selecting a menu option, or by right-clicking on a field.

The list of new features is long. There's support for ODBC drivers, including Btrieve, DB2 and AS/400. Context-sensitive SpeedBars are now consistent with other Borland products, including dBASE and Quattro Pro. SQL support is interactive: You can see it from any point and embed your SQL statements in ObjectPAL. Paradox supports the publish and subscribe technology of OBEX, so you can share updated information with others on your network. You also can now send messages from within Paradox, as it supports MHS, VIM, MAPI, cc:Mail, Notes and other mail systems.

Complex calculations across several records are easier in version 5.0 with the introduction of aggregate expressions. For example, you now can compute SUM([table.field1] * [table.field2]). When you use multiple fields, the fields must be from the same table. It's a small limitation, but aggregate expressions are a step in the right direction.

Because I worked with a beta version that still had substantial debug code in it, I couldn't judge performance improvements. Borland says it expects faster execution of reports (including printing), queries, ASCII import and export, and compilation and execution of ObjectPAL scripts.

The help system has been revised with the addition of a Search All button that lets you search for information on both Paradox and ObjectPAL subjects, with the ability to toggle between the two. In ObjectPAL scripts you can press F1 to get help on the method closest to the cursor on the current line.

Applications developers will like the new debugger. You can double-click to the left of any code line to set a breakpoint, which appears as a stop sign. You can single-step through your script, and since the debugger is no longer a child window of your application, you can get the code window out of the way and watch your application run. You can save the debug state so that when the debugger starts again, everything is positioned as you left it.

ObjectPAL has gotten some major improvements in 5.0. There are over 100 new methods, including methods to create a library or index, format strings as dates or numbers, get the default printer or screen stylesheet, check if a SQL variable has been assigned a value, get printer information, read or write a binary object from Windows' Clipboard and set a filter. Checking border properties, and row and column values are among the more than 200 new properties. Unfortunately, ObjectPAL remains a challenge to learn, and the new documentation does little to shorten the learning curve.

The graphical data model designer lets you link tables visually by drawing lines between tables with relationships as complex as you like, a feature that has always distinguished Paradox from its competitors.

Version 5.0 extends Paradox's reputation as a powerhouse database management system. But with Coaches and other ease-of-use features, Paradox's power can be put to practical purposes more easily than ever before.

Paradox 5.0

Price: $495; upgrade, $179.95; competitive upgrade, $199.95

In Brief: Experts and Coaches ease learning for beginners. Powerful new ObjectPAL methods and properties, and improvements in the debugger should keep programmers happy, as well.

Disk Space Required: 22MB

System Resources: 11%

RAM: 6MB minimum, 8MB recommended

Borland International

800-331-0877, 408-431-1000


First Impressions: Aldus FreeHand 4.0-Artistic Freedom Is at Hand

By: James Bell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

FreeHand, Aldus' high-end drawing program, always has had a strong following among Macintosh graphics professionals because of its powerful illustration tools. With the release of Version 4.0, Windows users now have access to the same features as their Mac counterparts.

FreeHand 4.0 is compatible--both in terms of file formats and actual features--with Aldus' Mac version of the product. Even if you work exclusively in Windows, cross-platform compatibility still can be a valuable asset when you have to work with outside graphics facilities, such as service bureaus, which are primarily Mac shops.

FreeHand 4.0 also provides more sophisticated text and graphics controls, and a simplified interface that is easier to navigate for neophytes and less obtrusive for more experienced users.For example, 11 floating palettes have replaced literally dozens of menus and dialog boxes, for faster access to page layout, editing and formatting controls. To free up work space, palettes can be rolled up so only the title bar is visible.

The Inspector palette is the most prominent of these roll-ups. Its five icons give you control over object size and placement, fill and line settings, and paragraph and text formatting.

Even the Document Setup dialog box (which in version 3.1 lets you specify your working page size and orientation) has migrated to the Inspector palette. You now have a pasteboard space of 56.5 by 56.5 inches on which you can define as many pages as will fit. Using the Pages icon in the Inspector palette, you can mix and match standard page sizes--including letter, legal and tabloid--or create your own custom sizes. You also can specify bleeds and orientation. Once defined, you can visually rearrange and reposition pages on the pasteboard at any time.

Other palettes--Color List, Color Mixer and Tints--make selecting colors just as simple. FreeHand supports the Dainippon, Focoltone, Toyo, Trumatch, Pantone Spot and Pantone Process color-matching libraries used by PageMaker. Colors can be added automatically to a roll-up Color List palette for easy access. If you want to modify a color, you just double-click on it in the Color List and a Color Mixer palette with CMYK, RGB or HLS color controls pops up. New colors can be dragged back to the Color List palette, where you can assign a custom name onto the Tints palette to produce a range of tint values, or onto object fills or outlines for instant color changes.

Another nice feature in FreeHand: You can create your own custom color libraries by exporting some or all of the colors that appear in the current Color List. The new color library then can be reused in other drawings or exported to PageMaker. This is very helpful if you need to maintain consistent color standards across design projects, and when you use different programs.

While FreeHand's color capabilities are substantially easier to take advantage of than in previous versions, you now have greater control over what colors are added to the Color List when importing .EPS files. Currently, all colors in the original image are added automatically to the Color List where they will stay, even if you delete the .EPS file. A similar problem existed with PageMaker, until Aldus released an updated filter that allowed you to specify if and how colors should be imported. The same options would be useful in FreeHand.

FreeHand was one of the first drawing programs to include a variable-width pen tool that used a pressure-sensitive tablet or the keyboard to simulate pen and brush strokes. Aldus has added a calligraphic pen with adjustable nib size and angle, as well as a handy tool for drawing polygons and star shapes.

Building complex shapes using simpler ones is also a lot easier, thanks to several new Path Operations. Punch, Join and Intersect let you knock out transparent holes in objects, weld multiple objects into a single shape, or cut away shapes so all that is left are intersecting paths. You can turn lines into closed shapes using the Expand Path, and a Simplify option will reduce automatically the complexity of paths--improving the chances that your illustration will print.

The Path Operations features also include an undocumented transparency option. Select two overlapping objects and, while pressing the Alt key, select Intersect. A pop-up dialog box appears letting you control the level of transparency.

One of the biggest changes in FreeHand 4.0 is not with graphics at all, but with the program's text handling. You can now type text directly on-screen, or import text files and set up auto-flowing linked text boxes. FreeHand also supports sophisticated formatting including columns, tabs, leading, hyphenation, paragraph spacing and rules, and hanging punctuation. Kerning is possible between individual characters or across ranges of text. About the only text option you won't find is an integrated spell checker.

Integrating text and graphics in FreeHand is easier, too. FreeHand will wrap text around graphics in text boxes. It also will wrap text inside any graphics shape or bind text along any path. And you can use the same drag-and-drop techniques to color text fills and outlines.

FreeHand's text capabilities, while no match for dedicated desktop publishing packages such as PageMaker or QuarkXPress, make the production of short, design-intensive publications like brochures or flyers a relative snap.

Concise, task-oriented user manuals--which cover both the Windows and Mac versions--explain most functions well and include sample artwork and useful tips. An excellent guide to commercial printing also is included. The program does not include an on-line tutorial.

FreeHand also bundles Adobe Type Manager and 120 fonts, but does not include any clip art--a notable omission for the Windows marketplace, where bundled clip art seems to come with almost every piece of software.

All in all, FreeHand 4.0 is much improved over earlier versions. However, some areas still require some attention.

FreeHand would benefit from a larger selection of import and export filters, including Photo CD, JPEG, .PCX and .GIF. The same goes for text filters, because the current version includes filters for ASCII text or .RTF only.

More frustrating is the lack of integration between FreeHand and other Aldus products. For example, PageMaker cannot directly read FreeHand's .FH4 files. Aldus suggests using either object linking and embedding (FreeHand 4.0 is an OLE 1.0 server) or converting to an intermediary format such as .EPS. Unfortunately, using OLE is slow and it reduces FreeHand's print quality; and format conversion requires keeping track of two versions of each FreeHand file (one for .FH4 and one for .EPS). Aldus partially addresses this latter issue by including a new .EPS export option to combine both the FreeHand and .EPS data into a single, slightly larger file.

Nevertheless, Aldus FreeHand 4.0 proves that you no longer need a Mac to be serious about your drawing software. FreeHand is a professional-level illustration package that focuses on precision, speed and simplicity.

FreeHand 4.0

Price: $595

In Brief: The new version of this high-end drawing program sports a streamlined interface, improved drawing and text capabilities, and cross-platform compatibility.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 8MB

Aldus Corp.

800-628-2320, 206-622-5500


First Impressions: Lotus Forms 1.0-Scripts Direct Form's Roles

By: James E. Powell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Lotus Forms is the latest entry in the electronic forms and work-flow competition. Its graphical environment lets you design, fill in forms and then route them using VIM or MAPI e-mail services.

You can create business documents such as insurance claims or purchase orders, and then press the Send button to ship the form and any filled-in data to the next person in the processing chain.

Designer includes four tabbed screens. The Form Layout tab provides the tools for adding fields, radio buttons, check boxes, graphics, text, lines and circles. A click on the right mouse button brings up the Properties box. Properties is a tabbed dialog box, where you can set the properties of an object, from its font and color to its size and format. The Properties box is similar to the Info Box that Lotus added to Approach 3.0.

You can drag and drop objects, resize and move them, and copy, cut and paste them in the layout. There's zoom in and out as well as ruler bars that add vertical or horizontal guide lines when you click on them. The status bar at the bottom displays formatting options. Other characteristic Lotus features are here, too, including a customizable SmartIcons toolbar, context-sensitive help and zippy performance.

Linking a database field to a form's field is a relatively straightforward process. You can specify that entries for a form field are limited to those found in the database field. You can also create or edit the structure of existing database tables from within forms. The program supports ODBC, providing comprehensive connectivity.

The Menu view lets you customize the main menu that is displayed in the Filler window. You choose what commands appear on the menu, so you can control operations such as printing.

The Routing tab lets you determine the route for a filled-in form to flow. Beginning with the originator of the form, you specify the succession of stops along the way. In addition to deciding who gets the form, you can specify what is to be done with it. You could, for example, have a message sent back to the originator to provide an update on the form's progress. You also can update a tracking database and set stop permissions, so that a recipient can change the course of the form.

One of Forms' unique features is its ability to send a form to an individual or to a function or role. With roles, you can design a form's route with job functions or titles, such as supervisor or manager. This lets you use one form for two different workgroups by assigning roles to specific individuals. You control the assignments using LotusScript. LotusScript also lets you control any special handling for a form. For example, if a purchase order is greater than $5,000, you can route the form to a supervisor for approval. You can define preprocessing and postprocessing scripts to control what happens before and after a form arrives at a given point.

During form design, you quickly can jump to Filler mode to test your form. Filler has all the necessary tools for entering data and sending a form on its way. Before routing a form, a user can save it as a separate document.

As the form travels, you can send the data only or the data and the form template. The former option cuts down on network traffic: You don't have to send the graphics information because the recipient will have access to the form via the network.

The power--and the weakness--of Forms is LotusScript. LotusScript is a feature-rich, BASIC-like programming language. But you'll have to go to it often--even for some simple tasks such as multiplying the value of one field by that of another. The Script view includes a text editing area, with categories of functions in a column to the right. Context-sensitive help is plentiful, but the learning curve is still high.

Though Lotus made Designer simple with point-and-click operations, you don't enjoy the same ease of use when manipulating graphics objects. For example, you can't quickly resize a column in a table by dragging its borders. Instead, you have to click on the button at the top of the column and then drag the black square that appears around the top cell.

Inexplicably, Lotus Forms doesn't include a tutorial. Instead, you have to muddle your way through the on-line documentation and the 12 sample forms. Learning to use LotusScript is particularly difficult under these circumstances. The LotusScript reference manual reads like a dictionary--it's a great reference, but not effective for learning the language.

Cutting down on bulky documentation is laudable, but a product as complex as Forms deserves much better material to get you started. If Lotus Forms were more intuitive the absence of a tutorial might be tolerable.

Lotus Forms is a powerful tool, but its complexity and the need to write Script code for basic operations makes learning this program an uphill battle.

Lotus Forms 1.0

Price: Designer and five Fillers, $395; each additional Filler, $149

In Brief: An extremely powerful forms designer and work-flow product, but scripting is required for even simple operations.

Lotus Development Corp.

800-346-1305, 617-577-8500


First Impressions: Sept. 1994-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Products Covered in this File

EPSON STYLUS COLOR

WORDSCAN PLUS 3.0

INNOVA BOOK 10C

Q/MEDIA 2.0

AST ASCENTIA 900N

PRODEASYNERGY 2.0

EPSON'S STYLISH COLOR PRINTER

By: DAVID METHVIN

Color printing--really good color printing--is temptingly affordable.

Epson's Stylus Color delivers quality ink jet color output for a price that isn't much more than a black-and-white ink jet. The printer's standard output mode is 360 dots per inch. The 720-dpi printing mode, combined with special coated paper, offers extra-sharp quality and rich, saturated colors.

The Stylus has two ink cartridges, one for black and the other for the cyan, magenta and yellow used for color images. Once the inks dry on the page, they are relatively colorfast so they don't tend to smear or smudge by normal handling. Using standard copier-quality paper, black-and-white print quality was just a notch below a 300-dpi laser printer, due to the ink's tendency to wick out into the paper before it dries. Coated papers gave a slightly sharper image, and at 720 dpi, print quality approached that of a photograph.

Output speed varied from respectably fast to glacially slow, depending on the use of color and the quality options selected. A one-page black-and-white letter took about 40 seconds. A color page image printed at 720 dpi took nearly seven minutes, but the result was breathtakingly beautiful.

The paper tray is small, able to handle 100 sheets of regular paper, 70 coated sheets, 50 transparencies or 10 envelopes. Still, it should offer sufficient capacity for personal printing.

Although printing can take a while, you won't be left sipping your coffee while an hourglass is parked on the screen. Epson provides a print spooler replacement for Print Manager that works with its printer driver, and it prints in the background. In my tests, the spooler usually returned to the application quickly, often in less than 10 seconds. A window shows the current job's status, and lets you pause or stop printing.

Epson Stylus Color

Price: $699

In Brief: With its ability to print at 720 dpi, the Stylus offers razor-sharp color images at a reasonable price.

Epson America Inc.

800-BUY-EPSON,310-782-0770

NEW OCR OFFERS A SHARPER IMAGE

By: JAMES E. POWELL

With WordScan 3.0, Calera aims to make optical character recognition (OCR) a practical tool that's also easy to use. And version 3.0 offers some significant improvements in accuracy and usability over the previous release of the popular program.

WordScan 3.0 includes a 32-bit neural net engine designed to handle recognition inaccuracies stemming from common problems such as poor-quality input documents. Recognition is good, but certain conditions still produce unpredictable results.

For example, Calera says the new program has a sharper eye when it comes to certain common letter combinations, such as "rn.'' But, it stumbled on several documents where the word "Internet'' appeared in point sizes smaller than 12. The problem occurred in a variety of typefaces. WordScan also had some lapses dealing with bullets and other special characters. On the plus side, however, it handled both display and decorative fonts with excellent results when the font size was 12 points or higher. Overall, the recognition rate was quite accurate, with the exception of some technical terms and unusual punctuation.

Version 3.0 also includes Hewlett-Packard's AccuPage 2.0 technology for reading small type and type on dark or varied backgrounds. With the help of AccuPage, WordScan was able to read and convert text that had been marked up with a highlighter.

There is an option to automate the OCR process and perform all of the recognition steps--scan, convert and save--in a single operation. You can even scan a document from within your word processor. WordScan creates a selection on the word processor's File menu--a handy feature that makes OCR easy to use with other applications. I tested the feature in Word 6.0a and WordPerfect 6.0a; in both cases, WordScan added an Acquire Text option to the programs' File menus. When you select the option, WordScan opens, reads the document, performs OCR and returns a formatted document to your word processor.

WordScan supports OLE 2.0, so you can drag a file from File Manager and drop it in WordScan for scanning and recognition. This makes it easy to pick up a fax image or the output from a scanner and turn it into text.

You can define zones in WordScan to restrict scanning to certain areas of a document. Zones can include either text or graphics. Graphics are saved to .PCX, .PDA or a variety of TIFF formats; text is converted to Word, WordPerfect, Ami Pro, WordStar, ASCII text, .RTF and other formats.

Other features in version 3.0 include automatic deskewing for automatically aligning a partially rotated page. WordScan also processes double-sided documents. All you have to do is feed a stack of pages through the scanner, turn it over for a second pass and the document will be assembled in proper order. A dictionary that accepts new entries helps WordScan recognize unusual words. Deferred processing lets you scan a document and delay OCR to a later time. I found little need for this feature because WordScan's OCR is remarkably fast.

Templates can be used to quickly convert multipage documents, and you can copy and paste to Windows' Clipboard.

I found that when graphics appeared in the margins of documents, WordScan would set inaccurate margins and tabs.

WordScan's accuracy and speed is comparable to Caere's OmniPage 5.0 (reviewed July 1994). OmniPage's interface makes it slightly easier to use.

If you work with columnar text, you might consider OmniPage because it can turn scanned columns into formatted ones in your word processor, rather than plugging in tabs between lines as WordScan does. On the other hand, WordScan can be launched from within your word processor and has drag-and-drop support.

WordScan Plus 3.0

Price: $595

In Brief: Version 3.0 of this OCR program improves accuracy--especially for poor quality documents--and streamlines the entire scanner-to-text process.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Calera Recognition Systems

800-422-5372 ext. 22, 408-720-8300

LITTLE BIG SHOT FROM CANON

By: JIM FORBES

The Innova Book 10C is one of those rare products that comes along once in a while and forces you to take notice. While Canon's new subnotebook may not be a definitive product, it certainly helps shape the portable computing category.

At first, my reactions to this sub-four pounder were similar to those I had when I saw Hewlett-Packard's OmniBook for the first time. But the Innova is even more impressive, and I'm convinced that even HP could learn a thing or two from Canon.

The lightweight Innova Book 10C is small, measuring just 1.5 inches high, 11.3 inches wide and 7.2 inches deep. It has a built-in trackball and is available with a dual-scan passive-matrix color screen or a bright monochrome display.

The subnotebook is powered by a 33MHz Intel 486SLE processor and comes with 4MB of RAM in its standard configuration. The peripheral connections include one Type II PCMCIA slot, and serial, parallel, external VGA and keyboard ports. You can choose from three hard disks: 120MB, 170MB and 260MB. A slim (0.75-inch high) external floppy disk drive is also included.

The model I tested had a 7.8-inch dual-scan color screen, 8MB of RAM and a 170MB hard disk. In this configuration, the Innova Book 10C has a suggested retail price of about $2,549. The same configuration with the standard 4MB of memory sells for about $200 less.

The keyboard has an excellent touch and is surpris-ingly large considering the diminutive dimensions. The nearly full-sized keyboard also includes a key unique to the Innova. The special key is on the right side of the space-bar and is used to call up and execute macros.

The trackball on this unit is at first dismaying, particularly since it's located on the bot-tom right-hand side of the keyboard and I'm left-handed. But after using this computer for more than 40 hours I find that I like this arrangement, perhaps even more than the mouse supplied with the OmniBook.

The Innova's performance was very good. On WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests, it turned in a 19.05 MIPS CPU score, putting it among the top performers among subnotebooks. Its video speed came in at 0.61 million pixels per second and disk transfer was measured at a quick 1.8MB per second.

Manufacturers often have to sacrifice screen size to squeeze their units into the subnotebook form factor. The Innova Book's screen, however, with its 7.8-inch diagonal span, is very readable. The contrast and brightness controls are near the hinge that connects the screen to the case.

The cursor can be difficult to find when it's moved rapidly across the display, but I found that by adjusting the contrast, it was still visible--even in the dim lighting of a plane cabin.

The Innova Book's battery life was about average for a notebook with a color screen. After an overnight charging, I got about two hours of continuous work time. Normal recharging takes about two hours. The portable utilizes nickel cadmium batteries.

Because driver conflicts and other compatibility problems persist with notebooks, I paid special attention to testing the Innova Book's PCMCIA services. I tried three Type II PCMCIA modems and two networking cards, and all five devices worked the first time. You are able to use only one Type II or Type I card at a time, and the Innova Book will not accept Type III cards.

The Innova Book ships with a carrying case, Windows 3.1, DOS 6.2 and an antivirus program. Canon backs the new subnotebook with a one-year warranty.

The Innova's features alone are likely to attract attention. But if that's not enough entice-ment, Canon says that its resellers are likely to sweeten the deal by bundling a Canon BubbleJet BJ-10sx portable ink jet printer for an additional $200 or so.

Innova Book 10C

Price: $2,549

In Brief: The Canon Innova Book 10C is a small form-factor subnotebook computer with a 7.8-inch color screen. It offers exceptional performance, good value, and has a one-year warranty.

Canon Computer Systems

800-848-4123, 714-438-3000

DOG & PONY SHOWS BARK AND GALLOP

By: LYNN GINSBURG

There's just no reason to put a captive audience to sleep when you can captivate them with a multimedia presentation created with Q/Media 2.0. Q/Media lets you create high-quality presentations that feature sound, graphics, animation and full-motion video.

Learning Q/Media may take a little patience because of its sometimes awkward interface. But once you get the knack of the program, you'll be producing presentations that dance and sing using its drag-and-drop distribution of multimedia objects.

Q/Media's opening screen features some familiar icons mixed with some more mysterious ones. There is a status line that explains the function of the icons, but you have to select the activity to display the status line information.

The premise of a Q/Media presentation is straightforward: Each presentation slide is called a scene. You act as the director, and set each scene by picking and assembling the multimedia elements in the order you want.

To set a scene, you open the Scene Properties menu and set the stage. The stage can include a color palette, gradient fills, background graphics and wallpaper. You can select from predesigned templates for a scene's background and choose the special effects for scene transitions.

From the Clip List--a pop-up menu--you pick the graphics, sound, animation and video files to add to the scene. The list can be loaded with all of the different elements that you'll want to use in the entire presentation. When you decide on a list item, you can just drag it from the list and drop it onto the scene. Q/Media supports OLE, so linked objects can be edited in their originating programs by double-clicking on the embedded object.

One of Q/Media's most powerful tools is its button feature, which lets you create buttons to make a presentation branch off from its main line. You can use Q/Media's buttons to create an interactive presentation in which a viewer would have a choice of buttons that may, for example, launch a movie or animation to provide more detailed information. You can set the presentation to resume from where it left off after the button operation completes.

Buttons can be set up to pause or stop a movie, start up a CD or open another Windows application.

You can review scenes in their full size, or use the sorter to look at thumbnail images and displays of the objects placed in the scene. Q/Media also has an outliner mode, comparable to that of other presentation packages. You can use the VCR-type panel to control direction and speed, or click on the movie camera icon to view the full-screen version.

Q/Media comes with a standard set of drawing tools to draw lines, rectangles, circles and elipses. You can also click on a button to select line styles, patterns and colors for drawn objects. The application also includes 10 handy tools for aligning objects relative to each other or to the presentation stage.

Although the program makes it easy to juggle objects, it does create heavy system demands. The company claims that Q/Media's minimum system requirements are a 386SX with 4MB of RAM, but it ran slowly on a 33MHz 486DX with 8MB of RAM. I also experienced many General Protection Fault errors. In the release notes, Q/Media acknowledges the problems as possible video driver conflicts and suggests using the standard Windows VGA driver as a remedy. I replaced the driver as suggested and the GPFs went away--but so did the terrific resolution offered by my Super VGA Windows driver.

Q/Media offers powerful multimedia authoring capabilities in a package that's easy to use, priced to sell, and a surefire way to impress your audience.

Q/Media 2.0

Price: $199

In Brief: Q/Media makes it easy to create multimedia presentations with drag-and-drop placement of graphics, sound, animation and full-motion video.

Disk Space Required: 10MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 4MB

Q/Media Software Corp.

800-444-9356, 604-879-1190,

AST 900N RISES TO THE OCCASION

By: RICH CASTAGNA

The Ascentia 900N is a lot like that rabbit in the commercials with the batteries stuck on its back. It just keeps going and going.

Long battery life is just one of the highlights of AST's new notebook. I looked at a preproduction version of the 6.8-pound portable, and I was impressed by its performance.

The 900N's resume is impressive, too. It has a 75MHz Intel DX4 CPU at its heart and comes with 8MB of RAM and a 510MB hard disk (the unit I used had a 340MB drive). The great battery life and high-end components combined for the 900N's solid scores on the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests.

Under tough testing with all conservation features disabled, the Ascentia's battery pumped juice for 3 hours and 20 minutes. With power saving turned on and under normal conditions, I was able to work with the 900N for more than five hours. The 900N also scored well in CPU performance with a 36.20 MIPS rating, which puts the portable in the upper reaches of notebook performance. Aided by its Western Digital RocketCHIP graphics controller, the 900N's video scores were at the high end too, with a rate of 3.24 million pixels per second. Disk drive scores were less stratospheric at 2.42 megabytes per second.

The 10.4-inch active-matrix screen is bright and readable even from an angle. The colors are well saturated and the characters are distinctly formed. The display's resolution is 640x480 with 256 colors; at higher resolutions you can use the pan mode to shift the viewing area around.

The keyboard is nearly full size with keys that respond with a comfortably firm resistance. It has the preferred inverted-T layout for the cursor keys, but a couple of quirks make it a little hard to get used to. There's a large Shift key on the left, but the one on the other side is small--the same size as the character keys. Page Up and Page Down are tucked away in the upper right corner of the keyboard. It's an odd place for them, but having one about twice the size of the other is even stranger. Another oddity is the backslash key: It's nearly double the size of Page Down.

AST calls the built-in pointing device the SmartPoint. It's like IBM's TrackPoint, with an eraser-like knob peeking out at the intersection of the G, H and B keys. Two inch-long buttons below the spacebar and slightly off center correspond to mouse buttons. As its IBM-bred cousin, the SmartPoint is easy to use and is about the best type of pointer available for a portable.

There are seven small green LED indicators for AC power, battery, disk, and so forth. They all work fine, but they're hard to see because they're set in a small indentation.

Asliding cover just to the right of the LEDs provides access for memory upgrades. A flip-down panel in back covers the 900N's ports--the usual array of parallel, serial, external video and PS/2 connectors as well as an expansion port. When the panel is snapped shut, a sliding door provides access to the expansion connector.

AST has added a touch of convenience by giving the 900N a leg to stand on--two, in fact, that twist to release and lock. They prop the 900N up about an inch, providing a comfortable typing angle.

The floppy disk drive is on the right side of the unit, next to its PCMCIA slot, which can handle two Type II cards or a single Type III. AST includes CardView software for PCMCIA control. The software beeps when a card is inserted and identifies the type of card. I tested it with a couple of cards and both worked fine.

AST also includes DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1 and software that should appeal to mobile users: Lotus Organizer, E-Mail Connection from ConnectSoft, Delrina's WinFax Lite and COMit Lite and Traveling Software's LapLink Remote Access. There are also introductory deals for CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy in a communications-heavy mix.

The Ascentia 900N is on the leading edge of portable computing. It's got processing power to spare, an eye-pleasing display and a roomy hard disk. At nearly $6,000 it's a little pricey, but it could be the only PC you'll need.

AST Ascentia 900N

Price: $5,949 (with 510MB hard disk)

In Brief: Though a bit pricey, this long-battery-life portable may take care of all your computing needs.

AST Research Inc.

800-876-4278, 714-727-4141

DATA GOES WITH THE FLOW

By: JAMES E. POWELL

ProdeaSynergy is a visual application integration tool that lets you automate work flow. With little or no programming, you tell ProdeaSynergy the applications to use and how the data should move.

On a graphical design screen, you define the path your data will take. For example, you could take part of a spreadsheet file, merge it into your word processor, then print or fax the result. It makes all the applications you already own work together without fancy programming or other gymnastics. You define the data flow and processing and ProdeaSynergy makes it happen.

The program provides built-in support for most of the leading Windows applications, including the most recent versions of Word, WordPerfect, Ami Pro, 1-2-3, Excel, Quattro Pro, Paradox, Access, Harvard Graphics and cc:Mail. The company maintains an updated list that you can download from its bulletin board, and there's an option for adding your own applications. Each application on your system that ProdeaSynergy finds during installation or that you manually add is represented as an icon in a toolbar at the top of the screen. You drag two or more application icons onto the work area, then connect them with arrows to define the flow. You right-click on the application icon to define the source or destination document. A right-click on the connecting arrow lets you define the operations.

For example, I created a package, as the automated sequence of events is called, that copied an Excel chart to Windows' Clipboard and then pasted it into a Word document. First, a right-click on the Excel icon let me specify the worksheet file. I then clicked on the arrow connecting Excel to the Clipboard icon and indicated that "Chart 1'' from the Excel file should be pasted onto Clipboard. Finally, with another right-click on the arrow connecting Clipboard to Word, I directed ProdeaSynergy to paste the Clipboard contents to a specific location in the Word document. ProdeaSynergy can use the formatting defined by the source or the destination application.

ProdeaSynergy is most effective for repetitive or complex procedures. The program's scripting capability isn't as rich as Visual Basic, Applications Edition because you have limited control over what happens within the applications. But, you can run a macro as ProdeaSynergy launches your application and opens your file, for instance, and variables are available for passing data between applications. The installation program adds menu options and macros to Word and Excel so you can design a Word document that incorporates these variables from applications "up the line'' in your work flow.

You can design a front end for a ProdeaSynergy package using Asymetrix ToolBook or Visual Basic. The front end could, for example, allow a user to enter variables such as search criteria. You also can use a tool that's available on the company's bulletin board, which lets you build a dialog box, and get data and pass it on to an application in the work flow. It's a quick alternative to building a complicated Visual Basic or ToolBook application.

Packages can be combined into a library, complete with menus, so a user can work with an entire set of procedures without knowing what's under the hood. The program supports OLE 2.0 Automation, and can drive other applications or act as a server to be invoked and controlled by other applications and languages. It has hooks to printing, faxing (EclipseFax and WinFax PRO) and e-mail.

Setting up the work flow is very simple, but the documentation isn't. There are few examples, and some sections lack necessary detail. But a company spokesman said that updated documentation will ship with the program. Technical support, however, was very helpful.

ProdeaSynergy 2.0

Price: Single user, $495; 10-user license, $4,500; $200 rebate for a limited time

In Brief: A graphical tool to move and process data among several different Windows applications.

Disk Space Required: 5MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 2MB

Prodea Software Corp.

800-PRODEA-1, 612-942-1000


First Impressions: Sept. 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Products Covered in this File

UMAX POWERLOOK PS2400X

ACTION PLUS 1.0

PENTIUM MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM

REVIEW WRITER 1.0

FREEZEFRAME 2.0

INSPIRATION 4.0

SCANNER IS A FLAT BED OF ROSES

By: :SERDAR YEGULALP

UMAX's PowerLook is impressive. It's a one-pass color flatbed scanner that works at resolutions of up to 2400 dots per inch and can scan transparencies using an optional attachment.

The PowerLook connects to a PC using a SCSI-II adapter that is provided with the scanner. Also included is a copy of Adobe Photoshop version 2.51 and a TWAIN driver. This 30-bit scanner captures and outputs images at 10 bits per RGB pixel, enabling it to recognize over one billion colors.

The PowerLook is fast. UMAX attributes the scanner's brisk performance to its caching scheme, a 2MB buffer and an improved motor. A full-page color preview took less than 10 seconds, and a 100-dpi, full-page image was acquired in under 30 seconds.

The interface provides a comprehensive set of scanning controls. The driver does built-in descreening and moire removal, which is usually a painstakingly slow process in an image-editing program. Three preset patterns are available: art print (175 dpi), magazine (133 dpi) and newspaper (85 dpi). The descreening option slows down scanning by a factor of about 10, because the data is being corrected as it comes in. Other operations, like the power-on calibration and the head-parking, take only a few seconds each.

Other scanning options include automatic gamma correction, which improves the contrast and details of most scanned images. Gamma correction is easy: You don't have to fuss with sliders and color compensation tables, you just check one box and the software handles the rest. Scan-time filters, similar to those in Photoshop, also can be applied to sharpen, blur or mask images. You also are able to scan in mirror mode, which reverses an image, and enables negatives to be scanned and then displayed as positive images.

For more daring digitizers, all of the color adjustments can be controlled individually. Sophisticated users can tweak the settings for custom compensation curves, individual color channel adjustments and so on. There's even built-in color compensation for output devices, including displays as well as color and black-and-white printers. The TWAIN driver also worked transparently with other TWAIN-compliant applications such as Hijaak, which accepted images from the PowerLook without difficulty.

UMAX's optional transparency scanning attachment replaces the hood over the PowerLook's scanning bed. The transparency unit contains its own optics and light source, and it connects to the main body of the scanner with a provided cable. Everything from 35mm slides to overhead projector transparencies looked good when scanned with the attachment. With the transparency unit attached, you still can use the PowerLook for normal, hard-copy scanning. However, it makes it difficult to scan from a source that's more than about a quarter of an inch thick, as the transparency hood isn't hinged to both rise and bend back like the basic hood.

Setting up the PowerLook was straightforward with the exception of a problem I encountered with the TWAIN installer. It wasn't compatible with Windows for Workgroups, but I was able to download a fix from UMAX's bulletin board (510-651-2550). Drivers also are included for some non-TWAIN-compliant OCR programs.

Documentation for the unit itself and the software is plain and basic, but it's easy to read and profusely illustrated. The one sticking point for novices may be the SCSI adapter, which requires setting DIP switches to configure its memory address. The PC in which I installed the adapter reported a conflict when I used the default settings, but resetting the DIP switches eliminated the conflict. UMAX provides a one-year limited warranty on the PowerLook, with repairs at the factory or at authorized dealers.

The PowerLook isn't for users who need to scan a piece of clip art from time to time. But more frequent graphics users and design professionals will find its price and performance an attractive alternative to scanners costing thousands of dollars more.

UMAX PowerLook PS2400X

Price: $3,495 (with transparency adapter)

In Brief: Priced in the midrange, this 30-bit scanner offers accuracy, versatility and speed.

UMAX Data Systems Inc.

800-562-0311, 510-651-8883

OPEN THIS APP TO CLOSE SALES

By: RON BEL BRUNO

It shouldn't be hard to sell a salesperson on Action Plus. This new contact manager is a soup-to-nuts solution for harried sales professionals who are using two or three different applications to track clients, prepare correspondence, and create invoices and other billing-related documents.

Action Plus offers such a self-contained set of sales tools within its well-crafted environment that you might want to delete a few of those other space-hogging programs on your disk. This isn't the first contact manager that comes with a word processor, an autodialer or a notepad, but its delivery is unique. Action Plus provides these functions and offers a welcome level of transparency.

Action Plus promises to take you from initial contact to the closing of a sale. The main screen is the logical first stop on your trip through the sales process, and it will become a familiar and comfortable place that you'll seldom need to leave.

To access a customer file--a user-definable profile in Action Plus lingo--you just click on either the menu bar's Profile icon or make the selection from a pull-down menu. The main profile screen provides the essentials of your salesperson-client relationship: Who was called? What is being done with this account? Is there a scheduled sales call? Each window shows the most recent action taken or appointment made.

If you need less recent data, you can drill down to the next layer of data via the "Hist'' button, which gives detailed contact history for the profiled client--still without leaving the profile screen. The same easy navigation holds true for the word processor, scheduler, sales forecaster and other tools. While it's easy to cast a cynical eye on the alleged word processors in some contact managers, you can't ask for much more than the automatic name/address insertion, font and type attribute options, and mail-merge abilities of Action Plus' aptly named "A+'' document generator. But if A+ doesn't make the grade for you, the program lets your specify either Word for Windows, WordPerfect, Ami Pro or Windows Write for your document preparation chores.

Moving through the stages of a sale, I took orders from several customers using the invoicing option. This slick module not only lets you generate invoices with stock numbers, quantities, prices, freight charges and taxes, but also includes fields that measure the percentage-wise possibility of the sale. You also can use the invoicing module to track order fulfillment by filtering out only those invoices that have not been acted upon.

Action Plus offers few restraints in terms of its data-stashing abilities. As many as 10,000 users can share data with the network version, and each can maintain an unlimited number of client records. Likewise, the length of notes and documents is limited only by your ability to think and write. The program's Datawindows, for example, are an unlimited number of blank pages attached to each profile, each of which can handle up to 71 user-defined data fields. The Notes area--associated with a profile--features cut and paste, import and export, spell checking, search and replace, and printing options.

Compared with Symantec's ACT, one of the most popular contact managers on the market, Action Plus not only holds its own ground but, in some areas, overshadows the venerable ACT. For example, ACT can't match Action Plus' built-in invoicing module. This important feature brings the program into the realm of a complete small-business solution, rather than simply an electronic card file.

The company offers free technical support for the first 60 days of registered ownership. After that, the support plan costs $79 per year plus toll charges (for the single-user product).

Action Plus is a solid prospect for anyone involved in selling. It just might be the only application you open to help close tough sales.

Action Plus 1.0

Price: $395; multiuser version, $495 plus $195 per user

In Brief: A full-featured contact manager for salespeople, with a particular emphasis on integrating commonly used applications.

Disk Space Required: 10MB

System Resources: 13%

RAM: 4MB

Action Plus Software

800-766-7229, 801-255-0600

PENTIUM-POWERED PRODUCTIONS

By: JIM FORBES

Packard Bell's Pentium Multimedia System is fully equipped and has the power to handle the most demanding audiovisual tasks.

The system uses the 60MHz version of Intel's Pentium processor. Its suggested retail price of $2,900 is steep for a multimedia system, even though its multimedia components are all top-notch and the Pentium delivers considerably more processing power than typical multimedia offerings built around 486SX and DX processors. With systems based on 60MHz Pentiums now selling for under $2,000, a $900 premium for the multimedia components seems high.

The system's Pentium processor is mounted in a zero insertion force (ZIF) socket; the ZIF socket will make future CPU upgrades easy. The standard configuration for this multimedia system includes 8MB of RAM, a 407MB hard disk from Seagate, a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, VL-Bus accelerated graphics based on an ATI Mach 32 VGA display adapter and a 17-inch monitor. The multimedia ingredients should be able to handle just about any multimedia application. They include two Labtec CS-150 external speakers, a Panasonic dual-speed CD-ROM drive and a 16-bit sound card that is compatible with all of the popular sound board standards. An internal 14.4 Kbps fax modem rounds out the inventory.

The fully configured system has two available expansion slots: One will accommodate a 16-bit ISA bus card and the other accepts a 32-bit local-bus card. The 5200's power supply is rated at 145 watts, which is probably at the low end for Pentium-based multimedia computers.

The Pentium Multimedia System ships with a variety of CD-ROM-based multimedia titles as well as application software. The applications include Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money, Prodigy for Windows and a fax program that uses the Microsoft at Work software architecture.

Packard Bell's software bundle includes a Windows overlay called Navigator. Similar to Program Manager, this application lets you quickly access groups of applications while providing single mouse-click shortcuts for many Program Manager and File Manager tasks. Packard Bell uses Navigator to simplify registering the system. Once you have your system set up and running, you just have to click on an icon, fill in the appropriate information and, using the internal modem, send the information off to Packard Bell.

The system's performance proved to be above average when tested with the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune benchmarks. That is, all components fared well with the exception of the hard disk system which exhibited lackluster performance. The system arrived with SmartDrive inappropriately set up so the first few disk tests yielded extremely low marks. After correcting the problem, the scores jumped considerably, but were still disappointing with a 3.0 megabytes-per-second transfer rate.

In contrast, the Pentium CPU showed its muscle as expected with the processor performance rated at 64.77 MIPS and its floating-point capability clocked at 13.158 MFlops. With the ATI Mach 32 at the heart of the video subsystem, video score was a healthy 5.895 million pixels per second. The hard disk performance is clearly this system's Achilles heel.

Packard Bell's technical service and support plan is impressive: You can obtain on-line help or telephone assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

This Packard Bell system is a multimedia machine with a split personality. It delivers quality sound, great graphics and adequate CD-ROM performance from a name-brand drive. With its 60MHz Pentium in charge of things, the system certainly doesn't lack processing power.

But the other side of this Jekyll and Hyde machine is a mediocre hard disk subsystem and a high price.

The Pentium Multimedia System

Price: $2,900

In Brief: This Pentium-based multimedia system combines local-bus graphics, a 17-inch monitor, sound card, speakers and CD-ROM drive.

Packard Bell Electronics Inc.

800-733-5858, 818- 865-1555

EMPLOYEE REVIEWER RATES LOOK

By: JAMES E. POWELL

If part of your work involves evaluating how other people work, you've probably written your fair share of performance reviews. Review Writer can help you get over the dread and drudgery of preparing employee appraisals.

Review Writer helps you define employee goals, measure performance and suggest areas for improvement. It uses a step-by-step interface that makes the process as painless as possible. The program goes even further, providing predefined skeleton performance categories and goals for evaluating 15 job types, including salespeople, financial managers, team leaders and administrators.

The Quick Build mode walks you through the evaluation process. Screens are clearly laid out with numbers indicating what you should do next. If you want to write the review yourself, you may prefer Review Writer's Document mode. Or you

could use both: Quick Build to establish the basics and Document mode

to add your final touches.

You first set up the employee's basic information, such as name, job and review period. You can choose rating scales for evaluative criteria, including expectations (unsatisfactory, exceeds, etc.), performance (fair, good, excellent, etc.), meeting objectives (does not meet, meets, exceeds) and strength (needs improvement, satisfactory, etc.).

Each of the included job types has an outline of relevant review contents. You can add goals and select performance factors such as communications or leadership. You also can add optional sections and assign weighting to particular factors.

Review Writer leads you through the process, requesting a rating for each goal along the scale you've selected. As you rate performance factors, the program transforms the raw ratings into narratives. For example, indicating "disagrees'' for the category "Writes clearly and concisely'' might produce a passage such as "Debby demonstrates an inability to prepare concise and clearly written communications.'' There are over 14,000 paragraphs to elucidate the ratings.

Report Writer lets you modify any template text and insert your own comments and observations. You can record comments at any time--not just at review time--so your evaluations can be based on facts rather than memory. The program also is integrated with Version 2.1 of Avantos' ManagePro, so you can pull in all relevant observations and milestones from that program, making the reviews easier and more accurate. The goals and performance text are well organized, as is the result report.

The report I created was organized into the appropriate categories, and included headings that explained each section and its respective measurements. You can change the font, alignment and spacing of the sections, but not the order.

You can scan the document for spelling, completeness and phrasing. There's also a legal text checker, provided by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliff, an employment law firm. It's supposed to flag vague or potentially inappropriate or insensitive language. It works much like a grammar checker: It may catch some of the obvious errors, but it leaves some potentially damaging statements unmarked. For example, it pointed out that "lazy'' was a potentially disparaging remark of a personal nature and noted that "ladylike'' referred to the employee's gender, which is not relevant to performance. However, it ignored other similarly imprecise or unmeasurable phrases such as "bad attitude'' and "stuff she does is no good.'' The checker didn't flag the statement, "She wears sexually provocative clothing.'' You'll be better off consulting your Human Resources department than relying on Review Writer.

The program is expected to have password protection and encryption to keep your comments confidential, although they were not implemented in my beta version. Also absent from the beta was the Advisor, which the company says will provide context-sensitive management help drawn from the book How to do a Superior Performance Appraisal by Dr. William S. Swan, which also is included in the package.

Review Writer not only makes a tough job easier, but also helps make the crucial results more accurate.

Review Writer 1.0

Price: $129

In Brief: A step-by-step employee appraisal writing tool that helps you compose fair and accurate performance reviews.

Hard Disk Space: 7.7MB

System Resources: 12%

RAM: 4MB

Avantos Performance Systems Inc.

800-AVANTOS, 510-654-4600

SUITE STUFF FOR NOVICE DESIGNERS

By: LYNN GINSBERG

FreezeFrame 2.0 is pushing the economic limits of how many software modules can be crammed into a single box for an unbelievably low price. The kit includes graphics design, desktop publishing (DTP), screen capture, an icon editor, graphics conversion, image management and retouching modules. This group of graphics goodies doesn't deliver the power of more expensive, professional packages, but it provides just about everything you need for basic graphics DTP and image manipulation.

The design and DTP modules, 1st Design and 1st Press, seem to have been afterthought additions to FreezeFrame. Licensed from GST, a British company, these two modules must be installed separately and moved manually to the FreezeFrame group, and their interfaces don't have much in common with the other parts of FreezeFrame.

1st Design is a drawing program that's easy for beginners. The interface is straightforward and uncluttered, with icons that are common in most graphics packages, and a status bar that explains each tool's function. The program has the fundamental graphics tools, including filled polygon, blend, gradient fill and Bezier drawing. The program supports TrueType and ATM fonts, on-screen text entry, and offers special effects such as text stretch, shadows, 3-D effects and text wrapped on a curve. But the program supports only the RGB color mode; without CMYK color support, it lacks a method of precisely matching on-screen colors with printed output.

The DTP program, 1st Press, is rudimentary at best and should be used for simple jobs that require integrating text and graphics. Its interface is easy to use, but there is no status bar, an odd omission in a program for novices. 1st Press does offer stylesheets, and it lets you import text from a few word processing programs, such as Word and WordPerfect. It also has import filters for graphics, including .GEM, .PCX, TIFF, .BMP and .WMF files. Type handling is limited, however, with fonts available only in whole point sizes; and the process of adjusting kerning and leading is awkward at best.

The Media Manager module is the most impressive application in FreezeFrame 2.0. It's an image management program that lets you catalog and easily retrieve graphics images by storing them in image catalogs, with thumbnails of the images that easily can be restored to their original size for editing. The program saves all the thumbnails in the collection in its own proprietary collection format, but by simply clicking on the image, the graphic is restored to its original format. The thumbnails are only copies of the original image, thus any changes made to the original are automatically updated in the collection thumbnail. Images can be saved to multiple formats in batch conversions, and collections can be sorted according to image type, file size, creation or lost edit date and originating software.

The icon editor lets you create your own icons and cursors using a limited set of drawing tools. You can save your creations in the proper format so that they can be used in Windows program groups. Any icon from the Windows desktop can be captured using the icon snapshot tool. The program also includes an icon library. The screen-capture module takes a snapshot of an entire screen, or portions of the screen, and saves it in a variety of graphics formats. The lasso tool allows users to capture irregularly shaped portions of the screen.

Individually, it's unlikely that any of FreezeFrame's modules will win a best-of-breed prize, yet the sum of the parts adds up to a very inviting package. And even if your needs eventually surpass its capabilities, it's a good starting point for graphic design and DTP at a great price.

FreezeFrame 2.0

Price:$89.95; $49.95 for a limited time

In Brief: A complete introductory graphics and desktop publishing suite that offers loads of software for a very low price.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 4% to 18%, depending on the number of modules open

RAM: 2MB

DeltaPoint Inc.

800-446-6995, 408-648-4000

BRAINSTORMS STIR UP BRIGHT IDEAS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

The trouble with many brainstorming tools is that it takes more brain power to work them than it does to think up a storm. Inspiration is different. It won't get in your way as you try to capture thoughts and ideas.

Inspiration is a truly unique integration of a diagramming tool and outliner. With this program, you can capture your ideas on-screen with even greater ease than jotting down your thoughts on paper. I looked at an early release of version 4.0; this is the company's first Windows version and its number matches that of its Macintosh sibling. Its files are cross-platform compatible.

Inspiration begins with a blank screen and a single box marked Main Idea. You can type in a thought, then click on a direction key in the toolbox to add another idea in one of eight directions--up, down, 45 degrees to the right and so on. Several templates can add boxes for flowcharts and organizational charts to help structure your thoughts quickly. You can assign a unique shape, color and font to each symbol that you add. Symbols can be connected as you add them or you can organize and arrange them later. Levels can be hidden, so that everything connected to a selected symbol temporarily disappears. This helps you focus on key points without having a cluttered screen. When any information is hidden, Inspiration replaces the selection box in the left corner with a small red dot, so you know there are additional connections.

Inspiration has the feel of a flowcharter, except that there's no flow imposed on you. It has a set of standard drawing features: align, space evenly, send to back or front, zoom in or out, snap to grids, fit to window, print preview, and page break. You can arrange the diagram so symbols are connected at right angles (like an organizational chart), and you can set line thickness and the size and shape of arrowheads. Your output can be dressed up with headers or footers that can include the current date and page numbers.

If numbers are included within symbols' text, Inspiration can treat the numbers intelligently and automatically create running subtotals. You can use the program's spell checker to get your thoughts letter perfect, and speed up your editing using Inspiration's find-and-replace utility.

If the shapes of the objects that Inspiration provides don't fit your fancy, you can import your own using the Clipboard. An important symbol can be resized by dragging its lower right corner; images also can be restored easily to their original sizes.

Inspiration is incredibly intuitive. You can add a new box and just start typing--you don't have to worry about clicking or double-clicking on anything. The symbol grows or shrinks automatically to accomodate as much text as you type. You can attach text to a connector, too. To put your ideas in perspective, Inspiration can help rearrange your thoughts by centering your diagram around a selected symbol.

In the collapsible outline view you can split a single idea into two. When you toggle back to the diagrammer, you'll see two boxes where once there was one, with the original text also split logically between the two. You can highlight text in the outline and Inspiration will take you to the corresponding portion of the diagram.

Inspiration lacks a few amenities. It doesn't have a last-files-used list. And lines connecting shapes are drawn behind other shapes rather than around them, making the lines difficult to trace at times. There is some manual control, however, as you can click on the connector and turn the line into a Bezier curve. The program has lots of shortcut keys but no right-mouse context-sensitive menus, which would have been a nice feature. But Inspiration's shortcomings are minor inconveniences in an otherwise excellent product.

If you think a pen and cocktail napkin are brainstorming tools, think again. You'll find your thoughts take flight with Inspiration.

Inspiration 4.0

Price: $129

In Brief: A unique combination of diagramming tools and outliner for capturing and presenting your ideas.

Inspiration Software

800-877-4292 ext. 14, 503-245-9011 ext. 14


First Impressions: Sept. 1994 Pt 3

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Covered in this File

TOOLTHINGS 1.0

KINGSTON DATA TRAVELER

WOPR 6.0

COACTIVE CONNECTOR 2.0

GRAMMATIK 6.0

MIND PATH REMOTE CONTROL IR50 F/X

ACE

STEP-UP PROGRAM MANAGER

SONY MULTISCAN 15SF

PM288PKT 28.8 POCKET MODEM

DOCUCOMP 3.0

UNINSTALLER 2.0

EXPERT FORMS

928MOVIE

HANDY "THINGS'' FOR VB CODERS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Once in A while a really useful thing comes along. Sometimes, useful things come in bunches. ToolThings is a collection of 11 tools for VB programmers that enhance forms creation, code management and code reuse. I looked at a beta copy of this Visual Basic toolkit from Pinnacle Publishing.

Each "Thing'' is written in Visual Basic and addresses a particular time-consuming application development task. Nudge Thing probably offers the greatest savings. With it, you can move or stretch a control (push buttons, text boxes, and so forth) by a specific number of units--far more precise than moving objects with the mouse. Nudge Thing can help you align objects in a dozen arrangements, including grouping them in rows and columns. You can resize controls on your form, flip any two controls, and set the vertical and horizontal spacing. You also can freeze all the objects on your form so you don't accidentally move them. Nudge Thing includes an undo and redo option so you're free to experiment.

Form Thing lets you interactively design a window. You select the window style, the buttons you want, the colors for each window component, the drawing mode and style, and the type of mouse pointer. Form Thing will then create the form. Form Thing, like the other tools, uses visuals and English descriptions to help you choose among options.

Tab Thing sets the tab order of controls. Dent Thing automatically indents lines of code within a routine, file or project according to your preferences, while Blockout Thing comments or uncomments chunks of code.

MsgBox Thing lets you create Visual Basic message boxes. You specify the title, message, buttons (including the default), icon, and whether you want to create it as a function or a statement. You can test all of your selections before MsgBox Thing actually generates the code. CMDialog Thing generates code for calling Windows dialog functions. The Compress Thing and Call Thing tools were not enabled in the beta version.

Each tool can be invoked from a floating button bar, which you can modify to suit your working environment. Quick-tip help and an extensive help file provide explanations for the tools.

If you are a Visual Basic programmer--even an occasional one--ToolThings should be part of your Visual Basic toolkit.

ToolThings 1.0

Price: $179

Pinnacle Publishing Inc.

800-788-1900, 206-251-1900

PORTABLE DISK GOES ALONG FOR THE DRIVE

By: WILLIAM GEE

Weighing little more than a couple of boxes of diskettes, the Data Traveler is a portable 127MB IDE hard disk.

The package includes the disk, base unit, AC adapter, battery and parallel port adapter. The base, with the drive and battery, weighs 2.25 pounds, but the power supply is on the heavy side at 1.7 pounds. The drive alone weighs only 0.5 pounds.

Data Traveler's dimensions are 2.5 by 3 by 7.5 inches with the battery. The port adapter has a pass-through connector for a printer.

Setup takes about half an hour. A DOS program installs the drivers and alters your CONFIG.SYS file, but you have to manually partition and format the drive. There's also Windows software to allow the drive to be removed without powering the system down. The manual is clear, but a single-step installation program would help.

The drive clocked a respectable 1.22-megabyte-per-second transfer rate on WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests. Under rigorous testing, the battery lasted about 2 hours and 15 minutes. Kingston says a charge normally will last for 3 hours.

Kingston Data Traveler

Price: $588

Kingston Technology Corp.

800-835-6575, 714-435-2600

UTILITIES MAKE WORD WORK BETTER

By: PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR.

In the race to be bigger and better, software developers sometimes overlook convenience in favor of more features. WOPR 6.0 is the antidote for this condition. It's a set of utilities that makes Microsoft Word 6.0 a friendlier place to work.

One of WOPR's best add-ins is a file manager. WOPR lets you copy, rename or delete a file within Word. Also, you can create a list of your most commonly used directories and move to them with a single click.

Using clip art in Word can be a bother because finding suitable images is awkward. WOPR comes to the rescue again with a clipart browser that makes it easy to flip through available artwork.

Similarly, customizing Word's toolbar can be confusing. But not anymore: WOPR has a toolbar editor that lets even a novice create and place buttons on new or existing toolbars. The secret is its capture function, which lets you start with an existing button or icon and modify it.

WOPR's right-button spell checker is the cleverest access to spelling help I've ever seen. Right-click on a word, and if it's incorrect you're offered alternatives. WOPR also makes navigating between templates easy with a push-button user-configurable selection screen.

Word's envelope printing macro keeps getting better, but WOPR is still one step ahead. A four-up printing routine that prints four pages on a single sheet.

If you have to reformat a lot of e-mail, the line-break fixer is indispensible. WOPR manages to correct just about all of Word's frustrating oversights.

WOPR 6.0

Price: $49.95

Hard Disk Space: 3MB

System Resources: Not Applicable

RAM: Not Applicable

Pinecliffe International

800-659-4696, 314-965-5630

EASY WAY TO MAKE CONNECTIONS

By: SERDAR YEGULALP

The coactive Connector is as close to plug and play as networks get. It doesn't offer the services of more elaborate networking systems, but you'll be able to get your PCs connected in minutes without any special expertise--or even a screwdriver.

The starter kit includes two connectors with power adapters, 10 feet of phone wire, the software and a manual. The liberally illustrated installation instructions are only four pages long.

The connectors are Y-shaped units that are about 8 inches long. You don't have to open the PC to install the connector; you just plug it into the parallel port. Each connector has a pass-through adapter to hook up a printer.

The rest of the hardware installation is just as easy: Plug in the AC adapter and hook up the connects with the telephone wire. Up to 32 PCs can be linked together. It took only about 15 minutes to get two PCs networked.

Both DOS and Windows software is included. At installation, the software automatically assigns a virtual N drive to be shared among all networked systems. It's smart enough to recognize if you are already using an N drive, but there's no way to specify another drive letter. It's N or nothing.

You assign each networked PC a name, which appears as a subdirectory on the N drive. To swap files, you copy them to and from these directories.

Connected users can communicate with the e-mail program included in the package. Locally attached printers can be shared, too, with the owner choosing whether to make it available to other network users.

A network doesn't have to involve big bucks and big headaches. Sometimes modest needs require modest solutions. This is one.

Coactive Connector

Price: Two-piece starter kit, $299.95

Coactive Computing Corp.

415-802-1080

PROGRAM PUTS POLISH ON PROSE

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Grammatik 6.0 could help elevate grammar checkers from good ideas to useful tools. This new version makes it easier than ever to quickly correct grammar. And Grammatik doesn't just tell you what's wrong with your grammar, it lets you fix it with a push of a button.

Grammatik can install a macro in Word, WordPerfect, Ami Pro and DOS word processors. When you run the program, it saves your current document in .RTF (Rich Text Format) and retains your formatting. It uses the .RTF file for its suggested corrections. The changes you accept or decide to make also are saved to the .RTF file, which, finally, you save in your word processor's format. If your word processor doesn't accept .RTF files, you'll lose your formatting.

The program provides word and syllable counts and will also report the number of simple sentences in a document. It also shows you how your document compares with others of the same type. It employs a technology called Mor-Proof (morphology-based proofreading) that uses root-word information for improved accuracy. You can tailor its checking to one of 10 predefined styles, including proposal, memo and business letter, or you can just run a QuickCheck to pick up basic errors.

In my tests, the program caught flagrant errors, such as beginning a sentence with a lowercase letter, something that Word 6.0 and WordPerfect 6.0a can fix as you type. It also caught a misplaced comma and spotted that "him and me'' was incorrect. When an error is discovered, the program usually suggests one or more alternatives. You can accept one of Grammatik's suggestions by clicking on Replace or you can leave a bookmark at the site of the grammatical infraction and return to it later.

Grammatik is improved, but it still slips up. It suggested replacing "as far as I can sea'' with "as far as I can a sea,'' while "I am knot going'' was accepted, even when using the program's strictest setting. It did catch some passive voice problems, but skipped over others.

Occasionally, the program didn't like its own suggestions. When I misspelled "and'' as "amd,'' Grammatik suggested AMD as a replacement but at the same time it criticized the suggestion as a capitalization error.

For detailed proofreading, there's still nothing like another set of human eyes. But if you want to give your work the once over first, Grammatik 6.0 does a good job at spotting major errors.

Grammatik 6.0

Price: $49.95

Disk Space Required: 2.5MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 2MB

WordPerfect Corp.

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000

SUPERCUT SHORTCUT FOR HASTY PASTING OF IMAGES

By: RON BEL BRUNO

Supercut, a graphics utility, lets you capture, cut and paste, and store images in a graphics scrapbook. It effectively uses Windows' Clipboard to easily transport .BMP files, metafiles--even icons--across a variety of different applications.

SuperCut improves on Windows' built-in cut-and-paste feature by letting you cut any part of a screen and save it as an image. You can even grab from a DOS application running in a window. You define the capture area by right-clicking at one corner, dragging diagonally to the opposite corner and clicking again. The portion boxed is copied to Clipboard as a .BMP file.

The scrapbook keeps full-sized versions of images, which you can name. When you select a scrapbook image, it's automatically copied to Clipboard. There is no search facility for finding images, which could be a problem as a scrapbook grows.

SuperCut won't replace sophisticated imaging software in a designer's toolkit, but it will provide an easy way to incorporate images in business documents.

SuperCut

Price: $79.95

Disk Space Required: 450KB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 300KB

Pacific Microelectronic

800-628-3475, 415-948-6200

STAY LIGHT ON YOUR FEET- PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR.

The mind Path Remote Control IR50 F/X gives you the freedom to roam during presentations. This wireless infrared pointing device is light as well as easy to install and use. It comes with Mind Path Presentation F/X, a program that lets you add special effects to your performance when used with presentation software or other application packages.

The IR50's infrared receiver connects to a serial port with a nine-pin connector. The hand-held portion has five function keys, two buttons and a "mouse disk.'' The function keys are user definable to recall any keystroke combination and also can be used to access Presentation F/X's special effects. The two buttons are used to move forward or back through the presentation. The "mouse disk'' is a variation on the trackball pointing device. You press on an edge to move the cursor, and click or double-click on the disk for mouse button operations.

The disk takes some getting used to, especially when trying to master the click. You're likely to click by accident at first, but after 15 or 20 minutes of practice, you should be able to get the hang of moving the cursor around and clicking.

Presentation F/X includes 20 special effects, and you can use the program without the IR50. You can choose a custom cursor, or you can highlight or magnify a part of a slide and blank the rest of the screen.

The software also lets you jazz up your pitch with bitmaps that pop up on slides, Telestrator-like drawings, streaming ticker-tape messages, a moving spotlight effect and even sound clips.

With the IR50, you won't be tethered to a PC and the Presentation F/X software will let you add some sizzle to your show.

Mind Path Remote Control IR50 F/X

Price: $229; Presentation F/X software only, $79.95

Disk Space Required: 3.2MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 67KB

Mind Path Technologies

800-634-7424, 214-233-9296

AN ACE IS THE BEST CARD TO HAVE

By: JOHN GARTNER

The ACE board is almost too much to believe. It's a fax modem, a sound card and an answering machine.

ACE has separate programs for voice messaging, sound and communications. The board's modem and sound card software is from IBM, designed for its MWave digital signal processor chip, the ACE's key component. Smith Micro's QuickLink Message Center controls the voice communications.

It is well worth the time to figure it all out. The Message Center suitably replaces answering and fax machines. It's simple to set up with personalized greetings for up to 10 secured mailboxes. Incoming messages are compressed to about one-fourth their normal size. The fax module includes typical send-and-receive features, and a viewer that lets you zoom, rotate pages, and save faxes as .PCX or TIFF files.

The Audio Center includes CD-ROM, .WAV and MIDI players. The Wave Editor makes it easy to add echo, fade and other sound effects. Recordings are supported for up to 44.1kHz and 16-bit stereo-sampled sound.

Setup takes some time, but less time than installing three separate cards. You select the IRQ using the DIP switches on the rear of the card, where there are plugs for a phone line and speaker wires. The card also has a Panasonic CD-ROM interface that could save yet another slot.

The ACE card is a hardware triple-play, but its software needs integration. Don't overlook a board that puts three major applications into a single slot.

ACE

Price: $299

Best Data Products Inc.

800-632-2378, 818-773-9600

STEP-UP TREADS ON PROGMAN'S TURF

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

Step-Up pumps up Windows' ProgMan with a toolbar, fancier icons and more choices for arranging them. With a price of about $15, Step-Up Program Manager does the job without draining your system resources or your wallet.

The beta version I tested is an add-in to ProgMan. It looks like Program Manager but has a few immediate differences. Below the menu line, Step-Up displays a toolbar with a button

to launch the currently highlighted program icon and another for quick access to the File/Run command. Additional buttons let you rearrange program groups and icons. You can move program names from below their icons or eliminate them completely.

Step-Up Manager shows the date and time in Program Manager's bottom border. It also adds a gauge that displays available memory and system resources. The standard Windows cursor arrow is replaced by a pointing hand. When you use the cursor to move a program group or an icon, the hand opens.

One of the more useful features is Step-Up's ability to change font and icon size with a pair of sizing arrows. It doesn't get any easier than this, and you don't have to get under Windows' hood to tinker with system files.

With Step-Up, you can also break up your workspace into virtual desktops, much as you can with Hewlett-Packard's Dashboard. Step-Up lets you have up to 256 virtual desktops, though a few should suffice for cleaning up your screen clutter. The WorkSpace tool helps you navigate among virtual desktops by minimizing desktops to an icon or expanding them.

Step-Up seems to be geared for novices, but even Windows veterans who find ProgMan disappointing will be pleased with this low-priced Windows add-in.

Step-Up Program Manager

Price: $14.95

Disk Space Required: 0.7MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Step-Up Software Inc.

800-254-6767503-223-6306

15SF FOCUSES ON SHARPER IMAGE

By: JONATHAN BLACKWOOD

Sony's famous Trinitron tube is behind some of the best monitors on the market, and with the Multiscan 15sf, Sony proves that it's equally adept at putting together the whole package.

The Multiscan 15sf replaced a 17-inch NEC 5FGp on my desktop, and to my surprise, I found I didn't miss the NEC one bit. I tested the Sony using Sonera Technologies' DisplayMate, plus late beta versions of Pantone's Color Matching System and Sonnetech's Colorific color management software. I also took nine color temperature readings across the screen using a Minolta CA-100 CRT Color Analyzer to measure the color consistency across the screen.

The Sony served up a superb image, with the tightest focus I've seen. It also had the most consistent color temperature readings of any monitor we've tested, topping even the highest-rated monitors in our roundup of 17-inch monitors (see Pixel Perfect).

The controls are reasonably complete, although you can't adjust for interference patterns. Moire would be useful as the tight focus produced interference that varied from barely noticeable to distracting. Such controls, however, are currently available only on the newest ViewSonic and Nanao monitors. The other controls are all in the front and center and are easy to figure out. From the four buttons, you can choose Color, Geometry, Size or Center, and then make the adjustment using the same set of buttons.

The Pantone test showed that the Multiscan 15sf can provide rich, saturated colors. It even produced good renditions of the most demanding shades of orange, the most difficult color for CRTs to reproduce. It also displayed true grays, without pinkish tints. This is outstanding color performance.

The Multiscan 15sf's image was free of geometric distortion with the exception of a slight kink in the top right corner, typical of Trinitron monitors. It was also well regulated, meaning that rhythmic pulses of bright white did not make adjacent areas jump too much.

The 15sf meets Energy Star requirements, the VESA DPMS power management specification, and MPRII standards for electromagnetic radiation. It autosyncs at vertical refresh rates of up to 120Hz. The monitor doesn't have BNC connectors.

The Multiscan 15sf is an excellent monitor, among the best available at this size. Don't be too frightened by Sony's list price: You can expect the Multiscan 15sf street price to be substantially lower.

Sony Multiscan 15sf

Price: $549.95

In Brief: Built around a Trinitron tube, the Multiscan 15sf produces superior color quality with a sharp, well-focused image.

Sony Electronics Inc.

800-352-7669, 408-894-0225

POCKET MODEM KEEPS YOU PLUGGED IN

By: JIM FORBES

The PM288PKT 28.8 Pocket Modem is small enough to slip into your briefcase--or your pocket--but it provides fast 28.8Kbps communications.

The 1.2- by 2.3- by 4-inch unit will work with four AA batteries or using the external power adapter. A serial cable and a telephone line also are included. The modem has a built-in speaker that is useful for confirming dial tones and monitoring connections.

The PM288PKT transmission speed is rated at 28.8Kbps for data and fax. The modem adheres to Rockwell's interpretation of the anticipated V.Fast standard referred to as V.FC. It fully supports the standard Hayes command set, too.

Quick Link II communications and fax software comes with the PM288PKT. The software is serviceable, but you may prefer to use another, more comprehensive package. The modem's ROM-based help is a great convenience. If you run into a problem, the solution is likely to be just a few keystrokes away.

PCMCIA modems may be smaller, but miniature modems still have their advantages. They can be used with both notebook and desktop systems and many include a speaker. Pocket modems provide their own power and don't drain notebook batteries.

The PM288PKT Pocket Modem provides state-of-the-art transmission speed for portables or stationary PCs.

PM288PKT 28.8 Pocket Modem

Price: $499

Practical Peripherals

800-442-4774, 805-497-4774

TAKING EXCEPTION TO CHANGE

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

Version control--keeping track of revised copies of documents--often turns into a futile exercise in self control. DocuComp 3.0 makes it easy to compare two copies of a document by highlighting the differences. The program includes viewers for more than 50 Windows, DOS and Macintosh file formats.

The Compare command marks all additions, deletions, replacements and moves. In my test, it took DocuComp less than a minute to compare two documents of about 2,300 words each. You can specify blocks or certain types of text that you want skipped during the comparison. You can use the Synchronized View feature to link two documents so that they scroll simultaneously.

In addition to on-screen comparisons, DocuComp produces a Comparison Report that contains the full text of the document and a list of all changes. The report also can categorize the changes, and includes file information such as the file name, format, date modified and size. The report is summarized, too, with the total number of changes, deletions and insertions indicated.

You can copy sections of the comparison document to Windows' Clipboard or print the entire document.

During installation, DocuComp will set itself up in WordPerfect, Ami Pro and Word. You also can choose to have it available from the Windows File Manager menu.

DocuComp doesn't provide sophisticated version control, but it does make it easier to spot the differences between two files with its side by side comparisons.

DocuComp 3.0

Price: $179

Mastersoft Inc.

800-624-6107, 602-948-4888

THE BIG UNDO FOR UNWANTED APPS

By: ARTHUR H. GERMAIN III

UnInstaller's mission is simple: It cleans up what other programs leave behind. UnInstaller searches for installed applications and then lets you delete them and their associated files.

It does a thorough job of tracking down a program's files as well as any changes that have been made to system files such as WIN.INI.

UnInstaller 2.0 includes five cleanup tools in addition to a feature called SmartLinks. SmartLinks scans for .EXEs and builds a database to catalog these files, their .DLLs and their relationships to system files.

UnInstaller, the key component, lets you remove all parts of any application with an icon in a Program Manager group. System Cleanup identifies and lets you delete unused display drivers, system support files, fonts, non-Windows applications and other files.

With INIClean, you can delete an application's .INI files, or edit or delete specific sections of WIN.INI.

As its names implies, the Duplicate File Finder locates duplicate files and lets you compare or delete them. The Find Orphaned Files tool locates .EXEs and .DLLs that are not referenced directly by Program Manager. I was able to delete some stray executables and related .DLLs in my own system.

Before deleting files, you can build a Trial Run, which will create a report that details what effect deleting an application would have. There's also a Backup/Restore option to remove an application and then reload it later.

UnInstaller provides a quick route to a clean machine. It's a "clutter buster'' that should be on your must-have list.

UnInstaller 2.0

Price: $69.95; upgrade, $29.95; LAN packs, $299 to $1,499 (10 to 100 users)

Disk Space Required: 3MB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 4MB

MicroHelp Inc.

800-922-3383, 404-516-0899

PREFAB FORMS FILL BUSINESS NEEDS

By: RON BEL BRUNO

Expert forms packs a one-two punch. It has a 64-document forms library and the tools to create new ones with relative ease. At an eye-popping list price of only $14.95, it's not only a bargain but also a great complement to the sets of forms templates that often come with word processors.

Don't let Expert Forms' low price put you off--this is serious stuff. You can use the supplied forms as is, or tailor them to suit your needs. There's also a data-entry module for filling in forms

The forms library covers a wide range of business activities. The ready-to-use forms include job applications, invoices, fax cover sheets, purchase orders and many other types. On most of these, you probably won't need to do much more than add your company's name or logo. The program accepts a variety of graphics formats including .PCX, TIFF, .GIF, Windows bitmap and metafiles, DrawPerfect, and others. You can add special effects such as shading, and you can crop and adjust images for screen resolution and print definition.

To create a text area, you select a font and point size, then click and drag the pointer across the area where you want to type. But if you want to change that text, you must edit the entire box of text.

There are a few small compromises in Expert Forms that you might not find in higher priced, "big'' programs. But they are minor problems. Expert Forms is good, practical software that is ideal for small businesses.

Expert Forms

Price: $14.95

In Brief: An ideal application for small businesses, the program has a 64-document forms library and the tools to create new ones with ease.

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 2MB

Expert Software Inc.

800-759-2562, 305-567-9990

BIG SCREEN MOVIES HIGHLIGHT TRIPLE-FEATURE BOARD

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Say goodbye to tiny video-viewing windows. The 928Movie board is a multimedia marvel that lets you expand .AVI windows to full screen without losing a frame. The 928Movie, based on S3's 928 graphics controller, also accelerates Windows graphics.

Using the 1MB VRAM version of the board, I ran a 30-frame-per-second .AVI file in a standard-sized window in 800x600-pixel resolution and 65,536 colors. I doubled, then tripled, the window size, and then took it full screen. VideoLogic's SmoothScale technology allowed the board to play the video without losing a single frame and with color nearly as perfect as the original. SmoothScale is the company's scaling algorithm that can speed up Indeo, Cinepak, Video 1 and MPEG1 movies while maintaining the original's frame rate.

The board can handle up to 1280x1024-pixel resolution and up to 16.7 million colors. Bundled software includes an audio controller, screen resolution setup dialog box and virtual desktop.

Two of the three available models include 16-bit sound that is Ad Lib and Sound Blaster compatible. I ran the external audio to a set of amplified Bose Roommate speakers and the CD-quality sound rivalled that of the Windows Sound System.

The board comes in ISA or VL-Bus versions and supports 75Hz flicker-free refresh rates at lower resolutions, and up to 72Hz at higher ones. The board has a VESA Media Channel for future expansion such as adding video capture or MPEG playback. It also includes a single mini-plug for audio input and output.

The 928Movie is hot. In a single-slot you get fast video, sound and big screen movies.

928Movie

Price: $349 (1MB VRAM), $449 (1MB VRAM plus sound), $449 (2MB VRAM), $549 (2MB VRAM plus sound)

VideoLogic

800-578-5644, 617-494-0530

LOGITECH TRACKMAN VOYAGER VOYAGER IS A BALL ANYWHERE

By: PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR.

The TrackMan Voyager portable trackball is one of the most flexible pointing devices I have ever seen.

Logitech says its research indicates that portables are used on a desk 80 percent of the time. So the company designed the Voyager for comfortable operation on a hard flat surface.

But it's more adept when space is limited. It attaches to a notebook with a removable latching mechanism that can be adjusted to fit the thickness of the edge of the keyboard. You can attach it at the front or at either side. If you disconnect the attaching unit, the Voyager also can be used as a hand-held pointer.

Each position calls for different mouse button assignments and a different relationship between trackball and cursor movements. Logitech includes a clever control program that makes the reassignment and reorientation process easy. The Voyager plugs into a mouse or serial port (using the included adapter).

If you've ever carried a portable pointing device around, you know its case can double its bulk. Not true with the Voyager. Its snap-on shell is also used as a support when it's on a desktop. The case protects the trackball from damage, yet is barely larger than the device itself.

I used the Voyager as my sole desktop pointing device for a month. It is comfortable to use, but I can't recommend it for full-time heavy-duty use because of its compact size. On the road, it is unsurpassed by any product.

The TrackMan Voyager has Logitech's typical sleek, European design that combines good looks with functionality. Its versatility puts it a cut above other portable devices, and it beats built-in pointers hands down.

Logitech TrackMan Voyager

Price: $89.95

In Brief: A versatile, durable pointing device that offers more flexibility than built-in trackballs and more portability than previous portable pointing devices.

Logitech

800-231-7717, 510-795-8500


Optimizing Windows: Take Control Ofcontrol Panel

By: JOHN WORAM

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Anyone who's had Windows up and running for more than a day or two is no stranger to the icons in the Control Panel applet. Most likely you routinely use one or more of Control Panel's sub-applets to optimize your system. But have you ever tried to configure Control Panel itself? Perhaps you'd like to rearrange its icons, just as you would those in any other group window. Or you might want to move or copy a frequently used icon into a group window, so you won't have to open Control Panel every time you want to access that icon. If you've already tried these "simple'' tasks, you know there's a problem: The icons seem to be glued into place. They just won't budge.

Or so it would seem. Actually, there are ways to perform all these chores, but you won't find instruc-tions in the User's Guide. In fact, that document says little about Control Panel itself, although the icons within it are covered. So here's a mixed bag of tips and tricks to help you whip this window-within-a-window into shape. For the purposes of this column, I'm going to treat Control Panel as if it were a conventional group window, and each icon within it as a regular Windows applet, in order to avoid describing Control Panel as an applet, and its icons as sub-applets.

Most Control Panel applets are supported by files in the SYSTEM directory that have .CPL extensions. The MAIN.CPL file contains 10 applets, while other .CPL files support one applet each. The table on the following page lists the name and contents of the .CPL files supplied with all versions of Windows, plus a few other applet files that you access via Control Panel.

The default icon loading sequence

As Windows opens, applet icons are loaded into Control Panel in four steps, in the sequence described here.

Step 1. The CONTROL.EXE program loads the applets from the MAIN.CPL file. The first two rows in the illustration at the bottom of the following page show the icons for these applets. The Network icon appears only if your computer is part of a properly functioning network system.

Step 2. Before loading the additional .CPL files, Windows looks in the [drivers] section of SYSTEM.INI for other files that are supported via Control Panel. For example, if your system has an installed Sound Mapper (wavemapper=MSACM.DRV) and/or MIDI Mapper (midimapper=MIDIMAP.DRV), their icons appear immediately after the 10 MAIN.CPL icons. By the way, MSACM stands for Microsoft Audio Compression Manager.

Step 3. Next, Windows looks at the MMCPL (Multimedia Control Panel) section of CONTROL.INI for additional applets. Perhaps Microsoft had second thoughts about this section, for the listings may have nothing to do with multimedia, as shown by this typical example:

[MMCPL]

NumApps=16

X=150

Y=110

W=450

H=300

odbc=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ODBCINST.DLL

The first five lines specify the number of applets in Control Panel, the x/y coordinates of its upper-left-hand corner, and the width and height of the window. The last line specifies a driver setup manager associated with the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) system (part of a Microsoft Access and/or Visual Basic installation). The icon in the ODBCINST.DLL file shows up as the next item in Control Panel.

Step 4. After all of the above, Windows returns to the SYSTEM directory for the .CPL files that haven't yet been loaded. The icon sequence may vary from one system to another because it depends on the sequence in which the files are read from the disk. The final row of icons in the illustration below shows a few typical examples.

Resequencing the icons

Within reason, you can resequence the Control Panel icons by taking advantage of CONTROL.INI's misnamed [MMCPL] section. Because Windows looks in this section before moving on to Step 4, you can write a new line for one or more .CPL files, in whatever sequence you'd like the icons to appear. Here's a sample listing:

drivers=drivers.cpl

fax=fax.cpl

odbc=ODBCINST.DLL

main=C:\SPECIAL\main.cpl

The first two lines show how to load a .CPL file icon: Enter the filename (with no extension), an equal sign, and then the filename again (this time, with its .CPL extension). As long as the file remains in the SYSTEM directory, you don't need to specify the path. In fact, you can remove the path statement that was written into the odbc= line during ODBC's installation, as shown above. However, if you move these files elsewhere, then you will need to specify a path.

After loading these applets, Windows moves on to Step 4, in which it finishes up by loading whatever .CPL files remain. Because the drivers and fax applets are already in place, Windows does not reload them during this final step.

If you want to put the 10 icons in MAIN.CPL somewhere other than at the head of the load sequence, you must move that file into another directory. Otherwise, Windows loads it first and ignores any subsequent reference to it in the [MMCPL] section. In the sample listing, MAIN.CPL has been moved into a C:\SPECIAL directory, and it therefore loads immediately after the ODBC applet. In this case, its icons would be the last 10 that appear in the Control Panel window, rather than the first 10.

Resequencing the MAIN.CPL icons

You can rearrange the 10 icons in MAIN.CPL if you don't mind getting your hands dirty with the DOS Debug (or a similar) utility. A section of the file contains ten 16-byte segments that specify the order in which the icons appear. You can view it by typing the first two lines shown below. When Debug displays the third line, note the value following the colon and enter it in the fourth line, as shown. Then press the Enter key.

debug main.cpl

-s cs:100 fffe "CplApplet"

xxxx:4180

-d cs:4180 422D

In the resulting screen dump (not shown here), the 10 hexadecimal numbers in the next-to-last row (18, 1A, 1C, 1D and so on) are the locations at which each applet specification begins. To swap the positions of any two icons, swap their 16-byte segments--but not before reading the rest of this paragraph (self-serving plug follows). I discovered this procedure while writing my Windows Configuration Handbook, in which I describe it in more detail. It seems to work, but is not guaranteed foolproof. In fact, some critics have applied the former syllable of that word to anyone who would try this. If you do, make sure you have a backup MAIN.CPL file tucked away somewhere, in case things take an unexpected turn.

Deleting an icon

It's easy enough to delete one or more Control Panel applets by adding a [Don't Load] section to CONTROL.INI. This can help prevent unauthorized helpers from "fixing'' your system for you, especially if you have compulsive desktop decorators on board. In the section, list the items you don't want to appear on-screen as shown in the following example:

[Don't Load]

Fonts=Apples

Ports=Oranges

International=foobar

What you see here is not The Revenge of the Copy Editor. It turns out that you can follow the applet name with anything you like--including yes, no, or maybe--and that applet will disappear. To make it reappear, delete the expression on the right of the equal sign, or delete the entire line.

A Control Panel troubleshooting note: Don't panic if the 10 MAIN.CPL icons as well as the Drivers, ODBC, and Enhanced (or 386 Enhanced in Windows for Workgroups 3.1) icons all disappear. This is a sign that the VER.DLL file is missing. Expand a fresh copy into the SYSTEM directory to recover the missing icons. If the icons don't reappear, panic is now appropriate.

Design your own Control Panel

If you find yourself consistently using a few Control Panel applets and ignoring the others, you may find it handy to build a special-purpose group window that contains just those applets you regularly use. For example, you might want to design a Printer Management group, which could include Print Manager (copied from the Main group window), a few third-party font applets, and maybe the Fonts and Printers applets from Control Panel.

Well, if you've already tried to drag copies of Control Panel applets into another window, you know it can't be done. But there is another way. First, create a new group window called Printer Management (or whatever you like), and copy or install the conventional applets into it. Then do the following for each Control Panel applet that you'd like to install in the same window:

Open Program Manager's File menu, select New, and then click on the Program Item radio button. Now click on the OK button to display the Program Item Properties dialog box. Type a suitable applet descriptor in the Description box, and then type a line such as CONTROL MAIN.CPL PRINTERS or CONTROL DRIVERS.CPL in the Command Line box.

In these examples, if you omit MAIN.CPL from the first line or the .CPL extension from the second line, Control Panel opens and the indicated applet opens on top of it. If you type either of the lines as written, the applet opens immediately and Control Panel does not appear. In either case, the applet itself appears in the group window with the regular Control Panel icon assigned to it. But you can change that via the Change Icon button in the Program Item Properties dialog box. Just browse through the MAIN.CPL (or any other) file to select the icon you want to use instead. You might try the same general procedure to set up a multimedia group window that includes Control Panel's MIDI Mapper and Sound applets.

Creative use of the techniques described here will help you to arrange Control Panel the way you want it, and to assemble one or more group windows that contain conventional Windows applets plus a few "borrowed'' from Control Panel.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook and The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House). Contact John care of Editor in the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange on AOL.

SIDEBAR: REPRESENTATIVE CONTROL PANEL APPLETS

FILENAME/CONTROL PANEL ICON TITLE

CPWIN386.CPL*/Enhanced (386 Enhanced in WFWG 3.1)

DRIVERS.CPL * /Drivers

MAIN.CPL * /Color, Fonts, Ports, Mouse, Desktop, Keyboard, Printers, International, Date/Time, Network (icons appear in the order listed here)

MIDIMAP.DRV * /MIDI Mapper

ODBCINST.DLL /ODBC (Microsoft Access, Visual Basic)

SBPMIXER.CPL /(available in Windows Driver Library, for use with Sound Blaster Pro cards)

SND.CPL * /Sound

WFWSETUP.DLL /Network (WFWG 3.1 only, not part of version 3.11)

* Included with Windows and Windows for Workgroups (WFWG) 3.1 and later.


Getting Started: Overcome The Windows Obstacle Course

By: MIKE ELGAN

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Sometimes using your Windows PC can feel like running an obstacle course. All you want to do is get your work done, but the limitations of hardware and software seem to put up barriers at every turn. Using an excessively slow system can be as frustrating as scaling a sheer 10-foot wall. And features that are missing from the Windows applets are like potholes in your path to productivity. Well, here I'll show you how to clear some hardware hurdles, eliminate a Notepad nuisance and right something that's wrong with Write. I'll also share a neat wallpaper workaround that lets you control the placement of bitmap images.

Q: My company has spent all it's going to spend on my system at work. Unfortunately, it's a 486SX/25 with 4MB of RAM, and it crawls compared with the Pentium I have at home. I use mostly word processing, e-mail

and a few other applications. What can I do to make this dog faster and less prone to crashes?

A: Here are some ways you can speed up your system and make it more stable:

•	Run MemMaker, which comes with DOS versions 6.0 and later. Just type MEMMAKER at the DOS prompt, then follow the on-screen instructions.

•	Don't use wallpaper. It slows down your system.

•	Delete any icons you don't use frequently. Each one gobbles up a small percentage of system resources.

•	Use Notepad to compose documents and e-mail messages, then paste them into your word processor or e-mail program for spell-checking and sending. Working this way is faster than composing documents in your word processor or e-mail app, and it saves system resources.

•	Close any applications you're not currently using.

•	Use your word processor's Draft Mode, if it has one. The fonts may look ugly but everything will run faster.

•	Use fewer colors, if possible. For example, if you're currently at 256 colors but you don't need them all, retreat back to 16. You'll gain a little speed. (If you have a video accelerator board, use one of the manufacturer's drivers instead of the standard Windows VGA driver.)

•	Don't carry around a lot of stuff in Clipboard. If you've recently copied (or cut) and pasted a large block of text or some graphics, your system will be slower. To clear out Clipboard, select one letter, then select the app's Copy option (or press Ctrl+C). This replaces the large text block or graphics with a single letter, thus freeing memory.

•	Get a copy of Wintune, the free WINDOWS Magazine test and tune-up kit. This utility takes a good look at your system and tells you what it needs in order to run faster. Wintune is available on America Online in the WINDOWS Magazine Online area (Keyword: WinMag), on CompuServe (GO WINSHARE) and on the Internet (ftp.std.com in the ftp/periodicals/winmag directory).

•	Convince your company to install more RAM in your system or to upgrade the entire system. (Good luck!)

Q:I use Notepad to keep track of various events on the office network. Each time I have something to add, I hit the F5 key to insert the current time and date, then type my entry. It's a hassle to scroll down to the bottom of the file every time I need to make an entry. I'd like to write a macro to scroll down automatically, as well as insert the time and date. How can I do this?

A: Guess what? You don't need a macro. Notepad already has this capability built-in! Simply type .LOG (it must be in all caps) on the first line of your document, then press the Enter key. From now on, whenever you open this document, Notepad will instantly scroll to the end, add the current time and date, and then place the cursor just below so you can start typing your entry immediately.

Q: I use Windows' Write a lot because Notepad won't open bigger text files. Write is fine except for one thing: It doesn't have a Select All option under the Edit menu. In order to select all the text in a Write document, I have to place the cursor at the top of the file, press and hold the mouse button, then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the file. There's got to be a better way!

A: There is a better way. All you have to do is move your mouse pointer over to the left side of the Write document until it turns into a right-pointing arrow. Then press and hold the Ctrl key, and click the left mouse button once.

Variations of this method make other selections. (Note that these shortcuts work with most Windows word processors.)

•	To select a single line: Place the mouse arrow to the left of the line, then click the left mouse button.

•	To select all the text from the cursor to the end of the document: Place the mouse arrow to the left of the document, press and hold the Ctrl+Shift keys and then click the left mouse button.

•	To select text from the cursor to the end of a specific line: Place the mouse arrow on that line, press and hold the Shift key, and then click the left mouse button.

•	To select text from a specific line to the cursor: Place the mouse arrow on that line, press and hold the Shift key, and then click the left mouse button.

Q: I have a bitmap image that I want to use as wallpaper. Windows lets me either tile it or center it. But I'd prefer to put it near the upper right corner. Can I?

A: You can place wallpaper images anywhere you like on your desktop by adding two lines to your WIN.INI file. In File Manager, double-click on WIN.INI, which you'll find in your WINDOWS directory. Look for the section that begins with [Desktop], then add these two lines:

WallPaperOriginX=

WallPaperOriginY=

These lines tell Windows where you want it to place the upper left corner of your image in relation to the upper left corner of your desktop. The number you place after WallPaperOriginX= tells how many pixels from the left side of your screen; likewise, the number after WallPaperOriginY= tells how many pixels from the top. Experiment with different numbers until you get it right. Note that you can use negative numbers if you like. Later, if you want an image centered, just replace the value after the equal sign with a 0. You'll need to exit Windows in order for the changes to go into effect.

By the way, using Windows wallpaper is a great way to get rid of those yellow sticky notes all over your monitor. Open Paintbrush, then open an image or create a new .BMP file. Type all the information from the sticky notes into the image, then save it into your WINDOWS directory. Finally, choose that file as your wallpaper. Now congratulate yourself: You've eliminated the obstacle of an obscured monitor and moved one step closer toward a paperless office.

Mike Elgan is the managing editor of WINDOWS Magazine. Send Getting Started questions and comments to Mikein the Getting Started or the Letters to the Editor folders in the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange on AOL.


Power Windows: Give Your Interface A Lift

By: KAREN KENWORTHY

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Windows is supposed to be graphical--lots of pretty pictures, icons, buttons and 3-D boxes. So why are spreadsheets so dull? When it comes time to enter data, instead of a glitzy dialog box, all you see is the dull-looking sheet itself. Until now, there wasn't much you could do about this. The only changes you could make to an application's interface were primitive ones, like adding a display prompt to the status bar.

No more. Popular applications are beginning to add a feature that will let you easily create custom dialog boxes. Now you can add the kind of user interfaces that previously only professional programmers could.

To demonstrate, I'll show you how to add a whiz-bang interface to an Excel spreadsheet. Excel's one of the apps that's taken user interface design the farthest. Even if you don't use Excel, it's worth your while to read on to see what's in store for apps in the future.

The procedure has two parts: First you create a dialog box and then a VBA procedure. Excel stores user-created dialog boxes in a special type of workbook page called a dialogsheet. The VBA procedure you'll create stores the values in the dialog box's controls (the buttons, check boxes and text boxes). Then it displays the dialog box and retrieves any new values the user enters. New values can later be placed in a worksheet (the sample procedure I'll show you does this), or the data can be processed further by any VBA procedure.

If you like, you can download a workbook containing the items we're about to discuss. PWGUI.EXE is available on America Online in the WINDOWS Magazine Online area (Keyword WinMag), on CompuServe (GO WINSHARE) and on the Internet (ftp.std.com in the ftp/period- icals/winmag directory).

Designing a dialog box

To keep things simple, we'll start with a new workbook. Open Excel's File menu and select New. Excel will automatically assign a name to the new book. You can assign a different name by opening the File menu, selecting Save As and entering the new name when prompted. The new book will have one or more worksheets, with names like Sheet1, Sheet2 and so on. This example will make use only of Sheet1, so you can delete the others.

Next you need to add a dialogsheet to the new workbook. First, open the Insert menu and select Macro, then select Dialog from the submenu that appears. You should now see a dialog sheet (named Dialog1) sporting a generic-looking dialog box with a title bar, two buttons and a gray background.

We'll start by changing the dialog box's title. Click once on the box's title bar, then use your mouse to select the old text (click and drag the mouse pointer across the words ``Dialog Caption''). Now, simply type a new title.

In addition to a title, your dialog box has a name. Excel assigns one, but because you'll be using the name in the VBA procedure, you'll want to change it to the name used in the procedure. To do so, select the dialog box by clicking once on its title bar. Excel will respond by displaying the box's name in a special area that appears just below the docked toolbars (look for it on the far left side of Excel's main window). To change the name, drag your mouse over the old name, type GUI (the new name), then press Enter.

To add controls to the box, you'll use the Forms toolbar, which appeared when you added the dialog sheet. Most of the buttons on this bar represent a type of Windows control. It's easy to pick out the buttons that correspond to a check box or a radio button. Other buttons correspond to labels (text you can read but not change), edit boxes (text you can read and change), command buttons (like the OK and Cancel buttons already on the box), and even fancy list boxes. For this project, you'll add only two types of controls: a label and an edit box.

In the finished dialog box, the label will contain the words New Text for B1:. To create any type of control, start by clicking once on the appropriate toolbar button. For the label, click on the first button in the upper left corner of the toolbar. Next, click and drag the mouse pointer over a portion of the dialog box. This will describe a rectangular area that the new control will cover. Release the mouse button and the new control will appear.

Once you've created the control, you can move it by using your mouse to drag it to its new location. You can also change its size by dragging the little square resize handles that appear at the control's corners and along its sides.

You've probably noticed the text inside the control isn't what we want. Instead of New Text for B1:, the label is something like Label 4. You can change this text the same way you changed the dialog box's title: Just click once on the label, drag across it, then type the new text.

Now all you need is an edit box, in which the user will enter information. Create it just like the label, except start by clicking the edit box toolbar button (second from the left on the top row). Once you've created the edit box, you can move it, resize it and change its text.

Although you can change the edit box's text, it really doesn't matter if you do: You'll be changing the text later anyway, just before the box is displayed. What does matter is the edit box's name, because you'll be using it in the VBA procedure. Change the name to TextIn the same way you changed the name of the dialog box itself, except start by clicking on the control.

Creating a VBA procedure

Now it's time to create the VBA procedure that will use the dialog box. Start by adding a module sheet to the workbook. Open Excel's Insert menu, select Macro, then select Module. As you'll see, a module is just a blank page. On it you'll type the VBA procedure, Auto_Open, shown at the top of the following page. When you're done, save the whole workbook to disk.

Auto_Open begins by declaring several variables, almost all of them object variables. Although they can't hold an actual object, object variables can hold information about objects. When they do, the variables give us access to the object's properties and methods. The program uses five variables to access five objects. Each object corresponds to something in Excel, such as a workbook or worksheet. The table on the following page lists the variables, the object whose information they will hold, and what that object lets you control.

The Auto_Open statements that start with the VBA keyword Set store object information in the variables. The Set statement is simple: It just copies information from one place to another. But where does this object information come from? To understand this mystery, you need to know where Excel stores its objects.

A lesson in objects

An object is an invisible collection of data (called properties) and procedures (called methods). Most of the time, an object's properties hold pretty ordinary data--integers, dates, text strings and so on. But properties can also contain information about other objects. In other words, a property can behave like an object variable.

Excel itself one big object (called the Application object) that contains hundreds of other objects. Most of those objects--the ones that let you draw charts, print reports, send mail and so on--aren't relevant to this discussion. But a few of them are used in Auto_Open.

Application's objects contain other objects. For example, Application contains one object for each open workbook. Each workbook object contains an object for each of the workbook's worksheets, dialogsheets and modules. In turn, each dialogsheet object contains an object for each of the dialog box's controls.

Your quest for objects begins with Application. You must obtain from Application the object corresponding to your workbook. Application's ActiveWorkbook property has just what you need. This property is always the object of the active Excel workbook (the one you're working on). Auto_Open uses this property (Application.ActiveWorkbook) to initialize the Book variable.

Somewhere within Book is the object that corresponds to your dialogsheet. Workbook objects provide a method, DialogSheets, that can find this information for you. All you do is provide the name of the sheet ("Dialog1") as an argument, and the method returns the object you requested. In Auto_Open, that object is stored in the variable named Dialog.

Obtaining the control's object is just as easy. Just call the dialogsheet object's EditBoxes method, passing it the name of the control ("TextIn"). The method responds with TextIn's object, which is stored in the variable TextIn.

To obtain the worksheet's object you use the same trick you used to obtain dialogsheet and control objects. This time you call the workbook object's Worksheets method, passing it the name of the worksheet ("Sheet1"). The object this method returns is stored in the variable Sheet. The object corresponding to worksheet cell B1 is found by calling the worksheet object's Range method, passing it a text string representing the range of cells you want to control. The object provided is stored in the variable B1.

Now you can put the objects to use. Auto_Open starts by storing the current contents of cell B1 in the TextIn edit box. VBA makes that easy--you simply move the Value property of the cell's object (B1.Value) to the Text property of the control (TextIn.Text).

Auto_Open's next statement displays the dialog box by calling the Show method of the dialogsheet object (Dialog.Show). The dialog box will remain on screen, and the procedure will be suspended until you click on OK or Cancel.

Notice that the Show method returns a value that you store in the Boolean variable OK. Show will return the value True if you click on the OK button; otherwise it will return False. We take advantage of this in the remainder of the procedure. If the variable OK is True, the text that you enter in the TextIn control (TextIn.Text) will be copied into the worksheet's cell B1 (B1.Value). But if OK is False, your input is ignored and cell B1 remains intact.

There's one more thing to explain about Auto_Open: its name. Whenever Excel opens a workbook, it searches all the workbook's modules for procedures that are named Auto_Open. If it finds one, the procedure is executed on the spot. In the case of the procedure you just created, the dialog box is displayed, and if you click on OK, cell B1 of the worksheet is updated.

Now that you've gotten your feet wet, it's a simple matter to expand the dialog box and Auto_Open. You can add more controls and retrieve data for other cells. If needed, Auto_Open can even display more than one dialog box. What's more, Auto_Open can validate information before storing it in the worksheet, and even print the worksheet.

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing), a nonprogrammer's introduction to VBA. Reach Karen on AOL as WinMag1.

SIDEBAR-Auto_Open (a VBA procedure)

Sub Auto_Open()

Dim Book As Object

Dim Dialog As Object

Dim TextIn As Object

Dim Sheet As Object

Dim B1 As Object

Dim OK As Boolean

' Get Workbook object

Set Book = Application.ActiveWorkbook

' Get Dialog and Control objects

Set Dialog = Book.DialogSheets("Dialog1")

Set TextIn = Dialog.EditBoxes("TextIn")

' Get Worksheet and Range (Cell) objects

Set Sheet = Book.Worksheets("Sheet1")

Set B1 = Sheet.Range("B1")

' Store initial values in Dialog Box

TextIn.Text = B1.Value

OK = Dialog.Show ' Display our Dialog Box

If OK Then

' Store Retrieved Values

B1.Value = TextIn.Text

End If

End Sub

SIDEBAR-Auto_Open's variables

Object variable / Type of object / What the object controls

Book / Workbook / The workbook

Sheet / Worksheet / The workbook's worksheet (Sheet1)

Dialog/ Dialogsheet / The workbook's dialogsheet (Dialog1)

TextIn / EditBox / The dialog box's Edit Box (TextIn)

B1 / Range / A range of cells in the worksheet (cell B1)


Networking Windows: Windows For Workgroups' Missing Link

By: JEFFREY SLOMAN

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Something is missing from Windows for Workgroups: the dial-up link to your network. WFWG 3.11 was supposed to have the ability to use phone lines to make network connections, but the code wasn't ready when the product shipped. The good news is that the code is available now, and it's yours for just the cost of a download.

This missing link is called the Windows for Workgroups Point-to-Point (PTP) server, and it's certainly the least expensive way for WFWG users to make remote network connections. For the most part, it works well and is very stable. It does suffer from the same speed problems as other phone-line network connectivity solutions, but it provides a viable alternative to remote-control software. Here I'll describe how the PTP server works, explain how to get your connection up and running, and give you some troubleshooting tips.

Before we begin, you'll want to get your hands on a copy. The PTP server is available from a variety of sources. Look for WFWPTP.EXE in the WINDOWS Magazine Online software library on America Online (Keyword: WinMag), in the Microsoft library on CompuServe (GO MSL), in the /peropsys/wfw/public directory on ftp.microsoft.com, or in the Windows for Workgroups section on the Microsoft Download Service (206-936-MSDL).

How the PTP server works

The basis of PTP is RAS (Remote Access Services), which allows you to connect to a Windows NT Advanced Server (NTAS) machine using a modem and phone lines. WFWG comes with the client software for RAS, and out of the box it is capable of communicating with a properly configured NTAS machine. The PTP server is an add-on that you load over an existing RAS client. Doing so enables you to act as a RAS server for other WFWG RAS clients.

To install RAS on your own WFWG 3.11 machine, select Program Manager's Network group and double-click on the Remote Access icon. Then install the application from diskettes or your network.

RAS allows the two machines to make a network connection, as opposed to the kind of connection you make when you call an on-line service such as America Online or CompuServe. The distinction is important. Basically, RAS works by fooling the network into thinking that your modem is a NIC (network interface card). This is made possible by the NDIS (network device interface specification) drivers that WFWG uses to handle network traffic.

NDIS drivers are modular, and each component is responsible for a particular level of the network connection. In this case, we're concerned with the hardware-level driver--the piece that normally talks to the NIC. Microsoft has written a driver for modems that allows the phone line to be configured just as if it were Ethernet, Token Ring or some other common LAN medium.

However, this isn't quite enough to accomplish the job. We also need a way to handle the dialing and phone book record keeping. In addition, Windows needs to expect a longer response time, because even the fastest modems will be much slower than any LAN medium (the current version of RAS handles a maximum of 19.2 kilobits per second). The RAS client software and some of the settings in the

RASPHONE.PBK file take care of these jobs nicely. Furthermore, a change is made to your SYSTEM.INI file to enable slow speed network connections. The change goes into effect after you restart Windows.

The advantage of a PTP connection over a remote-control solution is that, once the connection is made, it is completely transparent to the user. There's nothing new to learn, so support headaches and training time are eliminated. For example, you can transfer files between machines using the normal drag-and-drop procedure in File Manager.

This type of connection does have a limitation, however. The server component for WFWG is designed to work exclusively between two machines (hence its name, Point-to-Point). So, when you connect to the machine running the server software, you can use only that machine's local resources (directories, connected printers and so on). According to Microsoft, this limitation is for security purposes. If you want to use the connection as a gateway to your LAN resources, consider setting up an NTAS machine.

Once you've installed the PTP server, you'll be able to receive calls. The callers can save and copy files to your machine's drive and use any printers connected to your machine. If your machine is the host of a Workgroups post office (WGPO), dial-up RAS users can access the post office. This makes the PTP server a simple, low-cost way to exchange e-mail with a group of remote users.

Getting up and running

To install the PTP server:

1. Create a temporary directory for the server files. You can call it whatever you'd like. I usually place extensions on directories to make identification easier (for example, WFWPTP.TMP).

2. Move or copy the WFWPTP.EXE file to the temporary directory, then execute the program. It will extract all the PTP server files.

3. Go on to step 4 if you have already installed the RAS client software. If you haven't, start WFWG 3.11 and double-click on the Remote Services icon in Program Manager's Network group. Get your WFWG diskettes ready and follow the instructions in the dialog box. When the installation is complete, exit Windows.

4. At the DOS prompt, switch to the temporary directory where the PTP server files are located. Enter this command:

COPYPTP C:\WINDOWS

where C:\WINDOWS is the directory containing your Windows files. This command launches a batch file that copies the necessary files. Read and follow any instructions that appear on-screen.

When you've completed the installation, start Windows and launch RAS by double-clicking on its icon in Program Manager. This time you'll notice an Answer button on the toolbar.

Setting your options

Configuration is as straightforward as installation. The server needs to know what sort of modem you're using and to which port the modem is connected. You'll find the Remote Access Configuration dialog in the Setup menu of the main RAS window.

First, choose a port by highlighting it in the list box. Next, select your modem from the drop-down box. If you can't find your exact modem, choose an equivalent. Or, if you're the adventurous type, look for MODEMS.INF in your WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory. You can add new modem descriptions to this file, following the format of the existing entries. Finally, check the Allow Incoming Calls To This Computer box and select a password and serial port. Now the server's ready to go.

Using the PTP server

To use the server, you must have a second machine with the RAS client installed. Then you'll need to add a phone book entry for your server and select the right options for the connection. To do so, click on the Add button in the toolbar to create a new entry. Fill in the dialog, then click on the Advanced button.

Clicking on the Modem button at the bottom of the dialog box will reveal the Modem Settings dialog box. This dialog gives you the opportunity to change the default settings for your modem. The Initial Speed box lets you set the speed at which the server will communicate with the modem. The top speed is 19.2Kbps. You can also set hardware flow control, error control and compression.

Note that RAS itself offers a software compression mechanism. The use of this feature is mutually exclusive with hardware (modem) compression. Make sure that you remember to disable software compression in the Options menu of the main RAS window if you plan to enable modem-based compression.

The first time you connect to the server, you'll see a message box telling you that the connection was successful and to proceed as if you were directly connected to the network. This is true--almost. There are some idiosyncrasies you should be aware of when using a remote connection. These have to do with browsing.

Some browsing quirks

Browsing under a PTP connection differs from doing so under a direct connection in two ways. First, it's slower. You'll have to get used to waiting awhile when you browse. For this reason, it's probably wise to turn off the Always Browse option in the Connect Network Drive dialog (you can get to this from File Manager). The second difference is that you will not see the workgroup of the machine you're connected to. You must know the machine's name before you can access it. To make a network drive connection to the server machine, type its name directory into the dialog, preceded by two slashes, as follows:

//MACHINE_NAME

Once you've done this, you'll be able to see the remote workgroup and the server in it. Your machine will now have access to the server's resources, and vice versa. You'll also be able to use Chat and NetDDE, and anything that runs over Microsoft NetBIOS.

You might find that you can't browse at all, but instead get a Not Enough Memory message box. RAS uses some memory from the global heap, so the amount of base memory you have available will have an effect on RAS. Fortunately, there's a number of things you can try that will help you get RAS running right again.

First, close any applications you can do without. This alone may solve the problem. If not, open Control Panel and double-click on the Drivers icon. Check to see if you have any stray multimedia drivers around, and remove any you won't use. Finally, at the DOS prompt, optimize the memory you have available. Eliminate any unnecessary DOS drivers. Do you need a mouse in DOS? If you don't, get rid of the mouse driver.

Troubleshooting tips

The RAS client offers a couple of ways to monitor the status of your connection. First, when you launch RAS, you'll see an applet that resembles the status lights of a modem. The window is configurable: You can set it to stay on top, and you can set it to make a sound when data comes in and goes out. The sound is handy for troubleshooting, but it might drive you crazy if you use it all the time.

The second way to check on your session is to press the Status button in the main RAS window. This invokes the Port Status dialog, which provides useful information about the amount of data that has crossed the connection, and the number and type of errors. It also has a scroll box so you can read messages from the modem.

In general, you'll find that PTP connections are well behaved, but sometimes a modem will act up. If you experience problems with your connection, here are some things to try:

•	Perform a cold boot. If you're using an internal modem, power off your machine for several seconds and then restart it. This just might fix the problem.

•	Change the initialization string. Some modems don't get along with others. Often you can resolve the conflict by using the proper initialization string. These vary with the manufacturer and even among models. Call the manufacturers of the modems involved for help.

•	Use backups of PROTOCOL.INI. The RAS connection is treated as a network connection and uses the PROTOCOL.INI file. This file is modified each time you change your modem, and a backup file with a numerical extension is always created. If you go from a working setup to a nonworking one, you may be able to pinpoint the problem by trying backup files with successively lower numbers until it starts working again.

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration Inc., an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. Contact Jeffrey care of Editor in the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange on AOL.


eNTerprise Windows: All About Daytona's New Network Support

By: JOHN RULEY

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Now that I've spent some time playing with Daytona (the code name for Windows NT 3.5), I'm really starting to like what I see. In addition to better performance and more efficient memory use, network support has improved a lot--especially where TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is concerned.

Even if you aren't planning to use NT yourself, you'll benefit from an understanding of the TCP/IP support in Daytona. For one thing, it applies to anyone using Windows on the Internet (in other words, just about everyone these days.) And for another thing, support for some of what I'm about to describe will actually be built into Chicago (Windows 4.0).

As the only fully rout-able protocol that NT supports, TCP/IP is absolutely critical for enterprise-wide operations. (It's also the network plumbing under the Internet). Admittedly, I had some harsh things to

say about the poor implementation of TCP/IP in NT 3.1. I cringed at the absence of a telnet daemon, the excessively complex installation, and especially the need to maintain text-based HOSTS and LMHOSTS lists to associate IP addresses with symbolic names.

Well, all that has changed. Daytona's TCP/IP support is arguably the most sophisticated (and in some important ways, easiest to use) TCP/IP available for any server operating system.

This.that.and.the.other.thing

Anyone familiar with IP should get a chuckle from that heading. The essence of IP-based networking is the famous dotted 32-bit network address, where the numbers identify the network class, I.D. number, segment and device. To get the idea, consider the following example. The MIPS R-4000 Server that runs Daytona in my office has the address:

192.155.39.20

where 192.155 identifies CMP Publications' class C corporate network, 39 identifies the WINDOWS Magazine segment, and 20 is the network address of my system. Of course, it's a pain to remember all that, so I have this address mapped to the symbolic name mips1. To access the ftp service running on mips1 over telnet, I can type:

open mips1

instead of remembering to open 192.155.39.20. Now here's the magic question: How does NT's TCP/IP know that mips1 means 192.155.39.20?

Under Windows NT 3.1, to make this association you have to use two text files: HOSTS and LMHOSTS, both in the WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC directory. The first file associates names with addresses for basic TCP/IP use (ftp and telnet); the second does the same thing for Microsoft networking (Windows NT, Windows for Workgroups and LAN Manager). Both files are required because the NT TCP/IP implementation, which is ported from LAN Manager, basically puts an IP "wrapper'' around NetBIOS-style Server Message Blocks (SMBs). The files have a simple format: The numeric IP address is associated with a name, and, optionally, a comment (indicated by a pound sign). For example:

192.155.39.20 mips1

#Daytona Server in JDR's Office

You can use lots of tricks with the HOSTS and LMHOSTS files: Special directives let you preload certain addresses, and you can include one file in the other. But at the core, managing TCP/IP under Windows NT 3.1 amounts to keeping all the information in these files straight--a royal pain in the neck.

Why? First of all, each NT workstation using TCP/IP has to have its very own IP address. Any time someone moves, you have to update that person's address and any references to it in the HOSTS and LMHOSTS files. (Remember, every NT system is capable of functioning as a server, so in a sense they're all hosts.) Second, each NT server using TCP/IP has to have the addresses of every other server or router it regularly communicates with. So, whenever you add or move a server, you have to update the files on all the other servers.

If you really want a nightmare, think about the implications of a mobile NT user on TCP/IP. Now you might need more than one set of files, depending on what location the NT system's being used from. There just has to be a better way!

DHCP and WINS

In Daytona, there is a better way--it's called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Basically, one NT-based server on each local network functions as an IP address manager, maintaining a central database of IP addresses for all the other systems on the net. When anyone with a DHCP-compatible system logs on, that system broadcasts a message to the DHCP server announcing its presence, and the DHCP server then assigns it an IP address. Because the address management is all done on the DHCP server, you don't need to set an IP address on any workstation. This makes administering the system much easier.

DHCP is built into the Server (formerly Advanced Server) edition of Windows NT 3.5. It's installed as part of the TCP/IP installation process from Control Panel/Networks. Once the installation is complete and the computer is rebooted, you have a new Network Administration group in Program Manager that contains an icon for the DHCP Manager program.

Double-clicking on that icon brings up the DHCP Manager application. There you can select which IP addresses are available to (and excluded from) dynamic assignment, define a default subnet mask for your local subnetwork (called a DHCP "scope''), determine how long a "lease'' on an IP address will last, and set a whole plethora of other options. You can even create your own options. All this information is stored on the DHCP server in a 32-bit version of Microsoft's JET database (the one used in MS Access).

With the DHCP server set up, when you install a new client, you don't have to assign it an IP address or subnet mask. Instead, you just click on the Enable Automatic DHCP Configuration option in the TCP/IP Configuration dialog, and the rest is done for you. This sure beats assigning a full IP address on every workstation. And using DHCP has the added benefit of working regardless of what kind of network connection you use. Whether the workstation logs on through a direct LAN connection or with Remote Access Services (RAS), DHCP will automatically take care of the IP address. This is a big step forward for mobile users.

But it's only half the story. DHCP will automatically assign a numerical IP address, but it still leaves you needing to associate the numerical address with a symbolic name. And, because the numerical addresses change, you can't use the old HOSTS and LMHOSTS approach with a DHCP client. So where do the names come from?

The answer is Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), which is as big a step forward as DHCP where symbolic names are concerned. Like DHCP, WINS is a network-wide service that's run from one (or more) servers on the local subnet. It's set up on a Windows NT 3.5 server as part of the TCP/IP protocol setup, and installs a WINS Manager icon in the Network Administrator group.

Double-click on that icon to bring up the WINS Administrator application. The top-level display on this program shows you statistical data on how the WINS server's been functioning. By selecting appropriate menu items you can add, edit and delete static mapping of symbolic names to addresses (necessary for systems that require a permanent IP address assignment); backup, restore or scavenge (clean up) the database; and control database replication with other WINS servers.

You don't have to do anything special to control dynamic mapping of symbolic names to IP addresses. WINS does this automatically whenever a workstation makes a connection, using the computer name assigned during Windows NT setup. It's all automatic--and it works perfectly with DHCP. No HOSTS or LMHOSTS file setup, no manual tracking of which name is assigned to which address. The server handles all that for you. Slick!

You can also use DHCP with a network card that supports a DHCP-compatible boot ROM to support diskless workstations running Windows, Windows for Workgroups or Chicago (but not Windows NT, which requires a local hard disk). Both DHCP and WINS expose Performance Monitor objects, so you can do extensive performance tracking and debugging on them, just like you can on the other network elements in NT. A new IPCONFIG utility lets you check TCP/IP operations from the NT command line.

In addition, Daytona's implementation of Remote Access Services (RAS) has been upgraded to support remote TCP/IP connections using Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) or Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP). Support's also been added for accessing PostScript or plain-text printers over TCP/IP, among other things. But the main thing to know is that Daytona's TCP/IP is way ahead of NT 3.1's.

Did I mention that it's also much faster? The TCP/IP (and, for that matter, the NetWare-compatible IPX/SPX) protocol in Windows NT 3.1 was built on a streams-based model that was no speed demon. The new implementation is significantly better.

And, by the way, you don't have to administer DHCP and WINS from the server console. As with all of Windows NT's other administration tools, you can run the DHCP and WINS administration applications remotely from any other NT system--even from a remote location, such as your home--via RAS.

Connecting to non-NT TCP/IP

Long-time TCP/IP users will no doubt wonder where Microsoft gets off defining new and different ways to connect with TCP/IP. After all, there already are standards for much of this: BOOTP protocol for automatic IP address assignment, Domain Name Service (DNS) for associating symbolic names with IP addresses, Name File Service (NFS) for file sharing.

All true. Fortunately, you can use Windows NT with all of them--almost all of them. NT doesn't support BOOTP, but then DHCP is an extension of BOOTP. As for DNS, it's still supported (as are HOSTS and LMHOSTS) as an alternative to WINS for name resolution.

And while Microsoft itself isn't supplying NFS for NT, it's now available from three sources: NetManage (408-973-7171, sales@netmanage.com) has had a 32-bit version of Chameleon NFS out for quite a while, and both Intergraph (800-345-4856, 205-730-5372) and Beame & Whiteside (919-831-8989, fax 919-831-8990) now have kernel-level NFS running for Windows NT. The last two products are implemented on the server as multithreaded NT services and on the client as installable file systems, which makes NFS as tightly integrated and easy to use as the Windows NT file manager and command prompt.

So, you're probably asking, why do we need DHCP and WINS? BOOTP and DNS are static, meaning they always associate a fixed IP address with a specific workstation, and in turn assign a name to that. There is no notion of an IP address "lease,'' and neither system is fully workable in a mobile environment. That's bad.

Worse, using BOOTP and DNS requires a lot of IP addresses--one for every workstation. Unfortunately, the supply of IP addresses is fixed, and the growth of the Internet means that those addresses are rapidly being used up. The beauty of DHCP/WINS is that it requires you to have only as many IP addresses as you have users logged in at once. If you have 20 workstations but only 10 use TCP/IP at any one time, then DHCP/WINS requires only 10 addresses.

Not quite perfect

With all that said, I am irked by one feature of Daytona TCP/IP: HOSTS and LMHOSTS are still plain-text files in WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC. Granted, most users will never mess with these files, given all the wonderful alternatives. Still, I think this is a silly way of handling static IP address and symbolic name assignment. What makes this particularly annoying is that there's one place where you still have to use HOSTS and LMHOSTS with Daytona TCP/IP, even if you've enabled DHCP and WINS. You have to use them on the DHCP and WINS servers!

With such a fine job done otherwise, is it too much to ask for HOSTS and LMHOSTS to be moved into the registry where they belong?

Oh well -- two out of three's not really so bad!

John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor-at-large and resident Windows NT expert. His first book, Networking Windows NT (1993, John Wiley) is now available at larger bookstores nationwide. Contact John at on AOL in the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange

SIDEBAR-How Daytona Eases System Administration

Windows NT 3.5 (Daytona) includes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), which you manage from the application shown here. DHCP "leases'' IP addresses to workstations dynamically, eliminating the need to assign a fixed address on each workstation. DHCP client support will be built in to Windows 4.0 (Chicago).

Once you've set up a DHCP server on your network, you can configure workstations simply by checking the Enable Automatic DHCP Configuration box. You can also have the workstation query a WINS server for name resolution, rather than relying on the HOSTS and LMHOSTS files or DNS.

Windows Internet Name Services (WINS) in Daytona assigns symbolic names to systems on TCP/IP networks. In contrast to Domain Name Service (DNS) on UNIX systems, WINS assigns names and IP addresses dynamically, supporting mobile users. Chicago will have built-in WINS client support.


Programming Windows: Arm Yourself with Open GL Graphics

By: MARTIN HELLER

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

"Mick, give him your wallet!''

"What for?''

"He's got a knife!''

"That's not a knoife. That's a knoife.''

As you probably know, at this point in Crocodile Dundee, the mugger drops his pathetic little switchblade and runs away.

Windows GDI graphics start looking like the mugger's switchblade when you compare them with workstation graphics--the sort of smooth-shaded renderings with light sources, shadows and texture mapping that you see on Silicon Graphics machines, and in movies like Terminator 2. Those graphics are often done using the OpenGL libraries. I've long been envious of programmers with access to that kind of power.

Well, now I have a "knoife.'' I'm here to tell you that OpenGL is built into Windows NT starting with Daytona (the code name for Windows NT 3.5). If you have any interest in writing 3-D graphics applications for Windows NT, there's cause for rejoicing. But don't open the champagne just yet. High-end graphics software demands high-end hardware: You need a fast CPU and FPU and lots of memory, and hardware acceleration of the graphics isn't a bad idea, either.

You can do the graphics on an ordinary 486 with an ordinary 8-bit video card, and the results are acceptable, but you need a lot of patience. On the other hand, the right hardware is available right now, and it makes all the difference in the world. Check out OpenGL running on a Mips R4600, a DEC Alpha AXP, an IDT Orion R4400, or a serious Pentium-90 machine, and you'll see what I mean. If the machine has accelerated 24-bit color and a Z-buffer, even better.

Such machines were demonstrated at Spring Comdex by Intergraph (800-345-4856, 205-730-5372). Dubbed personal workstations, the top-of-the-line versions come with dual 90MHz Pentium chips, gobs of memory, and advanced 3-D graphics subsystems. The net result is essentially real-time OpenGL rendering. It's something you have to see to believe.

Using OpenGL

To learn and work with OpenGL, you'll probably want to pick up copies of the OpenGL Programming Guide by Jackie Neider, Tom Davis and Mason Woo, also referred to as "the red book'' ($34.95, ISBN 0-201-63274-8), and the OpenGL Reference Manual by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, also known as "the blue book'' ($32.95, ISBN 0-201-63276-4). If you need some general background on graphics and rendering, try Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice by Foley, van Dam, Feiner and Hughes ($68.95, ISBN 0-201-12110-7). (All three books are published by Addison-Wesley, 800-358-4566, 617-944-3700 x2614.)

Although you could learn to use the 115 OpenGL functions, the 43 functions in the OpenGL Utility Library, and the 31 functions in the OpenGL Programming Guide Auxiliary Library without the two OpenGL books, you'd be working at a disadvantage. The source code from the books has been ported to NT and ships with the software development kit, but reading the code without the explanations is something of a chore.

The NT implementation of OpenGL adds six new WGL APIs that connect OpenGL to the Windows NT windowing system, and five new Win32 APIs that support per-window pixel formats and double buffering of windows for OpenGL graphics windows. You can learn about these from the NT sample code and help files.

OpenGL proper includes functions for the following things: drawing geometric shapes; manipulating pixels, bitmaps, fonts and images; defining and using viewing and matrix transformations, including clipping planes; applying texture mapping; defining and using display lists; compositing using accumulation buffers; color; evaluators and NURBS (nonuniform rational B-splines); lighting, including reflection, refraction and shadows; user selection and feedback; and blending, anti-aliasing and fog. OpenGL functions have names that start with gl, such as glBegin, glEnd, glClear, glShadeModel and glViewport.

The OpenGL Utility Library includes functions for creating solid and surface object models and doing high-level transformations. Utility library functions start with glu, as in gluCylinder, gluBeginSurface, gluEndSurface, gluLookA, gluPerspective and gluSphere.

The OpenGL Programming Guide Auxiliary Library has utility functions and macros along with solid and wireframe model generation routines, prefixed with aux, such as auxWireSphere, auxSolidSphere, auxWireTorus and auxSolidTeapot(!). The auxiliary library also has some functions to manage windows, events and background processes, but Microsoft suggests that you shouldn't use these for production code.

OpenGL on NT

Since OpenGL originated on Silicon Graphics UNIX workstations, it originally interacted with X Windows, using the GLX functions. Obviously that won't work on Windows NT.

The basic link between OpenGL and the Windows NT windowing system is the rendering context. Use the new Win32 function wglCreateContext to create a rendering context compatible with a given device context, and wglMakeCurrent to associate a rendering context to a given thread's device context, as shown in the box at the top of this column.

You can control some of the properties of a rendering context by defining the pixel format of its associated device context before you create the rendering context, using the new SetPixelFormat function and the PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR structure. The pixel format, which applies only to OpenGL, determines whether the pixel buffer is single or double buffered, and whether the pixel data is in RGBA or color-indexed form. It also sets the number of bits used to store color data, the number of bits used for the depth (z-axis) buffer, the number of bits used for the stencil buffer, and various visibility masks.

Double buffering allows smooth animation. The front buffer is the screen and the back buffer is a bitmap. The SwapBuffers function makes the back buffer the front buffer and leaves the back buffer contents undefined. If the current context is not double buffered, the SwapBuffers call has no effect.

A few gotchas

Although OpenGL on other platforms also allows for right and left buffers (for stereo graphics), overlay and underlay buffers (for sprites and scenes), alpha bitplanes and auxiliary buffers, the current implementation of OpenGL for Windows NT does not. You can have only two buffers, and at a price: You can't mix GDI graphics and OpenGL graphics in a window unless it's single buffered.

Why would you want to mix GDI and OpenGL graphics in the first place? Well, OpenGL doesn't offer much in the way of text display functions. GDI can display TrueType fonts quite nicely, not to mention the bitmapped fonts normally used in Windows. What's that? You wanted dialog balloons in your animated cartoons? And you wanted the cartoons to be animated smoothly?

There is a way--but it's a hack. It involves using the new Win32 function wglUseFontBitmaps to create a display list of glyph bitmaps, and then using the standard OpenGL function glCallLists to display the glyphs. The display list created acts as an index into glBitmap commands for the character glyphs. Use of this hack is shown in the box on the right.

Once you've drawn a masterpiece with an OpenGL program, you will no doubt want to print it. Of course you have a 24-bit color printer. What? You don't? You want to use your old LaserJet? Then you have another problem: OpenGL can't render to a printer device context with fewer than 4 bits of color per pixel.

Again, there's a hack you can use as a workaround. Create a memory device context compatible with your printer and use it for the OpenGL rendering. When the rendering is complete, blit from the memory bitmap to the printer using StretchDIBits, BitBlt or a similar API.

Suppose you want to write a graphics editing program using OpenGL. You'll want to support OLE, DDE, metafiles and Clipboard. How could you edit without Clipboard?

Sorry. No such luck. OpenGL doesn't support any of these things yet. But once again, there's a hack: You can create a memory device context compatible with the screen, render to the memory DC, and put the resulting bitmap on Windows' Clipboard. After you have that device-dependent memory bitmap, you could also convert it to a DIB (you'll find more information about this in my book, Advanced Win32 Programming), include it in a metafile, or send it somewhere using DDE or OLE. The hack isn't elegant, but it works. Maybe the next version of OpenGL will have more complete integration with the rest of the NT services.

More graphics: DIBs redux

Regular readers of this column know that I've written a lot of code, with a fair amount of pain, to work with DIBs. It isn't all obsolete, but a lot of the contortions I went through are no longer necessary as of Daytona and Chicago.

First of all, the new CreateDIBSection function creates a DIB that your application can write to directly. The function returns a bitmap handle, and it also gives you a pointer to the location of the bitmap's bit values, so you don't have to try to wade through the headers and palette to find the bits. You can supply a handle to a file mapping object for CreateDIBSection to use for creating the bitmap. This means you can create a DIB on disk just as if it were in memory (which is important for big, high-resolution, true-color images), or you can let the operating system allocate the memory for the bitmap.

Later, you can find out the characteristics of a DIB created by calling GetObject with the DIB handle, which will fill in a DIBSECTION structure for you. The DIBSECTION structure contains all the information about the DIB--stuff that used to take a lot of work to get.

You can select the DIB into a Daytona or Chicago memory device context, just as you've always been able to select a device-dependent bitmap into a memory DC, and as you used to do in a limited way in Windows 3.x with the old DIB driver. Once you have this DIB memory DC, you can use GDI calls (and probably OpenGL calls, although I haven't tested this) to create an image in the DIB. Call GdiFlush to force all your GDI calls to appear in the bitmap. Finally, blit from the DIB DC to a screen DC to display the image. The DIB DC acts in this case much like the OpenGL back buffer, except that the DIB DC retains its contents after a BitBlt or StretchBlt, and the OpenGL back buffer's contents are undefined after a SwapBuffer.

This combination of CreateDIBSection, selecting the DIB into a memory DC, and blitting to the screen is an efficient way to do animation. On NT, especially, it's a lot faster than using StretchDIBits or SetDIBitsToDevice, because the GDI system can shortcut or cache the time-consuming operations.

If you need to change the palette of a DIB after it has been created and selected into a DC, use SetDIBColorTable. To retrieve the current palette of a DIB selected into a DC, use GetDIBColorTable. Again, you don't have to walk through the headers--these functions let you get at the color table directly. Note, however, that DIBs with more than 8 bits per pixel don't have palettes as such.

Another, complementary way of displaying DIBs comes to us from Video for Windows, which is built into both Chicago and Daytona. The core API to use is DrawDibDraw, which provides much of the functionality of StretchDIBits and adds Installable Compression Manager (ICM) support, improved stretching capabilities, and improved support of low-end display adapters. The DrawDib functions also efficiently dither true-color images to 256 colors, and dither 8-bit images on 16-color VGA displays. CreateDIBSection and the DIB DC are good for creating DIBs programmatically and displaying them quickly. The DrawDib functions are a high-level way of displaying predefined, possibly compressed DIBs quickly. DIB sections are the preferred way to display DIBs in Chicago and Daytona; DrawDib is the best way to display DIBs in Windows 3.x and NT 3.1.

By the way, there is a second technology in Chicago (but not Daytona) called ICM. In this case it stands for Image Color Matching, and it's licensed from Kodak. Image Color Matching resides in ICM32.DLL; support for Installable Compression Managers is part of Video for Windows and resides primarily in drivers. For now, we won't really worry about either one. The DrawDib functions take care of using Installable Compression Managers automatically, and Image Color Matching is a refinement for WYSIWYG color that I'll probably cover on its own at a later date.

Before you can use any other DrawDib functions, you need to use DrawDibOpen to initialize the DrawDib library and open a DrawDib device context. Then, for basic display, use DrawDibDraw to copy any 8-, 16-, 24- or 32-bit DIB of the DIB_RGB_COLORS format to the screen. Note that DrawDibDraw does not have multiple raster operation (ROP) codes like StretchDIBits--it supports only SRCCOPY mode.

If you need to refresh a DIB image in response to WM_PAINT, you can do so with DrawDibUpdate. You'll also need to be aware of palette changes. In response to WM_PALETTECHANGED, your application should invalidate the destination window to let DrawDib redraw. In response to WM_QUERYNEWPALETTE, your application uses DrawDibRealize to realize the palette.

DrawDibBegin is called implicitly by DrawDibDraw; you can optimize your display speed by calling DrawDibBegin explicitly and setting the DDF_SAME_HDC flag for DrawDibDraw. If you want to stream a lot of DIBs to the screen, call DrawDibStart before the sequence of DIBs, and DrawDibStop after the stream has ended. Finally, when you're all done drawing DIBs, use DrawDibClose to close and clean up the DrawDib device context. Any questions?

Next month, we'll practice our sheepwalking.

When Martin Heller isn't watching movies, he dabbles in programming, writing and consulting. You can contact Martin at mheller@bix.com or care of Editorin the WINDOWS Magazine Message Exchange on AOL.

PROGRAMMMING BOX-THE BAREST OF OPENGL SKELETONS

HDC hdc; //device context

HGLRC hglrc; //rendering context

// create a rendering context

hglrc = wglCreateContext (hdc);

// make it the calling thread's

// current rendering context

wglMakeCurrent (hdc, hglrc);

// call OpenGL APIs as desired ...

...

// make the rendering context

// not current

wglMakeCurrent (NULL, NULL);

// delete the rendering context

wglDeleteContext (hglrc);

PROGRAMMING BOX--A HACK TO DRAW TEXT IN A DOUBLE-BUFFERED RENDERING CONTEXT

// choose the system font

SelectObject (hdc, GetStockObject

(SYSTEM_FONT));

// create the bitmap display lists

// we're making images of glyphs

// 0 thru 255

// the display list numbering

// starts at 1000,

// an arbitrary choice

wglUseFontBitmaps (hdc, 0, 255,

1000);

// display a string:

// indicate start of glyph

// display lists

glListBase (1000);

// now draw the characters

// in a string

glCallLists (24, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE,

"Hello Win32 OpenGL World");


Letters: Sep 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IS: AT WHOSE SERVICE?

On one hand I applaud, and on the other I question, the proposal by Cheryl Currid in her June Windows at Work column. The proposal was to keep all corporate computer users at the most current level of software so the company can "stay on top of technology.''

I applaud the position because, as a user, I love to get the newest versions of software. I question it because of the cost. As software vendors come out with new versions, they add features that increase hardware requirements. It is as expensive to upgrade an older system as it is to purchase a new 486, so now we are looking at buying a new computer when we upgrade software.

The bottom line for a company is: Will the new version boost productivity?

Mel McElroy

Bellevue, Wash.

We are a Microsoft Office shop and have decided not to upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Office because of the unsatisfactory compatibility between the versions of the software.

For example, Word 2.0 and 6.0 use different formats to save files. Yes, 6.0 will automatically transform the 2.0 file to the new version, but it is not perfect. Also, there is an additional step to save the 6.0 files to the 2.0 format. Again, this conversion to the old format is not perfect. These conversion problems force the user to convert and re-enter problem data. Because of this basic problem, the only way to go is to upgrade the entire company, since every isolated case of incompatibility will cause problems that will be compounded.

Before you ride the big corporation on its slowness to upgrade, demand that manufacturers produce software upgrades ready for use in the real world.

Charles Robles

Irvine, Calif.

If the IS department overspends and appears too slow, it's because both it and its customers have become intoxicated by high-tech advertising, and the bells and whistles of overgrown, expensive products straining to produce routine documents under the weight of feature overkill. Such an organization needs to stop supplying the software-addicted users with a new fix every few weeks, and get back to the basics of helping their customers perform those tasks that will bring in revenue using tried-and-true workhorse applications.

Tom Raynor

via America Online

A "RISCy'' ENDEAVOR?

In your analysis article, "PowerPC: Should Win Users Believe the Hype?'' (News, May 1994), your argument that porting OS/2 to a RISC chip would only increase compatibility problems completely ignored the purpose of IBM's Workplace OS. Workplace OS is a system specifically intended to end emulation problems by building a back-end operating system for each chip and a "personality module'' that allows the user to run Windows, OS/2, UNIX or any other operating environment on top of the chip-level module. Windows itself is the same, except it runs on top of a clumsy, outmoded operating system designed for 16-bit, 4.77 MHz chips.

Yugo Nakai

Columbus, Ga.

THE HOUNDS OF HYPERBOLE

I want to make readers who only scanned your June report on the 1994 Reader's Choice Awards aware that Microsoft products were given a level of endorsement uncalled for, given their relatively narrow leads.

The article states in the e-mail category that "the message we got from our respondents was loud and clear: Top honors to Microsoft Mail.'' The sentence implies that MS Mail had a strong lead and is the only e-mail product to consider. However, the product only "squeaked in a few points ahead of Lotus cc:Mail.''

The report on business presentation graphics claims that "PowerPoint commanded a strong lead.'' Again, this implies that PowerPoint is the no-brainer choice in this category. Actually, both Harvard Graphics and Lotus Freelance were only "about 10 points behind the winner''--not a strong lead.

Microsoft euphoria is inappropriate in a professional computer news periodical.

Aaron Green

via the Internet

32 BITS AND PIECES

The cover story on Windows for Workgroups 3.11 ("The Fastest Windows Ever,'' June 1994) ended several weeks of extreme frustration for me. I had inserted the line NoEMMDriver=On in the appropriate place in SYSTEM.INI over a year ago, as advised in an article in another magazine. Without reading your article, I never would have suspected the true cause of my inability to achieve 32-bit file access with this upgrade.

Among the several suggestions on local BBS boards was the theory that if WFWG were on a condensed drive, the permanent swap file also had to be on one. Thanks to your article, I avoided testing this theory, but I had tried four different disk controllers based on the message produced by the program.

What a pity this article was not in your May issue!

Harold Hudd

Richmond, B.C.

Thirty-two-bit disk and file access give modest speed-up to some application start-ups. Unfortunately, they also add lazy-write. I will not trust lazy-write caching. I must use the undocumented disable feature in [386Enh], ForceLazyOff=c. Once I do that, DOS applications slow by possibly two or three orders of magnitude, astoundingly slow even on a Pentium 60.

Conclusion: Forget about 32-bit access. Tiny time improvements mixed with data jeopardy and/or horrible speed reductions are not acceptable. Accept WFWG 3.11, though. It seems to do better file sharing, and it's good to have in place for pending networks.

Dan Veselitza

via the Internet

A LITTLE COMMON SENSE, PLEASE

I began using portable PCs when they weighed in at around 30 pounds. They are a real pleasure today compared with those versions. I never experienced the horror stories [Michael McDermott] writes about (Dialog Box, June 1994). The secret is to use a little common sense.

Portables are no more prone to theft than unlocked automobiles, unattended wallets, unlocked house doors. I disagree that portables are notoriously fragile. They require only reasonable care. I drink coffee while I work on my computer, but I set my cup down away from the keyboard, so if I accidentally knock the drink over, the keyboard won't be ruined.

I believe that manufacturers should continue to improve portables, but not in the areas you write about. Instead, they should increase battery life, and provide scan capability at a reasonable cost, more memory, larger hard disks, faster screens, and less time moving data between CPU and hard disk.

Bill Balter

Tampa, Fla.

TAKING PIMS PERSONALLY

I just finished reading the article on PIMs ("In Search of the Perfect PIM,'' June 1994). I am disappointed that you did not include Arabesque's ECCO in your comparisons. The current prices on both the Simplicity and Professional editions fall within the price range of the PIMs in the article.

I have used Simplicity since last December, and I think it performs quite well. It has most of the features you listed in the other software packages, plus a couple of features unique to Ecco, like the Shooter. .

Bill Randolph

Grand Junction, Colo.

[Editor's note: Check out this issue's review of full-featured PIMs. Because of the large number of PIMs available and the disparity of their feature sets, we decided early in the planning process to divide the products into two subsets, entry-level PIMs, which appeared in the June issue, and full-featured PIMs, which is in this issue. Ecco falls into the latter category, and this issue's review gives details on Ecco Professional 2.0, the latest release.--DG]

Corrections

In our review of Lotus SmarText ("Picture-Perfect Presentations,'' May 1994), we inaccurately reported the number of files the Builder can include when creating a document; the number should have read 1,000.

In our First Impressions coverage of The FilmPrinter turbo PC from Mirus Industries (May 1994), we incorrectly identified the provider of Professional Output Manager (POM). The provider's name is Visual Business Systems.

In our July cover story ("Windows 4.0 Revealed!''), we mentioned Microsoft's Windows News Service on CompuServe (GO WIN_NEWS), where readers can obtain additional information on Chicago. The correct CompuServe command is GO WINNEWS (without the underscore).

In our July New Products section ("Database Software''), we listed an incorrect phone number for Oracle's server division. The correct number is 800-672-2531.

We want to hear from you. Please send letters, including a daytime phone number at which you can be reached, to: Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753, or by e-mail to 5648326@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


News: Sept. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

WINDOWS TO SPORT BUILT-IN FAXING

By: Jim Forbes

Chicago, Microsoft's forthcoming version of Windows, includes an applet that should make faxing a natural part of Windows computing.

The applet, to be called Microsoft Fax on File, was pioneered in a Windows for Workgroups utility, and is similar to Delrina Corp.'s WinFax Lite. It lets users send and receive faxes and, when used with other applets, lets users store and call up the addresses of frequently faxed phone numbers. "Our goals are to provide all users [of client Windows] with faxing capabilities right out of the box,'' said Suzan Fine, a Microsoft group product manager, "And to make faxing easier.''

Microsoft's move to make fax support an integral part of Windows will hurt sales of some fax applications in the short term, but it's a big win for users, said Tim Callan, product manager for WinFax 4.0 at Delrina Corp. in Toronto, Canada. "First, it should eliminate problems with modem incompatibility, since virtually all modem vendors will now make sure their hardware works with Microsoft's software drivers. Second, it establishes a base-level industry standard for fax software. And, finally, it should stimulate PC makers into incorporating high-speed fax modems on their motherboards,'' Callan added.

To make all this possible, Microsoft will ensure that all of its applications use a Microsoft Mail-enabled MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface). Microsoft also will make it easier to send and receive fax information as binary data files, not just bitmaps.

"One of the things most users of Microsoft Fax on File don't realize is that it's capable of transmitting information as a binary file when it's connected to another Microsoft at Work-compatible device,'' the Microsoft product manager said. "We believe this is a messaging medium, not just a method of sending bitmaps,'' Ms. Fine added.

While the number of such At Work devices is today very small, most peripheral makers have said they will support the Microsoft at Work software architecture in the future. Delrina's latest fax products also allow users to send and receive fax transmissions as binary files.

Ms. Fine said Microsoft has no plans to develop a fax software package for its communications server products. In the future it is likely that Microsoft will add new capabilities to Fax on File to allow user customization, and to allow third-party software developers to add their own user interfaces. Other new functionality will be added to enhance other MAPI-compliant applications, Ms. Fine said.

VOICE COMMANDS LET USERS TELL WINDOWS WHAT TO DO

By: Hailey Lynne McKeefry

Speech recognition has finally migrated from workstations and DOS PCs to the Windows environment. The market is suddenly flooded with products that will make your PC listen when you talk. "Speech recognition has gone from being fairly expensive niche market technology to one that is widely available for people who have Windows,'' said John Oberteuffer, vice president of new business development at Voice Processing Corp.

There are two main categories of speech recognition products. Command and control products use voice commands to implement functions normally controlled by the mouse or keyboard. Such products include Listen 2.0 from Verbex Voice Systems and Voice Companion from Kolvox Communications. Dictation systems transcribe the words you speak into text. Two Windows dictation systems are available: Dragon Systems Inc. introduced its DragonDictate 1.0 in June, while Kurzweil Voice Systems began shipping Kurzweil Voice 1.0. IBM plans to introduce a Windows dictation system similar to the currently available OS/2 product.

Voice control lets users issue complex commands quickly. "You can bypass many mouse clicks or keystrokes with a single word or phrase,'' said Eric Nahm of Verbex Voice Systems. "It is useful for professionals who use programs like CorelDRAW or AutoCAD, which have complex command structures.''

These systems are used mainly by physically challenged people who cannot use the computer keyboard and mouse. Before voice-controlled computers become common, voice input has to become more accessible. "Voice is an alternate input mechanism that should be easier to use than mouse, keyboard or pen,'' said Nahm.

The first improvement would be a move toward continuous speech, or speech that has words run together without noticeable pauses. Many command and control products support continuous speech, but most dictation systems use discreet technology. Discreet technology requires a slight pause (about one-sixth to one-tenth of a second) between each spoken word. "Discrete speech is a very unnatural way of speaking,'' said William Meisel, an independent speech recognition consultant.

The second hurdle is "speaker independence,'' which allows anyone to use a voice-controlled computer without training it to his voice patterns. Because only a limited number of words are used, many command and control systems do a good job with only minimal user voice training. However, the dictation systems currently on the market require training (where the user repeats words to program his unique linguistic characteristics into the computer), before the system reaches 95 to 99 percent accuracy. Without training, the computer may not understand 10 percent or more of the words spoken. Training can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.

"We believe that speaker independence is extremely important to the acceptance of the technology,'' said Harley Rosnow, director of development at Kurzweil Applied Intelligence Inc., which makes a dictation system.

MICROSOFT RESTATES SQL SERVER COMMITMENT

By: Paul E. Schindler Jr.

As WINDOWS Magazine went to press, Microsoft wasn't sure when the next version of its SQL Server product would be ready, or how much it would cost. Despite a messy public "divorce'' from Sybase Corp., the company that codeveloped the present SQL Server product, the software will continue to be compatible with Sybase's own SQL implementation, among others, Microsoft said.

Jim Allchin, the Microsoft official in charge of SQL Server, told a recent meeting of users and analysts that Microsoft is "committed'' to this technology.

Microsoft has no plans for a Chicago-based single-user version of SQL Server. It also has no plans to upgrade the original, OS/2-based version. Allchin said, "We will sell and support OS/2, but plan no new products.''

As for upgrades, Allchin said flatly, "All of today's SQL Server applications will run on SQL Server 95,'' the code name for the next version. He also promised support for OLE 2.0 and Visual Basic.

MICROSOFT, STAC AGREE TO WORK TOGETHER

By: Philip Albinus

After months of bitter legal wrangling, Microsoft and Stac Electronics recently dropped lawsuits against one another and announced that Microsoft will license Stac's disk compression technology and acquire a stake in the company. The settlement ends hostilities between the two companies, but leaves open questions of which compression technology will be included in forthcoming Microsoft operating system upgrades.

Microsoft stunned Wall Street and the software industry by agreeing to pay Stac license royalties of $1 million a month for 43 months starting last July. Under the broad cross-licensing agreement, Microsoft will also buy a 15 percent stake in Stac.

At a joint Stac-Microsoft press conference, Microsoft declined to say which drive compression technology would appear in Chicago or Daytona, the next version of Windows NT. "We can't comment on which one will be in the next beta,'' said Paul Maritz, Microsoft vice president.

"Right now, Microsoft's plans include some sort of data compression in Chicago and Daytona,'' said Kathy Gill, a Microsoft spokesperson. "It's still too premature to tell. The [Chicago] beta doesn't have data compression right now,'' she added.

Both Microsoft and Stac stand to gain from the decision. "This alternative is better for the companies. Stac is interested in ending the litigation and the giant behemoth is no longer battling them in the courts,'' said Stephen McClellan, a Merrill Lynch analyst. "For Microsoft, this is a great benefit for them to use the technology and the financial aspects of the agreement are immaterial.''

NEW SOFTWARE BOOSTS PCMCIA SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY

By: Paul E. Schindler Jr.

A supplier of system software has taken another step on the rocky road to true PCMCIA card interoperability.

As anyone who has ever tried to match cards and computers knows, the PCMCIA card standard involves more than just cards and sockets. The computer's BIOS needs help understanding cards if they are to work at all, and reaching the Holy Grail of hot swapping (the ability to change cards without rebooting the computer) will require cooperation from the operating system. Hot swapping has been promised in Chicago.

The software that helps the BIOS understand PC Cards is called Card and Socket services. Most Card and Socket services in U.S. computers are supplied by Phoenix Technologies and Systemsoft, the two firms that supply most PC BIOS software. But Award Software International Inc. is trying an end run.

Card and Socket services under Phoenix and Systemsoft use a table lookup to decide what a card does and what resources it needs. The software needs to know about a card before it can work with it. Award's software, by contrast, actually looks at information on the card to configure it. Every PCMCIA card contains a Card Information Structure that contains information about the manufacturer, the card's function, and the resources it needs.

Today, the Card and Socket Services spec is sufficiently settled so that most cards that work with Phoenix's BIOS will work with Systemsoft's BIOS most of the time. As in the early days of personal computing, however, there is just enough "wiggle room'' in the spec to allow for incompatible implementations.

The PCMCIA card compatibility situation is better today than it was a year ago, and a year from now it will be better still. However, it still probably isn't a good idea to buy a PCMCIA card that isn't on your system vendor's approved list.

BATTERY MAKERS SEEK AN ALL-DAY CELL

By: Hailey Lynne McKeefry

The search for a full-day laptop battery has stimulated the development of promising new technologies like AER Energy Resources Inc.'s zinc-air cell. But battery manufacturers are also searching for ways to squeeze a full day's work out of more conventional designs.

Duracell International Inc. introduced its Smart Battery technology, which increases the life of its nickel metal hydride batteries through new, processor-assisted power management techniques.

The Smart Battery combines an Intel microprocessor (in the battery), a connector developed by AMP Inc., and power management software on the computer.

"The essence of the Smart Battery is that it has a built-in self-diagnostic system, [much like] a vital signs monitor, that monitors the state of health of the battery as it is used,'' said Harry Taylor, vice president of rechargeable batteries. "We believe you can make the computer run longer if you have more accurate information about state of charge of the battery,'' added Norman Allen, senior vice president of Duracell's New Products and Technology Division.

The battery creates and stores 34 different data sets, he said. The Smart Batteries, which will come in Duracell's four standard sizes, will be available to manufacturers in December, but won't be widely available until the first half of 1995, Allen said. Pricing for the new Smart Batteries has not been determined.

Apple Computer Corp. has created a similar technology for its PowerBook 500 series. Apple has offered its EverWatch power management software in its PowerBooks since 1992, but has added a processor card to the nickel metal hydride battery packs and an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) to the laptops, to create an intelligent interface between the battery and its host computer.

By more precisely measuring the amount of voltage coming out of the battery, the temperature and the number of times the battery has been recharged, the system provides an accurate view of how much battery life remains in the cell, according to Charlie Tritschler, Apple's PowerBook product manager.

RAM MOBILE TO SUPPORT WIRELESS MS E-MAIL

By: Jonathan Karl Matzkin

RAM Mobile Data, operator of a two-way, nationwide wireless messaging network, has announced support for Microsoft Exchange. RAM Mobile, which has previously provided wireless messaging support for Microsoft's MS-Mail Remote, said the announcement opens up a migration path for users moving to Exchange, Microsoft's next-generation messaging architecture. Wireless messaging is expected to become increasingly important.

RAM Mobile and Microsoft previously introduced Wireless Microsoft Mail Remote for Windows, which provided wireless messaging connectivity for MS Mail. Users can send and receive e-mail messages via RAM's network, through the combination of MS Mail and a wireless modem. "Extending wireless functionality to Microsoft Exchange is the logical next step,'' according to Rob Shjurtleff, general manager of the Microsoft Workgroup Solutions Product Unit.

"As they migrate to Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Mail Remote for Windows users can continue to rely on the transparent, seamless roaming and excellent coverage provided by RAM's networks,'' said Peter Manetti, RAM Mobile's vice president for wireless messaging.

TRADE GROUPS BATTLE SOFTWARE PIRACY ABROAD

By: Philip Albinus

The leading software trade groups are turning their attention overseas in an effort to stem the tide of international software piracy that depletes the software industry of an estimated $7 to $12 billion in losses each year.

Sandra Sellers, the new director of litigation for the Software Publishers Association, said the SPA will be concentrating on Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim in an effort to educate users about software piracy. The international program may culminate in litigation, but Sellers expects to concentrate on education and enforcement. Sellers has an uphill battle. "In some cultures, it's difficult to explain that an idea can be copyrighted and is seen as property,'' she said. "We need to continue in the educational effort.''

The Business Software Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group representing leading software manufacturers, has also turned its attention to the global software piracy problem. The BSA represents Aldus, Apple, Autodesk, Intergraph, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell and WordPerfect.

The BSA concentrates on public policy, education and enforcement, according to Diane Smiroldo, BSA's director of public affairs. Since 1988, the not-for-profit BSA has filed 500 lawsuits internationally and has taken thousands of other actions. All of the companies taken to court opted to settle out of court, said Smiroldo. "Companies that have been charged have cleaned up their act. They've paid a penalty, paid legal fees and purchased legitimate software.''

Smiroldo agreed with the SPA's Sellers that there are cultural hurdles. "It's socially acceptable behavior to copy software in some countries,'' she said. "With the education campaign, we teach people that this is theft. This [theft] is hitting large corporations but also local software development companies in their own countries. [We estimate that] 25 percent of local developers are not going to survive.''

UTILITY MAKER ANTICIPATES INDUSTRY MOVE TO CHICAGO

By: Paul E. Schindler Jr.

As the transition from Windows 3.x to Chicago nears, there are rumors of the imminent demise of utility vendors whose products will be duplicated or obsoleted by the new operating system. That may not happen. While Windows 3.x included a variety of applets and utilities, the new interface also generated a huge software aftermarket. Software vendors scrambled to provide services Microsoft "forgot'' or did not implement very well, such as memory management, compression or a usable program manager.

Since no single company, not even Microsoft, can provide everything every user wants and needs, Chicago will most likely mean new opportunities for savvy companies to produce companion or complementary products.

Quarterdeck Office Systems is sure Chicago will leave it some maneuvering room, and the firm is planning ahead. President Terry Myers said Quarterdeck has two main thrusts, and that both will survive the transition to Chicago. One is performance enhancement; the other is remote computing, exemplified by its existing DESQview/X product and a forthcoming Internet navigation product. Chicago won't wipe out the need for either type of product.

Although its flagship product, the QEMM memory manager, may be rendered redundant by Chicago, it may not necessarily be. "Microsoft says you don't need memory management with Windows. That is a crock. There will always be a limit on resources,'' Myers argued. Millions of QEMM users are testimony to Microsoft's error when it said, as it introduced Windows, that memory management was no longer necessary.

As for remote computing, Quarterdeck is eyeing opportunities beyond the communications Microsoft will build into Chicago. Quarterdeck's DESQview/X, based on the X Windows UNIX technology, "will be very important in the future,'' Myers said, because it allows "low-memory low-disk storage devices to act very capable. Hand-held devices, for example, should be using wireless communications and X technology.''

NEWS BITS-Compiled by Philip Albinus

•	Lotus cc:Mail and access to the Advantis Network will be bundled with all future models of the popular IBM ThinkPad notebook. The Advantis Network, using the IBM Mail Exchange Service, gives users the ability to route and navigate messages through different networks and e-mail systems. Advantis will waive up to $100 in e-mail messaging during the first 60 days of service. Lotus cc:Mail, the Windows-based e-mail package, supports the Advantis Network, and will include enhancements such as the ability to send a fax, look up users in the public directory and send messages on the Internet. IBM is offering customer support through the IBM HelpCenter. IBM also is loading Lotus Organizer, a Windows-based PIM, and Lotus ScreenCam, a multimedia tool that captures an application's screen activity for later playback, on the ThinkPads.

•	Micronics Computers Inc., a high-performance system board maker, and Orchid Technology, a video and graphics board manufacturer, announced that they will merge. Orchid will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Micronics, and no change in Orchid's management or operations is planned. "This merger represents a major step in our plan to diversify our product mix and marketing channels,'' noted Steve Kitrosser, Micronics chairman and chief executive officer.

•	All aboard! Microsoft Corp. and Scholastic Inc. have formed an alliance to develop a series of children's multimedia products and related activities. The first Microsoft-Scholastic collaboration, scheduled for release this fall, will be based on Scholastic's best-selling book series The Magic School Bus, which features the science teacher Ms. Frizzle and her students on a series of scientific and fun-filled adventures. Microsoft will also provide PCs and Scholastic's Magic School Bus software for a traveling Magic School Bus museum exhibit to be funded by the National Science Foundation.

•	Microsoft Corp. and Creative Technology have joined forces to develop audio and digital signal processing-based products. Under the agreement, Creative Technology will license the Windows Sound System software from Microsoft and Microsoft will license Sound Blaster 16 technology from Creative Technology. In the DSP-based development deal, Microsoft and Creative Technology will implement Microsoft's DSP Resource Manager and Interfaces, in order to provide a consistent method of accessing the resources of a DSP within future Microsoft operating systems. Microsoft will also include Creative Technology's Sound Blaster compatibility in its future products and Creative will include support for Microsoft Windows Sound System software on its forthcoming audio boards.

•	Microsoft signed a marketing and development agreement with Arbor Software Corp. to extend the links between Microsoft Excel and Arbor Essbase Analysis Server, an on-line analytical processing database server designed for business reporting and analysis. With Essbase, a user can consolidate large volumes of business data and dynamically analyze it from any perspective, from within Microsoft Excel. The agreement also allows Essbase, which runs on Windows NT-based servers, to continue to exploit the user interface and development environment available on current and future versions of Excel.

•	IBM is bundling the latest version of DiagSoft's QAPlus/Win, a diagnostic software tool, with its Performance Series of personal computers. When a customer calls the IBM HelpWare support professionals, the customer is instructed to run QAPlus/Win to help determine if the PC is suffering a hardware or a software problem.

•	SoftLinx has licensed Watermark Software's Watermark Explorer Edition and will include it in SoftLinx's new Replix for Windows fax management software. Replix for Windows lets Windows desktops view, annotate and route fax messages managed by the UNIX-based Replix fax server. Watermark Explorer Edition lets users add fax and scanned paper documents into Windows applications that support Microsoft's object linking and embedding (OLE).

•	Moore Corp. and JetForm Corp. formed a strategic alliance in the arena of automated forms processing. Moore acquired nearly 20 percent of JetForm's outstanding shares for an estimated $20 million and secured an option to increase ownership to 51 percent of JetForm over five years. Moore, a supplier of business forms and information handling systems, will distribute JetForm Design, JetForm Filler and JetForm Server on a worldwide basis.

•	You have a color monitor but the PC on your desktop still sports that putty-white complexion. Not any longer. Packard-Bell launched a line of multimedia home PCs with removable plastic panels that dress up your terminal. The colors that accentuate the line of PCs this season are teal, azure and sahara. No word on the availability of Scotch plaid and chartreuse or any other hues from Packard-Bell.

•	In a software/hardware bundle destined to produce a few double takes, Landmark Research is bundling its Uninstall-It utility with a coupon for a free bottle of STP Octane Booster. The two products have quite a bit in common, according to Landmark officials. They claim STP and Uninstall-It both boost performance and clean out unwanted elements, although one is for your car and the other for your PC. Plans are under way for similar promotions with Master Lock and Stanley Toolworks, Landmark officials said. Fill 'er up!


New Products: Sept. 1994-Part 1

Compiled by Hailey Lynne McKeefry

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Don't Lose Sight of Network Documents

Visual Recall, allows you to locate, view and use documents stored on your Novell network from your Windows PC. The TextDataBase engine allows for content-based multilingual indexing and searching. Information Visualization uses 2-D and 3-D modeling and graphics to display search results.

Visual Recall divides the screen into separate windows for search formulation, results viewing and document saving. You can compose queries using pull-down menus and icons, which help define and execute a search. Built-in routines can handle conversions automatically or at your direction. Library management and system administration tools provide access and security, as well as concurrency control, file locking and version control.

Visual Recall

Price: $395.

Contact: XSoft, Division of Xerox Corp., 800-428-2995, 415-813-6920.

Share Document Images in a Workgroup

You can manage and share document images in a workgroup with HighVIEW for Workgroups. The program combines document scanning, optical storage and a relational database with workflow management to ensure that documents are moved, captured and archived as needed. The system provides tools that allow system administrators to manage the in-baskets of individuals and groups, as well as profiles, document types and file storage.

Each document can be indexed by type, title and multiple keywords. The program supports Oracle and most SQL relational databases.

HighVIEW for Workgroups

Price: Six users, $2,400.

Contact: Highland Technologies Inc., 301-345-8200, fax 301-345-8201.

Distribute Files Across Platforms

You can electronically "publish'' a single document that can be read on Windows, NT, SPARC, Macintosh, several flavors of UNIX, and IBM mainframes using WorldView Press2 and WorldView2.

The press application takes documents from any major word processor or desktop publishing package and prepares them for viewing: It compresses them, adds hypertext links and produces a full-text index. The viewer lets you view, but not edit, a document; search for any combination of words; attach electronic notes; use the hypertext and text-search capabilities; and print pages.

The new version includes an incremental update capability that allows you to replace part of a document rather than the whole document. The full-text search engine now accepts queries such as "find me more documents like this one.'' The new version also supports the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) document structure and allows you to customize your toolbar.

WorldView2,

WorldView Press2

Price: WorldView2, $195; Press2, $4,995.

Contact: Interleaf Inc.800-955-5323, 617-290-0710.

Put a Familiar Face on Digital Docs

CabiNet lets you manage text documents and images using familiar metaphors. This groupware application emulates the way documents are handled in a real-world office. There are in- and outboxes for documents, faxes and messages, and electronic trays for documents awaiting a final signature. You can maintain an active project folder and store word processing documents, spreadsheets, graphics, incoming faxes and scanned documents. Everything is accessed through a common interface. The levels in the document storage hierarchy are known as filerooms, folders, documents and envelopes. Documents are archived at user-defined intervals. The program provides version control, as well as full-text searching and indexing.

CabiNet

Price: $495.

Contact: CabiNet Systems Inc., 201-512-1040, fax 201-512-1650.

Buy a Complete Package

Scan, store and retrieve documents for under $3,000 with Knowledge Builder. The kit includes Recollect 2.0 document image management software; a gray-scale scanner with automatic document feeder; a magnetic cartridge storage device; and a SCSI interface kit.

Recollect 2.0 features Portable Document Indexing. A separate index is created for, and attached to, each document, to allow you to share documents with other Recollect users without updating their indexes. The program also includes a Fuzzy Search option.

Knowledge Builder

Price: $2,995.

Contact: MindWorks, 800-396-MIND, 408-730-2100.

WORD PROCESSING

Sink Your Fangs into Multimedia

Add graphics, sound, video and animation to your otherwise hum-drum presentations with ViperWrite 2.0. ViperWrite combines standard word processing tools with hyperlinking. The program links words, graphics, buttons and phrases to .BMP and .WAV files, as well as to files for video, animation, bookmarks and other documents. When the reader activates the hyperlinks you've created, the process launches the appropriate programs to play the video and animation clips. In version 2.0, the HyperLayers feature lets you designate words and phrases as hot buttons that pull up footnotes or additional information about that phrase. ViperWrite has three working modes that allow you to edit text; create, edit and execute links; or navigate through a hypermedia presentation.

ViperWrite 2.0

Price: $199.

Contact: Looking Glass Software Inc., 310-348-8240, fax 310-348-9786.

Make Your Presentations Sparkle

No need to wish upon a star for an affordable word processor that offers desktop publishing features. WordStar 2.0 lets you spice up your documents with reverse video, drop caps, graphics and photos. It provides 19 templates or you can create your own layouts. The Smart Marking feature tracks text when cutting, copying or pasting. Also included is MailList for Windows (which has 170 formats for printing reports, envelopes and Avery labels), and CorrectGrammar (which detects grammatical errors). You can customize CorrectGrammar for your writing style, whether it's fiction or technical material. WordStar's new macro system automates repetitive tasks.

WordStar 2.0

Price: $99.95.

Contact: SoftKey International Inc., 800-227-5609, 617-494-1200.

The Magic Word Is FREE

Who says nothing in life is free? The WordPerfect 6.0a upgrade is yours for the asking if you are a registered owner of WordPerfect 6.0.

The reduced disk set updates your already installed WordPerfect 6.0. Version 6.0a provides enhanced speed, reduced size (down to 27MB from 33MB) and improved file and macro conversions. The QuickStart Coach assists users of other word processors, or WordPerfect for DOS users, to shift to WordPerfect for Windows. QuickCorrect automatically corrects mistyped or misspelled words.

WordPerfect 6.0a

Price: N/A.

Contact: WordPerfect Corp., 800-451-5151, 801-228-5004.

APPLICATION ADD-ONS

Quicken Access to Financial Info#

Those of you who organize your personal finances with Intuit's Quicken have a variety of financial information at your fingertips with Reuters Money Network for Quicken Users. Reuters Money Network software analyzes the financial portfolio information stored in Quicken to determine a personalized investment strategy.

With this information in hand, you can connect to the on-line network and access up-to-the-minute quotes on stocks, options, mutual funds and indexes. The network houses research on over 18,500 investments, including 5,200 stocks and 6,200 corporate bonds; 3,300 mutual funds; and 4,000 CDs and money markets. The filtering tools in the software allow you to set criteria to find investments that suit your needs. Other services on the network include a personal news clipping service, historical pricing charts, portfolio analysis and performance graphing.

Reuters Money Network for Quicken Users

Price: Software, $24.95; service, starting at $9.95 monthly.

Contact: Reality Technologies Inc., 800-346-2024, 215-277-7600.

Add an Index to Your Magnum Opus

Indexicon lets you add a back-of-the-book-style index to any of your WordPerfect documents with a minimum amount of fuss.

Once installed, Indexicon becomes an item on WordPerfect's Tools menu, so you can edit the final index and set formatting preferences from within WordPerfect. To create an index, all you need to do is set the level of detail (on a scale of one to five), and the program indexes the document in minutes. Indexicon also lets you mark specific terms or phrases to ensure that they are included in the final index.

The software incorporates syntactic and semantic analysis technology that lets it distinguish the intended meaning of words that are spelled alike.

Indexicon for WordPerfect

Price: $149.99.

Contact: Iconovex Corp., 800-943-0292, 612-943-0292.

Streamline Correspondence

EZ Letterz combines with Claris' FileMaker Pro to let you create, store and merge letters, fax cover sheets and memos. The Print Option buttons save preformatted layouts for three standard styles of business letters, one preformatted personal letter, a fax cover sheet, an interoffice memo form, a #10 envelope format, Avery label formats, and an editorial layout. In addition, you can access your own formats through the Pick List option. The Activity Log time and date stamps each letter that is printed.

EZ Letterz 2.1

Price: $89.

Contact: Working Solutionz Software, 805-522-2170, fax 805-527-7787.

INTERNET ACCESS

Let Windows Dial Up the Internet

SuperHighway Access gives you a visual front end to the Internet. The package offers support for modem access to the Internet using the Serial Link Interface Protocol (SLIP), Compressed SLIP (C-SLIP), Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and BOOTP protocols.

SuperHighway Access navigation tools include Archie anonymous search and retrieval, a Gopher+ browser, Wide-Area Information Servers (WAIS), and World Wide Web hypertext linking. It also provides an NNTP USENET Newsreader and MIME-compatible e-mail. The file-transfer protocol front end works like Windows' File Manager--and supports drag-and-drop to and from File Manager. The UNIX TALK feature allows you to chat interactively on the network.

SuperHighway Access

Price: $149.

Contact: Frontier Technologies Corp., 414-241-4555, fax 414-241-7084.

The Internet May Be As Close As a Click

Point, click and connect to the Internet with NetCruiser, a Windows front end created by NETCOM, an Internet services provider.

You can select any of Internet's applications by clicking on an icon on the toolbar or making a menu selection. Among the services supported are e-mail, USENET newsgroups, and the Gopher and WorldWide Web browsers. NetCruiser offers Telnet, a protocol that connects you to any Internet host, and the file-transfer protocol (FTP), for moving data or graphics files from a remote computer to your PC. The NETCOM Internet Site Chooser lists geographic and organizational areas and lets you connect to sites by clicking on the entry with your mouse.

NetCruiser is included in NETCOM's $25 start-up fee. The monthly fee of $19.95 gives you 25 hours of Internet access and unlimited usage between midnight and 6 a.m.

NetCruiser

Price: Start-up, $25; monthly base package, $19.95.

Contact: NETCOM Online Communication Services, 800-353-6600, 408-345-6600.

Harvest Internet Info

You can write scripts that automatically retrieve information from Internet databases using InterAp. The product also supports connections between the Internet and corporate LANs. InterAp provides access to WorldWide Web, Telnet, FTP, and MAPI-based e-mail. It includes NetScripts, a Visual Basic scripting language that can be used to connect Internet to standard productivity applications such as Excel or Word. Scripts for the Commerce Business Daily, Dow Jones Information Service, Network News and Dun & Bradstreet databases are included. InterAp supports OLE 2.0.

InterAp

Price: $295.

Contact: California Software Inc., 800-830-3311, 415-491-4371.

PORTABLE PERIPHERALS

Add a Portable Storage Sidecar

The Pereos lets you add cassette data storage to your notebook computer. The unit, which hooks into your computer's parallel port, weighs under 10 ounces and uses Datagrade cartridges that are the size of a postage stamp. Each cassette holds up to 1.25 gigabytes of compressed data.

The Pereos consists of a base that runs on a pair of standard AA batteries and a detachable unit that holds the tape and the recording mechanisms. Pereos software, which helps you manage, store, find and protect data, is also included. The software lets you onload and offload files, and creates multiple data indexes. You can also restore information as it existed at a specific date and time. The software's Fuzzy Find feature helps you locate misplaced documents.

Pereos

Price: $595; Datagrade cartridge, $29.95.

Contact: Datasonix Corp., 800-328-2779, 303-545-9500.

Get Your Paws Off My Notebook!

Your data is only as secure as your portable computer. ProGuard Portable, a software/hardware solution, may be the key to locking up your information. ProGuard Portable lets you control access to specific directories and subdirectories on your notebook's hard disk; to all parallel, serial and communications ports; and to the floppy disk drive.

ProGuard software combines access control, virus protection, full or partial data encryption, system monitoring, and auditing functions. The program contains user, administrator and guest levels: Users can change only their passwords; administrators can access whatever the owner allows; and the owner sets the entire system. The Access Utility lets you customize menu screens for each user.

ProGuard's hardware component, the Access Key, is a domino-sized device that you carry on your key chain. The Access Key displays a new six-digit password each time you access the system. This device can either augment or replace the software password.

ProGuard Portable

Price: $249; software only, $195.

Contact: Vasco Data Security Inc., 800-238-2726, 708-932-8844.

Forge a PC-to-Laptop Bond

MosesDOCK lets you copy files from a PC to a laptop, connect a laptop to a peer-to-peer network, view connected computers and printers, create directories, share printers, or access a desktop PC's CD-ROM.

The kit consists of an external adapter for your portable and a dual-port internal Netcard for your desktop PC. The MosesDOCK! plug-in hardware adapter connects to the parallel port (LPT1 or LPT2) on your portable computer.

MosesDOCK

Price: $299.95.

Contact: Moses Computers Inc., 800-30-MOSES, 408-358-1550.

MODEMS

Get Cutting Edge Communications#

For the fastest modem transmission available, look to V.Fast Class devices, which transmit data at 28.8 kilobits per second. Hayes Microcomputer, U.S. Robotics and Multi-Tech Systems are among the manufacturers to make this new technology available.

The Optima 288B V.FC + FAX internal fax modem from Hayes supports V.Fast data transmission, ITU-T V.42bis data compression, ITU-T V.42 error control and Group 3 fax. The Optima is an internal, plug-in card and comes bundled with Smartcom for Windows LE and Smartcom FAX for Windows communications software.

The Sportster 28,800Data/Fax with V.FC from U.S. Robotics supports V.Fast and is upgradable to the ITU-T V.34 standard with a single EPROM. The Sportster is bundled with QuickLink II communications software from Smith Micro.

The MultiModem II from Multi-Tech Systems is based on FlashROM and complies with the current draft of ITU-T V.34. The device offers a remote configuration feature, which lets you remotely change parameters and run diagnostics. It comes with MultiExpress communications software, MultiExpressFax for Windows fax software and TALKShow document conferencing software.

Optima 288B V.FC + FAX

Price: $499.

Contact: Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc., 404-840-9200, fax 404-441-1213.

Sportster 28,800

Data/Fax with V.FC

Price: External, $329; internal, $299.

Contact: U.S. Robotics Inc., 800-DIAL-USR, 708-982-5001.

MultiModem II

Price: From $799.

Contact: Multi-Tech Systems Inc., 800-328-9717, 612-785-3500.

Let Your Computer Take the Call

The Home Office 144i combines 14.4Kbps fax and 14.4Kbps data transmission with digital answering-machine and business-audio capabilities. The modem comes with MaxFax 2.50 software that links your telephone, modem and PC, and a business-audio driver that lets you record and play 8-bit mono .WAV files.

The Home Office stores faxes in the computer's hard disk.For voice mail, you can record a greeting and direct that messages be saved in one of up to 999 mailboxes. The program operates in the background when it is recording a voice message and supports Caller ID. The Remote Access feature lets you change your greeting or collect messages while you are away.

Home Office 144i

Price: $189.

Contact: Prometheus Products Inc., 800-477-3473, 503-692-9600.

INPUT DEVICES

Get a Grip on Color Scanning

You can put scanning power in the palm of your hand with one of these hand-held scanners from Mustek or A4Tech.

Mustek's ScanMagic Color II hand-held scanner lets you scan and import 24-bit color and gray-scale images at resolutions up to 400 dpi. The TWAIN-compliant scanner can recognize 16.7 million colors in 24-bit color mode or 4,096 colors in 12-bit color mode. ScanMagic includes Micrografx's PhotoMagic 1.0 graphics editing software and Perceive Personal for optical recognition from Ocron Inc.

The ColorScan AC-800 supports 24-bit RGB color for 16.7 million colors and provides resolutions from 100 to 800 dpi. The scanner, which adheres to the TWAIN standard, gives you a choice of true-color, 256 true gray, 64 dithered gray, or black-and-white scanning. The unit provides a 4.13-inch scanning width.

Mustek ScanMagic Color II

Price: $299.

Contact: Mustek Inc., 800-468-7835, 714-453-0110.

ColorScan AC-800

Price: $449.95.

Contact: A4Tech (USA) Corp., 800-760-9888.

Reader Scans While You Do Something Else

The BizCard Reader lets you scan business cards in the background while you use your computer for other tasks. The scanner, which weighs less than one pound, attaches to your PC's parallel port.

The included database program lets you store and sort scanned information. You can also drag and drop information from field to field and create multiple databases. Another utility automatically transfers scanned information into contact management programs such as ACT and PackRat. The BizCard Reader retains the optical image of a scanned business card, including handwritten notes.

BizCard Reader

Price: $249.

Contact: UMAX Technologies Inc., 800-562-0311, 510-651-8883.

Klutz-Resistant Keyboard

If you get a little sloppy with coffee around the keyboard, the IDKB101-SR could be the answer to your prayers. The unit's moisture-proof membrane, located underneath its keys, prevents damage to the keyboard if fluids are inadvertently spilled on it. The 101-key keyboard has 12 function keys, plus separate numeric and function keypads.

IDKB101-SR

Price: $39.95.

Contact: Identity Systems Technology, 800-723-8258, 214-323-4600.

CAD

CAD App Provides Symbols

DynaDesigner, a computer-aided drafting program, lets you design and lay out drafting and other documents. The program includes a variety of symbol libraries that can be used to create mechanical, architectural and civil designs or for interior design and home remodeling.

The InstaKlik feature allows you to access over 2,000 commands from the toolbar. The application also provides a command-line interpreter that lets you create drawings, import symbols and perform other operations by typing instructions at the command line. Drawings can be shown as three-dimensional displays with unlimited rotational views. You can maintain multiple active drawings and assign your own measurement units to a drawing.

DynaDesigner

Price: $249.

Contact: Ditek International, 905-479-1990, fax 905-479-1882.

Take a 3-D Walking Tour DesignCAD 3D lets you take a virtual stroll through computer-generated 3-D architectural models and import a variety of file formats, including .EPS, .RIB, .WMF, .BMP, .CGM and HPGL.

You can create a drawing by pointing and clicking, and then you can color and render it. The program lets you create three-dimensional models with textured surfaces and control how those images appear on-screen. You can move and adjust up to eight light sources. Controls for the light sources let you manipulate ambient, diffuse and specular reflections. You can also display drawings as walk-throughs.

DesignCAD 3D

Price: $499.

Contact: American Small Busi-ness Computers, 918-825-4844, fax 918-825-6359.

Access CAD Drawings

Drag and View Gold DWG lets you view, manipulate and print complete or partial AutoCAD drawings while in Windows. The utility lets you define AutoCAD .DWG views and then zoom those views to full screen, or copy and transfer the views to Windows' Clipboard as bitmaps. The application also works with past and present versions of Excel, Works and Word, as well as WordPerfect 6.0. When used with Excel, Drag and View Gold DWG allows you to view and print multiple spreadsheet pages.

Drag and View Gold DWG

Price: $65.

Contact: Canyon Software, 415-382-7999, fax 415-382-7998.

PRINTERS

Boost Your Printing Power

Epson America and Mannesmann Tally have introduced RISC-based laser printers that offer 600-dot-per-inch print quality. Both units include PCL 5e emulation and have a serial and a parallel interface port. Each comes with 2MB of memory and 45 scalable fonts.

The ActionLaser 1600 from Epson prints at 6 pages per minute. The unit comes with a 150-sheet, multisize paper tray. An optional PostScript Level 2-compatible module raises the gray-scale capability of the unit from 33 to 77 gray scales. Memory on the ActionLaser can be expanded to 64MB.

The T9008 from Mannesmann Tally features an 8-ppm print engine. It comes standard with a 250-sheet paper cassette for letter, legal, executive, A4 and B5 size paper, and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray for envelopes and special media. Memory on the T9008 is expandable to 32MB.

ActionLaser 1600

Price: $1,199.

Contact: Epson America Inc., 800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770.

T9008

Price: $1,799.

Contact: Mannesmann Tally, 800-843-1347, 206-251-5524.

Windows Printer by Design

The WinPrinter 1000 uses a direct GDI (Graphics Device Interface) print driver for 1000-dpi resolutions. The unit, which prints at 4 ppm, includes 50 TrueType fonts. You can choose between three print modes: the standard 300-dpi HP PCL 4 mode; the direct mode, which uses the GDI to print at 300 and 400 dpi for optimized speed; and the PostScript mode for high-resolution and background printing. The PostScript mode also provides advanced printing options, such as print thumbnail pages or print in reverse order.

WinPrinter 1000

Price: $1,095.

Contact: LaserMaster Corp., 800-365-4646, 612-944-9330.

Banish Gray Shades

The HS-1PS2 solid-ink ink jet printer prints full color on plain paper in a single pass. It prints black-and-white text at 4 ppm and color at 2 ppm. You can choose between three color adjustment options. The printer features 66 scalable fonts, automatic emulation selection and intelligent interface switching. It comes with 12MB of RAM and may be upgraded to 44MB.

HS -1PS2

Price: $8,995.

Contact: Brother International Corp., 908-356-8880, fax 908-469-4415.

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

Get on the VBX Control Fast Track

VBXpress lets you create, without programming, your own royalty-free custom VBX (Visual Basic extensions) controls for use with Visual Basic, Visual C or other VBX-compatible languages. Build your own sliders, horizontal or vertical toolbars, floating tool palettes, spin buttons, and graphical command buttons with VBXpress Conductor, which guides you step by step through designing your control. The VBXpress Control Editor then assembles your image, color, text, behavior, and style selections into a custom control. You can further customize your control by selecting from a variety of predefined properties (to control captions, button states and styles), methods (for dragging, moving, refreshing and setting the focus of controls), and events (double-click; key up, down and over; and drag over and drag drop).

VBXpress

Price: $299.

Contact: AJS Publishing Inc., 800-992-3383, 310-215-9145.

Edit Mac and UNIX ASCII

WinEdit 3.1 adds new support for ASCII text files from UNIX and Macintosh platforms to all four editions of this text editor, automatically converting line feed and carriage returns to the PC equivalent. All four versions also have been updated to include brace matching, a file-difference utility, and a Save All Files option.

The Lite version can edit multiple large files or view multiple portions of the same file. The Standard edition adds project automation and color-coded syntax checking. Over 400 macro functions are included in the Professional edition. WinEdit NT runs on Intel, Mips and Alpha processors. Its macro scripting language has error handling and system automation functions, and supports DLL calls, floating-point math and engineering functions.

WinEdit 3.1

Price: From $29.95 to $129.95.

Contact: Wilson WindowWare Inc., 800-762-8383, 206-938-1740.

Animate Applications

Include animation routines for sprites (moving graphics images) without flicker by adding GX Effects 1.0 to your application. GX Effects, which supports Autodesk Animator Flic files, lets you manipulate images with transitional effects, including waves, slides and spirals. You can also add music and sound effects. GX Effects supports all display modes through 1280x1024 in 16.7 million colors and can be used with any compiler supporting Windows DLLs.

GX Effects 1.0

Price: $199; with source code, $399.

Contact: Genus Microprogramming, 800-227-0918, 713-870-0737.

AND

Be a Well-Informed Patient

Whether you're medically curious or feeling ill, Medical HouseCall can help provide the data you need to be an informed patient.

Enter your symptoms (by keyboard or by clicking on body part icons) and answer the medical questions posed by the program, and HouseCall will provide a list of possible ailments. The program calculates the likelihood of each disease and displays a list of possible explanations (in order of probability) for your symptoms. HouseCall also gives you a series of follow-up questions to ask your doctor. The program relies on a database, created by a team of physicians, pharmacists and nurses, of over 1,100 diseases and 6,000 medical findings.

HouseCall provides information on drug side effects and drug interactions, and describes treatments and surgeries. The program covers nutrition and diet, first aid techniques, poison control, and disease prevention. You can also build and maintain medical records.

Medical HouseCall

Price: $99.95.

Contact: Applied Medical Informatics, 801-584-3060, fax 801-464-6200.

A Camera That Needs No Film

For the professional who needs crisp image-capture quality, Eastman Kodak has introduced the DCS 420 digital camera. The megapixel camera offers high-resolution digital capture for desktop publishing, presentation development and on-location imaging. The unit features a stationary full-frame CCD imager that delivers 1524x1012 resolution and 36-bit color (12 bits per RGB color). By holding down the shutter, you can fire off a five-image burst in 2.25 seconds. The DCS 420 lets you store images on a hard disk and PCMCIA cards. The built-in microphone lets you record audio clips before and after exposing an image for image annotation. The battery pack lets you take 1,000 images per charge. The DCS 420 accepts all F-mount lenses.

DCS 420

Price: $10,995.

Contact: Eastman Kodak Co., 800-242-2424, 716-724-6888.

You Can Be the Computer IRS

AuditWare lets you keep track of multiple servers for departmental charge backs of NetWare network usage. You can follow usage by user, file server and disk volume, and audit multiple servers at once.

AuditWare includes a Windows-based WYSIWYG custom report writer that enables exception reporting across the enterprise. The program gives you over 30 canned enterprise reports to use as templates for custom reports. AuditWare also features an off-line capability that runs reports from a database.

AuditWare

Price: $595 per server.

Contact: Preferred Systems Inc., 800-222-7638, 203-937-3000.


New Products: Sept. 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IN-BRIEF-SOFTWARE

The IN CONTROL 3.0 planner and organizer lets you display information as a multi-column outline; a daily, weekly or monthly calendar; or a to-do list. The Action Outliner lets you sort activities and check off tasks as they are completed. The Instant Lookup feature lets you access information stored in a variety of databases.

$85; Attain Corp., 800-925-5615, 617-776-1110.

You can direct your telephone by clicking on icons with the OCTuS PTA 1.5 communications control center. The control center lets you place, receive, transfer and forward calls; access voice mail; place conference calls; record messages; send and receive faxes; review contact histories; and access the address book.

$449; OCTuS Inc. 800-634-8248, 619-452-9400.

Multimedia WinHelp lets you put .AVI, .WAV and .BMP files into your help files. The program includes the Media Styler visual interface and a .DLL that increases the functionality of the Windows Help Engine. Multimedia WinHelp also lets you create animation by playing a slide show of bitmaps.

$199; Blue Sky Software Corp., 800-677-4WIN, 619-459-6365.

You can choose when to run programs and batch files for anything from system backups to communications systems with ScheduleMate. The program validates each scheduled job to prevent users from trying to run programs that don't exist. The History Log details the time, action and name of jobs. You can also schedule reoccurring tasks.

$149.95; Satori Automation Inc.,404-667-5663, fax 404-667-5652.

Put your pocket calendar on your computer. With ScheduleWorks you can schedule appointments and keep track of important dates. Quick View lets you view upcoming events on a miniature schedule. You can also view and print your daily, weekly and monthly calendars.

$29.99; The WizardWorks Group, 612-559-5140, fax 612-559-5126.

Version 2.1 of d.b. Express Office Edition provides database users with multidimensional query capabilities, report writing features, and business graphics tools. The program supports over 30 relational databases. You can import tables from Paradox, Xbase and ASCII with a single mouse click.

$395; Computer Concepts Corp., 800-619-0757, 516-244-7700.

Collector's Showcase gives you 23 preset database templates for popular collections, such as antiques, books, dolls, jewelry, postcards, spoons or wine. Screens can also be customized to suit your collection. Each record contains six data fields, three financial fields and 12 scrolling details.

$28; Natural Software, 905-468-0068, natsoft@aopl.com.

If you'd rather have a program tailored to your particular hobby, take a look at Insight Software's Track It line of products. You can choose a database designed to catalog videos, books, stamps or coins. Each contains information fields appropriate to the type of collection. The dBASE-compatible programs allow you to search and create reports.

$15 each; Insight Software Solutions, 801-295-1890, fax 801-299-1781.

ClaimPlus can cure your worries about tracking medical bills. The program organizes information about any type of medical claim and tracks each step in the process. It provides tools for handling multiple insurance subscribers and multiple policies.

$69.99; Te Corp., 800-725-2645, fax 603-726-8818.

Afrocentric Klips lets you add afrocentric illustrations to documents created in QuarkXPress, PageMaker, Word, WordPerfect and other programs. Library 1 provides a collection of line drawings, while Business Klips is a collection that depicts business situations. Other collections are titled Church Folks, Klip Clips (filler graphics) and Mini Samplers.

$49.95 to $99 each; Afrocentrex, 312-463-6269, fax 312-404-5599.

FIBS/W 1.21 combines backgammon and the Internet for you. The Windows client puts you in touch with the First International Backgammon Server so you can play backgammon with people around the world. The software creates a graphical game board that you control with a mouse.

$40; Robin Davies, 613-231-2783.

You can personalize your envelopes and labels with At Home Personal Post Office. The program lets you print clip art (in .BMP, .TIF, .PCX, .WMF, .EPS and .TGA formats), a return address and a personal message on your mailings. It automatically creates a postal bar code and prints it at the appropriate spot on the envelope.

$29.95; Ace Software Corp., 800-345-3223, 408-451-0100.

CA$HGRAF brings together a variety of office computing functions in one program, including accounting; word processing with mail merge; a client database; reporting and graphing; goal tracking; and scheduling. You can generate invoices, purchase orders and credit memos. Check writing, inventory, and accounts payable and receivable are also built in.

$299.95; Target Software Group Inc., 800-872-4381, 813-528-2477.

Power Pak 4.0 includes tools to boost Windows performance. The package includes KwikPrint print spooler to enhance background printing and print speeds; KwikScreen screen accelerator, which speeds 256-color screen updates; and KwikLoad, for loading DOS. It also has version 6.0 of the Super PC-Kwik disk cache. The program also comes with install and un-install utilities.

$99.95; PC-Kwik Corp., 800-284-5945, 503-520-4299.

Using your optical character recognition application can be as familiar as working with your favorite word processing program. WordScan 3.0 features the Chameleon Toolbar which replicates the toolbar of Word 6.0, WordPerfect 6.0 and Ami Pro 3.01, depending on which word processor you are using. The new version also supports OLE 2.0.

$249; Calera Recognition Systems Inc., 800-422-5372 ext. 22, 408-720-8300 ext. 22.

It's always good to have an up-to-date resume on file. Expert Resume Writer brings resume writing features together with word processing and contact management tools. The program includes over 100 resume samples and 20 customizable cover letters. You can enter your personal information and format your resume in the style of your choice. Letters can be linked to the program's contact manager database to do mass mailings.

$14.95; Expert Software Inc., 800-759-2562, 305-567-9990.

All Music Guide provides reviews, ratings and commentary on over 34,000 recordings from more than 6,000 artists. You can access information in over 24 music categories (such as classical, folk, jazz and hip-hop) for albums, tapes and CDs that are in and out of print. The Wild-Card feature helps you locate items if you don't know the exact spelling or name. You can also use OR, AND and NOT as search criteria.

$59; Great Bear Software, 510-631-1600, fax 510-631-6735.

Your computer can be your cookbook with The Family Circle Cookbook: New Tastes for New Times. It contains 713 recipes, 244 menus and 411 color photos, as well as food and kitchen tips. You can access nutritional information for all recipes and print menus and shopping lists.

$39.95; Pinpoint Publishing, 800-788-5236, 707-523-0400.

The Make-A-Booklet utility lets you format and print booklets from word processing, spreadsheet and database documents on paper from PaperDirect. You can choose from 20 formats, including pocket size, trifold and French fold. The kit provides the program, six ClickBook templates, 10 fonts, 10 preprinted covers and 10 sheets of coordinating paper.

$49.95; PaperDirect, 800-A-PAPERS, 201-507-5488.

IN BRIEF-UTILITIES

MetaKey gives you access to the full ANSI character set without using numeric Alt-key sequences. It provides you with the characters needed to write West European languages. The program includes extended layouts for a variety of national keyboards.

$45; Kappa Type Inc., 415-322-0135, fax 415-326-8844.

With Rosenthal UnInstall, you can find and remove software, including all changes to files and subdirectories, from your PC. The program confirms each deletion before completing it and restores all modified system files.

$19.95; Rosenthal Engineering, voice and fax 805-541-0910.

You can get your PC and portable in sync with PowerSync. The program synchronizes the most current version of the files you select and copies missing files from one PC to the other. The program also allows you to access remote disk drives and shared files.

$89.95; Linkpro Inc., 800-449-7962, 714-854-3322.

IN BRIEF-MULTIMEDIA

The Picture Prowler 2.0 image database helps you manage JPEG images and create slide show presentations. You can import a variety of file formats or capture directly from a TWAIN-compatible scanner. Thumbnail scrolling has been added to the new version.

$59.95; Xing Technology Corp., 800-2XING-IT, 805-473-0145.

Learn Windows basics from Professor Windows; it covers 10 hours of general information on Windows 3.11 and includes quizzes and a section on multimedia. The kit includes The Windows Insider, a guide to optimizing Windows.

$39.95; Individual Software Inc., 800-822-3522, 510-734-6767.

The MGA Impression Plus 64-bit, PCI-bus graphics accelerator features 3-D acceleration and support for VideoLogic's PowerPlay64 video accelerator chip. The board reaches resolutions of up to 1600x1200 and gives you 24-bit color acceleration at 1280x1024. Instant ModeSwitch lets you switch color depth and resolutions without exiting Windows, while PixelTouch provides hardware panning and 2x to 4x zoom. $599 (with 2MB memory); Matrox Graphics Inc., 800-361-1408, 514-685-2630.

IN BRIEF-STORAGE

The Autobahn external, double-speed CD-ROM drive transfers data at 300Kbps and features an access time of 320 ms. The unit, which plugs into the parallel port of a portable PC, is Kodak Photo CD and Sound Blaster compatible. It measures 3 by 7 by 10 inches and comes with built-in audio and headphone outputs and an automatic switching power supply.

$430; Portable Solutions Inc., 714-632-1123, fax 714-632-8448.

The RoadRunner Express XD Series external hard disk is designed to work with systems that have a parallel port. The drive is available in 210MB, 340MB and 540MB units, and offers transfer rates of 1MBps. It measures 1.75 by 4.75 by 7.35 inches and weighs 1.8 pounds.

From $495; Disk Technologies Corp., 800-553-0337, 407-671-5500

You can solve your hard disk space problems by upgrading to 210MB, 260MB, 340MB, 450MB or 535MB. The hard disk upgrade kits include a set of AT rails, an IDE, a floppy disk drive/hard disk controller, power/data cables, a 5.25-inch bracket, a power Y adapter and an instructional installation video.

From $299 to $599; Identity Systems Technology Inc., 800-723-8258, 214-323-4600.

IN BRIEF-BOARDS

The Golden Sound GS-32 PCM Card, a pulse-code-modulation MIDI sound generator, combines a MIDI generator sound chip, 32Mb wavetable sample memory and a library of 355 sounds (including 191 instruments, 118 drums and 46 special effects). The card features a MIDI in/out adapter, game I/O port and sound effects processor.

$199; TOPTEK Technology Inc., 800-874-4425, 818-960-9211.

The MegaMotion multimedia video card lets you use two separate full-motion video inputs (one live and one compressed) and display four different moving images at once. The board provides 30 frames-per-second video capture at 320x240 resolution, as well as alpha channel, four-level keying, 90-degree image mirroring and scalable digital video. It comes with the Adobe Premier video editing package.

$1,095; Alpha Systems Lab Inc., 800-576-4ASL, 714-252-0117.

The Stingray PCI graphics accelerator implements VESA Display Power Management Signaling to support systems and monitors that meet the Energy Star requirements. The board provides from 16 colors at 1280x1024 resolution (interlaced) to more than 16 million colors at 640x480 resolution.

$179; Hercules Computer Technology Inc., 800-532-0600, 510-623-6030.

IN BRIEF-PROGRAMMING

UpdateIt 1.0 allows developers to ship compressed, password-protected files to provide incremental product updates and bug fixes. The multiplatform utility has a GUI front end for DOS, Windows and OS/2.

$249; Innovative Data Concepts, Inc., 800-926-4551, 215-443-9705.

Liant Software has updated C++/Views to version 3.0. Its object-oriented, multiplatform application framework now supports Borland C++ 4.0, Symantec 6.1 and DLLs with Borland C++ 3.1 and 4.0 and Microsoft C/C++ 8.0.

From $749 to $1,999; Liant Software Corp., 800-237-1873, 508-872-8700.

CBIquick creates software training lessons using interactive simulation of your application. Users can jump to any topic, read the instructions, perform the operations and, optionally, receive a score. Lessons created do not require your application to run.

$1,995; AMT Corp., 508-263-3030, fax 508-263-2265.

RADPath is an on-line accessible methodology with hypertext links focusing on organizational, technical and management foundations for implementing GUI client/server applications. Included are task outlines for setting up development teams, setting standards, ensuring quality, estimating projects and building prototypes.

Ten-user license with three days of on-site training, $15,950; Corporate Computing Inc., 800-925-1995, 708-374-1995.

IN BRIEF-BUNDLES

Until September 30, Fractal Design Corp. is bundling its Dabbler natural-media paint program with Kurta Corp.'s PenMouse tablet. PenMouse includes a cordless pen, a 4-inch by 5-inch tablet, driver software and accessories. The PenMouse provides 1000-dpi resolution and is compatible with Microsoft's pen extensions.

$249; Fractal Design Corp., 800-297-COOL, 408-688-8800.

Purchasers of EtherCombo-16 and EtherTPI 16-bit Ethernet adapters will receive a free two-user license of Cross International's NetTalk, a telephone message pop-up program. NetTalk lets you send real-time, screen-to-screen messages on a local area network.

EtherCombo-16, $99; EtherTPI, $89; Alta Research Corp., 800-423-8535, 305-428-8535.

DiagSoft Inc. will bundle Triton Technologies' CoSession remote communications software with its QAPlus product line. CoSession lets software support providers supply automated remote technical support to users.

DiagSoft Inc., 800-342-4763, 408-438-8247.

Visual Cybernetics has begun shipping America Online software with all of its PCs. Purchasers will receive a trial subscription, including 10 free hours of service, to the on-line service. The monthly fee for America Online is $9.95 for five hours of service and $3.50 for each additional hour.

Contact Visual Cybernetics, 212-564-7791, fax 212-564-7499.


Pixel Perfect

17-Inch Monitors

Objectifying The Subjective

Report Card

Info Files

17-inch Monitors Table


17-Inch Monitors

By: Jonathan Blackwood, Serdar Yegulalp, and James Miller-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Monitors matter. No single piece of computer equipment--with the possible exception of a keyboard--has a greater impact on your productivity than your monitor. Windows hogs so much screen real estate that 17-inch monitors have become the preferred size among Windows users. The extra screening room means you can have a Word document or Excel spreadsheet open at the size you'd normally see it in full-screen mode on a 15-inch monitor, and you'll still be able to see your e-mail and other such icons along the bottom.

For this review, we checked out twenty 17-inch monitors made by 20 different manufacturers. Each had a dot pitch (or stripe) of 0.28mm or smaller, digital controls, and met the standards for low radiation (MPR-II) and power consumption (Energy Star). Monitor technology has advanced to the point that there is now very little difference in image quality between the top-rated monitors and the rest of the pack.

In general, the monitors fell into three classes: superb, very good and satisfactory. Prices vary widely among these units, but because some manufacturers now report ESP (estimated selling price) rather than the more familiar MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price), it's become difficult to make direct comparisons without actually checking around with dealers or mail-order distributors. Still, the best of these monitors could realistically be used in place of a 21-inch model for high-end CAD or desktop publishing applications, and even the less spectacular models can be used for occasional CAD. When considered in this light, even the most expensive units can be very cost effective.

Choosing a monitor is probably only slightly less a matter of taste than choosing a pair of high-quality stereo speakers. For that reason, it's important to take a good look at the monitor you're considering before you buy.

We spend a lot of time in this review talking about specifications, such as dot pitch and refresh rate. Generally, the smaller the former and the higher the latter the better the picture. But the specs should only be your guide to monitor selection, allowing you to winnow the field somewhat before you look at the monitors themselves. You'll find it really is worth the trouble to pay a visit to your local retailer, even if you're considering buying from a direct channel source, just to see for yourself how the specs translate into the real thing.

Our top-rated units are hard to beat, but if you can get a good price on one of the others and you're pleased with the image quality and the controls, you should probably go for it. One note of caution: If you're going to use your monitor at home, make sure that you get a FCC Class B monitor, which is rated to operate in the home without interfering with commercial broadcast receivers, TV and radio. Class A monitors almost surely will.

Acer AcerView 76i

The AcerView 76i provides accurate color at a low price. In addition, the ergonomics of the controls are very good. Although it shares some characteristics of the best models--it uses the same on-screen display menu and control scheme as the Optiquest 4000DC, and the menu is very close to that of Samsung's SyncMaster 17GLs--its overall performance isn't as good.

The AcerView 76i performs very well on DisplayMate's tests for resolution (see Objectifying the Subjective, for our testing procedures). Also, the AcerView 76i does an excellent job of displaying various grades of orange (a good measure of color performance, since orange is the most difficult color for a monitor to produce). Moreover, it exhibits an admirable array of grays, more uniform than the grays seen on some of the more well-known monitors, and the consistency of color temperature across the screen is only a notch below that of the top performers. Nevertheless, in our tests using DisplayMate, we found that this monitor supplies only a limited range of intensity for each of the 10 principal colors. What all this means for you is that the size of the palette is severely limited. There is also a noticeable color misconvergence, and the lack of controls to compensate for the error means you're stuck.

The overall image quality of our test monitor wasn't very good. Moirepatterns were obvious on the screen. The left sector of the screen was dimmer than the right, making the image look lopsided. The image was sharper horizontally than vertically and could not be adjusted to fill out the screen, leaving a black band of wasted space around the image.

Most disturbing, however, are the dark patches, or crosshatching, on a number of sections of the screen. Throw in documentation that leaves too much to the imagination, and this relatively inexpensive monitor demonstrates that sometimes lower price really can be indicative of quality.

ADI MicroScan 5AP

ADI's product looks good and works well. Aside from a slight geometric distortion near the edges, the picture focus was fairly tight all the way across, and the colors were accurate. This monitor came with its own integrated D-15 cable, which can't be replaced short of servicing the monitor; BNC connectors aren't supported.

You control each aspect of the display, including contrast and brightness, with a pair of buttons. A function button, when pressed in combination with other keys, enables changes to a different set of controls (in this case, it's mostly the color-level controls). The buttons themselves are smallish but not hard to handle, and they're all clearly labeled. Special controls--the function button, recall button and the degausser--are recessed, so it's harder for you to push them by accident.

Instead of a button pair for the tilt control, the MicroScan has a recessed screw next to the degauss switch. It requires a good deal of turning to cause any changes on-screen, enabling you to make very precise adjustments. You can set up two user-defined color modes, but there's nothing in the documentation to indicate the number of different display mode setups you can store.

ADI provides power management and screen-saver programs for both DOS and Windows. The Windows program operates as more than a standard Windows screen saver. Because it also sends the display into sleep mode by dropping the green sync instead of merely projecting changing patterns, it's more effective than the average screen saver. The manual (printed on 100-percent post-consumer recycled paper) is brief but basically covers all the right territory.

Amdek AM/817E

If your tenure in front of a computer screen goes back five years or so, chances are you've spent some time parked in front of a monochrome, amber-on-black Amdek monitor. Amdek is still around (it's part of Wyse Technology now), and the company is making good-quality monitors at a good price.

The AM/817E excelled at color reproduction and sharpness. Its focus was off, however, and varied across the screen. Although the color-matching capability was primitive, its complement of controls was actually good, and included controls for rotation and pincushioning. The unit provided neither an on-screen nor LCD control panel. The controls were along the front of the case, and once we had accessed the second-level controls (red, green and blue saturation levels, and the pincushioning controls), we found them easy enough to use.

The monitor accepts both BNC and D-Sub connectors, and it can automatically synchronize up to a very ergonomic 105Hz vertical refresh rate. The dot pitch, at 0.26mm on the flat-square Hitachi tube, was very fine. Although the AM/817E can provide noninterlaced resolutions as high as 1600x1200 at a refresh rate of 60Hz, we wouldn't recommend doing any close work in that mode because the relative sizes of the Windows icons and toolbars are virtually unusable on a 17-inch monitor. We believe you should use a vertical refresh rate of 72Hz or higher.

The documentation is adequate, but thin. Home-office users should keep in mind that the AM/817E carries an FCC Class A rating, which means that it's not for use in residences.

Compaq QVision 172

Compaq garnered our WINDOWS Recommended seal in last year's 17-inch monitor review and was nearly a winner this time. In particular, our judges awarded the QVision 172, with its Trinitron tube, perfect scores in color quality, focus, color convergence, sharpness, resolution and freedom from geometric distortion. We found its ergonomics good, even though it doesn't have on-screen controls or LCD panels. It provides virtually every conceivable type of control short of moireadjustment, but its membrane switches were slightly more confusing to adjust than those on the IBM 17P Multifrequency, which just edged it out in our evaluations. The QVision uses less power and costs less than the IBM. It also has less color consistency, although it would probably be well suited for many demanding color applications. Still, if you require extreme color accuracy all across the screen, the IBM might be a better choice.

You could stare at this monitor all day without fatigue. It can synchronize automatically to a signal refresh rate as high as an eye-pleasing, headache-easing 110Hz. The QVision 172 supports noninterlaced resolutions up to 1280x1024, and comes with a factory preset mode for this resolution at a VESA-compliant 76Hz.

Compaq's documentation is sparse but well written. The bottom line? The QVision 172 is a superb monitor, and is less expensive than some others of similar quality. If you find a good deal on one, you'll be happy with your purchase.

CTX 1785GM

CTX's entry did very well, even if it was slightly overshadowed by other units. The image from the 1785GM is as bright and sharp as they come, yet not so bright that images become blurred and unfocused. Changing display frequencies on the fly provokes a faint squeal-and-snap noise, and the display takes about a second to appear after resynchronization. The degaussing circuit, activated by a front panel button, is extremely strong--it removes even the most severe distortions of color without trouble. You get your choice of BNC or D-15 input.

The controls, inside a drop-down panel at the bottom left of the monitor face, are a little difficult to get used to. Two sets of arrow buttons (left-right and up-down) change screen sizing and centering, or you can reassign them to change the image's red-green-blue levels. You also use buttons to control contrast, but the brightness is governed by a large thumbwheel--probably because you'll use this adjustment more often than the others. You can store up to 15 presets (for screen geometry), but there are only two user-configurable color modes, both of which are preset for 9300K (Kelvins, the units of absolute temperature).

There were, however, a few minor problems. The image wasn't as geometrically accurate near the edges as some other monitors--the upper-left-hand corner had a kink in it that the adjustments couldn't remove. The manual, while complete, was short on clarity, probably as the result of a poor translation. Yet this is still a very attractive and well-assembled piece of hardware; it all bodes well for CTX's future.

ETC ViewMagic

The ETC ViewMagic monitor features on-screen controls and very low power usage in its active state--the lowest of any monitor in this group. It was also the least expensive (both the MSRP and the ESP). But the ViewMagic trailed in just about every measure of performance.

Construction quality was spotty. The brightness control on the initial sample we obtained quit working during our tests. ETC supplied us with a second sample. The controls worked, but the second unit arrived with a broken hinge on the door that covers the controls.

The ViewMagic uses a Hitachi tube with a fine 0.26mm dot pitch and Invar shadow mask. It autosyncs up to a 120Hz vertical refresh rate, and its on-screen controls allow you to adjust practically everything except color convergence and moiredistortion. But this impressive list of features conveys the wrong story, because this is a monitor that does nothing particularly well. Its image could not be adjusted to take up the entire screen, for example, so there was a black stripe on either side of the image. We judged its image quality only adequate, and its colors, even when adjusted using color-matching software, had a distinctive purplish cast (probably the result of a color-convergence problem). The on-screen controls were exasperating to use, and the documentation was poorly translated. Short of the price and its power usage, the ETC ViewMagic has not much to commend it.

IBM 17P Multifrequency

The IBM was among the very best in just about every category here. Big Blue has produced a monitor to be reckoned with.

Like many of the best monitors, this one uses a Trinitron tube to produce a very flat, crystal-clear and color-consistent picture. The faint horizontal lines that appear on Trinitron tubes about one-third and two-thirds of the way down are almost invisible here, thanks to the quality of the on-screen image. (The lines are a by-product of the process used to make the tube.) On this monitor, everything looks sharp and clear--even the extreme edges of the screen, which are normally a hotbed of distortion. Support for D-sub and BNC connections allow you to choose signal formats.

The monitor's been outfitted with a gamut of controls to make it as flexible and powerful as possible. Sizing, positioning, trapezoidal, pincushion, color-level and convergence controls all are arrayed below the screen bevel in a series of clearly labeled, membrane-style push buttons. Each control also features a button that enables you to reset that particular item to its factory defaults. The configurations for each mode are stored automatically.

The push of a front-panel button degausses the screen, eliminating even the worst color warping. In addition to 6500K and 9300K white points, a "generic'' white point suitable for most applications has been hard-wired into the color adjustment circuitry (a white point is a mixture of red, green and blue, different with every monitor, that produces the color closest to a Kelvin-temperature white).

Unlike our other top-rated units, this one lacks an on-screen display that would have made this IBM monitor even better. But as it stands, it's one of the best that we've seen.

IDEK Iiyama VisionMaster MF-8617

The IDEK VisionMaster MF-8617 is a decent monitor at a terrific price. Its price advantage is a little overstated, though, by IDEK's use of the ESP instead of the MSRP. So, instead of getting a huge discount off an inflated list price and feeling like you got a great deal--as might be the case with other vendors--you'll likely pay close to the $799 price quoted in IDEK's advertising. Even at this price, the IDEK is a terrific bargain. It scored in the middle of the pack on our test scores, placing it squarely in the company of the NEC and Nokia monitors--very good company indeed.

We particularly liked the LCD, which provided useful information, such as the resolution and vertical refresh rate. With this monitor, you don't have to wonder which mode you're in--the information is right in front of you. The VisionMaster lacked rotation and color-convergence controls, however, and the color convergence was off, leaving color fringes on the vertical bars in our test pattern. This monitor provides BNC connectors, noninterlaced resolutions up to 1280x1024, and autosync at vertical refresh rates as high as 120Hz. The documentation is excellent.

There was one anomaly that remained unexplained: The monitor could not display the top horizontal line of the DisplayMate geometric distortion test pattern at the 80Hz vertical refresh rate at which we tested these monitors. When we backed off to 75Hz, the problem disappeared. We queried IDEK's technical staff on this issue, and they were unable to explain it or to duplicate it, even when they used an identical Diamond Stealth 64 graphics adapter. This gives us the impression that the anomaly could have been a specific misalignment or maladjustment in our test sample, of the sort that can happen in the manufacturing and shipping processes.

Small mysteries notwithstanding, the IDEK VisionMaster MF-8617 is hard to beat--especially at this price.

MAG InnoVision MXP17F

The MXP17F's elaborate and versatile controls scored well, but this monitor lost points for its uneven display. One of the things we really liked about it was the control panel; it's outfitted with a two-line, backlit LCD that offers mode timings and other information, and the usual row of +/- buttons is equipped with indicator lights--bright green ones--to show their current functions. Everything from screen geometry to RGB levels is controlled here, and each adjustment's intensity registers on the LCD as a bar graph. (You adjust contrast and brightness with knobs instead of buttons.)

In addition, all the important screen-control functions, except convergence, are here. Pressing the program button twice gives you a scrolling list of all the user-programmed modes and their timings. Eight screen-geometry settings can be configured, stored and recalled, along with two color-level user settings--fewer than most, but because the LCD provides plenty of information, the process of storing and recalling modes is easier.

The display itself wasn't tightly focused or color-consistent. The periphery of the image was where we noticed some troubles with the accurate registration of lines and colors, and single-pixel details in higher resolutions were somewhat fuzzy.

White objects against colored backgrounds had vague, discolored edges; horizontal lines were much brighter than vertical ones. These distortions persisted no matter what the size, frequency or resolution of the image. But the variance and fidelity of the colors were good; we found that they matched the Pantone swatches well. The monitor also showed a good range of gray scales.

MiTAC Mi L1782 Performance Series

The MiTAC serves up impressive image and color quality, and offers on-screen controls as well. It ranked among the best monitors in this group on overall image quality and color matching. It was also among the best in consistency of color temperature across the screen.

The controls themselves, though, are not very easy to figure out or to use. The on-screen icons that explain a particular control's function look like hieroglyphics to a Windows user, and there are a lot of them. You step through them sequentially to select a particular function, and, once you understand what a control's function is, if you overshoot your mark, you then have to toggle through each of the possibilities again. The Mi L1782 also lacks rotation and color-convergence controls, and there aren't any BNC connectors. The Hitachi tube has a dot pitch of 0.26mm, and the monitor displays a noninterlaced maximum resolution of 1600x1280, which is far too fine for close work on this size monitor. The Mi L1782 is FCC Class B rated, so it is suitable for use in both office and residential settings. It autosyncs at vertical refresh rates up to 120Hz.

The Mi L1782 is about average for these monitors in power usage in its active mode. The documentation is reasonably complete, but suffered in the translation from the original. At $999, the MiTAC falls in the middle of the pack in price, but this is an MSRP, so you're likely to find it for sale at a substantial discount. If you can get a good deal, the Mi L1782 is a good value.

Mitsubishi Diamond Scan 17FS

Mitsubishi has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in electronics, both for reliability and performance. In this roundup, the Diamond Scan 17FS was consistently in the middle range of performance. But, with this crowd, that's like saying a Tour de France participant is an average bicyclist.

The Diamond Scan 17FS excelled in the areas of color rendition and controls. Like the very best of these units, it was simultaneously able to deliver both vivid oranges and neutral grays. In addition to the usual RGB cable, the Diamond Scan also attaches to the CPU through a serial port, allowing the CPU to control the monitor. Its controls, which are accessed through a Windows applet, are excellent, and enable you to manipulate just about every factor but rotation, color convergence and moiredistortion. We think this is an excellent solution for Windows users, and expect it to be widely copied.

On the downside, the image could have been sharper. And it demonstrated color-convergence problems, so a convergence control would have been welcome. It also lacked BNC connectors. Beyond this we really had only one nit-picking complaint. The control layout is not consistent with that of other Mitsubishi monitors, which won't bother the end user, but could be a problem for support personnel dealing with many different Mitsubishi models. The documentation was good and covered all the right material. The monitor is a little pricey, but the price is an MSRP, so look for a substantial discount.

Nanao FlexScan F560iW

The Nanao monitor, a perennial favorite, came on with a strong showing once again. Colors on this well-engineered monitor are very true to the Pantone clips, and the most minute details are distinct. Focus was tight all across the screen, even in the far corners. Moireand geometric distortions were both minimal, and the tougher obstacles (for example, screen regulation) posed no significant problems. But it didn't score as high as the winners of our recommended seal on our tests of image quality and color fidelity.

The Nanao doesn't have on-screen controls. Instead, you control all the adjustments using a row of push buttons along the underside of the screen, with a corresponding row of LEDs. To the right of the button array is a thumbwheel, which adjusts whatever's currently selected. All the right features are here: screen centering and sizing, pincushion and keystone (trapezoidal) distortion, and color convergence. Once a setting hits a boundary, whether upper or lower, the monitor emits a beep. It also beeps when you press a button, and, when you store your settings, you get a double-length beep. There's room for up to 28 different mode settings (plus all adjustments), but older settings don't get rolled out when the memory's full; the monitor beeps and you have to delete a setting manually to make room. Nanao's manual is explicit and provides all the usual information.

NEC MultiSync 5FGp

NEC makes a rock-solid monitor with image quality so good you can stare at it all day (and well into the night). If image quality were all we were rating, the NEC would be a sure winner. But the company hasn't kept up with its competitors in providing a full range of screen controls.

Since the monitor exhibits few geometric distortion or tilt problems in the first place, you might not be concerned with the missing controls at first. For example, while there is a control to correct pincushioning and barrel distortion, there is no trapezoidal (keystone) or orthogonal correction as there is on other monitors in this class. Should the monitor develop such problems later in life, you'll just have to live with it. The MultiSync also showed problems with moirepatterns, probably as a result of its tight focus. It could use a control to correct this, like the one the ViewSonic has. On the plus side, there are color-correction controls that allow a degree of color matching, but nothing so sophisticated (or accurate) as the Pantone or Sonnetech programs we used for testing.

NEC has always been one of the very top monitor makers, both in terms of picture quality and units shipped. Its monitors have one of the best images, and one of the most aesthetically pleasing cabinets around. In review after review, these monitors consistently garner awards. But the MultiSync 5FGp was not a top performer in our tests. This is a measure of how competitive the market for 17-inch monitors has become: It's not that NEC's quality has slipped in any way, it's just that competing monitors have improved so much.

Nokia Multigraph 447X

Nokia, a Finnish manufacturer, is already the number-one supplier of monitors in Germany, but stateside it's better known for its high-quality cellular telephones. Going by the cellular-phone experience, we hoped for a lot from this monitor. We weren't disappointed.

To begin with, the monitor's Trinitron tube furnished an excellent image, virtually free of geometric distortion. It provided good color quality, although what should have been a particularly vivid orange appeared a little washed out, and what should have been a pure magenta took on a purplish hue. The cabinet and layout of the controls showed typical Scandinavian concern for aesthetics and ergonomics. Its on-screen controls allowed for the adjustment of just about everything but reduction of moirepatterns. The cabinet had BNC connectors, and the unit could autosync at vertical refresh rates up 110Hz.

The documentation is reasonably complete, and written in English, German, French, Swedish and Finnish. Because of this, you may, at times, find yourself fumbling to locate the English description of what you want to know.

Nokia may be a newcomer to the North American market, but if this monitor is indicative of the quality of its entire line, this is a name with which you'll become more familiar.

NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 17

The SuperScan Elite 17 is an excellent monitor. It may not be among the top tier of those we tested, but it includes many features that let you know that this is a monitor to be reckoned with.

One such feature is a Windows utility for the controls. You load the software onto your hard disk and plug a supplied cable into the serial port. The software detects the port to which the cable is attached. Once it is set up, you have access to a clear and easy-to-use display from which you can manipulate all the major controls except degaussing. Although the controls don't include a way to adjust color convergence and rotation, the SuperScan Elite 17 performed fine on our DisplayMate color-convergence test and did not show any signs of tilt. If convergence or tilt becomes a problem later, though, you'll be stuck.

There are two preset color temperatures: 6500K and 9300K. A third can be stored, but the storage method is primitive; you cannot save the setting as a number. Moreover, there is quite a bit of color variation across the screen. The SuperScan Elite 17 was among the poorest in this group in this test. This is not the monitor with which to do precision color work.

In nearly all areas of image quality, such as sharpness, resolution, moireand geometric distortion, the Hitachi did as well as, or better than, the others. Its image size of 157/8 inches diagonally is among the largest of the monitors reviewed. It has refresh rates that autosync from 60Hz to 120Hz, making the SuperScan Elite 17 easy on the eyes.

The only test of image quality on which it fell short was regulation. This refers to how tightly controlled the image is between light and dark areas. The focus could have been better, and the bezel is too deep, creating a shadow over the top of the monitor.

But despite those minor quibbles, the Hitachi SuperScan Elite 17 is a well-made, ergonomically designed, well-priced monitor.

Optiquest 4000DC

The Optiquest 4000DC, at $799, is a very good and functional low-priced monitor. If you want a clean, sharp image, but would like to keep some money in your pocket, the 4000DC would be a good choice. It will keep saving you money after the purchase, too: It finished in the top third in our energy-use tests.

Like all the monitors we tested, the 4000DC meets Energy Star standards. The 4000DC also comes with Opti-Green software, which provides even more energy savings. The software allows the monitor to reactivate or reduce power independently of the video adapter and its drivers.

The overall image is very good, and at 157/8-inches diagonally, pretty large. Our Pantone color-matching test colors were very good in the center of the screen, but there was a large degree of variance in color temperature across the screen. This is not the monitor to do any kind of intensive prepress graphic design or desktop publishing, although it would be fine if you were using common business applications.

Although the controls feature an excellent on-screen display, there are no preset color temperatures. The controls give a color-mode option, but the function is less useful than it could be because of the inconsistency in color temperature.

All in all, the Optiquest 4000DC is a functional monitor for everyday home and office use. Its price justifies its missing frills.

Philips Brilliance 17A, Model 1720DC

Despite its good color quality, the Brilliance 17A's picture has some problems--a combination of loose focus, misconvergence, geometric distortion and moire. The loose focus caused some screen details to be in focus and not others. The misconvergence rendered a red or blue fringe to the edges of whites in some parts of the screen and not others, and our moiretests found problems in every screen we tried. Items near the edges of the screen seemed to exhibit more of all these problems.

The colors registered very well with our Pantone swatch book, although they seemed a bit pale. Degaussing is quick and thorough, removing even profound color impurities. Both BNC and standard VGA connectors are available, with a switch underneath the left front edge for you to choose between them.

The menuing and control system uses a one-line, backlit LCD, which shows mode timings and menu selections. Four buttons control everything: one to scroll between menus, two to adjust the selection, and one to confirm. Twelve auto-detected factory presets are available; 24 additional memory spaces provided user adjustments.

The ability to key in an alphanumeric name for each user mode is a particularly nice feature. You could call one mode "word processing,'' for instance, and another "drawing,'' for easy return to a particular mode when appropriate. But not being able to go both forward and backward through the menu really slows down the screen setup process, since most of the work is in alternating between the screen sizing and positioning controls. Documentation is brief and touches on all the right subjects.

Samsung SyncMaster 17GLs

At $949, Samsung's SyncMaster 17GLs is the monitor deal of the year. This monitor consistently scored among the best on all our tests. And the ergonomics of the monitor, such as the useful swivel and tilt base, easy-to-access controls and power button, make the 17GLs a pleasure to use.

The monitor's controls feature an excellent on-screen display. All you have to do is push one of the clearly delineated buttons on the front, and an icon appears that helps you set the control option chosen. To set the controls to a desired value, you manipulate a convenient analog bar just to the left of the control buttons. The bar allows you to increase or decrease a number on the graph, which gives you accurate information about the degree to which you've changed the monitor's setup. When you've finished, you can save any changes. There are up to 11 user-configurable modes available and the excellent ergonomics of the controls makes it a cinch to configure them.

The only potential drawback is that the monitor lacks controls for color convergence and rotation. These shortcomings, however, proved not to be a problem during testing. On the other hand, if there is a drift in color and a tilt does develop, you'll be out of luck.

There is only one preset color temperature mode, but there are two that are user-configurable. In the user-configurable modes, you can save the temperature as an assigned number (or level) for red, green and blue. This gives you an accurate way to reset a previously used color mode that may not have been saved.

The 17GLs was second only to the IBM 17P Multifrequency in terms of consistency and accuracy of color temperature across the screen--great news if you want to do color matching. The resulting accuracy of the hues generated makes the comparison of screen colors to printed colors a breeze.

The image's focus and sharpness are excellent, yielding particularly readable characters. There isn't any of the fuzziness that appears on many other monitors.

And, the price is $100 to $250 less than that of its closest competitors (the IBM 17P Multifrequency, the ViewSonic 17 and the Compaq QVision 172). The SyncMaster 17GLs is no more than $200 more than any of the lesser priced monitors, none of which can match its quality. The 17GLs is also among the most energy-efficient monitors we tested.

Sony Multiscan 17se

Sony used its own Trinitron screen in the 17se, so the picture is as sharp, flat and watchable as it gets. The very edges of the screen didn't show a trace of corner distortions or unfocusing. Even the tricky orange page in the Pantone book looked good. Mode changes are quiet and undistracting, with about a second of black time before the image appears.

The documentation includes a quick reference card for the controls, and you may find yourself in need of it fairly often. Hold down the Select button for one second to enable adjustments, and a bank of five lights with labels tells you which set of parameters the brightness and contrast controls will affect. A Ctrl switch in combination with the Select button activates the user and preset-color modes. The adjustment mode switches off automatically after eight seconds and stores the changes if nobody's touched the controls. The reset-to-factory default switch is a button so tiny and recessed so deeply into the control panel that the only way to reach it is with the tip of a ballpoint pen or some similar object. There's no separate degaussing switch; the monitor automatically goes through a degaussing cycle after you switch it on.

Nine hard-wired display modes are available, but the manual doesn't say how many user-configurable modes there are. Other than that, as is the case with many other Sony products, someone took the trouble to write a clear, well-illustrated manual. The Multiscan 17se is an excellent, albeit expensive, choice.

ViewSonic 17

A fair number of the monitors we looked at had on-screen displays, but few of them were implemented well. The ViewSonic has good menus and a great picture.

The menuing is downright clever. When adjusting the horizontal or vertical positioning or sizing, you can use the "2'' button to toggle between the positioning and sizing controls. As a result, setting up a screen becomes much faster. When held down, the controls repeat quickly enough to get you from one end of a setting to another without frustration, but they aren't so fast that you lose control. And the menus are in English, not hieroglyphics. The monitor also handles on-the-fly display-frequency changes without loud noises (squeals, snapping) or the screen's jumping around, but there is a black-screen delay of about a second and a half before the image appears.

One feature unique to the ViewSonic was the inclusion of moirereduction controls; the idea is new and we hope other manufacturers will incorporate it into their own models. A menu control, much like one for setting brightness or contrast, reduces the moirepatterns without affecting overall image quality. Because of this, the ViewSonic has one of the sharpest, most detailed and well-focused displays around.


Objectifying The Subjective

By: JONATHAN BLACKWOOD

It is difficult to devise an objective test for a computer monitor, because the most exacting instrument for measuring the things that matter that most--image quality and color fidelity--is the human eye. Nothing else comes close. We did use an instrument to measure the consistency of color temperature across the screen, taking nine measurements on each monitor using a Minolta CA-100 CRT Color Analyzer (special thanks to Minolta Corp., 201-818-3517, for making this instrument available to WINDOWS Magazine for these tests). We used this information to determine the standard deviation of the measurements from the norm. The lower the deviation, the more consistent the color temperature across the face of the monitor.

Another objective test we performed was a measurement of how much power (in watts) the monitor used in its active state. Each unit surpassed the Energy Star requirements for power usage in a quiescent state; they also conformed to the VESA DPMS (Video Electronics Standards Association's Display Power Management Signaling) standard, allowing power management of the monitor to be performed by a signal from the CPU. Since they all shut down to under 30 watts in their power-saving modes, we decided that power usage in the active state might be a more interesting measurement. The results ranged from 67 watts for the ETC ViewMagic (best), to 115 watts for the Nokia Multigraph (worst).

To judge image quality and color convergence, our panel of experts (the authors of this review) used Sonera Technologies' DisplayMate for Windows (Sonera Technologies, 908-747-6886, $79). DisplayMate provides a battery of tests that reveal geometric distortion, poor focus and other common monitor flaws. We used a multiple connection to a system running a Diamond Stealth 64 VL-Bus video card (Diamond Computer Systems Inc. 408-736-2000).

To judge color quality, we made use of two pieces of software provided by Pantone's color testing laboratories (Pantone Inc. 201-935-5500) and not yet commonly available to the public. The first was the Pantone Professional Toolkit. We had to collect chromaticity data for the red, green and blue phosphors, as well as gamma information and white points for each monitor (needed to equalize digital color information with the display characteristics of the monitor). The software used this information, in effect, to enable the monitors to put their proverbial best-color-reproduction-foot forward. We then used the Pantone Color Formula Guide to visually compare the monitor's reproduction of Pantone colors with the printed color guide, making allowances for the differences between reflective color and luminescent color. We judged using the Formula Guide's pages 1.3c (process colors), 8c and 9.5c (both containing various hues of orange), and 46c (a range of grays). Pantone advised us that the best measure of color quality is how well the monitor could reproduce vivid orange (one of the most difficult colors for CRT technology), and, at the same time, a neutral gray (without pinkish or bluish hues).

We also made use of a beta version of Sonnetech's Colorific software (Sonnetech, 415-957-9940), which incorporates the Kodak Color Management System. This program is a set of utilities for calibrating your monitor so that you can achieve true-color reproduction given the ambient light existing in your work location. It comes with templates that you place on your screen in order to make precise adjustments. Colorific will ship with the new Nanao 17-inch monitor expected to become available shortly after this issue hits the stands.


Report Card

	REPORT CARD
		Image quality	Color quality	Ergonomics	Controls	Color consistency	Active power usage
	Acer AcerView 76i	B	A	B	B	B	A
	ADI MicroScan 5AP	B	A	B	B	B	A
	Amdek AM/817E	B	A	B	B	B	C
	Compaq QVision 172	A	A	B	B	B	A
	CTX 1785GM	A	A	A	B	C	C
	ETC ViewMagic	C	C	C	C	B	A
W	IBM 17P Multifrequency	A	A	A	A	A	B
	IDEK Iiyama VisionMaster MF-8617	B	B	A	B	C	B
	MAG InnoVision MXP17F	B	B	A	A	A	A
	MiTAC Mi L1782 Performance Series	A	A	B	B	A	B
	Mitsubishi Diamond Scan 17FS	B	A	B	A	A	B
	Nanao FlexScan F560iW	A	A	A	A	B	C
	NEC MultiSync 5FGp	B	B	A	B	B	B
	Nokia Multigraph 447X	A	A	A	A	C	C
	NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 17	A	A	A	A	C	C
	Optiquest 4000DC	B	A	B	B	C	A
	Philips Brilliance 17A, Model 1720DC	C	A	B	C	A	B
W	Samsung SyncMaster 17GLs	A	A	A	A	A	A
	Sony Multiscan 17se	A	A	B	B	C	C
W	ViewSonic 17	A	A	A	A	A	B
•	Image quality: Is the image sharp and tightly focused, with proper color convergence? Is it free of geometric distortion and moire patterns?

•	Color quality: How well did the monitor reproduce our Pantone sample colors? How good is it at color matching?

•	Ergonomics: Does the screen have an antiglare coating? Are the controls well placed and easy to use? Does the monitor easily adjust to a comfortable viewing position?

•	Controls: How complete are the controls? What image-quality and color issues can be resolved using the controls?

•	Color consistency: How even is the color temperature across the entire screen?

•	Active power usage: All tested monitors are Energy Star and VESA DPMS compliant. The less juice they draw in their active states, the better the grade.

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

TOP HONORS GO TO THE IBM 17P Multifrequency, the Samsung SyncMaster 17GLs and the ViewSonic 17 monitors. All three are excellent choices for eyestrain-free viewing. The SyncMaster 17GLs topped our ratings, ranking consistently near the top on virtually every measure--and it's a good value to boot. IBM has come roaring back to monitor prominence with its latest offering, and ViewSonic continues its recent streak of excellence.

But keep in mind that this group of monitors was among the best we've seen. The competition was so tough that neither the Nanao FlexScan nor the NEC MultiSync--both superb monitors--finished in the top three. The NEC's lack of up-to-date controls dropped it to the middle of the pack, and the Nanao unit is due to be replaced soon with a new model. We saw an engineering sample of the new Nanao, and assuming Nanao maintains this monitor's quality into production, it would have placed among the top two or three within this group.

What this should tell you is that any of the top 15 or so monitors in this group deserves consideration for a place on your desktop. Image quality and color fidelity are subjective judgements, so be sure to visit a store to see first-hand the image of the monitor you're considering. If you like the image and can get a good price, we think you'll be happy with your purchase.

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Info Files

Acer AcerView 76i

Price: $849

In Brief: Not only is this monitor low in price, it also has very good color quality and resolution.

Acer America Corp.

800-368-2237,

408-432-6200

ADI MicroScan 5AP

Price: $859

In Brief: A good performer, this monitor includes screen-saver software that powers the monitor down to save energy.

ADI Systems Inc.

800-228-0530,

408-944-0100

Amdek AM/817E

Price: $799

In Brief: The AM/817E offers good color quality at a rock-bottom price.

Amdek

800-72-AMDEK, 408-473-1200

Compaq QVision 172

Price: $1,099

In Brief: Once again, Compaq serves up an excellent performer with a high-quality image and good color. It ranked among the best performers in this group.

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, 713-378-8820

CTX 1785GM

Price: $1,049

In Brief: The 1785GM is one of the best monitors profiled here, with a bright, sharp display and excellent colors.

CTX International Inc.

909-595-6146, fax 909-595-6293

ETC ViewMagic

Price: $759

In Brief: This monitor offers on-screen controls and uses less power in its active state than any other monitor in this group.

ETC Computer Inc.

510-226-6250, fax 510-226-6252

IBM 17P Multifrequency

Price: $1,199

In Brief: Big Blue scores with superb image, color and ergonomics; even the lack of on-screen programming hasn't lessened our opinion of this monitor.

IBM PC Co.

800-IBM-2-YOU, 914-765-1900

IDEK VisionMaster MF-8617

Price: $799

In Brief: You'll find that this monitor is a competent performer at a good price.

IDEK Iiyama North America Inc.

800-394-4335, 215-957-6543

Circle Inquiry #697

MAG InnoVision MXP17F

Price: $1,299

In Brief: The MXP17F has a detailed and versatile control panel, but the picture's somewhat lacking.

MAG InnoVision Inc.

800-827-3998, 714-751-2008

MiTAC Mi L1782 Performance Series

Price: $999

In Brief: This monitor consistently ranked in the top third in this group, although some of its on-screen controls were confusing.

MiTAC

800-756-9888, 510-656-3333

Mitsubishi Diamond Scan 17FS

Price: $1,069

In Brief: The Diamond Scan 17FS provided an excellent Windows applet to control the monitor, as well as good color fidelity.

Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc.

800-843-2515, 714-236-6352

Nanao FlexScan F560iW

Price: $1,279

In Brief: Nanao's product is excellent as always, with a unique control scheme that's earned many devotees.

Nanao USA Corp.

800-800-5202, 310-325-5202

NEC MultiSync 5FGp

Price: $1,175

In Brief: The 5FGp remains a best seller and provides a bright, well-focused image that's free of geometric distortion.

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500

Nokia Multigraph 447X

Price: $1,250

In Brief: The Multigraph 447X, with its Trinitron tube, provides excellent image quality and had excellent ergonomic controls.

Nokia Display Products Inc.

800-BY-NOKIA, 415-331-0322

NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 17

Price: $1,049

In Brief: In addition to a clear and sharp picture, the SuperScan Elite 17 provides its controls in a Windows utility.

NSA/Hitachi

800-441-4832, 617-461-8300

Optiquest 4000DC

Price: $799

In Brief: A low-priced monitor with very good sharpness and resolution, the 4000DC includes Opti-Green energy saving software.

Optiquest Inc.

800-THE-OPTI, 909-468-3750

Philips Brilliance 17A, Model 1720DC

Price: $1,099

In Brief: The Model 1720DC provided good color and excellent color consistency across its screen.

Philips Consumer Electronics Co.

800-835-3506, 310-217-1300

Samsung SyncMaster 17GLs

Price: $949

In Brief: A magnificent monitor at an excellent price, it delivers exceptional quality in every category.

Samsung Electronics America, Information Systems Division

800-SAMSUNG, 201-229-4000

Sony Multiscan 17se

Price: $1,249.95

In Brief: The Multiscan 17se offers superior image quality and color fidelity.

Sony Electronics Inc.

800-352-7669, 408-432-1600

ViewSonic 17

Price: $1,045

In Brief: The ViewSonic 17 has an excellent implementation of on-screen programming and a great-looking display.

ViewSonic, a division of Keypoint Technology Corp.

800-888-8583, 909-468-3756


17-inch Monitors Table

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Mucho Tasks? Get A Macho Pim

PIMS

Contact Managers That Sell

Report Card

Info Files

PIM Table


PIMS

By: JAMES E. POWELL-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Contact management is more than keeping names, addresses, appointments and a to-do list. It means staying in touch with your customers and keeping them satisfied--following up on inquiries, anticipating needs, sending custom letters on demand--and doing it all in the most efficient manner possible.

Each of the contact managers in this review has some form of address book and scheduler, the latter usually providing a daily, weekly, monthly and/or yearly view of your appointments. You can set filters to view selected records, duplicate an existing record (to add a second contact to the same organization, for instance) and add to-dos or prioritized tasks that will roll over to the next day if they aren't completed by the date you've assigned. Many of these programs include a report writer or, more simply, custom output options. Some of them include shortcuts, a real time saver if you work with your PIM for much of the day. GoldMine and ACT let you add new records based on a template, freeing you from filling in repetitive fields ad nauseam. So if, for instance, most of your customers are in California, the program can automatically fill in the state field with CA.

In June, we reviewed entry-level PIMs ("In Search of the Perfect PIM''; see also "Polaris Launches New PIM,'' in our July issue, page 130), which are fine for everyday name and appointment tracking. This time, we're concentrating on full-featured PIMs, which take the basic features found in our earlier crop and add functionality for a workgroup and/or the ability to interact with other applications. Networking usually tops the list of features that distinguish high-end PIMs, giving them such capabilities as group scheduling, resource management and e-mail. Remote file synchronization at the field level is another important plus of a full-featured PIM.

PIMs are highly personal applications. Sometimes you can make the best choice for your own work on the basis of criteria as superficial as how the screen looks and whether you can arrange the display according to your own preferences. Often, choosing a PIM is not so easy. No two of the PIMs in this review work alike. In fact, no two even closely resemble each other. Because they can all perform the basic functions, we thought we'd help you pick the one that's right for you by pointing out their distinguishing features.

High-end PIMs usually can link information or documents, or both, to a contact. CrossTies best exemplifies this, linking contacts, documents, appointments and external files to a contact for the ultimate in tracing attachments; GoldMine will also do the trick. Commence is particularly good at assigning resources: You can create an appointment, schedule several attendees, resources and follow-ups, all from a single screen, and all on the fly. In fact, with Commence you can get as complex as you like, and the program will keep you from getting lost. InfoCentral is unique in its linking capabilities, since it shows you the relationships between

individuals and/or companies. Best-of-breed programs will let you modify the layout of your screen (or at least the field labels), add custom fields, filter records using complex criteria, and build your own or modify existing reports.

If you want to prospect your most important contacts, look for a program that supports grouping. A group is a subset of existing records, perhaps your best customers or those whose accounts are greatly past due. Grouping records lets you focus on a select set of clients without disrupting the rest of your data. Just how easy it is to add to a group varies, however, from piece-of-cake (with GoldMine and ACT) to slightly more tedious (Sharkware).

Keep in mind that this is a constantly changing market, and its only discernible trend is one toward workgroup and networking support. We based our round-up on the latest shipping versions of the best PIMs we could find. WINDOWS Magazine will be closely watching the new and improved versions. If you need a PIM now, however, there's plenty of power to choose from.

ACT 2.0

One of the premiere programs in its field, ACT has withstood an onslaught of challengers over the years. Although it is not as customizable as some programs, it's a nice balance of ease of use and power. The program lets you store data in 70 customizable fields, enter an unlimited number of notes, and root out records in record time.

Version 2.0 adds network support (including record locking and auto-screen refresh), integrated e-mail messaging (so you can attach a contact's activities in your message for both VIM and MAPI systems), and enhanced calendar and address book printing (over 20 sizes and formats are now supported). There's even a hook to WinFax PRO for merged faxing.

You can display your contacts one at a time in a variety of screen layouts or use the contact list to show everyone in a list at once. An interim release, not yet available to us but due by the time you read this, will enable you to design your own screen layouts

Ease of use is ACT's hallmark. When you schedule an appointment, dialog boxes pop up to display a calendar, so you can select the date. Then you'll see a grid showing your current appointments; select the beginning and end times of the new appointment on this grid, and a list of meeting types (lunch, sales call and so on) will appear. If the available categories don't accurately describe your meeting, you can modify the list. Slick, step-by-step processes like this, along with the automatic date stamping of notes, automatic history logging and excellent searching features, make ACT a standout. ACT makes it easy to tag and untag individual records.

You can display a list of the calls, meetings and to-dos for the day, view all activity for a particular contact, or see a weekly or monthly overview of what's ahead. ACT lets you jump between contact and appointment details, and you'll never find yourself getting lost while trying to get around in this program. ACT includes a macro recorder for automating repetitive tasks and even assigns a custom icon to the macro and places it in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

There are some lapses, however. When you enter a record about an incoming telephone call, there's no button to press to schedule a follow-up. Call history is limited to only a brief note. The networking features help teams coordinate a follow-up, although it takes second place to GoldMine in its depth and breadth of such features; you cannot delegate tasks, for example. On the positive side, its one-click mail-merge feature uses its own word processor (though I'd prefer links to Word, WordPerfect and Ami Pro) and is the easiest to use for simple correspondence. Every time you print a letter, ACT adds that fact to the history log. You cannot, however, double-click on the document name to launch it in a word processor.

ACT lacks a print preview for labels and does not offer a field so that you can store meeting notes. But ACT has been around for a long while and keeps getting better all the time. It remains a front runner.

Ascend 4.0

Ascend is a mixed bag of helpful features and potentially frustrating limitations. It's certainly the most colorful of the PIMs reviewed here, but you'll soon discover that Ascend has a set way of working and expects you to conform to its methodology. For example, you don't schedule hour-long appointments for an hour, but for two "time blocks'' of 30 minutes each. The program is based on the time-management philosophy its publisher espouses in seminars. The philosophy is terrific (there's an overview in the user guide), but the software doesn't take full advantage of it.

Along with the calendar and address book, Ascend includes a daily journal for recording the events of the day, a hierarchy for keeping your goals in mind, a master task list, a task list (with estimated and actual times for each activity), and even a list so that you can keep your favorite quotes at your fingertips. The address book is not customizable; you can't add additional fields and it can't handle grouping. Fortunately, it provides room for two addresses, five phone numbers and six short key fields, which may be all you need. Reporting, on the other hand, is particularly weak.

Ascend sometimes falls a little short on drag-and-drop. The monthly view displays a time line for each day, and you can click and drag the appointment to another beginning or ending time, or change its duration. You cannot, however, drag the appointment to another day. There's a button to set the filter parameters, but it doesn't put the filter into effect, as you'd expect. Instead you have to use a menu option to select the desired records.

Ascend has one feature all programs would do well to emulate. When you add a contact name, the contact's name and company name appear in the phone book. If you add two contacts to the same company, Ascend indents each name under the company entry and puts the job title in parenthesis, providing you with a miniature company directory.

Ascend has a consistent look and feel throughout--best represented by its text editor, which allows you to add free-form comments anywhere you would like (for example, to notes or contact records). The editor includes icons for inserting the current date and time, setting fonts as well as alignment, and drawing lines between sections.

The program supports a user-controllable label format, but not the full complement of Avery labels you have probably come to expect. There is no right-mouse help or quick help. But above all that, the program is slow. The company gave us a sneak peek at the next version, though, in which the calendar function and sluggish performance are vastly improved, and in which better drag-and-drop capabilities are added.

Commence 2.1

Workgroup support is a highlight of Commence. Surprisingly nimble at supporting relationships (for example, "superior of,'' "administrator for''), Commence puts Agents at the center of its program. These Agents look out for "trigger events,'' such as alarms, then perform a series of steps to automate your work. You can define an Agent to create and print a form letter when a customer's account is over 90 days old, for example. Agents are relatively easy to set up, as are custom views that let you create your own data-entry screens.

Commence dotes on pull-down lists, which display only one class of items at a time. Thus, to find out who else is in a meeting, you have to click on a pull-down list. To see the resources for the appointment, you'll have to do the same. This gets tedious quickly. Fortunately, Commence connects everything together so well it's a breeze to click your way through the data, moving from an appointment to an attendee to a list of notes for that contact. You can add several people to an appointment at once, too.

Commence's search and sorting capabilities are rich and fast, and it was the fastest of the reviewed products at finding records that matched complex conditions. Commence displays key fields from a contact record as it finds matching records, so you can edit a record while it continues to search in the background.

There's color-coding galore in Commence, from the various calendar views (that indicate free and busy times graphically) to Gantt charts that show beginning and ending dates for tasks. Like ECCO and InfoCentral, you can't simply play with the program in order to get the hang of it. Its Agent technology is unsurpassed, but its unusual user interface may put you off. And, in fact, it's fair to say that because of that interface, the program has a pretty steep learning curve. There's plenty of power here, however, if you're willing and able to invest the time.

Contact-Pro 1.15

Contact-Pro, another new entry in an increasingly crowded market, features easy scheduling, fast conflict checking, and a list of appointments that you can view by any date range or client name (there isn't, however, a graphical view). Contact-Pro excels at letting you add multiple contacts for the same company, but you can search for only the primary (first) contact assigned to the company, a vexing oversight.

There are lots of plusses, including Global Search and Replace (handy when a company address changes), easy-to-set and -save filter criteria, customizable menus, menu options to copy to Windows' Clipboard and/or print the name and address of the current record. It's easy to set up categories on the fly (to handle such chores as classifying appointments, for instance), create groups using search criteria, record telephone conversations, and jump between contacts and appointments. The program ships with a zip-code database so that it can automatically fill in the city and state after a zipcode is entered.

The program's user interface is slightly unconventional and confusing. The main screen looks like you can click on any field and edit it, but you have to click on the Edit button first. There's no double-click-to-edit as you'd expect. Likewise, you fill in new filter criteria, then name the criteria, which is just the opposite of the way you create new criteria in all the other Windows applications I've ever used. The Search by Example feature could find my last name but not my first name--you have to search using dBASE syntax: "JIM'' $ UPPER(Contact Name). Ugh! Groups are easy to set up, but moving between records goes at a snail's pace. Contact-Pro consumes nearly 40 percent of system resources on my Gateway 2000 486/33 with 8MB of RAM.

Its import utility is great: You can accept or discard duplicates, add an extra underscore at the end of duplicate values, or interactively edit the duplicates to change selected info.

CrossTies 1.0

CrossTies' main purpose is to tie up all the loose ends related to a customer or client. For example, when you define a new appointment, you can add (connect) a person or a spreadsheet file to the appointment information so you'll have a concise record of everything you need to discuss at your meeting. Likewise within the contact record you can link other contacts, such as a secretary's contact record, though there is nothing within CrossTies that identifies the relationship (such as "works for''or "is assistant to''). The program thinks you'll understand the relationship by its very presence--a dangerous assumption.

Because CrossTies can manage e-mail, activities and document files, it's best used as a content manager, not just a contact manager. The program's Shelf window lets you store frequently used objects, such as the names of your best customers. Of the PIMs in our group, CrossTies is the only one that makes the process of creating such groups almost painless.

CrossTies makes the most of your mouse (as does Arabesqe's ECCO). You can drag and drop objects nearly anywhere to organize your work. The program's Trail button in the customizable toolbar takes you through the list of the most recently used objects.

But CrossTies is equipped with just the basics when it comes to appointment and contact management. For example, the address book is not modifiable. The calendar lists your appointments, but you can't click on an open spot to add a new appointment.

If connecting documents and managing bare-bones address book and scheduling information sums up your workday, CrossTies is a good choice. Otherwise, more powerful products, including GoldMine, Commence, InfoCentral and ECCO, do much the same thing--and with more power.

ECCO Professional 2.0

ECCO has changed little in its look and feel since version 1.1. But there are plenty of new features in version 2.0, which takes dead-center aim at enterprise-wide support for mail systems, including MAPI, VIM and Lotus Notes (which can use the names already in your ECCO address book, saving you time and space). Mail for scheduling meetings is fully integrated as well, so you can automatically find the first available meeting time and send requests to potential attendees. For example, if you already have Microsoft Schedule+, ECCO will integrate with that program and with your existing e-mail program, for scheduling, mailing and so forth. You can even create scheduling groups to shorten the work it takes to set up a team meeting, tentatively accept a meeting request, or delegate work to others.

ECCO enables you to keep private views as well as public ones in the same file, so you can see confidential information about a contact without having to set up a second record for the same contact--a big plus. If you work across a network, ECCO's file synchronization lets you keep information up to date whenever the master file is available. You can even synchronize the files at regular intervals with a minimum of disruption. The Shooter feature sends information to and from other programs, another unique innovation ECCO's competitors would be wise to imitate.

ECCO uses a graphical appointment dialog box for making and revising appointments, and it sports a clean interface for giving you a day or week at a glance. The spreadsheet-like table displays contact information, but I'd rather see one contact per screen. These layouts are not customizable--you simply choose which fields go in which predefined boxes. Version 2.0 does add several custom displays, and, although a good first step, it's not a satisfactory solution. The program's outline view lets you add or drag and drop just about anything to a contact form, such as a document or spreadsheet, driving directions or pictures. It's slick and, once learned, can become addictive.

ECCO is up there with Commence when it comes to a steep learning curve. It's so workgroup and e-mail centered that the installation program asks for your e-mail address, even if you want to use it as a standalone PIM. But ECCO is in a league of its own if you need a workgroup solution and you already use Schedule+.

GoldMine 2.5

ELAN Software's GoldMine has just about everything you'd want in a PIM: custom fields and layouts, a tabbed index to separate appointments from notes, group scheduling and task delegation, a good set of standard reports and dBASE compatibility for creating your own, and good documentation with plenty of examples.

Since our review of the beta version of GoldMine ("Contacts Good As Gold,'' June 1994), the company has added a graphical calendar module and a host of standard reports. GoldMine still isn't the flashiest of the programs reviewed here, and it lacks some drag-and-drop support. But it has things no one else has. For example, you can view several contacts in

separate minimizable windows, so you can keep many records available for instant access. GoldMine's forecasting module tells you where best to invest your time for the greatest return (you prioritize the sales volume and likelihood, and GoldMine computes the rest). You can review how many contacts you've made and your success rate, so you can review your technique and look for a style that works. You can add special information in a profile record, data that is unique (but searchable) for the individual, but you don't have to add the same information field to all contacts.

GoldMine can flip between appointments, call backs, prioritized lists and contacts with aplomb. You can quickly search for a record by text in any field, including five key fields that are indexed for greater efficiency. Among the tabbed screens are areas for adding other contacts for the same company, a section for storing referral information, free-form notes, and a summary of your past and future activities (appointments, to-dos and so on).

GoldMine's performance was among the best for all the tasks we gave it, from creating groups of contacts to selecting only those from California. Pop-up lists make it easy enough to save keystrokes by offering user-defined values for fields such as Job Title.

GoldMine adds value to your workgroup by not only allowing you to delegate follow-ups to your coworkers, but also letting you know whether the necessary action was taken.

GoldMine has hooks to Word and Ami Pro, but not WordPerfect. You can create mail-merged documents easily, and GoldMine will track any individual document and launch it from a special screen should you want to view or revise it later.

A host of other features make GoldMine well rounded: Remote synchronization keeps your laptop and desktop in sync down to the field level. When you enter a zip code, GoldMine asks you for the city and state. When you add a new record in the same zip code, the program automatically fills in the city and state value.

It's tough to imagine being able to outgrow GoldMine.

InfoCentral 1.0

WordPerfect's PIM is the perfect solution for managing complicated relationships. It is unlike any other PIM.

Everything in InfoCentral is divided into objects and the relationships (called connections) between them. Rather than using a single screen to display contact information, you have a company object and a person object, which you connect using the relationship "works for'' or "employee.'' Likewise, people have a relationship to meetings ("attendee'') and to each other ("supervises'').

Although it's somewhat perplexing at first, the arrangement lets you put everything in an infinite variety of perspectives. Using an outline, you can display all the relationships for your contacts (their suppliers, vendors and subordinates, for example).

InfoCentral ships with several objects (meetings, project, telephone call) that contain information (such as descriptions, notes, dates and times), and you can set up your own. In fact, InfoCentral is just about the

most flexible when it comes to storing what you want. You can add as many custom fields as you wish, but you have minimal control over how these fields are presented on-screen.

Rather than storing all the information about an object within the object, you sometimes store information with the actual connection. For example, John Smith's object contains his employment date and annual salary. The Acme Widgets object contains the company address and phone number. The connection ("employee'') between the two may store John's phone number at the company. Thus, because you can't use just a single screen like you would with most PIMs, you may have to hunt for the data.

Using a tabbed interface, you can create as many outlines as you wish. A calendar outline is standard. Since you can print any outline, you really have a great deal of flexibility.

If it's relationships rather than data you have to manage to be successful, nothing comes close to InfoCentral. While the documentation is sparse, and you'll have to play with the program before things become obvious (even after you've worked through the sample database), InfoCentral is worlds apart from its competition. It's slick, but it's not for everyone.

Janna Contact 1.0

Janna Contact includes all the standard contact information, and you can add an unlimited number of your own fields. You can keep virtually any number of telephone numbers, and pick lists are almost everywhere; at the click of the right mouse button, you can select common entries for items ranging from contact type to city. You set special-interest codes by contact, so, for example, you can mark clients that are interested in charity events for a quick group mailing.

The main screen includes a list of contacts (you select the fields and sort order), as well as individual entries for each contact. Even though you can't modify the interface, you can control the size of each section.

Included in the package is a storehouse for documents, such as your Procedures Manual, which you launch by double-clicking. The program also includes a good Letter Manager for creating mail-merged documents for one or more contacts on the fly.

Janna Contact streamlines some tedious tasks, such as updating your historical log when you fax a follow-up to a client. You can schedule the fax (or printing, for that matter) for after hours. Other time savers include the Auto Address feature. Enter the second contact for a company and you can pop up a list of all the addresses for the same company. Select an address from that list, and the program fills in the address in the second record. You also can use this feature when you view any contact; it's a clever way to see the addresses of all the branch offices, for example.

Speaking of follow-ups, Janna Contact does an outstanding job here. When you add a new activity (such as a record of a phone call), you can add several follow-ups at once, not just the typical single follow-up so many competitors offer. The program's colorful icons also help you quickly distinguish between phone calls, meetings, presentations, special events and all the other activities you schedule in a day.

It's not a speed demon, however, and many tasks, such as searching, take longer than they should. The program also kept my hard disk spinning more than I liked.

And there are some rough edges: I couldn't install it to a drive other than C:, and the installation program suggests you include the line FILES=150, an enormously high number, in your CONFIG.SYS file. There's no print preview, and predefined report offerings are on the slim side. Luckily there's a simple columnar report writer that lets you build your own reports; it's straightforward and unencumbered by lots of bells and whistles, but it could very well be all you'll ever need.

Still, for a first release, this is a fine product and one that bears watching. If you need the benefits of multiple follow-ups, a colorful and clean interface, unlimited custom fields for each contact, and easy mail merge, Janna's a good choice.

Maximizer 1.2

In Maximizer, everything's a list: Your contacts are displayed in a list, as are your appointments, your telephone list and more. While this makes for consistency, it also can make for lots of windows on your screen. At least when you're scrolling through one list, the other windows stay in sync.

Lists provide a unique benefit in Maximizer: You can re-sort the list by clicking on the appropriate column heading. Another plus: You can name and save your search criteria to create lists of qualifying records more quickly.

There are plenty of shortcuts, from pop-up lists to speedy data merging. There's a macro facility for doing your everyday tasks. With DDE links to Word,

WordPerfect and Ami Pro, you can select a name, address or category field and paste the data into your word processor. However, you'll probably want to use the product's built-in word processor and predefined templates for simple tasks, such as fax cover pages and one-page mail-merge documents. The document management window lists all the documents you've sent, along with a brief comment.

There are dozens of extras, including an income-and-expense journal. Contacts and letters can be made public or private, and you can set up a contact as either an individual or a company (with multiple individuals within a company). The latter option lets you see everything occurring within an organization or select just the contacts within a company for a mailing. This feature offers a unique perspective on your data. You can add records about one contact without wasting space for all other contacts that don't have similar data (such as hobby information) as you can with GoldMine and Janna Contact, and you can store a virtually unlimited number of addresses per contact record.

Some of the basics are missing, however. While you can log a call, there's no follow-up button to set the next meeting. You can change which fields are displayed in a list, but you have to shut the window and re-open it for your change to take effect. There is no global search to find the word "golf,'' for example, within any contact record, and predefined reports (and control over them) are only adequate.

Use of the mouse is mixed: You can drag a contact to the calendar to schedule an appointment but you can't use the mouse to reschedule an appointment or change its duration.

The greatest limitation is Maximizer's speed. When you filter records, for example, the program goes through all records to build its list. Removing the filter is just as slow. When we tried to search our 1,400-record contact database, this program seemed to drag in comparison with other products.

Sharkware 1.0

If you buy into Harvey Mackay's philosophy of knowing everything you can about your client, you'll find Sharkware a good embodiment of "knowledge is power.'' The program attempts to quide you through inputting reams of knowledge on your contacts. If you don't, the philosophy will only take up hard disk space--not interrupt your concentration. The good news is that you can learn Sharkware almost instantly. The bad news is that although it's easy to set up groups and the program has terrific searching capabilities, it's less straightforward to take a contact out of a group, and slower than molasses for moving between contacts. The company acknowledges these limitations, and showed us a sneak peek at version 2.0, which it claims will address our concerns.

Sharkware can accommodate an unlimited number of user-defined fields, including multiple addresses. Its simple layout puts all the key information onto a Rolodex-like card when displayed, which is a natural. To the right of the Rolodex card, the program shows key dates (past and present), and you can switch the bottom portion of the screen to show notes, custom fields or contact history, as well as your answers to the Mackay 66--the 66 questions you should answer for any contact. (The less exhausting Mackay 33-, 22- and 12-question versions are also supported.)

The clean screen designs keep you focused, and the user documentation is unquestionably among the best we've seen: Clearly labeled sections explain tasks precisely with plenty of illustrations. You won't have any trouble learning Sharkware, and the user guide makes the less frequently used tasks, such as embedding objects into contact notes using its OLE 2.0 support, easy to learn. Sharkware is also full of shortcuts, including Standard Responses that you can select to fill comment fields. There are many of these responses, for example, "Still considering proposal'' or "Met and discussed our relationship'' rather than cryptic, and all-too-short, codes for such notations.

If the speed boost does, indeed, show up in the next version, and you want to take advantage of Mackay's philosophy, Sharkware is a good choice. If you wait for version 2.0, you'll also profit from a redesigned interface that adds tabbed sections and an improved word processor.


Report Card

	REPORT CARD
		Address book	Scheduling	Input and output	Search	User interface
W	ACT 2.0	A	A	A	A	A
	Ascend 4.0	C	B	C	B	C
	Commence 2.1	A	A	B	A	B
	Contact-Pro 1.15	A	B	A	C	D
	CrossTies 1.0	C	C	B	B	A
	ECCO Professional 2.0	B	A	A	A	B
W	GoldMine 2.5	A	A	A	A	A
	InfoCentral 1.0	B	B	A	A	B
	Janna Contact 1.0	A	B	A	B	B
	Maximizer 1.2	B	B	B	B	B
	Sharkware 1.0	A	A	B	A	B
•	Address book: Does it store extra fields, let you change field labels, create custom screens? How well is the screen organized?

•	Schedule: How easily can you add, change and delete one-time and recurring appointments, note schedule conflicts, and link appointments with contact records?

•	Input and output: What is the variety of standard and custom reports? Can you select the data you want to print? How flexible and fast are import and export, and how well does the program synchronize your data with the network?

•	Search: How quickly can you find a contact? Can you search all fields or only a single field?

•	User interface: Does the program support drag-and-drop, have a customizable toolbar, look cluttered, have easy-to-find and easy-to-set preferences and options?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

GOLDMINE HAS LONG BEEN A powerful DOS program and its first release for Windows is a hands-down winner. Its flexibility, speed and unique workgroup features make it an excellent choice, even if you're working alone.

•	ACT, the longtime leader in this field, has stayed ahead of the pack and deserves its fine reputation. Its clean interface and all-around balance of features, ease of use, simple (and quick) mail merge, and good documentation are enhanced by the networking features added in version 2.0.

•	ECCO is your best choice if you already use Schedule+ and want to take advantage of group scheduling. Commence works well when you must keep track of multiple resources for any contact or event, or when you want the system to take action based on conditions or "triggers".

•	InfoCentral distinguishes itself with a unique approach to viewing relationships among contacts, rather than raw data about a contact. Maximizer lets you create records for organizations or contacts, but its list management is slow with large databases.

•	Ascend works best if you already buy into the Franklin philosophy of planning, including goal tracking. Sharkware's support of super salesman Harvey Mackay doesn't overshadow its good contact-management features, including the ability to add unlimited custom fields, a trait shared by an equally impressive newcomer, Janna Contact.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\SEP4.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Contact Managers That Sell

If sales is your focus, you should be using a contact manager. However, the products described in this review are specifically aimed at salespeople. They manage more than just names and appointments. The three products on this page focus on the sales cycle, workgroup management, and sales forecasting and planning. They're especially good if you have repeated contact with a customer throughout the sales cycle.

TELEMAGIC

TeleMagic 1.0 (TeleMagic Inc., 800-835-MAGIC, 214-733-4292; single user, $499; five-user network, $1,299) has some of the best screen and form designs we've seen in any contact manager. It permits multiday scheduling, which it displays by placing a colored stripe across your calendar. You'll also find it fully customizable; you can add your own fields, create your own multipage screens, and define your own menus. Because it supports OLE (a rarity among contact managers), you can store external files within fields in a TeleMagic record; the benefits are tremendous. (For example, you can link a year-to-date sales chart or projected earnings spreadsheet to the contact record.) The program has most of the features you'd expect in a database, such as indexes (for speed), calculated fields (to compute quantity times price), and validation criteria (you can't enter an out-of-range value). It also includes its own WYSIWYG report writer that supports headers and footers, print preview, and embeddable graphics.

TeleMagic uses a slightly different organization than most: Its three-level structure lets you add contacts to a company record and a virtually unlimited number of "associated information'' records (such as sales records or projects) per contact. It took surprisingly little time to adjust to this structure, thanks in part to an excellent beginner's tutorial.

TeleMagic offers DOS, Mac and UNIX versions, and source code is available--another rarity these days. The company says over 270 add-on products integrate with TeleMagic, including TeleMagic PhoneLink for hooking into phone systems to add automated inbound and outbound calling services.

TELESELL

The TeleSell Salesperson Module 4.02 (TeLeVell Sales Solutions, 408-956-0511, fax 408-956-0202; single user, $195; network version, $2,495) is a software component that's part of a system based on a single idea: keeping in touch is just one of the tasks you have to do to manage your customer's accounts. The contact management features in the Salesperson module are part of an overall Sales Cycle software system that includes additional modules for telemarketing and surveying, inquiry processing, reseller management (for distributing leads to your dealers, for example), order initiation, and bulk mail management.

The program can handle the basics, such as name and address management, ticklers, and autodialing. Rather than reinvent the wheel, the program uses Microsoft's Schedule+ as its appointment manager. It tracks contact history, as will any sales program, but its strength is its ability to generate sales-related information. For instance, you can enter product information and generate custom quote or proposal letters. You can use sales cycle codes (cold leads versus "ready to discuss terms''), interest levels, and lead sources (with their associated costs) if you have the Advertising module, to work together in analyzing your effectiveness, which can point out areas for future improvement.

For some reason, the user manual supplied with our copy was for the DOS version. There was, however, a separate addendum covering the transition to similar Windows features.

WINSALES

As salespeople and advertisers know, once is not enough. Keeping in contact multiple times--making sure you're always in front of the customer--during a sales cycle is critical. That's what WinSales 2.0 (WinSales Inc., 206-854-9580, fax 206-852-5434; single user, $495; five users, $1,495 ) is all about. The product's Action Plan feature lets you define a sales cycle from the first customer contact through the entire sales process. You can define as many stages as you like, and as you add a customer to the sales cycle, WinSales takes over to remind you at the intervals you define what you'll have to do next (send a brochure, make a call, send follow-up pricing information, and so on). When one step is done, WinSales establishes the next milestone or event. If the step isn't completed (the customer isn't interested, for instance), you can cancel the rest of the cycle.

Such a multiple-step approach is a key to building long-term relationships, and nothing is easier to help you in this approch than WinSales. With its forecasting tools, you'll always know what's ahead, and you can delegate tasks to balance your workload.

You'll also benefit from WinSales' Out and About data synchronization feature to sync new information between laptops and desktops (or servers). With this program, GoldMine, Maximizer and Janna Contact, you can store custom information about any client without wasting the disk space for all contacts (just as you would in GoldMine, Maximizer and Janna Contact). You can track orders and inbound and outbound calls, follow the success of your media plan, create crosstabs and charts, and even build a small graphical org chart for any organization. Like InfoCentral, this product takes longer to learn than most. Part of the reason has to do with the documentation; it really needs far more examples that illustrate the kinds of things you'd do in your everyday work and that help you understand how all its pieces fit together.


PIM Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\SEP3.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Info Files

ACT 2.0

Price: $279.95; upgrade, $69.95; competitive upgrade, $199.95

In Brief: You'll find shortcuts galore in this well-rounded PIM, as well as integrated network and e-mail support. The only sore point: a dull gray screen.

Disk Space Required: 5MB

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 4MB Required, 8MB Recommended

Symantec Inc.

800-441-7234, 303-334-6054

Ascend 4.0

Price: $199.95; upgrade, $45; competitive upgrade, $99

In Brief: Ascend follows the Franklin philosophy of time management, using unconventional terms (such as time blocks rather than minutes for scheduling appointments).

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 2MB

Franklin Quest Co.

800-877-1814, 801-975-9992

Commence 2.1

Price: $395.95 (client or server); upgrade, $29.95 to $69.95; competitive upgrade, $149

In Brief: This PIM can be used to create complex appointments and to schedule resources. Its Agent technology can take action when trigger conditions in your database arise.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 3MB Required, 4MB Recommended

Jensen-Jones Inc.

800-688-7080, 908-530-4666

Contact-Pro 1.15

Price: Single user, $395; per network user, $495

In Brief: Contact Pro is new and easy to customize; this is a program with a lot of advantages.

Disk Space Required: 3MB

System Resources: 39%

RAM: 4MB required, 8MB recommended

DSI Software Systems

612-633-2300, fax 612-633-8678

CrossTies 1.0

Price: $149.95

In Brief: This product easily connects contacts to appointments, documents, projects and events; its basic name, address and scheduling functions are not quite so easy.

Disk Space Required: 11MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 4MB

CrossTies Software Corp.

800-955-TIES, 214-407-9996

ECCO Professional 2.0

Price: $279; upgrade, $49.95

In Brief: The graphical interface uses a grid or outline to store contact information. It has good graphical scheduling support, and works in conjunction with Schedule+ for maximizing workgroup efficiency.

Disk Space Required: 9MB

System Resources: 14%

RAM: 4MB

Arabesque Software

800-457-4243, 206-885-4272

GoldMine 2.5

Price: Single user, $295; two users, $495; five users, $895

In Brief: Able to work in standalone or workgroup environments, it has customizability and speed that is unmatched by the competition.

Disk Space Required: 12.5MB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 4MB required, 8MB recommended

ELAN Software

800-654-3526, 310-454-6800

InfoCentral 1.0

Price: $139

In Brief: Fast, flexible outlining is the trademark here; it has unlimited custom fields, so you can customize it in many ways.

Disk Space Required: 4.8MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 4MB

WordPerfect Corp.

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000

Janna Contact 1.0

Price: $239; competitive upgrade, $99

In Brief: This PIM lets you add unlimited custom fields; it stores documents for easy viewing, has good mail merge and a columnar report writer.

Disk Space Required: 9MB

System Resources: 17%

RAM: 4MB required, 8MB recommended

Janna Systems Inc.

800-268-6107, 416-483-7711

Maximizer 1.2

Price: $249; upgrade, $29.95; competitive upgrade, $99

In Brief: A list-based PIM, this product has good search and retrieve features.

Disk Space Required: 3.3MB

System Resources: 13%

RAM: 2MB required, 4MB recommended

Modatech Systems Inc.

800-804-MAXX, 214-929-7111

Sharkware 1.0

Price: $129.95

In Brief: Sharkware allows unlimited addresses and custom fields and supports salesman Harvey Mackay's philosophy of knowing everything you can about a customer.

Disk Space Required: 10MB

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 4MB required, 8MB recommended

Cognitech Corp.

800-947-5075, 404-518-4577


On-Ramps To The Information Highway

Internet Access

Commercial Internet Providers

An Internet Glossary

The New Internet

What Is The Internet?

Report Card

Info Files

Information Highway Table


Internet Access

BY KAREN STRAUSS

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Internet. It's a magic word. When you say it, people perk up and want to know more. Have you ever heard, Are you on the Internet? or asked that question of someone else? Today, more and more people have decided the Internet sounds interesting, and they want try it out.

The Internet used to be a privilege afforded only to those affiliated with a university, the military, the government, and research firms or other businesses with government ties. Now you can get an account through an access provider (see Commercial Internet Providers for details), and set up your own Internet site at work or at home.

Even the interfaces have changed. There's a growing number of tools designed to help Windows users access everything from mail to virtual reality. This review takes a look at some that'll get you onto the net and talking. Many require you to have a SLIP or PPP connection, and others use the venerable UUCP (see the glossary for definitions of terms); one even provides you with access to e-mail and newsgroups as a portion of its own on-line service. The best one for you depends in part on how you connect to the Internet. Tools that use TCP/IP connections, either by a direct connection to the Internet or through an access provider and SLIP/PPP services, are more robust and full featured than services that rely upon UUCP.

TCP/IP connections allow you to work with e-mail, read newsgroups, and use Gopher and most of the other exciting services available on the Internet. UUCP connections limit you to e-mail and Usenet newsgroups, but these connections are typically less expensive than TCP/IP and SLIP/PPP because you deal with the service in a batch process. You log on to send and retrieve mail and news postings, and then immediately log off. Every other aspect of the program's execution occurs off-line. With SLIP/PPP you connect to the Internet in real time; because access providers charge by the hour, charges can mount up quickly. Spending time on the Internet and exploring Gopher and WWW (World-Wide Web) sites can be addictive, so pick a tool, enjoy yourself, and, from time to time, watch the clock.

America Online

In addition to its other services (such as WINDOWS Magazine Online), America Online (AOL) provides a gateway to the Internet so you can send and receive e-mail, and access Usenet newsgroups, as well as Gopher and WAIS databases. AOL promises other Internet services, such as FTP, in the near future. If you're already familiar with the AOL interface, navigating through the Internet offerings won't be a challenge.

If not, AOL starter kits are available from the company. They allow you to log on for the first time, establish your screen name, set up billing arrangements and get started using the service.

Once on-line with AOL, you connect to the Internet Center through the Go To menu. Select the keyword item and enter Internet at the Keyword: prompt. You'll then be able to read about the Internet in general, browse the "Zen and the Art of the Internet'' guidebook, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation's newsletter and file libraries, talk about telecommunications and networking, and send e-mail. Your Internet e-mail address is simply your ScreenName-@AOL.COM. It's easy to use and very straightforward. You can't, however, send attached files to Internet addresses, and if you try, you'll get a message box to that effect.

From the Internet Center main window, click on the Newgroups button to find out about newsgroups, add newsgroups to your personal list and read postings. It's a simple follow-the-button routine and it's pretty well designed.

The Gopher and WAIS area (Keyword: Gopher) of the Internet Connection is, however, the most interesting. Here you can select Gopher and WAIS databases by topic and drill down until you find one that piques your curiosity, or you can search for a specific site.

Internet Chameleon

NetManage, maker of Chameleon, is the leading provider of Windows TCP/IP stacks (Windows-compatible TCP/IP drivers) that use SLIP and PPP connections. Stripped-down versions of Chameleon come bundled with many Internet access tools, such as the Ventana Media Internet Membership Kit.

NetManage offers two versions of its software. Internet Chameleon is a front end to the Internet and comes with programs for Mail, News, FTP, Gopher, Telnet, Finger, Whois and Ping. The other is Chameleon 4.0, which offers TCP/IP and SLIP for networks.

Once you have signed up with an Internet provider, configuring Internet Chameleon is easy. You enter your IP address, the domain and server names of your provider, some communications parameters, a phone number, your user name and your password. Then you save the configuration and click on Connect. This will give you a direct link to the Internet and allow you to run all the software included. The program's Custom Setup option gives you the opportunity to capture a record of your first log-on so that you can ameliorate unusual connection procedures.

Internet Chameleon's toolset includes FTP, Mail, NEWTNews and Gopher. FTP and Mail work as expected. For Mail you can set up multiple users to take advantage of your SLIP access, each with his or her own separate account, password and mail directory.

FTP software lets you configure and save your frequently accessed sites, and perform simple file transfers. The display shows directory trees for both your home machine and the remote host, just like File Manager does. You have to know which operating system is running on the remote host, because different systems use different file structures, and FTP needs to know how to parse directory information. There is an automatic parsing feature, but it didn't work very well with UNIX hosts or hosts it thinks are UNIX, such as Microsoft's FTP.MICRO SOFT.COM. Once you've set the operating system, the rest is straightforward.

NEWTNews links the news reader to a specific Mail user and requires the same password for access. This means that each user of the Internet tools on your machine can have a separate and distinct set of newsgroups.

The Gopher provided here is not quite as comprehensive as WinGopher Complete. The icons are more generic, and there's less customization. Still, it's very powerful and simple to use. NetManage's Gopher really shines in its file-transfer speed: Files just zip across the wires. When you double-click on a .GIF file, it comes zinging across the phone lines and launches whatever application you have associated with .GIF files, displaying the results when the entire file has been retrieved, and then saving the image into your NETMANAG\GOPHER directory.

SLIP and PPP connections turn your desktop machine into a part of the net. If you need this kind of connectivity, then Chameleon merits serious consideration.

Internet Membership Kit

The Internet Membership Kit, from Ventana Media, bundles together software and books to provide the basic tools that should get new users up and running within two days. In the box, you get The Internet Tour Guide, with a companion disk containing all the programs necessary to connect you to the Internet through a commercial access provider, SLIP or PPP, including Chameleon Sample Pack, a Chameleon subset. There's also a free 30-day account on CERFnet, an access provider offering 800 service; a getting-started guide; a brief guide to Mosaic; and Osborne's Internet Yellow Pages.

If you plan to use SLIP or PPP from another provider, you'll be better off with the full-featured Internet Chameleon. But if you work with CERFnet, you'll find the Internet Membership Kit is an excellent value. It takes providers two full days to set up your CERFnet account, and until then you'll have to settle for reading the books. The Yellow Pages is an excellent introduction to the myriad services available in cyberspace and it's organized in a familiar format.

If you have a SLIP or PPP account from another provider, you can set up the software to work with it. On the other hand, unless it's one of the providers for which Ventana includes a SLIP configuration file, you're going to have a lot of trouble making it work; the log-on script has to be just right to complete the connection, and this version of Chameleon doesn't allow you to watch your connection. Furthermore, you don't get a reference guide of the scripting commands.

If you follow the clear instructions, in less than half an hour (as long as you have your account information) you should be exploring the Internet. If you are using one of the access providers for which Ventana has provided a configuration file, setup is a simple matter of opening that file and entering the additional information you received from your Internet provider.

On setup, the program installs Chameleon software. This particular stack lets you have a connection via a network card, a SLIP or PPP connection, or both. There's no Gopher or WWW client, but you do get pointers about where to find one on the Internet.

Throughout the Membership Kit and Tour Guide, the instructions for using the supplied programs with the preconfigured access providers are simple and concise, so it's easy to config-

ure Mail and FTP. Configuring Mail means logging on as Postmaster and creating accounts. You can set up accounts under multiple user names, each with a separate password. The mail interface sports a toolbar, menus and an editor much like Windows' Notepad. It allows you to set up a signature file, rules for handling mail, and preferences (for example, including the original message in a reply). For the actual mail connection, this program allows you to use either a mail gateway or a POP server, and will send and receive messages even when you are working with a different TCP/IP application.

The FTP program is easy to use. Type in the host name, and the program makes the connection for you and presents you with a list of directories and files. Highlight the files you want, either on your home machine or the remote host, and push a button to copy them. It's that simple. A window will pop up that lists the filename and information about the transfer taking place.

Overall, this well-designed toolkit will help any beginner make Internet contact and begin to plumb its riches. At a list price of $70, this program is a bargain.

MKS Internet Anywhere

Internet Anywhere, from Mortice Kern Systems, offers e-mail and newsgroup access through a UUCP connection. Because you deal with UUCP service in a batch process, you work off-line: creating and reading your mail, reading newsgroup items and posting replies. Then you connect so that the program can receive and send data. Since you've already done all the time-consuming work, you save on connection charges.

MKS provides an extensive listing of access providers worldwide, although most of them are in the United States and Canada. Some providers offer special deals for users of Internet Anywhere, such as free trials or account setup.

This widespread provider availability may or may not be of benefit to you. On the one hand, you are not tied into any particular access provider, which means you can search for one on the basis of price or locality. On the other hand, using more than one provider (which is sometimes necessary) can pose real problems. Almost every provider sets up its host machines in a different manner, so there is no one approach to configuring Internet Anywhere. Configuring for specific sites could be a problem.

Once you've chosen your access provider, set up an account and acquired such information as your site name, user name, password and phone number, you're ready to begin the setup. The initial installation is a simple matter of swapping the four disks. Then you have to set up the program for first-time use, a step in which you provide information about your site, access provider and modem. A special portion of this setup program searches your system for any modems and checks the speeds at which they can operate, but Internet Anywhere was unable to locate PCMCIA modems in either the IBM ThinkPad 755C or the NEC UltraLite Versa 25C. MKS says it is looking into the issue, but the documentation doesn't list any PCMCIA modem choices either. The program did work fine with an external modem connected to a notebook computer.

If your access provider uses a generic setup, requiring user name and password in that order, and using those specific names, then setup is not hard. But if your access provider uses other words or expects different information, then you are going to have to do some custom setups, available in the advanced section of the Properties dialog box.

The program caused GPFs on my system, and a bug-fix version was still in the works as this review went to press.

The mail application is nice, and the news reader works well. There's a Notepad-like editor and an address book that lets you sort by first name, last name or e-mail address, and drag and drop an address from your stored list into the TO, CC or BCC field of an outgoing message. By far the best aspect of this mail program is its handling of UUencoding and decoding on the fly. You can encrypt these files, too. UUencoding converts them into ASCII format, so that you can send your binary files over the Internet via e-mail. They get converted back into binary at the other end.

For newsgroups, you can select from a list sorted by subject, name or group prefix and add as many groups as you like to your subscription list. The program retrieves newsgroup postings, along with mail, when you connect to your access providers. You read and respond to messages off-line.

MKS says that more features will be added later this year, and a SLIP connection is a definite possibility in the future.

NCSA Mosaic

Mosaic is an Internet information browser and WWW client, and is easily one of the most powerful Windows front ends for the Internet. It's available from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, which has consistently produced excellent Internet tools at an extremely reasonable price: free.

Mosaic power comes at the expense of a complex installation process. Two versions of the program exist. For both you'll need a Winsocket 1.1-compatible DLL, TCP/IP utilities, and a connection to the Internet. The programs work equally well over direct TCP/IP connections and SLIP/PPP links. There is a 16-bit version, which you'll find is fairly easy to install and works well, though somewhat slowly. Then there is the more powerful 32-bit version that requires you to install Win32s, the 32-bit API (application programming interface) for Windows.

Putting this toolset together and making it work can be difficult. Setting up any part of any tool incorrectly means that Mosaic won't run. In addition, your access provider must offer Internet POP.

But the trouble may well be worth it, since World-Wide-Web-client Mosaic opens up a new view on the Internet that will remind you of science fiction movies and cyberpunk novels by William Gibson. Available on WWW are hypertext multimedia documents that will fill your computer with graphics, sound, text and interactive phenomena. All the WWW information is just a click away. You can access Gopher, WAIS, Archie, and Veronica, as well as other services.

There is a catch, though. For many WWW services, a serial connection just won't cut it. To get the most out of Mosaic, you'll really need to have a fast and direct link to the Internet. Since most providers don't offer even 28.8Kbps lines, which may be too slow anyway, you'll need a leased line, preferably ISDN, which is rare and expensive.

Like many free programs available on the net, Mosaic is undergoing constant construction. For now, the hypertext references are somewhat incomplete. You can find yourself diligently tracking down information on the Web only to wind up in a blind alley. It is great, however, to move around the world with a few clicks of the mouse. There is exciting stuff out there. NASA offers many Internet resources that you can access, and some of the European Webs are very hot.

Pipeline

Pipeline offers painless access combined with a neatly organized Internet, accessible through a single application that has pull-down menus and a series of direct-access buttons. James Gleick, a well known Internet maven, can take the bows for its very simple and very elegant design. This program and service get top marks all around.

There are no complicated SLIP, PPP or UUCP setup procedures. The Pipeline software isolates you from all that, making it an ideal program for both the new Internet user and the old hand tired of Internet details. The program comes

on one disk. You just follow the directions and then launch it from Program Manager. A dialog box welcomes you to Pipeline and offers you the option of signing on as a guest, working with a user name and password that you have been assigned by Pipeline, or quitting. Select one of the first two, and you'll see a dialog box in which you enter your modem information. The phone number is precon-

figured and you can't see it, but you can set your area code, dialing prefixes, modem speeds, comm port and so on. Almost every choice has radio buttons or check boxes. All you have to do is follow the dialog boxes and you'll get to the main screen.

The services are all listed under a single menu and icon interface with straightforward titles such as News, or Society, Law, Politics. Just click on a menu or icon and you move to a service or get choices from a submenu. There's no guessing about what to do next. Downloading files is as easy as clicking on them.

Tight integration between Pipeline's proprietary SLIP and the host allows mail messages to be mixed with large-file downloads. This design slows down the overall file transfers. On the other hand, it doesn't make you wait while one process finishes before you can start the next. This multitasking over asynchronous lines is a very nice detail that means that you can download an image from NASA while Pipeline is dealing with your e-mail.

One drawback to the Pipeline service is that you have to dial into it--and it's based in New York. Unlike some other Internet providers, Pipeline doesn't offer 800 service for connecting, so using it can get expensive very fast. But, because it's possible to dial into another access provider and connect to Pipeline over the Internet, you can reduce some of those long distance charges and still use all its resources. You'll be paying twice for the service, but double payment for Internet services may be a good deal compared with the toll charges.

WinGopher Complete

WinGopher Complete is exactly that. It comes with software to access Gopher databases, and a TCP/IP stack (from Distinct Corp.), that lets you connect directly through a network or through dial-up SLIP, PPP and BOOTP accounts. Scripts are available from some of the major national access providers, and more can be downloaded from NOTIS. Telnet and viewing software are provided, so you can take advantage of all that Gopher databases have to offer.

All WinGopher Complete does is connect you to Gopher databases, and it does this extremely well. In order to access e-mail or use FTP, you'll need to get additional software. If you already have a SLIP or PPP account, access to these other services is guaranteed. In fact, you can acquire the necessary software through several Gopher sites accessible via WinGopher Complete and build yourself a suite of Internet communications tools, or you can pick the best from this review and work from that list.

Installing WinGopher Complete means swapping two disks and then running the Distinct Network Configuration application from the WinGopher Complete Program Manager group. Here you set up your SLIP or PPP information. The Network Configuration program is actually very easy to use, but it requires more information than some of the other TCP/IP stacks available for Windows. You'll be better off if your access provider offers a script for setting up WinGopher Complete to work with its service; ask for it. If you're setting up an access provider on your own, you have to sure about what is expected. One way to find out what happens on the other end is to connect to the account using your regular communications program. Log the session to a file and/or to the printer. Watch for the prompts that the access provider offers and enter the expected information by hand. This should get you through the initial log-on procedure and to the point where you can connect your WinGopher program.

Now you are ready to proceed to the fun part, actually connecting to Gopher databases. Double-click on the WinGopher icon in the WinGopher Complete group in Program Manager. You can't miss it; it's a cartoon gopher.

Once you get a connection, you choose from a set of Gopher databases or you can set up your own. Gopher databases are listed by name, and there's a hierarchical listing of the information each of them contains below the server name. In the left-hand margin, you'll find icons indicating the type of data each entry represents.

WinNET Mail and News 2.0

WinNET Mail and News connects via modem using a UUCP connection. This program is much more robust and easy-to-use than Internet Anywhere.

There are two ways to use WinNET. The first is to use Computer Witchcraft, its publisher, as an access provider, using the special Windows setup program provided, and then entering information about yourself, including credit-card information. You can also use WinNET with other access providers, but you're on your own as far as setup goes.

If you sign up for a Computer Witchcraft account on-line, you'll be up and running in 15 minutes with access to mail and newsgroups, both of which are straightforward. The interface provides a toolbar that uses icons and text, as well as menus, so access is easy. A mailbox represents your InBox. Click on a newspaper to get News, and click on a telephone to connect.

Names in the address book are available via a drop box in the mail composition editor and are listed by the person's real name, rather than by some convoluted e-mail alias. As is the case for all mail and news programs based on UUCP, processing messages and news items is a batch operation. You can set the scheduler so it happens at whatever intervals you choose. You can also connect manually, automatically (when you choose), or some combination of the two. Batch processing can save you serious money over live SLIP or PPP connections, since the computer handles every aspect of the connection and doesn't need to wait while you write new messages or read mail you've just received. Computer Witchcraft's service costs $8 an hour, (minimum monthly charge is $9.95), so you can, with careful planning, keep your costs way down.

You can attach binary files, such as .ZIPs and word processing documents, to mail messages by selecting Attach Binary File from the Mail menu. The program converts the to UUencoded ASCII on the fly. You can also convert encoded binary files you receive back to binary on the fly; just select Detach Binary File from the Mail menu. Since you don't have to run a separate UUencoder, this can save you a lot of time.

You subscribe to news groups by entering the group's name, such as COMP.OS.MS-WINDOWS.APPS, into the Add News Group entry field in the Subscription Management dialog box, and clicking on the Add button. When you next connect to your provider, the program sends requests for subscriptions to these groups. Your subscription begins shortly after that. The number of postings you'll receive, and how often, depends upon the volume of traffic of that group.

Posting messages to groups or responding to other people is easy. Clicking on a button allows you to post a follow-up message, and the program populates the To, From and Subject fields for you. You get a choice of whether or not to include the original message. (Putting it in your reply is considered good nettiquette). Write your response, click on Send, and when you next connect, your message will be posted.

WinNET makes an excellent choice if e-mail and newsgroups are your only considerations. Access through Computer Witchcraft's service is easy to set up and not very expensive.


Info Files

America Online

Price: Software, free; service, $9.95 monthly, includes 5 hours; additional hours, each $3.50

In Brief: An on-line service with some Internet support, AOL does a good job. It offers e-mail and newsgroup access.

Disk Space Required: 2.09MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB

America Online Inc.

800-827-6364, 703-448-8700

Internet Chameleon

Price: $199

In Brief: Beginners will find flexible, easy-to-use TCP/IP setup and a full range of applications that cover mail, FTP, Gopher, Telnet and news.

Disk Space Required: 4.2MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB

NetManage Inc.

408-973-7171, fax 408-257-6405, sales@netmanage.com

Internet Membership Kit

Price: $69.95

In Brief: The kit has books and software to get a new user onto the Internet fast, including excellent basic tools, The Internet Tour Guide, and the Internet Yellow Pages.

Disk Space Required: NA

System Resources: NA

RAM: NA

Ventana Media

800-743-5369, 919-942-0220

MKS Internet Anywhere

Price: $149

In Brief: This product has everything you would expect to find in an e-mail program, including a Notepad-like editor and address books.

Disk Space Required: 3.2MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 4MB

Mortice Kern Systems

800-265-2797, 519-884-2211, mksia@mks.com

NCSA Mosaic

Price: Free

In Brief: An excellent tool for browsing the network, this program has easily one of the most powerful Windows front ends of those reviewed here.

Disk Space Required: 678K

System Resources: 11%

RAM: 8MB

National Center for Supercomputing Applications

mosaic-win@ncsa.uiuc.edu

Pipeline

Price: Free with membership; 20 hours connect time, $20 per month

In Brief: With this software, you don't have to be a network administrator to get onto the Internet; its simple setup, full Internet access, and good Gopher and WWW implementations make it easy.

Disk Space Required: 1MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 4MB

Pipeline Network

212-267-4380, fax 212-267-6432, info@pipeline.com

WinGopher Complete

Price: $129

In Brief: An excellent part of a mix-and-match Internet tools suite, this program includes a straightforward design and an easy-to-use interface that get top marks.

Disk Space Required: 4.3MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 4MB

NOTIS Systems Inc.

800-556-6847, 708-866-0150, wingopher@notis.com

WinNET Mail and News 2.01

Price: $99; free with WinNET service; connect charges, $8 per hour

In Brief: If e-mail and newsgroups are your only considerations, WinNET Mail is an excellent choice; access through Computer Witchcraft's UUCP service is simple to set up and fairly inexpensive.

Disk Space Required: 1.7MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Computer Witchcraft

502-589-6800, fax 800-589-5999


Report Card

	REPORT CARD
		Ease of use	Connectivity	Setup	Mail	News	Gopher	WWW
	America Online	A	C	A	A	A	C	C
W	Internet Chameleon	A	A	A	A	A	A	NA
	Internet Membership Kit	A	B	B	A	A	NA	NA
	MKS Internet Anywhere	D	D	D	B	B	NA	NA
	NCSA Mosaic	B	C	C	D	B	A	A
W	Pipeline	A	A	A	A	A	A	A
	WinGopher Complete	A	B	B	NA	NA	A	B
	WinNET Mail and News 2.01	A	B	A	A	A	NA	NA
NA: Feature not available

•	Ease of use: How easy or difficult was the product to use? How well did it conform to the Windows GUI? Did all the components work well with other installed applications?

•	Connectivity: Did it offer SLIP, PPP or UUCP connectivity? Did it work well with internal, external and PCMCIA modems? How hard was it to get the TCP/IP or other connectivity information configured? Did it offer access to a variety of Internet services right out of the box?

•	Setup: Was setup virtually automatic? Did it require a lot of fine-tuning? Did it run right the first time?

•	Mail: Were mail services offered in a familiar e-mail interface? How well did it handle address books, signature files, sending, retrieving and forwarding? Were folders offered for organizing incoming and outgoing mail? Could automatic log-ons be scheduled? Did it convert binary files to UUencoded documents on the fly?

•	News: How well did it manage subscription lists? How easy was it to find newsgroups by subject matter? Was posting follow-up a button away? Did it support signature files? Were kill files or rules available? How were subscriptions to new groups handled?

•	Gopher: Was it easily customizable? Were bookmarks available? Did it support the standard file formats and tools? How fast and reliable was the data transfer? Were the default home pages full of enough sites for beginner browsing?

•	WWW: Did it support multimedia files, such as sound and graphics? Did it convert the HTML codes into something viewable or readable? How well did it manage hypertext links and retain database information? Were some intial WWW sites listed for immediate access?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

INTERNET CHAMELEON provides a full suite of TCP/IP connectivity tools in a package that is easy to use for the beginner and the experienced Internet user alike. The program is easy to configure and provides one of the most extensive tool suites of all the products reviewed.

•	Our other recommended product, Pipeline, is an extremely easy-to-use Windows product that hides the complexities of the Internet from the Windows user. Yet with all its simplicity, it is one of the most competent packages reviewed. It even offers multitasking over the phone lines, allowing large-file downloads and news queries, for example, to go on simultaneously.

•	We should also mention Mosaic, perhaps one of the best-known programs for Internet access, and one that opens up the WWW and all its multimedia and sound files to the user. The program is free, but connect time charges can get to be a burden very quickly.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\SEP6.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Information Highway Table

INTERNET SOFTWARE

PRODUCT	Company	Price	Connection types supported	Account types needed	TCP/IP required	TCP/IP connectivity included	Can use modem	Can use direct Internet connection	E-mail	News	Gopher	WWW	WAIS
America Online	America Online	Software, free; $9.95 per month includes 5 free hours; additional hours, each $3.50	Asynchronous dial-up	Dial-up	no	no	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
Internet Chameleon	NetManage Inc.	$199	TCP/IP	SLIP, PPP, BOOTP	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Internet Membership Kit	Ventana Media	$69.95	TCP/IP	SLIP, PPP, BOOTP	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	no
MKS Internet Anywhere	Mortice Kern Systems	$149	UUCP	Dial-up or direct connection UUCP	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	no
NCSA Mosaic	National Center for Supercomputing Applications	free	TCP/IP	SLIP, PPP, BOOTP	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Pipeline	Pipeline Network	Free with membership; $20 per month for 20 hours connect time	Proprietary TCP/IP	Dial-up or access via Internet	no	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
WinGopher Complete	NOTIS	$129	TCP/IP	SLIP, PPP	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes	yes	yes
WinNET Mail and News 2.01	Computer Witchcraft	$99; free with WinNET service; $8 per hour connect charges	Dial-up UUCP	Dial-up UUCP	no	no	yes	no	yes	yes	no	no	no
Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\SEP5.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Commercial Internet Providers

Getting on the Internet is now just a phone call away. Commercial access providers eagerly await your business in every corner of North America and around the world. Rates and services vary: Some offer 800 service and high hourly connect-time charges, others are available over normal toll lines. Because rates vary so greatly depending on the level of service, you should call the provider for more detailed information before you decide to stay up all night chatting via computer; connect-time charges can add up fast.

Understand that before you can use one of these providers, you have to have a communications program; one that works with Windows and is tailored for accessing the Internet is especially helpful. Some are sold by Internet providers and are provider-specific, and others will work with a number of providers.

You can think of Internet providers as your Internet Home Base--the place where you can pick up your mail, and where you can go to get access to all the Internet services that are available.

Here's a sampling of popular sites around the country that support the SLIP, PPP and/or UUCP connections required by the programs in this review. I tested the sites using these programs and found the technical support excellent. Site support personnel managed to answer every typical user question that I could come up with, and then some. Providers offering toll-free service are noted.

AlterNet (a service of UUNET Technologies Inc.)

Supports PPP, SLIP, UUCP; nationwide 800 service

800-488-6383, 703-204-8000

CNS (Community News Service) Inc.

Supports PPP, SLIP, UUC; nationwide 800 service or local access in Colorado

719-592-1240, fax 719-592-1201

E-mail: info@cscns.com

HoloNet Information Access

Technologies

Supports PPP, SLIP, UUCP

510-704-0160, fax 510-704-8019

E-mail: info@holonet.net

NETCOM Online

Communication Services

Supports PPP, SLIP, UUCP

800-353-6600, 408-554-8649,

E-mail: info@netcom.com

PANIX Public Access Internet

Supports PPP, SLIP, UUCP

212-787-6160, 212-877-4854

BBS 212-787-3100

E-mail: info@panix.com

Pioneer Neighborhood, Pioneer Global

Supports UUCP

617-646-4800, fax 617-497-7162

E-mail: info@pn.com

The Rabbit Network Inc.

Supports SLIP, PPP, UUCP; nationwide 800 service

800-456-0094, fax 810-790-0156

E-mail: info@rabbit.net


An Internet Glossary

Archie: A system by which information on the Internet is automatically gathered, indexed and served. The initial implementations of Archie in 1991 gathered only directory and file listings of all the anonymous FTP sites on the net. Newer versions provide other collections of information.

BOOTP: The Bootstrap Protocol is used for booting diskless nodes.

Domain: A group of machines on the network. The domain lets you know what type of organization is being represented. Some important domains are: .com (commercial), .edu (educational), .net (network operations), .gov (government), .mil (military) and .org (organization).

Domain Name: A domain name consists of a sequence of names separated by dots (periods), as in aol.com or whitehouse.gov.

Domain Name System (DNS): Sometimes also called a name server, this is a general-purpose data-query service. It's used principally to look up host IP addresses by host names.

Finger: This type of program displays information about a particular user or all users logged onto a local or remote system. Typically, Finger shows the full name, last log-on time, idle time, terminal location and line; it may also show plan and project files left by the user. These files allow you to specify textual information that users wish to present to the world, such as who they are and what they are working on.

FTP (file-transfer protocol): A protocol that allows a user on one host to access another and transfer files to and from it. FTP is the name of the program you invoke to handle the transfer.

Gateway: A gateway is a communications device/program that passes data between networks having similar functions but dissimilar implementations. A mail gateway is a machine that connects two or more electronic mail systems (including dissimilar mail systems) and transfers messages between them. Sometimes the mapping and translation can be complex, and generally require a store-and-forward scheme that receives the message from one system and then transmits it to the next system after suitable translations.

Gopher: This distributed information service makes hierarchical collections of information available across the Internet. A simple protocol allows a single Gopher client to access information from any accessible Gopher server, providing you with a single bit of information.

Host: Any end-user computer system that connects to a network. Hosts range in size all the way from personal computers to the largest supercomputers.

IP Address: The 32-bit address defined by the Internet Protocol. It's usually represented in a dotted decimal notation. (For example: 166.897.712.090)

Net Mask: A bit mask used to select bits from an IP address for subnet addressing. This mask is 32 bits long and selects the network portion of the IP address and one or more bits of the local portion. A subnet is a portion of a network that shares a network address with other portions of the network, and is distinguished by a subnet number. A subnet is to a network as a network is to the Internet.

Ping (Packet Internet Groper): Use this program to test whether an Internet destination is reachable.

POP (Post Office Protocol): A protocol designed to allow single-user hosts to read mail from a server. There are three versions: POP, POP2 and POP3. Later versions are not compatible with earlier versions.

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol): This provides a method for transmitting data packets over serial point-to-point links.

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol): The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer for the TCP/IP protocol stack. It is a connectionless, best-effort, packet-switching protocol. SLIP is a protocol used to run IP over serial lines interconnecting two systems, such as telephone circuits or RS-232 cables.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): The Internet-standard, platform-independent way that computers talk over networks. TCP allows a process on one machine to send data to a process on another machine using the Internet Protocol.

Telnet: This is the Internet standard protocol for remote terminal connections.

Usenet: A collection of thousands of topical newsgroups, the computers that run the protocols, and the people who read and submit Usenet news. Old style addressing on Usenet employed the user!host!domain!network syntax. Most mail servers convert this address into the more familiar user@host.-domain.network. You'll still see the old syntax, however, if you sign up for UUCP services or receive mail from someone who uses UUCP.

UUCP (UNIX-to-UNIX CoPy): This was originally a program run under the UNIX operating system that allowed one UNIX system to send files to another UNIX system via dial-up phone lines. Today, the term is more commonly used to describe the large international network that uses the UUCP protocol to pass news and electronic mail.

Veronica: A variation on Archie, Veronica is an index of the titles of Gopherspace items upon which you can perform keyword searches.

WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers): A distributed information service, it offers simple input, index searching, and a feedback mechanism that allows the results of searches to influence future searches.

Whois: A network phone book program that allows users to query a database kept at the Defense Data Network Network Information Center (usually known as the DDN NIC). People and other Internet entities, such as domains, nets and hosts, are part of this database, and the information retrieved provides a full name, company, address, phone and e-mail address.

WWW (World-Wide Web): In its most basic form, WWW is a hypertext-based distributed-information system that permits users to create, browse or edit hypertext documents.


The New Internet

The Internet itself has changed in the 17 years that I've been using its services. For one thing, back then, there was no "Internet.'' Instead, depending upon where you worked or went to school, you accessed the ARPAnet, Milnet, or one of a host of other networks.

Today's Internet is a global network of networks that connects all kinds of computers together to share services and communicate. It is a repository of information, containing databases, books, software, newsgroups and even interactive games. Nobody owns the Internet, and there are thousands of organizations connected to national backbones that connect to other countries around the world. Most people gain access either through host access, in which end users connect their computers and become part of the Internet, or through some sort of terminal access, in which end users connect to a host computer already connected to the Internet. (For more information about the Internet, see the What Is the Internet?)

In the early part of this year, the Internet consisted of over 30,000 networks in 71 countries, with gateways to other networks that permit users to send and receive mail among 146 countries. You can reach about 2.8 million computers through the Internet, or an estimated total of over 20 million users. The Internet grows at about 10 percent per month.

Services available over the Internet are too numerous to mention. The most common are e-mail, file transfer, fax messaging and remote computer access. Information browsing through Gopher, World-Wide Web (WWW), and WAIS (Wide Area Information Services), Netnews and Distribution Lists provide discussion groups on almost every topic imaginable. You can also use Archie for searching for stored information, or tap into a real-time discussion through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) or Talk, and even video conferencing via a new program called CuSeeMe. Phone-book services are available, too. An exhaustive list of services and the breakdown of subjects can go on for many pages, and, in fact, it has: The Internet Yellow Pages (Osborne/McGraw Hill, 800-227-0900, 510-548-2805), and the Internet White Pages (O'Reilly & Associates, 800-762-2974, 415-312-0600). Both are must-have references if you want to get the most out of many of the programs in this review.


What Is The Internet?

The Internet began over 22 years ago as a Defense Department experiment. They wanted to build networks that could withstand partial outages, caused by unpleasant activities such as bombing, and still function. A Defense Department network, known as the DARPAnet (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), and various other networks were to be interconnected. In this model, planners presumed the network to be unreliable, so that communication could not always occur between a source and destination computer. Links in the network could disappear at any time.

The Internet Protocol, by which users access the network, was designed to require the minimum information from computer clients. A computer only had to put its data into an Internet Protocol (IP) packet and address the packet correctly, and the message could go over the network. The two communicating computers bore the responsibility for ensuring that the communication actually took place.

During the past 15 years, other networks using the ARPAnet scheme (now renamed to downplay the DOD influence) have been interconnected with each into the Internet. Today, the Internet is all of the networks using the Internet Protocol joined together into a seamless whole. It provides access to databases and archives from around the world at the touch of a button, and more than 28 million users are, in some form, plumbing the depths. It's beginning to get a little crowded.

Taxes aren't covering the Internet bill. Instead, each link on the network pays for its own part. Where two portions of the Internet join, these networks decide how to connect themselves and how to fund the interconnection. A corporation or university pays for its own connection to a regional network and the regional network pays a national provider, which can be a government agency or some other body operating in a national context.

The vision of Internet off the shelf, installed in everybody's home seems to be gaining momentum. The Gopher and WWW databases have spurred interest in the net's hidden treasures and have helped bring more users on-line. This is both a curse and a blessing, because as the number of users continues to increase, network administrators have to be able to handle the extra people. There are only a limited number of IP addresses available for assignment. With over 2.8 million computers on the net now, growing at about 10 percent a month, the issue is of serious concern. Internet watching over the next few years will certainly be interesting.


Superior Shareware: Sept. 1994

Superior Shareware/Recommended Downloads-Compiled by Julie R. Blumenfeld

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Recommended Downloads can be found on America Online (Keyword WinMag) and CompuServe (GO WINUSER)

File Finder 2.2 You'll never lose files again. File Finder searches all drives (including networked drives), and even finds popular archives such as .ZIP files. You can search by date, time and size, as well as DOS filename pattern, substring and regular expression. The program prints file lists or copies them to Clipboard.

$10

Don Branson

An unzipping utility

WFIND.ZIP

56,666 bytes

Global Abbreviations 1.5 Enter your own abbreviations and press a hotkey to save time and keystrokes in any application. Global Abbreviations lets you expand text and numbers, launch programs, and import text and pictures. The program also includes VB abbreviations for programmers.

$29

George Tatge

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

GLBLAB1.ZIP

441,716 bytes

InfView 1.41 With this file viewer, you can look at formatted ASCII, HEX/ASCII, or raw ASCII files of any size in text-only mode. InfView has MDI multiple-file view capability, allowing you to view up to 25 files at once. It includes varied search functions and file comparison routines, and has drag-and-drop capability.

$6.99

Dean Software Design

An unzipping utility,

IVU141.ZIP

128,541 bytes

Loan Manager 1.01 Evaluate your financial status with Loan Manager. Type in the principal, interest rate, term and payment frequency, and the program will calculate payments and total interest paid. An amortization table shows what portion of each payment goes to principal and interest.

$11.95

Andrews Software Design

An unzipping utility, VBRUN200.DLL

LOANMAN.ZIP

144,731 bytes

Prompter 1.2 This utility turns your PC into a teleprompter. You can create and edit speeches up to one hour in length, and then switch to the Prompt mode to rehearse and deliver them. Prompter lets you adjust the scrolling rate, pause or continue just by pressing a key.

$25

Ososoft

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

PROMPTER.ZIP

65,046 bytes

Super Task Man 3.0 Replace Windows' Task Manager with this 3-D utility. Super Task Man has all the functionality of Task Manager plus additional features, such as a run command with history list, multiselect task list, default printer setup, hidden window display and icon display support.

$15

Joseph A. Herrera, R.D. Rogers

An unzipping utility

SUPRTM30.ZIP

110,808 bytes

wInformant 1.10 Here's a handy toolbar that takes the drudgery out of Windows housekeeping. WInformant includes a fast-search function, swap-file status test, redundant .DDL and .VBX file finder, a profile editor for quick .INI modification and an uninstaller. It also lets you restart Windows and exit to DOS.

$39

Neocom Microspecialists Inc.

An unzipping utility

WN4MNT.ZIP

814,075 bytes

Winvelope 4.3 Print envelopes easily with Winvelope. The program supports any number and size of envelopes, and any number of return addresses. You can transfer addresses using copy and paste, format text with any font, use .BMP files for graphics logos, and even print PostNet bar codes.

$20

J. E. McCullum

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

WENV43.ZIP

170,017 bytes

Win What Where 2.0 Working by the hour? This time and usage monitor automatically tracks everything you do in Windows. It remembers when you launched a program, how long that program ran, which files you were using, how long you used them and where they reside.

$37

Basic Systems Inc.

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

WWW201.ZIP

603,043 bytes

WinZip 5.5 This old favorite has all the features of earlier versions and then some, including File Manager integration, archive management, and the ability to display files in their native formats. WinZip lets you install software in an archive and track system changes, making uninstalling easier.

$29

Nico Mak Computing Inc.

An unzipping utility

WINZIP55.ZIP

260,000 bytes


R&R: Resources and Recreation-Sept. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

THE HOT LIST

School Just Got Easier

Great Literature Plus collects the full text of 1,900 classic works by 180 authors, from Aesop to Wordsworth. The CD-ROM's multimedia content incl-udes a number of narrated excerpts, animations, author biographies, and related art and music.

You'll get a solid variety of mostly Western writings with Great Literature Plus. Shakespeare is well-represented, along with several of the major English poets. Among the less commonly seen choices are Ernest Ronan's "Poetry of the Celtic Races'' and the "Bhagavad-Gita.''

Monarch Notes, a '90s CD-ROM version of the college student's longtime friend, includes all the Notes currently in print and some titles no longer available as hard copy. The collected notes survey the work of 226 authors, arranged by period and writer. The text is supplemented by 226 spoken excerpts, video clips and 650 still images.

Great Literature Plus, $64.95; Monarch Notes, $79.95; Bureau of Electronic Publishing, 800-828-4766, 201-808-2700.

-Jonathan Karl Matzkin

Instant Look-Up-by

The Random House Webster's School & Office Dictionary is perfect for quick lookups while you're working in Windows. It supports wildcard searches, and you can work backward from definitions by entering keywords. A single click generates a list of anagrams from any word you enter, and another click inserts a word in your current document. Best of all, it comes on just two diskettes, and the software takes up a mere 3MB of your valuable hard disk space. The dictionary is distributed as part of WordPerfect's Main Street line.

$29.95; WordPerfect Corp., 800-451-5151, 801-225-5000. Circle Inquiry #677

-Jonathan Karl Matzkin

BEST GAME

Cruisin', Blastin' and Groovin'

Cruise through the boroughs of New York City in the twenty-first century as the pilot of the versatile vehicle Jump Raven. Your mission: Recover stolen genetic material and preserve Earth's wildlife. You can choose from among six copilots to help you fly the ship and blast away at skinheads and cyberpunks, while you groove to the soundtrack of your choice. The music ranges from hip-hop to grunge. Jump Raven by Cyber-flix is a pure arcade-action game that pushes CD-ROM technology to its limits.

$69.95; Paramount Interactive,

800-428-5331, 510-429-5322.

-Ian Etra

BOOK OF THE MONTH

How To & Then Some

Create Wealth with Quicken is an insightful financial planning guide disguised as a book about personal finance software. Author Christopher E. Vogt provides practical advice on cash management, taxes and investment strategies. Along the way, he shows you how to use Quicken's features to effectively track and manage your money. There's a thorough glossary of financial terms, and a quick-reference guide to Quicken's keyboard shortcuts. If you're willing to break a twenty for this book, it could save you a bundle.

$19.95; Prima Publishing, 916-632-4400, fax 916-632-4405.

-David W. Methvin


October 1994

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Win.INI: When traveling,do you try the local cuisine...

.EXE File: It's time to stop mainframe bashing

Windows at Work: You think CD-ROMs are a sign of progress?

Dialog Box: Oops! Another paradigm shift...

Exit Windows: Oct. 1994


Letters

Letters:Oct. 1994


News

News: October 1994


New Products

New Products: October 1994-Part 1

New Products: October 1994-Part 2


First Impressions

First Impressions: Harvard Graphics

First Impressions: Carbon Copy for Windows

First Impressions: Latitude XP-Road Machine for a Smooth Ride-

First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 1

First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 2

First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 3

First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 4


Features

Power Tools

Hidden Word Processor Treasures

Virtually There-(Desktop Conferencing)

The Key that Unlocks UNIX

Get the Lay of the LAN


Reviews

Math-Wizard Programs Crunch Numbers

Backing Up Isn't Hard to Do

The Fax Are  Clear

Sound-Sational


How-To

How to Buy An Uninterruptible Power Supply

Optimizing Windows: Paint Paintbrush In a Better Light

eNTerprise Windows: Daytona's Cool New Network Tools

Networking Windows: Connect Windows, NetWare With Novell's New Shell

Getting Started: When in Doubt, Toss It Out

Power Windows: Build a Rescue Diskette to Save CMOS Data

Programming Windows: Late-Breaking News From the Windy City

Superior Shareware: October 1994

R&R: Resources and Recreation-October 1994


Win.INI: When traveling,do you try the local cuisine...

By: Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

 or head straight to McDonald's? How you answer that question may help predict how you'll react to the next version of desktop Windows.

Here's what I mean: If you're a traveler who enjoys novelty, you probably like to explore a new city's culinary options. But if you prefer predictability and familiarity, you may steer straight for the golden arches at mealtime. Neither food choice is right or wrong. It's just that a Big Mac may not hack it if you'd rather chow down on a New England clambake dinner (or vice versa).

There's something similar about exploring Chicago (the prototype next-generation Windows). Chicago is very different from Windows 3.x, and whether you'll enjoy the differences or be frustrated by them is partly a matter of your mindset. In many ways, Chicago is richer and more flavorful than the Windows we're used to, but it also operates in some ways that could drive you nuts.

And it's not a hardware issue. Any system that can run Windows for Workgroups 3.11, including its 32-bit disk and file access, ought to be able to take advantage of Chicago. Rather, I'm referring to Chicago's new interface.

For example, consider the simple task of creating a new subdirectory on your hard disk. In Windows 3.x, you click on the File item on File Manager's menu bar, and the menu that drops down will show you a Create Directory option. Simple.

In Chicago, on the other hand, there are no directories or subdirectories, only folders. Okay, that's just a name change--the concepts are identical. But Chicago's Explorer prototype (the slick, powerful successor to both File Manager and Program Manager) has no top-level Folder menu item. If you assume Explorer will work something like File Manager, you might look for a Create Directory or Create Folder item in the File menu, but you won't find either there. Nor will you find anything resembling those options in Chicago's context-sensitive right-mouse-button menus.

I'll cut to the chase: Creating a new subdirectory in Chicago turns out to take an extra step, because the relevant menu item is one level deeper than where a Windows 3.x user expects it to be. You select Explorer's File menu, then select New (an item that's not in File Manager's menu), and then you'll see a Folder submenu. The extra step isn't a huge deal, but it's a good example of how your Windows 3.x knowledge actually can get in the way of making full use of Chicago--at least at first.

Here's another example: In Windows 3.x, Cut usually is synonymous with Delete, except that you can paste after cutting but not after deleting. But in Chicago's Explorer prototype, cutting initially leaves the original item in place and stores a copy in Clipboard, in anticipation of a paste. In other words, in Explorer, Cut doesn't cut until after you've pasted. This can be extremely confusing if you've grown used to the typical Windows 3.x-style cuts and deletes.

Explorer's deletes also work a little differently. In Windows 3.x, deleting a Program Manager group or an item within a Program Manager group has no effect on the actual files or programs themselves. But in Chicago, your desktop is actually a folder, so when you delete something off your desktop, it's erased from your hard disk. This is logical behavior (Delete now really means delete), but it's not what you're used to in Program Manager, and again, old habits can be hard to unlearn.

Don't get me wrong--now that I know Chicago's quirks, all these items are truly minor. But the time it took to unlearn the old way of doing things and then learn Chicago's new methods really added up.

Some of the beta program's inconsistent and altered behaviors may get ironed out. (In fact, that's one of the things beta programs are for.) But be aware: If you're an experienced Windows user, the new interface will probably still take some getting used to--and you'll have to decide for yourself whether exploring the new GUI is a pleasurable adventure or just a pain in the interface. So far, for me, it's been a bit of both.

Hmmm--I wonder if I can get fries and a shake at that clambake?


.EXE File: It's time to stop mainframe bashing

By: Jonathan Matzkin

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

I know, I know, the brontosaurus jokes come so easily. So do the glib comments about the failure to adapt to a changing landscape. But we had better realize--and the sooner the better--that those dinosaurs have a lot to teach us.

The mainframe culture evolved over several decades when electronic behemoths ruled the data processing forest. During all those years, procedures evolved within MIS departments to deal with the daunting variety of perils that line-of-business computing involves. You can't afford to lose mission-critical data, right? That's why they call it mission-critical.

Those problems don't go away simply because you downsize to a new platform.

In fact, the decentralization of computing wrought by PC networks and other distributed technologies may actually create bigger problems than yesterday's chief information officer could've imagined in his or her worst digital nightmare. As Windows solidifies its dominance in the corporate computing world, more and more critical data will be diffused across an ever larger number of small servers, peer networks and even individual workstations.

Just letting that sensitive stuff out of the glass temple makes it harder to manage and control. Add a multiplicity of personalities with access to critical data--some of it their own, some of it generated by others--and you have a management and security nightmare.

Sure, the new "industrial strength'' operating systems, like Windows NT, have administrative and security features undreamt of in DOS/Windows. But true security and management reside just as much in the practices we all follow.

That's the side of the ongoing technological shift that most of us don't like to think about. We love having all that power sitting prettily at our elbows, or just down the hall in a compact server, but we don't think about the hazards we are exposing ourselves to. We need an attitude readjustment--ASAP--or the consequences are going to be profoundly ugly.

I'm not suggesting that Windows users suffer from some sort of shared character defect. It's not our fault that we're relative innocents in the realm of enterprise data management and security. PCs were scoffed at in the beginning, and for long after the beginning in some places. (To this day, you still run into the odd stegosaurus-like COBOL programmer who proudly proclaims that he uses "a real computer.'') So PC networks often developed on an ad-hoc basis, with funding from departmental budgets, and little or no real control from centralized MIS departments. And, even more crucially, little or no communication with MIS HQ.

It's way too late to reinvent the wheel, from scratch, in our own Windows world. Instead, we have to study the declining mainframe culture, and glean everything we can about managing and protecting the data and resources on which we precariously balance our businesses.

Ask people what they hated most about mainframe-centric computing, and they will rant about the regulations and limitations imposed by the MIS departments who lorded over corporate data processing. There were rules and procedures for everything, control was a fetish, and creativity and efficiency were often casualties. The Windows system on your desk makes you the master of your own little desktop or workgroup world. You can run whatever software you want in many shops, and no one will ever tell you when or for how long you can have access to your personal productivity tools.

But neither, in many cases, does anyone stand over you and insist that you back up your data. Or change your passwords. Or scan for viruses. Or prevent pirated software from spreading like a rash through your department. These chores are about as exciting as watching grass grow. But they absolutely, positively, have to be done. Just ask anyone who's lost an entire disk to hardware failure at precisely the wrong second, only to discover that his or her last backup was six months ago.

And the new technologies--especially communications--add to this problem as surely as they boost productivity. Clifford Stoll tried to warn us, but five years after the publication of his bestseller, The Cuckoo's Egg, we still haven't gotten the message. The book recounts the story of how a single persistent individual, using a PC and a slow modem, was able to penetrate a mind-boggling assortment of systems containing highly sensitive data.

And the hacker wasn't exactly a rocket scientist. He was just some guy with a PC and a modem, methodically knocking on every digital door he could find as he searched for sensitive data to sell. With appalling ease, he waltzed right into virtually unprotected systems through accounts labeled "guest'' with passwords as cryptic as "password.'' Even in the high-security mainframe world, system administrators and users were oblivious to the threat that evolving connectivity to the phone system presented.

Now apply that lesson to the considerably less-secure Windows world. New threats are gonna keep popping up. The thought of what wireless net access and messaging will do for data security makes me swallow hard. But how can we deal with these new threats if we don't even have a basic culture of procedure to handle such mundane tasks as routine backups?

Some formerly mainframe-oriented shops will undoubtedly integrate the new LAN and workstation culture into their computing models with thoughtful attention to these issues. But that won't help matters at companies that are less forward looking. And Windows is the first computing paradigm many of us have ever worked with. We don't have years or decades of mainframe history to remind us where the pitfalls are.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn't it? But the answer is simple, if not easy. It's a matter of refraining from poking fun at our mainframe-bound ancestors long enough to learn from them. What we learn may cause us to give up some of the rugged individualism we love about Windows PCs. And it'll definitely make life a mite less convenient. But what are absolute freedom and convenience worth to you? Your latest project? Your key contributions to a group project, which collaborators are counting on? How about your job?

Jonathan Matzkin is the news editor of WINDOWS Magazine.


Windows at Work: You think CD-ROMs are a sign of progress?

By: Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Think again. The way many of us manage CD collections in our offices makes it seem like we haven't evolved at all from the prehistoric (pre-hard-disk) days when we spent more time flipping floppies than doing real work.

Remember back in 1984? Whenever we tried to do any real work with PCs, we found ourselves inserting and removing different diskettes all day long. First we'd flip in the program diskette and load the program. Then we'd insert the data diskette and load the data. To switch to a different application, we'd have to do the whole routine all over again.

At last we wised up and bought PCs with two floppy disk drives, so we could insert program and data diskettes at the same time. But that didn't increase productivity much. The process remained disorderly and cumbersome, and led inevitably to desktops piled with messy stacks of unprotected diskettes. It's no wonder that so many early users developed bad habits--like trying to type memos in the cells of a spreadsheet or calculate expense reports in the columns of word processing documents. Anything was better than flipping those floppies.

So here we are, a decade later, and what do we see in the workplace? Messy desks, littered not with diskettes, but with piles of silver platters.

Now don't get me wrong. I like CD-ROM technology. I'm not suggesting that anyone avoid it. CD-ROMs are the perfect media for static data or bulky multimedia programs. But in the work environment, we need to maintain organized and consistent access to data and programs. A lone CD-ROM drive trying to manage a large CD collection makes for a real efficiency challenge.

Over the past few months I've tried--and watched others try--three different approaches to using CD-ROM technology in the workplace. The first two were disasters, but the third worked like a charm.

•	Approach #1: Give everybody a CD-ROM drive. The easy answer would seem to be to install a CD-ROM drive on every computer in the office. After all, prices have dropped to the point where the cost of a CD-ROM drive rivals the cost of a floppy disk drive (well, almost).

But, as usual, the easy answer is not always the best one. For one thing, not every PC in the office will graciously accept a new peripheral. Maybe Mabel already has stuffed so many peripherals into her machine that you can't find a free slot. Or Marvin's machine is so old that its Neanderthal BIOS won't support anything new. Even a master tinkerer can spend hours trying to install a CD-ROM drive in some computers.

More to the point, this approach doesn't solve the access problem. If you can access only one CD-ROM at a time, you lose the ability to context switch or multitask. Want to load up a phone directory and a magazine database at the same time? You're out of luck. And you're back to the same game we played in 1984. This is progress?

•	Approach #2: Share one another's CD-ROM drives on a network. Proponents of peer-to-peer networks, such as Novell Personal NetWare and Windows for Workgroups, advocate networking all the computers and sharing local CD-ROM drives. It's easy enough to install any of the peer-to-peer networks and assign certain users to keep a CD on tap.

Let's see--we could give Clarence the clip art, Phoebe the phone directory, and Fred the financial lookup. Sounds like a simple enough solution. But in practice, it's riddled with problems. What happens when Clarence goes on vacation? Or even when Phoebe leaves for the day? When they turn off their computers, they close the door on data for everyone else. You could have them all leave their computers on all the time, but that puts security at considerable risk. And it's not a very "green'' thing to do.

•	Approach #3: Install a CD server. Thanks to low-cost CD servers and a few ingenious integrators who've created great packages, you can solve the CD access problem easily. Check out some of the jukebox-type CD-ROM servers that hook up to your office LAN. We recently tried a 7-XT CD-ROM Tower from Dallas-based Excel Computer. In less than 20 minutes we had the entire server out of the box and up and running on a Novell NetWare 3.12 network. Excel configures a Microtest Discport with up to seven CD-ROM drives. You can choose between double-speed or triple-speed drives, depending on your needs. (Double speed is fine if you access only static data, such as phone book information, but you're better off with triple speed if you plan to serve up some multimedia applications.)

On a Novell LAN (and other LANs with CD-ROM support), a CD server sets up the CD-ROM drives as if they were extra NetWare volumes. The Windows-based control software makes adding or removing CDs easy enough for almost anyone in the office. You can get a seven-bay unit, which lets you load about 5 gigabytes of CD-ROM-stored data, for only about $2,200.

A CD server solves the access problem, because you can load a CD-ROM once and keep it in place. And performance is great. Assuming you've got a well-functioning LAN, most CD-ROM applications run just fine across the network. (Heavy-duty multimedia apps, which pump both video and audio packets across the wire, are an exception--sometimes the video looks a little jerky.)

One caveat: Adding a CD server is such a clean solution, you might be tempted to buy PCs without local CD-ROM drives. Avoid that temptation. Because so many of tomorrow's applications are likely to come on CD, preinstalled CD-ROM drives are a must. As for your existing fleet (including portable PCs), check out parallel-port-based CD-ROM drives, such as MicroSolutions BackPack. These units let you move a CD-ROM

drive from one computer to another without having to get under the hood and configure adapter boards.

All in all, installing a CD server is the best way to let everyone in your office reap the benefits of your CD collection--without messy piles of platters hearkening us back to the dark days of diskettes.

Cheryl Currid is the president of Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. Reach Cheryl care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder of the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Dialog Box: Oops! Another paradigm shift...

By: Carole Patton

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

 is headed in our direction. It's called object-oriented programming, and OOP promises to deliver on the software developer's longtime dream of reusable code. At the same time, OOP teases users with daydreams of modular programs and the ability to create software simply by modifying and customizing existing objects. But the world of objects will take longer to arrive than you might think. And once it does, you may discover OOP is your worst nightmare.

There are some obvious reasons why object-oriented programming is still years away. First, anything new and different faces general resistance. Users have shown time and again that they aren't willing to take huge leaps of faith into unknown territory. Consider recent history: The "stampede'' onto the Windows platform took six years and required many versions. Put Apple/IBM's Taligent OS in front of average users, and my bet is they'll run screaming back to Windows.

What's more, the tools and technologies for OOP are not yet all in place. Object specs and object kits are becoming available, but true object-based operating systems like the Taligent OS, SunSoft's Project Distributed Objects Everywhere, and Microsoft's Cairo won't arrive until 1996 at the earliest. (Microsoft's distributed OLE, with its ability to share objects across heterogeneous systems, will arrive along with Cairo.) Of course, NeXT's Nextstep operating system has been around for three years but it has attracted relatively little serious interest.

Once the tools do arrive, an entire generation of programmers will have to be brought up to speed in OOP design, languages and implementation. If you're a Windows programmer, you need to learn about visual programming, and stable class libraries such as Microsoft Foundation Classes. If you thought creating OLE 2.0-compliant apps was tough, wait til you have to deal with foreign concepts like distributed, persistent and windows objects.

Moreover, OOP tools and specifications come in a confusing profusion. There's the Taligent Frameworks developer kit, Microsoft/Digital Equipment Corp.'s Common Object Model (COM), IBM's OpenDoc, and the OpenStep APIs from SunSoft and NeXT Computer Inc. Not to mention Taligent's object oriented device driver code, and IBM's System Object Model (SOM) toolkit, which includes Taligent collection classes.

The fact is, IBM's OpenDoc and Microsoft's OLE 2.0 are functionally equivalent specifications. But they're quite different in implementation. When we left that nasty era of proprietary hardware, we were beamed into a new age in which rival companies capture their customers using competing standards and APIs.

Of course, the real point of an object-oriented approach is to allow end users to "develop'' software themselves. But that's not in the interests of software companies who have the most to gain by making software development (as opposed to software repackaging) difficult. In an OOP world, vendors won't sell overstuffed, disk-hungry application suites. Rather, they'll sell development tools to small ISVs who will customize objects and resell them. Software industry bean counters have got to be shaking.

Still other key issues must be resolved. Objects will create a copyright nightmare. Suppose Microsoft delivers OOP software containing really nifty new objects. When I, as an ISV or corporate developer, create a new object--basically by customizing one provided by Microsoft--can I sell this as my own work? How will the repackaging and reusing of objects be handled when it comes to royalties, site licenses and just plain ownership? Antiquated copyright laws that treat software like literature have helped create the problem. How can they hope to cope with OOP?

And how will you, as a user and/or developer, feel about creating an object that someone else can commandeer? Will small developers be as creative when everything they do is up for grabs? Not only must tools and applications change, but also our attitudes--and our laws.

OOP is really an experiment in component-level software and objects, and whether there is money to be made modifying and reselling them. The issue is not whether we can create this technology, but whether the industry can survive such a fundamental change in the way software is packaged, delivered and sold. Who will support customized software that is "created'' by an end user? I can already hear the disembodied voice on the other end of the help line:

"Sorry, that's not my object.''

Oops!

Carole Patton is chief analyst at Mendham Technology Group in Mendham, N.J. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those held by WINDOWS Magazine.


Exit Windows: Oct. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Screen Saver o' the Month

Chickens From Hell is a nutty shareware Windows screen saver. It features cartoon chickens that throw eggs at your monitor, and the eggs break with lifelike sounds. Occasionally, more chickens pop up, and lay or throw eggs at cows--and even at Barney, the purple dinosaur. Chickens From Hell, registration $10; filename CHICKS.ZIP. Avail-able on America Online (Keyword: WinMag) and CompuServe (GO WINFUN); Diversified Computer Services.

Point-and-Click Audience

Ever crave feedback on demand? With Crowd Pleaser, a new freeware program, not only do you gain an audience, but you also control its response. Click on buttons such as Boo, Laughter and Ahh to elicit audience responses. Your Windows PC will make the appropriate sound. Crowd Pleaser, freeware; filename CROWD.ZIP, available on this CD-ROM in the directory \FILES\10OCT94\EXITWIN

A Handy Pointing Device

The new RingMouse slips on your finger

and allows you to move the mouse pointer by moving your hand. Three buttons on the RingMouse correspond to mouse buttons. Spectrum RingMouse, $99.95, Kantek Inc., 800-536-3212, 516-593-3212.

DeadHead Desktop

Designer wrist rests and mouse pads can liven up your weary desktop and prevent your wrists from tiring. Computer Expressions offers a line of matching commercial accessories for $10 to $15, in-cluding colorful images featuring the Grateful Dead, Gone With The Wind, World Cup Soccer, the works of M.C. Escher and The Wizard of Oz. Computer Expressions Inc., 215-487-7700.

Everyone's Using Windows

Yes, God Does Windows is a catalog item from The Last Days Magazine and was sent in by Larry Bawcom. (For more information, call 903-963-8678.)

Those crazy Pranksters!

It's official: Tacky office antics have infiltrated the computer world. So be forewarned: PC Puke can't be too far behind.

If you've seen any offbeat Windows-related tidbit, please send it to us! We'll send you a cool WinMag coffee mug and T-shirt for each item we publish. Send items to Mike Elgan at the e-mail or postal addresses on page 16.


Power Tools

Best System Configurations

The Baseline Windows PC

The New Wave in Monitors

Enhanced IDE Versus SCSI--What's It All About?-

DCI: A New Video Standard

You Must Remember This


Best System Configurations

By: Robert Lauriston

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Gadgets that can do everything from peeling a potato to edging your front lawn or sanding your hardwood floors probably strike you as too good to be true--and they usually are. You may be able to muddle through a project with a jack-of-all-trades gizmo, but you certainly won't produce any masterpieces or break any land speed records. To work quickly and well, you need tools designed specifically for the task at hand.

That's certainly true when it comes to PCs. For maximum productivity and minimum fuss and bother, you need a system that's configured for the kind of work you do. As you've probably discovered through firsthand experience, each type of application has very specific demands. For some, a fast processor is critical, while others rely more on having plenty of RAM.

In this article, we'll tell you how you can best configure your system for four mainstream application categories: text (word processing, telecommunications and OCR), number crunching, data management and graphics. We'll also share some tips to help you maximize the performance of some of the most popular apps.

Let's begin by defining a basic Windows system we can use as a starting point for the task-specific configuration guides that follow. Forget the anemic recommendations on the back of the box. To make the most of Windows, you definitely want a PC with considerably heftier specs. Here's a quick rundown.

CPU: The current entry-level 33MHz 486SX is more than adequate for light use (such as basic word processing, personal or very-small-business accounting, and e-mail). However, an SX2 or DX2 will speed up just about everything your PC does by 20 percent to 100 percent and will raise the price only 10 percent or so. Should you go with an SX or DX? That depends largely on whether you need the floating-point unit built into the DX.

If you can afford it, a Pentium's an even better investment. While a 100MHz DX4 and a 60MHz Pentium run 16-bit Windows code at about the same speed, the latter runs 32-bit applications up to twice as fast--and with Chicago on the way, 32-bit apps will soon be the norm. That performance boost is mostly a result of the Pentium's 64-bit path between the CPU and memory, which doubles the throughput of the 486's 32-bit path. Some Pentium PCs also sport improved upgrade sockets: Instead of simply replacing the original CPU with a faster one, they let you upgrade your system to a dual-processor screamer for use with Windows NT or OS/2. (The multiprocessor version of OS/2 should be available by the time this appears.)

RAM: Though vendors often configure PCs with 4MB of RAM, the practical minimum for good Windows performance is 8MB. That's enough to run any popular application, with enough left over for modest multitasking and a decent-sized disk cache. For heavy-duty multitasking (such as generating large database reports or compiling big C programs in the background) or editing docs including OLE objects from several applications, 16MB will work much better. If you're running Windows NT 3.5, go with a minimum of 12MB; 16MB or more is better for heavy use.

Cache: A secondary cache (also called Level 2 or L2) allows today's fast processors to run without the wait states that would otherwise be imposed by the use of standard DRAM. (The primary or Level 1 cache is built into the CPU: 8KB in an Intel 486, 16KB in the Pentium.) Generally, a 256KB cache will give top performance with a 486. It's widely assumed that Pentiums will perform best with a larger cache, but the test results that I've seen so far are inconclusive. NT and 32-bit applications will show more benefit from a second-level cache.

Bus/Slots: Make sure your system has at least two VL-Bus or PCI-bus slots, one for video and one for a hard disk adapter. VL-Bus works fine with 486 systems, but PCI is a better match for Pentiums. You should also have at least three ISA-bus slots so you can add an internal modem, sound card and/or network adapter. Even if you have components integrated into the motherboard, you still want slots to allow for upgrades. (While EISA is great for servers, it isn't of much practical use in workstations.)

Ports: You need at least three ports on your Windows PC.

•	A parallel (LPT) port, preferably an Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP). This allows faster laptop file transfers today. In conjunction with the Enhanced Capabilities Port (ECP) software in Chicago, it should eventually offer additional capabilities. For instance, it may provide faster printing along with SCSI-style support for multiple devices on one port.

•	A serial (COM) port. Make sure it has a 16550A UART (discussed in the telecommunications section below) to avoid problems with high-speed modems.

•	A mouse port or second serial port.

Hard Disk: Prices have been dropping so fast that many entry-level PCs now come standard with 350MB-range hard disks--plenty for average users. If you see an otherwise attractive PC configured with a 200MB drive, the vendor should be able to upgrade it to 350MB for around $50 more. To make future upgrades easier, get a SCSI drive. One SCSI adapter can daisy-chain half a dozen drives, but straight IDE is limited to two (and getting even that one extra drive working can be very tricky). The new Enhanced IDE standard should offer most of SCSI's benefits at a slightly lower price.

Floppy disk drive: Your A: drive should be a 3.5-inch 1.44MB model. You can spend extra to get one that handles 2.88MB diskettes, but they're so rare and the diskettes are so expensive that there's little practical reason to do so. Don't bother with a 5.25-inch 1.2MB B: drive unless you need to exchange diskettes with people who don't use 1.44MB diskettes.

Tape Drive: Unless you've got access to some kind of LAN backup service (check with your network administrator to find out), a tape drive is a must. A QIC-80 drive that can store up to 250MB on a single tape costs around $150.

Video: Today's entry-level PCs typically include accelerated local-bus Super VGA adapters with 1MB of VRAM, which will let you run standard 640x480 VGA, 800x600, or 1024x768 in 4- or 8-bit color (16 or 256 colors, respectively). Unless you're doing serious graphics work, that's all you're likely to need with a 14- or 15-inch monitor. If you want to run at 1280x1024 or 1600x1200, get 2MB of VRAM or you'll be limited to 4-bit color.

Monitor: These days, a 15-inch monitor is the mainstream choice for Windows. The screen is big enough (13.5 to 14 inches) to display an 800x600 Super VGA desktop without having to keep a magnifying glass handy, the image is sharp enough (0.27- to 0.28-millimeter dot pitch) that text isn't blurry, and the prices are quite reasonable. Though the so-called flat-square tubes used in most 15-inch models actually have curved screens and rounded corners, both are considerably less pronounced than in old-style tubes, thus reducing distortion and glare problems.

Another solid choice is a 14-inch display with a Trinitron tube. They're noticeably sharper (0.25mm aperture pitch) than 15-inch monitors and are vertically flat, which effectively eliminates glare from overhead lights. MAG InnoVision, Seiko, Sony and ViewSonic are the major Trinitron vendors. (Apple is probably the top vendor, since all but the cheapest Mac monitors use Trinitron tubes.)

There are some good values among standard 14-inch monitors, but you need to shop carefully to avoid getting burned. Stick to those with a 0.28mm dot pitch and a 13-inch or larger image, and you should be able to run the same Super VGA resolution you would on a 15-inch tube.

While you can run Windows at 1024x768 on 14- and 15-inch monitors, most people find that some icon labels and dialog box text are too small to read. A 17-inch monitor, with its 16-inch image, is a much better match.

What will all this cost you? At press time, we shopped the mail-order vendors and here's what we found. A system configured with a 486DX2/66, a 256KB cache, 8MB of RAM, a 350MB IDE hard disk, one floppy disk drive, a double-speed CD-ROM, a 250MB QIC-80 tape drive, entry-level local-bus graphics with 1MB, a 14- or 15-inch monitor with 0.28mm and a V.32bis modem was available for approximately $2,250. (Prices are changing so rapidly, especially as CPU and hard disk prices fall, that you may be able to find this configuration for significantly less by the time this article appears.)

WORD PROCESSING

The kind of word processing jobs most users handle don't make heavy demands on contemporary hardware. Letters, memos and reports up to around 20 pages won't make even our budget-configuration PC break a sweat. But for industrial-strength word processing, like long legal documents and books, you'll want to beef up the basic platform as follows.

CPU: In a nutshell, get the fastest you can afford. An SX is okay, since word processors make little or no use of the DX's floating-point unit. A Pentium will really pay off if and when you upgrade to a 32-bit version of your word processor (a Win32s version of Microsoft Word is currently in beta, and Lotus has been selling a 32-bit OS/2 version of Ami Pro for a while).

RAM: Use 16MB of RAM to minimize swapping to disk when editing huge files.

Hard Disk: 1GB or larger, so you can store multiple drafts of large docs. The faster the drive, the less time you'll spend waiting for the inevitable disk swaps. (There are quite a few drives with access times of under 10ms; the fastest are around 8ms.) Use some of that big, fast disk to set up a permanent swap file, which several vendors say speeds up virtual memory access.

A system optimized for word processing, with a 66MHz Pentium and 16MB of RAM, should run in the neighborhood of $3,000.

Beyond these general hardware guidelines, here are some specific configuration tips for the "Big 3'' word processing programs.

Word 6.0: Word has a very nasty habit of swapping data to disk even when there's plenty of free RAM, so for top performance configure your box with 24MB of RAM and set up a disk cache with 8MB to 10MB. If you can't afford to indulge Word in such extravagance, buy the fastest hard disk you can afford, and point TEMP= to an uncompressed volume on that disk. You can also add these entries to the [Microsoft Word] section of WINWORD6.INI, and play with their values to see how they affect performance:

bitmapmemory=2048

cachesize=512

(You can find a not entirely satisfactory explanation of these switches in Word's Help, listed under Reference Information, Word Readme Help, WINWORD6.INI Options.)

WordPerfect 6.0: For top performance, go for 16MB of RAM. According to WordPerfect, more than that probably won't help much, since you're likely to run out of system resources before you run out of RAM. A disk cache of 2MB will improve performance by speeding up disk operations, but a larger cache will decrease performance by reducing the amount of memory that's available to the program. For faster background printing, you should have a permanent swap file of at least 8MB.

Ami Pro 3.1: Lotus says Ami Pro runs great in 8MB, and reaches the point of diminishing RAM return at around 16MB. As with WordPerfect, it's best to free RAM for the app by keeping the disk cache small.

Telecommunications and E-Mail

Telecom is the other major text task. Here, it hardly matters what specs your system has, since your modem is generally the bottleneck. To avoid problems with high-speed external modems, you need a serial port with a 16550A UART. If you use an internal modem, it doesn't really matter what's on your serial board, since the modem uses its own on-board UART.

Modems: For top telecom performance, get one of the new 28.8-Kbps (V.34) modems. These start at around $350, which is admittedly a little pricey for a modem. Depending on when and where you call, however, that could soon pay for itself in reduced long-distance charges. If you can't swing that, then go for one of the 14.4-Kbps (V.32bis) modems, which are a real steal now that 28.8 models have pushed them down into the under-$100 price range.

If you have a V.Fast modem, check with the vendor to see if it is compatible with the newer V.34 standard or if it can be upgraded later. Some experts believe that dual-standard V.34-V.Fast modems will be popular, at least for the next six months or a year.

OCR

OCR (optical character recognition) is the most hardware-intensive text application. Turning a scanned page back into text requires a huge number of very sophisticated calculations. The specs you need are pretty much the same as for a high-end WP machine, with one exception: You definitely want a DX or Pentium, since many of those calculations use floating-point math. If you don't already own a scanner, you may be able to save a bundle by buying an OCR-scanner bundle. Check prices on bundles before buying the two items separately.

SPREADSHEETS

As with word processing, the kind of spreadsheet tasks most of us do--budgets, charts, presentations, simple databases--are no challenge for our basic Windows PC. Even serious number slingers won't need to deviate much from the baseline configuration. Here's a recommended minimum.

RAM: The key to spreadsheet performance is loading your files completely into RAM; 16MB should be plenty. If you're getting out-of-memory errors with that configuration, you probably need to redesign your spreadsheets to use file or database links. Such errors can also result from using spreadsheets to create large databases (for example, a 10,000-name mailing list), in which case you should look into porting your application to a regular database manager.

Can you get top performance with less than 16MB of RAM? That depends on the size of your spreadsheets. You'll need approximately 4MB more RAM than the size of the document on disk, plus whatever you need for memory-resident software. You may need still more RAM, since spreadsheets can take considerably more space in memory than they do on disk (particularly when they contain lots of embedded objects like bitmaps and text frames). To check, temporarily shut off Windows' virtual memory, then load in turn each of your biggest and most complex spreadsheets. If you get out-of-memory errors, upgrade your RAM. (Don't forget to turn virtual memory back on after you finish testing.)

CPU: The crucial difference between a 486SX and a 486DX is that the latter includes a floating-point unit (FPU) that speeds up certain calculations. (Sometimes people erroneously refer to the FPU as a math coprocessor, a term more accurately reserved for older systems, in which the FPU was an optional second chip.) How much of a speed boost you get depends on the kinds of calculations you're performing: When you're summing columns of data, you'll see little or no increase in speed, but with trig functions the difference will be enormous. Unless you're on an extremely tight budget, play it safe and go for a DX (preferably a DX2).

If you are doing really serious number crunching, a Pentium is your best choice. While a Pentium can perform integer operations around 50 percent faster than a 486 of the same clock speed, it's even better at floating-point operations, running them up to twice as fast.

Hard disk: If you can't afford enough RAM to hold your biggest spreadsheets, Windows' virtual memory will kick in, at which point the hard disk will be the potential performance bottleneck. To minimize this problem, get the fastest drive you can afford, create a large permanent swap file on an uncompressed partition, and keep your disk cache small.

Video: Here's a switch: Today's fastest video boards can actually slow you down when you're using a spreadsheet program! It's like trying to drive around a parking lot in a rocket ship. Drag the mouse past the edge of the window to select a few hidden rows, and suddenly you're hurtling toward cell AD16384 at the speed of light. Video board vendors will probably fix this soon by modifying their video drivers. In the meantime, if you need high-end video performance for other apps, you can work around the problem. Try selecting the cell in one corner of the desired range, using the scroll bars, and then shift-clicking on the opposite corner cell to select.

Like the word processing system mentioned earlier, a system optimized for number crunching--with a Pentium and 16MB of RAM--should cost approximately $3,000.

Here are a few specific tips for the leading spreadsheets.

Microsoft Excel: There are no special hardware requirements for Excel, but you can speed up loading by bringing up the Add-Ins dialog box and unchecking any modules you don't use.

Lotus 1-2-3: You should avoid running 1-2-3 at higher than 8-bit color. It slows things down, and the program won't display more than 256 colors anyway.

Borland Quattro Pro: One peculiarity of Quattro Pro is its use of bitmaps instead of conventional Windows screen-drawing APIs. That means an accelerated ISA-bus video card won't provide the usual speedup--so if you use Quattro Pro, be sure to get local-bus video (which we strongly recommend for all users anyway).

PERSONAL FINANCE AND TAX SOFTWARE

Since popular finance and tax programs such as Intuit Quicken, MECA Managing Your Money and TaxCut, and ChipSoft TurboTax are designed for mass consumption, vendors work hard to keep their hardware requirements minimal. They'll run just fine on our basic Windows PC--anything more is overkill. (If you're using a more complex accounting program, see the database section below.)

How much power you need to run database and accounting software varies considerably depending on what kind of program you're running and how you're using it. Also, database developers need considerably more power than the rest of us who are simply using databases.

Client/server databases like Novell Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server and accounting programs that use Novell NetWare's Btrieve need a lot of power at the back end (the server), where most of the processing takes place. Our basic Windows PC is all you're likely to need at the front end.

In contrast, with a conventional database likeBorland Paradox or dBASE, Microsoft Access or FoxPro, or a standard multiuser accounting program, all the processing happens at the workstation. If you're sharing the database on a network, our baseline system will be fine for data entry or simple browsing. Other specs will vary depending on exactly what kind of work you're doing.

CPU: If you're preparing complex queries or reports, or programming database applications, it's worth upgrading to a Pentium. That will cut your time in hourglass mode by a third today, and you'll get an even bigger benefit when you upgrade to a 32-bit version of your app somewhere down the road.

RAM: If your work justifies getting a Pentium, you'll want 16MB of RAM as well. Some database managers may run best with still more--see below for details.

Hard disk: Shared databases are stored on the file server, so the workstation's hard disk specs don't matter. For a single-user database, the ideal is the same kind of high-performance SCSI-2 drives you'd use in a network server, with a 32-bit PCI or VL-Bus adapter to match. The same holds true for developers, who should look at 1.5GB and larger hard disks (prices currently start at around $1,000) to leave room for lots of tools and multiple operating systems.

Monitor: Our basic monitor recommendations are fine for end users. For developers, it's worth buying a 17-inch or larger monitor. A big monitor's larger desktop speeds up complex tasks by allowing you to have several windows open simultaneously. For example, you could be editing a form in one window, looking at some underlying code in another, and debugging the code in a third--and you would still have room left over for a half-dozen tool palettes.

Configuring a system with a 66MHz Pentium, 16MB of RAM, a 1.5GB SCSI hard disk and a 2MB DAT (digital audio tape) would put the price in the range of $5,000.

Databases have pretty similar hardware requirements, but here are a few things to keep in mind with specific programs.

Access: Upgrading the base system to 12MB or even 16MB of RAM will give the biggest payoff. But keep your disk cache to a minimum.

dBASE: 12MB is the point of diminishing returns for RAM. If the database is on your local drive, you may get the most from additional memory by allocating any additional RAM to your disk cache, though on a network that can backfire and degrade performance.

FoxPro: The basic Windows configuration should be fine.

Paradox: 4.0 queries will run fastest if you have free disk space equal to three times the total file size of all the tables involved. On an 8MB to 16MB system, allocate no more than 1MB to your disk cache.

GRAPHICS

Graphics is the most power-hungry category in the Windows application stable. Presentation programs and low-end paint, drawing and page layout apps will run okay on our basic Windows PC, but professional-level CAD, graphics and desktop publishing apps can slow even the most powerful Pentium to a crawl. Here's what you need to turn a Windows PC into a professional graphics system.

CPU: Every time Intel comes out with a faster processor, graphics apps retaliate with new features that slow down the hourglass again. Consequently, you may find yourself upgrading to the latest and greatest CPU once a year or so if you're a professional CAD or graphics user. By the middle of next year, you might be looking at 100MHz or faster Pentiums, or possibly dual-Pentium NT systems.

RAM: Forget 8MB. Since a typical DTP pro switches constantly between big apps (like Quark QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, and Word), even 16MB is cramped; 32MB is a more comfortable starting point. The formula for top Photoshop performance is three to five times the file size of the largest image you commonly work with, plus 8MB. For a 50MB full-page color image, that would mean spending around $10,000 for 256MB of RAM (and you'd have to shop around for a Pentium that didn't max out at 128MB).

Video: It's worth spending a bit more for a faster video board. There's always a range of boards with varying performance and prices to match. The first step up from entry level is a midrange board that will cost around $200 if purchased separately and add less than $100 as an upgrade to a new system. Beyond that, top-performance boards start at around $300 and go up to $1,000 or more. A major factor in board prices is the amount of VRAM they hold--the more VRAM, the higher resolution the board can display. Note that video hardware changes so fast that today's fastest board is often next year's entry level.

Monitor: The comfortable minimum for graphics is a 17-inch monitor. If you spend most of your time in graphics applications, a 21-inch model might be better. As for resolution, get a monitor that can handle 1280x1024. With a 17-inch model, you may find it makes menus and dialog box text too small for regular use, but it's nice to be able to switch to a higher resolution for editing large images. In addition, you can make menu listings bigger by selecting large fonts through the video card's Windows utility. Look for a refresh rate of at least 72Hz noninterlaced for a solid image; 75Hz or higher is preferable.

SCSI adapter: The special storage requirements of graphics work make SCSI drives essential. Get a 32-bit PCI local-bus adapter (some Pentiums have them built into the motherboard). Enhanced IDE may become a practical alternative sometime next year, but it isn't there just yet. Except for your floppy disk drive, stick to SCSI drives throughout the system.

Hard disk (SCSI): You need a huge disk for graphics work. How huge depends on how big your jobs are and how many of them you have to juggle in the course of a day's work. The 1.5GB-range drives currently selling for around $1,000 are a very good value.

Removable disk (SCSI): Graphics apps always seem to outgrow the available disk space, along with your CPU horsepower and RAM. Luckily, there's a simple solution: removable disks. These work something like giant diskettes, letting you move large projects onto and off of your hard disk very quickly.

The original industry standards, Syquest 44MB and 88MB cartridges, have an unfortunate tendency to turn unreadable after a few months of heavy use. That can be disconcerting to say the least if you're up against a deadline. The 128MB magneto-optical discs that are the new standard are much more reliable. At around $800, an optical drive costs about twice as much as a Syquest. But the discs hold more, cost less ($50 versus $100) and last longer, so you'll save money in the long run. There are other removable formats, but these are the ones most service bureaus and printers are equipped to handle.

Tape drive (SCSI): For backup and archiving old projects, you'll need a big tape drive, preferably one larger than your hard disk. The most cost-effective are 4mm DAT drives. Prices for 2GB internal units start at around $850, 5GB models at about $1,100.

CD-ROM drive (SCSI): CD-ROMs have become the standard distribution medium for clip art and fonts, so you've got to have one to do much with graphics. If you'll be importing a lot of graphics from Photo CDs, a quad-speed drive will cut load times by up to half. Personally I'd rather spend my money on more RAM, which speeds up many tasks, not just one.

Drawing tablet: If you're a talented artist, trying to draw or paint with a mouse will really cramp your style. A pressure-sensitive tablet ($350 and up) will allow you to create lines as expressive as those you could sketch on paper. It's impossible to get the most out of natural-media programs like Fractal Design Painter without one.

Flatbed scanner: If you do much scanning, it's cheaper to buy your own scanner rather than rent time on one at a service bureau. These days you can get a flatbed 400x800-dot-per-inch gray-scale scanner for around $500, color for $1,000. If you're unusually picky about quality, you can get a 600x1200-dpi color scanner for less than $2,000. Color scanners often come bundled with Photoshop or Aldus PhotoStyler.

Full tower case: With all the stuff you're loading into this PC, your best choice is a full tower case. Get one with lots of drive bays--mine has six external 5.25-inch bays, plus two internal 3.5-inch bays. Even with two floppy disk drives, a CD-ROM drive, a tape drive and two hard disks already on my system, I've still got room to grow.

A system optimized for professional graphics applications, with a 90MHz Pentium, 32MB of RAM, a 1.5GB SCSI hard disk, a 2GB DAT drive, a 128MB magneto-optical drive, midrange PCI graphics with 2MB of VRAM, a 17-inch monitor and tower case would sell for somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,500.

Autodesk AutoCAD: A 60MHz Pentium with 16MB of RAM and a 1GB hard disk is a good starting configuration. If you can afford to spend more, get a faster Pentium or additional RAM. Today's accelerated video boards are not a bottleneck for AutoCAD in the same way VGA and early Super VGA boards were.

CorelDRAW: RAM is the most important consideration. A 486 with 32MB of RAM will run CorelDRAW faster than a Pentium with 8MB. A faster CPU or faster hard disk will have more overall benefit than a faster video board. Switch to 24-bit color only when you need it, and the rest of the time run at 8- or 16-bit color for speed.

Aldus FreeHand: 16MB of RAM is the minimum you need. The preferred configuration is a 90MHz Pentium equipped with 32MB of RAM, a 500MB SCSI hard disk with caching adapter, a 64-bit PCI video card and a Wacom tablet.

Photoshop: CPU speed is paramount: The 3.0 beta screams on a dual-Pentium NT system. Next comes RAM, ideally five times the size of your document, plus 8MB. PCI-bus video is preferable, but you don't need hardware zoom.

QuarkXPress: For best performance, the company recommends buying "all the RAM you can afford.'' Beyond that, the recommendations are the same as for CorelDRAW.

BEYOND HARDWARE

If you want better performance, but your budget doesn't extend to the price of a new system or significant upgrades for your old one, take heart. Chicago and 32-bit Windows apps will soon offer many of the benefits of a hardware upgrade at just a fraction of the cost.

How is that possible? Simple: Running 16-bit apps on a 32-bit 386 or 486 PC is like driving a car with half its cylinders blown--that is, the CPU is frequently using only half its potential. In our preliminary tests, 32-bit Windows applications display a radical speed boost over their 16-bit counterparts running on the same hardware.

Still, you can rarely go wrong with more powerful hardware. If your system doesn't live up to its potential for your key apps, consider upgrading key components now as your budget permits. If your budget is tight, make sure your system is tuned to be the best it can be (watch the next few issues of WINDOWS Magazine for some real help in that department). And hold on to see what Chicago and 32-bit upgrades of your key apps can do for you.

Robert Lauriston is a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine and coauthor of The PC Bible from Peachpit Press. Reach him care of the Letters to the Editor section of the WinMag message exchange on America Online..


The Baseline Windows PC

This sums up what you need for a baseline Windows PC that will serve as the starting point for the task-specific sections that follow. Note that the specs don't describe the cheapest possible Windows PC. They exceed the minimum whenever a modest increase in cost pays off in significantly better performance.

CPU=50MHz to 66MHz SX2 or DX2

Cache=256KB

RAM=8MB

VL-Bus or PCI-bus slots=2

ISA-bus slots=3

Ports=1 parallel/1 serial/1 mouse or 1 parallel/2 serial

Hard disk* =350MB

Drive interface= IDE

Floppy disk drive(s)=1.44MB A: (1.2MB B: optional)

Tape drive** =250MB QIC-80

Video Local-bus =Super VGA with 1MB VRAM

Monitor =15-inch "flat'' or 14-inch Trinitron

*If the PC is connected to a LAN and all applications are stored on a file server, a smaller hard disk may be adequate.

**Network backup may eliminate the need for a tape drive.


The New Wave in Monitors

By: John Gartner

In the coming months, 15-inch monitors may face a serious challenge from 17-inch units as more users opt for large-size monitors for mainstream computing. By next year, most monitors will comply with VESA DPMS (Display Power Management System) standards and will utilize VCR-like on-screen programming. Digital controls will make it simple to adjust and store monitor control settings. In addition, 64-bit graphics adapters will replace 32-bit processors and will include integrated video acceleration to speed up .AVI file playback.


Enhanced IDE Versus SCSI--What's It All About?-

By: Jonathan Blackwood

It takes a fast local-bus IDE or SCSI-2 interface to keep up with the demands of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and speed will be even more critical when Chicago arrives. How do these standards differ and where are they heading?

In a nutshell, IDE (integrated drive electronics) is cheaper to implement than SCSI. It allows a maximum of two drives to be connected, each with a maximum capacity of 528MB. On local-bus systems (either VL-Bus or PCI), data-transfer rates can reach 5 megabytes per second (MBps). IDE can be used only to connect hard disks (even though IDE adapter cards often include a floppy disk controller as well).

The new Enhanced IDE (Mode 3) specification boosts the number of drives that can be connected to four and extends support to CD-ROM drives as well as hard disks. It can handle hard disks with capacities up to 8GB and data-transfer rates to 13MBps.

SCSI-2 can connect up to seven devices. SCSI hard disks can have capacities as large as 8GB (with Extended Translation BIOS) and a maximum data-transfer rate of 10MBps. SCSI can connect a host of peripherals besides disk drives, including scanners, CD-ROM drives or bar-code readers. However, connecting a SCSI adapter can be problematic, requiring you to change IRQs and make other adjustments.

The upcoming SCSI-3 standards will enable data-transfer rates at speeds up to 40MBps on a 32-bit pathway. The standard promises these speeds and may include support for Chicago's Plug-and-Play standard.


DCI: A New Video Standard

By: Robert Lauriston

Intel and Microsoft have cooked up a new video standard, DCI (Display Control Interface), that offloads a lot more work to the video board, allowing higher-quality motion video playback. Video board packaging should start indicating DCI compatibility by the time you read this, and drivers will reportedly be available for at least some older boards as well.


You Must Remember This

By: David Gabel, Reviews Editor

As recently as the late 1980s, most memory chips shipped to PC manufacturers were 1Mbit chips, and many PCs operated with 1MB of RAM. We've come a long way since then: Most PCs ship with 4Mbit chips, and you can upgrade system RAM to 128MB or more. Now the changeover to 16Mbit devices is fast approaching. Within the next year, you'll start to see Windows PCs shipping with 16Mbit chips. How can we make such major leaps so quickly?

Every two years or so, a new generation of memory chips comes out that quadruples the data density through a process called scaling. Designers strive to halve line widths (the basic dimension inside a chip that describes the smallest features of the integrated circuit), and with precise manufacturing can shrink a memory cell by half in both dimensions. That reduces the total area by a factor of four. Right now, the only limit to density increases seems to be that imposed by the resolution capability of the light used for optical lithography, which is used to "print'' circuit patterns on silicon wafers that form chips. When we reach the upper limits of optical lithography, emerging technologies such as X-ray lithography and direct write electron-beam technology will move us beyond 16Mbit.


Hidden Word Processor Treasures

Word Processor Treasures

Outlining in Ami Pro

Master Documents in Word

Beef Up Your Word Processor

Templates in WordPerfect

Coming Soon


Word Processor Treasures

Take a closer look at your word processor--you'll find lots of shortcuts you may have missed. Here are six timesavers to get you started

By: .James E. Powell, Northwest Bureau Editor

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

What's a word processor if not a shortcut machine? You can copy formats from one section of text to another; use built-in e-mail to send your document to a coworker without leaving your application; and organize your toolbar so the features you use most are quickly available with just a mouse click.

All of these capabilities are certainly productivity enhancements, yet they probably save only a few minutes a day. But if you look carefully through your word processor's manual, you'll find dozens of shortcuts that will save even more time and a lot of aggravation. The following features--outlining, master documents, boilerplate text, macros, templates and file management shortcuts--are just six of the ways you can work smarter with Word, Ami Pro and WordPerfect. Many of them are more useful for longer documents--procedure manuals, for example--while others will conserve time on documents of any size. These features have been around in one form or another over the past year, but with all the fuss over ease of use and quick editing tricks, you may have overlooked them.

OUTLINE MODE

Nothing beats an outline for organizing your thoughts. Outlines provide a handy way to add text while maintaining the organization of your document. Expand a key point, then hide the text so it doesn't get in the way of your other points. Unfold and compress an outline to keep your screen from becoming cluttered. You can rearrange large sections of text simply by dragging and dropping the major outline point. If you're stumped about exactly where to place several paragraphs and don't want to be bogged down working with large chunks of text, just move the outline item. You can promote and demote an outline item to a new level, instantly turning a thought into either a major or supporting point.

Ami Pro, Word and WordPerfect work with outlines in essentially the same way. You choose outline mode and begin to enter your ideas. Multiple levels are available (there are nine in Ami Pro and Word, and eight in WordPerfect). Buttons at the top or side of the screen help you select the level you want to see, but the buttons don't show up when you print the document. All other levels are condensed automatically. You can hide an individual level and all sublevels. Outline mode works like "normal'' text editing mode--you can copy, cut and move text as if you are working with a normal document.

Depending on which word processor you are using, there are different benefits you can gain by working in outline mode. In Ami Pro, for example, each outline level can be assigned a different style, allowing you to find text at various levels more quickly. Thanks to Word and WordPerfect's ability to split a document into two panels, you can view your document in outline mode in one panel as you look at the final results of your work in normal view in the other panel.

MASTER DOCUMENTS

Working with large documents can be a nightmare. They're slower to load and edit when stored as a single file instead of several smaller files. Only one person can edit the file at a time. If you need to use the same set of text in several documents, you have to cut and paste from one document to another. There's no way to share text so that if you change it in one place those changes automatically ripple throughout the other documents.

There is a solution. With master documents, you can break the sections of a long document into separate files, then combine them again as one master document. In Ami Pro, for example, you open a new file (File/Master Document) and specify the files that make up the document.

Your word processor will treat a master document like a large document, as though the individual files were contained within it. You can use the master document to create consecutive pages and footnote numbers, number outlines, and generate one table of contents and one index for all the text--the individual documents are strung along in one long document. If you change a component, the changes are automatically reflected in the master copy.

You can continue to work as you always did on the documents included in any master document. A file can be edited, printed, modified with footnotes and styles, and more. There are a few things you have to watch out for, however. Don't specify a beginning page number for individual documents, or the master document will pick up that number and use it in the middle of the combined document. You'll also want to assign the same paragraph styles to each document to make tables of contents and indexing consistent.

With master documents, the same documents can be placed in different order for different audiences. You can selectively include particular documents for various audiences in different master documents. For example, documents that contain only overview or executive summary information can be placed in one master document, and another master can hold those files along with more detailed documents. And this can be done without making a single change to the component files. Furthermore, master documents are set up in outline mode, since it's easier to move about in a document made up of components than it is to navigate through one lengthy document.

Word 6.0 makes it particularly easy to divide an existing document into subdocuments. Select View/Master Document to display the Master Document toolbar. Choose the headings and text you want to split out into a subdocument, then click on the Create Subdocument button. That's all there is to it.

BOILERPLATE TEXT

That boring chunk of text you have to write day after day can easily be turned out in just a keystroke or two. Ami Pro's Glossary feature lets you create boilerplate text, while Word 6.0 and WordPerfect 6.0 each offer two methods for accomplishing this task.

To create a glossary item in Ami Pro, select the text, go to Edit/Mark Text/Glossary and type the name of the entry (such as "callme''). To retrieve the text, press Ctrl+K and click on the entry you want. Glossary records can contain large amounts of text--standard paragraphs in a legal document, for instance--or short bits like "If you have any further questions, please feel free to call me.''

To create and retrieve boilerplate text in WordPerfect, you can use either QuickCorrect or Abbreviations, which is the nonautomated version of QuickCorrect. You may think of QuickCorrect (and Word's AutoCorrect) as being most useful for turning "teh'' into "the,'' or for expanding abbreviations like "asap.'' But you can also invent your own abbreviations. For example, adding "JEP'' to the QuickCorrect table will expand that abbreviation into "James E. Powell.''

However, you may want to control when something is or is not expanded. By setting up boilerplate text as an abbreviation, the copy can be expanded as you type it (type the text and press Ctrl+A). As an alternative, run the predefined EXPNDALL macro, which will go through your document and write out all abbreviations at once.

In Word, AutoCorrect and AutoText are great tools for boilerplate text. Just type the abbreviation and press the AutoText button from the toolbar. AutoCorrect is Word's on-the-fly replacement feature. Boilerplate text works in basically the same way here as in WordPerfect's QuickCorrect.

Boilerplates go beyond just text if you're using Word 6.0. For example, it's easy to add an entry for inserting a company logo, signature graphic or other image. You can expand the word "logo'' into a bitmapped image of your company's logo by adding an entry for it in AutoText.

MACROS

We often think of macros as an easy way to perform repetitive tasks. It's easy to record a macro, assign the keystrokes to a keyboard combination, then play back the macro at will. However, word processors now come with an abundance of macros you can use right out of the box--and they perform some fancy tricks.

Ami Pro comes with a rich set of macros and an easy way to make selections from the long list. You get macros to insert special characters, perform search-and-replace or a spell-check across multiple files, or close all open documents.

Although WordPerfect's macro language can be complex and confusing, you don't need to know anything about it to take advantage of the predefined macros that are part of the package. You can insert a drop cap, create a list of all font faces available, and insert the document's filename in a header or footer. Simply use the Tools/Macro/Play command, then press F4 to see a list (with description) of available macros.

Word 6.0 ships with four document templates in a subdirectory called Macro. These templates include macros that allow you to export a Word table to Microsoft's Access database, organize your document windows and help you perform batch conversions of files to various formats.

FILE MANAGEMENT

Ami Pro and WordPerfect both offer file viewers, so you don't have to open a long document to see if it's the right one. Just take a peek in the viewer that you can access when you open a new document (File/Open/View in WordPerfect and File/Open/Preview in Ami Pro). You can copy text from the preview window, but you can't edit it. This feature is a good choice if you want to copy text without accidentally changing the original.

WordPerfect has far and away the best file management tools. For example, if you want to save a new document and place it in a new subdirectory, WordPerfect's File Save dialog box offers you the opportunity to create a new directory without making you switch to File Manager.

TEMPLATES

Ever wish you could automatically fill in the blanks of those documents you prepare day in and day out? Templates (in Word or WordPerfect) or Style Sheets with Contents (in Ami Pro) may be just what you need. When you create a new document based on a template, the word processor takes over and prompts you for key information, such as the name of the recipient of a fax sheet. After you've answered the questions, the word processor substitutes your answers for placeholders in the original skeleton document. The result: A fax cover page nicely formatted, with your recipient's name right where it belongs.

You aren't limited to the templates that ship with your word processor, and if you don't like the skeleton you can modify it just as you can any other document. You can also create your own template from scratch. Although templates are a bit more difficult to create than other types of documents, there's nothing faster or cleaner if you do repetitive work. Templates may not be a major leap from search and replace, but they certainly take less time.

DIG FOR MORE

Whether you work with long documents or short ones, prepare lengthy legal documents with long segments of boilerplate text or simply write short one-page memos, there's something to make your life easier in Word, WordPerfect and Ami Pro. We've looked at a few useful shortcuts here, but there's plenty more where these came from. Don't be afraid to break open your user guide. You'll find many more time-savers for all three word processing programs.


Outlining in Ami Pro

Organize your thoughts and your words using your word processor's outline mode. In Ami Pro, it's easy to set up an outline, and it takes only a click of the mouse to expand and contract the outline. To start a new document in outline mode, select File/New and choose Outline Mode from the View menu. Assign a style to each level of the outline by clicking on the box at the bottom left side of the screen.

Expand the outline by placing the cursor in the section you want to expand and choosing Outline/Expand. Collapse the outline by choosing Contract from the Outline menu. You can also use the plus and minus signs on the toolbar for the same purposes.

Display your outline as a complete article by choosing Draft Mode from the View menu.


Master Documents in Word

If you have a document that's too long to manage in one file, set up a master document. Create master documents in Word 6.0 by opening a new document and choosing Master Document from the View menu. Word will display the Outlining and Master Document toolbars. Type in an outline, using Word's built-in heading styles to build the hierarchy that will later be broken into subdocuments.

Select the headings you want divided into subdocuments. Click on the Create Subdocument button on the Master Document toolbar. Each subdocument is enclosed in a box, with a subdocument icon displayed in the corner. Choose Save As from the File menu to save the new master document and its subdocuments, each of which is assigned a filename by Word.

To open a subdocument from within the master document, click on the appropriate subdocument icon.


Beef Up Your Word Processor

Dozens of add-on products are available to make word processing easier than ever. These handy utilities take care of a variety of tasks, from document browsing to envelope addressing.

By Design is a document-design utility for Word and WordPerfect. Using the program's templates, clip art and fonts, you can create fax cover pages, business forms, calendars, newsletters and resumes. You can also add page borders, insert fancy graphics to separate paragraphs, modify templates and use an address book to merge data with your layouts. The output is downright snazzy. $99. Streetwise Software, 800-743-6765, 310-829-7827.

ClickBook 1.1 quickly turns your document into a booklet. After you select the Print command from your word processor and choose OK, ClickBook pops up to ask you to select a layout. $69.95. Bookmaker Corp., 800-766-8531, 415-354-8160.

HotDocs 1.0 lets you build your own fill-in-the-blanks templates in Ami Pro, Word and WordPerfect. HotDocs will change an entry like 6/95 to June 1995. You simply select your original document, highlight the replaceable text, and specify how it should be replaced. You can perform branching, so that some fields are filled in based on the value in another variable. HotDocs can change gender references in a document, replacing "him'' or "her'' as appropriate. The program builds the dialog boxes that prompt you for replacement text. Nothing is easier--or more foolproof--for building repetitive documents that need text substitution here and there. $99. Capsoft Development Corp., 800-500-DOCS, 801-375-6562.

Indexicon 1.0 creates a back-of-the-book index for your WordPerfect document, without making you tediously tag every word you want included. You choose one of six detail levels, and Indexicon automatically scans your document for important words and phrases. Then it creates the index for you. The installation program adds itself to the WordPerfect menu, so everything is at your fingertips. Indexing is also fast--we created an index for a 50-page technical manual in less than a minute. $149.99. Iconovex Corp., 800-943-0292, 612-943-0292.

MasterWord 6.0 gives you a few more Wizards on top of those supplied by Word 6.0. MasterWord's Wizards perform tasks from printing a light background watermark (such as "Personal'' or "Draft'') to adding page borders. The program adds a pop-up font menu that shows you the font in the actual typeface. It also provides a rich help system. Command Central helps you find a feature from a hierarchical list organized by function and lets you put that command on the toolbar quickly. MasterWord includes additional toolbars incorporating both text and graphics. $99.95. Alki Software, 800-NOW-WORD, 206-286-2600.

MegaWord 6.0 includes a document browser for viewing any page, picture or table in Word 6.0. A document-recall macro lists and opens the last files used, and file utilities let you create directories on the fly and view a document before you print, rename, move or copy files. MegaWord also has toolbar buttons to add 3-D effects to tables, insert the date and time (or a calendar) in more than 30 formats, and save your current workspace. $49. Merlot International, 800-788-0787, 314-965-5630.

Office Accelerator 2.1 (OA) adds a flexible and fast phone/address book to any of the big three word processors. The program merges names, addresses and user-defined information into a predefined letter, label (complete with PostNet bar-code fonts), envelope, form, fax or report with just a couple of mouse clicks. For example, you can compose a letter, then pop into OA to select a name. Office Accelerator will merge the data for you, including a salutation and closing. Several standard document layouts are provided, including fax cover sheets and invoices, but it's easy to create your own templates. Office Accelerator imports your existing phone or address book, so you won't have to reenter information. The phone book, which stores up to 10 phone numbers and addresses per person, comes with plenty of power--you can find single or multiple entries, print a directory or dial a phone number. $99.95. Baseline Data Systems, 800-429-5325, 310-214-8528.

Prime 6.0 offers an invaluable--and fast--spell checker that runs through an entire Word 6.0 document, then lets you revise all the errors at once. This feature alone is worth the price of the package, but Prime does a lot more. Choose sections of text and quickly turn proofing on and off, manage macros, view and manage AutoText entries, view variables and their values, zoom in and out of a document at various percentages, and add descriptions to standard templates using Prime's replacement File/New command. $39.95. Prime Consulting Group, 800-788-0787, 314-965-5630.

Take A Letter 2.0 is a great tool for a letter writer who finds himself at a loss for words. The program supplies customizable letters that get you off to a fast start. You fill in the blanks and Take A Letter will generate letters to address personnel problems, set lease terms, furnish quotes or propose payment schedules. If you don't know how to create a follow-up letter, don't reinvent the wheel. Instead, get yourself a copy of Take a Letter. $99.95. Centric Development, 800-442-6872, 206-889-6411.

WOPR 6.0, also known as Woody's Office Power Pack, is a must-have for Word 6.0 users. WOPR includes a top-notch envelope-addressing utility that puts Word's own envelope addresser to shame. Its file manager has everything Microsoft forgot, including improvements on find, search and replace tasks. It also gives you the ability to create work-spaces, so when you start Word you return to the documents that were open when you last left the program. WOPR's toolbar editor includes a button-face drawing tool. Installation and documentation are outstanding (and fun to read). $49.95. Pinecliffe International, 800-788-0787, 314-965-5630.

•	JEP


Templates in WordPerfect

Word processors supply several ready-made documents that you can create quickly and easily by answering queries prompted by your word processor. For example, if you need to create a certificate in WordPerfect, choose File/Template, then select certif2.

Once the template is chosen, WordPerfect takes over, prompting you for the information you want printed on the certificate.

The finished product comes complete with borders. The skeleton document can be modified in any way if you are dissatisfied with the original setup.


Coming Soon

•	Version 3.1 of Ami Pro supports document tracking and management (via Lotus Notes), and a mail memo front end to Lotus cc:Mail.

•	Meanwhile, Microsoft hints that linguistic features are around the corner for Word. Linguistic features perform tasks such as automatic checking of subject/verb agreement as you type.

•	WordPerfect's own linguistic feature, PerfectSense, will also be incorporated soon. If you search and replace "auto'' with "car,'' WordPerfect will change "an auto'' to "a car.'' Likewise, you can search and replace "buy'' with "purchase'' and WordPerfect can change "bought'' with "purchased.'' The upcoming PerfectOffice suite, due this year, should include OLE 2.0 support in all application components, including the namesake word processor.


Virtually There-(Desktop Conferencing)

Desktop Conferencing

Hooking Up

Shopper's Guide to Desktop Conferencing


Desktop Conferencing

Virtually There-- Emerging desktop conferencing technologies could revolutionize the way we do business. Watch a product demo long distance, confer with far-flung colleagues face-to-face, or collaborate on a presentation with fellow managers around the country--without leaving your PC. Here's how.--

By: Jim Boyce

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

You've probably heard a great deal about desktop conferencing lately, but you may not know exactly what it means. Well, it's easy to see desktop conferencing in action--just check out any episode of "Star Trek.'' You'll see crew members conferring via real-time video links, sharing data interactively, and receiving multimedia mail from the folks back home (and all this while coping with yet another crisis of galactic proportions!). Some of these capabilities are still the stuff of science fiction, but much of this technology is already a reality, and the rest will be before long.

Desktop conferencing--really a completely new work paradigm--has the potential to change the way we conduct business. Are you likely to use it? What can it do for you? Before you can answer these questions and understand the implications, you need some background in what this technology is all about.

Attending the Virtual Meeting

The term desktop conferencing actually encompasses a wide range of applications and hardware, including videophones, document collaboration and whiteboards. Some vendors provide integrated solutions that address several of these areas, while others focus on only one aspect, such as document collaboration. The variations all have something in common: They're designed to enable PC users in separate locations to communicate as if they were in the same meeting room.

Videophones: Most people envision videophones when they think of desktop conferencing. This technology was demonstrated 30 years ago at the 1964 New York World's Fair, but it has become a practical reality only recently with the development of the high-speed phone line infrastructure. Today's videoconferencing systems essentially turn your PC into a videophone, enabling you to see and hear the person at the other end of your conversation. The caller's image appears in a window on your PC's display, while yours appears on the remote system's display. Many videoconferencing products also support document collaboration, enabling the conferees to view the same document on-screen and annotate or even revise it.

Videophones may seem like novelties to some extent, but they offer real advantages for general business communications. Consider how many people you deal with on a daily basis through e-mail, voice phone or fax. Being able to see as well as hear the party on the other end of the line improves the quality of interaction in most situations, and it's invaluable in some: for instance, if you want to review blueprints, "sit in'' on a new product presentation, or see a technique being demonstrated.

Videoconferencing hardware typically consists of a small camera that's mounted either on top of your monitor or on a small pedestal on the desktop, one or more adapter cards to handle the audio and video, and some form of audio I/O device--either microphones and speakers or an integrated phone handset. Some systems require high-speed data lines (usually ISDN, Integrated Services Digital Network), while others use standard analog phone lines.

The final component is the videoconferencing software itself. Some systems comprise both the hardware and software. Others include software only and support standard hardware available from other vendors.

Most systems support point-to-point conferences, which means they can connect two PCs. You can confab with a cohort on the other coast, but you won't be able to hook up your entire board of directors from the four corners of the earth. Other systems are multipoint systems that can connect multiple sites. Multipoint systems generally require that you schedule the conference with your communications service (ISDN provider, for example). Point-to-point systems, including both digital and analog systems, do not require prescheduling. You simply dial the other PC just as you would for a voice or data call.

Videoconferencing systems typically range in price from $1,000 to $6,000 per seat including hardware and software. However, don't expect Star Trek quality with today's technology. Systems that employ standard phone connections typically provide video rates of 1 to 5 frames per second, which equates to virtually no animation at all (for comparison, the National Television System Committee television rate is 30 frames per second). Throw in the added overhead of document sharing, and the frame rate drops even further. Although systems that use high-speed digital connections are capable in theory of 30 frames per second, in practice they reach around 10 to 15 frames per second, at best. Smooth, TV-quality video will be a reality by the end of the decade, but it isn't here today.

Document collaboration: This software-based variation of desktop conferencing enables multiple users in a workgroup to create and edit documents. For instance, the members of a sales staff can dynamically edit a common spreadsheet during an on-line conference; engineers located in different facilities can collaborate on design drawings; and employees at remote sites (such as branch locations or home offices) can contribute to their workgroups without being chained to a desk.

Not only does document collaboration facilitate workgroup participation, but it can also cut travel time and costs. Why spend two days and a few thousand dollars to travel across the country for a face-to-face meeting when you can handle the entire affair in a brief on-line session at a fraction of the cost?

There are two distinct aspects to document collaboration: document sharing and application sharing. Document sharing enables both parties to manipulate the same document and requires each to have the necessary application loaded. You and a colleague in a branch office can view next quarter's sales projections and take turns editing the cells in the spreadsheet, for example. Document sharing is possible with point-to-point and multipoint systems over both digital and standard phone lines. Some vendors offer standalone document collaboration software; others integrate document collaboration with their videoconferencing products. Average prices range from $99 to around $400 for standalone products.

Application sharing enables you to share your software application with the person you are calling, making it possible for him or her to manipulate the shared document without having the source application. Your boss calls from her home office, for example, wanting to go over a project timeline you have developed using project management software. She doesn't have the software on her home PC, but that's not a problem. You just share your copy with her, and both of you can edit the data. Currently, application sharing is limited to point-to-point systems over digital lines, although it eventually will be possible in multipoint systems (although it's unlikely with analog phone lines). Prices for document collaboration software with application sharing capability start at around $295.

Whiteboard technology takes its name from the ubiquitous erasable marker boards that are a prominent fixture in most conference rooms and boardrooms. Some so-called whiteboards are software-only and operate across a LAN or phone connection, displaying the images on your PC. Other systems integrate large-screen displays for use in conference room settings. Electronic whiteboards serve many of the same purposes as document collaboration software, but they display bitmaps. In other words, you see a picture of a spreadsheet, but don't have access to the actual data. This means you can annotate a document but not modify the document's data directly.

Whiteboard software is generally in the same price range as document collaboration software, but products that incorporate large-screen displays naturally cost much more.

What's the Use?

Because the desktop conferencing arena is still relatively new, many organizations don't fully understand the ramifications or implementation of the technology. It can play an important part in business, technical support, education, medicine and a vast range of other applications.

In traditional business, desktop conferencing can result in a less structured and wider distribution of information, primarily because of the advantages of document collaboration. It's easier to bring more people together on a project and tie them more closely to one another. The result can be a flatter management model with fewer links in the chain of command, a closer relationship between management and staff, and better integration between staff. By distributing a "meeting'' to participants' PCs, you eliminate travel and make it easier for participants to drop in as their schedules allow.

Although videoconferencing will likely become as commonplace as today's voice and fax calls, document collaboration offers the greatest promise as a productivity tool. Not only does document collaboration make it possible for multiple users to work with and contribute to a common document, but it also makes the process immediate and interactive.

Desktop conferencing also has important ramifications in technical support and education. Let's say you need your company's help desk to clarify an application or process on your PC. You initiate a videoconference with a help desk staffer who not only explains the process to you, but also steps you through it on your own PC--from the other side of the building or the continent. You run through the process yourself while the support technician watches your system remotely to make sure you have it right. In a few minutes, the entire process is complete. You've saved time, eliminated a trip out of the office either by you or the support staff, and received a hands-on guided lesson.

Desktop conferencing also holds great promise in education, particularly for small and rural schools with ever-dwindling funds and slipping enrollment. Just as interactive TV has brought instruction into classrooms from remote sites, desktop conferencing will make it possible for education to become even more decentralized. Schools without the funds or student population to justify a teacher for a particular class can conduct an interactive class with larger schools across the county or in another state. Desktop conferencing also will bring together doctors and their patients. Do you need to see a specialist? Transmit your history, X-rays and MRI images electronically, then confer with your doctor and a consulting specialist via videoconference.

Moving On and Beyond the LAN

Some of these desktop conferencing dreams are not practical today because the infrastructure needed to transfer real-time video, data, voice and other information simultaneously outside of a LAN is still not available in many areas. Progress is being made, however, and such services could well be available to the general public (even in the home) within 10 years. Currently, services such as ISDN are commonly available in Europe and are becoming available domestically in many metropolitan areas of the U.S. Because of the high cost for the switching hardware, it is unlikely your small-town phone company will be able to offer the service directly any time soon. However, many companies in larger cities are investigating the possibility of providing local access to ISDN and other digital networks.

Today, desktop conferencing systems may use LAN, WAN, POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), ISDN, ATM and T1 connections (see Hooking Up for an explanation of these connection options). Newer desktop conferencing products take advantage of recent improvements in video compression to enable conferencing to occur across the LAN using the existing LAN's cabling and network protocols. InVision from InVision Systems Corp., for example, is among the first vendors to offer a videoconferencing product that packetizes video and audio to transmit it over the LAN using protocols such as TCP/IP and IPX. This makes it possible to distribute a conference through hubs, bridges, routers and even onto the Internet. Other desktop conferencing vendors will be taking a similar approach, recognizing the need to integrate desktop conferencing with existing data distribution channels.

LAN solutions offer the advantage of using your existing data cabling, but they can quickly place a heavy traffic burden on the network and degrade the net's overall performance. One possibility is to provide separate lines for standard LAN traffic and for conferencing (video, voice and so on). This is a good approach with new construction: If you're building an office, it's relatively inexpensive to put in the extra cabling. With existing installations, however, installing additional cabling is often impractical or prohibitively expensive. Depending on your site requirements, it might be practical to install null-modem cabling to connect local systems together rather than use the LAN. You then can choose a videoconferencing solution designed to use analog phone lines and V.Fast modems, eliminate the modems, and get much higher performance overall.

At this point, the high bandwidth needed to transmit concurrent video and audio results in jerky video when using standard LAN cabling. Performance degrades further over standard analog dial-up connections, making ISDN, T1 and other high-speed digital connections a necessity for WAN and remote desktop conferencing. As compression technology improves, however, desktop conferencing will become more practical across LAN and standard phone connections. And as ISDN finds its way into more of the country's phone infrastructure, it will become less expensive and a more practical avenue for desktop conferencing, even in the home.

A comparison of cost and performance between LAN and digital options is really not valid. LAN solutions are aimed at local conferencing, while digital and analog options are aimed at remote conferencing. If you are interested in ISDN, be prepared to pay for the privilege. Although rates and availability vary widely, installation can cost as much as $500, with per-line monthly fees of $75 or more. Add in usage fees (in the range of $15 per hour) and digital services become considerably more expensive than analog options. You also will need an extra dose of patience when you begin trying to acquire ISDN services. Don't be surprised if some of the phone service sales and customer service staff respond with, "What's that?'' when you ask about ISDN.

When you begin searching for the right desktop conferencing solution, connection options should be high on your list of points to evaluate. If your conferencing needs don't extend beyond your LAN, a product that makes use of your existing network operating system, protocols and cabling is a must. For connections between buildings, a fiber-optic extension of your existing LAN is a viable solution. For more remote conferencing, you'll need a product that supports ISDN or other high-speed connections. Be prepared to pay a much higher cost for the overall system, however. Using ISDN, for example, requires additional hardware in each conferencing PC as well as flat fee and usage charges for the ISDN line access. Other high-speed connections also entail extra hardware and up-front fees for installation, as well as monthly access and usage fees. Using POTS to connect your systems together is the least expensive option for remote conferencing, but currently offers relatively poor performance.

If you can't justify the cost of ISDN, T1 or other high-speed services and opt for POTS, shop for a product that supports dial-up connections using V.Fast-class modems for 28.8Kbps performance. Some vendors claim 15-frame-per-second performance over these types of connections, but don't expect that much in the real world.

Following the Standards

As in virtually every other aspect of today's computing and communications markets, a profusion of standards exists in the desktop conferencing arena, divided primarily into two camps. The International Telecommunications Union's Telecommunications Standardization Sector, which is the international standards-governing body for communications technology, has set a number of standards for videoconferencing. (This group was formerly known as the CCITT--Consultative Committee for International Telephony and Telegraphy.) The ITU collective standard H.320, often referred to as the Px64 standard, defines video formats and other aspects of desktop conferencing. The H.320 standard, for example, defines video compression, including coding, framing, and video and audio multiplexing. The H.320 camp has traditionally been strongest in corporate conferencing systems where high cost and high performance have generally gone hand in hand.

The other camp has rallied around Microsoft Video for Windows. Although not a true standard, Video for Windows and its AVI (Audio/Visual Interleaved) method of video and audio compression have become an ad hoc standard for video distribution in the Windows realm. Although generally less expensive than systems following the H.320 standard, systems based on Video for Windows often provide lower frame rates than H.320 systems. A direct comparison between the two is really not fair, however, because they typically address two different markets: H.320 is geared toward high-quality corporate conferencing systems linking different sites, and Video for Windows solutions are geared more toward linking individual users. A further distinction is that H.320 prevents the packetization of the video and audio stream, which virtually eliminates its use in LAN and many WAN situations.

Over time, these two standards will grow closer together in functionality, and solutions based on each will grow closer in cost. The main point is that building desktop conferencing capability into your organization is not as simple as ordering and connecting telephones. If your only interest is linking your local users to two or more company sites, compatibility between vendors probably won't be a consideration, and you're likely to select a single-vendor solution. If vendor-to-vendor compatibility is a concern, shop for H.320-compatible systems, particularly if you need to tie into a corporate conferencing system that supports the standard.

If you're interested in desktop conferencing with the rest of the world, you'll have to be patient. Although the standards are in place to make on-demand conferencing possible, the market is simply too new and fragmented to make communication between disparate systems a reality. Look for this type of plug-and-play compatibility to arrive two to three years down the road.

The Hardware and Software Hunt

The number of vendors throwing their hats into the desktop conferencing ring has grown geometrically in the past year. Some vendors are focusing on the videoconferencing market, providing solutions that enable videoconferencing without the benefits of document collaboration. Other vendors provide integrated solutions that encompass videoconferencing, whiteboard capability, document collaboration and other groupware applications. Some products are hardware and software combinations, but many groupware products are software-only solutions.

Regardless of which vendors and products you ultimately choose, start your hunt for the right desktop conferencing products by defining how the technology can fit into your business. By itself, videoconferencing might be useful to your organization, but the addition of document collaboration and other forms of groupware probably offers more productivity improvements. In particular, take a close look at how the people in your organization interact, and look for ways to employ groupware applications to improve the process and to add new means of interaction. And ask around: See what other organizations are doing to get ideas on how to implement a system and avoid the problems and pitfalls they may have encountered.

Jim Boyce, a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine, is the author of Understanding Visual Basic, Keeping Your PC Alive and numerous other books. Contact Jim care of the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Hooking Up

The possibilities for connecting your systems for desktop conferencing are plentiful--almost as numerous as the applications that use those connections. This brief list of terms should help you understand those options.

•	ATM. Asynchronous Transfer Mode is an offshoot of ISDN that offers faster transfer rates. ATM is less commonplace than ISDN, although functionally equivalent (except for its faster speed). Look for the development of ATM-specific products to grow over the next few years.

•	ISDN. The Integrated Services Digital Network is the most common choice for high-speed desktop conferencing connections. ISDN is a switched digital phone service providing two 64Kbps lines per connection. It's similar to standard phone service (POTS), but is digital rather than analog and much faster. ISDN enables you to call anywhere there is ISDN service. Because of its widespread use, ISDN will continue to be the medium of choice for high-speed data connections, but ATM could supplant it over the next few years.

•	Leased line. Similar to T1 connections, leased-line service provides point-to-point connection between two sites, with the same site-to-site restrictions. And like both ISDN and T1 services, leased-line services provide fast transfer rates (such as 64Kbps).

•	POTS. This catchy acronym stands for Plain Old Telephone Service. While the term was obviously not created by a crack marketing team, it's right on target: It literally refers to the plain old telephone service that feeds into your home and provides service to the vast majority of phone subscribers.

•	T1 and Fractional T1. The term T1 refers to a service package consisting of 24 point-to-point 64Kbps lines. Fractional T1 refers to similar service packages that provide the same functionality but at lower (fractional) transfer speeds, such as 256bps. The point-to-point nature of T1 connections limits their use to connecting fixed sites. --JB


Shopper's Guide to Desktop Conferencing

The following is a partial listing of vendors offering desktop conferencing products.

ABL Canada: InterDesk videoconferencing, whiteboard and document collaboration over Switched 56, ISDN and T1.

$4,995. 514-344-5432, fax 514-344-5439

AT&T Global Information Solutions: Vistium Personal Video 1200 with document collaboration.

From $2,700. 800-225-5627, 513-445-5000

Creative Labs: ShareVision PC300 and ShareVision PC3000 videoconferencing, whiteboard and document collaboration.

$749 and $1,599. 800-998-LABS, 408-428-6600

Crosswise Corp.: Face to Face concurrent voice/data document annotation.

$179. 800-747-9060, 408-459-9060

Dolch Computer Systems: TelePac portable teleconferencing PC incorporating video camera and 1.7 million-color display.

Monochrome, from $4,500. 800-538-7506, 408-957-6575

Fujitsu Network Industries: DeskTop Conferencing (DTC) including remote support applications.

$79 to $129 per user. 800-446-4736, 203-326-2700

Future Labs: TalkShow multipoint whiteboard software for document viewing and annotation.

$199. 800-933-8887, 415-254-9000

IBM Corp.: Person to Person conferencing software.

$280. 800-426-9402 ext. 2, 404-238-1282

InSoft: Communique integrated videoconferencing and document collaboration solutions for the PC and UNIX environments operating over Ethernet and a wide range of digital

connections.

From $1,995. 717-730-9501, info@insoft.com

Intel: ProShare personal conferencing software.

$2,499. 800-538-3373, 503-629-7354

InVision Systems Corp.: InVision videoconferencing software.

$595. 703-506-0094, fax 703-506-0098

LiveWorks (a Xerox company): LiveBoard 67-inch whiteboard and document conferencing system to as many as 31 different, concurrent sites. Includes MeetingBoard software for document sharing and annotation.

$34,900. 800-200-1167, 408-324-2200

Mentec: VS-1000 videoconferencing product operates across Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, ATM, Switched 56, ISDN and T1.

$5,500 to $8,500. 800-338-2585, 508-970-3600

Northern Telecom: Visit Video desktop multimedia conferencing system on switch 56 and ISDN.

From $2,649. 800-NORTHERN, 214-684-1000

PictureTel Corp.: PictureTel Live PCS 100 system with videoconferencing and limited document sharing.

$5,995. 800-716-6000, 508-762-5000

Smart Technologies: Smart 2000 Desktop Conferencing Software whiteboard

software for presentation and annotation.

$295. 403-245-0333, fax 403-245-0366

Sony: PCS-V2 and PCS-V4 cameras for desktop conferencing.

Starting from under $1,000. 800-472-7669

Target Technologies: C-Phone videophone hardware and software operating across LAN and phone connections.

$1,995. 800-666-2496, 910-395-6100

Toshiba: IK27MA cameras for videoconferencing.

$399. 800-253-5429 ext. 212, 708-541-9400

Trax Softworks: TeamTalk document conferencing software.

Five-user license, $395. 800-367-8729,

310-649-5800, info@traxsoft.com

Video Conferencing Communications: TeleView personal videoconferencing subsystems (analog and digital versions).

$3,995 to $10,000. 800-2-VIDEO-4, 714-452-0800

Vis-A-Vis: Vis-A-Vis for Windows, a multipoint conferencing system for document viewing and collaboration; motion video optional.

From $195. 800-263-9673, 416-350-1880

Workstation Technologies: Color Analog Video Conferencing System, an analog desktop videoconferencing system operating over the standard phone line and ISDN.

$3,000 estimated. 714-250-8983, fax 714-250-8969


The Key that Unlocks UNIX

Unix

The Language of X

X Gets GUI

Where to Get X


Unix

It's a lot easier than you think to get those UNIX apps running on your Windows desktop.-

By: Gary Bean

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

There's a UNIX terminal sitting on your desk--right now. Did you say the only system you see is your PC? That's the very UNIX terminal we're talking about. All you need is an X Windows server and a network connection, and you're ready to run the UNIX applications you could never access before--right there on your Windows system.

If you belong to an organization that has many heterogeneous operating systems in place, your company may also have a large investment in legacy systems--mainframe and minicomputer systems or PCs running older operating systems like UNIX. One department might use Windows for data analysis and another might use UNIX for billing and accounting. With such a morass of systems, it can be difficult enough to transfer data from a Windows application to a UNIX workstation in another department. But life gets even more complicated if you want to access and run applications that are written for UNIX.

One option is to implement a telnet session (a terminal emulation protocol developed for TCP/IP) and then run a character-based application. If you need to run an application from a mainframe, there are some excellent tools that will emulate terminals connected to those hosts. However, if you want to run a graphical X application from your UNIX environment, what you need is an X Windows server.

We're going to take a look at the X Windows architecture, and we'll show you how you can use your Windows PC to run graphical X applications written for UNIX workstations. We've also got a roundup of nine X server products that can help you unleash the power of X.

The X Window System

The X Window System was designed to take advantage of multiprocess operating systems like UNIX and distributed computing environments with lots of network servers. In other words, X allows you to run applications at your desktop using processing power that is based elsewhere on your network.

X itself uses a client/server architecture, but one that appears to be the opposite of the usual arrangement of local client and remote server. X servers are always local to you, running on your own desktop machine. X clients, or the applications you're running, are usually (but not necessarily) remote.

Think of X as a variation of the remote control software that's used for Windows applications. With remote control software, the actual applications that you are running exist on the remote system to which you are connected. Your local system runs a session manager that provides the link to the remote system, captures keyboard and mouse input, and displays the output generated by the remote host.

Figure 1 demonstrates how an application that is located on another system acts as a client to the X server that runs locally on your system. Computer B is running X application B, and Computer C is running X application C. Both of these applications are clients to Computer A, which is running the X server. Computer A is also running X application A, and it could act to provide application A to other workstations on the network.

The X server runs as a local process that receives and executes requests from X clients. The actual X clients have no code that draws on your screen or captures clicks and keystrokes. That is the job of the X server, which is in control of your keyboard, mouse and screen, or at least a portion of your screen.

In that way, X is similar to Windows. Windows applications all use the same tools to capture user input and display the results. However, X differs from Windows when it comes to GUI (graphical user interface) tools. Windows uses a unified graphical user interface with a specific look and feel. If you are running a Windows application, it uses GUI components that look and feel like components of any other Windows application.

The X Window System, on the other hand, has a layered software architecture that allows for a wide variety of possible GUI implementations running under the same system. There are three libraries of API functions commonly used in writing X-based applications: the Xlib library, the Xt library and a widget library. The Xlib library contains functions that send and receive messages for the application to and from the X server. The Xt library provides the framework to define GUI components like push buttons and scroll bars, called "widgets.'' Widgets display information, accept user input and interactions, and call back-end subroutines when appropriate. These are themselves combined into widget libraries.

The Xlib and Xt layers do not have much to do with GUI look and feel, which is implemented at the widget level. The best-known widget sets include the original, academic-strength Athena widget set, Sun's proprietary Open Look widgets, and Open Software Foundation's Motif widget set.

Another architectural difference between X and Windows comes into play here. While the user interactions that shuffle, move and resize application windows are handled directly by Windows, those functions are handled indirectly in X by window managers (see X Gets GUI). Running as an X client of the X server, a window manager is given control of the window for each of the other X clients. While each application controls the contents of its window, functions like the location, size and stacking order of that window are the responsibility of the window manager. OSF/Motif is the widget set in widest use, and it usually comes with the Motif Window Manager. But any X-based application should run with almost any X window manager.

X on Your Windows Desktop

In traditional UNIX networks, X servers run on workstations specifically designed to run X clients. In the Microsoft Windows environment, you can take advantage of the X Window System by using specialized applications that turn your PC into an X server workstation.

Windows-based X server packages give you two options for displaying X client applications on your desktop. You can either display each X client application as a separate window or you can display all of the X client windows inside one big window. The window manager is used to manage these "subwindows.''

In either case, the X client applications (and some X standard utilities and binaries) will be running on a UNIX machine to which you can connect. Since X deals with fonts in a special way, you might also use a separate X font server on the UNIX machine. The font server will supply X fonts to all the PCs running X on the network. Otherwise, you can keep a copy of the X fonts on every PC (which uses up local disk space), or choose an X server package that can convert the fonts available in Windows to the X font format.

X-based applications are often delivered as two files: an executable binary and an ASCII customization file (similar to a Microsoft Windows .INI file) that specifies things like colors, fonts and the labels on buttons. By changing these ASCII "resource'' files, you can switch all the labels to a different language or switch fonts to those that are available on your desktop machine.

While resource files usually reside on the machine that runs the X client binaries, most X server packages allow you to store and maintain them on your desktop system under Microsoft Windows.

The following roundup of nine X servers should give you an idea of the features typically available in these products.

Gary Bean, a columnist for Open Systems Today, is the author of Bean's Index to OSF/Motif for Application Programmers. You can reach him care of the Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder of the WinMag message exchange on America Online


X Gets GUI

By: David Fiedler

You probably don't realize it, but you're spoiled. You're used to the bells and whistles of a graphical user interface, and you don't think twice about double-clicking on a button to close an application, or clicking and dragging to scroll through a window's contents.

When you're working in X Windows, it's the window manager that provides all the graphical amenities you're used to in Microsoft Windows. The window manager adds elements like title bars, minimize and maximize buttons, and slider bars to the otherwise plain X window. It also makes it easier for you to manage multiple X windows.

The X server gets the window manager from one of two places--it automatically picks up whatever window manager is running on the remote UNIX system you've tapped into, or it uses a local window manager that essentially depends on Microsoft Windows itself to manage the X application windows.

Our sample, which ran both X and Microsoft Windows simultaneously, demonstrates just how similar the two can be with a little help from a window manager. To get started, we double-clicked on an icon from within Microsoft Windows to launch xterm, a terminal emulation program that ships with X. Depending on your X server, you may then be prompted to specify the machine you want to connect to (or the name may already be built into the icon). You also may have to log in to the remote machine with your password (or the log-in sequence may be performed by the server).

Once we connected to the remote machine, which was a 486-based SCO UNIX server, an xterm window opened. A window manager was not initially running, so the xterm window had none of the graphical elements typical of Microsoft Windows. We then launched our UNIX application, a cursor utility called xeyes, from within the xterm window, by typing the following command:

xeyes -display mypc:0 &

Clients like xeyes can run locally or remotely. In this example, xeyes executed on a remote machine. In most cases, starting up an X client application also launches a remote window manager like OSF Motif. When we began running xeyes, the window manager launched as well.

Once OSF Motif started up, the xterm window took on the appearance it has in our sample. The movable window (1) contains features common to a graphical user interface, such as menu buttons, title bars, scroll bars, and minimize and maximize buttons (2). The window now has a title bar that reads "infopro'' (3), which is the name of the remote computer Motif is running on.

Peaceful coexistence of X Windows and Microsoft Windows is entirely possible. Copying text from the UNIX machine to your PC, for example, is a simple task. We selected the text displayed in the xterm window and copied it to Windows' Clipboard. Then we opened Notepad, and pasted the text in (4).

Although xeyes (5) has no formal border, you can size the window because your window manager is running.

If you don't want to lose all the conveniences of a GUI just because you have to work with UNIX applications, you have nothing to worry about. With the help of OSF Motif and your X server, you can manage and work in multiple windows with ease.


The Language of X

By: :Ellen L. Dendy

Clients: The application programs, which are separate from the server. The client can be run locally or remotely, but it looks and acts the same in either situation. Clients perform three functions: They provide code necessary to support X Windows; they feature a graphical user interface; and they function as task-specific software, for example, allowing a user to create a database or process forms. Many clients can run simultaneously on one display, each in its own window. A client also has the ability to connect to more than one display. For example, a single payroll application can display on multiple workstations.

Communications link: Required for the client and server to communicate with each other. The link can be a local or wide area network. The various link types include interprocess communications such as UNIX sockets, shared memory, named pipes and streams; network types such as Ethernet, token ring, X.25 and serial lines; and network protocols such as TCP/IP, DECnet and OSI.

Event: Sent from the server to the client, an event informs the client of keyboard or mouse input, or of changes to windows on the screen.

Request: Sent from the client to the server, requests contain information about changes in the size and location of windows, and how text or graphics should appear in windows.

Server: Software that controls the user's display. The server is run locally (it resides on the user's workstation), and it, or the operating system, has device drivers for the keyboard, mouse and screen. The terms server and display are often used interchangeably.

User interface: The graphical elements of an X application--such as menus and scroll bars--are not part of the server, but are actually provided by each X application. As a result, a variety of graphical user interfaces is available. Motif and Open Look are the most widely used X-based GUIs. The user interface in X Windows has two components:

•	Application interface: Refers to the general look of an application. This component is part of the application itself, and cannot be changed without recompiling. Because the application interface is part of the application, programs with different interfaces can run on the same server.

•	Management interface: Refers to the window manager portion of the user interface.

Window manager: A client program that defines how your screen desktop is managed--how windows are moved, minimized, maximized and closed, for example. Different window managers, such as Motif and Open Look, have different management interfaces. Because window managers are client programs separate from the server, you can switch from one window manager to another without changing any other part of your application.

THE KEY THAT UNLOCKS UNIX

Turn Your PC Into an X Terminal-

By: David Fiedler

With increasing competition in the market for X servers for Windows, vendors are adding advanced features that improve interoperability and performance, making the products more appealing. It takes only a modest software investment to turn the PCs in your office into UNIX workstations. Entry-level X servers for Windows start as low as $295. Among the improved features are support for font servers, local window managers, support of multiple TCP/IP packages, cut-and-paste of text or graphics between Windows and X Window applications, integration of Windows and X icons, telnet capability, and on-line, context-sensitive help.

Hummingbird eXceed/W 3.3.3g

Hummingbird's eXceed/W is straightforward to install: Simply run the setup program and change disks when requested. EXceed installs 10 icons into its own Program Group.

The product is eminently configurable and reconfigurable. There's an X/config icon for configuring the server, with another 10 or so icons that open dialog boxes of their own. Additional dialog boxes exist for configuring server start-up and icons for clients on other hosts. A server menu option lets you change settings for performance, multiple windows and miscellaneous X functions (some of which are duplicated in the X/config program). Unfortunately, there is no way to set many of these functions except from this server menu option, so it's relatively easy to forget how you get to it. An improvement here would aid usability. Other handy setup features are a ShowKey program that shows you code numbers for any key pressed on the keyboard (for reconfiguration) and a great X packet disassembler for detailed diagnostics.

Although eXceed has a fast and full-featured server, its system requirements are minimal: It could even run on a 286 PC with 2MB of RAM, monochrome graphics and Windows 3.0.

For extras, eXceed/W comes with a bare-bones, line-oriented file-transfer protocol (FTP) interface, a decent telnet with terminal emulator, and a menu generator called Launch Pad. The program is now available in version 4.0.

AGE Logic XoftWare/32 for Windows 3.0

AGE Logic, which has licensed its technology to both JSB and WRQ, has the fastest X server tested.

The setup program for XoftWare allows you to interactively specify which packages to install. Unfortunately, it didn't say a word about the effect that loading these packages would have on disk space. It did, however, automatically detect Winsock. It also warned that it would be modifying the AUTOEXEC.BAT and VSL.INI files (and even backed them up first) and that a reboot of the machine would be required. When I examined the system in detail, however, I found that literally none of this was necessary. Nothing in the files needed to be changed, so XoftWare left the files alone.

XoftWare comes with a single, excellent spiral-bound manual, the Installation and User Guide. Copious step-by-step instructions, examples and screenshots will make you an XoftWare expert before you so much as click your first mouse button. There are also plenty of explanations of error messages to aid in troubleshooting.

One of XoftWare's strengths is its font capabilities. The font viewer interactively displays what the fonts look like. You can browse through font directories, convert fonts and store them directly into your chosen directory.

There's also a telnet program, a local print facility and an X protocol tracer with extensive filtering capabilities.

XoftWare performed admirably under all test conditions, and client start-up and icon generation were simple.

WRQ Reflection X 4.1

WRQ is the new kid on the X server block. Although a leader in connectivity technology, WRQ got into the X server business last year after licensing AGE's server technology. WRQ is clearly not simply dropping in the AGE product and adding value, however; Reflection X is a product that can be judged on its own merits.

Setting up clients and hosts is very intuitive. If there are any errors when Reflection X tries to start up a client program, the error messages are shown in a box, so you don't have to search for a log file. Options for advanced configuration are not immediately visible in the initial client setup box, and the bottom of the box drops down to provide you with further configuration options if so desired. Changing the defaults in the X server is done from an intuitive icon-enabled display.

The FTP client is absolutely stunning. Your e-mail address is entered just once, and then for an anonymous FTP connection, you simply click on a box. The proper log-in information and e-mail address are automatically sent. For a regular FTP connection, your previously input log-in name and password are used.

All file transfer is by drag-and-drop, like Windows' File Manager, and you can set an option to have all transfers done in binary mode, so you won't realize halfway through a 500KB .ZIP file that you'll have to do it all over again. My only complaint is that the default directory dialog box on the FTP server side is much too small; it was only usable when I maximized the FTP window.

While Reflection X doesn't have all the extra bells and whistles of some of the other offerings, the excellent X server implementation and the superior FTP program make Reflection X a fine package.

JSB MultiView/X 3.0

JSB has also licensed AGE Logic's X server code, and the result is a product that is almost, but not quite, totally unlike AGE's XoftWare/32. JSB's claim to fame is a desktop metaphor, plus a few extra features that allow more and better connectivity to different host systems.

Installing MultiView/X is a snap, thanks to detailed setup menus along with exhaustive examples and hints in the Getting Started manual. Installation takes you through loading the server, and even making your first remote connection with what JSB calls an expert system to automate log-ins. Expert or not, it seemed to know what to do, even ignoring error messages from one host. You save the log-in procedure to a file so future log-in attempts just require a click or two of the mouse.

JSB's desktop isn't object-oriented with drag-and-drop, but it resembles Windows' Program Manager enough to make Windows users comfortable. What it does do is allow DDE connections between remote and local applications, so that you can update a Windows application automatically as data changes on the host. JSB also supplies a file-transfer application, which is invisibly handled by either FTP or a serial connection. It's dialog box oriented, but easy enough to use, and provides check boxes for choosing text or binary transfers.

Many of the X servers tested include support for remote printing via Berkeley-style LPD and PC-NFS protocols. Some even include local print servers, so you can print host-based information on your attached Windows printer. MultiView/X goes a bit further with a scheme that allows arbitrary commands to be run remotely against print output files. The result is that formatted print files can be printed or even mailed from a host automatically. This supports hosts that don't use LPD or PC-NFS.

NCD PC-Xware 1.03

Network Computing Devices (NCD), a major vendor of X terminals, has essentially ported the X server environment from its terminals to Windows. NCD has a great deal of experience with X and UNIX, plus a large installed base, and those advantages carry over in certain ways. For instance, NCD has its own local window manager that looks like Motif. If your installation already uses NCD X terminals, standardizing on this window manager can make user training more consistent.

Unlike some of the other servers, NCD's setup utility doesn't display how much space would be needed if you installed different permutations of the software (for example, extra font libraries). You do get a choice of which fonts will be installed.

It's clear that NCD knows the corporate market for X when it comes to configuration. Many detailed setup parameters can be set through a menu, but an administrator can prevent users from screwing up their system by requiring a password for access to the setup menu. The administrator can also modify settings remotely and can even set up canned configuration files that are downloaded from a file server when PC-Xware starts up. This would make it easy for an administrator to propagate a change over a network of PC-X servers.

Reaching the settings is a bit more inconvenient than on some of the other servers, however. On the other hand, client start-up was easier. NCD has since released version 2.0.

White Pine eXodus 5.0

The recently announced merger of White Pine and Grafpoint follows the year-old merger of White Pine and Visual Technology. It is already the market leader in Macintosh X servers, plus it sells X servers for NeXT, DOS and the Power Macintosh, and also has a following in the terminal emulator market. However, eXodus for Windows is essentially a simple repackaging of XVision at this time.

Predictably, eXodus uses the same intelligent setup program as Visionware's XVision, which provides a running total of how much disk space you'll use, and even finds your node name and host file information, if a transport is already installed. It also shares the same server optimization routines as XVision.

Version 5.5 of eXodus incorporates the best features of Grafpoint's X-One, which White Pine will discontinue.

NetManage Chameleon/X 4.0

NetManage is known primarily for developing TCP/IP and NFS implementations for Windows and Windows NT (to which it has given lizard and amphibian names). Chameleon/X is a combination of NetManage's full NFS package with an X server, called Xsession. NetManage licensed this server from NCD with the result that Xsession is essentially the PC-Xware server.

Chameleon/X installs its own TCP/IP stack (called Newt), without questioning whether you might want to keep your current TCP/IP implementation. It also doesn't ask which of the myriad NetManage products you want to install, or even which font libraries, for that matter. The good news is that the often confusing subnet mask setting could be set graphically by clicking on an LED-like segment display.

The Newt transport and NFS add up to an integrated, full-featured package to accompany the X server. Chameleon has both drag-and-drop (FTP) and an FTP server. Similarly, you get both an NFS server and an NFS client, so that other machines can remotely mount your PC disks. The NFS client worked well, integrating seamlessly into Windows through File Manager, and mapping long filenames on the SCO UNIX file server to DOS-legal ones.

The full package includes a Gopher client and an NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) news reader. You can drag and drop files from File Manager for message attachments. The package also has an LPD printer interface, IBM 3270/5250 emulation and a mail program for use with IBM PROFS.

DEC eXcursion 1.2

Digital Equipment Corp. has been involved with X for a long time, as it was one of the original corporate sponsors of the original X project at MIT. X doesn't always imply TCP/IP, and many of the vendors covered here do support DECnet protocols and start-up methods for using X on VMS.

It's very easy to change the network transport on eXcursion; there's even a separate icon for it. Just select a new one from a scrollable list.

People using X terminals are used to seeing glowing LEDs reassuring them that the network is up. EXcursion emulates this "all's well'' reassurance on the bottom of its control panel window. For the easily bored, the Maestro option provides audio confirmation of network activity via tones. Mercifully, both of these features can be turned off.

Letting Microsoft Windows manage your X clients as well as Windows programs means that it's easy to forget which apps are local and which are remote. EXcursion has a unique and handy feature that puts an "X'' in the top left of the Windows border of an X client to distinguish it from a Windows program.

The eXcursion server's control panel manages to compress a great deal of useful information into a few logical icons. Client start-up and definition are very simple, although some of the radio buttons in this dialog box work in ways that are not immediately obvious. You will quickly get used to it, however, and you'll appreciate that a number of Sun and Digital applications are predefined. All you need to do is associate an application with a host.

Visionware XVision 5 5.0

As the first vendor of PC-X servers, Visionware can well claim to know the market. Indeed, there is little that could be considered missing from XVision 5.

XVision was obviously designed with the real world in mind. The setup program during custom installation displays the space needed for each optional feature, allowing you to choose features within your space constraints.

It can detect the current network and configures itself based on your connected hosts, then sets up generic X client applications, such as xterm and xclock, on its integral desktop.

XVision also runs its own benchmarks to configure itself for the highest possible performance on your system. This assures you that you're getting the most out of the software, and you don't have to worry about obscure menu options.

While XVision is an excellent server on its own, a distinguishing feature is the XVision Workplace, which gives you an entire desktop, not unlike Windows' Program Manager. By default, Desktop is launched from an icon under Program Manager. Once inside Desktop, you can then access any X-, Windows- or terminal-emulator-based application from its own icon. There's even an icon for Program Manager. You can easily configure Desktop to replace Program Manager, if you find you like it better. VisionWare's desktop metaphor is a good one, although if you use it extensively with many hosts and applications, you may find yourself wanting a larger monitor.

The Windows X-server technology has matured sufficiently to where X server products can be chosen based on their extra features, ease of installation, the deals you can negotiate with vendors and the level of support you need. As is always the case in the world of client/server technology, your best bet is keeping your users in mind and keeping things open for the future. Luckily, prospective buyers of Windows-based X servers have many excellent choices.

David Fiedler is a technical editor for Open Systems Today.


Where to Get X

Many of these products have been upgraded since being reviewed. The new versions are listed here.

Chameleon/X 4.0

$695 (TCP/IP only) +$95 for NFS

NetManage

408-973-7171, fax 408-257-6405

eXceed/W 4.0

$545

Hummingbird Communications

905-470-1203, fax 905-470-1207

eXcursion 1.2

$395; 10 pack, $2,475

Digital Equipment Corp.

800-DIGITAL ext. 2, 603-884-6660

eXodus 5.1

$495 (Version 5.5, $395)

White Pine Software

800-241-7463, 603-886-9050

MultiView/X 3.0.1

$495

JSB Corp.

800-359-3408, 408-438-8300

PC-Xware 2.0

$545 (+$190 with NetPack)

$275 (XRemote only)

Network Computing Devices

800-729-9273, 503-641-2200

Reflection X 4.1

$469; (Reflection X) as part of Connectivity Suite, $599

Walker Richer & Quinn

800-872-2829, 206-217-7100

XoftWare/32 for Windows 3.0

$395 (+$100 for Novell option)

AGE Logic

619-455-8600, fax 619-597-6030

XVision 5 5.0

$495 (+$100 with TCP/IP),

$245 (Remote only)

Visionware

800-949-8474, 415-325-2113


Get the Lay of the LAN

- Ready, set, get networked! If you aren't on a LAN yet, odds are you will be soon. Here's what you need to know about basic networking concepts and hardware.

LANs

Using LANtastic With Windows

Connecting Windows to NetWare-

Network Administration Tips


LANs

By: John D. Ruley, Editor-At-Large

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Whether you're in a large office with hundreds of computers, in a small office with just a few PCs, or at home with a desktop system and a portable, you need to know about networking. Why? Because you're probably networked, and if you're not, you will be soon.

There's a very good reason for that. Networking is quite simply the best way to share your data. It used to be too complicated and too costly for many of us, who resorted to moving information on diskettes (a system often called sneakernet) or using phone lines and specialized file-transfer programs. But that's no longer necessary. Thanks to Windows for Workgroups, most PCs now have basic networking functionality built in.

In this first part of a four-part series, we'll explore the most basic components of a network: the hardware and software used to connect computers. Next month, we'll look at ways to expand networking beyond the local office via electronic mail, remote access and wide-area networking connections. The third installment will examine group productivity software--scheduling, whiteboard conferencing and Lotus Notes. Finally, our last segment will look at the critical technology for running an entire business on a network--client/server databases. Along the way, we will also look at a wide range of network-related hardware.

Let's start with a look at just what a network is and how to get the most from it.

Local Area Networks

In the most general sense, any method that connects two or more computers to share resources, such as files and printers, may be thought of as a network. Commercial information services like CompuServe and America Online maintain networks that users all over the world can dial up to access and share data.

A LAN (local area network) is a specific type of network connecting systems in close physical proximity, typically in a workgroup or department. These computers and other equipment are joined together through a common communications medium--most often a wire or cable, although there are also wireless LANs connected by infrared or radio links.

The most common physical networking protocol for small networks is Ethernet. There are two wiring methods--or topologies--for connecting Ethernet workstations: 10Base2, the specification for Ethernet over coaxial cable; and 10BaseT, the spec for Ethernet over unshielded twisted-pair wiring. In a 10Base2 network, the nodes connect in a daisy chain through T-connectors. This requires minimal wiring, but a fault in the cable or one of the nodes affects all nodes in the chain. In a 10BaseT network, nodes are connected to a concentrator or hub. This prevents a fault on one cable or node from affecting the rest of the network.

All the devices on a LAN can communicate directly with one another. A WAN (wide area network) is a network of separate LANs. Devices within the WAN that are not on the same physical LAN must use special hardware to communicate with each other.

LANs provide a powerful capability: They enable you to transparently share resources (typically disk directories and printers, and sometimes modems and fax boards) that are not on your workstation. Once you are connected to these resources, you can use them as if they were your own. The fact that many network users have access to a shared resource makes it easy to share information on the LAN without having to learn a new way of accessing it.

For instance, there is no need for a specialized file-transfer program. You simply copy the file from your local hard disk to a network disk using File Manager or the DOS COPY command. Similarly, you don't have to do anything special to use a network printer. You just print to it directly from whatever application you are using. You can also use special network-based programs that use the LAN to transport data, such as electronic mail, scheduling programs, groupware and client/server database applications. But one of the most compelling advantages of a LAN is the easy access it gives you to network resources.

Under the Hood

Of course, there's a lot more happening behind the scenes than may be apparent to a workstation user. Connecting to these network resources requires some hardware and a set of software components.

The hardware, a NIC ( network interface card), electrically connects your workstation to the LAN. This plugs into an empty expansion slot on a desktop computer, and into the parallel port (or a PCMCIA slot) on a notebook. The software falls into three general categories: software that understands the NIC, software that understands the rules (or protocol) for talking to the network, and software that understands the operating systems involved in your network.

The NIC software component can be one or several small programs. It is responsible for making an interface between the NIC and the protocol stack. The protocol stack is the component that understands the rules for moving data on your network and interfaces the NIC to the shell. The shell--or network client--understands the needs of the operating systems on your network and makes translations between them. It is responsible for redirecting requests to and from network resources.

The operating system on your workstation is not the only operating system on your network. Your file server also runs a specialized operating system, called a NOS (network operating system). When you ask PC users what sort of network they're running, they most often reply by naming the NOS they're using, such as NetWare. However, the subject can be more complicated than that. If you run Windows for Workgroups and communicate with a NetWare server, you are running two network operating systems, because Windows for Workgroups is also a NOS.

Peer-to-Peer LANs

Networks come in two basic flavors: peer-to-peer and server-based. A peer-to-peer LAN is called that because all workstations on the network are peers. Any workstation can act as a client to, or server for, other workstations on the network. This contrasts with a server-based LAN, in which all the client machines interact with a central network server.

Peer-to-peer LANs are generally easy to set up and don't require that you set aside a dedicated computer to function as a network server. On the other hand, they tend to offer a lower level of functionality than server-based LANs. In particular, network security on peer-to-peer LANs tends to be problematic, since each user controls access to his or her own system. Also, peer-to-peer LANs are not scalable. They rapidly become unmanageable as their size increases.

Still, a simple peer-to-peer LAN may be just the ticket if all you need to do is connect a few machines. Windows for Workgroups is Windows with peer-to-peer LAN functionality built in. Windows NT Workstation includes similar peer-to-peer networking functionality. Another popular peer-to-peer NOS is Artisoft's LANtastic. This blurs the line between peer-to-peer and server-based LANs by offering the option to dedicate systems as servers. Novell offers a peer-to-peer product called Personal NetWare. Other NOSs are listed in the table on the previous page.

Server-Based LANs

Peer-to-peer LANs are fine for small-scale networks and ideal for connecting just a few machines for ad hoc file and printer sharing. But there is no central administration of the shared resources. There may be resources that only certain people should have access to, and you may need to control the use of certain resources. For instance, it's possible to run multiple copies of an application over a network, but that would violate the application's license agreement. It may also be necessary to centralize particular resources--to pool access to printers and modems, for example.

When you need these features, it's time to look at server-based LANs. These are built around one or more server computers that provide access to centralized resources. Servers mediate all access from desktop computers on the net. A computer used as a server should be as redundant and fault-tolerant as possible to provide for the highest level of reliability.

The server's software provides centralized administration and security, controlling access to shared resources through configurable user accounts. A network administrator manages these accounts, determining what a user can see and do once logged into a network. Server-based LANs are generally more complex to set up than peer-to-peer, but they are more powerful, offer additional functionality, and provide scalability, supporting even large installations.

The most popular server-based LAN software is Novell NetWare, which is used by an estimated 70 percent of PC-based LANs. (See Connecting Windows to NetWare.) Other popular NOSs include Banyan Vines, IBM's OS/2-based LAN Server, DEC's VAX-based (and now Windows NT-based) Pathworks. Microsoft's server-based NOS is Windows NT Server (formerly called Windows NT Advanced Server).

Other Networks

There are other kinds of networks. Those built around mainframe and minicomputer systems often provide capabilities similar to those of a LAN, but with some important differences. For example, IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA) networks use protocols that aren't generally used on LANs, and SNA is often used for remote database access. Another type of network substitutes Ethernet cabling for the hardwired connections between "dumb'' terminals and minicomputer or mainframe hosts.

These are the basics about peer-to-peer and server-based NOSs and networking concepts. Next month, we'll explore some popular network applications, including e-mail and remote access. Regardless of the type of network you use, you're bound to use one. The ability to share files, printers, databases, faxes and modems over a network is too useful to ignore.


Using LANtastic With Windows

By: Hillary Rettig

LANtastic, Artisoft's peer-to-peer network, generally works smoothly with Windows, but you may encounter some problems.

Sometimes the server or workstation freezes after you add LANtastic to an existing Windows installation. The problem may be that the installation is not complete: Novice users sometimes forget that you have to install the NOS and rerun Windows Setup.

Rerunning Setup rewrites SYSTEM.INI with parameters optimized for LANtastic network operation. (See Artisoft's technical support bulletin WIN31.TXT for details.) If you install LANtastic first and have it running when you install Windows, Windows will automatically configure itself to work with LANtastic.

As with other NOSs, setting up Windows printers under LANtastic can be complex. The process, which is documented in WIN31.TXT, requires you to establish redirections and other parameters under Windows' Control Panel. Don't forget to increase the value of the NET LPT TIMEOUT command in STARTNET.BAT to 40 to ensure that long print jobs aren't interrupted. If printing is slow, change the Chars/Sec setting in NET_MGR's Shared Resource Management submenu to 10,000. (Unfortunately, LANtastic's RPD printer-sharing utility remains incompatible with Windows.)

Windows for Workgroups

More and more users are installing LANtastic on top of Windows for Workgroups, which now ships with many PCs. Be sure you remove all WFWG references in AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (don't forget the obscurely named DEVICE=IFSHLP.SYS), and also rename or remove the NET.EXE file in your WINDOWS directory so you don't accidentally invoke that program in place of LANtastic's NET.EXE. Also, don't forget to select LANtastic as your network in the Network Setup program in the Network group.

If you're running Windows and LANtastic, you have a decision to make: whether to use DOS SHARE or Artisoft's internal SHARE. Artisoft SHARE, which runs automatically if DOS SHARE isn't launched, is faster and most users have no problems with it. Whether you go the DOS or Artisoft route, remove Microsoft's VSHARE.386 utility from the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. Running multiple SHAREs can cause server crashes. (VSHARE.386 is automatically added during WFWG, Word, Excel and other installations.)

Other "Gotchas''

•	Don't run two disk caches! The Windows and WFWG installation routines automatically add SMARTDRV.EXE to AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you're already running LANtastic's LANcache, you'll be running both simultaneously the next time you boot up. Few things destroy data faster than running two caches. Be sure to check for, and remove, the second cache.

•	When working on a nondedicated server, don't redirect (NET USE) a drive that is running Windows, since starting Windows can break the network connections to that drive. If you must refer to a Windows drive by another drive letter, use the DOS SUBST command (for instance, SUBST F: C:\).

•	Beware of driver and memory conflicts. There's a conflict between LANtastic's Exchange Mail and the Microsoft Sound System's MSACM.DRV driver. Artisoft suggests using another sound driver, if possible. Keep in mind that Artisoft's 2Mbps network cards and third-party cards that map upper memory require an exclude statement both in the expanded memory emulator line in your CONFIG.SYS and in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. (Artisoft's 10Mbps cards do not map upper RAM.) It's also a good idea, when diagnosing possible memory conflicts, to disable video and other memory shadowing in CMOS. This will slow machine performance, but eliminate a possible source of conflict.

Performance Issues

Performance is an issue with almost any Windows installation, but especially a networked one. LANtastic offers the choice of running Windows either from a dedicated server or on local hardware. (You're probably better off not running a shared copy of Windows from a nondedicated server.) As usual, you'll get more security and ease of administration running off a server, but more speed running locally.

Your best performance enhancer will be an intelligently designed network. If speed is paramount, invest in robust workstations and share only data--not applications--over the network. If you've inherited many substandard workstations, however, it could make sense to invest in a powerful dedicated server and run Windows centrally. Also, don't forget to eliminate screen savers and other doodads that deplete system resources, and to fine-tune shadowing, timing and other settings in CMOS.


Connecting Windows to NetWare-

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Getting Windows to work with NetWare has always been a bit tricky. It requires several types of drivers and supporting files to make Windows and a particular NIC work with NetWare's IPX/SPX protocol stack. In the early days, this was done using a TSR DOS application called IPX.COM, which was notorious for locking up Windows. Things have improved of late. Here's a quick survey of the driver and support program types you're likely to encounter and how to deal with them.

IPX and NETX

Starting with version 2.x of NetWare, the NIC drivers were monolithic--Novell provided the network administrator with the components necessary to link a working IPX.COM driver for a particular network card. The components required to make IPX.COM were IPX.ODI and nic.OBJ (where nic was a particular network interface card--say NE2000.OBJ for an NE2000 NIC). The administrator used a Novell-supplied linker to generate the IPX.COM program. This technique required specifying the hardware resource parameters (IRQ, shared memory and so on) at the time of generation, which was not very flexible.

Windows 3.x used this driver and NETX, the NetWare shell (then called NETn.COM, where n was a DOS version), along with a special NetWare driver (NETWARE.DRV) to connect Windows to resources on the server.

Novell has announced that it no longer supports IPX.COM. If you run into IPX.COM, think about updating to a newer driver.

ODI

Open Data-link Interface (ODI) was Novell's next, modular approach to a driver for Windows. At first, ODI was used only by those who needed access to multiple protocol stacks--usually TCP/IP as the second stack, and usually to run Novell's IP suite: LAN Workplace for DOS. ODI is a modular driver scheme similar to the Microsoft-championed Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS). It uses three components to replace the functionality of IPX.COM:

•	LSL.COM (the Link Support Layer, which provides translation between the NIC driver and the protocol stack)

•	nicMLID.COM (the Media Layer Interface Device that controls the NIC hardware--sometimes called nicODI.COM)

•	and IPXODI.COM (the IPX/SPX protocol stack for communicating with the server).

After these components are loaded, NETX.COM, a universal NetWare shell that replaces the old NETn.COM shells, gets loaded.

Gotchas: There have been several buggy versions of IPXODI.COM, so if you're using ODI drivers it's vitally important to get a copy of WINUP9.EXE. This self-extracting archive contains updates to ODI files as well as Windows drivers. If you're running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and wish to connect to NetWare, this file is required, since the Windows NetWare drivers and .DLLs are no longer shipped with WFWG. (Incidentally, WFWG 3.11 error message 53, "The network responded incorrectly,'' can usually be traced back to a stale MLID. In that case get a newer one from Novell or your NIC vendor.)

The configuration of ODI drivers is controlled by a text file called NET.CFG. This file contains entries describing which protocols should be bound to which boards and any options that might need to be set for a particular configuration. A typical NET.CFG for a single board/protocol installation looks like this: Link Driver EXP16ODI

Frame Ethernet_802.3

Frame Ethernet_II

Frame Ethernet_802.2

Frame Ethernet_SNAP

It has only the Link Driver section and is required for an interesting reason: Novell changed the default frame type in NetWare 4.0 to IEEE 802.2 (in past versions it was IEEE 802.3, the type normally used with Ethernet cards). If you run 802.2 on a NetWare 3.x network, you will not see the server, even though your hardware is working perfectly. Vendors typically provide a NET.CFG that binds all four of the available frame types to the NIC. It's a sledgehammer approach, but it works.

Windows for Workgroups 3.1

When Microsoft released the first version of WFWG, the company decided ODI support was not a requirement. Instead, it provided a shimmed version of the IPXODI protocol stack that allowed Windows to connect to NetWare. A shim is a small piece of code that allows one sort of modular driver system to use components from another. This worked, but with two problems--it was much slower than ODI, and it meant that any site dependent on ODI was out of luck as far as WFWG was concerned.

Microsoft quickly fixed the situation by reversing the roles. Instead of shimming a reverse-engineered version of the IPXODI driver, it provided an NDIS Mapper that allows NDIS drivers to be connected to the ODI system's Link Support Layer (LSL). This is one of the current ways to connect Windows to NetWare. It's shipped with WFWG 3.11. (For information, see the 3.11 System Guide.)

VLMs--the Latest and Greatest

With NetWare Directory Services (NDS) on NetWare 4.0 came VLMs (Virtual Loadable Modules). VLM.EXE is a state-of-the-art replacement for NETX.COM. VLMs are the only way to connect to NetWare 4.0's NDS. They are also capable of talking to a 3.x or 2.x server. NDS replaces the previous version's bindery--a registry of objects that define users and services. (See Networking Windows)

WINUP9.EXE--You Gotta Have It

The network drivers themselves--whether they're IPX.COM or ODI (with or without VLMs)--are only half the picture for connecting NetWare and Windows. Also important are the drivers Windows uses to understand NetWare services like print queues. Prior to WFWG 3.11, the NetWare-specific driver (NETWARE.DRV) and IPX/SPX DLLs were shipped with Windows. When Microsoft shipped Windows for Workgroups 3.11, it lacked NetWare drivers. Confusion arose when users attempted to install this new version on systems with NetWare. They found they couldn't, unless they had certain files not supplied by Microsoft (users who were upgrading already had the files and didn't notice).

The files needed to connect Windows to NetWare are in WINUP9.EXE, which is available for download from NetWare's forum on CompuServe (GO NETWARE) or via anonymous FTP from NOVELL.COM. While it contains quite a few files, only three are absolutely necessary: NETWARE.DRV, NETWARE.HLP and NWGDI.DLL.


Network Administration Tips

By: Arthur H. Germain III, Technical Director, and Mark Frale, Network Administrator

Small peer-to-peer LANs don't require much administration. You just install the NICs and drivers, plug 'em together and go. A serious NOS--such as NetWare, Windows NT, Pathworks or LAN Server--requires more involvement. Here are some time-tested ways to make network administration painless:

1. Decide whether you want to run local or network-based installations or some combination of the two. Each approach has advantages. Local installations provide faster access, are user-controlled, and are generally better for individualized installations and more knowledgeable users. Network-based installations are simple to install, manage and configure. They require less local storage space and make it easier to upgrade users. You can also run a mixed environment, with local installations for your more advanced users and network-based installations for others.

2. Run advanced users from local, rather than networked, Windows installations. They require much more flexibility than a network-based installation provides. Instead, give them their own diskettes and let them set up their own systems. This may take more time at first, but it will reduce frustration among your most advanced users. That could pay off in the long run, because they'll be more likely to support their less knowledgeable colleagues.

3. Create and maintain one separate installation account that you can replicate and customize for new users. This account should also be able to create and install new applications that network users can access.

4. Use standard hardware for networked Windows users. You'll find it easier to troubleshoot problems. This also gives you the flexibility of switching users to another system if they experience a hardware failure on their main system. Users running nonstandard hardware should have their own local installations and disks.

5. Plan for more storage as you add users to the network. Many users tend to store data files on the network even if they have local storage space available. Keep an eye on how much server disk space each user is taking and have a word with those who seem to be keeping copies of everything on the server.

6. Encourage users to keep mission-critical data they can't afford to lose on the network server, where it's easier to back up. Make sure you use a network backup application with a good rotation scheme. (We use Palindrome's Network Archivist at WINDOWS Magazine.)

7. If you're using NetWare, use ODI drivers and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 for easy configuration of your hardware. This allows you to connect to both a NetWare server and Windows for Workgroups, LAN Manager or Windows NT at log-in.

8. Use group membership to control file, printer/peripheral and application access for complex Windows applications that are run from the network.

9. Consider giving advanced users the ability to install and set up applications and customize others for their workgroup. This cuts down on calls to the administrator.

10. Use Windows-based tools for network management. You'll find collecting, charting, storing and sharing information much easier.

11. Keep a log of the problems you experience and a detailed description of how you solved them. The odds are pretty good that the same problem will crop up more than once, and having the log to fall back on will save you time when you need it most. Make sure you keep a copy on your local drive and, better yet, on paper. If the only copy is on the server, you'll be out of luck if the server crashes


How to Buy An Uninterruptible Power Supply

Buying A UPS

When Lightning Strikes


Buying A UPS

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

You can lose priceless data in a flash due to a rogue lightning bolt or even a brownout. What type of uninterruptible power supply is best for safeguarding the system you depend on?

FIRST CHOICES

1. How Much Protection?

You definitely need a surge suppressor for your system (and each of your peripherals). This protects your system from damaging power surges and spikes, but not power dips. If you have a reliable source of power and you back up open documents often, a surge suppressor may suffice.

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is necessary to protect your file server, as well as unattended systems powered around the clock. A UPS protects from power sags, failures and surges. While loss of power on a single desktop system may affect only one user, loss of power on an unprotected server will affect hundreds of users.

UPSes provide battery backup power to your system or server in case of a power failure. The degree of backup varies, depending on the UPS. A UPS may simply provide power until its battery source drains. Or, with software and an interface to your server, it can notify you of a deteriorating power condition and gracefully shut down your system. The purpose of a UPS is to provide enough power for you to safely shut down your system during a power failure, not to allow you to continue to work until power returns.

2. Protection For Desktop Or Server?

Most UPS units provide surge and spike protection in addition to their battery backup function.

On-line UPSes also condition the line voltage, protecting against sags or brownouts. Recommended for servers, they provide a constant source of battery power, so there is no switching time during failures.

Best suited to desktop workstations, off-line UPSes require a few milliseconds to power up. Because off-line UPS batteries are not used until the unit becomes active, dead batteries may go unnoticed until a power failure occurs.

Line-interactive UPSes use a type of on-line UPS technology, combining line-voltage conditioning and battery power to provide a constant source of power at a consistent level to connected systems.

3. Power Management

A UPS that can sense a line-voltage sag or failure and immediately switch to its internal battery is good enough for desktop systems that are almost always attended or for secondary LAN equipment. These "dumb'' UPSes provide the power you'll need to operate your system, but without power management or a centralized notification system. Such systems may require you to manually test the batteries or they may indicate battery level with visual and audible alerts.

Many UPSes employ a serial link to inform your machine's operating system of a line failure, allowing it to shut down without data loss. More advanced units provide sophisticated software to monitor and control the UPS from a central console, which can be located anywhere on your LAN. These UPSes are intelligent because they use either client agents or server applications (such as NetWare Loadable Modules) to monitor power status. The software supplied with these intelligent systems often uses some method of notification--pager, e-mail, SNMP or network messages--to inform users or administrators of power problems.

VITAL STATISTICS

These numbers are guidelines. To establish your own requirements, follow these instructions:

1. Locate the power consumption information for your system and monitor. This information is usually located on the rear of your system or your in user manual.

2. Add up the power consumption in amps for each component of your system (monitor, CPU, CD-ROM drive, modem and so on).

3. Multiply this number by the line voltage (use 110 in the U.S., 220 in Europe).

4. Use this result as the maximum voltage load that you'll need from your UPS.

The actual load is dynamic and depends on your equipment.

LASER PRINTER

Recommended proctection-Surge suppressor

Voltage requirements-DNA (Does not apply)

WORKSTATION AND 15-INCH MONITOR

Recommended proctection-Off-line UPS

Voltage requirements-250-300 VA

WORKSTATION WITH 17-INCH MONITOR, CD-ROM DRIVE AND TAPE BACKUP DRIVE

Rcommended proctection-On-line UPS

Voltage requirements-400-600 VA

DEPARTMENT SERVER WITH 14-INCH MONITOR PLUS EXTERIOR SCSI STORAGE

Recommended proctection-Intelligent on-lineUPS

Voltage requirements-500-600 VA

LAN SERVER HUB

Recommended proctection-On-line UPS

Voltage requirements-750-900 VA

ENTERPRISE SERVER WITH EXTERIOR SCSI STORAGE AND LAN PERIPHERALS

Recommended protection-Intelligent on-line UPS

Voltage requirements-900-1500 VA

HOT PROSPECTS

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-

TECHNOLOGY-

INTELLIGENCE*-

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-

PRICE-

Back-UPS 600

American Power Conversion

800-800-4APC, 401-789-5735

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-600

TECHNOLOGY-Off-line

INTELLIGENCE*-B,N,S

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-5-8

PRICE-$399

Fortess 660

Best Power Technology Inc.

800-356-5794, 608-565-7200

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-660

TECHNOLOGY-Line-interactive

INTELLIGENCE*-B,N,S

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-6.5

PRICE-$649

Minuteman Alliance A300

Minuteman UPS

800-238-7272, 214-446-7363

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-300

TECHNOLOGY-Off-line

INTELLIGENCE*-S

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-6-8

PRICE-$144

Minuteman Alliance A900

Minuteman UPS

800-238-7272, 214-446-7363

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-900

TECHNOLOGY-Line-interactive

INTELLIGENCE*-B,N,S

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-7-9

PRICE-$559

PowerRite Pro 1000

Deltec

800-DELTEC-1, 619-291-4211

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-1000

TECHNOLOGY-Line-intercative

INTELLIGENCE*-B,N,S

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-5-10

PRICE-$699

Smart-UPS 900

American Power Conversion

800-800-4APC, 401-789-5735

CAPACITY (VOLT-AMPS)-900

TECHNOLOGY-Line-interactive

INTELLIGENCE*-B,N,S

BATTERY RUNTIME AT FULL LOAD (IN MINUTES)-7-10

PRICE-$699

*B: Low battery monitor (audible alarm or light indicator) N: Line fault notification S: Optional power management/monitoring software available.

Manufacturers selected from lists of top six vendors (by market share) according to 1992 and 1993 reports compiled by Venture Development Corp.

TERMS TO KNOW

BROWNOUT: Also known as a sag. A brownout is a reduction in voltage due to heavy electric usage. Brownouts are common in the summer when power usage peaks due to the use of air conditioners and exhaust fans. The reduction in available power, and its subsequent return, can damage computer equipment and cause data loss.

LINE VOLTAGE: Electrical power supplied and regulated by power companies. Your local utility company supplies line voltage over its power lines.

SPIKE: A short-term, dramatic increase in line voltage often experienced during electrical storms as a result of lightning strikes.

SURGE: Less dramatic than a spike. A surge is a longer-lived (1/20 of a second) increase in line voltage often due to a return from a brownout condition or damage to power transmission lines.

SURGE SUPPRESSOR: A power supply device that filters out spikes or jumps in line voltage. Most surge suppressors resemble an extension cord with a multiconnector box at one end.

TRANSIENT VOLTAGE: Fluctuations, spikes and sags in standard voltage that can cause system damage and loss of data.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY (UPS): Provide an immediate source of battery power to systems during power failures and power line sags. Most also protect against surges and spikes.


When Lightning Strikes

How much of a risk does lightning pose to your system and valuable data? The map above, provided by the National Weather Service, indicates the mean (or approximate average) number of days per year that thunderstorms strike various parts of the continental United States. When lightning strikes a transformer, it causes an instantaneous increase in line voltage. Depending on how powerful the lightning bolt is, you could experience a power blackout, a surge, or a spike. Casualties could include modems, and data stored in RAM and cache. According to the map, UPSes are especially essential in the Southeast, where equipment and data are more susceptible to damage.


First Impressions: Harvard Graphics

Slick, speedy and Oh-So-Easy Slide Shows

By: James E. Powell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

There's some pretty sound thinking behind the design of the new Harvard Graphics 3.0.

The folks at Software Publishing Corp. (SPC) figure that giving a presentation is hard enough, so putting one together shouldn't be torture, too. They also reasoned that most people use their presentation software only occasionally, so they tried to do something about climbing a learning curve each time you need to put a few slides together.

Rather than load up--or weigh down--version 3.0 with a lot of exotic features that you might use only occasionally, SPC has streamlined Harvard Graphics by adding some new shortcuts, automation, great advice and even some welcome hand holding. The result is a presentation program that's as easy to use as it is easy to learn.

If you need to put together a presentation but you're stuck at square one, Harvard Graphics' wizardry outdoes even the latest version of Microsoft's PowerPoint. When you start the program you can click on the Quick Presentations button and select a category from among choices such as Business Plan to Partners, Company Profile, Marketing Plan or Quarterly Review. Depending on your selection, Harvard Graphics builds a set of slides using sample data. All you have to do is click on the slide, or use the outline view, and change the sample text to yours.

The templates don't just provide pleasing designs, they also suggest content based on the type of presentation. For example, the Quarterly Review presentation has an agenda slide, slides that list Objectives and Accomplishments, several graph slides to review financial progress and organizational charts. I haven't seen a better fast start in a presentation program than Harvard Graphics' Quick Presentations. You also can customize Quick Presentations by changing some of the sample data to company-specific information or by removing unneeded slides. This works similarly to the stylesheets and templates that are often included with word processors.

Harvard Graphics' user interface is elegantly simple, providing excellent feedback with informative prompts and thumbnail previews galore. When you open the Chart dialog box and move the mouse over buttons for each of the chart options, Harvard Graphics updates the chart thumbnail showing the areas of your graph that may be affected by the button you're hovering over. Other options are illustrated in the dialog box, too. You may still come across terms that have little or no meaning to you, such as object depth and floor depth, but the dialog box points to the relevant area on a 3-D chart, so there's no question about what will happen when you change one of these values.

The overall look of the program is very uncluttered, too. There are VCR-style buttons to move between slides and an Add Slide button to quickly insert a slide on the fly. Other features that are perhaps less exciting but equally helpful include bubble help for icons on the customizable toolbar and a toolbar just for changing text attributes. It's also easy to incorporate clip art in your presentation: Just a couple of mouse clicks and you can pick and paste an image from Harvard Graphics' library.

Harvard Graphics has all the standard features of a presentation program, of course. There are templates for building consistent presentations, speaker notes and handouts, a spell checker, background gradients, an outline and a slide viewer. While creating or modifying a presentation, you can switch easily

between the different views as well as the preview mode. You also get a full set of drawing tools for annotating slides, hyper buttons to create presentations that branch off based on user selections, and a single level of undo and redo. You also can draw on-screen with a Telestrator-like tool to add some "chalk talk'' to your presentation.

One of Harvard's unique features is a conference facility that lets you display your presentation on as many as 64 other networked computers. Viewers can log into the conference if they're on the same server in your local area network, then choose a menu option to join the conference. You can even pass control of the presentation (or even the "chalk'') to other participants in the conference.

The focus of this new version is clearly providing easy ways to get started (and finished) in record time without making too many presentation gaffes. More help comes from the Advisor, which makes suggestions or offers help,depending on the task you're performing. For example, when building a bar chart, Quick Tips provides how-to help for common tasks, such as changing options or choosing the color of a bar in a bar chart. Design Tips offer general suggestions, such as keeping the number of items in a series to six or less, and when you should use a horizontal versus a vertical bar. Tips are available from the outliner, slide sorter and slide editor, so you're never far from getting some good advice. Small Advisor buttons appear on several dialog boxes, so you can get help before making a decision on a setting or an option.

Harvard Graphics also has a Check Design feature that will review one or all of your slides and suggest changes if it finds you've gone overboard or violated any basic rules. Check Design had mixed success in my tests, overlooking some apparent flaws in my presentation. While it picked up on too many bullets on a single slide, it didn't object to using eight different fonts on the same slide.

And there's still more help. The on-line help system provides comprehensive step-by-step instructions. The tutorial is called the 5-Minute Coach and it lives up to its name by providing the basics of building a presentation. I previewed the "Creating a Data Chart'' tutorial and found it extremely helpful for beginners or occasional users. For Harvard Graphics' registered users, the company also provides an AdviceLine that you can call to get professional design tips.

There are also some nice new shortcuts. You can preview your presentation in black and white without having to change the template--just choose the B&W Preview option to see how things will look when printed. Version 3.0 adds the ability to preserve data links when you copy slides, so you don't have to re-create the links from scratch, eliminating the possibility of linking to a wrong file. Transition effects can be previewed in a window in this version, too, though some effects still seem choppy. You also get more flexibility when adding sound to a presentation, since audio files can be played for the duration of a slide, or even can span multiple slides.

You can import graphics quickly and easily into your chart or select from the 536 graphics provided in the Harvard Graphics' library. You can convert a chart to an image, or use the Harvard Graphics F/X program that's included to turn your bitmap image into a vector image. Also new in this version is support for Lotus 1-2-3 Release 4.0, encapsulated PostScript, Kodak Photo CD and CorelDRAW files. Text can be wrapped around a circle or shrunk to fit in a selected area.

And if you have to deliver a presentation fast, you can use the e-mail support that has been added in version 3.0. If you're using a MAPI- or VIM-compliant mail system, you can send a presentation just by clicking on the Send Mail icon.

I do have a couple of minor quibbles with Harvard Graphics. The menu pick to create a runtime version of your presentation is hidden under the File/Export menu. Support for multimedia elements is much improved and individual chart elements can be displayed sequentially using AutoBuild, but other multimedia presentation programs provide more comprehensive tools. Gold Disk's Astound still beats it hands down for handling animated graphs and graphics, and for control of slide elements. Harvard Graphics does let you add (and preview) animated clips to spice up your presentation, and it includes a selection of 15 ready-made clips.

Version 3.0 of Harvard Graphics has the sophistication power presenters demand ,but, at the same time, its orderly interface and abundant help will make occasional users and beginners feel at home.

Harvard Graphics 3.0

Price: $395; upgrades, $99

In Brief: Presentations were never easier to create, thanks to coaches, advisors, on-line help, well-designed menus, dialog boxes that provide feedback and a presentation checker that spots significant problems.

Disk Space Required: 9MB (minimum), 24MB (full installation)

System Resources: 21%

RAM: 4MB

Software Publishing Corp.

800-234-2500, 408-986-8000


First Impressions: Carbon Copy for Windows

Almost Like Being There-

By: Jonathan Blackwood

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

The laws of physics say you can't be in two places at the same time. Carbon Copy 2.5 says otherwise.

You won't really be here as well as there, but with Carbon Copy, two PCs and a couple of modems, you can extend your reach across hundreds--or thousands--of miles, to access files and run programs back in your office.

Carbon Copy has long been one of the most popular remote-control programs, first in the DOS world and then for Windows. Windows poses a particular problem for remote-control software because the graphical interface requires passing frequent and detailed information between the host system and the remote PC. The plummeting prices of high-speed modems have helped ease the communications burden, and Microcom and other remote-control program publishers have refined their products significantly to deal with the special demands that Windows imposes.

Carbon Copy 2.5 is a pleasure to use, and about as simple to install and set up as remote access gets. The installation program for the software, which ships on two diskettes, makes the necessary changes to your configuration files. One thing you should know up front:

When the installation routine asks if you want to replace your video and mouse drivers with the Microcom versions, the correct answer to both questions is "yes.'' Answer otherwise when installing the software on either the host or guest (remote) PC and the remote-control feature won't work properly.

Once you've installed the program, you have to configure it for the type of connection you intend to make--modem or LAN--and for the make and model of your modem if dial-up is your chosen connection. You should complete your configuration by setting up a log-in account with a password to protect against unauthorized entry.

You even can establish an extra measure of security by using the program's callback feature. In the callback mode, after you connect to the host and log in, the program disconnects and calls you back at a prearranged telephone number. You also can have a Roving callback for when you're on the road. With Roving callback, when you log in you also tell the host system what phone number to use to call you back. Callback also has a Passthrough selection, where you can tell the host to which you connect not to call back at all.

The major categories on both the host and guest modules are the same: Call a Host (or Guest), Remote Control, File Transfer, Chat, Wait for Call, Phone Book, Password Table and Exit. To use the program, you leave the host machine on in the Wait for Call mode. You create a phone book entry in the guest module, consisting of a Name, Phone Number, Login Name and Login Password. Then you choose Call a Host, select the name of the location you wish to call and let Carbon Copy do the rest. Assuming that you've requested a callback, you'll have to wait for the original log-on, which is followed by a disconnection

and perhaps a 30-second wait before the phone rings back to the guest.

Once you establish the connection, don't expect Pentium speeds--even from a Pentium. For my tests, I used a system based on a 90MHz Pentium. The two systems I used as guests were a 33MHz 486DX and a 75MHz DX4 notebook. Microcom provided two 28.8Kbps DeskPorte FAST parallel-port modems for the tests, but the same tests were also conducted using more mainstream US Robotics Worldport 9600bps serial-port modems.

Even at these relatively high communications speeds, you can expect the response from the host to be about equal to the level of performance you'd get running Windows on a 25MHz 386. Interestingly, I didn't notice an exceptional increase in speed using the DeskPorte modems at 26.4Kbps over the Worldports at 9600bps. Both setups provided serviceable performance, but not exactly what you'd want to use all the time--unless you're only running a word processor. Microcom achieves this level of performance, by the way, by having processing performed on the host machine. What is transmitted over the phone lines is the "news'' of changes in the status of the video display. This means that it takes a moment or two longer than you'd expect for whole new screens to materialize. Minor changes, like entries of data in a spreadsheet or typing text in a document, progress at speeds approximating normal, local operations.

Other activities, such as file transfers, are very fast. This is one area of the program where a faster modem pays dividends. The File Transfer module functions very much like Windows' own File Manager. The guest machine's drives appear in the top half of the window, and the host machine's in the bottom. You have full access to any network connection on the host machine. For many purposes, this is the module you'll want to use. You can call up, find any file on your computer or your network, drag it to your local drive and hang up. It's much easier than using an ordinary communications program.

Speaking of which, this package includes Microcom's basic communications package, Carbon Copy Terminal. It's less capable than Procomm Plus or any other full-featured comm package, but it's quite serviceable and may be all many users need. Carbon Copy Terminal does have its own phone book and includes some features that are usually associated with dedicated communications packages. It supports the most commonly used file transfer protocols including ASCII, XModem, XModem CRC, three varieties of YModem, and ZModem. It also has a scripting facility with a fairly extensive BASIC-like language.

A remote-control program such as Carbon Copy is not just for people who spend half their lives on the road; it's also quite useful for MIS support staff. By installing Carbon Copy on every machine on a corporate network, support personnel can diagnose and fix problems at any of the network nodes without ever leaving their desks.

But whether you use Carbon Copy to reach across the country or just down the hall, being able to grasp what may not be at your fingertips can be a great productivity enhancer. With a list price of under $200, it's cheaper than a round-trip ticket to just about anywhere.

Carbon Copy for Windows 2.5

Price: $199

In Brief: Microcom's newest version of Carbon Copy is easy to use, but its feature list is comprehensive, too.

Disk Space Required: 4.5MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: Terminal, 392KB;

Guest, 265KB; Host, 264KB

Microcom Inc.

800-822-8224, 617-551-1000


First Impressions: Latitude XP-Road Machine for a Smooth Ride-

By: Rich Castagna

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Dell's first Latitude was like the Honda of notebooks--a solid, reliable vehicle ready for the road. The latest in the Latitude line--the XP--is more like a BMW. It's a hot model just off the showroom floor that's bound to draw some oohs and ahhs for its style and performance.

With the recent arrival of a multitude of muscular road machines, notebooks have the power and performance to rival--or replace--desktop systems. The XP doesn't disappoint in that department, and its ergonomic details are icing on the cake.

The XP comes in several configurations, based on Intel's DX2 and DX4 CPUs. I tested a preproduction version of the 3.3-volt, SL-enhanced 50MHz DX2 model. All Latitude models come with 8MB of RAM. The unit I tested had a 340MB hard disk, but a 524MB disk is an option on the DX2 models and is standard fare for the DX4-based Latitude.

The test unit came with a dual-scan STN screen that provided vivid, deep-hued colors and sharply formed characters. Dell also includes a Control Panel utility for further fine tuning of the display. An active-matrix display is standard on the DX4 XPs.

Dell uses a lithium-ion battery in the new Latitudes. According to Dell, the lithium-ion battery delivers 20 percent more battery life than a NiMH battery of the same weight. In a rigorous test of continuous use, the battery lasted almost 3.5 hours with all power-saving features shut down. Under more reasonable circumstances and with conservation enabled, I was able to work for more than four hours. Recharging took only 1.5 hours.

Dell didn't just give its battery a long life, it made it "smart,'' too. The smarts in this battery are in its ability to accurately report how much juice is left. A floating gauge--which I found to be fairly precise--shows remaining battery life as a percent and an estimated time.

Dell's packaging is noteworthy, too. The slim black case has a sturdy feel. The usual assortment of ports in the back are protected by a panel that flips up and away like a garage door. There's another smaller "garage door'' covering the port replicator connector.

There aren't any doors for the PCMCIA slots. Dell figures that most of the time you'll have a modem and another card parked there anyway. If the driveway is vacant, you can pop in one of the plastic inserts to keep out dust.

The Latitude XP has six LED status lights mounted on part of the display's hinge. With this arrangement, you don't have to peek under the hood to see if the unit's on or if the battery is charging.

Even the on/off switch is something special. It's a spring-loaded gadget that's almost impossible to bump on or off accidentally. And you won't have to leave the latest Stephen King thriller behind when you're packing--the slim AC adapter is a featherweight unit that uses a regular two-prong plug.

As with the earlier Latitude, the XP's keyboard has an excellent feel. Most impressive is the built-in trackball. It's big enough to move the cursor across the screen with one clean sweep. The trackball sits an inch off-center, sculpted into a large and comfortable palmrest. The buttons on each side of the ball are huge--2.5 inches long and almost 1.5 inches wide. You can tap on them anywhere for a button click, and you won't have to grope for them--the size and shape make them easy to find without even a glance.

The XP's results on the WINDOWS Magazine Win-tune tests were solid. The CPU clocked 26.73 MIPS, about what you'd expect for a DX2/50. Its video score was also good with a rating of 1.38 million pixels per second. Helped by 32-bit disk and file access--available with the bundled Windows for Workgroups 3.11--disk tests yielded a quick 3.70MB-per-second transfer rate.

The first Latitude marked Dell's return to the portable PC race. This generation is shaping up as a serious contender to Toshiba and Compaq, and other notebook notables.

Latitude XP 450C

Price: $3,199 as reviewed

In Brief: The second generation of Latitude notebooks features ergonomic styling that adds creature comforts to portable computing.

Dell Computer Corp.

800-613-3355, 512-338-4400


First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved-Part 1

IN THIS FILE

Peachtree for Windows 3.0

Epson ActionTower 3000

E-Mail Connection 2.0

Gateway Handbook 486DX2-50

Dynapad T200CS

Visual Baler 1.0

Canon NoteJet II 486C

ABC ToolKit 1.0 and Maxim 1.0

PEACHTREE ACCOUNTING FOR WINDOWS 3.0-PROGRAM SCORES ON ALL ACCOUNTS-

BY: MANJIT K. SAHAI

Designed for small- to medium-sized businesses, Peachtree Accounting incorporates a highly graphical interface and an informative, yet fun to watch, tutorial that should make the program approachable for even those who lack a formal accounting background.

Peachtree makes the business of keeping your business' books in order as painless as possible. Double-entry bookkeeping systems that conform to GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) traditionally have had a bland interface and a structure usually almost always requires an accoun-tant's expertise to get things started. Version 3.0 of Peachtree Accounting breaks that mold.

Peachtree has been around for years, and the breadth of its feature set shows. In addition to the essentials--General Ledger, Receivables, Payables and Payroll modules--it includes Inventory, Job Cost and Bank Reconciliation as standard features. This makes Peachtree suitable for a wide variety of businesses. For example, the Job Cost module, where material and payroll expenses are tracked by projects, makes the package suitable for service industries. And the Inventory module will be useful for wholesale or retail enterprises.

Initial setup is always the most difficult part of working with an accounting program. To help expedite the process, Peachtree includes no less than 60 sample charts of accounts that are applicable to an assortment of businesses. You can start with one of the sample accounts designed for your type of business and then modify it to suit your exact needs. Peachtree also includes a well-designed on-line tutorial that steps you through the most commonly used features in the software. You can get even more help from Peachtree's Wizard-like on-line Accountant, which pops up over many dialog boxes offering useful tips, tricks and shortcuts.

The menus in Peachtree are organized functionally by the tasks you're likely to need to perform given the current data display. The Maintain menu lets you create and edit customer, vendor, employee, inventory, account and job data. The Tasks menu lets you generate invoices, purchase orders, payroll checks and similar forms. The language is decidedly nontraditional, but if you're more comfortable with the conventional accounting terminology, there's an alternative. You can turn on the Navigation Aid, a tabbed bar along the bottom of the screen, and access the modules that way.

But just keeping the company books is not what Peachtree is all about. The Action Items window accessed from the Tasks menu provides PIM-style options to let you track important events, manage to-do lists and create alerts. You can log notes about calls you made to clients regarding invoices, keep lists of checks you need to write or set up alert messages to remind you of upcoming events.

Peachtree offers very good reporting capability with a number of ready-to-run reports including Aged Receivables, 1099-MISC forms, Payroll Earnings report, Trial Balance, Cash Flow and a variety of government forms. It also includes a report writer so you can customize the standard forms or create your own. The Analysis menu provides a means of getting a managerial overview of your business, with summaries of cash flow, collections and payments, and the ability to view the data graphically on charts.

If your business deals with foreign currency exchanges, fixed asset management, or needs macro programming capability, Peachtree is not for you. But Peachtree's comprehensive suite of accounting tools will suit most small businesses just fine. When adding up all of its assets, it's hard to imagine a better value for your money.

Peachtree Accounting Release 3.0

Price: $169

In Brief: Peachtree blends the power of double-entry bookkeeping with an outstanding interface.

Disk Space Required: 15MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB

Peachtree Software Inc. 800-247-3224, 404-564-5700

EPSON ACTIONTOWER 3000-TINY TOWER HOUSES MULTIMEDIA

By: JIM FORBES

The ActionTower 3000 is Epson's entry into the fast-growing multimedia PC market. It's aimed at first-time buyers who are purchasing multimedia systems to use either in their homes or their small businesses.

This system's basic configuration features a 486DX2-compatible processor, a large hard disk, and all the trappings of an MPC-2-compliant multimedia machine. The components, along with a broad selection of bundled software, are packed neatly in a mini-tower case that can perch on a desk or sit on the floor.

The unit I tested was built around the Cyrix 50MHz Cx486 DX. It was configured with a 420MB hard disk, 8MB of RAM, an accelerated graphics card with 1MB of video memory, a 3.5-inch internal floppy disk drive, a 9600-bit-per-second fax modem, a keyboard and a mouse. A monitor is not included with this system.

The ActionTower 3000 comes with an impressive amount of software, including PFS:Window Works, WinFax Lite, Intuit's Quicken Special Edition 3.0 and a preview edition of QuickBooks, Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, and a number of other offerings. All of the applications were preinstalled.

I tested the ActionTower 3000 with a generic 14-inch Super VGA monitor and found its graphics performance to be more than acceptable. The local-bus graphics accelerator produced displays that were crisp, with screen redraws that are quick enough to satisfy all but the most demanding users. On the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests, the ActionTower's video system scored a respectable 1.55 million pixels per second.

The test unit had a 420MB hard disk that turned in below average marks on the Wintune disk test. Tested as shipped, this system tallied an extremely low data-transfer rate because of an improperly configured AUTOEXEC.BAT file. After I made some key adjustments to the SMARTDrive settings in the system's AUTOEXEC.BAT file, the ActionTower was able to achieve a data-transfer rate of 1.5MB per second.

CPU performance was also average. With its Cyrix CPU, the ActionTower scored 20.0 MIPS on the Wintune test, somewhat lower than the scores notched by systems that use Intel's 50MHz DX2 processor.

The ActionTower's mini-tower case removes easily to allow access to its interior. There is an Intel OverDrive socket on the motherboard, so you can upgrade in the future if you like.

This system's dual-speed CD-ROM drive and 16-bit stereo card run all MPC-2-compliant applications, and its external speakers produce crisp sound. The Sound Blaster-compatible sound card is the Mozart model from Oak Technologies. The stereo speakers were Quick Shot external speakers, although Epson spokespeople said that the company was including a variety of comparable speakers from a number of different manufacturers.

Besides Compton's Ency-clopedia, most of the included multimedia titles are geared toward serious fun rather than business. Among the titles are the KGB/CIA World Fact Book, an interactive movie guide from Paramount and several other selections intended for children.

Epson also has announced plans to add more powerful models to its multimedia system line. By press time, a version of the ActionTower based on Intel's 66MHz 486DX2 processor should be available. The company also plans to include a fax modem with voice capabilities.

In spite of its lackluster test results, the ActionTower is still a lot of system for the price. With its full complement of multimedia components preinstalled and ready to run, it's a solid choice for home computing.

Epson ActionTower 3000

Price: $1,999 (without monitor)

In Brief: This MPC-2-compliant computer offers good perform-ance, ships with a variety of applications and comes with a one-year on-site warranty.

Epson America 800-289-3776, 310-782-0770

E-MAIL CONNECTION 2.0-ALL SORTS OF E-MAIL DELIVERED

By: RON BEL BRUNO

You might feel like you're limping along in the breakdown lane of the information highway, just trying to keep up with all of your e-mail accounts. Despair not, weary traveler. The second generation of ConnectSoft's E-Mail Connection will put you back in the fast lane.

In the tradition of more narrowly focused mail managers such as Lotus Express and CompuServe, E-Mail Connection polls multiple on-line services and sends and receives electronic mail--manually or automatically. Version 2.0 adds support for Prodigy on the home front, plus Lotus Notes, cc:Mail and the Motorola NewsCard for professional users. These service additions join E-Mail Connection's existing taps into MCI Mail and CompuServe. The program has also upped its transmission support to 9600bps for MCI Mail and 14.4Kbps for CompuServe.

The program exploits the Internet gateways of CompuServe, Prodigy and MCI Mail to access America Online, AT&T EasyLink, AppleLink, fax services, and even U.S. Post Office delivery options. If you're sending a piece of e-mail from E-Mail Connection to an America Online user, the system will dial up your choice from among MCI, Prodigy and CompuServe, and route the message to AOL via its gateway. And because CompuServe, MCI and Prodigy all offer fax and U.S. postal delivery services, E-Mail Connection users can also enjoy these links.

With E-Mail Connection's support of Lotus Notes and most LAN-based messaging systems, you may find yourself handing over your interoffice e-mail retrieval duties to the program as well. Additionally, E-Mail Connection's MAPI support lets you send mail directly from MAPI-compliant applications, such as Microsoft Word.

Creating and sending mail from within E-Mail Connection couldn't be easier. Its Address Book automatically captures the address of all incoming mail, so all you need to do is click on the recipient of your choice before composing your note. Once you're done, the message goes to a queue, where the software analyzes its address for routing. E-Mail Connection now also supports background operations.

The program has an astounding array of features for handling incoming mail, including a folder system that routes mail by its sender or origination point. Thus, business gets chuted to your High Priority folder, while the system tucks away those family reunion updates from Cousin Vern into a "Read During Lunch'' folder. Or, you can sort your mail manually by dragging-and-dropping mail into folders as well.

Even the most communications-phobic neophyte can configure the program's on-line links in minutes. The program includes some real time savers, like an exhaustive list of access numbers for each of the on-line services supported. This listing avoids the extra time and cash involved in trying to find an access number.

E-Mail Connection does have a couple of potential limitations. If you have multiple accounts with the same service, you need to create an additional user for each account with a separate mailbox. The program also currently lacks support for other bulletin board systems.

E-Mail Connection's extreme flexibility, coupled with support for a wide array of on-line services, makes it well-suited for both home office and on-site office users. In my home office, for example, unattended round-the-clock dial-ups are undesirable, since the modem shares a line with the phone. So I set the system to dial in for mail during the early morning hours. Setting such conditions isn't a problem within the program's easy configuration dialog box.

As you experience your first traffic jams on the info highways, it's nice to know that E-Mail Connection can take you above the crowd. Anyone who needs to route mail more efficiently can't go wrong with this program.

E-Mail Connection 2.0

Price: $99.95; $49.95 limited time

In Brief: Version 2.0 of this electronic mail manager adds support for Prodigy, cc:Mail and several other popular e-mail services.

Disk Space Required: 5MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 4MB

ConnectSoft

800-234-9497, 206-881-8251

GATEWAY HANDBOOK 486DX2-50-THREE-POUND POWERHOUSE

By: JIM FORBES

Gateway's new HandBook DX2-50 is so good that it gives me the courage to reveal a secret I've kept for a year now. Although it doesn't have the wherewithal to run Windows, Gateway's first HandBook had been my faithful traveling companion. But the HandBook DX2-50 delivers the best of both worlds: great portability and ample power for Windows.

What's right about this machine? Virtually everything.

The HandBook 486DX2-50 I tested had, as its name implies, an Intel 50MHz 486DX2 processor. It also came with 8MB of RAM in its standard configuration. The test unit had a 250MB hard disk, an external 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, one Type II PCMCIA slot and one serial port. The backlit monochrome VGA display measures 7.9 inches diagonally. A fax modem and a leather carrying case are also included.

The HandBook 486DX2-50 is smaller than HP's OmniBook at only 1.6 by 9.75 by 5.9 inches. The unit alone weighs just under 3 pounds, but its traveling weight--including the floppy disk drive and the AC adapter--is closer to 5 pounds.

The software package that Gateway bundles with the HandBook 486DX2-50 includes your choice of Microsoft Office Professional (Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, Microsoft Access, MS-Mail and PowerPoint) or Microsoft Works 3.0. Standard on all HandBook models is Windows for Workgroups 3.11, DOS 6.22, PCMCIA software and a power management program.

With the 50MHz DX2 powering it, the HandBook 486DX2-50 has sufficient power for fast database sorts and quick spreadsheet recalculations. It clocked 25.2 MIPS and 5.4 MFLOPs on the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune benchmarks. While these numbers are not as fast as many desktop units, they're pretty impressive for a machine that can slip into a slim briefcase and still leave room for your lunch. Video performance and disk transfer rates were 1.0 million pixels per second and 1.7MB per second--not blazingly fast, perhaps, but again very speedy for its size.

The HandBook 486DX2-50 does stand out among PCs its size when it comes to battery life. I was consistently able to work for four hours

or more, using the advanced power settings. With its included spare NiMH battery, you won't run out of juice over St. Louis on transcontinental flights and you'll be able to keep working while you wait for a taxi in New York. You can use the suspend/resume feature to close shop for a break and then pick up where you left off. If you think you'll miss having a color display, you'll barely give it a thought while enjoying the long battery life.

This subnotebook also has a well-laid-out durable keyboard that I found superior to those on the four or five other subnotebooks I've used recently. The cursor is controlled by a track stick mounted on the right-hand side of the keyboard with button controls on the front of the unit to the right of the spacebar. You're likely to start out using two hands to work the stick and the buttons, but single-handed operation comes quickly and naturally.

The screen is bright enough for use in dimly lit areas. Brightness and contrast controls are easy to get to and adjust. Because this screen is small, you'll probably want to use large type when displaying documents, but the characters are well-formed and easy to read. The HandBook 486DX2-50 doesn't have a port to connect to an external monitor the way that the HP OmniBook does.

The HandBook 486 DX2-50 is small, powerful and appropriately configured, has outstanding battery life, and is built like a tank. It's one of the most impressive subnotebooks I've used. I may have given up my HandBook 286, but now I'm better prepared than ever to hit the road with the HandBook 486DX2-50.

HandBook 486DX2-50

Price: $2,499

In Brief: Gateway's newest top-of-the-line subnotebook offers great performance, good value and portability.

Gateway 2000

800-846-2000, 605-232-2000

DYNAPAD T200CS-PEN PC NEEDS WRITE SOFTWARE

By: RICH CASTAGNA

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but sometimes it's no match for a keyboard. The T200CS, Toshiba's color pen tablet, is among the best portable pen computers available. It is, however, yet another example of hardware technology outpacing software.

The T200CS is a highly portable 4.4-pound package with a large, 9.5-inch STN dual-scan color screen. It has a pop-open compartment on its lower edge, where the wireless pen stores neatly in the lid. The unit is slightly smaller than a sheet of paper and about as thick as a notebook PC. It measures 1.6 by 10.6 by 8.2 inches and, at that size, can be slipped easily into a briefcase.

The T200CS's most impressive feature is its display. When viewed straight on, it provides rich colors and sharply defined lines. At anything more than a slight angle, the screen image all but disappears, more a factor of the dimming effects of the touch-sensitive overlay than of the quality of the display. The screen's responsiveness to the pen is excellent. You easily can move objects about, with natural gestures that don't require an undue amount of pressure. In fact, the screen is so sensitive that you can move the cursor as you hold the pen about an inch over the screen--without actually making contact with the surface.

The system's display clocked a fairly quick 1.61 million pixels per second on the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune performance test. The speedy screen response is largely attributable to the T200CS's VL-Bus graphics controller, which uses the popular Western Digital RocketCHIP. The maximum screen resolution is 640x480 pixels with 256 colors, but an external monitor can be run in Super VGA mode, displaying 256 colors at a resolution of 1024x768.

In addition to the pen pod flip-down door, a door on the back of the unit covers the serial, parallel, external monitor and PS/2-style keyboard ports. There's also a port for the optional external floppy disk drive. The parallel-port connector is nonstandard, so a special cable is required to hook up a printer or other parallel device.

PCMCIA slots and a slot for a proprietary memory card are hidden by another door on the right side. The PCMCIA slot can accommodate both a Type II PCMCIA device as well as a Type III card. The PCMCIA software, supplied by Phoenix Technologies, is called the Toshiba Card Manager Plus 3.0.

Processing power is supplied by a 40MHz Intel SL-enhanced 486DX2 CPU. It scored 20.34 MIPS on the Wintune tests. The system's standard memory is 4MB, but RAM can be expanded to 20MB using Toshiba's optional memory cards.

Rounding out the configuration is an 80MB hard disk--surprisingly small compared with the 300-plus megabytes we've come to expect with high-powered notebooks. The small drive registered a slow 0.46MB-per-second transfer rate when tested with Wintune.

The T200CS's lithium ion battery delivered 5 hours of running time under continuous testing with all conservation features turned off. Under normal working conditions, with its power-saving features enabled, the T200CS's battery lasted more than 6 hours.

This version of Toshiba's Dynapad is essentially a very capable notebook computer without a keyboard. Although the electro-magnetic pen worked fine for moving screen elements around, mainstream business applications are simply not yet ready for pen computing.

The system was able to reproduce my handwriting fairly faithfully, which worked well for jotting reminders or notes on documents. The Microsoft handwriting recognition software that the T200CS uses, however, was far from faithful.

To be fair, Toshiba is aiming the T200CS squarely at several vertical markets where a handful of handheld computers and a few strategic strokes of the pen are powerful business tools. For these applications, specialized, forms-based software is usually employed.

The T200CS is certainly built for field work. Its textured case feels strong enough to stand up to a lot more than bad penmanship.

Dynapad T200CS

Price: $2,899

In Brief: The Dynapad's crisp display provides an excellent writing surface for forms-based applications and handwritten annotations. For other applications, you'll have to wait for the recognition software to catch up with the hardware.

Toshiba America Information Systems

800-334-3445, 714-583-3000

VISUAL BALER 1.0-WRAP UP SPREADSHEET APPS

By: :JAMES E. POWELL

Visual Baler lets you build self-contained spreadsheet applications that can be distributed as executable files, so you can leverage your users' spreadsheet expertise while having the security of compiled code.

A compiled Visual Baler application has the look and feel of a Windows spreadsheet. It supports in-cell editing, split screens and includes 110 formula functions using standard @ syntax. Other familiar spreadsheet features include context-sensitive menus, a status bar hint line, named ranges, recalculation control, draggable column borders, named formatting styles and 3-D tab layouts. Visual Baler also has a macro language and, like Lotus 1-2-3, there's a point mode that lets you move from a dialog box to the spreadsheet then back to the dialog box. There's a data query tool, too.

You can use Visual Baler to develop custom applications with unique toolbars and menu systems. The program provides default layouts that you can tweak so you don't need to start from scratch. Your app-lication can also have pop-up dialog boxes and buttons galore.

You can embed controls and help keep a user from making errors. For example, you determine which cells a user can click on and where the cursor moves when Enter or Tab is pressed.

Visual Baler lets you set global security levels based on cell type, rather than setting global protection and then removing pro-tection from specific fields. You can pre-vent a user from en-tering label text in value cells, and use radio buttons or check boxes for in-put. The program's dialog box builder is as good as I've seen in any visual programming environment.

Spreadsheet files from Lotus 1-2-3 can be imported and compiled. For Quat-tro Pro or Excel, you will have to save the spreadsheet in .WK1 or .WK3 format before bringing it into Visual Baler. Macros may be lost during importing, so it's best to count on using the spread-sheet values and formulas, but not macros, to build applications. Visual Baler's spreadsheets are smaller than what other programs support, but you can have 256 tabbed pages with 256 col-umns and 8,192 rows per page.

The Bale command turns a spreadsheet into an executable file, complete with a customizable title screen. You also can create and distribute a help file using the included Microsoft Help Compiler.

The manuals and on-line samples are good, but could stand some improvement. They explain all the pieces, but don't do an adequate job of integrating them.

As an application development tool, Visual Baler lacks some critical features. For example, there are no validation criteria, so you can't restrict data entries. And the program can generate reports but not charts.

Visual Baler has been available for DOS for several years. This first Windows version is an impressive achievement. The product has several advantages over other development tools. With Visual Baler, users don't need to have particular software to run a spreadsheet. You need only distribute a small exec-utable file, a royalty-free runtime and over 40 DLLs. While the number of DLLs is high, they can be loaded on a network server and accessed by connected workstations. The company says the next version will streamline the installation process so that you distribute only the DLLs that support specific functions in your spreadsheet.

Visual Baler lets you build bullet-proof apps using your spreadsheet skills. The pro-gram's graphical development environment offers the tools for creating powerful, secure applications.

Visual Baler 1.0

Price: $499, trial version $19.95

In Brief: An application development tool that builds standalone spreadsheet applications with incredible ease.

Disk Space Required: 5.5MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 4MB

Baler Software Corp.

800-327-6108, 708-506-9700

CANON NOTEJET II 486C-POTENT PACKAGE: PRINTER PLUS PC

By: JOHN GARTNER

It's a notebook. It's a printer. No--it's both. The NoteJet II is Canon's updated version of its dual-function portable. The notebook, with its built-in printer, has added convenience and color. The result, while still rather bulky, is a virtual office in a box.

With the NoteJet, Canon has bucked the downsizing trend in favor of adding functionality. With the battery and AC adapter included, the NoteJet II checks in at just under 10 pounds, an armful compared with most vendors' 7-pound offerings. But for a few pounds more, you get a full-featured ink jet printer inside.

Among the changes to the NoteJet II 486C is the add-ition of IBM's TrackPoint II pointing device. It's easier to use than any trackball or clip-on mouse I've used, and you don't have to worry about a balky trackball or lost mouse. Touch typists will like being able to stay in the neighborhood of the home row while quickly navigating the screen. The buttons also are placed con-veniently just below the spacebar within easy reach of either thumb.

Canon has colorized the NoteJet II with mixed results. The dual-scan passive screen has a faded, somewhat washed-out display--great for a pair of comfy old jeans, but not so easy on the eyes. The colors aren't very bright and their intensities vary from one part of the screen to the other. I tried to adjust the brightness and contrast, but couldn't get the right combination. When I managed to get colors that were well saturated, the overall display was too dark; bright-ening the screen made the menu bars hard to spot.

On the positive side, drivers for the Western Digital video adapter were preinstalled, so switching to 800x600 resolution required changing only the Windows setup. The video was also pleasantly peppy, as indicated by its performance in the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests. The NoteJet II's video performance was clocked at 1.46 million pixels per second, compared with 1.1 for a similarly equipped Texas Instruments' TravelMate 4000.

The NoteJet II is powered by a 50MHz IBM 486SLC2 processor. This clock-doubled CPU includes twice as much internal cache as Intel's 486DX2, but it doesn't have a coprocessor. The lack of a coprocessor resulted in the NoteJet II's low floating-point score of 0.38 MFLOPS in the Wintune tests, compared with the TravelMate's 5.5 MFLOPS rating. In the CPU test, the NoteJet II registered 26.7 MIPS, just a shade under the TravelMate's 28.5 rating.

Canon includes 4MB as the standard RAM configuration, but the NoteJet II can accommodate a total of 12MB. It is available with a 130MB or 260MB hard drive

The BubbleJet printer inside offers 360x360-dot-per-inch output that is more than adequate for printing most business documents. Setting up and using the printer is about as easy as shifting into drive and as foolproof as pumping gas. You can get under the hood, too, and lift the keyboard to adjust the paper tray and slide in fresh sheets. Printed output emerges from the back.

Canon provides an on-line tutorial with clear instructions for installing the tiny print cartridge. It couldn't be easier; you can view an illustration of the process while inserting the cartridge just inches away. Each cartridge produces about 50 pages of text.

If you add a PCMCIA fax modem, you can turn the NoteJet II into a portable fax machine. Two Type II cards or one Type III can be installed in the left side of the unit. The retractable PCMCIA slot cover and I/O port covers are lightweight and require care to avoid snapping them off.

Though the keys are light to the touch, they remain comfortable even during extended use. The NoteJet II's only design quirks are a floppy disk drive placed near the back of the unit and an on/off button that's all the way around on the back.

The NiCad battery will last between two and three hours if just the PC part of the system is used; printing cuts battery life considerably.

While neither processing power nor print quality alone are justification enough to consider the NoteJet II, the combination of a portable printer and a PC is.

Canon NoteJet II 486C

Price: $3,399

In Brief: The second edition of Canon's NoteJet has the same physical dimensions as the original, but it now boasts a color display and a great pointing device.

Canon Computer Systems Inc.

800-848-4123, 714-438-3000


First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved-Part 2

IN THIS FILE

ABC ToolKit 1.0 and Maxim 1.0

DynaDesigner

Folio Views 3.1 Infobase Production Kit

REV TO DX4

Collabra Share Workgroup

PhotoMorph 2.0

ABC TOOLKIT 1.0 AND MAXIM 1.0-REINVENTING THE CORPORATION

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Reengineering is a business buzzword these days. The term refers to the examination and redesign of business practices to achieve greater efficiencies. Micrografx's ABC ToolKit and Maxim, from KnowledgeWare, both address this corporate trend by providing graphical analysis tools.

ABC ToolKit is a three-part product that offers a graphical diagramming tool, charts and graphs for further analysis, and a book that describes how to manage organizational change. Maxim focuses more specifically on the processes. Either tool can get you on the road to examining how things currently work and how they can be improved.

The key part of ToolKit is the ProcessAnalyzer, which is a nearly identical copy of Micrografx's ABC FlowCharter. FlowCharter, reviewed in the May 1994 issue, is distinguished by its rich set of diagramming tools. With a similar set of tools, you can create a picture of almost any business process using the shapes and connectors in ProcessAnalyzer. You also can add fields to each shape, such as the cost or number of staff hours to complete each task in the illustration. ProcessAnalyzer shares the same file format with FlowCharter, so illustrations are interchangeable between the two products.

The second major element of ToolKit is the DataAnalyzer. This module takes data from a mini-spreadsheet and turns into a chart or graph. You can, for example, create Pareto charts, which identify process problems according to their frequency as a percent of the whole. You also can create histograms, scatter diagrams, pie charts, run charts that show changes over time, and control charts to display changes in a process over time. You can annotate the charts; add, change and delete data points; zoom in and out; change the background and chart colors; and add graphics.

The last piece of the package is Eating the Chocolate Elephant, a book written by Mark Youngblood, Micrografx's Vice President of Management Systems. The book summarizes a variety of reengineering theories and practices. It also proposes a new theory called Total Process Management, which seeks to encompass the best of current methodologies. It's an easy and enjoyable read with some practical suggestions.

ToolKit's problem is that its tools aren't integrated. Rather than reusing values from one module in another, I had to reenter them. Also, ProcessAnalyzer does little with the data you feed it, other than export it to a spreadsheet format, a shortcoming that is shared by Maxim.

Maxim takes a slightly different approach, working with two types of charts. You define the processes within a work flow and Maxim creates a flowchart. Because you specify which organizational unit does what, you can switch your focus from the process to the organization, and can examine how units relate. You can attach expenses to processes, but you'll have to export this data to a worksheet for analysis.

As a diagramming tool, Maxim is weak. You're limited to rectangles, decision diamonds, arrows and annotations. There is only one level of zoom--you can see everything or a close-up of a specific area. Maxim's documentation is principally on-line and it includes a tutorial that provides an overview of the program.

Examining your business for weaknesses and making changes in procedures and processes is a worthy endeavor. But ToolKit doesn't bring enough to the table to justify its cost over a copy of ABC FlowCharter. With Maxim, you work more directly with people and processes rather than the diagram itself, but it lacks ToolKit's extensive toolset.

Either tool will get you going, but you may need more help before you can remake your company.

ABC ToolKit 1.0

Price: $895

In Brief: A combination of a flowcharting and diagramming tool with charts and graphs.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 48%

(both modules)

RAM: 4MB

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-234-1769

Maxim 1.0

Price: $495

(introductory price: $295)

In Brief: A set of diagramming tools that lets you look at the work flow or organization to help determine bottlenecks.

Disk Space Required: 14MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 8MB

KnowledgeWare Inc.

800-444-8575, 404-231-8575

DYNADESIGNER-CAD WITH CROWD APPEAL

By: LYNN GINSBURG

With the onslaught of new CAD (computer-aided design) programs for Windows comes the latest marketing concept--CAD for the masses. DynaDesigner is not only intended for the usual CAD audience--professional designers, architects and engineers--but it's also meant for novices and hobbyists.

But are the masses ready for CAD? Ditek's DynaDesigner offers a technical toolset that design professionals should be familiar with, yet novices may be overwhelmed by the CAD-specific features behind the icon-driven interface. Compared with many CAD programs that cost thousands of dollars, however, DynaDesigner's $249 anticipated Street price does lend it mass market appeal. For those who wish to tackle a CAD program for the first time, or for experienced designers looking for an easy entry into the Windows environment, DynaDesigner offers powerful and flexible CAD functionality at an entry-level price.

Due in part to fears of sluggish performance under Windows and an entrenched DOS following, CAD programs have been latecomers to Windows. But programs such as DynaDesigner offer the advantages that come with a well-designed Windows interface. The interface is icon-driven, with pull-down menus and dialog boxes, floating tool palettes, quick-access palettes, and multiple tool settings. While these amenities are a vast improvement over interfaces of the past, they merely provide more streamlined access to what is inherently a complicated process.

You can work simultaneously on multiple drawings as well as multiple views of a single rendering. There's also an overview window that displays entire drawings in miniature form. This lets you navigate large drawings quickly and zoom and scroll the overview window to change the view in the drawing area. You also can copy, edit and paste within or between drawings, and make good use of the program's unlimited number of undo and redo levels.

DynaDesigner offers a wealth of powerful CAD features for such a low-priced product. You can create grouped entities to form symbols, which then can be added to the program's supplied symbol libraries or stored in new user-defined libraries. Templates let you control drawing settings such as scale, drawing size, tool settings, display coordinates, colors and views.

Associative dimensioning establishes a link between an entity and its dimension so that any changes made to the entity will be automatically reflected in the dimension. The inference engine is used to identify snap locations within existing entities such as bisect, end, intersect, midpoint and origin. DynaDesigner also supports import and export filters such as .DXF up to Release 12, .DEF and .EPS, and .WMF for export.

For experienced CAD users, DynaDesigner offers the Command Line Interpreter (CLI), which lets you issue and edit text-based commands. The CLI can be used in place of, or in combination with, the GUI. The CLI is analogous to a macro language. You can create your own command structures or use those supplied by third-party developers.

Although the Windows graphical interface may be familiar to novice users, the CAD-specific terms and concepts used throughout the manual to describe the basic program features require a larger degree of technical understanding. As a result, a novice will find that DynaDesigner has a fairly steep learning curve.

Professional designers will find that DynaDesigner offers the complexities of much more expensive products for a fraction of the cost. And while CAD software may not yet be a SOHO marketer's dream, a firmer footing in the Windows market will continue driving prices down, helping to make it more accessible to a wider audience.

DynaDesigner

Price: $249

In Brief: DynaDesigner combines powerful CAD features with a streamlined Windows interface, but despite its entry-level price, this is no program for the uninitiated.

Disk Space Required: 13MB

System Resources: 13%

RAM: 4MB

Ditek Software Corp.

905-479-1990, fax 905-479-1882

FOLIO VIEWS 3.1 INFOBASE PRODUCTION KIT-INTELLIGENCE GATHERING

By: JAMES E. POWELL

It's not enough anymore to just access information. You have to be able to put your finger on the specific information you need, when you need it. Folio Views 3.1 Infobase Production Kit contains everything you need to create and manage an infobase, Folio's name for a collection of information.

To create an infobase, you import files from other applications or, less frequently, create your document within the Views environment. It's easy to add hypertext jumps to other sections of the infobase or to an entirely separate reflection of data. It's just as simple to attach a pop-up window to a word so that clicking on it displays a box with descriptive text or graphics.

Views handles more than just text, however. Fields can store text, date, time, integers or floating-point data. You even can have a different set of fields for each record. Views supports bitmap, metafile and multimedia files, so you can add graphics elements, too.

You can create an infobase using an outline format. Infobase users will see a table of contents with plus and minus signs for expanding and contracting subjects. So a single click can reveal the details or collapse the table of contents back down to its most general level.

These users can search for data based on single words or phrases. The program's query facility is blazingly fast, and its Query Map shows the number of hits as you type, so you can add to search criteria until you narrow the number of found occurrences to a manageable amount. If the user is not sure what to look for, there's a list of words that have already been indexed.

For the most part, developing an infobase is easy, but turning existing documents into an infobase is awkward, because the program imports only ASCII and mainstream word processor formats (Word, WordPerfect and .RTF). For 45 additional filters, you'll have to get the optional $195 Add-On Pack.

For large-scale jobs, you'll probably want to use FSR, the Folio Search and Replace utility that copies and converts ASCII text files into a Folio flat file, which you annotate with codes (for formatting, for example), then use as input to create an infobase. View's search-and-replace feature lets you use wildcard searches.

Version 3.1 adds query templates, which are used to create custom dialog boxes to help your users find information. This version also adds a Clear Current Query feature to remove all highlighted words, returning the infobase to its normal state. New, too, is the ability to open multiple instances of Views to consult serveral infobases simultaneously.

The majority of the documentation is on-line in the form of a tutorial and reference guide. Even the help file is a Views file. Fortunately, with all of Views' power, that's a good choice.

Views takes 20MB of hard disk space for a complete installation, but the infobase itself is compressed (by up to 50 percent, according to the company). The Production Kit also includes a Validator feature for finding missing or invalid links, a Rights Manager for setting user security, and several infobases to use as models when building your own.

Views is useful when your data is minimally structured. Unlike Lotus SmarText, however, it lacks some automation tools. For example, SmarText can create the hypertext jumps for you by examining your input, and you can specify the frequency that a word should appear to warrant its being a jump destination.

Views can't be beat, however, for its speed. When you add information, your infobase is instantly reindexed and compressed. It's pure unadulterated speed at its best.

Folio Views 3.1 Infobase Production Kit

Price: $895

In Brief: A development tool for creating documents that combine text and graphics with support for hypertext jumps and pop-up windows, and an incredibly fast search engine.

Disk Space Required: 20MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 4MB

Folio Corp.

800-543-6546, 801-344-3710

REV TO DX4-CPU SWAP BOOSTS PERFORMANCE

By: BEN MYERS

Both you and your PC might be Pentium ready, but if you need a performance boost right now, Intel's Pentium OverDrive processor is still more promise than power. REV TO DX4 can help turn a tiring 486 into a 100MHz burner in about 15 minutes.

The REV TO DX4 is good news for you if you have a 25MHz or 33MHz Intel 486DX-powered PC, since formerly your best alternative would have been an upgrade to a clock-doubled 486DX2. If you already have a DX2-based PC, your best bet would be trading up to another PC or replacing the motherboard. By itself, the Intel 486DX4 chip isn't a solution either because the DX4 operates at 3.3 volts and most motherboards use 5-volt power.

The REV TO DX4 kit gives your 486DX a quick infusion of raw horsepower. It's easy to install in most PCs, though it may be a bit pricey. The kit centers around the clock-tripled Intel 486DX4 processor with its 16KB of internal cache memory. The processor is mounted on a card barely larger than the chip itself (2.13 inches square). On the bottom of the card are tiny DIP switches used to match the DX4 to the target system. A 100MHz 486 installed in a 5-volt motherboard can be a hot performer indeed, so you'll need to add the clip-on heat sink and fan to maintain a cool operating temperature.

If your PC is equipped with a zero-insertion force (ZIF) processor socket, installation is a snap. Throw the lever on the ZIF socket, remove the 486DX processor, set the DIP switches on the REV TO DX4, make sure it's oriented correctly, plug it in and throw the ZIF lever back again to lock the unit in place. Then, just clip the heat sink and cooling fan on top of the DX4 and attach the fan to a 5-volt power lead from the PC's power supply.

If your PC has an older low-insertion force (LIF) processor socket, Evergreen supplies a chip extraction tool that you use to pry the processor out of its socket. It's really best to use two chip extractors, exerting equal force on opposite sides of the chip to avoid bending its pins as it comes free. After removing the old CPU, you press the REV TO DX4 into place and install the fan. You will need more time and patience to do this sort of installation. Too much exerted force when extracting or installing the chip could result in a cracked motherboard. To take the maximum precautions, you should remove the motherboard and perform processor brain surgery on a flat and static-free work area.

K eep in mind, too, that the REV TO DX4 includes a fan. With the fan instal-led, it stands taller than a CPU alone would, rising about an inch above the motherboard's surface. You may need to rearrange other boards depending on the location of the processor socket. Before you buy a REV TO DX4 kit, you should take a peek inside. On some motherboards, the socket is directly underneath a disk drive bay, making an upgrade impossible.

My test system was equipped with a Micronics EISA/VL motherboard, a Matrox VL-Bus MGA graphics card, an Adaptec 2842 VL-Bus SCSI host adapter and a 510MB Conner hard disk. I ran WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests on the system with a 33MHz 486 CPU, a 66MHz DX2 and with the REV TO DX4 installed. FOD and floating-point test results nearly tripled compared with a 33MHz 486DX. There were also less dramatic improvements on the video and disk test results. The performance of most Windows apps improved just as dramatically. You can expect comparable improvements with some variations, due to the type of graphics card, amount of external cache memory and the organization of system memory on your PC.

Considering the time, money and labor involved with other upgrade alternatives or replacing your entire system, the REV TO DX4 is a good deal. It will be an even better deal as the price of the Intel 486DX4 drops.

REV TO DX4

Price: 100MHz DX4, $675 to $800; 75MHz DX4, $550 to $675; REV TO DX4, $79 (without CPU); fan, $29

In Brief: REV TO DX4 is an easy way to triple system performance. As the price of DX4 CPUs drops, the cost of a REV TO DX4 upgrade will drop, too.

Evergreen Technologies Inc.

503-757-0934, fax 503-757-7350

COLLABRA SHARE WORKGROUP-ELECTRONIC SOAP BOX FOR LANS

By: ARTHUR GERMAIN III

Collabra Share Workgroup edition is a meeting place that sets up its conference room on your LAN. It lets you create electronic discussion groups where messages, documents and graphical images can be shared and exchanged. An optional addition, the Enterprise Extensions, uses your e-mail system's infrastructure to replicate messages between post offices and for remote access.

Once Share has been installed on your network and appropriate directory privileges have been granted to users, you also must install it at network workstations. You can either install the full package at each workstation, or just the necessary .DLLs and .INI files to allow the workstation to run the software from the server. The Administrator module lets you create or remove user identification files for members of specific discussion groups or forums.

With the beta version of the software, I created a number of local workgroup users on a NetWare server. I also used the beta version of the Mail Agent Enterprise Extension to test its remote mail access.

The Share program is the main application. The program's interface, called a library, is similar to Program Manager, with a series of icons representing forums. You can customize your view to display only those forums in which you're actively participating.

A forum comprises categories which, in turn, contain messages. The messages are threaded, which means that you can follow the discussion by reading the message posted originally and the replies and comments that it generated. When new messages are added, they are indexed to allow text searches.

In the beta versions, any user could create a forum and grant access privileges. Collabra said that the shipping version will give the administrator more control over this process.

When a new forum is created, it appears to other Share users in their libraries. You can double-click on a forum icon and get the option of sending a request for membership to the forum moderator. The moderator may discriminately decide who can join a forum or open it to anyone.

Essentially, Share lets you set up the same kind of messaging and group discussion facilities within your company that are provided by commercial on-line services such as CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online. The difference, of course, is that you have full control over who uses your Share messaging system and now it's used.

The Enterprise Extensions are a series of user-configurable agents that monitor e-mail. I tested the E-mail Agent, which lets participants use the installed e-mail system to post forum messages, request memberships, receive threads and create replies.

I set up a Mail Agent to watch a forum for changes and post these changes to e-mail users that subscribed to the forum. The agent must be active on a local workstation in order to process requests, but only one agent is necessary for each Share site.

As a Share user, I was able to make requests and receive data using a special set of commands that are similar to those used when accessing an Internet FTP server.

Collabra works with cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail, Lotus Notes and Windows for Workgroups, among other VIM-, MAPI- and MHS-based mail systems.

Collabra said that it also is working with Microsoft to develop a version of Share that will work with Chicago and MS Information Exchange, Microsoft's forthcoming e-mail program.

Collabra Share Workgroup Edition

Price: Workgroup Edition, $699 (10-user license); $5,999 (100-user license)Enterprise Extensions, $899

In Brief: With this groupware program, you can leverage your e-mail system and create a fully categorized messaging service where users can swap information or conduct electronic conferences.

Collabra Software Inc.

800-474-7427, 415-940-6400

PHOTOMORPH 2.0-FANCY HELPS FASHION NEW FORMS

By: LYNN GINSBURG

You've seen it on TV and at the movies, and now, photomorphing is coming to a desktop near you. PhotoMorph 2.0 won't turn your PC into a special-effects wizard's workstation, but it will let you produce a variety of dazzling special effects while having very little effect on your wallet.

You don't need an advanced degree in video engineering, thanks to the program's ease of use and streamlined accessibility. But, unless you've got lots of time on your hands, PhotoMorph 2.0 is best appreciated with a swift CPU and loads of RAM.

Morphing creates a believable effect of one object changing into another over a series of frames. It works with a starting object, such as an egg, and a final object, such as a chicken; the morphing effect creates a transition where the first object turns into the second seamlessly. You can see examples of morphing at just about any time on television: A car becomes a tiger in a gasoline commercial, or one person shaves his constantly changing face.

PhotoMorph 2.0 sets up the morphing metaphor very simply. You define a start image and an end image, and the program's animation features build the multiple in-between frames that create the morphing effect. In addition to morphing, the program also provides other special-effects filters, including colorize, distort, overlay, transition and warp.

The project editor is the program's core module from which you access controls for all of the filter types and animation features. You control the animation parameters and storyboard display, and you can launch the filter editors and clip options. The filter editors provide a variety of image manipulation tools specific to the selected special effect. For instance, in the morph/warp editor, you define corresponding points in the start and end images that determine the paths for the morphing transition. In the distortion editor, you have a variety of special effects to choose from, including pinch, ripple, rotate, spherize, and zoom in and out. The clip editor lets you control the color shift and movement speed. All of these modules are very easy to use, with context-sensitive help and slide controls.

Lurking beneath this user-friendly interface are powerful tools for producing professional video special effects. The program supports three 32-bit formats, including .BMP, .TGA and TIFF.

Eight of the 32 bits are reserved for alpha channel, which provides expanded control for specifying transparency levels. Blue screening lets you overlay one moving sequence onto another moving sequence. You could, for example, overlay an image of a running man onto a background of a street, so that the man appears to be running down that street. Other professional-level features include luminance and chroma keying, motion morphing and motion warping of video clips, an extensive transition editor, and the titling of video clips with support for TrueType and PostScript fonts.

Trying to use such powerful tools on a standard PC, however, results in staggeringly slow performance. On a 33MHz 486DX with 8MB of RAM, the simplest morphing sequence took over four minutes to compile. I had at least a four-minute wait for each edit I made to the sequence. The program does offer a preview mode that will selectively render one frame of the animation at a time to give you a sense of what in-between frames of the sequence will look like. But to really get a look at how the whole morphing transition works, you'll still need to do a full render. To counter this speed deficit, the user manual recommends a Pentium PC with PCI bus, a 24-bit PCI VGA card, 32MB of RAM and an AVI accelerator card. Obviously, this is a far cry from the minimum system requirements, and it represents a substantial investment for the casual user.

Still, PhotoMorph 2.0 gives you a low-cost entry into the world of morphing. But you'll either invest in a lot more RAM to help speed things along, or find useful ways to pass the time as the compiler's count-down bar slowly ticks along.

PhotoMorph 2.0

Price: $149.95

In Brief: Anyone can create professional-quality special effects with this easy-to-use program, but you'll need high-end hardware to enjoy it.

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

North Coast Software Inc.

800-274-9674, 603-664-6000


First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 3

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved-Part 3

IN THIS FILE

miroVideo DC1 tv

Transform 3.0 and Slicer 1.0

AcerNote 780CX

Track Records 1.5

NetCruiser

FrontRunner 1.02

Microsoft Natural Keyboard

Emergency Disk 1.0 and SpeedTools 1.0

Carpe Diem 1.0

Alaris SkyEagle

Power Pak 4.0

OOgler 1.0

Kurzweil Voice 1.0

Evergreen Notes 1.0

MIROVIDEO DC1 TV-VIDEOTAPE DISPENSER

By: WILLIAM GEE

You can enter the world of high-quality desktop video production for less than $1,000 with the miro-Video DC1 tv video capture and playback board.

The board accepts PAL, NTSC and SECAM video formats via its RCA and S-video (S-VHS and Hi8) connectors. After capturing video sequences, you can edit the scenes and then record the results on standard videotape using real-time Motion JPEG compression. The board comes with a software bundle that includes the tools you need to do Windows-based video production.

The combination of hardware and software makes this an excellent all-in-one-box solution. Among the software offerings is U-Lead VideoStudio, a group of applications that you can use to create video sequences and to apply special effects, including text overlays. Adobe Premiere, which is available as a $100 option, provides an extremely useful supplement to the package with its video editing and production tools. And rounding out the software suite are Microsoft Video for Windows 1.1 runtime and the Capture real-time Motion JPEG codec driver.

Depending on the complexity of your system's configuration, installation of the miroVideo DC1 tv can vary from simple to fairly involved. In any case, you don't have to bother with pesky jumpers and switches on the hardware, because the full-length board is software configurable. Before using the miroVideo DC1 tv, I had to install the Video for Windows drivers and manually copy the miroVideo DC1 tv Motion JPEG Capture driver and associated help files from the diskette. The manual aspects of the installation process, while somewhat awkward, are fully described in the user manual. Once installed, you use the software to configure the card for your system.

But to complete the configuration you have to have a good grasp of available systems resources so that you can allocate properly what the board requires. You will have to determine your system's available I/O address range, video memory range, interrupt and DMA channel. The configuration is somewhat simplified--and the likelihood of conflicts lessened--as each parameter has a range of choices to select from. Although the software doesn't search for any potential resource conflicts, a reminder does appear to make necessary adjustments to your memory manager. The user manual outlines the entire process of excluding a specified memory range in both CONFIG.SYS and SYSTEM.INI files.

Once you get down to some serious video production work, you'll probably need a television set and a VCR/camcorder. You should also count on having a fairly hefty host system. If you intend to create video sequences for videotape, you may want to consider using a high-end Pentium-based multimedia system with tons of fast disk storage. Otherwise, using a standard 486DX machine with local-bus video would be an acceptable platform.

For an effective digital video production workstation, a high-quality video capture and playback board is only part of the picture. Before you start in on that 30-minute video production documenting your last trip to the Grand Canyon, you should be aware that broadcast quality .AVI files (30 frames per second with 44.1kHz stereo sound) can be huge. For example, a 10-second video capture can produce a file as large as 7MB, depending on how the quality was adjusted. You should also know that the highest resolution for an .AVI file is 320x240 pixels. The user manual that comes with the miroVideo DC1 tv does an excellent job addressing all the issues involved, with discussions about the many variables that can affect the overall performance of a desktop video production.

For those who are serious about video production, want professional-level equipment and require high quality output, the modestly priced miroVideo DC1 tv digital video capture and playback card is an excellent addition to any capable multimedia system.

miroVideo DC1 tv

Price: $899 ($999 with Adobe Premiere)

In Brief: This hardware and software package brings digital video production to your Windows desktop.

miro Computer Products

800-249-6476, 415-855-0940

SPYGLASS TRANSFORM 3.0 & SPYGLASS SLICER 1.0-CUT CLEAR THROUGH DENSE DATA

By: RANJIT S. SAHAI

No matter what kind of research you do, you're probably collecting numeric data. Slicer and Transform from Spyglass can help you analyze that data by graphically presenting it.

Whether the information you're compiling is census data, monthly temperatures, wind speeds, or horizontal shear stress distribution on a plane, the information boils down to numbers. Making sense of this information can be a daunting task without the help of computer-based analytical software. The graphical representations provided by both of these programs can help reveal the more subtle implications of numerical data.

Depending on the nature of the phenomena you are investigating, the data you gather may be tabular (two dimensional) or volumetric (three dimensional). Transform helps you visualize tabular data in a wide variety of ways, and Slicer represents volumetric data in gloriously rendered detail.

You can use a spreadsheet to chart tabular data, but the charts you get from them are geared more for summary data sets in a business environment. For vast amounts of data common to research, scientific and technical applications, you need the ability to create the color-graded raster images; contour, surface and vector plots; histogram and line graphs that Transform delivers. The Program's ability to overlay one type of plot on another, such as a color raster image superimposed on a vector or contour plot, is particularly helpful in visualizing data.

Transform is highly interactive. One of the features I enjoyed is how it dynamically highlights the active cell or range that you select in the data window. It wraps a rectangular box around the selected data on the graph, so you always know which number is represented at a particular location on the graph. Other highlights of the program are its macro language, its ability to communicate with Mathematica using its MathLink protocol, and support for data and image import in several formats.

While Transform offers several plot types, Slicer is built upon a powerful rendering engine. It can import both two- and three-dimensional data in a variety of formats, such as .HDF, ASCII, netCDF, .AVS and others. It provides tools to quickly and interactively define slices and isosurfaces and render them. The program's ability to let you control the transparency characteristics of a selected set of rendered data means you can spot trends more easily. Slicer also lets you place titles on your images, print them or export them for use in other programs.

Both Slicer and Transform are implemented using Win32s libraries to run as 32-bit applications under Windows 3.1 and as native applications under Windows NT. Both use the binary public domain .HDF file format for saving data.

With both Transform and Slicer, you can generate animation files in the standard .AVI format. A runtime version of Microsoft Video is included with both products.

Though there is little on-line assistance for either program, the manuals for both programs are very well written. Each also has an on-line tutorial that will help get you up and running with the software quickly. To run these applications your video board must support at least 256 colors.

Transform and Slicer are specialized applications, but if you deal with vast amounts of numeric data and need to make sense of it, they can be worthy analytic companions.

Transform 3.0 and Slicer 1.0

Price: Transform, $595; Slicer, $695

In Brief: Transform lets you graphically visualize tabular data in a variety of ways to better decipher its hidden traits, while Slicer displays 3-D volumetric data.

Disk Space Required: 10MB (each)

System Resources: Transform, 4%, Slicer, 5%

RAM: 8MB

Spyglass Software Inc.

800-647-2201, 217-355-6000

ACERNOTE 780CX-HOT CPU PLUS COOL GRAPHICS

By: JIM FORBES

Surprises are nice. And Acer's newest notebook computer, the AcerNote 780cx, offers features and performance that really took me by surprise.

A few months back I took a look at another Acer note-book offering, the AcerNote 735c, and I wasn't particularly impressed with that machine. But, that was then and this is now. The AcerNote 780cx is impressive.

In fact, the AcerNote 780cx is one of the best notebooks I've looked at in a long time. It features some subtle--and not so subtle--differences from Acer's earlier notebook offerings. The very unsubtle differences include a 75MHz Intel 486DX4 processor and an active-matrix color screen supported by a graphics accelerator.

The standard memory configuration for the AcerNote 780cx is 8MB. The notebook also has two stacked Type II PCMCIA slots, an integrated trackball, a 340MB hard disk and a built-in 3.5-inch drive. The color active-matrix display measures 9.5 inches diagonally. Total traveling weight for the notebook and its charger is about 7 pounds.

I used the AcerNote 780cx for a month and came to appreciate its performance, crisp display and hard disk. I also grew accustomed to the keyboard and the layout of the controls, as well as the big, 19mm trackball that made it easy to position the cursor precisely. I tested the PCMCIA expansion slot with several different cards without experiencing any incompatibilities or related difficulties.

The AcerNote 780cx's battery lasted about 2.5 hours with its advanced power management scheme enabled. That's actually a rather respectable running time for a system with an active matrix display. Acer's AC charger fully recharges the battery in about three hours.

There may be lighter notebooks available that have similar feature sets, but the AcerNote 780cx's performance more than justifies carrying around the extra half pound or so.

On WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests, the AcerNote 780cx's DX4 processor clocked 37.05 MIPS, ample horsepower for running presentation graphics or crunching complex spreadsheets. Its 1.6MB-per-second disk-transfer rate and 2.15-million-pixel-per-second video performance are both respectable marks for notebook PCs.

AcerNote 780cx

Price: $3,999 (as tested)

Acer America Corp

800-368-2237, 408-432-6200

TRACK RECORDS 1.5-DEVELOPERS GET HELP FOR BUG EXTERMINATION

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Track Record helps software developers keep tabs on programming bugs, modifications and releases. Track Record is based on three concepts: Items, the individual bugs, program features or other bits of information; Views, used to display information; and Queries, used to find information.

The program supplies a predefined template for tracking bugs, with fields for description, project name, priority, deadline, status and the date work is completed. To speed data entry, you can have templates with fields that fill automatically. In fact, you can have several default values to plug into a template, based on your predefined criteria.

Track Record can be used by individuals or workgroups. When shared, project mem-bers can use queries to select the bugs and associated tasks for which they're responsible.

There's also a calendar for scheduling tasks. New in this version is a facility for graphically showing trends, such as bugs or unfinished work fixed over time .

Other enhancements make Track Record easier to use. You now get descriptive information on the status line as you move the cursor, and you can choose a view or query to display from a list of the last five used. You can divide projects into more manageable parts, and items can be linked--associating a bug with a document that describes the fix, for example.

The program is unconventional and takes time to learn. But the user guide cov-ers the basics, and includes a tutorial.

Track Records 1.5

Price: $159

UnderWare Inc.

800-343-7308, 617-267-9743

NETCRUISER-TOP DOWN ON THE INFO HIGHWAY

By: RICH CASTAGNA

Navigating the Byzantine routes of the information highway often is more like parallel parking an 18wheeler than barreling down the autobahn. With NetCruiser, Netcom is trying to make probing the Internet as easy as a Sunday drive through CompuServe, Prodigy or America Online. I took a beta version of the program out for a spin.

Netcom is an Internet access provider with Points of Presence (POPs) in 40 cities for local phone call access. The company plans to double the number of POPs by around the middle of 1995. The NetCruiser software is free when you subscribe to Netcom's service.

The first time you run NetCruiser, its opening screens bear more than a passing resemblance to America Online (AOL): Netcom borrowed the idea of making registration an easy, fill-in-the-blanks proposition. As with AOL, a list of phone numbers appears from which you can select the one nearest to you.

NetCruiser's interface is easy to use, too. You have button-bar access to six Internet areas including mail, Usenet News, Telnet, FTP, Gopher and the World-Wide Web. These six services comprise an enormous wealth of available information--from silly to serious.

If you use a standard comm program to tool around the Internet, you have to learn (and remember) a lot of fairly arcane commands. Not so with NetCruiser. In fact, you can spend hours gathering bon mots without ever touching your keyboard. For Telnet and Gopher, you click on a map of the U.S. and then choose from a pull-down list of available services in that region. You then click on a list of articles to read, and if you like one, another click or two will save a copy to your hard disk.

Sending mail is as easy as using a network e-mail system. A click on the mail button opens a window where you type an address and your message. Another click and it's winging its way over the wires.

I tested NetCruiser at 9600bps and spent more time finger tapping than tapping into information. You'll do much better at 14.4Kbps or higher, especially for the World-Wide Web's graphics-laden services.

NetCruiser is a great way to learn about the Internet. It's also a no-fuss on-ramp for information highway experts.

NetCruiser

Price: $25 with Internet access subscription, $19.95 per month (40 hours)

Netcom On-Line Communication Services

800-501-8649 ext.2601, 408-345-2600, info@netcom.com

FRONTRUNNER 1.02-WINDOW OPEN FOR DOS PROMPT PARTISANS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

DOS devotees can come out of the closet and move into a box. Front Runner's DOS box, that is.

FrontRunner provides a scrollable DOS box lets you use your mouse, to copy and paste, and lets you launch a Windows application.

You can create a moveable button bar for your favorite applications, or use a pull-down menu for access to programs and groups. A customizable status bar at the bottom of the screen shows the date, time, system re-sources and a list of your last commands. Rounding out the utility set is File Find, which lets you click to open a file even as a search continues.

FrontRunner's Visual Batch Language lets you extend DOS batch files with dialog boxes that act as graphical front ends for user input. The Visual Batch Language is a simple solution for getting a text string or two without a lot of intricate programming.

For Windows users who can't quite break the DOS prompt habit, FrontRunner is a slick way to get the best of all possible worlds.

FrontRunner 1.02

Price: $139

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 4MB

Phar Lap Software Inc.

800-292-99622, 617-661-1510

NATURAL KEYBOARD-LIGHT AT END OF CARPAL TUNNEL

By: RICH CASTAGNA

Having reshaped its mouse a year or so ago, Microsoft has now applied its ergonomic expertise to making over keyboards. The Microsoft Natural Keyboard has curves and humps that are reminiscent of Microsoft's bulbous mouse, but the shape, according to Microsoft, is the result of a year and a half of research.

The Natural is a low-cost alternative to wrist cramps and finger fatigue. Its keys are split down the middle and angled, with a large spacebar bridging the gap between the two key clusters. A curved palmrest follows the contours of the split-key arrangement with the whole affair sloping up at the center.

I tested a preproduction version of the keyboard and found it comfortable, although it did take a few minutes to get used to it. The most noticeable difference is that your hands move much less. Using the Natural in a normal typing position, your hands approach the angled rows in a more relaxed position so that everything feels within easy reach. If you touch type, the nearly stationary position of your hands might improve your speed or accuracy. But if you tend to break the rules and reach across with your right hand to hit the exclamation point rather than probing with your pinkie, you're bound to land on some unfamiliar turf--and keys, too.

The Natural has some unique keys as well as its own software. The additions are two large keys on either side imprinted with the Windows logo, and an applications key on the right that's reserved for future use. The Windows keys work with the software to bring up an improved version of Task List called Task Manager. Task Manager shows open applications along with their icons and also lets you assign function keys to programs so that you can start them up without leaving the keyboard for the mouse. You also can rearrange windows and icons from the same dialog box.

The software also lets you use the numeric keypad to control the mouse pointer. The even numbers are for vertical and horizontal movement, and 1,3,7 and 9 move the pointer diagonally. The 5 works as the left mouse button. This arrangement is not intended to replace a mouse, but is handy for short mouse trips and precise pointer positioning.

A sonar feature locates a lost cursor by hitting it with a series of concentric circles.

Maybe the best thing about the Natural is its price. Microsoft expects the keyboard to sell for about $99--not much more than a standard keyboard and less than most ergonomic models.

Microsoft Natural Keyboard

Price $99 (estimated street price)

Microsoft Corp

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

EMERGENCY DISK 1.0 AND SPEEDTOOLS 1.0-UTILITIES SERVE UP SYSTEM SUSTENANCE

By: JAMES E. POWELL

PC Tools offers a full menu of utilities, but now Central Point serves some of its modules a la carte.

SpeedTools includes System Consultant and INI-Consultant, and a hard disk defragmenter. System Consultant analyzes your system and makes specific suggestions for improving performance. Click on the Do It button and suggestions become reality as the program makes the changes. INI-Consultant describes the settings in your .INI files. Optimizer, the defragmenter, works from within Windows and includes an option to continuously run during idle times.

Emergency Disk creates a bootable diskette so you can reboot and repair a crashed hard disk. The disk builder puts all necessary drivers, CMOS and partition settings on the bootable diskette. Also included are the DiskFix, Memory Information, Undel-ete and Unformat utilities.

All of these utilities are easy to use, and low-price .

Emergency Disk 2.0

Price: $29.95

Disk Space Required: 3MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 4MB

SpeedTools 2.0

Price: $29.95

Disk Space Required: 5MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 4MB

Central Point Software

800-964-6896,

503-690-8090

CARPE DIEM 7.0-GET A GRIP ON TIME AND BILLING

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Carpe Diem promises to help you seize the day. This time-keeping program consists of two modules: CDTracker and CDEntry.

CDTracker has individual screens for each user to record time spent working on projects. CDEntry is for the batch input of data by an administrator, such as time sheets. You record times, check totals, then close and print the batch. You also can transfer the data to an accounting system.

Carpe Diem makes entering times for projects easy, because it uses lookup tables for items such as customer codes or project numbers. Standard reports also are a breeze to create, run and print. The program's audit trails show who added, edited, closed or transferred details. You can track progress by customer, project or the task description. There's a spell checker and an as-you-type expansion of abbreviations, too.

Fields are customizable to accommodate specific data. Out of the box, Carpe Diem is designed for use by lawyers, but you can change fields such as Matters to Project or Client to better suit your needs. There are also six user-definable fields.

If you include performance goals, you can check periodically on progress and determine projected hours for the coming week, month or year. Field edit controls help ensure data integrity. You can set minimum or maximum numbers of hours for a task, prevent duplicate entries, round off time entries to the nearest one hundredth of an hour, enter negative time to "back out'' prior entries and set the allowable dates for services rendered.

You can enter flat fees for services and override tasks with nonstandard rates.

Carpe Diem also can read ASCII files from other time-keeping systems.

The program's layout is clean and simple, although you can't modify screens. For example, you can't use the mouse to change column widths on the main time-entry window.

Carpe Diem can't add hours to the workday, but it can help you see if your time is well spent.

Carpe Diem 1.0

Price: Ten-user CDEntry, $1200; 10-user CDTracker, $1,800

Disk Space Required: 5.4MB

System Resources: CDEntry, 6%; CDTracker, 8%

RAM: 94MB

ProSoft Corp.

800-477-6763, 214-386-7769, 74431.1120@ compuserve.com

ALARIS SKYEAGLE-ACCELERATOR WINGS ITS WAY THROUGH WINDOWS

By: SERDAR YEGULALP

High-speed graphics once meant high-priced graphics. But, the SkyEagle from Alaris is one of a new flock of reasonably priced Windows graphics accelerators. It's a 1MB VL-Bus card that doesn't skimp on performance or quality.

The SkyEagle supports resolutions of up to 1024x768 pixels with 256 colors with up to 16.7 million colors at lower resolutions. The card comes with drivers for Windows 3.1, Windows NT, OS/2 and applications, including AutoCAD. There's a feature connector on the card for add-ins such as a video capture board.

You install the drivers with a DOS utility that adds an applet called Display to Windows' Control Panel. When you click on it, the available resolutions and color depths are listed. I tested the SkyEagle in a 33MHz 486DX with 8MB of RAM. In this configuration, the SkyEagle turned in a 2.092-million-pixel-per-second score at 640x480 with 256 colors on WINDOWS Magazine's video test--an acceptable mark for non-graphics-intensive applications. Scrolling, opening windows, and screen refreshes were all speedy and smooth.

With its impressive price and performance, the SkyEagle isn't likely to be threatened by extinction anytime soon.

Alaris SkyEagle

Price: $189

Alaris Inc.

510-770-5700, fax 510-770-5769

POWER PAK FOR WINDOWS 4.0-LEADER OF THE PAK LENDS SPEED

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Power Pak is all about speed. The utilities in this package can jack up printing, display and storage performance significantly.

KwikPrint is a print spooler that returns you to your application quickly after executing a print command. I was returned to Notepad in less than three seconds after sending a 25-page text file to print. After sending a 10-page document to print, KwikPrint took less than three seconds to get me back to my Word document; without the utility, it took 18 seconds. KwikPrint's speed comes from its use of RAM for its print buffer, rather than spooling to the hard disk.

Power Pak's KwikScreen is a screen accelerator that can make 256-color Windows screens update up to 50 percent faster, if you're not using a graphics accelerator card. If you do have one, the utility will detect its presence and skip loading.

KwikLoad is an ingenious feature that helps Windows load faster. You run WINOPT instead of WIN and KwikLoad builds a list of the files that Windows uses to load. A line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file makes the included Super-PC Kwik cache read in these files during its idle time. When you boot Windows, many of the files are already available in cache, so initialization time is reduced. In my tests, Win-dows' loading time was con-sistently cut by an average of 33 percent.

The Super-PC Kwik cache is a good alternative to SMARTDrive. It uses Novell's DOS Protected-Mode Services driver and takes only 22KB to 24KB of conventional memory or can be loaded entirely in upper memory. A monitoring window shows you disk hits and can be minimized to an icon that shows the percent of disk reads that use the cache. Super-PC Kwik supports 32-bit disk access but not 32-bit file access. Still, Super-PC Kwik performed as well as or better than SMARTDrive with up to a 20 percent improvement, depending on the application tested.

Super-PC Kwik's CD-ROM driver was especially impressive utility. Used with a Chinon 535 external CD-ROM drive, the driver showed little improvement in data-transfer tests. But for the random seeks that CD-ROMs perform constantly, my tests showed that the average seek time was slashed from 265ms to 51ms.

The documentation is sufficiently detailed and it warns of potential conflicts while providing remedies. Power Pak offers an uninstall feature, too, but it's unlikely you'll want to use it.

Power Pak 4.0

Price: $99.95; $39.95 for Super PC-Kwik users

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 2%

RAM: 4MB

PC-Kwik Corp.

800-284-5945, 503-520-4299

OOGLER 1.0-GRAPHICS GALORE: SEEING IS BELIEVING

By: JAMES E. POWELL

OOgler does one thing and does it well. This graphics viewer can display images in 23 raster and 11 vector file formats. OOgler comes from Inset Systems, best known for Hijaak Pro, a powerful graphics manipulation and conversion program.

OOgler provides basic file information, such as the type of graphic file, and can open most popular formats, includ-ing .CGM, .PCT, .PIC, .WMF, .BMP, .DIB, .GIF, .ICO, .IMB, .JPG, .PCX, .RLE, .TGA, TIFF and .WPF.

You can display an image by double-clicking on it, or by dragging the filename and dropping it on the OOgler icon or to the OOgler screen. You can view several graphics at once, and you can zoom and pan across images. A toolbar provides easy access to most of the operations that you'll need when viewing or manipulating images

OOgler is fast, simple and straightforward. There's no fancy file conversion and you can't edit images, so you won't mess up any masterpieces. OOgler is a high-quality viewer from a company that knows its way around graphics.

OOgler 1.0

Price: $37.50

Hard Disk Space: 2.4MB

System Resources: 1%

RAM: 2MB minimum,

4MB recommended

Inset Systems

800-828-0068, 203-740-2400

KURZWEIL VOICE 1.0-UTTER BLISS FOR CHATTERBOXES

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

Talk to your PC with Kurzweil Voice and it will obey. The hardware and software combo lets you add vocal automation to Windows.

The package includes a sound card, software and a headset with a microphone. Installation of both the hardware and software is easy. The manual says it will run with 8MB of RAM. I tested it on a PC with 8MB of system memory, but at a point in the tutorial where I had to dictate some numbers, the system crashed. An additional 4MB of RAM remedied the problem.

The Voice program prompts you to enter your name and gender, and then directs you to record background noise levels so it can make some necessary adjustments. Next, the program asks you to dictate a series of numbers.

Kurzweil Voice works slowly but smoothly. During dictation, the words you say are displayed on-screen. When a word is misinterpreted, four "best guesses'' are offered. If one is right, you simply say "take'' and the number next to the word, and then Voice will make the proper association. You also can spell out words vocally using the military alphabet.

Kurzweil Voice is fun at first, but the gee-whiz feeling fades when you realize that three minutes of dictation would've taken you about a minute to type. It's also a resource sapper that leaves little memory for you to work with your business applications. Still, users with physical limitations could find it a very practical product.

Kurzweil Voice 1.0

Price: $995

Disk Space Required: 17MB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 8MB (minimum); 16MB recommended

Kurzweil Applied Intelligence Inc.

800-380-1234, 617-893-5151


First Impressions: Oct. 1994-Part 4

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved-Part 4

IN THIS FILE

Evergreen Notes 1.0

Employee Appraiser 2.0

LightSpeed PCI and Nitro PCI

Publishers Taks Force, Volume I

ATI's Graphics Pro Turbo

Visio 3.0

Long File Names 2.0

Defect Control System 2.1

Telemetry-32

EVERGREEN NOTES 1.0-FOR STICKY-NOTE ADHERENTS

By: RON BEL BRUNO

Sticky notes are a desktop staple in many offices, but with digital documents, they just can't do the job. Evergreen Notes provides the electronic glue to make notes stick to computer files.

Evergreen Notes lets you attach colored notes to any application file. But don't be misled. This program is a lot more than a timid little reminder utility. Its drag-and-drop note-linking capabilities make it a versatile solution for building help systems, annotating files and even attaching sound files. Using the linking features, you can attach an Evergreen note to a document, a dialog box, a function within a dialog box or a pull-down menu, or even an entire application.

To create links, you can just drag the note icon and drop it in the appropriate place, and then establish the link with only a few mouse clicks and key commands specific to the type of link desired. Even the most complicated linkage, the attaching of a note to an individual function, requires only three steps and takes only a couple of minutes.

Each note's size, font style and size, color scheme and screen position are easily modified from a single control panel. You can have up to 64,000 characters of text on a single note. The company says that version 2.0 of the program will include access rights for specific notes and network compatibility.

Evergreen takes only a little time to learn and just a few minutes to use, but its benefits may be substantial.

Evergreen Notes 1.0

Price: $69.95

Disk Space Required: 1MB

System Resources: 2%

RAM: 2MB

Evergreen International

800-667-4340, 604-986-6121

EMPLOYEE APPRAISER 2.0-WEIGH PERSONNEL PROS & CONS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Employee Appraiser will help you write more accurate--even more interesting--employee reviews.

The beta version of the program I tested provides some well-turned phrases and standards for your consideration. It also offers suggestions to help both you and your employee get better results following the evaluation.

You begin by entering the standard information such as employee name, job title and the review period. You set the narrative style by selecting either the second or third person. Then you choose the topics for evaluation, from communication and decision making to job knowledge and teamwork. For each topic, Employee Appraiser presents a number of factors. For example, you may select communication factors such as verbal communication, writing quality, accuracy and timeliness of reports, and the employee's choice of the appropriate methods of communication.

You can then select from a series of performance descriptions for each factor. For each rating, the program suggests review narratives. Positive and Negative buttons let you change the tone of a rating. You can use the Negative option to strengthen the tone to emphasize that the employee's performance needs improvement. If a factor is less important, the Positive button will soften criticism.

You can edit the suggested narratives after copying them into a review. The editor supplies basic word processing tools, including a 100,000-word spelling checker. You can export a review as ASCII text or a Rich Text Format file. Reviews can be password protected. The program offers a search feature that will find, for example, all references to cooperation across the entire database of reviews.

For a particular job description, you can create a template that combines a standard set of factors. You then can reuse the template for each employee with the same title.

Employee Appraiser doesn't have rating scales like Avantos' Review Writer. Rather, it provides descriptions of performance. Employee Appraiser's Language Scan caught fewer instances of inappropriate language than Review Writer, but you can add your own red flags to the predefined list. It did pick up on the phrase "bad attitude,'' which Review Writer missed.

Employee Appraiser is easy to use and clearly focused. Its topics cover just about everything, while clarifying some often cloudy topics. Best of all, you can learn to use the program in about 10 minutes.

Employee Appraiser 2.0

Price: $129

Austin-Hayne Corp.

800-809-9920, 415-610-6880

LIGHT SPEED AND NITRO-LOW-PRICE, HIGH-PERFORMANCE PCI PAIR

By: JOHN GARTNER

STB's pair of PCI graphics cards provide speed without installation hassles.

The LightSpeed is powered by a 32-bit Tseng Labs ET4000 W32P chip. It nosed out the Nitro in Wintune tests. The Nitro uses a 64-bit Cirrus Logic GD-5434, but it was slightly behind ATI's 64-bit Graphics Ultra Pro Turbo. The LightSpeed's Wintune score was 9.92 million pixels per second, while the Nitro clocked 9.25 and ATI's card registered 11.95.

Installation is easy for both cards. The LightSpeed's jumper probably won't need resetting; the Nitro is jumperless.

The Nitro supports refresh rates up to 75Hz at 1024x768 pixels and provides a bright, flicker-free display. Refresh rates for the Lightspeed are 72Hz at 800x600 and 70Hz at 1024x768. The refresh rate generates a less stable image, but overall quality is still good. Both cards also come in VL-Bus and ISA versions.

Both are solid products. The LightSpeed gets the edge in performance, while the Nitro offers a superior image.

LightSpeed PCI and Nitro PCI

Price: LightSpeed, $229; Nitro, $229

STB Systems Inc.

800-234-4434, 214-234-8750

PUBLISHER'S TASK FORCE, VOLUME I-EASY ART: CLICK, CLIP AND COLOR

By: JAMES E. POWELL

You might think clip-art collections are all the same, but if you do, you haven't seen Publisher's Task Force yet. It's a collection of 1,000 unique images on diskette and CD-ROM. But the real tally is more than a grand, because PTF includes Task Force Commander, which lets you change any color within an image simply by selecting an area and clicking on a replacement color.

Besides converting colors, Commander creates silhouettes, gray-scale or black-and-white versions, and flips images horizontally or vertically.

The images are provided in .CGM format on eight diskettes. The package also contains a CD-ROM of the same images in both .CGM and .WMF format in color, black-and-white, and gray-scale versions. Commander previews groups of images or it searches for individual pictures. Its keyword search can find individual images or groups of items, with categories as specific as padlocks and as general as people. The well-written user guide also includes full-color pictures of each image. You can create your own grouping of images, called a folder, and then work with just the folders rather than all images in the package.

You can't edit images with Commander, and you can't use it with other clip-art collections. Even so, Publisher's Task Force provides so much variety and flexibility for the price that it's difficult to quibble.

Publisher's Task Force Volume I

Price: $79

Disk Space Required: 930KB for Commander utility, image sizes may vary

System Resources: 16%

RAM: 4MB

New Vision Technologies Inc.

613-727-8184, fax 613-727-8190

ATI GRAPHICS PRO TURBO-FAST 64-BIT BOARD PUTS THE BIG HERTZ ON MONITORS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

ATI's Graphics Pro Turbo is a 64-bit true-color graphics accelerator that can handle resolutions up to 1280x1024 pixels.

I tested the 4MB of VRAM and VL-Bus version. ISA and PCI-bus versions are available, too. The board supports refresh rates of up to 100Hz. It uses ATI's mach64 chip, 64-bit VRAM memory and 64-bit display digital-to-analog converter.

The Graphics Pro Turbo drivers were perfect--I found no compatibility problems with a variety of programs. ATI includes drivers for Windows 3.1, OS/2, Windows NT, AutoCAD 386 and others.

You don't have to set any jumpers or switches on the board. The DOS-based installation program has a small list of monitors to choose from, with predefined resolutions and refresh rates. You also can use the custom setup to select screen size, image position and refresh rate. Installation also adds a program group with ATI's excellent utilities.

The FlexDesk utility lets you set the number of colors, screen size and font size. WinSwitch lets you switch among four user-defined color and screen-size settings. With DeskScan you can create a virtual desktop with a display larger than the screen.

The color correction utility lets you adjust red, green and blue to match the real color value and the way your monitor displays it. You can save and load settings.

ATI's accelerated video playback driver enhances Microsoft Video for Windows, and lets you adjust tint, brightness, color and contrast. The board also supports VESA Display Power Management System (DPMS), so you can set the standby, suspend and shutdown time if your monitor also supports DPMS.

ATI Graphics Pro Turbo

Price: 2MB, $449; 4MB, $699

ATI Technologies Inc.

905-882-2600 ext 1,fax 905-882-2620

VISIO 3.0-GRAPHICS PROGRAM IS RESHAPED

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Version 3.0 of Visio isn't a monumental upgrade, but this new release is easier to use and easier on your hard disk. Even with the beta version I tested, common operations are noticeably faster, and the new file format is a space saver. I saved some Visio 2.0 drawings using Visio 3.0 and the files were roughly half the size, regardless of the type of illustration.

Establishing connections between shapes is also sign-ificantly improved, thanks to the new Universal Connector. In previous versions you could connect two or more shapes, such as a line connecting two processes in a flowchart, and when you moved the shape, the con-necting lines were redrawn automatically. In version 3.0, the redraw feature works better. Now, when you move a connected shape, Visio will adjust the connection points to use the shortest path between the objects. This helps avoid long, twisted lines between rearranged shapes. You still can force Visio to use specific connection points, but this new intelligence is greatly welcomed.

Another time-saver is the new connector tool in the toolbar. When you click on it, the shapes are automatically connected as you drag them to the work area.

Also new is a drill-down capability, using the Sub-Maker add-on. You can click on a shape, and Visio opens another drawing page on which you can illustrate details for the selected shape. It's also easy to jump back to the original drawing.

Version 3.0 also offers two-way data exchange with Lotus Notes using Notes/FX, although I did not test this feature using the beta.

Visio is a good choice if you do a variety of graphics tasks but don't want to bother with specialized programs for each one. Visio can generate a flowchart, organizational chart, schematic diagram, network diagram and space plan. Version 3.0 adds 30 shapes for Total Quality Management used for illustrating process flow.

Another new and long overdue feature is print preview. This version's print preview also allows you to edit a drawing.

Visio 3.0

Price: $129 (estimated retail); $69 upgrade

Shapeware Corp.

800-446-3335, 206-521-4500

LONG FILE NAMES 2.0-THE SHORT AND LONG OF NAMING FILES

By: RON BEL BRUNO

When you named the file DPBDGT94.DOC it may have seemed descriptive, but a month later the meaning might be lost. Long File Names 2.0 provides an alternative to eight-character filenames.

Long File Names transparently replaces the Open, Save and Save As dialog boxes in applications, and expands the filename box in the process to accommodate up to 255 upper- or lowercase letters, spaces, numbers or symbols. So, DPBDGT94.DOC can be "Departmental Budget for 1994'' instead.

Some file management utilities latch onto a hard disk like a puppy snapping onto your sleeve. But Long File Names always gives you the option not to use it, with Old Open and Old Save As options that let you stick to eight characters. You even can disable the program entirely using its Disable utility.

A View Software spokesperson maintained that version 2.0 will work with virtually any Microsoft Windows application that uses the standard dialog box. For the rare cases of conflict, such as with ACT, View said it will provide a fix.

Given its exceptional transparency, Long File Names is a great utility for weary filename sleuths.

Long File Names 2.0

Price: $29.95

Disk Space Required: 1MB

System Resources: N/A

RAM: 4MB recommended for optimum operation

VIEW Software Inc.

800-487-8439, 415-856-8439

DEFECT CONTROL SYSTEM-QUALITY CONTROL? NO PROBLEM

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Defect Control System is the right software for when things go wrong. The program maintains a database of problems related to a product or service to help ensure timely resolutions.

The program's main screen shows your In Tray, which is like an inbox. It lists the problems or product defects that you've entered or asked the system to display. For example, you can get notices when a new defect is submitted or the status of an existing problem changes. You can create custom fields for the listing and attach supporting files to a resolution. The defect is shown in detail below the list. You can customize the detail area, but the tool provided for doing this is awkward to use.

Problems aren't routed down a predefined path. Instead, you define a series of conditions that trigger its display in your In Tray. Each defect must be assigned to someone, so it is never lost "in the system.'' When you resolve a problem, it is routed to the next person in the process. Security measures control who can submit a new defect record or change the fields of existing records.

The program's search tools can help you find anything from all outstanding defects to just the problems assigned to you. Fifteen common queries are predefined, and you can save your own query conditions for reuse.

The program offers 18 predefined reports, charts and graphs, and you can create your own. You can select records for a report by entering any starting date, but the end date always must be the current date. Reports can show trends, the severity of errors or the names of people who submitted problems.

DCS Mail Server is an optional module that extends the program's integration with e-mail systems. It automatically sends an e-mail message when predefined changes occur.

The program is easy to get up and running. The manual is adequate, but you'll learn more by working with the sample data.

Defect Control System 2.1

Price: $495 (each, for first five users); DCS Mail Server, $995

Software Edge Inc.

800-695-2303, 719-598-3713

TELEMETRY-32-CARD IS SOUND CHOICE FOR VOICE, DATA AND FAX

By: IAN ETRA

If the Swiss Army turned its attention to designing PC peripherals, they might come up with something like the Telemetry-32. This board combines the functions of a sound card, a fax modem, and a CD-ROM and IDE controller. Its CD-ROM interface works with Mitsumi, Sony and Panasonic drives.

The telephone software, the Integrated Office Terminal (IOT), acts as a telecommunications center. It displays a crude but functional depiction of a fax machine with a telephone handset, a touch-tone keypad and various labeled buttons. Clicking on the handset transforms your PC into a speakerphone.

IOT's messaging commands include Send Voice, which lets you send recorded messages and .WAV files. The fax interface is similar, with standard fax features such as cover sheets, broadcasts and delayed delivery. IOT's phone book has the necessary basics, but you can't import data.

IOT is also a message center for storing faxes and voice mail with mailboxes for individual users.

Voyetra's suite of sound and music apps is included with a sound mixer; it also contains a MIDI, .WAV and CD audio player, and a .WAV and MIDI editor.

I had trouble using the card on a PBX system, but MediaMagic said this will be addressed in a later version. The board also needs up to four IRQs and I/O addresses and two DMAs. Of course, separate boards would probably take as many or more resources.

Telemetry-32

Price: $399

MediaMagic

800-624-8654, 512-339-3500


Optimizing Windows: Paint Paintbrush In a Better Light

By: John Woram

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

The next time an "authority'' tells me that the Paintbrush applet is just so much wasted space, I think I'll establish FOPS (the Friends of Paintbrush Society). This little applet may fall a bit short of CorelDRAW, but it still packs quite a bit of power. And, of course, it's free with your copy of Windows. You can do a lot of useful things with Paintbrush, but you wouldn't know it from the documentation. Here's a look at some of Paintbrush's lesser-known functions.

•	Get the whole picture. With Windows running, you can copy the entire Desktop area into Clipboard simply by pressing the Print Screen key. If you then open Clipboard, you won't see the entire captured image, even if you maximize the window. But you can use the scroll bars to move around within the window and verify that the image is all there.

Clipboard's own File menu doesn't have a Print option, but you can paste the image into Paintbrush and then print it. If you've already tried this, however, you know there's going to be a problem. Like Clipboard, Paintbrush's work space isn't big enough to display the screen capture of the entire image. Unlike Clipboard, if you scroll around in Paintbrush, you'll find that the off-screen parts of the image are not only off-screen, they're gone.

To coax the full image into Paintbrush, open the Paintbrush Options menu. Select Image Attributes, then click on the Default button. This sets the width and height of the work area to match your screen resolution. Click on the pels (pixels) radio button in the Units box. The displayed width and height will show 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768, depending on your system configuration.

Next, open the View menu and select Zoom Out, then open the Edit menu and select the Paste option. You'll see a diagonal crosshatch on-screen but nothing else. Reopen the Edit menu and select the Paste option a second time. In a 1-2-3 sequence, the crosshatch will disappear, the pasted image will show up, and the crosshatch will come back again, this time as an overlay on the pasted image.

Finally, open the View menu again. If you click on the View Picture option, the crosshatch and Paintbrush's title and menu bars will momentarily vanish, so you can verify that the entire screen image has indeed been captured. Press any key and the whole works will come back again. Now reopen the View menu and select the Zoom In option. After you complete this multistep procedure, the entire image will be in Paintbrush. You still won't be able to see it all at once, but scrolling will show you that, at last, it's all there. To see a bit more of the image on-screen, reopen the View menu and clear the check marks next to the Palette and/or the Tools and Linesize options.

•	Get set for smooth scaling. Once you've got a screen shot in Paintbrush that's ready to print, open the Options menu, select Image Attributes and then click on the radio buttons in the dialog box that appears. If your video resolution is 800x600 pels, you'll see that it's equivalent to 8.33x6.25 inches. This makes the image just a bit too wide to fit onto conventional letter-sized paper in portrait mode.

Of course, you can switch to landscape mode, but if it's important to remain in portrait, just use the Scaling option in the Print dialog box to reduce the print size to fit within a laser printer's 8-inch limit. Because 8/8.33=0.96038, round the scaling down to the nearest integer (96 percent).

Better yet, leave the margins at their usual default (0.50 inches) and scale the image accordingly--84 percent should do it, assuming your laser printer has a quarter-inch vertical "no print'' zone on both sides of the page. Or, if you want to print the image within a specified smaller width, just divide that width by 8.33 to find the scaling required to do so. If height is the critical dimension, divide the required height by 6.25 and use that as the scaling factor. And no, you can't scale width or height independently.

•	Cut images down to size. As a variation on scaling an existing full-screen image onto paper, you may want to create a new Paintbrush picture to fit within, say, a 4x3-inch box. This one's easy: Just set the image attributes for a 4-inch width and 3-inch height and start painting.

Most projects aren't that easy, though. In a more likely scenario, you might need to paste a small portion of a larger image into a document. Perhaps the quickest way to discard the unwanted image segments is to select the desired area and copy it to Clipboard. Then clear the Paintbrush work space and paste the image back into it. So far, so good.

But what's the size of the selected image? As far as Paintbrush is concerned, you're still working on an 800x600 image (or whatever the current image attributes are). The fact that the image is now surrounded by a large white area doesn't bother Paintbrush, but you'll waste a lot of hard-disk real estate if you save all that blank space. The space will also surround the image if you paste the saved bitmap into a document. As an alternative, you can guess the width and height, set the image attributes accordingly, then paste the image into a new window and fiddle around with it until you get it right. But there is a better, and faster, way.

To cut the file down to size, save a temporary copy of the entire work area as TEMP.BMP. If you have a RAM disk, save the file there so that if you forget to delete it later on, it will disappear when you power down. But for now, after saving the image, copy the desired image segment to Clipboard, open the Write applet and paste the image into a new document. Then double-click on the pasted image in the Write document. A new Paintbrush window will open, and the image attributes will automatically encompass just the area required to display the image.

Now, open the File menu, select Save As, and enter a new name. The new file will be only as big as it needs to be to save the image and nothing else. To check the image size, click on the Info button. A Picture Information box will display the image's width and height in pels.

This box is the only reliable indicator of the image attributes for the current Paintbrush image. If you open any bitmap file in Paintbrush and select the Option menu's Image Attributes, the reported width and height may be either the default for your video resolution, or the size of the last image pasted into the work area, but not the size of the newly opened file.

Also in the Picture Information box, the Colors figure is the default for your current system configuration. This could mean you're wasting a lot of space every time you save a bitmap file from Paintbrush. Both 16-color and 256-color bitmap files use a 54-byte header, followed by an RGB table of 4 bytes per color; that is, either 64 bytes (16-color) or 1,024 bytes (256-color). Next comes the bitmap data itself, at either 4 (16-color) or 8 (256-color) bits per pixel.

Therefore, a 256-color bitmap is typically two to three times the size of a 16-color bitmap. If your system's configured for 256 colors, but you don't need that color depth for your bitmap files, select the File menu's Save As option. At the bottom of the dialog box, open the Save File as Type box and choose 16-color bitmap.

•	Paint a bitmap of a different color. To change the color in part of a bitmap image, just click the primary mouse button on the desired color box at the bottom of the Paintbrush window. Then select the paint roller on the left side of the window. When you place the mouse pointer anywhere in the work area, you'll see a paint roller with the desired color seemingly flowing from the roller. Move the roller so the paint flow points to the colored area you want to change and then press the mouse button. The new color should replace the old one, which it does--sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't. It all depends on whether the original color was solid or dithered.

Here's what's going on: When you point the paint roller at an area, you're actually pointing it at a specific pixel in that area. When you click the mouse button, that pixel changes color, and the color change spreads to every adjacent pixel of the same original color until the entire selected area is repainted. To prevent the complete work area from being repainted, Paintbrush is "smart'' enough not to touch adjacent pixels of any other original color. And therein lies a slight problem.

If a color is dithered, it means the pixels within that area are not all the same value. One may be, say, solid blue, while its immediate neighbor is white. So if you point the roller in an area filled with a dithered color and press the mouse button, the selected pixel changes color, just as it should. But the adjacent pixels, being some other color, don't do a thing. As a result, you have a one-pixel spot for your trouble. Paintbrush is smart, but not smart enough.

Fortunately, there is a workaround. To experiment with it, open Paintbrush and select one of the dithered colors from the palette at the bottom of the window. If you're not sure which ones these are, just press the Alt+Print Screen keys to copy the Paintbrush window itself onto Clipboard. Then paste the image back into Paintbrush and move it as required so that the 28-color palette is visible within the work area. Now select any solid color (black's a good choice) and use the paint roller to try to paint over each color box. You'll have no trouble painting over the first seven boxes in each row, and you may be able to repaint a few of the others. All those that you can't repaint contain dithered colors.

Next, start a new Paintbrush session and select one of the dithered colors. Use the paint roller to fill the work area with the selected color. As you now know, you won't be able to repaint this area using the same procedure. But you can repaint it by doing the following: Put the mouse pointer over any new color in the palette, dithered or not, and press the secondary mouse button.

You're now ready to repaint. But instead of selecting the paint roller, double-click on the color eraser immediately above it and just below the spray can. As soon as you do this, the color change will take effect. This may bring up one more slight problem: Every area that was previously one color is now the other. If that's what you wanted to do, well then, you've just done it. But perhaps you wanted to repaint only a selected area. That, too, can be done, but it takes a bit more work. Here's how to do it:

Open two Paintbrush windows and load your finished bitmap into one of them. Select the area in which you want to do the repainting, then copy and paste it into the other Paintbrush window. Do the repainting there, so only that area is affected. Then recopy the repainted area and paste it back into the original window. It will appear in the upper-left-hand corner of the window, but you can move it until it's back where it belongs.

Before you do any serious repainting, make a protection copy of the original file, and give yourself a few practice sessions to get it right. If you have trouble sliding a repainted area back into place, you may need to open Control Panel, double-click on the mouse icon and adjust the Mouse Tracking Speed as required.

•	Put bitmaps in their place. If you do much work with Paintbrush, it's a good idea to create a BITMAPS subdirectory and move all your .BMP files into it. Then, in Program Manager, open Paintbrush's Program Item Properties dialog box and change the Working Directory to C:\WINDOWS\BITMAPS. Also, if you use one of these bitmaps as wallpaper, double-click on Control Panel's Desktop icon and enter the complete path and filename into the Wallpaper/File box.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook and The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House). Contact John care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Getting Started: When in Doubt, Toss It Out

When In Doubt, Toss It Our

Clear Up Your Cluttered Hard Disk


When In Doubt, Toss It Our

By: Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

One of the universal laws of nature is that an empty space will always get filled. This holds true for Windows computing. No matter how much hard disk space you have available, program and data files will eventually fill it up. When this happens, it's time to go in and delete the files you don't use to make room for the ones you do.

You can rid your system of unwanted files in a number of ways. I'll tell you about two utilities (one that you already own!) that will help you purge your system of any files an unwanted program places on your hard disk, and another utility that will shrink Windows down until it fits on a single, uncompressed diskette. I'll also share some tips for losing those resource-consuming icons you have in Program Manager. Finally, I'll give you a list of files you can safely delete from your DOS, WINDOWS and WINDOWS/SYSTEM directories.

Before you try any of these tips, have your Windows and DOS installation diskettes handy, and back up all the files you can't afford to be without.

Q: I'd like to delete some programs from my hard disk, but some of them have scattered .INI and .DLL files all over the disk. Is there any way to root them out and get rid of them?

A: For third-party applications (programs that do not come free with Windows), you might want to try a program called The Uninstaller ($69.95, MicroHelp Inc., 800-922-3383, 404-516-0899). This utility is specifically designed to get rid of unwanted applications, including their .INI and .DLL files. It even pores over your system files, looking for lines that may have been added during the installation of the applications you're removing.

For Windows applets, accessories and other files, you can use Windows' own Setup utility. Though nominally an installation utility, Setup also serves the opposite function. To launch Setup, go into Program Manager and double-click on the Setup icon. (Alternatively, you can open Program Manager's File menu, select Run, type SETUP in the Command Line box and then press the Enter key.)

Next, from the Options menu, select Add/Remove Windows Components. Clicking on a Component box that has an X in it will remove the X and thus tell Windows to remove the applications in that category of components.

Q: Last month you recommended the deletion of unnecessary icons to free up the system resources that icons consume. How do I decide which icons are unnecessary?

A:It helps to keep in mind that when you delete an icon, you're not deleting the program it launches. You'll still be able to launch the program by double-clicking on the program's filename in File Manager, or by opening the File menu in either File Manager or Program Manager and selecting the Run option. If you run some programs only occasionally (such as Setup, Control Panel, Calculator and so on), go ahead and delete the icons. To do so, click on them once, then press the Delete key on your keyboard and press the Enter key when you're asked if you're sure you want to do this.

One good way to organize icons is to create one program group for programs you use every day and another one for programs you use less frequently, but more than once a week. Then delete all the other icons and program groups.

Q: I have an ancient 386 notebook with a hard disk of only 40MB. I've been running DOS on it because Windows takes up way too much of my limited storage space, but I can't stand using DOS anymore. I need to install Windows. How do I go about installing the absolute minimum number of Windows files?

A: You can do it easily with a neat $15 shareware utility called Windows Lite. This utility extracts from your desktop machine just the bare minimum of files you need to run Windows, and then puts them on a diskette. That's right--a functional Windows installation that fits on a single diskette! Windows Lite then installs the Windows files on your portable PC. You can download Windows Lite (filename WLIT21.ZIP) from the WINDOWS Magazine Online area on America Online (Keyword: WinMag) or from CompuServe (GO WINUSER).

Q: I need all the hard disk space I can get, and I know there are lots of files on my system I'm not using. Which DOS and Windows files can I safely remove?

A: You can remove quite a few files without doing any harm; I've listed them in "Clear Up Your Cluttered Hard Disk'' on the preceding page. Before you go about removing the files, make sure your system is backed up and that you have the original DOS and Windows installation diskettes handy, just in case. Also, read the notes that accompany the filenames in the list to make sure you absolutely don't need the file you plan to delete.

Pssst--got any hot tips?

Normally I ask for your problems. This time I'm after your solutions. If you've got a really great tip, workaround or piece of information that optimizes, fixes or empowers Windows, send it to me and I'll publish it right here in the Getting Started column. Via "snail mail,'' send to Mike Elgan, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho NY 11753. Via e-mail, send to melgan on CompuServe, AOL, MCI Mail, BIX or The Well. On Prodigy, send to CNNB30A. If you're on the Internet, send to melgan@mcimail.com. I'm looking forward to seeing your best tips!

Mike Elgan is the executive editor of WINDOWS Magazine.


Clear Up Your Cluttered Hard Disk

Files you can delete from your DOS directory

*.BAS

*.CPI

4201.CPI,

4208.CPI

52505.CPI

APPEND.EXE (if you don't use it)

ASSIGN.COM

COUNTRY.SYS

CV.COM

DISPLAY.SYS

DOSSHELL.* (if you don't use it)

EDLIN.EXE

EXE2BIN.EXE

GRAFTABL.COM (if you don't have a CGA monitor)

HDBKUP.EXE

HDRSTORE.EXE (if you have MS DOS 6.0 or later)

INTERLNK.*

INTERSVR.* (if you don't use it)

JOIN.EXE (if you don't use it)

KEYB.COM

KEYBOARD.SYS (if you compute in English)

LCD.CPI

LINK.EXE

MSHERC.COM (if you don't have a Hercules monochrome video board)

NLSFUNC.EXE

POWER.EXE (if you're using a standard desktop PC and not a portable or Energy Star-compliant system)

PRINTER.SYS (if you don't use an IBM Proprinter model 4201, 4202, 4207 or an IBM Quietwriter 5202)

PRINTFIX.COM (if you don't use Printfix)

RAMDRIVE.SYS (if you don't use a RAM disk)

SMARTDRV.SYS

Files you can delete from your WINDOWS directory

AUTOEXEC.WIN

BOOTLOG.TXT

CLIPBOARD.* (if you never want to look at the contents of Clipboard)

CONFIG.WIN

MORICONS.DLL (if you don't use any of the icons in this file)

MOUSE.* (if you're using a third-part mouse driver)

PIFEDIT.* (if you don't run DOS apps from Windows)

PRINTMAN.* (if you don't have a printer)

RAMDRIVE.SYS (if you don't use a RAM disk)

Files you can delete from your WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory

*.2GR (if you're not running in Standard mode** or if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

*.3GR (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

APPS.INF (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

CGA40WOA.FON (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

CGA80WOA.FON (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

DOSAPP.FON (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

DOSX.EXE (if you're not running in Standard mode)

DSWAP.EXE (if you're not running in Standard mode** or if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

EGA40WOA.FON (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

EGA80WOA.FON (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

KRNL286.EXE (if you're not running in Standard mode**)

WINOA386.MOD (if you never run DOS apps from Windows)

WINOLDAP.MOD (if you're not running in Standard mode**)

WSWAP.EXE (if you're not running in Standard mode**)

* An asterisk in a filename indicates any characters.

** Chances are you're running in Enhanced mode, not Standard mode. If you're using a swap file or can run more than one DOS app at a time, then you're not in Standard mode.

One of the universal laws of nature is that an empty space will always get filled. This holds true for Windows computing. No matter how much hard disk space you have available, program and data files will eventually fill it up. When this happens, it's time to go in and delete the files you don't use to make room for the ones you do.

You can rid your system of unwanted files in a number of ways. I'll tell you about two utilities (one that you already own!) that will help you purge your system of any files an unwanted program places on your hard disk, and another utility that will shrink Windows down until it fits on a single, uncompressed diskette. I'll also share some tips for losing those resource-consuming icons you have in Program Manager. Finally, I'll give you a list of files you can safely delete from your DOS, WINDOWS and WINDOWS/SYSTEM directories.

Before you try any of these tips, have your Windows and DOS installation diskettes handy, and back up all the files you can't afford to be without.


Power Windows: Build a Rescue Diskette to Save CMOS Data

Build A Rescue Diskette to Save CMOS Data

Keep CMOS Data Safe And Sound

First-Aid Kit

Now You CMOS


Build A Rescue Diskette to Save CMOS Data

By: Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Without knowledge of your hardware configuration, your computer's BIOS can't boot up the operating system. And without an operating system, your computer is nothing but an expensive paperweight: It can't run simple programs or even start Windows. And the same will hold true when Chicago (Windows 4.0) comes along, despite the fact that you'll no longer need to run DOS.

The information that the BIOS needs is stored in your computer's CMOS memory. The combination of CMOS memory and a setup program is a major improvement over the old jumper-and-switch approach.

But it's not without its problems. For one thing, many PC/AT users have a tendency to forget where they left their original CMOS setup diskettes.

The more serious problem CMOS memory suffers from is amnesia. A lost CMOS setup diskette is a nuisance, but loss of CMOS data can be a disaster. Although the PC/AT's designers made it difficult for a program to access and change the data stored in CMOS memory, some errant programs still accidentally corrupt this information. Battery failures and other hardware problems also take a small but significant toll.

However, you can avert disaster and turn this situation into a mere inconvenience simply by being prepared. To that end, I'll show you how you can recover lost CMOS data painlessly, and even how to create a "rescue diskette'' that will restore the data for you.

Cutting your losses

But first, what do you do about that lost CMOS setup diskette? Many CMOS setup programs are now contained inside the PC's BIOS, making it darned near impossible to lose them. Pressing a certain key or combination of keys during boot-up will activate the setup program and allow you to change CMOS data. But if you're using a computer that relies on a diskette-based setup program and you've misplaced your diskette, there are a few things you can do.

To begin with, contact your computer dealer or manufacturer for a replacement diskette. The company that wrote the computer's BIOS may also be able to help. Failing that, you may be able to use a third-party CMOS setup program. For example, AMISetup is a shareware program that works with almost all AMI (American Megatrends Inc.) BIOSs found in 386- and 486-based PCs. It may also work with other BIOSs if all you need to change is the standard CMOS information, such as hard disk geometry.

Going back to the defaults

If your CMOS data has been badly damaged, you may need to rebuild it from scratch. This involves resetting the CMOS data to its factory default values, then entering as much information about your computer as you can. Most CMOS setup programs provide an option to reset CMOS data. If yours does, simply run the program and specify that option.

But don't give up hope if your setup program doesn't offer to reset the CMOS data. In many cases, pressing a certain key or key combination at the appropriate time will do the trick. Check your computer's documentation for details. If nothing seems to work, try holding down the Insert key while turning on the computer. This technique is favored by many BIOSs, including all AMI versions dated 1991 and earlier.

Once reset, your CMOS data will no longer reflect your computer's actual configuration. In most cases, the default indicates one floppy disk drive and no hard disk. Although the default settings are usually sufficient for booting from a diskette, they leave your hard disk unavailable, and may cause your computer to run more slowly than it's able.

To return your computer to its original condition, you must replace the missing CMOS data. If you're lucky, you may be able to locate the missing data by poring over your computer's documentation. But if you're prudent, you don't need to be lucky. A prudent person will create a copy of the computer's CMOS settings and save it for just such a disaster.

One way to do this is to run your computer's CMOS setup program, and then simply write down the information it displays. This method works, but it's slow and error prone. A better way is to have a computer program do all the copying for you. Then restoring the CMOS data will be as simple as inserting a diskette and rebooting your computer (you might first have to enter manually one bit of CMOS information: the drive type of A:).

Diskette to the rescue

Building such a diskette is a four-step process. First, you must make a diskette that can boot your computer. Then you need to place a copy of your CMOS data on the diskette. Next, you have to add a utility program that can copy CMOS data from a diskette to your computer's CMOS memory. Finally, you need to create an AUTOEXEC.BAT file that will run the CMOS copy utility automatically.

The first step is easy. Simply specify the /S option when formatting the diskette, as follows:

FORMAT A: /S

This will cause DOS to copy the necessary files to the diskette after formatting is complete.

Now you're ready to copy your CMOS data to the bootable diskette. My favorite program for this purpose is a shareware utility called CMOSSAVE. To copy your CMOS data to a file named MASTER.DAT on the diskette in drive A:, execute CMOSSAVE with the following command:

CMOSSAVE A:\MASTER.DAT

CMOSSAVE comes with a companion program named CMOSREST, which can copy CMOS data from a disk file to CMOS memory. That's just what you need for the next step, so copy CMOSREST to your rescue diskette. Once you've done that, you're ready to create an AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory of the diskette. The file should contain this single line:

CMOSREST A:\MASTER.DAT

This CMOSREST command copies the CMOS data you previously stored in A:\MASTER.DAT back to the CMOS memory where it came from.

That's all there is to it! From now on, whenever you boot your computer from your rescue diskette, the diskette's AUTOEXEC.BAT file will run, CMOSREST will copy MASTER.DAT to your CMOS memory, and the contents of your CMOS memory will be restored.

The simple rescue diskette works well for the most part, but it has one small problem: It unconditionally copies the MASTER.DAT file to CMOS memory. This could be disastrous if, for example, you used the rescue diskette to boot the wrong computer.

On the following page is a somewhat fancier AUTOEXEC.BAT file that addresses this problem. As a precaution, it saves a copy of the current contents of CMOS memory to a file named BACKUP.DAT before running CMOSREST. This backup allows you to undo the change that CMOSREST made by running CMOSREST again and specifying A:\BACKUP.DAT instead of A:\MASTER.DAT.

As an added precaution, your enhanced AUTOEXEC.BAT won't change CMOS memory at all if the file A:\BACKUP.DAT already exists.

CMOSSAVE and CMOSREST share one big drawback: The author will not permit their use for "military purposes.'' If you seek an alternative to these utilities for that or any other reason, CMOS_RAM is another shareware program that can save and restore CMOS data.

When executed, CMOS_RAM presents you with a menu containing choices that copy data from CMOS memory to disk, copy data from disk to CMOS memory, and compare current CMOS memory contents with a previously created disk copy. CMOS_RAM's only limitation is that it requires your intervention to make menu choices. As a result, you can't make it fully automatic.

A friend in need

Now that you know about CMOS rescue diskettes, you'll never be caught without one. But what about the poor fellow down the hall? Someday he may arrive at your doorstep, begging for help. Just in case, let's go over what you'll need to do.

First, use the CMOS setup program on your coworker's computer to examine the current CMOS information. If it looks reasonable, a simple touch up may be all that's necessary. Examine the CMOS settings, change anything that's obviously wrong, and see if the computer now works.

If it doesn't, the hard disk geometry information may be at fault. Unless the CMOS reports the correct number of hard disks, heads, sectors and tracks, the hard disk will probably be unavailable.

Naturally, you've saved all the documentation that came with your hard disk. Your buddy down the hall, on the other hand, may not be so conscientious. If he's lost his documentation, a call to the disk's manufacturer or dealer may be in order.

But if the computer uses IDE hard disks, the call may not be necessary, because this popular type of hard disk will disclose its geometry if asked properly. A few DOS utility programs are available that will do the asking and disclose the response. If you can boot from a diskette, you can run one of these utilities and uncover the hard disk information you need.

My favorite such utility is called IDE Identify 1.4. It's easy to use: Just run the program, specify a hard disk (your first or only disk is 0, a second disk is 1), then sit back and take notes.

And now you're all set to deal with CMOS data disasters!

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing), a nonprogrammer's introduction to VBA. She is also the manager of WINDOWS Magazine Online on America Online. Reach Karen at screen name WinMag1 on America Online.


Now You CMOS

The designers of the original IBM PC had a problem. A small ROM-based program took control of their baby as soon as it was powered up. This program, known as the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), quickly tested the PC and then loaded DOS from a diskette. But the BIOS needed to know a few facts about the PC's hardware configuration. For example, it needed to know how much memory the PC contained, the type of video card it used, and the number and type of floppy disk drives. How could the BIOS determine this information?

The designers eventually decided to add a small group of switches and jumpers to the PC's motherboard. Additional circuitry was added, enabling the BIOS to read the position of each switch and jumper. Each setting revealed a different bit of information about the PC's hardware configuration.

The jumper-and-switch solution worked pretty well for a while. The people who built and upgraded PCs needed to know which settings corresponded to which hardware configuration. And because hardware configurations were simple, figuring it out wasn't so hard. Most users couldn't be bothered by such details. They bought their computers and used them--building and changing the beast was someone else's problem.

But as PCs became more popular, so did hardware upgrades. By the time IBM was ready to release the PC/AT, video card choices were multiplying and hard disks had become standard equipment. Hard disks presented special problems because the BIOS needed to know so much about them. In order to access a hard disk, the BIOS had to know the disk's geometry (number of cylinders, heads and sectors per track), and esoterica such as the landing zone, write precompensation cylinder, and more. Clearly, jumpers and switches, as a way to convey this information, were on their way out.

The PC/AT designers' solution was simple: They added a small circuit that contained 50 bytes of memory, and used it to store hardware configuration data. The memory was constructed from a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuit, known for its low power consumption. CMOS memory is so efficient that it can retain its information for years, using nothing more than a small battery to power it.

Once the designers added a small utility program that could change the contents of CMOS memory (called a CMOS setup program), the solution was complete. While booting, the BIOS simply read those 50 bytes of CMOS memory and instantly knew all it needed to know about the PC's hardware.

Over the years, the use of CMOS memory has expanded, and so has the memory itself. Today, most PCs come with 128 bytes of the stuff, more than twice the original PC/AT's complement. The additional memory is primarily used to store chip-set data (information needed to configure the circuits that connect your PC's CPU, main memory, SRAM cache and adapter card bus). Among other things, chip-set data determines which main memory addresses will be cached by the SRAM cache circuits, the speed of the adapter bus, and which ROMs will be shadowed (copied to RAM for greater speed).


First-Aid Kit

In the event of a CMOS-memory emergency, you'll be glad to have the following tools on hand. You can download them from the WINDOWS Magazine Online software library on America Online (Keyword: WinMag), the MSDOS forum's library on CompuServe (GO MSDOS), or the /ftp/periodicals/winmag directory at ftp.std.com.

•	AMISetup, an external setup program for 386/486 PCs with modern AMI (American Megatrends Inc.) BIOSs

Filename: AMISE213.ZIP

Registration: $34

Author: Robert Muchsel

•	CMOSSAVE and CMOSREST, programs that save and restore the CMOS of an AT-compatible system to and from a file on disk

Filename: CMOS15.ZIP

Registration: $20

Author: Canadian Mind Products

•	CMOS_RAM, a menu-driven program that backs up the CMOS of your AT system to a disk file

Filename: CMOS_RAM.ZIP

Registration: $5

Author: Thomas Mosteller

•	IDE Identify 1.40, a program that returns configuration information on all IDE hard disks attached to your 286 (or better) system

Filename: IDEID140.ZIP

Registration: Freeware

Author: Micro House International


Keep CMOS Data Safe And Sound

When used in conjunction with your CMOS "rescue diskette,'' this AUTOEXEC.BAT file will run the CMOS copy utility automatically. It also will save a copy of the current contents of CMOS memory to a file named BACKUP.DAT. This prevents disaster if, for example, you accidentally use the rescue diskette to boot the wrong computer.

@echo off

If Exist A:\BACKUP.DAT GOTO AlreadyRun

Rem First, save current CMOS data,

Rem in case this rescue is a mistake

CMOSSAVE A:\BACKUP.DAT

Rem Now, restore CMOS data from MASTER.DAT

CMOSREST MASTER.DAT

Echo CMOS memory Restored!

Goto End

:AlreadyRun

Echo A:\BACKUP.DAT already exists.

Echo This file must be removed before rescue can continue.

Goto End

:End


Networking Windows: Connect Windows, NetWare With Novell's New Shell

Connect Windows, Netware With Novell's New Shell

Fixing A Fickle Setup

A New Look For Netware


Connect Windows, Netware With Novell's New Shell

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Just a short while ago I would not have recommended using the latest workstation shell scheme from Novell: VLMs (Virtual Loadable Modules). But with the new updates, VLMs combined with ODI (Open Data-link Interface) drivers now offer the best way to make the Windows/NetWare connection.

VLMs (VLM.EXE and its *.VLM components) replace the familiar NETX. With its VLM scheme, Novell has done for the Network shell what ODI did for NIC drivers: added modularity. At the propeller-head level, this modularity means that, for the first time, third-party vendors and developers have an API (application programming interface) that they can use to write apps that interact directly with the shell. For the user, it means more and better network-aware applications, greatly simplified updates for the shell (because you can replace any one component independently), and more efficient use of memory. If you're running NetWare 4.0 with its NDS (NetWare Directory Services), you simply must run VLMs. There's no other way to get to the server resources.

An additional advantage of running VLMs with Windows is an improved user interface for accessing NetWare resources inside Windows. This interface replaces the old-style NetWare browse dialog. NWUSER.EXE, the program that provides the interface, offers access to drive mappings, print-queue connections, server connections, NetWare's 25th-line messaging, NetWare settings, two user-defined functions, and help from a button bar at the top of the window.

The new drive-mapping interface is much easier to use than the old version, which required drilling down through multiple layers to make a drive connection. Everything appears on one level, and you can even use drag-and-drop to map a drive. Among the four buttons at the bottom of the dialog is a Drive Info button, which produces a display explaining the location of the selected drive and your effective rights in that directory.

The NetWare Settings dialog has a new appearance as well. It now offers you the option to display resources that reside on Personal NetWare servers (Novell's answer to Windows for Workgroups) and on NetWare 4.0 servers running NDS. The VLMs can connect to any of these--and to a Microsoft network (NT and Workgroups)--concurrently.

Although it isn't new, an additional option worth noting in the NetWare Settings dialog is a NetWare Hotkey setting. When enabled by checking the box, this setting (which defaults to F6, but can be easily changed) offers instant access to the NWUSER.EXE program. This is convenient if you change NetWare settings frequently. I should point out that while I find NWUSER.EXE a handy tool for administrators and power users, I don't recommend making it generally available. Continue to use the NetWare log-in script and Windows persistent drive connections to manage these resources for your average users.

Making virtual a reality

Implementing VLMs isn't particularly difficult, but it's of the utmost importance that you have all the right components before you attempt it. To ensure that your VLM implementation will be problem free, you'll have to get Novell-supplied updates for just about every area of Windows/NetWare connectivity.

Here's a list of the files and sources you'll need in order to get started:

•	The NetWare DOS/Windows Client Kit 1.1. At press time, version 1.1 is the latest and greatest. But it's quite possible that this will change by the time you read this. You can get the Client Kit from Novell resellers, or you can call Novell directly at 800-UPDATE1 or 801-429-7000 ($99 for a corporate-wide software license). Additionally, the Client Kit is available as part of Personal NetWare, Novell DOS 7.0, and from Novell's NetWare Update CD-ROM.

Note that if you have NetWare versions 4.0x or 3.12, you have the Client Kit already. Check with your NetWare reseller to make sure that 1.1 is still the current version.

•	WINUP9.EXE. This Windows update file contains the latest drivers needed for connecting Windows to NetWare. In particular, NETWARE.DRV (the Windows driver for NetWare) version 3.02 is required for VLM connectivity.

You can get this file--free of charge--from one of three places: your NetWare reseller, Novell NetWare on CompuServe, or Novell's anonymous FTP site (ftp.novell.com).

•	VLMUP2.EXE. This VLM update fixes various anomalies manifested in these version 1.1 VLMs: VLM.EXE, AUTO.VLM, CONN.VLM, FIO.VLM, GENERAL.VLM and REDIR.VLM. Because the anomalies include things like breaking CAPTURE.EXE, this is a pretty important file.

VLMUP2.EXE is available free of charge from Novell.

•	ODI MLID for your NIC. Windows for Workgroups absolutely needs the latest MLID (Media Layer Interface Device, the NIC hardware driver) to install and function properly with VLMs. Where you get this file depends upon the manufacturer of your NIC. Try your reseller first. If that doesn't work, look around for a vendor support BBS.

Putting the pieces together

Once you have all the pieces, you can install the VLMs fairly easily, but you'll need to watch out for a couple of things. First, note that your Client Kit 1.1 (or the older 1.02) doesn't have all the latest file versions. If you're using version 1.02 of the Client Kit, you must apply the update from WINUP9.EXE to your Windows installation to make everything work. Second, for either Client Kit version, you must apply VLMUP2.EXE after the installation process. The files in VLMUP2.EXE are not compressed, but the VLM installer expects its source files to be in this format.

If you're upgrading to VLMs from NETX, you can do the installation from a file server. Copy the contents of the three diskettes in the set (including subdirectories, for example, XCOPY A: F:\VLMINS /S) to an accessible directory. Log into the server and run the installer from that directory. Note that the VLM installer (INSTALL.EXE) is a DOS program that you should not run from within Windows.

The opening screen will prompt for the information Install needs to do its work. The first thing it will want to know is where to install the VLM files. The default is C:\NWCLIENT. If you use a separate management directory on local drives (a good idea), you can make the NWCLIENT directory a subdirectory there. Otherwise, the default is as good as any. Note: If you're installing from the network, don't choose a network drive for this path! The workstation must be able to access these files before it's connected to the server.

Next, Install will want to make some changes to your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. These changes are required, so answer Yes when prompted. If you encounter a problem after installation, you'll be able to recover using the backups the program makes.

The next thing Install will ask is whether you need support for Windows. When you answer Yes, you'll get the opportunity to specify a path to the directory containing Windows. Here that refers to the location of the user configuration files, not the shared network directory containing the Windows program. This directory can be on the network, if that's where your Windows user installations are.

Watch out for the small size of the edit box for the path. If you can't type in the whole path, you can exit and map a drive one directory up from the location of the Windows installation. If you're installing to a local version of Windows (such as a notebook computer), you can use the DOS command SUBST to map a drive.

For example, in the case of a directory called C:\USERS\JSLOMAN\!WINDOWS.311, which won't fit in the edit box, you'd use this command:

SUBST D: C:\USERS\JSLOMAN

This will make drive D: point to the path C:\USERS\JSLOMAN. Then all you have to do is specify D:\!WINDOWS.311 to Install. The one problem with this approach is that Install will want to add a group and a program item to Program Manager. Because these will point to the nonexistent drive D:, you'll see an error message every time you start up Windows, complaining that the group can't be found. But the only item in this group is the NWUSER.EXE program we discussed earlier. If you want to be able to access that program from Program Manager, you can add it manually.

The next Install option concerns your NIC. If you have an ODI driver already running, Install will detect it. But in order to configure the driver, Install needs two files: the ODI MLID, and an .INS file that accompanies it on the distribution diskette. The .INS file provides Install with configuration information. You can have these files on diskette, local or network drives. You'll be able to specify the path by which Install can find them.

The final step is simply to let Install do its work. It will copy many files and create a batch file that starts up the network. After the installation, restarting the machine will reveal some new messages about VLM initialization, and you should be all set.

You might have one problem that seems serious but is actually trivial. If you start up Windows under your new VLM installation and then receive a message saying ``Application Error. Call to Undefined Dynalink,'' it merely means a file is in the wrong place. Just move NWGDI.DLL from the WINDOWS directory to the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

ODI troubles

Sometimes, even after a successful VLM installation using the latest release of an MLID, you'll still find that Windows' Network Setup won't recognize your adapter. You know you have a working ODI installation, but Windows insists that you don't! To get those reticent components talking to each other, try the workaround described in ``Fixing a Fickle Setup'' on the preceding page.

The bottom line on VLMs is that they're finally ready to use. With the current updates, VLMs are better than NETX for making that NetWare server connection from Windows. They should be even better in the future as products that support them directly become the norm.

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration Inc., an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. Contact Jeffrey care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


A New Look For Netware

Novell's VLM shell system offers many advantages over NETX, including a new and improved user interface for managing NetWare resources.

An expanded NetWare Settings dialog includes options for Personal NetWare and Directory Services (DS) resources, as well as the familiar Bindery.

To install the VLMs, you use the included INSTALL.EXE, a DOS-based program that should not be run from within Windows.


Fixing A Fickle Setup

Sometimes, even after a successful VLM installation, Setup just can't make up its mind. First it tells you you're not running an ODI driver (despite the fact that you are)-- and then it tells you it can't install an NDIS driver because you are running an ODI driver!

To solve the problem, launch the Network Setup icon in the Network Program Manager group. Click on the Networks button, then choose No Windows Support for Networks. Click on OK, then select Restart Computer.

Next, go back into Windows, and launch the Networks Setup Icon again. Click on the Install Microsoft Windows radio button, then on the Other radio button. Choose Novell NetWare [Workstation Shell 4.0 and higher] from the list, then click on OK.

Finally, back in the main dialog, click on the Drivers button. Then select IPXODI Support Driver (topology), where topology is whatever you're using. Click on OK.

At this point you may see a set of dialog boxes. If you do, simply answer Yes to each and let Setup make the modifications to your configuration files. When you restart, you'll have access to both NetWare and your Microsoft Network resources.


eNTerprise Windows: Daytona's Cool New Network Tools

By: John D. Ruley

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

You don't often hear a word like "cool!'' associated with the topic of network administration tools. But that's just how our lab technician described the new tools in Daytona (code name for Windows NT 3.5).

Way cool, if you ask me.

Daytona's improved administration features are nothing short of amazing. But perhaps even more incredible is the fact that you can take advantage of these features even if you don't upgrade from NT 3.1!

Administration has always been one of NT's great strengths. Tools like User Manager for Domains, User Profile Editor, Server Manager, Performance Monitor and Event Viewer make NT servers among the easiest to administer. And each tool is designed to be used remotely--even by modem. But with NT 3.1, there was one huge problem: The tools ran only on NT. To administer an NT server, you had to be running NT.

Now, that must have seemed reasonable to the NT development team. If you put in an NT server, put NT on the administrator's desktop too. Unfortunately, it didn't work well in practice. NT 3.1's need for 12MB or more of RAM made running it on many desktops impossible. And without NT on the administrator's desktop, all those wonderful tools were available only from the server's console, putting NT in the same league as first-generation mainframe systems (glass house, anyone?).

NT 3.1 had some other problems, too. Among them were lack of a way to change file and directory permissions from the command line, limited control of print services, the need to reboot the server whenever a driver is changed, and lack of server-usage tracking for accounting purposes. But the main limitation of NT 3.1 servers was the lack of a good way to administer the system from a remote desktop. Put that together with NT's voracious appetite for RAM, and it's easy to see why Microsoft's marketing folks are now trying to explain away the slow sales figures.

Can you say different?

Now let's look at how all this changes with Daytona. First and foremost, Daytona's client-based administration tools give you almost as much control over a Windows NT server from a Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (WFWG) or Chicago desktop as you have from its console. The tools provided with Daytona are:

•	User Manager for Domains, which lets you create and modify user accounts and user groups. It also allows the designation of a home directory and log-on script.

•	Server Manager, which provides the remote control of server features, including starting and stopping service programs, designating which server is the primary log-on controller for a domain, and sending messages to users.

•	Event Viewer, which lets you observe the security, application and system event logs for any NT server on your network. This gives you a limited capability to troubleshoot server problems remotely.

•	Print Manager for Windows NT Server, which provides complete remote control over printers and print queues on any NT server on your LAN. You can start and stop print jobs, load drivers and load printers from the administrator's PC.

You also get a Security menu added to the standard Windows 3.1/3.11 File Manager, from which you can control access to directories and files on the NT server.

What this adds up to is near-total control over your Windows NT server from any reasonably well-equipped Windows PC. By "well-equipped,'' I mean the tools are based on Win32s, and require a 386-or-better PC with 8MB of RAM capable of running Windows 3.1/3.11 in Enhanced mode. They also require the most current version of an appropriate Microsoft network redirector: LAN Manager for DOS, the Microsoft Network Client supplied with NT Server, or WFWG.

I stated earlier that you don't actually have to be running Daytona to get the benefit of these tools. The real beauty of the tools is that they work on Windows NT 3.1 Advanced servers as well as on Daytona servers. However, in order to get the tools, you do have to buy Daytona, and given its other advantages (improved performance, smaller RAM requirement, improved TCP/IP and IPX connectivity), I highly recommend upgrading.

Still, if you're running a big site, you may not be able to migrate all your servers to Daytona at once. In that case, bear in mind that the Windows-based administrative tools will give you immediate benefits, regardless of whether the particular server you need to administer is running Daytona or NT 3.1.

What's missing?

The client-based administration tools do lack some of the full NT management features. You won't get Windows-based versions of NT's Performance Monitor, Disk Administrator, User Profile Editor or Backup applications. Nor will you be able to execute NT command-line scripts remotely (though I've heard either Microsoft or a third-party developer will soon come up with a solution to that). The lack of these features is unfortunate, because it means that when you use the Windows-based tools, you'll still need direct access to the server's console to perform some administrative tasks.

I suspect that this situation will improve with time. Performance Monitor depends on having multithread capability, which isn't available under Windows 3.x but will be available in Chicago. So, a suite of NT administration tools running on Chicago will likely include performance monitoring. In fact, Chicago has a built-in variation of the NT performance-monitoring API. Regarding Disk Administrator, running on the server console should be sufficient for most purposes. You really don't want to repartition a disk remotely anyway.

Furthermore, it's probably only a matter of time before we have Win32s versions of User Profile Editor, Backup and some of the resource kit applications (WINAT.EXE, which provides graphical control over scheduled script execution, comes to mind). And, one way or another, Windows clients eventually will have a remote command line for NT. In the meantime, even the limited administrative functions available with the client-based tools represent a tremendous improvement over NT 3.1.

Other improvements

Daytona's administrative enhancements aren't limited to the Windows-based tools. For example, a command-line access control editor, CACLS.EXE, finally makes it possible to set user access to files and directories in a batch file. (Here's a hint: Dump the bindery on a NetWare server, then use a text editor to generate equivalent CACLS commands. You should wind up with a semi-automatic way to reproduce NetWare security permissions on an NT server.)

Another improvement is that the print spooler is an NT service you can start, stop and pause on the fly. That should go a long way toward solving the printer problems common at larger sites. In addition, new services, performance monitor objects and commands give you better control over RAS (Remote Access Services), TCP/IP and NetWare-compatible IPX network protocols. Finally, Daytona's Control Panel provides critical error-handling options.

Still not perfect

Overall, I'd say these new features, along with Daytona's other improvements, make the upgrade about twice as good a server as NT 3.1. And I was already pretty impressed with NT 3.1! But Daytona's still not perfect. In comparison with other operating systems, NT servers suffer from at least three serious limitations.

First, you still generally have to reboot after changing drivers (a user privilege for starting and stopping drivers may provide a way around this--stay tuned). Second, there's no per-user accounting as yet (although this is under development by a third party). And third, there's still no way to set per-user resource quotas.

These limitations are serious, especially if you have a large site. After spending money on fault-tolerant hardware that supports the hot-swapping of devices, such as hard disks and tape drives, it's a bit much to be forced to reboot every time you install a new driver. (This is especially so for printers, a problem that NT's developers solved with the spooler service. A hint: SCSI devices and network protocols need to be handled the same way.)

Another problem is that if you're supporting users from many organizations, the lack of a way to track how much time each user spends on-line can make cross-departmental charging all but impossible. (You can probably fake something by using file auditing, but this feature ought to be built in.) And the lack of quotas makes NT all but unusable in educational institutions. If the system lets students fill a hard disk, you can count on 'em doing it.

Still, all network operating systems have some problems, and I'd rather worry about these than have to deal with server crashes when one more user is added than the server's memory supports. Moreover, each of these limitations is an opportunity for a third-party developer. If anyone out there has a disk quota service or per-user CPU usage tracker, I'd like to hear about it. Meanwhile, I'm happy as can be with Daytona's cool new tools.

John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor-at-large and the author of Networking Windows NT (Wiley). Contact John on America Online at Jruley


Programming Windows: Late-Breaking News From the Windy City

Late Breaking News From Chicago/Windows 95

Create A Toolbar With Tool Tips


Late Breaking News From Chicago/Windows 95

By: Martin Heller

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Chicago--Nothing is ever easy. My first installation of the Chicago beta, from CD-ROM over the network, turned a gigabyte of hard disks into unreadable hash. I'm not complaining, mind you: Finding and fixing this sort of hardware compatibility problem is what beta-testing an operating system is all about. Wisely, I had everything on those disks backed up on digital audio tapes. And I was using a testbed machine, a 386/25 with all sorts of prehistoric peripherals (prehistoric in this context means more than 18 months old).

I had to reformat the hard disks and start over, this time installing from diskettes because the machine couldn't see the network. The second installation hosed the hard disks again, at the same place in the process. Finally I went back to the disk controller to change the low-level format of my large ESDI disks to be OS/2-compatible instead of DOS-compatible (losing access to about 150MB of available space). The third time was a charm. After spending another day tweaking hardware and software, I actually had a working system. Oh joy! Oh rapture!

So what can I tell you about Chicago programming that I haven't already told you in previous columns? I could tell you about writing Chicago shell extensions, which would take a lot of space and rely on a lot of obscure OLE 2.0 concepts. Let's save that for another column. The same goes for writing briefcase reconcilers--OLE 2.0 interfaces out the wazoo.

I could tell you about Chicago RPC (Remote Procedure Call) programming, but that would take about six columns, and fortunately it isn't all that different from Windows NT RPC programming or DCE RPC programming. But it is different enough from Sun RPCs to give people heartburn. If that's your situation, sniff around on the Developer's Network CD or on ftp.microsoft.com for a sample Sun RPC application that was ported via macros to work with Microsoft RPCs.

I could tell you about the Chicago RNA (Remote Network Access) services, but they're very similar to Windows NT RAS, so much so that you shouldn't really notice the difference. RasDial and RasHangup will get you started quite nicely. And I could tell you about TAPI (Telephony Application Programming Interface) programming. That can be a short story or a long one: The 32-bit TAPI library just thunks down to the 16-bit TAPI library, and TAPI programming in Chicago is almost the same as programming with the TAPI 1.0 SDK. The difference is that about 15 new TAPI functions have been added to the specification for Chicago. Not all of these have actually been implemented in beta 1, so it would be better to wait and tell you about TAPI when the code is complete.

I could tell you about DIB sections, but I covered them extensively in last month's column. And I could tell you about the new thunk compiler, which is actually fairly simple. But again, it's best to wait a few months. The thunk compiler documentation doesn't seem to be available yet, although a working sample application and some extra sample scripts are supplied in the beta 1 SDK. Thunks are of interest only when you need to bridge the gap between 16- and 32-bit code, and the thunk compiler works only for Chicago. Win32s uses the "universal thunk'' to allow 32-bit applications to call 16-bit DLLs and device drivers, and Windows NT uses the "generic thunk'' to allow 16-bit applications to call 32-bit DLLs and device drivers.

Frankly, developers tend to abuse these facilities. A case in point is the fellow who sent me e-mail to the effect that he hadn't understood how to use universal thunks well enough from my Win32 programming book for him to write a thunk layer for OLE 2.0 on Win32s. Here's a hint: The latest version of Win32s already supports OLE 2.0, and Microsoft gave everyone plenty of advance notice that it would.

I could tell you about the new common controls, at least the status bar, progress bar, tracker (slider), up/down (spin), toolbar, tool tips, TreeView control, ListView control, ImageList control and Tab control. But I can't tell you about the RTF edit control and some others, because those samples have yet to be supplied. Actually, that sounds like a plan. Let's look at putting up some common controls and implementing tool tips, using code from Microsoft's BARMDI sample in the Chicago SDK.

To initialize the common-controls DLL and register all the common-controls window classes, you'd call InitCommonControls(), normally from your WM_CREATE handler. You'd also call the routines to create your toolbar and status bar at window creation time.

In the sample code for creating a toolbar with tool tips, you'll note that the TBBUTTON toolbar button array controls the placement of buttons drawn out of your supplied strip bitmap as well as the placement of separation spaces. This array, a parent window handle, a bunch of metrics for the images, and some styles are supplied to the CreateToolbarEx API, and you have a toolbar. To display tool tips, use the TBSTYLE_TOOLTIPS style and handle the WM_NOTIFY message by filling in the TOOLTIPTEXT lpszText field in response to a TTN_NEEDTEXT header code, as shown in function MsgNotify. Of course, you have to synchronize your tool tip string IDs with your command IDs and bitmaps. But it's not as confusing as it sounds.

In the sample code for creating a status bar with a clock, the status bar is created by the call to CreateStatusWindow in function CreateSBar, the three-section structure of the bar is established in function InitializeStatusBar with a SB_SETPARTS message, and the UpdateStatusBar function works by sending a SB_SETTEXT message. The clock display is updated on each WM_TIMER message. The rest, as the professor said after struggling for an hour, is obvious. I'm sure you can puzzle through the enigmas.

Encryption update

Speaking of enigmas, I've received quite a bit of mail in response to my two-part column on encryption in the July and August 1994 issues. (The Enigma was the cipher machine the German armed forces used in World War II.) Some readers wanted to tell me about the cracking of RSA-129 and others wanted to know where to find the program Pretty Good Privacy (PGP).

The cracking of RSA-129 is quite interesting. Basically, a large group of people with significant computing resources collaborated on the Internet over a period of eight months to attack a 129-digit RSA-encrypted test message, using a factorization algorithm that allowed the work to be broken up into pieces. This was reported in Scientific American and, of course, on the Internet. Does this mean that RSA encryption is no good? Not at all. It means that, if you want a message to be secure against an extended attack, you should use more than 129 digits in your key.

In fact, the current version of PGP (2.6) offers you a choice of 512 (Low commercial grade), 768 (High commercial grade), or 1,024 ("Military'' grade) bits for your RSA key. PGP combines RSA encryption and signatures with another encryption scheme, plus PKZIP-compatible compression for an interesting overall security package. I neglected to mention in prior articles that PGP was written by Phil Zimmerman. And I couldn't mention at the time (because it wasn't official yet) that PGP 2.6 has a legitimate RSA license, is distributed by MIT, and is now free and legal for personal use only.

To get PGP, FTP to net-dist.mit.edu and change to the pub/PGP directory. There you'll find further instructions. The download process is somewhat complicated, primarily because MIT wants to adhere to U.S. export restrictions. (Somehow, I can't say as I blame 'em.)

Conference calls

For a while last spring I was starting to feel like a U.S. export myself. Back in May, I traveled three weeks out of four: first to Munich for a week, then to Seattle for the Chicago Reviewer's Conference, where Microsoft didn't deliver Chicago or answer any of the hard technical questions. Then it was back home on the red-eye to what was supposed to be a relaxing week working in my office, but turned out to be a wracking week sick in bed. That red-eye is a real killer.

No sooner had I recovered than I headed to Spring Comdex in Atlanta to attend the Windows Pioneer awards, chair a Win32 programming session, and speak at a Windows Programming "walk-in clinic.'' I'd accomplished two out of three when my wife suddenly got sick and called me home early.

After two weeks at home things calmed down a bit, and I spent a pleasant week in June attending and speaking at Boston University's International Developers Conference for Windows, a.k.a. Win-Dev East. True, a large part of what I found so pleasant was that the conference was local! But it was also much more interesting than any of Microsoft's conferences, which, while generally useful, often tend to devolve into propaganda dissemination. Several of the speakers at Win-Dev were amazingly good: in particular, Kim Crouse, who discussed advanced Windows programming topics, and Alan Cooper, who spoke about software design.

A West Coast edition of Win-Dev will be held from October 24 to 28 at the Santa Clara Marriott. If you can make it, you'll find the conference will really help you sharpen your Windows design and programming skills. To register, call Boston University's Corporate Education Center at 508-649-9731 ext. 255. I plan to speak at Win-Dev West (unless, with my luck, something unforeseen happens again), and I'm always happy to say hello to readers.

Martin Heller is an author, software designer, programmer, consultant and reluctant world traveler. Reach him via the Internet at mheller@bix.com, or care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinmMag message exchange on America Online.


Create A Toolbar With Tool Tips

#include <commctrl.h>

#include "globals.h"

#include "toolbar.h"

HWND hWndToolbar;

#define NUMIMAGES 9

#define IMAGEWIDTH 18

#define IMAGEHEIGHT 17

#define BUTTONWIDTH 0 //use default

#define BUTTONHEIGHT 0 //use default

TBBUTTON tbButton[]

{ {0,IDM_FILENEW,TBSTATE_ENABLED,TBSTYLE_BUTTON,0,0},

{1,IDM_FILEOPEN,TBSTATE_INDETERMINATE,

TBSTYLE_BUTTON, 0,0},

{2,IDM_FILESAVE,TBSTATE_INDETERMINATE,

TBSTYLE_BUTTON, 0,0},

{6,IDM_FILEPRINT,TBSTATE_INDETERMINATE,

TBSTYLE_BUTTON, 0,0},

{0, 0,TBSTATE_ENABLED,TBSTYLE_SEP,0,0},

{3,IDM_EDITCUT,TBSTATE_INDETERMINATE,

TBSTYLE_BUTTON, 0,0},

{4,IDM_EDITCOPY,TBSTATE_INDETERMINATE,

TBSTYLE_BUTTON, 0,0},

{5,IDM_EDITPASTE,TBSTATE_INDETERMINATE,

TBSTYLE_BUTTON, 0,0},

{0,0,TBSTATE_ENABLED,TBSTYLE_SEP,0,0},

{7,IDM_ABOUT,TBSTATE_ENABLED,TBSTYLE_BUTTON,0,0}

};

BOOL CreateTBar(HWND hwnd) {

hWndToolbar = CreateToolbarEx(hwnd,

WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | TBSTYLE_TOOLTIPS,

IDM_TOOLBAR, NUMIMAGES, hInst, IDB_BMP,

tbButton, sizeof(tbButton)/sizeof(TBBUTTON),

BUTTONWIDTH, BUTTONHEIGHT, IMAGEWIDTH,

IMAGEHEIGHT, sizeof(TBBUTTON));

return (hWndToolbar != NULL);

}

LRESULT MsgNotify(HWND hwnd, UINT uMessage,

WPARAM wparam, LPARAM lparam) {

LPTOOLTIPTEXT lpToolTipText;

static char szBuffer[64];

lpToolTipText = (LPTOOLTIPTEXT)lparam;

if (lpToolTipText->hdr.code == TTN_NEEDTEXT) {

LoadString(hInst,lpToolTipText->hdr.idFrom,

szBuffer,sizeof(szBuffer));

lpToolTipText->lpszText = szBuffer;

}

return 0;

}

Create a Status Bar with a Clock

#include <windows.h>

#include <windowsx.h>

#include <commctrl.h>

#include "globals.h"

#include "statbar.h"

HWND hWndStatusbar;

UINT idPopup []= //string IDs for status bar display

{ IDS_MDISYSMENU,

IDS_FILEMENU,

IDS_EDITMENU,

IDS_WINDOWMENU,

IDS_HELPMENU,

};

LRESULT MsgTimer(HWND hwnd, UINT uMessage,

WPARAM wparam, LPARAM lparam)

{

char szBuf[16];// Temp buffer.

SYSTEMTIME sysTime;

GetLocalTime(&sysTime);

wsprintf(szBuf, "%2d:%02d:%02d %s",

(sysTime.wHour == 0 ? 12 : (sysTime.wHour <= 12 ?

sysTime.wHour : sysTime.wHour -12)),

sysTime.wMinute, sysTime.wSecond,

(sysTime.wHour < 12 ? "AM":"PM"));

UpdateStatusBar(szBuf, 2, 0);

return 0;

}

LRESULT MsgMenuSelect(HWND hwnd, UINT uMessage,

WPARAM wparam, LPARAM lparam)

{

static char szBuffer[128];

char szTitle[32];

LPSTR lpTitle;

UINT nStringID = 0;

UINT fuFlags = GET_WM_MENUSELECT_FLAGS(

wparam, lparam) & 0xffff;

UINT uCmd = GET_WM_MENUSELECT_CMD(

wparam, lparam);

HMENU hMenu = GET_WM_MENUSELECT_HMENU(

wparam, lparam);

szBuffer[0] = 0; // First reset the buffer

if (fuFlags == 0xffff && hMenu == NULL)

nStringID = IDS_DESCRIPTION;

else if (fuFlags & MFT_SEPARATOR)

nStringID = 0;

else if (fuFlags & MF_POPUP)

{

UINT i;

for (i = 0; i < sizeof(idPopup)/

sizeof(idPopup[0]); i++)

{ if(GetSubMenu(hMenu, i) == (HMENU)uCmd)

{

uCmd = i;

break;

}

}

if (fuFlags & MF_SYSMENU)

nStringID = IDS_SYSMENU;

else

{

HWND hwndChild =

(HWND)SendMessage(hwndMDIClient,

WM_MDIGETACTIVE, 0, 0L);

if (!hwndChild || !IsZoomed(hwndChild))

uCmd++;

// Get string ID for popup menu from idPopup array.

nStringID = ((uCmd < sizeof(idPopup)/

sizeof(idPopup[0])) ? idPopup[uCmd] : 0);

}

} // for MF_POPUP

else // Must be a command item

{

if (uCmd >= IDM_WINDOWCHILD &&

uCmd < IDS_HELPMENU) {

LoadString(hInst, IDM_WINDOWCHILD,

szBuffer, sizeof(szBuffer));

GetMenuString(hMenu, uCmd, szTitle,

sizeof(szTitle), MF_BYCOMMAND);

lpTitle = szTitle;

while (*lpTitle && *lpTitle != ' ')

lpTitle++;

lstrcat(szBuffer, lpTitle);

nStringID = 0;

}

else

nStringID = uCmd; //String ID == Command ID

}

// Load the string if we have an ID

if (0 != nStringID)

LoadString(hInst, nStringID, szBuffer,

sizeof(szBuffer));

// Finally send the string to the status bar

UpdateStatusBar(szBuffer, 0, 0);

return 0;

}

void InitializeStatusBar(HWND hwndParent)

{

const cSpaceInBetween = 8;

int ptArray[3];

SIZE size;

RECT rect;

HDC hDC;

hDC = GetDC(hwndParent);

GetClientRect(hwndParent, &rect);

ptArray[2] = rect.right;

if (GetTextExtentPoint(hDC, "00:00:00 PM", 12,

&size))

ptArray[1] = ptArray[2] - (size.cx) -

cSpaceInBetween;

else

ptArray[1] = 0;

if (GetTextExtentPoint(hDC, "Time:", 6, &size))

ptArray[0] = ptArray[1] - (size.cx) -

cSpaceInBetween;

else

ptArray[0] = 0;

ReleaseDC(hwndParent, hDC);

SendMessage(hWndStatusbar,

SB_SETPARTS,

sizeof(ptArray)/sizeof(ptArray[0]),

(LPARAM)(LPINT)ptArray);

UpdateStatusBar(SZDESCRIPTION, 0, 0);

UpdateStatusBar("Time:", 1, SBT_POPOUT);

}

BOOL CreateSBar(HWND hwndParent)

{

hWndStatusbar = CreateStatusWindow(

WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_BORDER,

SZDESCRIPTION, hwndParent, IDM_STATUSBAR);

if(hWndStatusbar)

{

InitializeStatusBar(hwndParent);

SetTimer(hwndParent, IDM_TIMER, TIMER_TIMEOUT,

NULL);

return TRUE;

}

return FALSE;

}

void UpdateStatusBar(LPSTR lpszStatusString, WORD partNumber, WORD displayFlags)

{

SendMessage(hWndStatusbar,

SB_SETTEXT,

partNumber | displayFlags,

(LPARAM)lpszStatusString);

}


Letters:Oct. 1994

July's cover story--"Windows 4.0 Revealed!''--drew a flood of letters. Some said two cover stories a year was too much coverage for a yet-unavailable product. Others requested follow-up analyses, and an insistent few pledged allegiance to alternative platforms. Also, cyber truckloads of letters keep arriving in response to Brit Hume's July Dialog Box, which lamented the problems he's had running Windows apps.--Ed.

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Winds from Chicago

DOS is not dead. John Ruley claim in their 4.0 article ("Windows 4.0 Revealed!'' July 1994) that Chicago is a complete operating system. However, it's actually DOS and Windows bundled together. They're installed simultaneously, and Windows is still called from DOS (albeit automatically).

Therefore, Chicago is merely an operating environment, rather than a full-fledged operating system.

Keven Severud,

Fort Collins, Colo.

[Editor's note: Here's a test anyone with a Chicago beta system can perform: Rename your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to AUTOEXEC.OLD and CONFIG.OLD; then shut down and restart Chicago. It will boot back up--into Windows. You will see no command prompt. Now it's also possible to create a Chicago boot diskette that starts in a character mode that looks like DOS; but in either case, all memory management, task switching, and I/O functions are handled by 32-bit Chicago components, rather than 16-bit DOS components (unless you're running 16-bit drivers). That looks to me like a full-up operating system, not an "environment'' that runs on top of such a system. --JDR]

Thanks for your in-depth article on Windows 4.0. It reinforced the fact that OS/2 has been offering this functionality, look and feel for years.

Dave Moore

via the Internet

A Sense of Hume-or

Why did Brit Hume (Dialog Box, July 1994) buy a Gateway SX/33 with 4MB of RAM when he could have bought a Gateway Pentium 90 with 16MB of RAM? Why is he insisting on dealing with DOS--rather than Windows--versions of Qmodem and Procomm? My suggestion is that he dump his current system and buy new Windows hardware and software.

Gerald J. DeGregori

San Mateo, Calif.

I, too, had problems getting Windows communications programs to find my modem on a Gateway computer. The solution was to run Comports, a utility in DataStorm Technologies' Private collection. Comports detected that the pointers in the 0400h area were incorrectly placed and moved them to their proper locations.

Howard E. Tompkins

Milford, Mass.

E-Mail Etiquette

I definitely agree with Eileen McCooey's article (Dialog Box, August 1994). There's something about the spontaneity, informality and anonymity of e-mail that can turn otherwise normal people into unrelenting boors.

Mark A. Lebowitz

via the Internet

Do You See What I Hear?

In his sidebar, "Is it Mono or Stereo?'' (Optimizing Windows, July 1994), John Woram says neither Media Player nor Sound Recorder offers a visual clue of file characteristics. This is partially incorrect. Open up a sound file in Sound Recorder and select Help/About. The About box will provide you with the digital resolution, sampling rate and mono/stereo info in the fourth line of general information.

Alexi Papaleonardos

via the Internet

Help Review Needs Help

Thank you for including RoboHELP 2.6, Blue Sky Software's Help Authoring Tool for Windows and Windows NT, in your review ("Help Yourself!'' July). We appreciate your coverage, but would like to point out three mistakes.

One of RoboHELP's many strengths is the ease with which users can create help files from scratch. But in the Report Card, RoboHELP is rated with a B in the "From scratch'' column. The text indicates it should have received an A.

Second, the article says, "ForeHelp includes a built-in version of an integrated hot-spot editor (unlike RoboHELP, which requires you to launch the editor as a separate program).'' In fact, RoboHELP integrates and enhances Microsoft's SHED.EXE hot-spot editor, simplifying the creation of multiple hot-spot graphics to a three-step process such as placing a bitmap in a help window, marking sections of it, and linking each section to a different topic visually without needing to remember symbolic context IDs.

And finally, the statement, "One frustrating aspect of older help authoring tools is their inability to set up a jump to a topic that doesn't yet exist'' is misleading. RoboHELP was the first help authoring tool that allowed users to create jumps to topics that don't yet exist (top-down and bottom-up design).

Marylin Guarino

Blue Sky Software Corp.

[Editor's note: The Report Card table included erroneous grades. The "From scratch'' and "From existing files'' grades for Doc-To-Help were reversed. Doc-To-Help should have received a "B'' for the former and an "A'' for the latter. The RoboHELP "From scratch'' grade was published as we intended. The statement about the hot-spot editor was an error on our part. The state-ment about not being able to jump to non-existent topics was not meant to refer to RoboHELP, which can, in fact, jump to topics that do not exist. --PES]

Safety First

I have some tips to add to Mike Elgan's advice about protecting against viruses (Getting Started, July 1994). Always download files from a BBS to a diskette first, then run a virus scan before transferring the files to your hard disk. Second, unload VSafe Manager [if loaded automatically from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file] in DOS using Alt+V, Alt+U before loading any new programs. Third, download from CompuServe a program called Integrity Master version 2.22 (a really good virus detector) by Wolfgang Stiller (IBMSYS Forum, Library 3, Filename I-MAST.ZIP).

Jonathan L. Caine

via the Internet

You've done it again. I read around 10 computer magazines a month and the DOS manual regularly, but I had never seen VSafe until you pointed it out.

Mark Henderson

via the Internet

Caught speeding

A couple of weeks ago, I took John Woram's advice ("Fastest Windows Ever,'' June 1994) and installed WFWG 3.11 on my standalone DX2/66. Wintune confirmed what I had suspected the moment I fired up 32-bit file access: I gained a 15 to 20 percent speed increase!

Bob Hunt

Carson City, Nev.

Who's Monitoring Prices?

Can anyone give me a plausible explanation for why a 20-inch monitor costs three times the price of a 27-inch TV? Even a 15-inch monitor is twice the price of a 19-inch TV. I realize that a computer screen has a finer resolution, but it also contains far fewer electronics than a TV.

Dan Braasch

via the Internet

[Editor's note: One factor is indeed the extra precision required to provide the higher resolution of large monitors. Vendors also often cite simple economies of scale: There are far more sites with TVs than monitors. --Ed.]

Corrections

In our June feature, "Compatible or Not?,'' we ran the wrong address for Lone Star Evaluation Labs. Our correction in August Letters reported the originally published incorrect address. The correct address for Lone Star is: Rte. 2, Box 115, Georgetown, TX 78626.

The July issue featured incorrect phone numbers for information on the Cyrix upgrade chip. The correct numbers are 800-848-2979 and 214-994-8388.

In our July printer review, the maximum memory for the IBM Lexmark WinWriter should have been stated as 8MB. The IBM Lexmark 4039 12R Plus has an 8-ppm engine, and can take up to 2MB of memory.

The chart published in our review of CD-ROM drives (July 1994) should have indicated that the Plextor DM-5028 DoubleSpeed PLUS drive and the Procom Technology MCDN-3X both have SCSI-2 interfaces, not proprietary interfaces.

In "Wanted: a Help Compiler,'' (July 1994), we printed the wrong phone number for Microsoft's download BBS. The correct phone number is 206-936-6735.

We want to hear from you. Please send letters, with a daytime phone number, to: Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753, or by e-mail to 5648326@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


News: October 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

WIZARDS TO BECOME SUITE ORIENTED

By: JIM FORBES

Microsoft, Lotus and Novell's WordPerfect Application Group will shortly begin shipping products containing the second generation of interactive user aids. Known as Wizards, Experts, Quick Tasks, or Smart Assistants, these aids help solve complex problems by stepping the user through a query process or by demonstrating the completion of specific tasks.

Software suites are now viewed "as a single application, which means Wizards have to work with multiple programs,'' said Chris Peters, vice president of Microsoft's office systems group in Redmond, Wash. Because suite users tend to be task--not application--oriented, developers have had to adapt their application aids to a new software paradigm: task computing. Most existing application aids were developed to work with a single program. Microsoft's Word Wizards, for example, were designed to help users lay out and print their newsletters, brochures and other documents.

In addition to the overwhelming success of suites, Peters said, a second factor will be crucial in shaping second-generation Wizards: the need to support communications and messaging services.

"Next-generation aids will be more intelligent, helping users not only create documents but also route them,'' said John Briggs, Lotus Development Corp.'s SmartSuite product manager. Future application aids "will need to be communications enabled,'' he added. Forthcoming versions of Lotus SmartSuite are likely to have more powerful applications aids that work not only with the company's mainstream applications, but also with its Notes collaborative computing product.

Most applications aids in software suites have been limited to helping users accomplish common tasks. One minor exception may be the newest generation of WP Experts from WordPerfect. These aids not only help users perform basic tasks, but also query users about where information needs to go and how it is supposed to get there. In addition to this feature, the current generation of WordPerfect Office includes facilities for the creation of user-defined applications aids.

Back at Microsoft, Wizard technology has expanded beyond the applications group. In the future, Wizard-like technology may spread from application programs to the user interface itself. Peters offered a cryptic look at things to come: "In a sea of objects, you need a port. Why can't Wizards be that port?''

HOME AND CORPORATE USAGE TRENDS

By 1998, nearly half of the PCs bought in the United States will be for the home, according to a DataQuest Market Trends report. DataQuest predicts home PC sales will rise 21 percent, while the rest of the PC market will grow 8.9 percent Despite the popularity of Windows, PC users still refuse to let go of their DOS applications.

HOME USERS-UNITS IN MILLIONS

1. WordPerfect for DOS 6.7

2. PrintShop for DOS (Broderbund) 6.0

3. Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS 4.5

4. Microsoft Word for Windows 4.5

5. Norton Utilities for DOS (Symantec) 4.3

6. Quicken for DOS (Intuit) 3.4

7. PC Paintbrush for DOS (SoftKey) 3.1

8. Microsoft Works for Windows 3.0

9. Quicken for Windows (Intuit) 2.8

10. WordPerfect for Windows 2.5

Source: Computer Intelligence InfoCorp. Corporate Users*

CORPORATE USERS-UNITS IN MILLIONS

1. WordPerfect for DOS 4.1

2. Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS 3.3

3. Microsoft Word for Windows 2.9

4. Microsoft Excel for Windows 2.2

5. dBASE for DOS (Borland) 2.2

6. WordPerfect for Windows 2.2

7. Norton Utilities for DOS 2.0

8. Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows 1.4

9. Harvard Graphics DOS (Software Publishing) 1.4

10. Microsoft Word for DOS 1.2

WINDOWS HAND-HELDS MAY WAIT FOR CHICAGO

By: JIM FORBES

The long wait for hand-held systems based on the WinPad operating system may be nearly over. Microsoft and other companies, including Compaq Computer Corp., promised to deliver the machines by this fall. But as WINDOWS Magazine went to press, only Acer Inc., the parent organization of Acer America, had publicly demonstrated a hand-held WinPad computer. Acer execs in Taiwan said they could launch their device in the coming 90 to 120 days, but the machine, like other WinPad systems, may not debut until Microsoft rolls out Chicago, its next version of Windows.

Early this summer, the Taiwanese company showed the first of what corporate executives say will be several WinPad machines. Acer demonstrated a small unit about twice as wide as a cellular phone and less than one inch tall. It operated under a prerelease version of WinPad, and had several ROM-based personal productivity applications designed to track and organize appointments and addresses.

To the surprise of many, Acer's device did not use a processor designed by, or licensed from, Intel. It was powered by a new, 80386-compatible CPU called the Elan, introduced last summer by Intel's arch rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

One of the key reasons for delays in the appearance of WinPad devices may be problems hardware makers say they have experienced with the Polar chip set, an 80386 device licensed by VLSI from Intel. Delays by Microsoft in delivering versions of the WinPad operating system that fit into 4MB of ROM (read only memory) may have also played a role. Acer Inc., one of a handful of companies that beta tests Intel chips in Taiwan, may have gained an edge in the market by hedging its bet and moving its development efforts over to the AMD Elan chip set, while others scramble to find a working, cost-effective replacement for Polar.

According to Brian Chong, Acer's director of portable operations, Acer's machine will ship with either a 25MHz or a 33MHz 386 Elan chip set, 2MB of system memory, a ROM-based version of WinPad and miniapplications in 4MB of ROM. Options will include an under-$50 Chiclet-style detachable keyboard and a variety of third-party wired or wireless communications PCMCIA solutions. Chong said the company, which is developing its WinPad device independent of Acer America, will market its first WinPad machine at an estimated price point of $599.

The $599 price point is made possible by a number of factors, insiders close to the development of the project say, including the reduced cost of Elan and the fact that AMD's chip set requires fewer support parts than does the Polar chip set.

A senior Microsoft executive, who declined to be named in this story, confirmed that the seven announced WinPad hardware makers have shown considerable interest in the AMD chip set. Elan's key advantages over Intel's solution include full DOS compatibility and extremely low power consumption. These virtues are not lost on Hewlett-Packard, which is expected in the near future to announce a new DOS-, not WinPad-, based hand-held computer.

How soon will WinPad computers let you capture information, communicate with the office and keep a mirror image of your desktop data in your pocket? Though Acer has a machine it can launch shortly, most manufacturers appear to be waiting for Microsoft to release its next major version of Windows, code named Chicago. Now being extensively tested, prerelease versions of Chicago contain the requisite software kernels that allow the transfer of data to and from your hand-held WinPad machine. As of late summer, Microsoft executives were hinting that Chicago will not ship until the first quarter of 1995.

COMPRESSION ADVANCE SQUEEZES MORE ONTO CD

By: JAMES E. POWELL

CD-ROM storage capacity, once considered huge, is starting to seem downright cramped. Directory publishers, information providers and software companies have bumped into the discs' capacity limit as they have sought to provide ever more data to their customers. Fortunately, relief may be at hand.

EWB & Associates of Carlsbad, Calif., has announced a new data storage technology, capaCD, that holds 1.5 to 10 times as much data as a traditional 660MB CD-ROM. The gain averages three times the usual capacity. The technology needs no special hardware--only a software device driver and support files, which are supplied on the CD-ROM. The technology is compatible with existing drives, which can still read standard CD-ROMs after the capaCD driver is in-stalled.

The com-pany's com-pression engine, Multipress, combines several discrete data compression techniques, each optimized for different data types, into a unified compression engine, choosing the most appropriate compression technique for each type of data stored on the CD-ROM. Because the data is compressed, users may also benefit from a higher transfer rate, according to the company.

At press time a company spokesman said several major companies were negotiating to license the technology, which could appear on the market as soon as this winter.

IBM CALLS IT QUITS FOR AMBRA

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

IBM continues to adjust its strategy as it seeks a more competitive stance in the dog-eat-dog PC industry it fostered, then fumbled. At press time, IBM planned to close by October the United States operations of Ambra, its subsidiary desktop clone manufacturer. Ambra, established by IBM in January 1993, will continue its operations in Canada under its own name. The European division of Ambra closed last spring. IBM will continue to offer technical support for Ambra PCs.

"We are vastly reducing our cost structure and we can reach customers and channels with the IBM name,'' said Peter Thonis, an IBM spokesman. When asked why IBM created the PC clone manufacturer in the first place, Thonis said, "To be honest, it was a learning curve.''

Ambra's closing "does nothing to IBM because Ambra didn't amount to much to begin with,'' said Chris Goodhue, research director of the Gartner Group. "Ambra was a virtual company and if it didn't work out, no big deal. IBM got a chance to experiment with the Gateway and Dell model and it crashed.''

At the time of its launch, Ambra planned to ship PCs within 24 hours of the customer's order. IBM, which declined to provide Ambra's sales figures, has plans for Ambra's former headquarters in Raleigh, N.C. "IBM is moving several hundred people to the area. It can be assumed that it will be used,'' said Thonis.

For IBM, the Ambra enterprise was not "a fumble or a mistake, it was an experiment, like Compaq going into the printer business,'' said Goodhue. "This was a rational experiment.''

Ambra suffered from competition within the direct PC market and within IBM itself, according to Ambra's direct PC rivals. "There was a channel conflict,'' said Al Giazzon, director of marketing communications for Gateway 2000. "If you are going to do a direct business, you have to build a business model for the customer with a focused channel. Ambra ran into problems running into other divisions of IBM. They had to compete with Gateway 2000 as well as other IBM divisions.''

AMI PRO TRADES FEATURES FOR SPEED

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

Amid user complaints that the two leading word processors have become slow and feature-heavy, Lotus Development Corp. is touting Ami Pro as a resource-savvy application that outperforms both Microsoft Word 6.0a and WordPerfect 6.0a.

Recent Lotus ads emphasize that Ami Pro 3.01 requires 4MB of memory and 18MB of hard disk space. Both Microsoft and WordPerfect claim their word processors operate on a 486 desktop PC with 4MB of RAM, but they recommend additional system memory.

WordPerfect says that its word processor operates on a 4MB of RAM system. "But we recommend 6 to 8 megabytes,'' said Todd Titensor, WordPerfect for Windows product marketing director. "That's fairly consistent with what Microsoft requires to run Windows. Most new machines out there are 8MB machines.''

Ami Pro recently completed a National Software Testing Laboratories benchmarks 49 percent faster than Microsoft Word 6.0a and 103 percent faster than WordPerfect 6.0a. The products were tested on a 33MHz 80386-based PC with 4MB of RAM, according to an NSTL spokesman.

"We think [Microsoft and WordPerfect] are getting away with murder with their users. They slowed their products down,'' said Bill Jones, Lotus' director of product management of word processing. "We believe that the core performance of the product is the most important feature.''

While admitting that Ami Pro may require fewer resources, WordPerfect counters that by not releasing a major Ami Pro update in more than two years, Lotus has lost ground in the word processing market. An Ami Pro update released last August offered only improved connectivity to Lotus cc:Mail and Lotus Notes.

"Word processing is still the cornerstone of all office work,'' said WordPerfect's Titensor. "The absence of an upgrade is hurting Lotus in its standalone effort and in its suite market.''

One reason that Ami Pro may remain a distant third behind Word and WordPerfect is its perceived dependence on the popular Lotus spreadsheet. "Ami Pro is support for 1-2-3 from a feature standpoint,'' said Chris LeTocq, industry analyst for Computer Intelligence InfoCorp. "Ami Pro is "an excellent and feature-rich word processor but people only buy it if they buy 1-2-3,'' he added.

Is Lotus worried? "Our market share is not growing but the installed base has doubled every year,'' Jones explained. "The trend in buying is toward software suites. The impact of one product is lessened because it's buffered by other products in the suite.''

MICROSOFT: MOVE TO CHICAGO MAY BE GRADUAL

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Industry predictions of a stampede to Chicago may be overblown, Microsoft executives told a group of financial analysts. Steve Ballmer, executive vice president for sales and support, told the crowd, "I expect only 7 percent of the 60 million Windows users will upgrade in the first year.''

Chairman Bill Gates echoed the prediction. "The internal estimates range from 5 percent to 30 percent. Industry predictions we've read in the trade press are way, way too high,'' Gates warned.

History is behind them. Ballmer said 5.5 to 7 percent of MS-DOS users upgraded to version 6.0, and only 24 percent of registered users ever upgraded from Windows 3.0 to 3.1. Application upgrades, such as revisions to Word and Excel, average between 20 and 30 percent.

Even if Gates is correct, Microsoft stands to move a large number of copies through PC sales. Ninety-four percent of all PCs ship with Windows preinstalled, Ballmer said.

CHICAGO PROMISES FASTER GAMES UNDER WINDOWS

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

While corporate America awaits the release of Windows 4.0, other Windows users are looking forward to a decidedly nonbusiness benefit: better games. Unlike application and utility publishers, game developers have been slow to migrate from DOS to Windows due to lingering performance problems under the graphical environment.

Under Windows 3.0 and 3.11, game enthusiasts could not get fast video performance because the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) model was not fast enough, said Rogers Weed, Microsoft's Chicago product manager. "The GDI was optimized for putting up menu bars and graphs but not for sending bitmaps to the screen in a superfast game,'' he said. "People had to stay in DOS for game performance.''

Thanks to Chicago's 32-bit native environment and plug-and-play capability, Windows users can expect a faster and more visually dynamic gaming experience, Weed said. Chicago's 32-bit architecture takes advantage of speed and memory management that is vital to dexterity-driven games, he added. The 32-bit Chicago architecture will offer multithreading, networking and built-in support for high-performance digital video.

In addition to offering higher performance, Chicago will adapt to the resource needs of complex games. "Games you think that would be Chicago unfriendly will be very friendly,'' said Jay Wilbur of id Software, maker of Doom, a popular DOS shoot-'em-up. "Chicago will take great strides to make the game work,'' he added. "If you run a game and Chicago can't handle it, Chicago will ask you what the game needs, such as memory, joystick controls, etc. If needed, Chicago will go to the underlying OS. When the game is done it will go back to the Chicago shell.''

In hopes of facilitating Windows game development, Microsoft recently distributed WinG, a development tool for games that can run on future versions of Windows. Game developers' reaction to WinG and Chicago has been enthusiastic. "Chicago is like a petri dish--it's the ultimate culturing environment for games,'' said Moses Ma, chief technical officer of Velocity Inc., publisher of a game called Spectre VR.

Ma added that Chicago's built-in networking encourages multiuser gaming. "Spectre is successful on Macs because Mac networks are not installed by MIS (management information systems) people. When cool people put in a network, they want to put in some great games,'' said Ma. "Windows 4.0's plug-and-play networking won't be controlled by serious, nongame playing personalities. We expect to ship gaggles of games the week Chicago ships.''

Windows users who cannot wait for Chicago, however, can look forward to WinDoom, the first Windows version of Doom, this holiday season. And Vogonnian Software recently announced a proprietary animation engine that the company claims will give Windows games speed "formerly relegated to DOS.''

U.S. Market Forecast CD-Recordable Shipments

Sales of CD-ROM drives to businesses will spur huge growth in sales of CD-ROM Recordable drives in the next few years, according to CD-ROM & CD-R--U.S. Market Update, an Augur Visions Inc. report. CD-ROMs will replace hard copy, tape, optical disk drives and microfiche, said author Bill Frank. In the U.S. market, sales will grow at an annual rate of 40 percent, from 3.4 million units in 1993 to 13.1 million in 1997, the report said.

NEWS BITS-COMPILED BY PHILIP ALBINUS

•	Windows and the phone system continue to get to know one another. Several computer telephony vendors announced their support for the Windows Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI), according to Microsoft. Digital Equipment Corp., Gensys Laboratories, Octel Communications, Q.Sys and Tandem Computers Inc. support the interface between hardware and applications that will give your PC voice mail and telephone features. Intel and Northern Telecom have promised to develop a bridge between TAPI and the Novell Telephony Services server.

•	Compaq owners can now turn to America Online for help with their Compaq personal computers and notebooks. The Compaq Online Support forum on America Online will offer support and technical advice from Compaq's technical staff and from Compaq users. The forum offers answers to frequently asked questions, access to Compaq data files, and announcements from the PC manufacturer concerning new products and services. Users sign onto America Online and use the navigational keyword "COMPAQ.''

•	Software Publishing Corp. completed the sale of its Superbase relational database product line to Computer Concepts Corp., maker of d.b.Express, a data delivery application. Software Publishing manufactures the popular Harvard Graphics for Windows.

•	Step right up! Dell Computer Corp. stopped selling its line of personal computers through retail channels and will experiment with selling its hardware through sales kiosks. This direct sales experiment will allow the customer to inspect the Dell PC and place an order for the model. The kiosks may have salespeople taking orders, said a Dell official. Dell made the switch to direct sales this summer due to disappointing retail sales figures.

•	IBM shipped its one millionth PowerPC 601 microprocessor last July, within 10 months of starting production. The PowerPC 601 costs $174 for the 50MHz processor, $197 for the 66MHz version and $275 for the 80MHz version in quantities of 25,000. The 100MHz version will be produced in quantity later this year.

•	SoftKey International Inc. bought two multimedia software companies and formed a multimedia PC product division. SoftKey purchased Aris Multimedia Entertainment for an estimated $6 million, and Compact Publishing Inc. for an estimated $5 million. Both companies had $4.2 million in revenue in their recent fiscal year. The deal adds 21 multimedia titles to SoftKey's title list. WordStar International, Spinnaker Software and SoftKey Software Products merged earlier this year to form SoftKey International.

•	Austin Computer Systems has changed its moniker to IPC Technologies Inc. IPC Corp. Ltd. of Singapore acquired Austin Computer in 1993.

•	Look for improved remote communications performance in future versions of ACT. Symantec, publisher of the popular Windows contact manager, acquired remote technology in an acquisition of Intec Systems. Intec manufactures Interorganizational Communication Platform software. Following the completion of the acquisition, Intec will continue to operate under its own name but as a part of Symantec's contact management group.

•	Big Blue is a little smaller following the consolidation of its personal computer operations in the United States. The consolidation shifted operations from Boca Raton, Fla., Atlanta, Ga., and IBM Personal Computer Co. headquarters in Somers, N.Y., to the Research Triangle Park facility near Raleigh, N.C. The shake-up brings together hardware development and manufacturing in a single location. The Personal Software Products division will remain in Boca Raton, and PC Co. executives are expected to remain in Somers.

•	Apple Computer's recently released Newton Connection Kit 2.0 for Windows simplifies the exchange of Newton information with several Windows applications, including word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and PIMs like Lotus Organizer. Newton Connection allows users to import and export native files from many Windows applications to the Newton's MessagePad's address book, calendar and notepad.

•	Windows users in Washington state can now track their state officials with a Windows-based legislative database. Legi-Tech, a subsidiary of McClatchy Newspapers Inc., will provide the on-line legislative database designed for lobbyists, trade associations, state and local government, the legal community, and news organizations. For information contact Legi-Tech at 916-447-1886.

•	Your card number please? Claris Corp. has announced the Claris Card, a debit card for accessing telephone technical support for Claris products. The support is sold in increments of $24.95 for 15 minutes of priority, toll-free access time. The Claris Card works with a four-digit PIN for access to Claris Support. Users may purchase additional minutes, or upgrade to Advantage Support service, which provides unlimited support for $129. Call Claris at 800-234-4750, 408-727-9004.

•	One year after filing Chapter 11, CompuAdd has picked up funding from a private investment partnership based in Philadelphia. The investment firm of Dimeling, Schrieber & Park will maintain the CompuAdd management team, employees, product strategies and customer support. The 12-year-old CompuAdd will continue to be based in Austin, Tex. CompuAdd filed for bankruptcy after closing its 110 retail outlets, according to a CompuAdd official. Last summer the firm added three models to its line of Escort notebooks.


New Products: October 1994-Part 1

Compiled by Hailey McKeefry

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

15-INCH MONITORS

Pretty Up Your System With 15-Inch Color

Now you can give your Windows PC a facelift without paying a fortune: A 15-inch color monitor can give your system a new look for under $750.

The Magnavox MagnaScan/15 from Philips offers 1280x1024 maximum noninterlaced resolution and 1024x768 optimum noninterlaced resolution at 80Hz refresh rate. It features on-screen display (OSD) digital controls for brightness, contrast, horizontal and vertical size, and shift and geometry adjustments. The Power Management System brings power consumption under 20 watts.

Optiquest's 2000DS flat-square monitor offers noninterlaced resolutions of 1024x768 at a 76Hz. It complies with Energy Star and MPRII low-radiation standards.

The Diamond Pro 15FS from Mitsubishi Electronics is a 15-inch flat-square monitor with 1024x768 maximum noninterlaced resolution at a 76Hz refresh rate. The unit features autocalibration to readjust image centering, size and geometry automatically. The OSDs allow you to select display setup parameters through an on-screen control panel.

The MXE15F from MAG InnoVision provides 1280x1024 noninterlaced resolution. It features an Invar shadow mask and microprocessor-based digital controls. The unit complies with Energy Star and MPRII.

Magnavox MagnaScan/15

Price: $399. Contact: Philips Consumer Electronics Co., 800-835-3506, 310-217-1300.

2000DS

Price: $419. Contact: Optiquest Inc., 800-THE-OPTI, 909-468-3750. Circle Inquiry #587

Diamond Pro 15FS

Price: $535. Contact: Mitsubishi Electronics America, 800-843-2515, 714-236-6352.

MXE15F

Price: $749. Contact: MAG InnoVision Inc., 800-827-3998, 714-751-2008. Circle Inquiry #589

IN BRIEF-SOFTWARE

Time to grade tests or collect data? Remark Office OMR 2.0 is a plain-paper optical mark reading program that reads forms from your word processor or survey design package. You can also collect data for export to a spreadsheet, database or statistical program file. The program lets you select areas from a form, such as a signature, and save them to your hard disk. Version 2.0 can process double-sided forms and lets you verify and correct errors. The program also sports improved recognition for degraded images and Pixel Translations' ISIS scanner protocol for use with high-speed scanners. $299.95;

Principia Products,

800-858-0860, 610-429-1359.

Open Mail System Class Library lets you add VIM, MAPI, and MHS e-mail support to your C++ program. The six classes in the library let you send, receive and delete mail; enumerate users and mail messages; mark mail as read; manage recipients of mail messages and attachments (both sending and receiving); and obtain mail system parameters (such as the system type), or logged-in user's attributes. $995;

Raindrop Software,

214-234-2611, fax 214-234-2674.

MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS

Present a Desktop Video Show

Leave boring slide shows and paper presentations behind and enter the world of desktop video publishing with PresentIt 1.1.

You can combine still and full-motion video, graphics, text, sound and special effects to create a video presentation. PresentIt accepts up to three video inputs.

You can also add video effects (including multiple windows of video and video animation), integrate text with video and use 256 screen-transition combinations. In addition, you can transfer .WAV and MIDI files, narration, and sound effects and music to the soundtrack.

PresentIt can execute another program during playback, loop through your presentation, or play from any point forward. The program uses scripts to build and control presentations. The test option lets you preview specified portions of your work.

PresentIt 1.1

Price: $129.95; introductory, $79.95. Contact: Shoreline Electronics Inc., 408-987-7733,

fax 408-987-7735.

Create InterActive Multimedia Productions

Version 2.0 of InterActive gives you the tools to create a multimedia production. The latest upgrade includes improved video and waveform editors; a full-featured 3-D charting package; and 1200MB of royalty-free video clips, music and sound-effects files on two CD-ROMs.

The icon-based visual development environment lets you combine high-resolution graphics, video, animation, audio, text and charts. A text editor and a copy utility have been added. The copy feature automatically organizes your presentation so it can be copied onto a disk or other media. The program also comes with graphics editing, screen-capture, file conversion and image-resizing utilities. It supports Microsoft's Media Control Interface for controlling animation players, CD audio players, MIDI sequencers, videodisc players and audio-waveform devices.

InterActive 2.0

Price: $295. Contact: HSC Software, 310-392-8441, fax 310-392-6015.

Be a Multimedia Author

MediaVerse combines media editing, database storage, interface design and playback features. The Multimedia Database Builder provides functions to design and create media; organize media; and search and retrieve media. The Database Builder supports OLE 2.0 and has five built-in media editors, including audio, graphics, 3-D, video and text. The Interface Builder lets you define relationships between media items. The PlayBack Engine lets you play back your finished presentation, which may include video, audio, bitmap graphics and hypermedia.

MediaVerse

Price:$799. Contact: Looking Glass Software Inc., 310-348-8240, fax 310-348-9786.

IN BRIEF-AUDIO

The Crystalizer 200 Multi CD 16-bit audio card does not require you to set jumpers upon installation. The board provides a direct connection to the proprietary interfaces of Sony, Mitsumi and Panasonic CD-ROM drives. The 5-watt sound card uses the Yamaha OLP3, 20-voice stereo FM synthesizer and has a MIDI interface/joystick port. $199.95;

Crystal Computer Corp.,

800-547-5444, 408-383-2100.

Koss' two new microphone stereophonic headsets combine a lightweight dynamic microphone with an optimized pickup pattern for flexible placement and a foam ear cushion to isolate one ear from ambient noise. The model SB/25 features a monophonic design and an adjustable padded headband. The SB/15 model includes a thickly padded head grip. SB/25, $44.99; SB/15, $34.99;

Koss Corp.,

800-872-5677, 414-964-5000.

The JPS45 compact amplified speaker system includes magnetically shielded two-way, 10-watt speakers with separate bass and treble controls and a balance control. The 3.25-inch woofer and 2-inch tweeters in the speakers provide an overall frequency response of 120Hz to 20kHz. $149;

International Jensen Inc.,

800-323-1566, 708-317-3700.

SCANNERS

High Resolution in Half a Minute

The SprintScan 35 provides output resolutions of 72- to 2700-dpi optical resolution and digitizes 35mm slides at maximum resolution in 30 seconds.

The desktop slide scanner scans images in a single pass and automatically corrects the color and sharpens the image during the scanning process. The unit captures 10 bits per color at 3.0 density range. Scanned images are output to the PC at 8 bits per color.

The SprintScan 35 operates with any color or black-and-white 35mm transmissive film media, including positive and negative and mounted and unmounted transparencies and filmstrips. The unit uses a standard SCSI-2 interface and ships with a TWAIN driver and a scanning utility.

SprintScan 35

Price: $2,495. Contact: Polaroid Corp., 800-816-2611, 617-386-3591.

Scan on the Road and on the Fly

Have you ever wished you could scan an interesting magazine or newspaper article, but couldn't because you were on the road with only your laptop or notebook? Now DocuWare Pressman lets you take scanning capabilities along with you.

DocuWare Pressman software combines a database engine and an optical character recognition module and works with a hand-held scanner to let you index images by keywords or other criteria. The database provides up to 24 fields and stores the information on your hard disk. Built-in OCR routines convert text to ASCII format for direct transfer to a variety of text editor or word processing application.

DocuWare Pressman works with TWAIN and parallel port interfaces and does not require a separate board to be installed in your PC.

DocuWare Pressman

Price: Software, $269; hardware, from $494. Contact: ALOS Micrographics Corp., 800-431-7105, 914-457-4400.

Color-Savvy Scanner

The ES-1200C flatbed color scanner knows every color in the rainbow. The unit's 30-bit internal color allows it to recognize more than one billion different hues. The scanner also features 24-bit external color.

The unit, which scans at a rate of up to six pages per minute, provides 600x1200-dots per iinch hardware resolution and an interpolated resolution of up to 2400 dpi. You can choose between single- or three-pass scanning. Other features include built-in color correction and gamma correction.

The ES-1200C ships with dual SCSI and bidirectional-parallel connections. It also comes with a TWAIN driver, a SCSI interface board and a SCSI cable. The ES-1200C-Pro bundle adds Adobe Photoshop and Kai's Power Tools.

ES-1200C Scanner

Price: From $1,499. Contact: Epson America Inc., 800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770.

IN BRIEF-MASS STORAGE

The Medalist 720 and Medalist 1080 hard disks feature a Fast ATA interface for quick access to your stored data. The Medalist 720 is formatted to store 722MB, while the Medalist 1080 stores 1083MB. The Medalist 1080 and 720 support data-transfer rates of up to 13.3MBps.

Medalist 720, $625 (estimated);Medalist 1080, $750 (estimated);

Seagate Technology, 800-468-3472, 408-438-8111.

The Tape510 Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC) internal tape backup drive stores 255MB of data or 510MB with compression using standard tape cartridges, and supports data-transfer rates of up to 9.5MB per minute. Using extended length cartridges, the Tape510 stores 340MB or 680MB compressed. The drive is based on the QIC3010 minicartridge standard and is designed to read QIC-40, 80 and Irwin formatted tapes. Internal, $399;

Iomega Corp.,

800-777-6654, 801-778-1000.

The XM-4100A double-speed CD-ROM drive provides a typical access speed of 320ms and a data-transfer rate of 300KBps. The unit weighs under 1.2 pounds and has a low-profile clamshell design. The drives ship with subsystem kits for connecting to IBM PC AT/XT and compatible laptops. Baredrive, $415;

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. DPD,

800-457-0777, 714-583-3000.

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

First St. Knows Where You Live

Wessex Inc. and Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (ESRI) are offering a geographic information system that links state-of-the-art mapping software with all of the 1990 U.S. Census core data. First St. (from Wessex) provides 22 CD-ROMs of geographic and demographic data that include all streets in the U.S. (over 80 million addresses) and over a dozen levels of census boundaries; and ESRI's ArcView 2 GIS software.

ArcView lets you display, browse, query and analyze map data. It provides pan and zoom tools, which allow you to point to a map feature and retrieve the corresponding information. You can also specify a search by household income, square footage, or zip code, and drill down to perform statistical analysis (including medians and means).

First St.

Price: $1,995. Contact: ESRI, 800-GIS-XPRT, 909-793-2853.

Access and Search Digital Maps

Map Viewer gives you easy access to digital maps just by knowing the street name or pole number in any map from Byers Engineering or any file using the Intergraph/MicroStation format. The program can incorporate data from dBASE, Oracle, Informix, Framme and MGE databases. Just enter a search feature or location and Map Viewer finds and displays the correct map, centered and with your location highlighted. You can move across a map and adjacent maps are displayed automatically.

The program also includes map markup tools and tools to let you set up and fully customize the mapping locator interface without programming. Map Viewer supports all Windows-supported printers, including HPGL and PostScript, and all redlines are fully compatible with Intergraph/MicroStation.

Map Viewer

Price: $795. Contact: Byers Engineering Co., 800-440-0077, ext. 403, 404-843-1003, ext. 330.

Get a Grip on Your Trip

TripMaker is an all-in-one solution for planning car trips in North America. TripMaker helps you plan you entire trip--from where to go and the cost involved to suggesting scenic routes and side trips and highlighting historical points of interest. The guide includes 641,000 miles of roads and 125,000 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and can suggest alternative routes if given the time constraints and your driving habits. The program includes 88 preplanned scenic tours, including California's wine country and the Vermont Green Mountains, as well as reference information on states and provincial border crossings, toll roads, and a host of travel-related phone numbers.

TripMaker

Price: $79.95. Contact: Rand McNally, 800-671-5006, ext. 118, 708-329-8100, ext. 118.

IN BRIEF-MAPPING

Cartesia's MapArt Volume 2: US includes maps of all 50 states showing interstate and state highways; rivers; three-digit zip code areas; and major cities and counties drawn to the same scale. Adjacent states fit together so you can cut and paste to create custom regions. Volume 3: Global Perspective Maps includes over 40 maps of the world in a variety of flat and global projections. Both collections are stored in Adobe Illustrator format. $179 each;

Cartesia Software,

800-334-4291, 609-397-1611.

You can take the guesswork out of planning trips with DeLorme Mapping's new multimedia travel planning program, Map'n'Go. The program combines a comprehensive map database, which includes more than one million miles of roads; intelligent routing capabilities; and a database with more than 25,000 hotels, inns, campgrounds, restaurants and points of interest throughout North America and the Caribbean. You can print detailed maps of your trip, including bodies of water, state park boundaries and man-made features (such as sports stadiums and museums). The program includes a 128-page North American road atlas. $49 (estimated);

DeLorme Mapping,

800-452-5931, 207-865-1234.

SYSTEMS

DX2s Don't Have to Cost a Bundle

You can get yourself a cutting edge system without breaking the bank. These systems from ALR and Micro Express feature 486DX2 processors and cost under $2,000.

ALR Express PCs are available with a 50MHz 486DX2 and 66MHz 486DX2 processor and have suggested retail prices (without hard disks), respectively, of $945 and $1,045. The computers conform to the U.S. government's Energy Star energy conservation guidelines.

Standard on the new machines are 4MB system memory, 1MB video memory, a 3.5-inch hard disk, three 16-bit ISA expansion slots and three storage bays (for one half-height and two 3.5-inch devices). Configured with a 210MB hard disk and a 14-inch monitor, the two systems respectively cost $1,447 and $1,547.

The MicroFLEX-VL/66G from Micro Express is based on a 66MHz 486DX2 processor and ships with 4MB of RAM, a 200MB IDE hard disk, 1MB video memory, and 256KB cache.

It comes standard with a 14-inch monitor, 3.5-inch hard disk and 101-key keyboard. The computer's motherboard has a switchable power supply, which allows you to use processors that are based on either 5-volt or 3.3-volt technology.

The software supplied with the system includes DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11. For an additional $25 per application, the manufacturer will also preinstall PFS:WindowWorks 2.0 and PFS:Publisher on the system's hard disk.

ALR Express 486DX2 PCs

Price: From $945 (without hard disks). Contact: Advanced Logic Research, 800-444-4ALR, 714-581-6770.

MicroFLEX-VL/66G

Price: $1,399. Contact: Micro Express, 800-989-9900, 714-852-1400.

Shhhh-- Be Very, Very Quiet

Silent Systems' FE4 is designed to cut down on office noise. The ultraquiet PC uses SilentDrive technology to eliminate the hiss associated with the running of a desktop PC.

The computer features a 486DX/33 processor and ships standard with a 15-inch flat screen monitor. It comes with local-bus accelerated graphics, 2MB video memory, a 212MB hard disk, one 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and 8MB system memory. The machine also ships with two serial, one parallel and one internal SCSI-2 port.

As an extra, you can add a 14.4Bps fax modem to the computer for $150 and a 420MB hard disk for $100. The processor can be upgraded to a 486DX2/66 for $200.

FE4

Price: $2,450. Contact: Silent Systems, 617-273-3200, fax 617-273-0500.

Get into Multimedia

The Hertz 486/SX33 makes you multimedia ready with a single package.

The system includes an accelerator VGA board, Super VGA NI monitor, a double-speed CD-ROM drive, a 260MB hard disk and an internal 9600/2400 send/receive fax modem. It is powered by a 486SX 33MHz chip with 256KB cache, and can be upgraded to a DX2 66MHz processor. The PC supports Photo CD.

Hertz 486/SX33

Price: From $1,995. Contact: Hertz Computer Corp., 800-232-8737, 212-684-4141.

IN BRIEF-HARDWARE

BusLogic has introduced a new family of Fast SCSI-2 bus master host adapters for EISA, VESA and PC/AT systems. The adapters use MultiMaster ASIC and SCSI controller technology and an on-board 16-bit microprocessor. Data transfers of up to 10MBps (synchronous) and 7MBps (asynchronous) are possible. From $259 to $449, depending on bus;

BusLogic Inc.,

408-492-9090, 408-492-1542.

UltraStat is a small accessory for your computer that drains static electricity from you and your system. The device, which incorporates a dual-resistance circuit card and a liquid crystal display, reduces electrostatic electricity potential buildup from the typical 10,000 to 20,000 volts found on many computer screens to less than 50 volts. $74.95;

UltraStat Inc.,

800-460-7828, 719-676-4010.

TelevEyes/Plus is a computer-to-TV converter that allows you to display information from your computer on your television screen. The unit converts the video signal coming from your computer to standard broadcast video and includes controls that allow you to position the image generated by your computer anywhere on a television screen. $449.95;

Digital Vision Inc.,

800-346-0900, 617-329-5400.

PORTABLE COMPUTERS

Thinking of Buying a ThinkPad?

IBM Corp. has introduced the ThinkPad 730T pen-based tablet. The unit, which features an SL-enhanced 486SX 33MHz processor, weighs about 3.5 pounds with one battery. With two NiMH batteries, the unit can achieve runtimes of up to ten hours, according to IBM.

The tablet has a 9.5-inch backlit, monochrome LCD screen with a resolution of 640x480. It provides two Type III or three Type II PCMCIA slots and comes preloaded with Windows for Pen Computing software. The Electronic Ink feature allows you to draw or write on-screen. Work can be saved as-is or translated into typed text or computer-rendered graphics. You can choose either 4MB (upgradable to 20MB) or 8MB (upgradable to 24MB) of RAM.

Price: From $2,579 to $3,420. Contact: IBM Corp., 800-IBM-2-YOU, 914-765-1900.

Multimedia Road Show

Your multimedia presentations don't have to stay on your desk with the TravelMate 4000M Series of notebook computers.

The computers come standard with a 16-bit Media Vision Jazz 16 sound card; a built-in speaker and internal microphone; and the Windows Sound System and Indeo Video full-motion playback software preloaded.

The 4000M notebooks have a 16-bit bidirectional MIDI interface with a game port; a Fast SCSI-2 interface; and ports for audio in, audio out and external microphone. The unit's Type II PCMCIA slot accommodates two Type I or Type II cards or one Type III card.

For $899, you can add a portable CD-ROM docking system, which includes a double-speed CD-ROM drive; built-in speakers; headphones and external microphone; an internal NiMH battery and a 50-pin Centronics SCSI-2 connection.

The units provide a range of processor choices from an SL-enhanced 25MHz to a 75MHz DX4. You can also choose from a monochrome, advanced color or active-matrix color display; and between a 120MB and 340MB hard disk. The models all weigh under 6.4 pounds, including a NiMH battery.

TravelMate 4000M

Price: $2,199 to $5,899. Contact:Texas Instruments Inc., 800-TI-TEXAS, 512-794-5970.

Slimline Notebooks

The ActionNote 700 series offers a monochrome unit that measures 1.4 by 8.5 by 11 inches. The dual-scan passive-color and TFT active-color models measure 1.6 by 8.5 by 11 inches. Total travel weight for each unit is under 5.5 pounds.

Each notebook is equipped with a 486DX/33 processor, a Type II PCMCIA slot, a front-and-center trackball, 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB) and a 2400/9600-bps fax modem. It comes with a 240MB hard disk.

ActionNote 700

Price: $1,999 to $2,999. Contact:Epson Direct, 800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770.

IN BRIEF-MANAGEMENT

Version 1.5 of Project Scheduler 6, a project management package, offers improved ODBC capabilities and a new import/export scenario. Other new features include pop-up help messages, added report-writing features, Bundle Files (which allows you to capture a variety of data types in one file) and command-line batch processing. $695;

Scitor Corp.,

415-570-7700, fax 415-570-7807.

Following up is hard to do. But Issue Manager 1.1 helps you track issues and action items. The program lets you follow the progress of an issue, make notes and record when an item is resolved. $49.95;

WinnoVation,

303-226-8682, fax 303-226-5538.

Destiny Business Information and Planning System combines tools to monitor, strategize and evaluate business plans and results. Material can be presented in a variety of reports, ratios and graphs. You can record and track financial data on preformatted spreadsheets. Destiny also includes starting balance sheet; tax, accounts receivable and loan amortization tables; inventory and depreciation; salary, benefit and commission tables; and business plan templates. $249; until Dec. 31, $129.95;

Planet Corp.,

800-366-5111, 508-757-2840.

Continued-Part 2

PCMCIA Modems, Troubleshooting, Network Management, Graphics, Applications Development, AND

In Briefs-- Boards, Utilities, Remote Access, Fax, Programming, Bundles


New Products: October 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

PCMCIA MODEMS

Cards Make Connecting a Snap

A 28.8Kbps Type II PCMCIA modem, like these from Microcom and Smart Modular Technologies, can make it easier and faster for you to connect with remote computers or enterprise networks.

The Microcom TravelCard Fast 28.8 modem is a Type II PCMCIA device that sends and receives data at speeds of up to 28.8Kbps, with burst throughput rates of 300Kbps; it sends and receives faxes at speeds of up to 14.4Kbps. TravelCard incorporates three levels of security: pass-through, fixed callback or variable callback. This modem is also equipped with flash memory, which allows you to change its feature set by uploading new software to the modem as it becomes available. The modem comes with a Windows application that allows you to send and receive faxes at 14.4Kbps.

Smart Modular Technologies' ST288VFC V.Fast card modem sends and receives data at 28.8Kbps, but transmits and receives faxes at 14.4Kbps. The credit-card-sized modem supports a 4:1 compression ratio, allowing it to effectively transmit some forms of information, such as uncompressed or bitmapped graphics, at rates equivalent to 115.2Kbps.

TravelCard Fast 28.8

Price: $599. Contact: Microcom Inc., 800-822-8224, 617-551-1000.

ST288VFC

Price: $499. Contact: Smart Modular Technologies, 800-536-1231, 510-623-1231.

PCMCIA Modems Add Voice Messaging

Some 14.4Kbps PCMCIA modem cards now include voice messaging in their basic feature set. Two examples are new products from Radio, Computer & Telephone Corp. (RC&T) and NovaLink Technologies.

RC&T's FMV-14A, a Type II PCMCIA modem, operates at up to 14.4Kbps as either a data or a fax modem and also supports voice messaging. The card supports up to 10 voice mailboxes on the host portable or desktop computer.

The Internal Message Center feature of the FMV-14A provides phone answering and message management capabilities. You can also record a reply to a caller. It features a cable that attaches directly to a telephone RJ-11 jack.

The NovaPak 144 from NovaLink Technologies is a Type II PCMCIA modem card that works with wired and wireless communications media and that doubles as an alphanumeric pager. The device, which weighs less than 4 ounces, supports voice messaging and operates at data and fax transmission speeds of 14.4Kbps. The voice messaging feature of the NovaPak 144 allows you to assign and maintain multiple mailboxes as well as remotely retrieve messages.

FMV-14A

Price: $199.95. Contact: RC&T Corp., 800-352-3688, 612-542-1081.

NovaPak 144

Price: $449; modem only, $299. Contact: NovaLink Technologies Inc., 800-NOVA-LINK, 510-249-9777.

IN BRIEF-BOARDS

The GraphicsEngine 32i VL is a 32-bit DRAM-based graphics accelerator card that includes 2MB of interleaved video memory. The card supports 16.7 million colors at a resolution of 800x600, 65,536 colors at 1024x768, and 256 colors at 1280x1024. The card uses S3's 86C805i chip. $299;

Actix Systems Inc.,

800-927-5557, 408-986-1625

The Cloud9 VL-Bus video graphics adapter is a 32-bit DRAM-based graphics accelerator card that supports true-color displays. The card will work with either 1MB or 2MB of video memory and includes drivers for a variety of CAD programs. 1MB, $145; 2MB, $195;

Brilliant Computer Products,

408-942-3315, fax 408-942-7788.

The Nth Apex graphics accelerator is based on S3's 64-bit Vision8 64 chip set and can drive dual-page displays for graphics design applications. With 2MB of video memory installed, the card can display 16.7 million colors at resolutions of 640x480 and 800x600; 65,636 colors at 1024x768; or 256 colors at 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. From $299;

Nth Graphics Ltd.,

800-624-7552, 512-832-1944.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Give Your PC a Full Checkup

You don't need to be a computer doctor to give your system a thorough checkup. WINCheckIt offers a complete package of utility and troubleshooting tools for just under $50. The uninstall utility lists your current program groups, then lets you identify and delete unwanted applications. With the Clean Up function, you can clear your system of duplicate and temporary files to free up disk space. If you can't find enough memory to load a program, a memory optimizer combines memory fragments to create a large enough memory block to run your applications. Special DOS utilities are also included to restore AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, when the data is corrupted. You can analyze the hardware and software on your system, how it's set up, its performance at various stages, and whether or not a certain software program can be installed with the present configuration.

WINCheckIt

Price: $49.95 (estimated). Contact: TouchStone Software Corp., 800-531-0450, 714-969-7746.

Get the Support Your Need!

PC on the fritz? Busy tech support lines got you tearing out your hair? Spare those last strands and take a gander at QAPlus/Win 6.0. This utility program furnishes you with a series of basic tests you can run to root out your PC's problem.

If you can't pinpoint the difficulty yourself, you can access on-line support specialists at DiagSoft's Electronic Technical Support Center (ETSC). When you choose this option, a field opens where you can write a brief description of your problem. QAPlus/Win then automatically links you up to the ETSC via modem and uploads key information about your PC's troubles. The ETSC support team can then diagnose, and in some cases, correct the problem from their location. Although the current support hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST, you can upload an inquiry at any time so that the center can respond during business hours.

QAPlus/Win also reports system hardware configuration, Windows setup, and system resource utilization to help you decide if you're getting the most out of your PC. The program lets you edit and fine-tune your WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files.

QAPlus/Win 6.0

Price: $99.95; upgrade, $39.95. Contact: DiagSoft Inc., 800-342-4763, 408-438-8247.

Discover PC Problems

The Discovery Card, a small logic card with a single row of LEDs across the top and a standard ISA expansion slot connector at the bottom, may be a hardware answer to detecting IRQ and DMA conflicts in your PC. It contains 18 built-in logic probes: 11 for all interrupts and seven for all DMA channels. By observing the LEDs while running the programs normally used with each of your peripherals, you can find out which IRQ and DMA channels each peripheral is using.

The Discovery Card

Price: $299. Contact: AllMicro Inc., 800-653-4933, 813-539-7283.

IN BRIEF-UTILITIES

View and format any high-density Macintosh disk on your Windows PC with Conversion Plus 2.5. The disk mounting utility allows you access to Macintosh disks from within Conversion Plus, File Manager, DOS or any program. The program contains file translation combinations for word processing, spreadsheet, database and graphics programs. $149; upgrades, $39.95;

DataViz,

800-733-0030, 203-268-0030.

TransferPro R1V8.3 lets you read, write, copy and move files from Macintosh and MS-DOS tape cartridges and diskettes directly to your PC. You can create and remove directories, rename files, and browse file contents. Speed increases in version R1V8.3 cut viewing time on large file servers or hard disks with numerous directories and files. TransferPro tackles files up to 1GB. $149; upgrades, $49;

Digital Instrumentation Technology,

800-467-1459, 505-662-1459.

You can automate Windows tasks and write macros that assume the functions of an application with the Developer's Edition of Applicat. The Macro Workbench lets you create a database of macro commands specific to your needs, including buttons, menus and dialog boxes. The Workbench feature lets you build your own database of program commands. $395;

InControl Systems,

800-275-6380, 214-219-1334.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Hire a Network Software Sentry

CentaMeter will guard your network software licenses to ensure compliance with license agreements and to monitor software usage both on the network and locally. This license management tool notices when applications are not in active use and sends the user a reminder to release the license.

You can allocate licenses on the basis of individual, group and machine requirements. You can also designate time frames for the execution of certain applications. CentaMeter provides daily application use information that can be exported to any spreadsheet or database. The program also notifies administrators via MS Mail (or any MAPI-compatible e-mail product) about exceeded license limits, user access denial or unauthorized attempts to access an application.

CentaMeter monitors applications on any PC/LAN that supports file sharing, such as NetWare 3.x and 4.x, VINES, LANtastic, LAN Manager, LAN Server, Pathworks, Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT Server.

CentaMeter

Price: For 101 to 1,000 PCs, $7.50 to $9.50 per PC. Contact:Tally Systems Corp., 800-262-3877, 603-643-1300.

Installation: Look Ma, No Floppies

You don't have to visit every PC individually to install, uninstall and upgrade software on your LAN. WinInstall 4.0 does it for you.

Network administrators can send applications to users as self-installing attachments via an e-mail message. End users can also select applications from a scrollable list with automatic installation at start-up.

Version 4.0 includes the Discover process, which monitors installation and records which files to copy; .INI changes; icon and program group installation; and OLE registration. The program also lets you customize the front or back of any installation and optionally invoke other programs to assist in the install.

WinInstall 4.0

Price: $495 per server, unlimited users. Contact: On Demand Software and Services Inc., 800-368-5207, 813-261-6678.

Centralize Virus Control

Anti-Virus for NetWare 2.5 lets you remotely manage virus protection throughout your company both on servers and at workstations.

Version 2.5 includes an improved scanning engine that speeds virus detection while remaining transparent to the user. The new Central Command and Workstation Sentry features let you install, configure, run and update virus protection from a central location. Also included are administrator-definable features that allow the network administrator to tailor the product to the users' needs.

Anti-Virus for NetWare 2.5

Price: $1,199 per server. Contact: Central Point Software, 800-846-5903, 503-690-8090.

IN BRIEF-REMOTE ACCESS

Take control of PCs on a network with Remotely Possible/Sockets, a remote-control file-transfer and chat package. The program supports TCP/IP from Microsoft, Distinct, Net Manage, Novell, Beame & Whiteside and others. Users can remotely access PCs regardless of the type of network or video resolution. Two-user license, $298;

Avalan Technology Inc.,

800-441-2281, 508-429-6482.

You can dial in at 28.8Kbps with the Shared Access COM server and LAN modem 2.0. The modem supports the V.Fast protocol and features flash ROM that will allow it to be upgraded to comply with the ITU-T V34 protocol. The Shared Access line supports LAN-to-LAN routing, remote control of a PC on the LAN, remote node access, dial-out and other capabilities. Ethernet, $1,995 each;

U.S. Robotics Inc.,

800-USR-CORP, 708-982-5010.

SmartSync lets remote users access and use current workgroup information. The program provides automatic file transfer and synchronization with peer-to-peer support for both stationary and mobile users. It runs over Novell NetWare 3.11 or later and supports packet-radio and infrared transmission for cordless in-house LAN access. It also works with standard or cellular modems. $169.95;

Nomadic Systems Inc.,

800-432-1293, 415-335-4310.

GRAPHICS

Punch Up Your Presentation

You can add pizzazz and clarity to stale and lifeless business presentations by organizing your information into diagrams and flowcharts with CorelFLOW from Corel or EasyFlow from HavenTree.

You can use CorelFLOW to drag and drop predrawn shapes onto the presentation page and choose lines or curves to connect the shapes. The program ships with a library of style palettes, drag-and-drop symbols, hierarchical diagrams and smart links. CorelFLOW supports OLE 2.0 and lets you use up to 10 drawing layers. It ships with 100 TrueType fonts.

EasyFlow lets you create hierarchically organized charts and diagrams and consolidate several diagrams in a single file for drilling down through diagram levels. The SmartLines feature provides text formatting and multilevel diagramming. It prevents lines from crossing or interfering with other objects by discovering unobstructed paths between shapes. EasyFlow also includes toolbar menus and roll-up windows called Gizmos for adding and changing the appearance of shapes, lines and text with your mouse.

CorelFLOW

Price: $99. Contact: Corel Corp., 800-772-6735, 613-728-8200.

EasyFlow

Price: $299; until Dec. 31, $199. Contact: HavenTree Software Ltd., 613-544-6035, fax 613-544-9632.

Full-Motion Morphing Made Easy

Digital Morph 2.0 helps you create comprehensive, full-motion morphing and warping special effects.

In version 2.0, the Key Framing feature lets you control the speed and the dissolve rate of the morph as well as letting you progressively morph two images. The Full-Motion Morphing feature lets you morph one video clip into another. The Masking command lets you make part of one image transparent.

Other features include image warping, cutouts, painting tools, automatic image resizing, and pixel-level control. The program also includes license-free video clips of images that are ready to morph.

Digital Morph 2.0

Price: $149. Contact: HSC Software, 310-392-8441, fax 310-392-6015.

Watch Out, Hallmark!

Print Artist lets you create greeting cards, stationery, signs and banners on your PC. The program ships with 700 customizable graphics and 500 sample documents. The program lets you customize text and graphics with shading and color effects, and import graphics from other applications. The Hot Preview allows you to see a color or effect before you apply it to your document.

Print Artist

Price: $49.95. Contact: Maxis, 800-336-2947, 510-254-9700.

IN BRIEF-FAX

The FaxAbout automated fax retrieval system allows you to retrieve fax documents via a fax machine or a touch-tone telephone. The program operates in either single-call or callback mode, and as an open or a closed system. Documents can be loaded onto FaxAbout from a standard fax machine. The system is network ready. $8,500;

Realtime Business Systems,

800-500-FAXX, 516-893-5000.

ColorLink 1.01 lets you send and receive color faxes with a Canon CJ-10 desktop color copier. ColorLink automatically scans the page, compresses the image with JPEG compression and sends the data via your 14.4Kbps modem. Incoming faxes are printed to the Canon CJ-10 or saved to your hard disk. ColorLink ships with a ColorLink Receiver diskette for viewing faxes and exporting pages to standard image formats. $995;

Laser Today,

415-961-3015, fax 415-961-7631.

The FaxWorks Pro Power Pack bundles SofNet's FaxWorks Pro or FaxWorks Pro LAN fax software with the Hayes JT Fax 14400B Dual fax board. Users may utilize both fax lines to broadcast documents to a large distribution list; assign one line to receive and the other to send faxes; or use both lines for send/receive. From $599;

SofNet,

800-329-9675, 404-984-8088.

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

Access VB Custom Controls

If your application language can call a DLL, you can now access Visual Basic custom controls for everything from database access and communications to charting and image editing. OutReach 1.0., a development toolkit, includes a DLL that contains an emulation environment that provides the functions and message handling needed for VBX controls (but without VB's language and forms environment).

OutReach includes functions for showing, hiding and moving controls; setting and retrieving VBX properties; and handling VBX events. The program's Model Browser lets you view the internal definitions of any VBX file. It displays VBX's available properties, events, class, name and event parameters. The toolkit supports custom controls versions 1, 2 and 3, although controls that use VB's data binding will run as unbound controls. It includes on-line help, sample applications and a royalty-free DLL.

OutReach 1.0

Price:$395; until Dec. 31, $199. Contact: InterGroup Technologies Inc., 206-643-8089, fax 206-643-6977.

Deal with VB Data in a Database

Aware/VBX 1.0 from FarPoint Technologies Inc. is a set of custom controls designed for database applications. The package contains a data-aware control for Access data types.

The formatted edit controls include DateTime; Mask (to create specially formatted edit fields); Boolean (to allow values to be displayed as text strings, bitmaps, or a combination of the two); DoubleSingle (to display floating decimal point numbers); Currency; and LongInteger. Additional controls provide combination boxes and list boxes; an analog or digital clock (which is tied to a time field); and a calendar control (for displaying dates).

The controls support international settings. Data can be validated as each keystroke is pressed or when the focus shifts to another field. Border effects let you highlight a field's focus, including settings for border sizes, colors, shadow and 3-D effects.

Aware/VBX 1.0

Price: $149. Contact: FarPoint Technologies Inc., 800-645-5913, 919-460-4551.

Display Data in a Grid

Spreadsheet/Grid Control lets Visual C++ and Visual Basic programmers display data in a spreadsheet-like grid. It supports memory management schemes that allow it to work with large data sets without inserting all rows at once. The program supports over 32 data types, including Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase servers. You can set fonts and colors; sort columns on up to three keys; and define cells as check, list or combo boxes. The program supports multiline data entry in cells; horizontal and vertical grid lines for resizing; and three-dimensional row and column styles.

Spreadsheet/Grid Control

Price: $249.95; introductory, $149.95. Contact: ProtoView Development Corp., 800-231-8588, 908-329-8588.

IN BRIEF-PROGRAMMING

Create Win32 applications by recompiling your UNIX source code and linking it to NuTCracker's DLLs. The program's API library supports the UNIX calls based on SVR4 and POSIX.1 and supports both C and C++. The API includes routines for process control; console and file I/O; memory management; and networking support. $1,995; until Oct. 31, $995;

DataFocus Inc.,

800-637-8034, 703-631-6770.

WinScope 1.2 has enhanced its event capture utility so programmers can monitor and debug software using the Telephony API, ODBC, multimedia (the MMSYSTEM API), MAPI and OLE 2.0. It supports system drivers such as DISPLAY and HPPCL and functions called via the GetProc Address function. DLLs, drivers and VxDs can ``talk'' to WinScope to provide interrupt, stack trace and register information. $149;

The Periscope Co. Inc.,

800-722-7006, 404-888-5335.

Dr. DeeBee Tools family of utilities helps developers working with ODBC. Dr. DeeBee Check semantically checks ODBC applications at runtime. Dr. DeeBee Peek records all calls between ODBC-enabled applications and the ODBC Driver Manager. Dr. DeeBee Timer monitors activity between your application and the ODBC driver. From $99 to $399;

Syware Inc.,

617-497-1376, fax 617-497-8729.

AND--

Play a PC Harmony or Melody

Who needs instruments when you can compose music on your computer? Rhythm Brainz and Rhythm Brainz Plus let you edit your music in a real-time environment and hear each change as you make it. Both versions include drag-and-drop support and an integrated Studio Manager that lets you select musical instruments and voices. Musical style templates are also included.

Rhythm Brainz is designed for composing drum and percussion tracks, but can also be used for simple musical compositions. You can save your creations as MIDI files. Rhythm Brainz Plus allows the free-form selection of instruments and musical scales so you can write for multiple instruments simultaneously.

Rhythm Brainz, Rhythm Brainz Plus

Price: Rhythm Brainz, $79; Rhythm Brainz Plus, $119. Contact: MediaTech Innovations, 800-MTI-MIDI, 408-267-5464. Circle Inquiry #620

Create a Dream House in 3-D

You can put plans for the house of your dreams on-screen and then take a walking tour through your creation with myHouse 1.03, a 3-D home design program.

Projects are displayed in up to 256 colors and symbol libraries provide over 500 predesigned interior or exterior objects. Add-on symbol libraries such as Deluxe Deck and Patio are also available. You can pick and place architecturally correct roofs and stairways, control the opacity of your windows and partitions, and design multiple-level homes.

The Tile Printing feature lets you print multipage segments that can be joined together to form a single layout. The Movie Maker feature lets you designate a path to follow in viewing your design and then take a moving walk-through tour along that route.

myHouse 1.03

Price: $84.95. Contact:DesignWare Inc., 617-924-6715, fax 617-924-1699.

Track Your Athletic Training

The Athlete's Diary lets you log your athletic activity in weekly and monthly calendars, and calculate weekly, monthly or yearly totals and averages. You can set up multiweek training schedules by choosing from standard workouts or entering unique workouts or races. There is also a Target Heart Rate Calculator, as well as a Calorie Calculator that shows the calories burned daily or the total calories burned over a week, month and year.

The Athlete's Diary

Price: $49.95. Contact: Steven Creek Software, 408-725-0424, voice and fax. Circle Inquiry #622

IN BRIEF-BUNDLES

GammaLink is bundling its CPi and CP4/LSI fax boards with RightFAX's RightFAX 3.5 server software. The RightFAX server provides fax communications over NetWare, LAN Manager and LAN Server based networks. The program lets you run faxes over your network simultaneously with other tasks and allows Windows, DOS and OS/2 clients to share fax capability. From $1,895;

RightFAX,

602-327-1357, fax 602-321-7456.

CommWorks is now being preloaded with Toshiba's Portege T3600CT and T3400CT 250. CommWorks includes five communications tools that let you send and receive faxes; dial into on-line services; and access remote disk drives and printers over a cable or modem. From $4,799;

Traveling Software,

800-343-8080, 206-483-8088.

CorelDRAW 3.0 will be given to buyers of the SpeedStar 64, Stealth 64 DRAM and Viper SE graphics cards from Diamond Computer Systems. CorelDRAW 3.0 includes 250 fonts and 14,000 clip-art images and symbols. From $195;

Diamond Computer Systems Inc.,

408-736-2000, fax 408-736-5750.

Personal Training Systems is offering a CD-ROM version of its Microsoft Office Professional 4.3 with Creative Technologies Sound Blaster Multimedia Office. Microsoft Office Professional 4.3 contains five modules: Windows 3.1, Beginning Word 6.0, Beginning Excel 5.0, Introduction to PowerPoint 4.0 and Beginning Access 2.0. $159.95;

Personal Training Systems,

800-832-2499, 415-462-2100.


Sound-Sational

Wavetable-Synthesis Sound Cards

Daughtercard Mix 'N Match

DSPs For Sound And More

Do You Hear What I Hear?

An Audio Glossary

Report Card

Info Files

Sound-Sational Table


Wavetable-Synthesis Sound Cards

By: John Gartner, Technical Editor, and Ian Etra, Laboratory Assistant

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Noise is making a comeback in offices everywhere thanks to the pervasive presence of sound cards. Effective communicators have long understood the advantages of using sound to enhance a message, but the PC market is just starting to capitalize on the swaying power of sound. With that in mind, we decided to look into this "wave,'' if you will, of the present and future by testing 16 wavetable-synthesis sound cards.

Most any sound card will suffice for recreation, whether it's chasing monsters down a hallway or shooting down enemy fighters. Inexpensive cards are probably also fine for recording spoken comments, but they often cut corners on software and documentation.

To participate fully in the multimedia age, you really shouldn't compromise on sound quality. Because CD-ROM drives are now both inexpensive and fast enough for multimedia, sound will probably become a major part of many endeavors. Enhancing an interactive demonstration with high-quality stereo sound or promoting your product with a full orchestra in tow can help you convey your message. Even if you are not a musician or developer, the proliferation of informative multimedia business titles means that your PC should be able to play audio at a certain minimum level of quality.

Wavetable cards are superior to those using the old technology (FM synthesis) because they use samples of actual acoustic instruments instead of electronically generated signals that imitate the genuine article. Comparing these different types of sound reproduction is like comparing an original artwork to a reproduction: A print is to the original painting as a wavetable instrument is to the real musical instrument. Although the print comes directly from the painting, it cannot capture subtle textures and shading, much as wavetable synthesis cannot reproduce every nuance of a musician's performance. FM-synthesized sound is yet another step away from the original, like a sketch of the painting

The Lure of MIDI

The sound cards we tested can play sound stored in two different file formats, wave (.WAV) and MIDI (.MID). Although both MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and wave formats have their advantages, MIDI's minimal disk-storage requirements have prompted multimedia developers to adopt it as the format of choice for music. The benefit of wave files is that you can record them from any sound source with the assurance that they will sound roughly the same on any PC. MIDI files are limited to the set of instruments in the synthesizer, and since these may sound different from sound card to sound card, there's no guarantee that a file will sound the same on two different boards. But MIDI files can be reorchestrated with the click of a button; if you decide that flute solo would sound more dramatic as a trumpet, or want to cut out the oboe entirely, you can do it in seconds with any basic MIDI sequencing program, included with many sound cards. Wave files can be edited to add effects, but you don't have the flexibility with them that you have with MIDI files. Some high-end sound cards even include patch editors that will let you use wave files as MIDI instruments. For example, you can record your voice and substitute it for the piccolo in the 1812 Overture. (See An Audio Glossary or definitions of MIDI and wave formats.)

The most practical reason to use MIDI files is, again, their smaller storage requirement--MIDI compositions take up a fraction of the space occupied by wave files, requiring approximately 14 kilobytes per playback minute compared with 5 to 10 megabytes per minute for high-quality wave files. Manufacturers are also addressing the need to reduce the size of wave files by implementing compression techniques. A number of competing standards are available, including ADPCM, a-law, U-Law, and True Speech, a standard for compressing voice data to less than one-tenth of its original size. To off-load the compression and decompression of sound from the CPU, sound-card manufacturers include dedicated chips called CODECs (CODer/DECoders) or they program CODEC functions into a digital signal processor (see DSP). Boards that support only decompression will require files to be recorded at their original sizes.

We found MIDI playback quality to be the greatest differentiator among the wavetable cards we tested. High-quality wave files show only subtle differences from card to card, and voice files, which are generally recorded at only telephone-quality levels (8-bit, 11kHz monophonic sound) don't tax the sound cards much. MIDI files expose the quality of the instrument samples upon which the wavetables are based. Although the size of the wavetable limits the number of samples available, larger wavetables do not guarantee better-sounding samples. Sample quality can also vary greatly within a wavetable; a piano may sound marvelous, but the wind instruments may sound like someone blowing on a bottle.

Conflict Resolution

Sound-card vendors have made strides toward eliminating installation hassles. All the boards are somewhat software-configurable, but you often have to change a jumper or two to resolve conflicts.

We searched the marketplace for cards suitable for recording wave files and multimedia playback and found 16 sound cards with wavetable synthesis that can record and playback high-quality (16-bit stereo, 44.1kHz-sampled) audio. In addition to those we were able to test, several others that met our criteria are in the works; unfortunately, the Media Magic, Peavey and Sixgraph cards were not shipping in time for this review.

The cards discussed here provide extensive tools for recording and editing sound files. Most of these cards use third-party applications to control their boards; in fact, over half of these cards were bundled with either the Voyetra suite of programs or Midisoft titles, both of which include sound mixer, voice annotation and wave-editing applications. These business audio applications replace the basic functions in Windows with expanded applications for adjusting volume and mixing inputs, recording voice memos, reading out e-mail or spreadsheet data with a text-to-speech program, or verbally controlling your PC with voice recognition software.

ADAPTEC SCSI AUDIOMACHINE

The AudioMachine lets you upgrade your system I/O and add sound for a price that's not much higher than that of a single card. Although it's a multifunction card, you'll realize before long that the AudioMachine is a SCSI controller first, and a sound card second.

Installing the SCSI software, initializing the adapter, and hooking up a CD-ROM drive were remarkably straightforward. The AudioMachine supports Photo CD and XA-format CD-ROM drives for the faster transfer of interleaved audio/video data, and has a floppy disk drive connector that can take the place of an I/O controller, which saves an ISA slot.

Setting up the card's sound functions was another story. We didn't have to reset any of the board's imposing eight banks of jumpers; the DOS installation program took care of assigning the IRQs and DMAs. We did, however, have to install the multimedia drivers and reset the Windows IRQs and DMAs manually because they conflicted with those specified in DOS.

The AudioMachine includes the Microsoft Windows Sound System software, which works, but lacks the detailed sound-editing tools that come with many other cards. The text-to-speech application is limited to numeric data only, and the voice recognition software frequently failed to interpret our commands. Finding the right volume was difficult because the software's on-screen slider control, which adjusts the output, makes changes only in large increments.

Sound quality is not the AudioMachine's strength. The Analog Devices DSP's wavetable synthesis produced sounds that seemed artificial and tinny, especially the drums and brass instruments. The AudioMachine sounds acceptable playing back wave files, but demanding MIDI files sound as though they were produced with an inexpensive consumer synthesizer, rather than a professional-quality keyboard. Notes cut off prematurely, and we experienced some crackling distortion and background noise.

The Adaptec AudioMachine will do a good job of controlling your SCSI devices, and it provides average sound-card quality. But its multifunction capability, which will save you money and a couple of I/O slots, can be tempting.

ADVANCED GRAVIS ULTRASOUND MAX

The UltraSound's distinguishing feature is its unique use of patch caching, a method of swapping instrument samples into RAM for MIDI applications. The 5.6MB wavetable is stored on disk, rather than in on-board ROM, and you upload instruments selectively to the card's RAM as needed. The number of instruments is limited only by the free space on your hard disk, but the flip side is that you can use only as many instruments as you can fit into RAM at any one time. Therefore, the effective wavetable size is 512KB, upgradable to a maximum of 1MB. We observed a delay of several seconds while the card performed the caching.

The UltraSound MAX's software is geared more toward the musician than the business professional, bundling Midisoft Recording Session and Turtle Beach's Wave Lite for editing wave files. Several included applications create, edit and load instrument patch sets. You can create patches from wave files, tune them, adjust looping and envelope characteristics, and use them to create customized instrument banks. In addition, the card ships with Power Chords, an intuitive point-and-click MIDI sequencer and composing utility.

Despite promises of audiophile quality, we discovered that instruments were getting cut off and dropping notes during our MIDI playback tests. Closer investigation of the Windows driver revealed that the number of MIDI voices is adjustable, with a default of 22. The manual explained that two voices are reserved for the playback of stereo wave files, so the number of voices available for MIDI is always two fewer than the number chosen. We therefore raised the number of voices to the maximum of 30, and found the card delivered mixed results. Some instruments, such as the horns and percussion, were very full and realistic, but the piano was not convincing, and the strings were shrill and synthetic.

AZTECH LABS SOUND GALAXY ORION 16 ENSONIQ WAVEPOWER

Like many sound-card makers, Aztech provides a two-part solution to wavetable synthesized sound. Its product includes the basic Sound Galaxy Orion 16 sound card, and a daughtercard, the Ensoniq WavePower, for wavetable work. The daughtercard generates music that's sweet to the ear.

The Ensoniq wavetable provides amazingly realistic instrument sounds, most notably the piano and drums, that are sharp and full. But the Orion 16 is a notch below the best-sounding cards we tested because it supports only 24 simultaneous voices (the General MIDI specification requires 32 voices), causing instruments to drop off (you could not hear them) when we played demanding MIDI files. In addition, the card produced a moderate amount of background noise.

Setting up the combination card isn't easy. The poorly written and documented installation program makes achieving that great sound a chore. Although the installation utility is Windows-based, the manual incorrectly describes a DOS program. We had to change the MIDI mapper settings from the default FM synthesis, and the documentation confused matters by listing erroneous MIDI options. When we reinstalled the software to get the wavetable synthesis functioning, the setup utility chose a different interrupt from the one it picked the first time, even though no other changes had been made to the system.

The impressive array of bundled software includes all the standard business audio applications, plus advanced editing tools and a MIDI sound file library. The ComVoice voice recognition software did a fair job at recognizing commands, but Monologue for Windows lacks an "always on top'' feature to make reading text back from Clipboard easier. You can tweak MIDI songs to your liking using the Midisoft Recording Session, which lets you view notes as they are played and isolate or mute instruments. The Sound Galaxy Orion 16 supports three sound file compression formats for playback only; recording wave files without compression takes up large chunks of disk space.

Ensoniq's WavePower daughtercard, which came with multiple patch wires, is the secret to this product's superior sound success. Retooling the installation software would make this card combination an all-around winner.

CARDINAL DIGITAL SOUND PRO 16 PLUS WAVETABLE EDITION

A DSP, a SCSI port and a reasonable price are this card's highlights. The Analog Devices 2115 DSP generates the wavetable synthesis and is the compression/decompression engine; Cardinal promises future applications, such as sound effects or advanced compression algorithms, that can be downloaded to the DSP. We had no problem hooking up a CD-ROM drive to the SCSI interface or using the drive, although you don't get a cable with the card. (A board that uses a proprietary CD-ROM interface is available for $70 less.)

Hardware, not software, is clearly the Sound Pro 16's strength. The included generic version of the Voyetra software serves its purpose in controlling the audio and lets you record wave files of playback MIDI songs, but it lacks the business applications that differentiate sound cards from one another, such as text-to-speech or voice annotation.

The installation is tough, even though the documentation meticulously details the installation process. For example, the installation program required frequent swapping between the Voyetra and installation disks, and it took repeated efforts to get the DOS and Windows interrupt selections to work in unison. To get the Jukebox song program working, we had to install the MCI drivers from Windows disks because there are no drivers on the installation disks.

Sound reproduction is virtually distortion-free, but the musical instruments are decidedly synthetic. You would never confuse the wavetable "band'' from this card with a genuine group, although the sounds are an improvement over those produced through FM synthesis. The Sound Pro 16 isn't at the top of our charts, but it gives you wavetable synthesis at an affordable price.

CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER AWE32

Creative Labs set the standard for PC sound cards with the original Sound Blaster. The AWE32 continues the tradition. Like its higher-priced competitors, the AWE32 includes on-board sampling storage and digitally enhances sound with a range of special effects.

Installing the full-length card is fairly straightforward, although you may have to manipulate jumpers when adding memory or changing the base I/O address, MIDI/Joystick port settings, or CD-ROM specifications. Three CD-ROM drive interfaces provide the option of attaching either a Sony, Mitsumi or Creative/Panasonic CD-ROM drive.

The AWE's 32-voice synthesizer is a DSP-based E-mu 8000 DSP synthesizer, which provides 32-voice polyphony through a 1MB wavetable. In our MIDI playback tests, the AWE32 performed with remarkably authentic synthesis; the DSP effects provided full-sounding instruments without distortion. The piano, horns and strings sounded convincing, and the percussion was very realistic. The card also provides two options for applying real-time effects to the output--Q-sound, which adds 3-D effects, and a chorus/reverb mode. Audio that's programmed with Q-sound seems to come from different locations around the listener. There are 512KB of RAM on-board for storing additional instrument patches in the proprietary SoundFont format; the memory can be expanded up to a whopping 28MB with industry-standard SIMMs. The card also has a Yamaha OPL-3 chip for backward compatibility, and a Wave Blaster connection allows you to add a daughtercard synthesizer without replacing the E-mu 8000.

The software bundle is one of the most comprehensive and detailed packages in this review. Besides the basic "rack-system,'' the AWE32 includes Soundo'LE for voice annotation, VoiceAssist, a voice-recognition system, and TextAssist, a text-to-speech application based on technology from DEC. TextAssist can read aloud in your choice of nine voices, create custom voices, store multiple dictionaries of mispronounced words or acronyms, and even sing to you. The AWE32 also ships with Cakewalk Apprentice for Windows, a powerful MIDI sequencing program, and HSC InterActive SE, a multimedia authoring system. Yet even though the AWE32 has the hardware to load in user-defined sound patches, it does not ship with any utilities for creating and editing patch sets. There are future plans for a full-blown patch-editing program.

ENSONIQ SOUNDSCAPE

The Ensoniq Soundscape is the closest thing we found in this review to a sound card for the masses. Although it's not the best-sounding board we tested, it does offer high fidelity. The instrument samples contained in the large 4MB wavetable ROM sound full and sharp, and closely emulate their orchestral counterparts. The card supports up to 32 simultaneous voices, so even taxing MIDI files play flawlessly. The Soundscape's only drawbacks are some minor background noise that we observed and a lack of special sound-effect options.

The Soundscape is one of the few sound boards that approaches the simplicity of plug-and-play installation. The Windows installation program monitored the resources being used and correctly configured the board the first time through. That's a good deal, considering the problems most of the review cards gave us. The Windows driver makes it simple to reset IRQ and DMA settings if necessary, and the supporting documentation clearly explains the process.

Voyetra Software's mixer, volume control and editing applications control the Soundscape. This provides the basic capability of annotating a document with a recorded voice, or playing back a multimedia presentation. Wannabe musicians can tinker with SuperJAM Jr., a play-along music program that lets you pretend to be Mozart or Billy Joel, at least for an hour.

The Soundscape supports three types of CD-ROM drives, and requires only one interrupt and one DMA channel for basic operation. The Soundscape uses a dedicated CODEC chip instead of a DSP for compressing files during recording and play back. The Ensoniq is not aimed at the audiophile who demands advanced sound-editing and storage tools, but for the average business user, it works fine.

FOCUS INFORMATION 2 THE MAX SOUNDMEDIA PRO

Focus clearly focused on affordability in providing wavetable synthesis for just over $200. Unfortunately, the price was a little too good to be true: Our MIDI tests quickly established that the included memory, 512KB, is too small a space to hold 128 sampled General MIDI instruments. Melodies were flat and synthesized, and percussion sounded like muffled tapping sounds. Some instruments had such generic timbres that we couldn't identify them as strings, woodwinds or brass. Focus plans to release a revamped 1MB wavetable option in the near future. A software-programmable DSP also leaves room for future upgrades.

Setting up the board itself doesn't take a big effort; there is only one jumper for changing the base I/O address and another for selecting the CD-ROM drive, neither of which had to be reset. The Voyetra software setup, on the other hand, does not let you selectively install applications and won't let you set up the hardware until the end of the third diskette. Since the setup utility is written for a generic sound card, we were forced to consult the skimpy, photocopied manual for board-specific support.

The software bundle is the basic Voyetra application suite used by many sound cards. The Audiostation mixer includes bass and treble controls, a useful option many other cards lack. With VoiceNet you can send text and voice messages over a Novell network, but only to other VoiceNet users. Say It provides quick and easy voice annotation.

The SoundMedia Pro is a reasonably priced solution for the user who plans to do mainly voice annotation and playback, with limited use of MIDI. If you plan to do any serious work with music for presentations or multimedia development, this card may not be up to the task.

GENOA AUDIOBLITZ 16+ MODEL A 3400

The AudioBlitz Stereo 16+ incorporates the Yamaha OPL-4 chip, one of the first wavetable-synthesis chips ever introduced. Our tests quickly revealed the limitations of its 24-voice polyphony; the AudioBlitz emitted popping sounds and instruments dropped out when we played back fully orchestrated MIDI files. Even with less taxing MIDI files, the wavetable came across as fairly weak and insubstantial. Although the drums had a fairly full sound, the overall effect was like an electric drum pad instead of the resonating strikes of true percussion. Other instruments faired worse; one of the string samples sounded like angry hornets, and the woodwinds were mediocre at best.

One redeeming feature of this board is the painless installation. Although it's a DOS application, the setup utility was verbose in explaining and stepping through the entire procedure. The default settings were fairly standard and worked without a hitch in our system. Connecting a CD-ROM drive is not as simple; jumpers must be reset, and you'll have to install the CD audio drivers in Windows manually.

The software bundle is very basic, with Sound Impression handling mixer functions and audio playback in a "rack'' view. The Midisoft bundle includes Recording Session, a MIDI sequencer with a scrolling musical staff, and Waveform Editor, which provides additional editing effects beyond the standard cut-and-paste options. Neither voice annotation nor voice recognition is included.

With a list price under $200, the AudioBlitz 16+ is the least expensive card tested. But it performs only basic functions and generates unexceptional sound.

LOGITECH SOUNDMAN WAVE

The Logitech SoundMan Wave's suite of software lets you incorporate sound into every facet of your workday. The MCS Music Rack program launches the component applications, but some are more fully featured than others. The wave editor, for example, has minimal editing options, and you cannot set independent playback and recording volumes. BEST Speech ReadOut offers four customizable voices for reading aloud data or e-mail. Voice annotation software is also included, and Icon Say-It-Lite adds animation or sounds to icons. Midisoft's powerful Recording Session has controls for fine-tuning MIDI files.

The SoundMan Wave is software-configurable, but the installation requires unnecessary steps. Because it doesn't have a Windows applet, you must exit to DOS to make any configuration changes. Although the card comes with a SCSI connector, the only documentation for SCSI setup is in the readme file, and you must manually edit the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. The DOS install utility, however, lets you select and test the DMA and interrupt settings; the program plays music as its final step to confirm that the board is properly configured.

The SoundMan Wave's Yamaha OPL-4 wavetable synthesizer had difficulty handling files that use multiple voices. The default MIDI mapper setting specifies 10 channels, instead of the 16 normally associated with General MIDI. Resetting the board to access all 16 channels overwhelmed the 24-voice polyphony; instruments became inaudible, and some crackling occurred. The wavetable samples are far from the best we heard, with the strings being notably weak. The SoundMan Wave is fine for wave files and voice playback, but not quite as good for highly orchestrated MIDI playback.

Logitech backs the SoundMan Wave with a three-year warranty. The SoundMan Wave's extensive software bundle somewhat justifies the higher price, but the unexceptional sound quality doesn't.

MEDIA VISION PRO 3-D

The Pro 3-D was one of three cards in this review to include a surround-sound effect, which creates the dramatic illusion that sound is coming from a source outside the speakers. Media Vision's technology, which comes from SRS Labs, is independent of the input, so you can play audio CDs and wave files with the same effect. The process isn't good for every type of music; we found that on some audio tracks, background accompaniment would be amplified, while lead vocals were suppressed. In MIDI files, the SRS process tended to separate instruments better than ordinary stereo would, but added unnatural echoes to a few percussion sounds.

The Pro 3-D sports a wavetable by Korg, one of several professional synthesizer manufacturers now applying their musical experience to sound cards. Although the synthesizer features 32-voice polyphony, which should be able to use all 16 MIDI channels, the default MIDI map was set up for only 10 channels, shunting the other instruments to an FM synthesizer. When we configured the MIDI mapper to send all 16 channels to the wavetable synthesizer, the result was crackling distortion and missing instruments in complex MIDI files. The individual instrument samples were better than most cards we've heard, but they lacked the fullness of the top-rated cards. String sounds were very convincing over their entire range, but brass and woodwinds were weaker and often synthetic.

There is only one jumper on the board, for the CD-ROM I/O port, inconveniently located under the wavetable daughterboard. Otherwise, installation is a breeze, with a setup program that detects your configuration and audibly tests each one of the new settings. Media Vision's documentation is excellent.

We had some problems adjusting the card's volume to a comfortable level. There is only one output jack, whose volume adjusts via a thumbwheel control. Although we had the gain at a minimum for our amplified speakers, the signal was still too loud, forcing us to lower the mixer volume nearly all the way. Higher output-volume levels produced distortion, especially in wave files, and enabling the SRS feature also increased the volume level and added noise.

The software bundled with the Pro 3-D covers all the bases, from MIDI sequencing to voice recognition. Midisoft provides the mixer and rack system, with customized controls for bass, treble and SRS. Monologue for Windows handles text-to-speech, although it has a limited number of options. The board also includes a clip-on lapel microphone and Dragon System's voice recognition engine. With some fiddling of the microphone placement and volume controls, we were able to get it to recognize our commands consistently.

MULTIWAVE INNOVATION AUDIOWAVE PLATINUM 16

The Audiowave Platinum 16 boasts some very impressive features. The three CD-ROM interfaces, hardware-assisted compression and decompression, and concurrent recording and playback provide the functionality you want in a top-notch sound card. And the board ships with headphones, a microphone, an audio cable, and an instructional videotape.

The videotape is great for illustrating the installation process to novice users, but it covers only the Platinum 16, not the DreamWave daughtercard. Besides installing the Platinum 16 drivers and Voyetra software, which involves launching two separate applications, we had to configure the MIDI mapper manually in Windows to access the daughtercard synthesizer. Once the wavetable was functioning, we could hear the immediate improvement over FM synthesis. However, the 24-voice sound suffered in comparison with that of the other synthesizers. Orchestral instruments in particular sounded artificial; high-pitched instruments were shrill, while low-pitched instruments lacked resonance.

Basic sound editing and playback are accomplished by the Voyetra Audiostation, WinDAT and Orchestrator software. A proprietary mixer from Mulitwave Innovation is also included, although the Voyetra mixer is nicer. Say It voice annotation makes use of the bundled microphone. The DreamWave upgrade kit includes Orchestrator Plus, which features a full-fledged MIDI sequencer with several views that lets you easily control MIDI events. We couldn't get the program working until we called technical support and learned that the Audiowave sound drivers were incompatible with 32-bit file access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Newer drivers are available from Multiwave Innovation's BBS.

Optional expansion boards are available from Multiwave Innovation to add SCSI capability and 3-D sound effects to the Platinum 16, but those add to an already substantial price.

Continued-

Products: Orchid SoundWave32+SCSI, Roland Audio Production Cards RAP-10, Sigma WinWave Controller, Turtle Beach MultiSound Monterey, Wearnes Beethoven Kurzweil Efx-2000

ORCHID SOUNDWAVE 32 + SCSI

The SoundWave 32 includes applications for business users and the musically inclined. Quick Voice, a voice recognition program, will perform common Windows operations at your command and does a fair job recognizing voices. The wave recording program includes settings for compression formats to minimize the amount of disk space consumed. Midisoft's Recording Session displays the notes along with each MIDI instrument, and a special-effects applet lets you add reverberation or change the pitch of your wave files.

The Windows-based install program was well supported by the documentation, but required some troubleshooting. We had to run the program twice to get the SCSI and CD-ROM drivers set up correctly, and we had to disable the CD-ROM driver to get the mouse working. The SoundWave 32 includes a microphone and speakers; Orchid is the only manufacturer that did so. The SPU-2 Multimedia Speakers are adequate for playing back voice files, but an upgrade will be necessary when compositions are played.

The Analog Devices 2115 DSP provides wavetable synthesis with mixed results. Although notes were played completely and free of distortion, the samples do not reflect the fullness of the true instruments, particularly the brass and strings. Listening to the SoundWave 32 in isolation might sound stimulating, but its sound quality pales when compared with that of other wavetables.

The SoundWave 32 includes a CODEC to handle the processing of compressed data, and supports fast SCSI-2 CD-ROM drives. The SoundWave 32 has all the bells and whistles, but it doesn't have the sound quality to satisfy discriminating audiophiles.

ROLAND AUDIO PRODUCTION CARD RAP-10

Roland, a synthesizer manufacturer, is no stranger to the market. Therefore, it's no surprise that this card is one of the best-sounding cards tested. But it's clear from the software bundle that the RAP-10 was designed for professional musicians.

A suite of integrated applications allows you to sequence wave and MIDI files together into elaborate musical pieces. The intuitive WaMI Sequencer composes using both MIDI and wave file tracks, and each track can be made up of multiple files. The WaveForm Editor records wave files, while Wave Composer can merge and sequence up to 16 wave files into a single file. The tools also include a rack system and a mixing panel for adjusting effects for individual instruments. There is no MIDI file editor, although the mixing board has the capability to record incoming MIDI data from an external device, such as a keyboard.

On our subjective MIDI tests, the RAP-10 really stood out from the pack. It produced incredibly bright and crisp sounds and its instruments were full-bodied and consistent over their entire ranges. When we compared it with the Turtle Beach Monterey, one of the few cards at the same level of quality, we found the Monterey's sounds to be more authentic. However, the Roland produced slightly more robust sounds, which some individuals may prefer. Sounds are enhanced by the high-quality DSP reverb and chorus effects, which help simulate a live performance.

The RAP-10 is not expandable. It has no CD-ROM interface, no sampling or patch-editing capabilities, and no Wave Blaster connection. This lack of features combined with the absence of business software hampers the RAP-10 for general use. But for those composing in MIDI, or those who won't compromise on sound, the RAP-10 is a viable option.

SIGMA WINWAVE CONTROLLER

This card's smaller wavetable (only 512KB) produces noticeably weaker instruments. The Analog Devices DSP generates samples that sound contrived in comparison with those of the larger wavetables; brass and percussion instruments sound more like they were generated through FM synthesis than a wavetable. Our demanding MIDI tests also demonstrated some marginal distortion. The DSP, however, offers the possibility of future software upgrades.

The Sigma WinWave includes the Voyetra suite of applications, including Say It, a voice recording program, and WinDAT for recording music in wave format. Say It records voices at approximately telephone-quality level, while WinDAT lets you record up to full 16-bit stereo at a sampling rate of 44kHz. Sigma does not include voice-recognition or text-to-speech software. The WinWave can control SCSI CD-ROM drives, but does not include the cabling.

The WinWave moniker is somewhat of a misnomer, since the installation and configuration utilities are DOS-based. The auto-configuration option of the setup utility installs the software and specifies the DMA, memory address and interrupt settings without providing feedback about the selections. If a conflict exists, you must run the SETUP.EXE utility, which illustrates the conflicts and allows you to specify new settings. When you run this utility from within Windows, it mistakenly shows all the interrupts as being available. You must manually change the MIDI mapper setting in Control Panel from the default DSP Basic, which plays FM synthesis, to DSP Extended, which plays wavetable sounds.

The first board we received from Sigma played out of only one speaker; a second board did not have this problem. The WinWave is backed by a five-year warranty and is one of the least expensive boards we tested.

TURTLE BEACH MULTISOUND MONTEREY

The MultiSound Monterey isn't just your average sound card. In fact it's two boards, Turtle Beach's Tahiti and piggy-back Rio boards. The MultiSound Monterey does not include the standard business audio features such as a CD-ROM interface, or text-to-speech or voice-annotation software, but the advanced sound-editing tools place it in a category by itself. Turtle Beach focuses on providing tools for sampling and storing audio and perfecting the quality of the output.

The Rio Control Panel lets you choose among 17 special effects that can be adjusted for reverberation and simulated room size to turn a ho-hum presentation into an orchestral event. We did experience some problems testing MIDI files; initializing the synthesizer while a MIDI file is playing can lock up the system, and opening the mixer while the Rio Control Panel is open decreases the volume sharply. Turtle Beach fixed the volume problem in a later release of the board, and will repair any board that experiences this problem at no charge.

Wave SE's extensive wave-editing capabilities are clearly documented, but the complex filtering and mixing functions are aimed at the music professional. The Wave Patch editor lets you create and edit patch sets by customizing MIDI instruments or loading sampled wave files. The Mouse Player lets you test out your new patch by playing the on-screen keyboard. The lack of a MIDI sequencer is surprising for a card that is so well suited to MIDI playback.

The MultiSound Monterey offers uncompromising sound quality with its 4MB wavetable ROM. Close your eyes when you're playing MIDI files, and you can almost feel the strings being plucked or keys being struck. The MultiSound Monterey edges out the Creative Labs, Ensoniq and Roland cards as the best-sounding card we tested. Some instruments are more outstanding than others, but audiophiles and novices alike will appreciate the overall presentation. The wavetable can be augmented with user-definable patches stored on optional SIPs (single in-line package--up to 4MB) that install on the Rio.

The documentation for installing the MultiSound Monterey is very good, and the software correctly configured the memory and interrupt settings during the first pass. The MultiSound Monterey is the only card in this review that does not require a DMA channel, and provides a log file of all the changes to the Windows files. The Monterey, Wave SE-II and Wave Patch programs are installed separately and create their own groups. Although the MultiSound Monterey lacks software normally associated with business audio, it offers unparalleled sound quality and advanced editing tools.

WEARNES BEETHOVEN KURZWEIL EFX-2000

The Beethoven Kurzweil EFx-2000 is actually the marriage of two products, and like most marriages, it has some imperfections. The Kurzweil daughtercard mounts on a Classic-16 sound card, partially covering the CD-ROM interface and completely blocking the CD audio connectors and jumper blocks. We were forced to run separate installation programs for the sound card drivers and Midisoft Recording Session software, and then had to change the MIDI mapper manually to produce wavetable synthesis. The manual for the daughtercard describes a utility that will not work with the base card, and there is a patch wire soldered onto the back of the Classic-16 that could come loose. (Wearnes plans on eliminating the patch wire in future revisions.)

The Kurzweil wavetable, occupying an impressive 6MB of ROM, plays difficult instrument sounds well; the saxophone, guitar and trumpet sounded very crisp and full. Other sounds, such as woodwinds and drums, were undistinguished, and not as close to the real thing. The board has a DSP that can add effects to the sound output. However, it doesn't ship with any applications that let you access its alternate patch sets or the DSP effects; they can be accessed only through MIDI instructions from a file or a comprehensive sequencer.

There are many applications in the software bundle, but most are of limited usefulness. In addition, the separate applications for mixing inputs and outputs, adjusting recording levels, and changing the master volume level could have been combined into one program. Similarly, Audio Recorder records files to RAM, while Extended Recorder records to disk. Also included are the Midisoft Recording Session sequencer, a program for organizing audio clips, a talking calculator and a talking clock.


Sound-Sational Table

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Info Files

Adaptec SCSI AudioMachine

Price: $399

In Brief: This powerful SCSI controller/wavetable card costs no more than a single-function card.

Adaptec Inc.

800-934-2766, 408-945-8600

Advanced Gravis UltraSound MAX

Price: $299

In Brief: This card stores its 5.6MB wavetable on the hard disk and bundles software with game and music developers in mind.

Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd.

800-663-8558, 604 431-5020

Aztech Labs Sound Galaxy Orion 16 Ensoniq WavePower

Price: $318

In Brief: The Ensoniq daughtercard holds a great-sounding wavetable, and the extensive multimedia software provides a solid foundation for recording and playback.

Aztech Labs Inc.

800-886-8859, 510-623-8988

Cardinal Digital Sound Pro 16 Plus Wavetable Edition

Price: $229

In Brief: This flexible peripheral includes a programmable DSP, SCSI interface and hardware-assisted compression for the cost of an entry-level board.

Cardinal Technologies Inc.

717-293-3000, fax 717-293-3055

Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32

Price: $399

In Brief: This card includes friendly applications to address every business audio need; a wide array of special effects lets you further enhance superior sound.

Creative Labs Inc.

800-998-LABS, 408-428-6600

Ensoniq Soundscape

Price: $279

In Brief: The pluses of this card are its outstanding sound quality and easy configuration.

Ensoniq

800-7-SOUNDS, 610-647-3930

Focus Information 2 the Max

SoundMedia Pro

Price: $199

In Brief: This is an inexpensive wavetable peripheral that includes voice messaging software.

Focus Information Systems

510-657-2845, fax 510-657-4158

Genoa AudioBlitz 16+ Model A 3400

Price: $199

In Brief: The low-cost Audio Blitz 16+ installs easily and uses the Yamaha OPL-4 chip set for wavetable synthesis.

Genoa Systems Corp.

800-93-GENOA, 408-432-9090

Logitech SoundMan Wave

Price: $299

In Brief: This product will have you adding sound in no time; the included software is powerful and intuitive.

Logitech Inc.

800-231-7717, 510-795-8500

Media Vision Pro 3-D

Price: $379

In Brief: This card adds surround sound to everything, even music CDs, and the Korg synthesizer's string instrument samples sound like the real thing.

Media Vision Inc.

800-845-5870, 510-770-8600

Multiwave Innovation

Audiowave Platinum 16

Price: $478

In Brief: The highest priced card here, it can play back and record simultaneously and it also supports several audio compression standards.

Multiwave Innovation

408-379-2900, fax 408-379-3292

Orchid SoundWave 32 + SCSI

Price: $279

In Brief: The SCSI interface, microphone, speakers and raft of software are surprising for such a reasonably priced card.

Orchid Technology

800-7-ORCHID, 510-683-0300

Roland Audio

Production Card RAP-10

Price: $349

In Brief: This sound card's wavetable generates incredibly clear and crisp sounds; the bundled software's editing tools are aimed at multimedia developers.

Roland Corp.

800-386-7575, 213-685-5141

Sigma WinWave Controller

Price: $ 199

In Brief: Not only does this card have the lowest price of those in this review, it also has a SCSI interface and a DSP chip.

Sigma Designs Inc.

800-845-8086, 510-770-0100

Turtle Beach MultiSound Monterey

Price: $399

In Brief: It not only plays back MIDI files with unparalleled realism, it also has advanced sound editing tools (but little standard audio software).

Turtle Beach Systems

800-645-5640, 717-767-0200

Wearnes Beethoven

Kurzweil EFx-2000

Price: $249

In Brief: The daughtercard's huge 6MB of ROM has a top brass section including spectacular horns and saxophone.

Wearnes Technology Corp.

800-822-8884, 408-456-8838


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Sound quality	Features/ upgradability	Bundled software	Setup and installation
	Adaptec SCSI AudioMachine	C	A	C	C
	Advanced Gravis UltraSound MAX	B	A	B	A
	Aztech Labs Sound Galaxy Orion 16 Ensoniq WavePower	B	C	A	D
	Cardinal Digital Sound Pro 16 Plus Wavetable Edition	C	B	C	C
W	Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32	A	A	A	B
W	Ensoniq Soundscape	A	B	C	A
	Focus Information 2 the Max Sound Media Pro	D	B	B	C
	Genoa AudioBlitz 16+ A 3400	C	B	C	B
	Logitech SoundMan Wave	C	B	A	B
	Media Vision Pro 3-D	B	B	A	B
	Multiwave Innovation Audiowave Platinum 16	C	B	C	D
	Orchid SoundWave 32 + SCSI	C	A	A	B
	Roland Audio Production Card RAP-10	A	D	B	B
	Sigma Designs WinWave Controller	C	B	C	C
W	Turtle Beach MultiSound Monterey	A	B	C	A
	Wearnes Beethoven Kurzweil EFx-2000	B	D	C	D
•	Sound quality: How clear and free of distortion does the card play MIDI and .WAV files? How realistic is the musical instrument synthesis?

•	Features/upgradability: How many CD-ROM interfaces are supported? Can the wavetable be upgraded? Can recorded files be compressed?

•	Bundled software: Are voice annotation, text-to-speech and voice-control software included, and, if so, how effective are they? How flexible are the audio controls for volume, mixing and so on?

•	Setup and installation: Are jumpers required? How easy is it to select IRQs? Is software installation easy?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

MOST OF THESE CARDS are satisfactory as the sound component of your multimedia workstation, but a select few offer a level of sound reproduction that distinguishes them from the rest. The recommended products are easy to install and provide software that can make sound an integral part of your computing experience.

•	The best overall value is the Ensoniq Soundscape. Its installation is painless and the 4MB wavetable generates superior sound at a cost that's far below that of cards of similar quality.

•	Creative Labs' Sound Blaster AWE32 provides the best set of tools for business, and multimedia development. The wavetable's 32-voice polyphony handles even the most difficult MIDI files.

•	The MultiSound Monterey by Turtle Beach has outstanding patch-editing tools that let you customize MIDI instruments to your liking. The wavetable is the standard by which other sound cards should be judged for realism and clarity.

•	Honorable mentions go to the Roland RAP-10 and the Advanced Gravis UltraSound MAX, which offer good wavetable sound. The UltraSound MAX's unique instrument swapping techniques provide a limitless number of instruments. The RAP-10 uses reverb and chorus effects to complement an impressive sounding wavetable, and includes extensive music editing tools.

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Daughtercard Mix 'N Match

By: IAN ETRA

If you own an FM-synthesis sound card and want to upgrade to wavetable quality sound, you may not have to throw your current card away. Wave Blaster-compatible daughtercards can snap onto some standalone sound cards, upgrading your sound without requiring an extra slot. A 26-pin connector in the upper-right-hand corner is the telling sign of a Wave Blaster-compatible card, but check with your manufacturer for verification.

The original Wave Blaster was designed as an upgrade to Creative Labs' Sound Blaster 16 series. Attaching to a Sound Blaster, the Wave Blaster takes over the main board's MIDI reproduction. Responding to the popularity of the Sound Blaster series, other manufacturers have developed daughtercard versions of their own synthesizers with the same plug-and-play interface. Standalone sound cards have also been developed that can accept any Wave Blaster-compatible daughtercard. At this point, there are at least a dozen base cards and daughtercards that fall into this mix-and-match scenario.

The great advantage of this de facto standard is flexibility. If you prefer the sound of a particular synthesizer or you can't find a single-card solution with all the features on your wish list, you can build a card that covers all the bases. You may want to combine a base card with sampling storage or a particular CD-ROM interface with the wavetable synthesizer of your choice. Often the installation is no more difficult than simply plugging the two cards together; at worst, you'll need to create a custom MIDI mapper setting to redirect MIDI information to the new synthesizer.

For those purchasers of FM-synthesis boards without a Wave Blaster connection, there are other alternatives. Turtle Beach offers the Maui, a wavetable upgrade that plugs into an ISA slot, but is designed to work in conjunction with an existing sound card. A system can also use multiple sound cards that you link together via a standard audio cable--providing the IRQ, DMA and I/O addresses don't conflict; it may sound simple, but it can be difficult and expensive.

If you're considering the do-it-yourself approach, plan on shopping around first; the combination of two high-end sound devices can be a very expensive proposition. Standalone cards and daughtercards with connectors can cost anywhere from $129 to $399 each (list price). We asked the manufacturers of the sound cards we tested whether they also market Wave Blaster-compatible daughtercards. Below are their responses. (If you'd like more information, contact the companies using the phone numbers given in the Info Files.)

Wavetable DaughtercardsAztech Labs WavePower

Synthesizer: Ensoniq Otto

Price: $149

Creative Labs Wave Blaster

Synthesizer: E-mu Proteus

Price: $249

Media Vision Wave Table Upgrade

Synthesizer: Korg

Price: $199

Multiwave Innovation DreamWave

Synthesizer: Crystal Semiconductor

Price: $199

Roland SCD-10

Synthesizer: Roland Sound Canvas

Price: $229

Roland SCD-15

Synthesizer: Roland Sound Canvas

Price: $299

Turtle Beach Systems Rio

Synthesizer: ICS Wavefront

Price: $159


DSPs For Sound And More

By: JOHN GARTNER

DSPs will be coming soon to a PC near you. Digital signal processors handle signal processing in real time, a capability that makes them great for audio processing. DSP-based sound is supplanting dedicated-function solutions (for example, DSPs powered 12 of the 16 sound cards in this review) that include separate chips for FM synthesis, wavetable synthesis, and file compression. Instead of using dedicated chips for each function, DSPs can provide wavetable synthesis as well as assist in the compression and decompression of files.

Sound-card functions, however, are just the dawn of the DSP age. DSP-based cards can also provide modem and telephone answering machine functions in addition to fax capabilities--and these multifunction cards don't cost much more than a regular sound card. (A number of companies manufacture such cards, among them Best Data Products, 800-632-2378, 818-773-9600; Cardinal Technologies, 717-293-3000; MediaMagic, 800-624-8654, 512-339-

3500; and Spectrum Signal Processing, 800-667-0018, 604-421-5422.) Future products will include faster DSPs that can use multiple functions simultaneously (such as faxing while playing back audio), provide algorithms (adding new functions, such as caller ID), and have software upgrades (keeping them up-to-date with the latest communications standards).

The proliferation of DSPs has spurred third-party software developers to add these new functions. And DSP makers are developing standardized interfaces for their chips. Now there is also a standard interface to 32-bit Windows platforms: The Resource Manager Interface (RMI) specification provides a common interface for all DSP architectures, reducing the development effort to build driver and application software that access DSPs. A developer's kit for Chicago (the code name for the next version of Windows) is slated to ship shortly after this upcoming version of Windows arrives.


An Audio Glossary

By: WILLAM GEE

DMA (direct memory access)

This method is used to transfer data directly between memory and a sound card without involving the microprocessor.

DSP (digital signal processors)

Alternatives to dedicated chips, such as filters, these special-purpose microprocessors are designed specifically to operate on signals, as opposed to other sorts of data. They can provide multiple functions, including wavetable synthesis, adding reverberation and echo effects, or performing file compression and decompression. Programmable DSPs, as opposed to application-specific DSPs, can be upgraded to add new functions. (See DSPs for Sound and More)

FM Synthesis

A method of synthesizing the sound of musical instruments on the basis of frequency modulation, this technique is used in older sound cards.

IRQ (interrupt request)

IRQs are the signals used by peripherals to get the attention of the microprocessor when the peripheral is ready to transmit or receive information. Sound cards that require multiple IRQs increase the likelihood of a conflict with other devices, such as CD-ROM drives, printers or modems.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

This set of recommended guidelines for MIDI-compatible devices helps them communicate data between digital music synthesizers

and computers; the General MIDI specification includes 128 different sounds, at least six different drum sets, and the ability to play 24 notes simultaneously. MIDI (.MID) files usually contain information about every aspect of a synthesized composition, including arrangement, bend, key, pitch and tempo.

Polyphony

This is the number of MIDI voices a synthesizer can play simultaneously. An instrument can require multiple voices, depending on the complexity of the sound.

16-Bit Audio

With 16-bit digital sound resolution, sound waves are represented as 65,536 (216) different voltage levels, all encoded into strings of 16-bit words (not to be confused with a 16-bit physical connector, which has 16 data lines for the transmission of digital data).

.WAV files

The standard Windows file format for digital audio recordings, wave (.WAV) files are digital representations of an audio signal that was originally analog.

Wavetable Synthesis

This is a method of synthesizing sound based on playing back short samples of actual instruments. Because it uses recordings of actual instruments, wavetable synthesis sounds more realistic than FM synthesis.


Do You Hear What I Hear?

By: John Gartner

Business audio--the use of sound in memos, presentations and other business applications--doesn't necessarily require top-of-the-line equipment. If it sounds good to you, then it's good enough for your application.

Accordingly, our tests centered on the sound produced by these cards, using a very sensitive instrument to measure that sound: the human ear. We installed the sound cards in identical 486DX2/66 computers in our multimedia lab and output the sound through a pair of Bose Acoustimass Multimedia Speakers ($699; 800-444-BOSE, 508-879-7330). Then, a panel listened to both wave and MIDI files from a number of sources, including songs from Cambium's Sound Choice CD ($69; 800-231-1779, 914-472-6246). The songs included a cross section of instrument usage and complexity so that we could assess the entire range of MIDI samples. We also recorded voice files to judge the cards' recording and playback capabilities. These tests gave us a good idea

of the overall capability of each card to play back voice and music for business audio or for multimedia presentations. We judged the cards on the basis of their distortion levels, ambient noise and reproduction of MIDI instruments.

Keep in mind that the results you hear from any of these sound cards will be greatly affected by the speakers you use. Percussion instruments, for example, need good bass response for reproducing the low-frequency sounds of a kettle drum, yet good treble response in order to get the sharp attack of a snare drum. Mediocre speakers just cannot reproduce some of the sounds that the best of these sound cards can produce. For most business applications, medium-quality speakers will be fine, but you won't hear the full range of the sounds we heard in our multimedia laboratory testing. If you want the absolute max, expect to pay about $100 per pair for speakers.


The Fax Are  Clear

Fax Software

Can't Tell The Players

The Other Fax Software

Report Card

Info Files

Fax Software Table


Fax Software

By: David Claiborne, Contributing Editor

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Until you've tried desktop faxing, you may question the wisdom of turning a Windows PC into a fax machine. After all, you really don't need a 90MHz Pentium, 32MB of RAM and a 540MB hard disk to send or receive a facsimile image of memo or letter.

But once you've tried it, the allure is clear. With faxing, you can avoid the whole paper shuffle and use the power of your PC to store, manage, and search all your fax communications. And best of all, PC-based faxing enormously increases the number of people you can communicate with from your PC.

Luckily, software developers have added feature after feature to fax software. The current crop of Windows-based packages makes your PC a far cry from a simple fax machine, and opens entirely new windows for faxing.

Today's top-of-the-line fax software is a combination of fax sending and receiving, optical character recognition, annotation/markup tools, and document management. With a PC-based fax, you can send a fax to 100 people just as easily as you can to one. You can send standard responses to clients directly from your PC within seconds of receiving a request. With today's software, the business person who relies on fax communications can transform his PC into his central filing cabinet with copies of all his files readily available.

This review looks at seven standalone fax software packages, each with the ability to send and receive faxes and perform optical character recognition (OCR) on received faxes, and more. All "print'' to a remote fax machine from any Windows application with results that are as clear and crisp as any image you will ever get from a fax machine. All maintain phone books that allow you to select frequently dialed numbers or groups of numbers quickly for rapid faxing. All allow you to schedule your transmissions for periods when the phone rates are lower. All allow you to "assemble'' a fax using output from several Windows applications. Because all the products must transmit their information in accordance with the Group 3 facsimile standards, there is little difference in the time each program takes to send a given fax image.

Commonalities also exist on the receiving end. All the products reviewed here allow your PC to receive faxes from a fax machine and view the faxes on your monitor. The different viewers provide a great deal of flexibility in adjusting the size of the viewed image. Some even use image-processing techniques and anti-aliasing algorithms to enhance the appearance of a received fax. These high-end fax products also include the ability to convert fax images to text files via OCR.

To see how the products performed, we loaded each one onto a Windows-equipped 386/40 PC and took the product through its paces. The test PC used a Boca Research 14.4 Faxmodem, capable of operating as either a Class 1 or Class 2 fax modem. Once we installed the

program, we sent fax images to and from the host PC. We timed outgoing faxes to measure the transmission times, and we assessed incoming faxes on the basis of their file-storage requirements. We checked the quality of the received images at both the test PC and the test fax machine, and converted incoming files to text using each product's OCR capability.

BITFAX PROFESSIONAL 3.0

As a program for sending and receiving faxes from your personal PC, BitFax does it all. It provides an orderly file-management system, excellent annotation tools, and an OCR engine that is both fast and accurate. BitFax Professional also includes Bitcom, a full-featured communications program, and Voice Manager, a program that works with the new voice-enabled modems to let your PC and its modem operate as a voice-mail server.

If you want to install all these programs on your hard disk, be prepared to give up 9.2MB of space. If you'd prefer to install only the features you want, the installation program makes it easy. For example, I had no trouble selecting only the fax and OCR, which take up 3.1MB and 3.6MB respectively.

In addition to copying the program files to the proper locations, the setup program also detects your fax modem and makes suggestions as to the proper settings. In my case, the suggestions were right on, and I didn't have to make any further adjustments. The setup program also installed the new Windows printer driver for the fax and made the necessary changes to the WIN.INI file.

Once you have the program installed, sending faxes with BitFax is as simple as printing from any Windows application. BitFax's native phone book uses the dBASE format, making it easy to move numbers from an existing phone book to BitFax. BitFax lets you view and even annotate an outgoing fax.

To receive faxes, you must enable Receive Manager, which allows the fax program to answer incoming calls automatically. BitFax can distinguish whether incoming information is in the form of a fax, data or voice and take the appropriate action. Incoming faxes can be stored for future review, automatically printed, or automatically sent to the OCR module for conversion to text. If you want, you can have BitFax automatically forward received faxes to you at another phone number. Unlike the other programs in this review, BitFax uses its own format for storing the received faxes and reduces storage requirements by approximately 10 percent.

BitFax uses the AnyFax OCR engine, developed by Caere especially for faxes and their relatively low-resolution images. In OCR trials, the BitFax performance was among the fastest, and it was the only product to recognize bold and italic text.

DATAFAX+ 4.1E

DataFax+ is a great product for the individual user. It includes the standard fax software, called FaxGenerator, plus OCR software and what Trio calls a FaxConverter.

The FaxConverter is a small electronic box powered by two 9-volt batteries or an AC adapter (neither is included) that acts as a telephone-line simulator. When coupled with DataFax+, this FaxConverter turns any available fax machine into either a scanner or a printer. Trio developed the box for its demonstrations, but now (by popular demand) includes it in the package.

The FaxConverter isn't all that's different. Trio has some interesting approaches to PC-based faxing. The Captive feature, for example, essentially gives you a way to fax from Windows' Clipboard. The Captive icon, which loads automatically when DataFax is installed, looks like a tiny camera in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. This feature enables you to clip data from any Windows application, and then send the data on its way by simply appending a fax address to it.

DataSearch is another feature unique to DataFax+. This text-indexing and retrieval engine operates on text gener-ated by OCRing incoming faxes. Employed regularly, it provides a quick way to manage the information that comes in via fax.

DataFax+ also performs the basic fax send-and-receive functions. Bowing to its European origin, its cover sheets automatically adjust their headings to account for different languages. The program has no image-editing capability, but does possess one of the better cover-sheet editors available.

The product's OCR uses the Ligature engine. You can convert incoming faxes to text in several popular word processing formats, and you have the option of doing so manually or automatically. The resulting text files can then be indexed with the dataSearch utility

ECLIPSE FAX 6.0

With its new version of Eclipse FAX, Phoenix Technologies is refocusing its attention on those of you who use fax communications as an integral part of your work. Besides making it very easy to send and receive faxes, Eclipse FAX simplifies and automates the task of managing information that comes in and goes out via your PC's fax.

Fax Assistant, the key component of the new paradigm, allows you to associate procedure settings with a person's phone number or station ID. Then, when you send a fax to that person, the program automatically invokes these settings. You can, for instance, use the system settings to forward to client A a copy of every fax sent to client B. Furthermore, by using the station ID to identify received faxes, you can automatically send client A a copy of every fax received from client C, even using a special cover sheet to identify the forwarded fax as a copy.

You can use Fax Assistant to control the storage of sent and received faxes; for example you could set the feature so that received faxes are automatically deleted after a specific number of days. You can also adjust the settings so that all saved faxes are compressed with Group 4 compression, reducing file size by 40 percent. Fax Assistant even allows you to specify different fax cover sheets for different clients. Once you've established the settings, Eclipse FAX follows your bidding automatically.

Eclipse FAX continues to do conventional tasks--sending and receiving faxes--well. In time trials, Eclipse consis-tently had the shortest duration for fax transmissions, and saving even a few seconds on every fax call can add up to a lot of money over the full course of any given fiscal year.

Eclipse also continues to innovate. One new feature is the ability to link theEclipse phone book to an external dBASE file, without having to import or modify the existing file. Eclipse becomes in effect a read-only user of the database.

One place that Eclipse does fall short is its OCR capability. Based on the

same Ocron engine used in UltraFax, the text rec-ognition is not as fast or as accurate as it is in other products. Also, the file formats need to be updated to support the newest versions of programs such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Word. But with that one caveat, you'll find that Eclipse FAX is a product that will make your faxing much easier than it was in the past.

EXPRESSFAX+

ExpressFax+ is part of WordPerfect's new line of Main Street software. Designed for the home market, ExpressFax+ lacks many of the features--and much of the utility--of the other products in this review, yet sells for a price just slightly below the average.

The differences in ExpressFax+ become apparent when you install the program. Rather than write the software to interface with a Class 1 or Class 2 fax modem, the program uses a DOS-based TSR (terminate and stay resident program) to make your Class 1 or Class 2 fax modem think it is a CAS modem. The TSR, using about 30KB of that precious area below 640KB of memory, must be loaded before starting Windows. Despite its CAS emulation, the program does not support CAS-based fax modems.

Once loaded, the operation of the program is straightforward. This is a good thing, since the program's documentation is limited to only a single instruction card. For any questions beyond the scope of that card, you have to use the on-line help or call technical support (a free, but not toll-free call). Although on-line documentation may be the wave of the future, I still like to be able to consult hard copy.

Sending and receiving faxes with ExpressFax+ is generally trouble free. But it's only a basic program: You can't preview files before sending them, and there's no support for scanner input. Image manipulation tools are limited to zooming and rotation, and the program has no annotation capabilities. And for no apparent reason, file sizes of received faxes are about 10 percent larger than the norm.

The program's one redeeming feature is its use of the Xerox TextBridge OCR engine. It performed well in trials, rendering faxed images into useful text. If you are not in a hurry, you can run the OCR in Verify mode; it will stop and ask you for help whenever it finds an illegible character.

FAXWORKS PRO 3.0

SofNet develops a full line of fax software for the individual user and for network environments. FaxWorks Pro, its top standalone product, pays a lot of attention to modem characteristics, usability and image manipulation--all important parts of faxing.

The attention to modems first appears when the install program kicks off an extensive modem test during the installation.

The on-line help (which accounts for 2.4 of the 9.5MB needed by the entire package; install lets you decide whether to load it or not) consists of standard Windows' Help files plus some really large cue cards that explain the actions of every command button as you pass over it. The cue cards are like those in Microsoft Office applications, except that they are much bigger.

Another key to SofNet's approach is the extensive use of thumbnails, small representations of each faxed page appended to the beginning of each page. They allow the program to portray an overall representation of the fax quickly. Although the thumbnails make each image file a little larger, the program regains the space, and then some, by using Group 4 compression. Since you have the thumbnails, you might not have to decompress a Group 4 image--a time-consuming task--quite so often.

FaxWorks uses thumbnails throughout. For instance, when you highlight an item in a fax log, you see a thumbnail of the first page. Then, while still viewing the fax log, you can quickly page through thumbnails of each page of the highlighted fax to identify desired information.

Thumbnails come into play again in FaxWorks when you assemble documents that will include images from multiple faxes. As soon as you have entered Assemble mode, you will be able to select pages from any stored fax and then add them to a newly assembled document. Because you are working with thumbnail views, the process can get under way very quickly.

ULTRAFAX 1.1

When UltraFax was introduced in the summer of 1992, it set many precedents for managing faxing. Developed by ZSoft, a company steeped in graphical tools, UltraFax was the first faxing product to incorporate image processing and anti-aliasing.ZSoftalso established a standard for binary file transfer from fax modem to fax modem.

In the intervening years,ZSoft was acquired by WordStar, which was then acquired by/merged with SoftKey. UltraFax is still available, but you really have to look for it. The packaging on my current evaluation copy looks the same as that on my 1992 copy. The phone numbers are the same, and the address is the same. The difference is that no one answers the phone anymore. SoftKey plans to update the packaging at some time in the future, but there are no plans for further product development.

UltraFax is still a feature-rich faxing product. It is easy to install and easy to operate. It performs all the basic faxing functions--sending, receiving and annotating--quite capably. Its image-processing and image-manipulation abilities are excellent; although some products redraw rotated images slowly, UltraFax is able to snap them right around. The program allows you (over the course of 23 steps) to zoom between 600 percent and 25 percent.

OCR is one area in which the product shows its age. Using an old version of the Ocron engine, the only output format is a text file with no recognition of font attributes, such as bold or italic. Furthermore, you always have to initiate the OCR process manually.

The upshot is that UltraFax provides a lot of capability for its price, but the information you get in the initial package may be all you ever get.

WINFAX PRO 4.0

WinFax PRO includes everything you could ever want in a fax software package--at least for today. In addition to the conventional fax tools, Delrina provides you with such tools as remote fax retrieval and access to Delrina's worldwide fax broadcast service. All this capability comes at a cost, however: it requires 12.5MB of hard disk space.

During installation, the program detects your existing modem and recommends a setup. Because Delrina takes special advantage of the abilities of Class 1 fax modems to use software flow control, this is generally the recommended setting.

Sending faxes with WinFax is very easy. You select WinFax as the Windows printer and then print from your application. The Delrina phone books follow the dBASE format for easy file import and export. WinFax can also track the number of successful pages transmitted. If a transmission fails part- way through, WinFax lets you resume the transmission where you stopped with its Send Failed Pages Only option.

When WinFax receives a fax, the stored image is about 5 percent larger than the standard Group 3 size, because the program builds a thumbnail image of the fax as a header. You'll appreciate this thumbnail when you need to locate a specific bit of information in a long fax.

WinFax provides a wide assortment of annotation tools for cleaning up a received fax or for adding more information. One unique feature is the library of stamps that can be applied to a fax image. You can use one from the library or create your own to put your personal brand on a document. WinFax saves the annotations as a separate layer laid over the original fax, allowing you to restore a fax to its original state with a single command.

In this new version of WinFax PRO, Delrina has adopted the OCR technology developed by Xerox for its TextBridge product. In our tests, however, this engine was slower to recognize text than others.


Fax Software Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\OCT3.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Info Files

BitFax Professional 3.0

Price: $129

In Brief: BitFax's sophisticated group of programs provides top performance, its OCR capabilities and fax annotation tools are particularly impressive.

Disk Space Required: 9.2MB

RAM: 4MB

Cheyenne Communications Inc.

800-243-9462, 516-484-5110

DataFax+ 4.1e

Price: $129

In Brief: This Swedish program offers a slightly different approach to faxing with its small, electronic battery-powered phone-line simulator.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

RAM: 4MB

Trio Information Systems Inc.

800-880-4400, 919-846-4990

Eclipse FAX 6.0

Price: $84.95

In Brief: A full-featured fax product with a less-than-full-featured price, this program has all the tools you need to make business faxing commonplace.

Disk Space Required: 5.8MB

RAM: 4MB

Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

800-452-0120, 617-551-4000

ExpressFax+

Price: $109

In Brief: Because it's intended for the home market, this product provides only basic faxing capabilities.

Disk Space Required: 4.3MB

RAM: 4MB

WordPerfect / The Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000

FaxWorks Pro 3.0

Price: $129

In Brief: An easy-to-use product with good image manipulation features, it also has an excellent cover-page creator.

Disk Space Required: 9.5MB

RAM: 4MB

SofNet Inc.

800-FAXWORKS, 404-984-8088

UltraFax 1.1

Price: $49.95

In Brief: This product provides a basic set of fax capabilities, and at present there are no plans to develop it further.

Disk Space Required: 7.96MB

RAM: 4MB

SoftKey

800-227-5609, 617-494-1200

WinFax PRO 4.0

Price: $129

In Brief: The latest incarnation of the most popular fax software on the market, this program has every possible feature, allowing you to use faxes and your PC to enhance productivity.

Disk Space Required: 12.5MB

RAM: 4MB

Delrina Corp.

800-268-6082, 408-363-2345


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Sending	Receiving	Editing	Managing	OCR
	BitFax Professional 3.0	B	A	B	B	A
	DataFax+ 4.1e	B	B	D	B	B
	Eclipse FAX 6.0	A	A	B	A	C
	ExpressFax+	C	C	D	C	B
	FaxWorks Pro 3.0	B	B	A	B	C
	UltraFax 1.1	B	B	A	C	C
W	WinFax PRO 4.0	A	A	A	A	B
•	Sending: How easily does the product send faxes from Windows applications to individuals or groups? Is it easy to assemble multiple documents into a single fax and select one or more fax recipients and transmission times? What is the quality of the attached cover sheets, the speed and quality of the fax, and the impact on other Windows applications during transmission?

•	Receiving: How well does the software view incoming faxes? Does it provide a high-quality received image? How large are the received files? Does it degrade the operation of other Windows applications during reception?

•	Editing: Can you annotate incoming and outgoing faxes? Can you create/modify fax cover sheets for individuals and group transmissions?

•	Managing: Is it easy to manage the fax operation? Is the native phone book useful and easy to use? Is tracking incoming and outgoing faxes easy and intuitive?

•	OCR: How well does the program transform received faxes into text files? How fast and accurate is the conversion process? How well does the program convert fax images to the formats of common word processors?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

THREE OF THE seven products reviewed--BitFax Professional, Eclipse FAX and WinFax PRO--stand apart from the others. Each of these offers powerful, yet easy-to-use procedures for sending and receiving faxes, excellent tools for editing fax images, and features that make it easy to manage your faxes, both sent and received. Each of the three also has unique features to recommend it. BitFax's OCR engine proved to be more accurate and faster than any other in the review. Eclipse FAX, with its Fax Assistant, the best transmission speed in the group and low price, is a good choice if OCR is not a driving factor. The best all-around product, however, is WinFax PRO. It has tools for enterprise faxing and integration into e-mail that you can't get anywhere else. From its expansive cover-sheet developer to special viewing tools to its annotation stamps, it is the product that does it all for faxing, whether in a standalone application or as a part of a large organization.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\OCT4.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Can't Tell The Players

By: DAVID CLAIBORNE

In many respects, keeping up with the fax software vendors and who owns whom is almost as difficult as tracking the software. Only two of the seven products (Delrina's WinFax PRO and Trio's DataFax+) are now being marketed and updated by the originating company.

BitFax Professional was originally developed by Bit Software, which was acquired last May by Cheyenne Communications, a subsidiary of Cheyenne Software. UltraFax came from Zsoft; but since then Zsoft was acquired by WordStar, which was acquired by Soft- Key. In the meantime, Harland LaVigne left his post as Zsoft CEO to become CEO of SofNet, which brought FaxWorks to market. FaxWorks, in turn, arose from software concepts initially conceived by a company called Alien Software. Phoenix Technologies now owns Eclipse FAX, which originally came from a small start-up company in Chicago.

ExpressFax+ got its start as MTEZ from MagicSoft. WordPerfect, which acquired that product two years ago, has in turn been acquired by Novell.

Stay tuned.


The Other Fax Software

By: DAVID CLAIBORNE AND DAVID GABEL

This review focused on programs that handle facsimile communications. But there are programs that offer fax capability as part of a larger communications suite. Although the fax capabilities of these general-purpose programs may not be as robust as those of the fuller featured programs we reviewed, they provide all the communications software you may need in one place, making it easily accessible.

Procomm Plus for Windows 2.0 ($179; Datastorm Technologies Inc., 314-443-3282), a full communications suite, has a fax module that installs a printer driver you can access from Windows applications, such as word processors or spreadsheets. (This is also true of several of the fax programs we look at in our main review as well.) The main screen is the communications terminal screen. A fax option on the menu bar in this main screen enables you access the fax capabilities, including logging faxes received and sent.

QuickLink Gold is another complete communications program with fax capability ($69.95; Smith Micro Software Inc., 800-964-SMSI, 714-362-2350). Like Procomm Plus, QuickLink's main screen looks more like a communications program than a fax program. The only clue to its fax capabilities are two icons representing the sent log and received log. Clicking on either icon displays a log list. Double-clicking on a log item launches the QuickLink Viewer. The Viewer itself is a modest tool with four zoom levels, image rotation and image reversal.

OCR is not integrated with the program. Although you launch the OCR program from either a menu item or command button in QuickLink, once in it you still must select the image file you want converted to text from a standard Windows' File/Open dialog box. If you do not know the filename of the desired fax, doing so could be difficult. OCR output is either stored in a text file or placed on Windows' Clipboard for future disposition.


Backing Up Isn't Hard to Do

Backup Programs

Report Card: Parallel-Port Drives

Report Card: Internal Drives

Info Files

Backup Drives Table

Bigger, Better, Faster

The Scsi Alternative

Have A Backup Strategy


Backup Programs

By: Karen Strauss, Technical Editor, and Serdar Yegulalp, Assistant Technical Editor-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Now it's easier, faster and less expensive than ever to back up your data. No longer are you limited to single-user solutions that hook up one backup device per computer. Instead, you can turn to inexpensive tape drives that connect to the parallel port of any computer. This means that not only can you back up the data on your own desktop computers, but you can also back up a notebook, a colleague's computer, or handle the backup requirements of an entire department or small office with a parallel-port drive.

Or, if you'd prefer a less-expensive, internal drive, you can do that as well. Get one drive, connect all the computers in your office or department over Ethernet, and use the peer-to-peer networking support in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 to back up all the data to the tape drive in a single machine. You have to figure in the cost of the Ethernet adapters when you plan your purchase, but it may be a good choice for a small office, since you won't need to lug a parallel-port drive from machine to machine.

Setting up a parallel-port drive is as close to plug-and-play as you can get right now. Attach the cable to the parallel port on the back of your computer. Plug the drive's power source into the wall, turn on your computer, run Windows, and install the backup software. Most of the tape drives also sport parallel-port pass-through, so you can have your printer connected at the same time. Run the backup software, choose the data to back up and let it run. The backup will proceed at anywhere from 3 to 8 megabytes per minute (MBpm) and most of the software packages allow you to keep working under Windows while the backup proceeds. You can also use the scheduling software that comes with the backup programs to back up automatically at whatever intervals you wish.

Parallel-port tape drives also make it easy to share data between a desktop and notebook computer or between a desktop computer at work and one at home. These drives typically adhere to either the QIC-40 or the QIC-80 standard. QIC-40 lets you back up 80MB of uncompressed data and up to 160MB of compressed data. QIC-80 holds 120MB of uncompressed data and up to 250MB of compressed data. For this review, we concentrated on the QIC-80 drives, since these provide enough storage space to handle the average 150MB desktop or notebook on a single cartridge and larger hard disks over multiple cartridges. Another advantage to purchasing a QIC-80 drive is that a tape backed up in one drive can be restored from another QIC-80 drive, even using a different brand.

The big drawback to parallel-port tape drives is that they are very slow when compared with internal QIC tape drives or with internal SCSI tape drives. Enhanced parallel ports are somewhat faster than a standard parallel port, supporting a throughput of up to 10 MBpm and tape drives connected to these ports promise maximum speeds of around 9MBpm. None of these drives managed that feat in our tests, so we decided to look at internal drives (they're faster than the external, parallel-port drives).

If time is a critical factor, then you should really consider purchasing a SCSI tape drive, which promises maximum speeds of up to 18MBpm or more. Of course, setting up a SCSI drive will be more complicated than a parallel-port drive.

We ran several backup sets to test the speed and reliability of the tape drives. One set of data was 25MB, the second set 250MB. All these drives reliably backed up and restored data at the throughputs we expected for parallel-port devices (between 5.6MBpm and 7.43MBpm, depending upon the compression method chosen). The smaller number represents the slowest drive with no compression enabled. The larger number represents the fastest drive with compression optimized for speed. Besides compression that is speed-optimized, you can opt for space-optimized compression, which will take longer, but use less tape than speed-optimized compression.

AUGMENTX RETRIEVER RT250P

This drive was obviously designed to withstand the rigors of being shared among multiple machines and users. It's the only drive with a handle to make it easy to carry. It also frees you of the burden of lugging around a large external transformer; instead, all you need is a standard PC power cord. The internal transformer does make it heavier than the other drives in this review (by about 2 to 4 pounds), but it's still lightweight enough to carry comfortably from office to office. Don't plan on taking it on the road with you, though; do your backups religiously before you travel, so leaving it at home won't be a problem.

The drive emitted a high-pitched whine that might bother you, but if you run it overnight, you won't even notice it. The included software was Colorado Backup for Windows Lite, which is a reduced version of Colorado Backup for Windows, an excellent backup utility.

When we were installing the drive, we found that for some strange reason it wasn't listed as a choice in the backup software that comes with it. If you overlook your initial confusion, you'll find that choosing Trakker 120 or Trakker 250 works just fine.

COLORADO MEMORY SYSTEMS JUMBO TRAKKER 250

The Trakker 250 offers fast, reliable backups in a neat, although somewhat large, package. It has the same internals as the Augmentx retriever, but with a less rugged case. It comes with a cable to connect to your parallel port, an AC power cable with a transformer, and the software--but not the tape. Fortunately, the Jumbo 250 mini data cartridges (DT-250) are generally easy to buy.

The Lite version of Colorado Backup is included. It can handle data compression, so the backup speed depends on your processor's speed. We tested this unit with both 486/25 and 486DX4/75 PCs. With the 25MHz machine, no compression is the fastest backup mode. The compression modes ran faster with the 75MHz machine because the amount of data being sent through the parallel port is reduced by up to 50 percent; with this processor speed, the throughput of the parallel port becomes the limiting factor, while with the slower machine, the software overhead to handle the compression overwhelmed the speed advantage of the smaller data stream. As usual, you can choose from no compression, maximum compression or compression optimized for speed.

The drive is compact and, with the AC power adapter and a tape, weighs less than 5 pounds. Although it's a little larger than most, you could still probably manage to tote it on the road along with your notebook.

CONNER PERIPHERALS TAPE-STOR 250

The Tape-Stor 250 ranked low on our throughput tests, coming in a full megabyte per minute behind the Retriever RT250P.

The included software was more rudimentary than the software provided with the other drives, offering fewer options for file selection and compression. You have a choice only of compression or no compression. It also wouldn't let us redirect the files we wished to restore to a directory other than the original, and we couldn't overwrite files on the hard disk with files on the tape, making it impossible to restore a file that had been corrupted.

One very good point is that this drive, like the Retriever, uses a standard PC power cord; its power supply is built into the unit. Although including the power supply makes the drive larger and harder to carry around, it also makes it easier to plug into the wall or outlet strip. When you are moving the tape drive from office to office and machine to machine, you don't always have the luxury of multiple free outlets, which you may need for a transformer. This drive's standard power cord means that all you have to worry about is finding just one free outlet wherever you are.

Even though the Tape-Stor 250's results on our performance tests placed it at the bottom of the group, the relative differences in the performance of the other units was so small that it's fair to categorize the Tape-Stor--and, indeed, all the others--as good performers. It isn't quite as fast as the other drives, but speed is typically not a significant factor. You may want to purchase a more full-featured backup software package to customize your backup options. Doing so will add to your cost, but might be worth it to gain the added convenience.

IOMEGA TAPE250 PARALLEL PORT II

Iomega says its Tape250 Parallel Port II is both smaller and 50 percent faster than the previous version. It delivers on the size. We didn't compare it with the earlier version, but its speed put it in the middle of our test group. It was also the smallest of our review group and the quietest.

It's quiet because it uses a pivoting roller drive rather than the belt drives used by the other products in this review. This digital servo-controlled direct-drive design makes for a compact (1.56x5.00x 8.44 inches), lightweight unit (2.1 pounds); but the external transformer (power supply) is still one of the largest we have seen, offsetting the benefits of the small drive size and limiting its portability.

Our review system came with Iomega Backup software, jointly developed by Iomega and Arcada (the MicroSolutions Backpack 250 ships with Arcada Backup for Windows). The software handles the details of installation and configures the drive, including running a test backup and file comparison.

The software allows you to specify your choice of backup schemes easily, from uncompressed, compressed optimized for speed, and compressed optimized for space. You can schedule backup sets so they'll be executed at a later time or run at intervals that you specify, such as once a week, once a month and so on.

The Tape250 is an excellent choice if size and quietness are your main considerations. The large transformer makes it difficult to plug into a power-outlet strip, so it's harder to use than a drive with a smaller power supply. It also ran more slowly than many of the other units, but that is only a minor problem. As we have already mentioned, the speeds of these devices are so similar that we can call each and every one of them good performers. And if you set your backups for otherwise idle times, then the length of time it takes to back up your data won't be a problem.

MICROSOLUTIONS BACKPACK 250

The Backpack tape drive is not only one of this most portable in the review, it is also one of the fastest, ranking among the top three in our throughput tests.

When you back up your data, you'll have to decide between optimizing your backup so that it either completes the job faster or uses less tape. Backups using compression optimized for space use about 10 percent less tape than speed-optimized compressed backups.

Either way you go, this tape drive gives you fast performance. For a backup with compression optimized for speed on a 75MHz notebook, the Backpack managed a very respectable 6.97MBpm.

Setting up the Backpack is simple: Plug the parallel cable into the back of your computer, plug the drive into an outlet, flip the power switch, and you've completed the hardware installation. The software requires only a little more work. Backup for Windows from Arcada Software Inc., is bundled with this drive. The software will automatically configure itself for the drive when you run it the first time and run a sample backup to verify that installation.

The Backpack is ruggedly constructed. Its metal case sets it apart from the Trakker, Tape250 and Tape-Stor drives, by making it more durable.

Overall, the Backpack performed backups and restored data efficiently and reliably, working easily with the two notebooks and one desktop machine I used for testing. It is an excellent choice for a single user or a whole department.

REXON TECMAR TAPEPORT 250

Like the other drives here, the speed of the backup using the TapePort 250 depends on the compression priority specified and the processor speed. In our backup tests, the TapePort 250 offered reasonable performance. Throughout all the tests, the data was reliable, and the backups themselves handled every file properly and restored them as expected, with no hitches. We were able to search through the backup set and select individual files and groups of files to restore to the directory of our choice.

Setting up this drive was simple as was the case with all the parallel-port drives we tested. Just plug it into the parallel port and plug in the power. Then load the backup software. The software bundled with this drive was equally easy to set up. The backup program allows you to select from no compression or compression optimized for either speed or space. The scheduler permits you to organize your backup sets and then set the computer to run the backups at scheduled intervals, such as overnight or every day at noon. This arbitrary scheduling capability takes much of the worry out of making data backups, since your computer can do it alone, without slowing your work day.

The TapePort 250 was among the smaller tape drives, so it's easy to move the drive from office to office or between your home and office. The small size also makes it an excellent candidate to take on the road with a notebook computer.

In short, all the external parallel-port drives we reviewed came very close to one another in performance. Those with internal power-supply transformers will be more portable, while the external trans-former models are lighter, but require two adjacent electric sockets to plug them in.

Internal Tape Drives

When a parallel-port drive will not suffice for whatever reason--the speed is too slow, the drive is too expensive, or you just don't want the hassle of carrying a drive from machine to machine--an internal drive may fill the bill. If your office is networked, then one drive can back up all the disk drives in all your computers.

Each of the three drives below are compatible with QIC interfaces, and mount easily into any drive bay on your system. Functionally, they are essentially identical with their external cousins, but they are speedier, because they are not limited by the slow parallel-port interface, operating instead connected to the floppy disk drive controller.

COLORADO MEMORY SYSTEMS JUMBO 250

With the Colorado Jumbo 250 comes a stripped-down version of Colorado's own Colorado Backup called, appropriately enough, Colorado Backup Lite. The drive has a detachable outer shell that allows it to be installed in both 5.25- or 3.5-inch drive bays without much trouble.

The Colorado normally emits a noticeable, high-pitched whine from its motors when it's operating. If the cover to the computer is off, it's distracting, but it's less troublesome when the drive is enclosed on all sides. When you first insert a tape, the drive (as opposed to the software) takes the trouble to read the tape header and find out the contents of the cassette, so the software spends that much less time getting under way.

Colorado Backup Lite uses drag-and-drop actions to do everything, making it baby-simple to work with. The only feature that is noticeably missing is scheduled backups; the average user could work with it without having to upgrade. The program is also smart: It senses the presence of other tape backup programs that might interfere with it and deactivates them. It also supports wildcarded backups; if you pass .INI as a parameter, for example, you would have the program back up everything that matched, or everything that didn't match (if that's what you want).

Colorado's manual makes the installation process crystal clear, with plenty of illustrations and troubleshooting suggestions.

CONNER PERIPHERALS TAPE-STOR 250 INTERNAL

C onner's Tape-Stor installs in a slightly different fashion from the other internal drives we reviewed: It hooks directly onto the floppy controller's ribbon cable as if it were a second floppy disk drive, making it that much easier to attach and get running. Most tape drives use a branch cable from the floppy controller's ribbon connector, however this one simply plugs into the cable itself.

A special cable is provided to hook it up as a third device, in case you already have two drives installed. The mounting braces are removable, allowing the drive to fit into either 5.25- or 3.5-inch drive bays. The Tape-Stor was also quieter than the Colorado Jumbo 250; it doesn't sound any louder than a conventional floppy disk drive.

Conner's bundled software, Conner Backup Basics, has only a few options. For instance, you can't control the level of compression in backups (speed versus space), and you can't automatically erase a tape before backing up to it. But unat-tended backups are supported, and you can back up inclusively or exclusively wildcarded files (all files that match .EXE, or everything except .TMP, for example). The hardware documentation is plainly written and plentifully illustrated.

IOMEGA TAPE250 INTERNAL

The Tape250 is mounted in a removable bracket that allows it to fit interchangeably in 1/3-height, 3.5-inch or 1/2-height, 5.25-inch drive bays. It uses a miniature instead of a full-sized power connector, but it doesn't have an adapter for a full-sized connector in the event your system isn't so equipped.

The installation instructions are on a single folded card and do not require any unduly complicated work. You may have to set a jumper on the unit if your system has more than two floppy disk drives installed already, but that's about it. The Iomega operates noiselessly, except for an occasional rasping sound whenever the tape reverses direction.

Iomega's backup program is so straightforward, it's next to impossible to make a mistake. All the controls are on large buttons with unpretentious labels: What to Back Up, Where and How. But that doesn't mean it's for novices only; unattended backups and password protection of tapes are here, along with a plethora of other convenient features.

The program is also smart enough to detect the presence of other backup programs that load potentially troublesome Windows components (usually files with a .386 extension), comment them out and reboot before proceeding. The user can configure a host of options and save them (compression style, file parameters and so on), creating his own custom backup profile. The program also supports inclusive and exclusive wildcarding: You can back up everything that matches or everything that doesn't match a given wildcard search, such as .INI.

As an option, Iomega also provides a controller board, the Tape Accelerator II, that increases throughput to 1Mbps. Our test system performed about the same with it installed, but our system used a local-bus, on-the-motherboard floppy controller. The card's designed to provide a performance boost over a conventional ISA I/O bus card.


Info Files

Augmentx Retriever RT250P

Price: $449

In Brief: This is a tough tape drive that you can carry from one office to another.

Augmentx Inc.

800-232-4687, 303-431-8991

Colorado Memory

Systems Jumbo Trakker 250

Price: $399

In Brief: Use this one to get fast, reliable backups in a neat package that's light enough to carry along with you.

Colorado Memory Systems Inc.

800-845-7905, 303-669-6500

Conner Peripherals

Tape-Stor 250 Parallel Port

Price: $349

In Brief: This drive's internal power supply makes it easy to carry from office to office for multiple backups.

Conner Peripherals Inc.

800-6-CONNER, 714-631-1230

MicroSolutions Backpack 250

Price: $489

In Brief: Simple setup and high speed are this drive's salient advantages.

MicroSolutions Inc.

800-890-7227 x 200, 815-756-3411

Rexon Tecmar TapePort 250

Price: $369

In Brief: This drive combines small size, good speed and feature-packed software for a good tape-backup solution.

Rexon Inc.

800-4-BACKUP, 216-349-1009

Colorado Memory Systems

Jumbo 250

Price: $199

In Brief: This is a solid, no-frills drive that comes bundled with a scaled-down edition of Colorado Backup software.

Colorado Memory Systems

800-845-7905, 303-669-6500

Conner Peripherals

Tape-Stor 250 Internal

Price: $179

In Brief: Designed to install more like a conventional floppy disk drive, it will fit into either a 5.25-inch or a 3.5-inch bay.

Conner Peripherals Inc.

800-6-CONNER, 714-641-1230

Iomega Tape250 Internal

Price: $199

In Brief: This drive is complete right out of the box, with full-featured software included (and accelerator board, optional).

Iomega Corp.

800-777-6654, 801-778-3000


Report Card: Parallel-Port Drives

REPORT CARD: PARALLEL-PORT DRIVES

		Through-put	Construction	Portability	Bundled software	Installation
W	Augmentx Retriever RT250P	A	A	A	A	A
	Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo Trakker 250	A	B	B	A	A
	Conner Peripherals Tape-Stor 250 Parallel Port	B	A	B	C	A
	Iomega Tape250 Parallel Port II	B	A	B	A	A
W	MicroSolutions Backpack 250	A	A	A	A	A
	Rexon Tecmar TapePort 250	B	A	A	A	A
•	Throughput: How fast did the product move data between the hard disk and the tape cassette. We took an average of the drives' performances at backing up uncompressed, compressed optimized for speed, and compressed optimized for space.

•	Construction: How durable was the drive? Was it rugged enough to handle the rigors of being shared among multiple users? Was it ergonomically designed? Would it fit comfortably on a desk?

•	Portability: Was it light enough to carry around comfortably? Could you carry it easily on the road along with a notebook computer? Would the power supply share an adjacent outlet?

•	Bundled software: Was the software easy to use? Did it offer all the expected features? Was it robust enough to handle a multitude of backup chores? Did it handle all of the configuration details for the tape drive?

•	Installation: How quickly could the drive be set up and dismantled? Did you need to turn off the computer's power? Did Windows need to be restarted?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

COMING UP WITH recommendations from this group was difficult, since all six drives delivered fine performances. There were enough differences, however, to make two stand out. First, the Retriever RT250P from Augmentx made it to the top of the heap in the throughput tests, rating about a half a megabyte per minute faster than the next fastest, and 1MB per minute faster than the slowest. This alone is not enough to earn a parallel-port tape drive a WINDOWS Recommended seal, since all these drives performed well. The Retriever gets a recommendation because it has the most rugged construction, and is obviously built to take a beating. It will easily withstand any of the tortures that being shared among a department or small office would put it through.

•	The Backpack, from MicroSolutions, also rates a Recommended seal. Like the Retriever, the Backpack did extremely well in the throughput tests. This one gets a recommendation, though, because its sturdy construction in a small footprint makes it an ideal choice for the single user who will be backing up both desktop and notebook computer data. It is small enough to fit into a briefcase if you want to carry it along, yet has a solid metal construction that will allow it to withstand the rigors of protracted use. The backup software provided is excellent and full featured.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\OCT6.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Report Card: Internal Drives

REPORT CARD: INTERNAL DRIVES

		Throughput	Construction	Bundled software	Installation
	Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo 250	A	B	A	A
	Conner Peripherals Tape-Stor 250	B	A	B	A
W	Iomega Tape250 Internal	A	A	A	A
•	Throughput: How fast did the product move data between the hard disk and the tape cassette. We compared the produce's average time for backing up uncompressed data, data compressed optimized for speed, and data compressed optimized for space on the tape.

•	Construction: Was the drive designed to fit in both 5.25- and 3.5-inch floppy disk drive bays? Was it rugged enough to stand up to tapes being inserted and removed constantly? Did the drive make an undue amount of noise?

•	Bundled software: Was the software easy to use? Did it offer all the expected features? Was it robust enough to handle a multitude of backup chores? Did it handle all  the configuration details for the tape drive?

•	Installation: How easily could the drive be set up and dismantled? Did the software make the system behave in unexpected ways? Did the hardware setup require anything more sophisticated than being plugged in (changing jumpers, setting IRQs and so on)?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

IT WAS DIFFICULT to choose only of the three because of the generally high quality of each product. Each installed easily, ran without trouble, and didn't interfere with the general performance of the PCs they were installed in, or the performance of other software running at the same time. Backing up and restoring could be safely relegated to a background task without causing any trouble. (Note: Since tape backups usually operate from the same hardware as the floppy disk drives, it's generally not a good idea to use diskettes and a tape backup at the same time.)

•	Still, the Iomega edged out the Conner and Colorado drives in terms of raw performance, and came packaged with software that also beat the others in terms of features and ease of use. Like the others, it featured a dual-mount chassis (it installs in both 5.25- and 3.5-inch drive bays) and an optional high-speed interface board in the event one's own floppy controller doesn't prove up to snuff. With an MSRP of $199 and a five-year warranty (as opposed to Colorado's one-year warranty at the same cost), the Iomega is a solid choice for your backup.

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Bigger, Better, Faster

By: KAREN STRAUSS

As we go to press, a new faster, higher capacity tape drive is making waves. Able to store an uncompressed 255MB of data on a standard length tape and 345MB on an extended length tape, drives that use the QIC-3010 format are the successors to those that use the popular QIC-80 format. Using software data compression, these new drives will be able to store up to 690MB on a single quarter-inch tape. Although none were shipping in time for us to evaluate them for this review, they should soon appear at retail outlets.

Not only do these drives offer higher capacity, parallel-port versions also promise throughputs of up to 9.5MB, about 10 percent faster than the current crop. Among the drives announced are the Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo 500, Conner Peripherals Tape-Stor 700 and Iomega Tape510. Both internal and parallel-port versions are expected, with list prices around $399 and $599, respectively.

These drives will be able to read from backups performed on other drives, so the backups you make today will still be useable with the new drives.


The Scsi Alternative

By: KAREN STRAUSS

Parallel-port tape drives have a lot going for them. They are inexpensive, slotless solutions to backing up an entire office. They are, however, limited in capacity and hindered by the slow parallel-port interface. There are faster alternatives, particularly the very fast SCSI drives.

Most people don't think of SCSI as a portable alternative for notebook and other computers; these folks are missing the boat. Because SCSI drives offer digital storage at sizes of 1GB or larger, you can back up larger systems onto a single tape or put multiple systems onto a tape. Unlike the maximum transfer speeds offered by parallel-port tape drives (9 megabytes per minute), the basic SCSI card has a transfer rate of 5 megabytes per second (MBps). Fast SCSI, an enhanced version, pushes the transfer rate up to 10MBps. This quick interface means that you are not going to have to spend a lot of time backing up your data.

This faster speed and higher capacity don't come without a hefty price tag: $1,300 and up. The SCSIs don't sound like a bargain compared with the typical $399 price of a parallel-port drive, but you'll see their true value when you have to do a full system restore.

You should begin to consider SCSI drives as slotless solutions. Think of it this way: Most of the new PCs purchased today come with a SCSI-based internal CD-ROM drive installed. Because SCSI devices can be daisy-chained, you have access to the SCSI card for up to six other peripherals--including a SCSI tape drive; you simply hook the tape drive up to the external SCSI port on the card supporting the CD-ROM drive.

If you purchase an external DAT (digital audio tape) drive, you can now, presuming you install the proper drivers, use this drive on each of your computers that has a SCSI card installed. All you need to do is connect the drive and then restart the computer. This is not an onerous chore.

You notebook users have two options. If you have a notebook with a PCMCIA Type II slot, you can purchase one of a growing number of PCMCIA SCSI cards. Some of the options include the Bus Toaster ($359; New Media Corp., 800-453-0550, 714-453-0100 and SCSI2GO ($349; Future Domain, 714-253-0400).

So, you say you don't have a PCMCIA slot? All is not lost. You can still connect the SCSI tape drive to the parallel port of your computer using one of the many SCSI-to-parallel converters. Simply connect one end of the adapter to your parallel port and the other to the SCSI tape drive. Just keep in mind that the parallel port will limit the speed of your backup and restore. One example of a popular connector is the AL-1000 adapter ($199; Always Technology Corp., 818-597-1400, fax 818-597-1496).

The SCSI tape drive alternative offers an almost slotless solution for backing up that proffers faster throughput, higher capacities and doesn't forget that you sometimes want to backup your notebook. It's worth a look. Of course, you won't want to take the SCSI drive on the road with you. They weigh more than three times as much as the average parallel-port drive, so they'll approach arm-breaking weight in a briefcase.


Backup Drives Table

BACKUP DRIVES

Product	List price	Warranty	Transfer rate (Kbps)	Maximum speed (MBpm)	Read tape formats	Weight (lbs)	Dimensions (HWD)	Windows backup software included
PARALLEL  PORT DRIVES

Augmentx Retriever RT250P	$449	1 year	800	10	QIC-40, QIC-80	5.2	6.50x2.75x9.80	Colorado Backup Lite for Windows
Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo Trakker 250	$399	1 year	500	8	QIC-40, QIC-80	4.2	2.60x4.50x9.50	Colorado Backup Lite for Windows
Conner Peripherals Tape-Stor 250 Parallel Port	$349	2 years	500	8	QIC-40, QIC-80	3.2	2.00x6.00x9.15	Conner Backup Basics
Iomega Tape250 Parallel Port II	$399	5 years	500	9	QIC-40, QIC-80	2.1	1.56x5.00x8.44	Iomega Backup*
MicroSolutions Backpack 250	$489	2 years	500	9	QIC-40, QIC-80	3.2	1.50x4.00x7.75	Arcada Backup for Windows
Rexon Tecmar TapePort 250	$369	2 years	500	8	QIC-40, QIC-80	3.4	2.75x5.00x8.75	TapePort Software for Windows
INTERNAL DRIVES

Colorado Memory Systems Jumbo 250	$199	1 year	500	9.3	QIC-40, QIC-80	1.2	1.63x5.88x6.75	Colorado Backup Lite for Windows
Conner Peripherals Tape-Stor 250	$179	2 years	500	9.5	QIC-40, QIC-80	1.0	1.63x6.00x5.50	Conner Backup Basics
Iomega Tape250 Internal	$199	5 years	500	9.5	QIC-40, QIC-80	1.2	1.63x6.00x6.75	Iomega Backup

*Jointly developed with Arcada

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Have A Backup Strategy

By: KAREN STRAUSS

The only sure way to keep your data safe is to back it up. Often. Use a rotating schedule and store your backup tapes off site. The off-site location can be as simple as bringing the tapes home. This is the backup schedule I like to use for my home computers and my notebooks, but I have to admit that I don't always adhere to it; it's sort of like New Year's resolutions. When I can, I like to do an incremental backup daily, copying all changed files to tape. Ideally, you should use a different tape for each day, but some people use one tape for all their daily backups. This way, you never lose more than a day's work. At the end of each week, do a complete backup. For this I like to use three tapes, alternating them so that I use tape one the first week, tape two the second week, tape three the third week, and then start again with tape one for the fourth week. Again, this ensures that I am never more than a week or two away from a complete restore. Even if one tape goes bad, I still will have access to most of my data.

Working on tight deadlines, however, I find that my rotating daily backups give me instant access to my most important projects. This way, if I do something stupid, like accidentally delete a file or directory (I've done this on more than one occasion), I'm 24 hours away from a complete recovery. When I don't have the time to lose even 24 hours' worth of work, I reset my backup schedule so that I not only back up at the end of the day, but at lunchtime as well. Since the backups can go on in the background, I can eat at my desk, pound away at my keys, and back up my files at the same time, without skipping a single beat.

As you plan your own backup schedule, try to determine just how many hours of data you can afford to lose without causing a disaster. For many people, a 24-hour schedule is enough. Others may need a four-hour schedule. Some data may be irreplaceable.

Tape is cheap. Missed deadlines and redoing work may not be.


Math-Wizard Programs Crunch Numbers

Math Programs

Report Card

Info Files

Math Programs Table


Math Programs

by Ranjit Sahai, P.E.

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Scientists and engineers usually need more from their software than a spreadsheet can provide. For example, they often work with graphs too sophisticated to generate in a spreadsheet. Technical computations can also involve operations on matrices, transforms, finding roots of polynomials, plotting loci, and solving linear and nonlinear differential equations. Spreadsheets just can't handle such entities.

In addition to numerical algorithms, the scientific community regularly employs symbolic computations. Spreadsheets fall short in this type of analysis. They can deal only with numbers and, in doing so, provide results of limited precision. Early in the days of computing, scientists and engineers had to develop software routines capable of running these types of computations, so they developed symbolic processors.

A symbolic processor is at home with algebraic symbols and offers unlimited precision. For example, in a numeric processor, the expression 2/7 is stored internally as the number 0.285714286 (accurate only to the number of digits the CPU can process), but a symbolic processor stores the number as simply 2/7, without computing a result. You could ask a symbolic processor to give you the result of 2/7 accurate to almost any number of decimal places. Also, symbolic processors are the only kind capable of factoring the algebraic expression (x2 - 9) to give the result (x - 3)(x+3), or to compute an algebraic differential or integral.

The mathematical software we review here is for technical users. We looked at five Windows packages that can handle 2-D and 3-D plots, numerical and symbolic math, calculus, and matrix algebra. Most math software has been developed for workstations because, until recently, they were the lowest-level platforms that had the computational horsepower to run these packages. Now, with the availability of Windows NT and its multiplatform computing, scientific software publishers are making the move to Windows, so more math titles should be appearing over the coming year.

Besides their functionality in the scientific and research communities, it is easy to see how helpful these programs could be in math education. As long as this software remained soley in the domain of high-end technical workstations, its practical use in American classrooms--to say nothing of homes or school dormitories--was very limited.

Now, with the migration of these software packages to Windows, this capability falls well within the budgets of most school math departments, and even within reach of math students who have made a strong commitment to the study of their chosen field. With this democratization of resources for understanding (and executing) the computations of higher mathematics, one can only hope there will be a corresponding improvement in math test scores.

MACSYMA 417.125

Macsyma is the granddaddy of all symbolic programs. It dates back to the pioneering research in math software at MIT in the late 1960s. Over time it has developed into a broadly capable and very reliable program primarily because of the market it serves--research facilities and universities.

Despite Macsyma's symbolic strength, some types of computations can slow its performance considerably. Recently, Macsyma Inc. acquired the package and is planning to roll out a much-improved version soon. There are new math algorithms constantly in development that improve computational capability. Macsyma's new version also promises more partial differential equation (PDE) support. The company says the new version will generate symbolic PDEs in arbitrary coordinates and provide symbolic solutions for systems of PDEs. In addition, the new program should have new language extensions for matrix manipulations and improvements to the program's other linear-algebra commands. These enhancements should provide greater speed in executing linear algebra, indefinite integration and rational functions.

The current version has a computational kernel and a Windows front end. The kernel is a DOS program that runs as a minimized application under Windows. The front end communicates with it by sending input and receiving output. The front end essentially emulates a character-mode screen and uses only the most basic of Windows resources, such as the scroll bar and help engine.

Macsyma's interface is a little cumbersome. Unlike most of the programs reviewed here, there is no notebook metaphor that enables you to arrange your calculations and comments as you would in a paper notebook. Moreover, every statement in Macsyma must be terminated with a semicolon. If you wish to create compound documents that integrate text, equations and graphs, you will need to use a word processor or a desktop publishing program to import the various pieces via Windows' Clipboard or disk files.

Its documentation consists of a user guide, a Mathematics Reference Manual, and a System Reference Manual. The manuals are functional and packed with plenty of examples to illustrate the concepts discussed, but lack graphics as well as the polish of professionally developed documentation.

On-line help is immensely usable and uniquely implemented. You can select Help to list a help index, but you'll likely prefer using the commands in the menu bar. The menu bar lists several categories of math supported by Macsyma. When you select an item--for example, Calculus--the program gives you a choice of several function types, such as Differentiation, Integration, LaPlace Transforms and so on, each of which brings up a dialog box listing the supported functions. You can then highlight the desired function and click on a button to see its description in the Help window, submit it to the command line, or see examples as Macsyma actually computes them. It's a little unconventional, but easy to use and powerful. There's also an interactive command-line tutorial written in Macsyma's programming language.

MAPLE V RELEASE 3

Maple is the result of research and development at the Symbolic Computation Group of the Computer Science Department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Like its brethren, Maple has a command-line interface, but also incorporates a good notebook front end, complete with a toolbar and the ability to embed text and graphics on a page.

Like Macsyma, Maple requires you to end every statement you want it to evaluate with a semicolon. Results are displayed in the line below the expression. If you don't want to display the output, you just terminate the math expression with a colon. The notebook page scrolls as you fill it up with input and output regions; in order to switch between these regions you press a function key. The program uses different colors and font attributes to mark different region types.

Maple displays all output in standard typographic style, similar to that in Mathcad. Although the notebook pages are not live, Maple does include an Execute Worksheet command, so you can have all its output regions reevaluated. Maple's memory requirements are lower than those of its competition, and the program offers fast numeric and symbolic computation.

It appears that Maple caches some of its output-variable results because, even though I changed the matrix elements in an eigenvalue problem, the output would continue to display the result as if the input value had not been changed. The only way I could get around this was to save the document and reinitialize Maple's environment.

Maple, like the other symbolic packages, is programmable. Its language uses syntax similar to that of C or Pascal. It includes a DOS character-mode syntax checker called Mint (obviously derived from the syntax-checking utility for the C language, Lint) and a text editor to enter code. Many of the built-in functions in Maple are written in its programming language.

Documentation comprises a Getting Started booklet, a Release 3 Notes booklet, a spiral bound handbook with Release 2 functions, and a copy of The Maple Handbook by Darren Redfern. You also get two books that are specific to Release 1 and serve as a good basic introduction to Maple's capabilities: First Leaves: A Tutorial Introduction and a language reference manual.

The help system in Maple does not use the standard Windows help engine. Selecting Help brings up a hierarchical Help browser window. You select a help topic, then its subtopic, and yet another subtopic, and so on up to five panes deep. A help window displays the correct syntax of a function, lists some examples, and refers you to additional functions of interest, but there are no navigation, search or hypertext facilities.

MATHCAD PLUS 5.0

Mathcad stands out as the only document-oriented program of those reviewed here. Think of it as a free-form spreadsheet. You can place mathematical expressions, a graph associated with an equation, a text block, or (via Clipboard) a picture created in another Windows application on any Mathcad document page. Each object that you place on the page becomes a separate "region" that you can then drag to another position. There also are menu options for aligning various highlighted regions either horizontally or vertically, making it much easier to format a page to your exact needs.

For a typical problem, you start by assigning a value to a variable and then using it in a mathematical expression. The expression must be to the right of or below the variable definition region. If you click on an already defined variable and change its value, the mathematical expression is automatically reevaluated and displayed on the page. That "live" nature of calculations on a page is unique to Mathcad. If you edit an input expression in the other packages, you must reevaluate that expression and all the expressions dependent upon it.

Mathcad's computational features include the evaluation of expressions on the basis of numerical variables; support for units; matrix manipulation; and trigonometric, log, Besel, transform, statistical-distribution, and other functions. You can also use it to solve ordinary differential equations numerically. Although Mathcad includes some basic symbolic capabilities (based on technology it licenses from Maple), for full-featured symbolic computation you will have to look to other packages.

Mathcad uses the Win32s libraries to run as a 32-bit application in Windows 3.1 or as a native application under Windows NT. With this release, Mathcad is available in two versions: basic and PLUS. The basic version has limited matrix, symbolic algebra and differential-equation capabilities. It also cannot be extended via DLLs like the PLUS version can. In addition, Mathcad adds support for DDE as a server, so you can use its computational power from inside Microsoft Excel or another DDE-client application. Electronic handbooks for various disciplines (Education as well as Civil, Electrical and Mechanical engineering) are also available directly from MathSoft, which makes adapting Mathcad to your discipline-specific needs as easy as possible.

Mathcad offers full support for Greek symbols in all regions (including text) of a page. As you enter expressions, the program automatically formats them so they appear in standard mathematical notation. To perform an integration, for instance, you click on the integral symbol in the tool palette and it appears with place holders for the limits, integrand and variable.

The package allows you to document your calculations thoroughly. For example, it supports headers and footers that can include the date, time, filename and page number (but you cannot embed a bitmap, such as a company logo). As mentioned, it allows the placement of graphics from other applications, and also has an integrated spell checker.

Its documentation consists of a Quick Reference and a user guide. The user guide is well written with plenty of screenshots and a comprehensive table of contents and index. On-line help and a tutorial designed to acquaint you with the software's basics quickly are particularly useful features, especially since error messages in Mathcad are brief and not always very helpful

MATHEMATICA 2.2.2

Mathematica is perhaps the best known of the symbolic-computation software packages discussed in this review. It is the brainchild of Stephen Wolfram, a genius who earned his Ph.D. in math at the age of 20. Wolfram (the company, not the man) has the distinction of bringing symbolic math to the world of mainstream software.

Mathematica has a better notebook interface and superior support for graphics and sound than its competitors. It uses the Win32s libraries to operate as a 32-bit application under Windows 3.1. Since it does use these libraries, in theory it should run as a native application under Windows NT; its kernel indeed does, but its MathLink communications interface between the kernel and the notebook front end refused to run when I tried it.

Although Mathematica is command-line oriented, its command-completion capability keeps you from typing in long commands. You just key in a few characters of a command and enter the Ctrl+K key combination to pull up a dialog box of possible choices. Also, its notebook interface is very well implemented. You key in input lines, and output objects--whether numerical results, symbolic expressions, or graphics--each occupy a cell. The cells can be grouped together and collapsed to form an outline. Mathematica also implements styles much like a word processor's. The properties of a cell--its font, color and other characteristics--are determined by its style. With the judicious use of styles, you can create very polished looking documents.

Mathematica includes support for a wide array of numeric and symbolic functions. Its basic set of capabilities is extended by the "packages" that are bundled with it. These packages must be loaded--that is, they must be configured to load automatically at start-up--in order for their functions to be available for computation. LaPlace transforms, vector analysis, the solution of first-order partial differential equations with a single unknown, statistical, and dozens of other functions are implemented as packages.

You can also think of Mathematica as a programming language. It supports procedural, functional and rule-based programming paradigms. The documentation included with the software describes only its programmability, not its programming. Mathematica also supports DDE for communication with other Windows applications.

The documentation consists of a user guide that discusses installation and the front-end notebook interface. The computational capabilities are described in the included 900-plus page, hardbound book, Mathematica: A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer, written by Stephen Wolfram. The book is well written, with plenty of examples to illustrate each concept discussed. Good on-line help using the standard Windows help engine is also available. The error messages are descriptive and, in many instances, prompt you with syntax corrections.

MATLAB 4.2

At one level, MatLab is a programmer's toolkit that includes a C-subroutine library of numerical computations and graphics that can be embedded into your own applications. You can either embed the entire MatLab engine into your applications, or you can have the computational engine run in the background and use the supplied external-interface library to communicate with the engine. Communications between the engine and the interface (which you embed in your application) use the Windows DDE protocol.

The simplest form of programming for MatLab involves writing scripts. A sequence of commands you would normally type at the command line, when saved in a text file, comprise a script. You can also define your own functions that take input and output arguments.

MatLab has a very limited view of the world; everything is treated as a matrix. That matrix-centered view does not mean, however, that MatLab isn't flexible. On the contrary, it has been successfully used for a wide variety of mathematical tasks in engineering, physics, math, finance and chemistry. Because it deals with single- or double-precision floating-point numbers without the overhead of the variable-precision arithmetic built into symbolic packages, it runs computations extremely fast.

By itself, MatLab knows no symbolic math. However, our review copy came bundled with the Symbolic Math Toolbox ($595). The Toolbox enhances the software's numerical prowess by incorporating dozens of functions for algebra, calculus, symbolic-equation solving, and classical applied mathematics. The Toolbox is powered by the Maple symbolic engine and is also available in an Extended version ($895) that adds access to the full Maple core and also gives you the ability to embed the Maple programming language into your MatLab programs.

MatLab, like Macsyma, doesn't have a notebook interface. Although it can generate outstanding graphics and even sound, you cannot combine your input with graphics within the MatLab interface. To make such a compound document, you will have to save your input screen and graphics as separate files and use a word processor or desktop publishing software to integrate them. MatLab does offer an outstanding collection of functions to build a graphical user interface in its plot-display windows. You can add command buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, edit fields, slider bars, and the like in order to make interactive graphical windows.

A collection of functions that generates matrices commonly used in linear algebra and signal processing, such as Hilbert and Hankel transforms, is available in MatLab. In addition a special class of algorithms is available that efficiently deals with sparse matrices--those that are populated with a preponderance of zeros.

MatLab's documentation is extraordinarily well written and clearly illustrated. Included with the package are a user guide, a Reference Manual, and several ancillary booklets (Release Notes, Graphical Interface, External Interface and New Features). The MatLab Expo is an excellent introduction to the basic concepts and capabilities of the software package. Screen-oriented help is available from the command line; alternatively you can very easily access help that uses the standard Windows help engine.

Ranjit S. Sahai, PE, is an engineer at Alpha Corp., Herndon, Va. Contact Ranjit care of the editors in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Math Programs Table

Math Programs*

	M U L T I M E D I A					I N T E R F A C E					M A T H
PROGRAM	MSRP	Minimum RAM (MB)	Disk space (MB)	Animation	Sound	Toolbar	Notebook	Clipboard	DDE client/ server	MDI	Calculus	Symbolic algebra	Code generation	Programming
Macsyma 417.125	$349	8	15	no	no	no	no	yes	no/no	no	yes	yes	Complete code generation with statements in FORTRAN, C	yes
Maple V Release 3	$795	6	21	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	no/no	no	yes	yes	Only expression translation to FORTRAN, C	yes
Mathcad PLUS 5.0	$299.95	8	16	no	no	yes	yes	yes	yes/yes	yes	yes	yes	no	DLL interface
Mathematica 2.2.2	$595 to $995	8	13	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no/no	yes	yes	yes	Only expression translation to FORTRAN, C	yes
MatLab 4.2	$1,695	8	29	yes	yes	no	no	yes	yes/yes	no	yes**	yes**	no	yes
*All perform 2-D and 3-D graphics, numeric calculations and matrix operations.

**Available only with Symbolic Math Toolbox ($595), included in our test package.

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Info Files

Mathcad PLUS 5.0

Price: $299.95

In Brief: Mathcad's free-form "live" interface and standard math notation for all input and output is uniquely coupled with a basic set of symbolic features.

Disk Space Required: 16MB

System Resources: 19%

RAM: 8MB

MathSoft Inc.

800-MATH-CAD, 617-577-1017

Mathematica 2.2.2

Price: From $595 to $995

In Brief: Among the symbolic heavyweights, it has the best front end, with outstanding graphics, animation and sound to visualize your equations.

Disk Space Required: 13MB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 8MB

Wolfram Research Inc.

800-441-6284, 217-398-0700

MatLab 4.2

Price: $1,695

In Brief: MatLab is fast at handling numerical computations; although it lacks symbolic capabilities, they can be performed with the Symbolic Toolbox powered by the Maple engine.

Disk Space Required: 29MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 4MB

The MathWorks Inc.

508-653-1415, fax 508-653-6284


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Installation	Documen-tation	Ease of learning/ ease of use	Symbolic math	Numerical math	Matrix operations	Data visualization
	Macsyma 417.125	B	C	B	B	A	C	B
	Maple V Release 3	B	B	B	B	B	B	B
W	Mathcad PLUS 5.0	A	A	A	A	C	B	B
	Mathematica 2.2.2	A	B	B	B	B	B	B
	MatLab 4.2	B	A	B	B	NA	C	A
NA: Not applicable

•	Installation: How easy was it to install the program? Does it offer help on issues that may confuse a novice user?

•	Documentation: How well is the documentation organized? Does it cover all aspects of the software? How good is its layout?

•	Ease of learning/ease of use: How quickly can a new user become familiar with the software? Is a tutorial included? How convenient is it to use the software once you know its basics?

•	Symbolic math: Does the product have a broad range of symbolic calculation capabilities? Are the results reliable?

•	Numerical math: Can the product solve numerical problems quickly and reliably?

•	Matrix operations: Does it have a variety of matrix computation functions? Is it flexible in letting you define and manipulate matrix elements?

•	Data visualization: What is the breadth of its data visualization capabilities? Does it offer animation? Does it support sound?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

ALTHOUGH ALL THESE packages fit the broad category of math software, they really address very different needs. Mathcad stands alone as the most usable of the lot, with an interface like that of a word processor. The others are command-line oriented; you must learn the language and syntax of commands. Mathcad is a great tool for documenting your calculations and offers a set of functions broad enough to be adequate for most needs.

•	If you have to get through a lot of heavy-duty symbolic math, you might want to consider another package. Of the three symbolic-math heavyweights, Mathematica offers the best "notebook" interface as well as outstanding data-visualization capabilities. It also has a reputation for being the least diverse. Maple has a good notebook interface and a large set of symbolic capabilities. Macsyma is the oldest symbolic math software in this group; it also has the broadest set of capabilities, but its interface is behind the times. A new version of Macsyma that incorporates a notebook interface and nearly the entire MatLab functionality is under development and should be available by the time you read this. MatLab by itself has no symbolic capabilities, but offers plenty of symbolic toolboxes as add-ons. Even so, it's a real crowd pleaser when it comes to dealing with matrices and offers an excellent 4GL programming interface.

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and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\OCT9.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Superior Shareware: October 1994

Superior Shareware: Recommended Downloads from America Online (Keyword: WinMag) and CompuServe (GO WINUSER)

By: Julie R. Blumenfeld

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Area Code Master 1.1 Forget your long distance company--Area Code Master will help you find your way. To get any area code, just click on a state on the displayed U.S. map, or choose a state from a list. Area Code Master also can tell you the location of any area code you specify.

Freeware

Chandero Systems Inc.

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

ACMAST.ZIP, 52,659 bytes

IconMaster 1.2D Use this icon-editing utility to preview, create and edit icons on your desktop. With IconMaster, you can read icons in .ICA, .ICL, .NIL and .IML formats, and write icons in .ICO or compacted .IML format. The utility supports Norton Desktop and drag-and-drop installation.

$20

Phillip A. Kaufman

An unzipping utility

IMSTR12D.ZIP, 134,852 bytes

InfoBar 2.0 InfoBar displays the time, date, available resources and memory, and number of active tasks. But that's not all! The utility also includes alarms, an appointment list, a to-do list, a calculator, a monthly calendar, a memo pad, a phone list and a picture viewer, as well as configurable application launching.

$10

Jan S. Smith

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

INFOB1.ZIP, 334,436 bytes

METZ Task Manager 2.10 Launch, close, and switch back and forth between running programs with METZ Task Manager. This handy utility provides file management and a new 20-button launch pad. And it supports Norton Desktop, PC Tools and the HP OmniBook subnotebook.

$39.95

METZ Software

An unzipping utility

MTM210.ZIP, 729,928 bytes

QuiClick 3.0 Want a toolbar to call your very own? QuiClick is fully customizable, allowing you to define up to 25 buttons for launching Windows and DOS applications. You can create a horizontal or vertical toolbar, and then position it anywhere on your desktop. QuiClick supports drag-and-drop and sound.

$12

Kempton Software

An unzipping utility, VBRUN200.DLL

QC30.ZIP, 171,876 bytes

RipSpace 2.5 Now you can easily find out how much space your subdirectories occupy. Just specify the file types, and RipSpace will analyze your disk and report this important information. Choose either a Windows or Windows NT version, both of which include an intuitive interface with button tips.

$15

Jonathan Carroll

An unzipping utility

RIPSPA.ZIP, 113,228 bytes

Space Hound 1.04 Tame your hard disk space with Space Hound. This utility analyzes disk storage and identifies files that are duplicated, obsolete or forgotten. Features include a printable directory map, extensions display, the ability to track deletions, and a button-driven interface that actually barks!

$19.95

Fineware Systems

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

SPACEH.ZIP, 531,655 bytes

Spell Check 3.0a Check out Spell Check for letter-perfect communications. This spell checker works with America Online, CSNAV, GoCIS, WinCIM, MS Mail (Windows for Workgroups edition), Prodigy, Sierra Solutions MailRoom, Delrina WinFax, Norton DeskEdit, and Windows' Notepad and Clipboard.

$11.95 to $14.95

Next Generation Software Inc.

An unzipping utility

WCSPEL.ZIP, 274,624 bytes

Time Chaser 3.4 This organizer looks like an open desk diary, with a to-do list on the left and appointments on the right. You can separate business and personal contact information and even attach your own notes. Time Chaser also provides a calendar, appointment log and hourly billing timer.

$39

InfoWare Solutions Inc.

An unzipping utility, VBRUN300.DLL

CHASER.ZIP, 139,520 bytes

Zip Manager 5.1 File compression is easier than ever. With Zip Manager, you can create and extract .ZIP and .ARJ file formats just by double-clicking in File Manager. The utility supports .ARC and .LZH-LHA file formats for .ZIP or .ARJ conversion, as well as virus scanning and e-mail.

$52.95

Eric D. Anderson,

Software Excellence by Design Inc.

An unzipping utility

ZM51-1.ZIP, 494,483 bytes


R&R: Resources and Recreation-October 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

HOT PICKS

Music to Your Ears

By: Jonathan Karl Matzkin

The All-Music Guide proves that it's possible to produce an excellent music database without resorting to the mammoth storage of CD-ROM. Seven high-density disks expand to 11MB on your hard disk, giving you an outstanding overview of pop, jazz and classical music, among other genres. You can browse by scrolling through lists of artists or albums, or by entering a search expression. While the multiwindow interface is a bit confusing at first, it allows great flexibility as you browse or search. There are intelligent biographies of each artist, and concise, on-target reviews of many of the albums by standout critics like Cub Koda and Blue Gene Tyranny.

$49.95; Great Bear Software, 800-795-4325, 510-631-1600.

The "- est''of Everything

By: Donna Tapellini

Want to see one of the lowest limbos ever roller-skated? (5 inches by contortionist Denise Culp.) Learn more about hundreds of superlative accomplishments (busiest, longest, widest, heaviest) in the 1994 Guinness Multimedia Disc of Records. Videos and photos make the CD-ROM version a lot more fun than the book. Search for topics of interest, or watch as the CD-ROM puts on a random slide show. What's the windiest place on earth? (Commonwealth Bay, George V Coast, Antarctica, wind gusts up to 200 mph.) How much did the biggest quintuplets weigh at birth? (25 pounds in all.) I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the fun.

$49.95; Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc., 800-285-4534, 203-797-3530.

A Classical Gas

By: Jonathan Karl Matzkin

Midisoft's Music Mentor, CD-ROM Edition, is a humorous, unintimidating introduction to the basics of European music theory and history. Knowledgeable listeners may find it dull, but beginners can work through the basic terminology of Western art music (commonly known as classical music)--from the Renaissance to the twentieth century-

By: reading attractively designed screens and clicking to hear examples for each lesson. Since the music is generated by your sound card from MIDI files, only 7MB of disk space is required for this entertaining and edifying package. It can run either from the CD or from your hard disk once you've installed it from the CD.

$39.95; Midisoft Corp., 800-Promidi, 206-881-7176.

AT YOUR LEISURE

A Killer Game

By: Ian Etra

You'll marvel at the arresting level of detail L.A. Police Chief Daryl Gates (no relation to Bill) brings to Sierra On-Line's CD-ROM, Police Quest: Open Season. In this graphic police

drama, you must investigate the brutal murder of a fellow officer and a young boy in South Central Los Angeles. The gritty realism of this game is augmented by enhanced graphics and animation, vocal narration and a complete MIDI soundtrack.

$69.95; Sierra On-Line Inc., 800-757-7707, 206-649-9800.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Learn to Draw -Digitally

By: David W. Methvin

Sally Wiener Grotta and Daniel Grotta are looking for people who love to draw. Their new book, Digital Imaging for Visual Artists, is an essential reference if you plan to use a computer as your canvas. This 650-page book covers many aspects of digital imaging. There's an extensive discussion of system requirements and hardware choices (such as storage devices, scanners and printers) and an abundance of tips, covering applications such as Aldus PhotoStyler, CorelDRAW and Fractal Design Painter.

$49.95; Windcrest/McGraw Hill, 800-2-MCGRAW, 717-794-2191 x.232


November 1994

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Win.INI: Chicago will be Windows 95.

The Explorer: If connectivity is a basic right...

Windows at Work: You want me to read something?

Dialog Box: When it comes to CPUs, the chips are up.

Exit Windows


Letters

Letters:Nov. 1994


News

News: Nov. 1994

Why carry all that power?


New Products

New Products: Nov. 1994-Part 1

New Products: Nov. 1994-Part 2


First Impressions

First Impressions: Quattro Pro 6.0-Perfect Spreadsheet

First Impressions: Alpha Five-New Life for Old DOS Database

First Impressions: Presentations 3.0-Presentations Without Pain

First Impressions: Picture Publisher 5.0-Snappy Shots from Image App.

First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 1

First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 2

First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 3

First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 4


Features

Keep your PC in the Pink

Do-It-Yourself Diagnosis

First Aid For Ailing Systems

The E-Mail Explosion

Inside the New Scanners


Reviews

Screaming Pentiums

Databases: I Can Relate to That

Mastering SCSI

Anyone Can Be a Statistician


How-To

How to Buy a 15- or 17-Inch Monitor

Optimizing Windows: Prune Your Windows Directories

Getting Started: Try These Tricks of the Trade

Power Windows: Drive Your Hard Disk to Better Performance

Networking Windows: Management Strategies for Notebooks on the Go

eNTerprise Windows: NT and NetWare: Friends at Last

Programming Windows: When the Fat Lady Finally Sings

R & R: Resources and Recreation: Nov. 1994

Superior Shareware: Nov. 1994


Win.INI: Chicago will be Windows 95.

By: Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

I understand why Microsoft chose a calendar-based name. The company wanted to avoid the current version confusion caused by running, for instance, Excel 5.0, Word 6.0a and PowerPoint 4.0 in Windows 3.11 atop DOS 6.22. If everything is labeled ``Windows 95 compatible,'' it should be easier to mix and match software. So the theory goes.

But that 95 designation worries me. Historically, Microsoft doesn't have a great reputation for shipping much of anything on time. Keying its premier product to any specific 12-month period seems to be asking for trouble.

Using a product name that's annualized could force Microsoft to make essentially meaningless updates just to keep the model year current. This is analogous to Detroit in the Bad Old Days of American automobile manufacturing when car makers would change the tail fins--and little else--to create a new model.

And what about the updates and bug fixes that are inevitable in any complex system? If we start seeing labels such as Windows 95 version 2.03a, the simplicity of Windows 95 vanishes. Or, even worse, the chronological name might tempt Microsoft to delay updates and bug fixes so there's something significant to offer at the start of each new model year.

If Microsoft resists these temptations, then we face the likelihood of having tens of millions of people running Windows 95 into 1996 or 1997. This will make Microsoft's traditional inability to ship on time all the more apparent to--and painful for--end users.

No, I don't think much of the new naming strategy. But even if Microsoft calls the new system Broccoli, it's safe to assume that you, I and millions of others--probably everyone but George Bush--will be test driving it

Whatever it's called, what can you do now to make sure your current hardware will run the new Windows? And how can you make sure any new hardware you buy for yourself or your company will be compatible? Let's take a look.

With existing hardware, it's pretty simple. If your current hardware runs Windows for Workgroups 3.11 well, including its 32-bit disk and file access, you're probably okay. WFWG 3.11's disk and file access system is actually a little piece of Windows 95 you can buy and use today, and it can speed up your Windows work tremendously. The flip side is that if your current system won't properly run WFWG 3.11's 32-bit disk and file access, it may not be able to make the most of Windows 95.

Just about any other component of your current system that works well with today's Windows ought to work with Windows 95: Microsoft has placed great emphasis on backward compatibility. But Windows 95 is a new 32-bit operating system, so to make the most of it, you'll eventually need new 32-bit drivers for your peripherals.

If you bought a no-name system off the back of a truck, you may be out of luck getting driver upgrades for Windows 95. On the other hand, if you have a system from a reputable vendor, built with standard name-brand components, chances are you'll be able to get ongoing driver support while you test the waters of Windows 95.

Buying new hardware? Insist on full, guaranteed compatibility with today's WFWG 3.11. And don't be penny-wise with RAM and disk space. Here at WINDOWS Magazine, we consider 6MB of RAM and a 200MB hard disk an absolute minimum for a current Windows system, and we expect that to stay the same with Windows 95.

But although you can run Windows 95 with such a system (supposedly, like today's Windows, it will run in as little as 4MB), you won't enjoy the experience. Unless there's absolutely no alternative, we suggest you hold out for 8 or 12MB of RAM and a 400MB hard disk. If you can swing it, 16MB or more of RAM and a half-gig or better hard disk will let Windows 95--or any modern operating system, for that matter--truly shine.

Which processor? Windows 95 will run on a 386SX-based machine, but it probably should be against the Geneva Convention to make anyone do so. A 486/25 is a more realistic minimum. A 486/66 is a good mainstream standard for new business system purchases, and either a 60 or 90MHz Pentium is a good high-end choice, especially with Pentium prices in near free-fall these days.

Also, you'll want to make sure the system has a secondary RAM cache on the motherboard. (This is sometimes called a Level Two or L2 cache.) In any case, 128KB is the minimum for such a secondary cache, 256KB preferred. If your vendor doesn't know what you mean when you ask about a secondary RAM cache, find another vendor.

Get at least a double-speed CD-ROM drive, a decent sound card and speakers, and the fastest modem you can find. Look for a speedy VL-Bus- or PCI-based video accelerator, and get a good monitor. The old standard 14-inch Super VGA monitor is okay, but it's getting long in the pixels; a 15-inch or larger screen is more reasonable now. A tape backup system is a very wise investment, especially with the larger hard disks (tape drives are surprisingly inexpensive, too). And in all cases, look for name-brand components to help minimize your driver update headaches next year.

As you can see, there's nothing particularly radical or magical involved in planning your hardware for the next version of Windows. Just use common-sense guidelines like the ones above, and you'll be well equipped for Chicag--er, Windows 4--um, Windows 95--or whatever Microsoft finally releases.


The Explorer: If connectivity is a basic right...

By: Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Microsoft should just give it to us. You can hear the slogan ``connectivity is a basic right'' all over the Microsoft campus these days. But will Microsoft live up to the slogan by giving us all the connectivity options it has in the works with the Windows 95 (Chicago) package? Or will Microsoft sell these features to us in something called a Plus Pack?

The company still hasn't decided.

If Windows 95 does come with all of the connectivity options Microsoft has cooking, it's sure to be a killer package that will take the industry by storm. It'll be a dream system for those of us who want to be well connected, providing us with graphical, point-and-click access to the Internet and major on-line services, desktop faxing, amazing control over our telephones, and idiot-resistant LAN and peer-to-peer networking.

The current version of Windows for Workgroups 3.11 contains a half-baked fax utility, which serves as a kind of beta test for the real and useful fax utility that will be built into Windows 95. Soon we'll be able to send and receive faxes using the bundled Mail utility, just as easily as we can send e-mail. We'll even be able to send and receive attachments as faxes.

Microsoft's telephony API (TAPI), codeveloped with Intel, will allow third-party vendors to create software that controls messaging, voice mail and other neat telephone functions from your Windows 95 PC. You can expect a flood of ground-breaking apps in this category over the next couple of years.

The truly cool thing about all this stuff is that you'll be able to manage it from a central application. Imagine how convenient it will be to get your CompuServe e-mail, in-house e-mail, faxes and Internet mail all in the same inbox.

When you're on the road, you'll be able to use a modem to call up your desktop system from your Windows 95 portable, access all the files on your desktop and network, get your e-mail and print documents--all without having to buy remote-control software like pcAnywhere or Carbon Copy. To make traveling even easier, Windows 95 will support file synchronization. That means if you work on some files on your portable, Windows 95 will automatically update those files on your desktop and vice versa.

Back at the office, you'll have all the peer-to-peer connectivity already available in Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT. But it'll be more graphical, with each user and device on the network represented by a drag-and-drop icon. What's more, Windows 95 will be a better LAN client than any previous version.

Windows' Terminal is being replaced with a new HyperTerminal, a neutered version of Hilgraeve's HyperAccess, one of the best comm packages you can buy. You'll be able to use HyperTerminal to connect to CompuServe, BBSs and other command-line dial-up services. And it will let you easily and directly connect two Windows PCs over a phone line for file transfer and ``chatting''--a sort of Vulcan mind meld between computers. Sure, you can do this today using Terminal, but it's far too clumsy to bother with.

Microsoft is also working with America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy to make sure these companies build Windows 95-ready interfaces complete with long filename support, multiple threads and plug-and-play modem support.

As if all that weren't enough, Microsoft has also embraced Internet standard protocols, such as TCP/IP and PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol), for both Windows NT and Windows 95. Windows' 32-bit TCP/IP stack supports FTP, Telnet, ping and arp--it's the real thing, but better.

The Internet Engineering Task Force, of which Microsoft is a member, created the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). This protocol automates and simplifies the complex task of configuring a TCP/IP network and assigning IP addresses. And Microsoft created WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service), which works with DHCP to simplify further the administration of TCP/IP networks. Not only is Microsoft bringing these Internet protocols to all Windows users, it's making them easier for us to use and administer.

By the way, if you already have access to the Internet, check out Microsoft's FTP server at ftp.microsoft.com. You'll find plenty of useful stuff there, including the Microsoft Knowledge Base--gigabytes of technical information, tips and work-arounds for Windows and Windows NT. The FTP server is not a UNIX box, but a 486 running Windows NT Server 3.5. Microsoft is expanding this service to support a whopping two million users a month, which is the kind of traffic the company expects after Windows 95 ships.

Point-and-click, graphical access to the same kind of information will be built into Windows 95 with a World-Wide Web applet. You'll be able to download bug fixes, drivers and tons of information about using Windows. Microsoft is going nuts with the bandwidth into this service, as evidenced by the installation of a T3 line, which can handle data at a whopping 45 megabits per second.

Finally, by now it's likely you've heard of a possible Microsoft on-line service, code-named Marvel. There was a rumor floating around back in August that Microsoft tried to buy CompuServe for $1.4 billion (Microsoft denies it). But regardless of how the company goes about setting up an on-line service, it appears probable that Windows 95 will contain the software you need for an automated registration.

Whew! That's quite a list. So what's the problem?

Well, some of these features will ship free in the first release of Windows 95. But some will ship later--possibly much later, and at a hefty price. As yet, no one at Microsoft can tell me if or when the mysterious Plus Pack will ship, what it will contain or how much it will cost.

What Brad Silverberg, vice president of Microsoft's systems group, did tell me was that Windows 95 will be available on diskette and CD-ROM, and that the CD version will have ``even more goodies'' than the diskette version. He also said they're going to try to ship all the major communications features free in the first release. ``The Plus Pack,'' Silverberg said, ``will contain some extra goodies--not base features.''

Here's my take on the issue: If some of the good stuff (the all-in-one inbox, Internet connectivity, faxing and telephony, and so on) is available exclusively in a late and/or expensive Plus Pack, Windows 95 might have trouble attracting the tens of millions of users it needs to retain its dominance. As tempting as it might be to go after the cash and make lots of money from the communications features users really want, Microsoft should put every communications utility in sight into the diskette and CD versions of Windows 95.

After all, it's by no means assured that Windows 95 will dominate the growing desktop market like Windows 3.x does. IBM is really getting its act together with OS/2. Hey, from what I've seen of the brand new version 3.0, the first in OS/2's long history to be a bona fide warm-and-fuzzy commercial product, I might switch to OS/2 myself!

IBM is producing a Bonus Pack of awesome, easy-to-use Internet and miscellaneous communications applets with OS/2, including a HyperAccess Lite product that's just like the one in Windows 95. And not only will OS/2 3.0 ship long before Microsoft's offering does, it'll come with the full, free Bonus Pack.

If Microsoft fails to bundle all the communications features it has to offer into Windows 95 at no extra charge, the company will risk shipping a version of Windows that's too little, too late.

So, I've come up with my own--admittedly less elegant--slogan: "Microsoft, forget the Plus Pack, and fold all the communications goodies into Windows 95.'' After all, if connectivity is a basic right, why should we have to pay for it?

Mike Elgan is the executive editor of WINDOWS Magazine.


Windows at Work: You want me to read something?

By: Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

You'll have to talk to my agent. The demands of every occupation from banking to banana farming have become so knowledge-based that one little oversight could cost millions. In today's nanosecond business world, we need to know what's going on with customers, competitors and the industry--and we need to know now.

So, in constant search of the latest valuable tidbit, I found myself turning into a news junkie. I awakened to CNN, devoured The Wall Street Journal and USA Today at breakfast, and tuned into all-news radio on the way to lunch. At the end of the day, I carried home an armload of industry periodicals to read during dinner, and then brought a stack of business magazines to bed. And still I couldn't keep up.

Fortunately, I solved the problem. How? Not by speed reading. I doubt even Evelyn Wood herself could keep up with the overwhelming reading requirements imposed on business professionals today. Instead, I tried selective reading. And I hired an agent--a software agent--to do the grunt work for me.

Software agents aren't brand new, but they're getting more and more attention these days. Interest in their potential surged earlier this year when General Magic announced its Telescript product. Telescript will let developers build smart agents into software so it can do everything from fetching your news to getting your theater tickets. It's not out yet--but you don't have to sit around waiting.

It turns out that a whole host of suppliers already offer smart agents. For example, a form of intelligent agents is built into clipping-services software. You simply set up a series of search words, and the agent will go to work scanning all the stories from a variety of news services. When it finds a match, the agent copies the story to a folder or sends it to you directly.

Other agent technology might already be built into your e-mail system. I use Novell/WordPerfect's GroupWise, which has sophisticated rule handling. Whenever I forward certain topics to my mail system, a rule reads the message and automatically files it in the appropriate folder. It saves me a lot of time.

Agents serve up information to you in one of two ways: push or pull. The push model involves setting up an agent to look out for your information, grab it when it sees it, and send it to you automatically. The pull model is like a research librarian: You ask for information, send out your search agent, and then wait for it to return its findings on a one-time basis.

Many electronic clipping services, like the ones on CompuServe or the Dow Jones News/Retrieval Service, give you push or pull options. Pushed information works well if you're simply looking for special news, highlights and headlines. But beware: If you don't set it up correctly, you'll just bombard yourself with data. Pulled information is more appropriate for in-depth research. Several magazine publishers that put their articles on CD-ROM provide pull-service software.

If you subscribe to an on-line service, you may be able to create clippings folders for news stories that pass over the wire. For example, if you're in the retailing business and want to keep a keen eye on the industry players, you can set up a clippings folder for all stories in which Wal-Mart or Kmart are mentioned. If you're in the building business and want to know only when those companies are building new stores, you could add a search term that requires the article to mention ``new store'' or ``new outlet'' as well. It sure beats sifting through endless piles of papers.

Both CompuServe and Dow Jones provide Windows-based software that makes it easy to set up and maintain your clippings files. You can program your Dow Jones clippings folders to send you an e-mail or fax automatically whenever they find a story. CompuServe, on the other hand, keeps the stories in your clippings folder. But you can use Compu-Serve's Navigator (another programmable agent) to set up timed retrieval.

The First service, from Cambridge-based Individual Inc., provides more sophisticated ways to retrieve information on a particular topic. First comes with an account executive that helps you fine-tune your profile for searches. Then it uses artificial intelligence to evaluate each news story and make sure it fits your profile. When the service finds something you're looking for, it clips the story, then it sends you its findings once a day.

If you're wondering how expensive these services are, you can't afford them. Most services charge on the basis of usage, but you can expect to pay between $50 and $200 a month to keep close tabs on your industry. You'll rack up even more charges if you do a lot of on-line research. A single 30-minute session can easily cost you from $50 to $100, depending on where you're searching.

The budget-minded should take a look at Farcast, from the Menlo Park start-up company of the same name. Farcast is limited to major news services, like the AP and Businesswire, but it's far more affordable than the other services I've mentioned. You can sign up for a whole year and get up to 15 customized search ``Droids'' for less than a dollar a day. You set up the Droids either to push your information to you whenever they find some, or to push only at predefined times. Farcast also lets you pull information on any topics that have hit the news within the last 30 days.

Another economical option is to subscribe to special-interest groups on the Internet. Take special care to focus your searches, though: If you get on automatic mailing lists for just a few discussion areas, you could awaken to a full e-mail box every day. You can also pull information from the Internet, if you have the time and patience to do some clever maneuvering.

So, if you find yourself buried under a mountain of information, just do what I did: Hire an agent to take the load off.

Cheryl Currid is the president of the Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. Reach Cheryl care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Dialog Box: When it comes to CPUs, the chips are up.

By: Dave Methvin

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

For the last five years, you could choose from dozens of brands of PC-compatible 486 computers, but they all had one thing in common: an Intel processor. The smell of money has attracted a lot of players to Intel's turf in the past few years. Even though it can be pretty expensive to get started in the CPU business, the payback can be big for those who pull it off. Advanced Micro Devices, IBM, Cyrix and Texas Instruments are all shipping chips that are compatible with various Intel CPUs, and they've started to eat away at the Intel monopoly.

Competition increases your choices, but it can also give you headaches. The stockholders want that chip to ship now so it can start producing revenue. And manufacturers fear if they don't ship their chips soon, the competition will get their own out and steal the market. All that pressure is bound to push a few CPUs out the door before they're fully debugged.

Just how many kinds of chips are out there? Some 486 makers, such as AMD, use Intel's own microcode through a licensing arrangement. IBM's original 486SLC Blue Lightning chip was also based on Intel microcode. But IBM has recently licensed the Cyrix 486DX design, and it will be manufactured under the Blue Lightning name as well. TI's chip, also based on a Cyrix design, has attracted a following in the notebook market.

The chip cloners aren't stopping at the 486, either. A new player, NexGen, has pledged to ship a Pentium-class CPU by the time you read this. By year's end, Cyrix hopes to ship a CPU code-named M1 that may offer better-than-Pentium performance. And AMD plans to have a new Pentium-like CPU of its own in 1995.

Not only do you need a scorecard to figure out the players, you often need a detective kit to tell what kind of chip you have. Many systems are now being shipped with a heat sink, or even a small cooling fan, plastered over the chip. If you're lucky, you can get the heat sink off and see the markings on the chip, but it can be quite a trick. Some are plastered on with special adhesive tape, thermally conductive gel, or even epoxy.

It would be great if software could tell you exactly what brand and model of CPU you have, but the chips don't give up their secrets easily. CPU identification software often depends on finding obscure differences between the behavior of instructions in the different chips. Although many programs can tell a 386 from a 486, few can tell you the brand of chip you're using. Finally, with the Pentium, Intel has added a CPUID instruction, so it should be a lot easier to tell the differences between Pentium-compatible chips in the future.

That's good news, because determining which chip you have--and exactly which version--is going to get more and more important. Today's chips have millions of transistors, and the odds that all the manufacturers will get all the bugs out are becoming exceedingly small.

And bugs already happen more often than you might think. A former executive at a large software company told me that, on occasion, Intel would discreetly ask his company whether certain problematic code sequences appeared in any of his company's products. Ask anyone who writes an operating system or a compiler, and you'll get an earful about code sequences that have to be avoided to work around bugs in various CPU versions.

The 486-compatible chip makers also have problems that Intel didn't have to face. If these chips call themselves 486 compatible, then they need to run all the software that the Intel chip would, and get the same results. There's a lot of software out there that was written when 486 meant Intel and a compatible chip was just a gleam in someone's eye. If compatibility with software of the past isn't hard enough, consider the problems of being compatible with emerging 32-bit operating systems and environments. Because most of the software out there is 16-bit code, the 32-bit features of the CPU haven't been fully exercised. New 32-bit platforms might reveal previously undiscovered bugs.

So, let's hypothetically say that IBM develops and tests OS/2 on Intel CPUs, and then later it turns out that OS/2 has problems on some other 486-compatible CPU. Which do you blame: OS/2 or the CPU manufacturer? Either way, it's the software that will have to change. It's just a lot easier to ship a software patch--or even a whole new version of software--than it is to replace a CPU. But I wonder if software vendors will try to get the CPU vendors to foot the cost. Perhaps the best thing the compatible CPU makers could do would be to provide software vendors with free chips so they could test for problems before the software ships.

We may not even be dealing in hypothetical cases here. Lone Star Evaluation Labs (512-746-2251) has now completed a detailed study comparing the Intel, Cyrix and AMD versions of the 486DX. The testing used an extensive suite of custom software written in a variety of programming languages, including C, FORTRAN and Pascal. Production versions of all compilers and operating systems were used.

In addition to the bug we analyzed in WINDOWS Magazine ("Compatible or Not?,'' June), Lone Star found other bugs in and/or differences among several clone chips' operations and those of Intel-brand chips. Whether these anomalies matter or not depends on a host of variables, including the software you run on the chips, and the software you might run in the future. But it does imply that not all clones are created equal, and compatible is a term to approach with caution.

In general, all this CPU competition is going to keep PC prices headed in the same direction they've been going for the past decade: down. Intel can no longer be guaranteed a lock on the whole PC market, and the competition is bound to save us some money. But let's hope the pressure on vendors to ship new 486 chips doesn't create a wave of bug-filled CPUs that end up wasting a lot of our time.

David Methvin is the senior technical editor of WINDOWS Magazine.


Exit Windows

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Office Darts

Now you can play darts at your desk with Office Darts. Challenge your co-workers, or take on your PC for points. This realistic multimedia dart game will hit the bull's-eye with dart enthusiasts. Freeware from Eugene Briski. Available on this CD-ROM in the directory FILES\11NOV94\EXITWIN\ODWIN. For full-featured Office Darts, send name, address and $17 check or money order to: Eugene Briski, PO Box 3591, Lawton, OK 73502.

Eye-Catching Icons

Put some personality into your desktop by putting some personalities onto it. These three sets of photorealistic icons include 76 black-and-white gems, most of which are close-ups of celebrities ranging from David Letterman to Woody Allen. Freeware available on this CD-ROM in the directory FILES\11NOV94\EXITWIN\PHOTOS.

The People v. The Juice

If you just can't get enough of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, do we have a product for you! The People V. O.J. Simpson: An Interactive Companion to the O.J. Simpson Trial is a CD packed with an ``exhaustive account of all currently known facts and pertinent background'' about the case, the publisher claims. Along with the CD, you'll get software with hooks into CompuServe that will down-load new information on the case daily. The People V. O.J. Simpson: An Interactive Companion to the O.J. Simpson Trial, $20 (approximately); Turner Home Entertainment, 800-294-0020, 802-862-8881.

Screen Saver O' the Month

Doh! Let the Simpsons do to your computer screen what they've done to American family values with Berkeley Systems' latest After Dark-compatible screen saver. Watch and listen as Mr. Burns berates you for computer inactivity. Get a glimpse of Homer's butt cleavage, and hear appalling smacking sounds as he devours your desktop. Cheer Bart (alias El Barto) as he spray paints original works of art on your screen, all the while evading capture by wily Principal Skinner. The Simpsons Screen Saver, $49.99, Berkeley Systems Inc., 800-344-5541, 510-540-5535.

Easter Egg O' the Month

CorelDRAW 5.0 sports a new multiple-Elvis Easter egg. To see it, go to Help/About. Either double-click or Shift+double-click on either icon. Double-click brings up the Easter egg with Elvis, and Shift+double-click brings up the Easter egg with fireworks. Hold down the left mouse button to inflate the balloon and see the credits. Click on the right mouse button to have Elvis parachute down or to launch a fireworks rocket. Esc will end the Easter egg. Alt+double-click and Ctrl+double-click act the same as a double-click on the icons.

If you've seen any offbeat Windows-related tidbit, please send it to us! We'll send you a cool WinMag coffee mug and T-shirt for each item we publish. Send Exit Windows items to Sara Stephens at the e-mail or postal addresses on page 16.


Keep your PC in the Pink

Keep Your PC in the Pink

An Ounce Of Prevention


Keep Your PC in the Pink

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Most of us take it for granted that our systems will chug merrily along--until they don't. Then we discover just how indispensable they really are.But nothing stays in peak condition unless you work at it. That includes your Windows PC. What can you do to keep your system in perfect health? Plenty. This three-part special section has a troubleshooting regimen you can live by.

PART 1. AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION-Outlines commonsensical steps you can take to keep your PC running at its best.

PART 2. DO-IT-YOURSELF DIAGNOSTICS -Shows you how utility programs can help you diagnose problems and prevent recurrences.

PART 3. FIRST AID FOR AILING SYSTEMS-Demystifies the dreaded GPFs, explaining what causes them and what you can do to avoid them.

Try our three-part program for system fitness. You (and your PC) will be glad you did.


An Ounce Of Prevention

By: ANNE FISCHER LENT

Keeping your system operating in peak condition sounds like a tall order, but it's not that difficult. Most of us know what we should do--but taking the time to do it is another matter.Here's a preventive maintenance regimen to keep your PC in the pink.

1. CREATE AN EMERGENCY DISK

No PC user should be without an emergency disk that contains the files you need to start your system again. It should be made bootable using the DOS FORMAT /S or SYS commands, and include essential DOS command files such as FORMAT, FDISK, BACKUP and RESTORE. Once you create the disk, label it plainly, date it, and keep it close to your PC at all times--either near your desktop or with your portable when you're on the road.

You should also have some basic utilities on hand in case of emergency. These can be invaluable for identifying and correcting all kinds of problems, ranging from corrupted files on hard disk to damaged CMOS configuration data. DOS 6.2 includes a number of built-in utilities, such as Microsoft System Diagnostic (generally called MSD) and Scandisk. Third-party tools abound. Among the most popular are the Norton Utilities, Central Point's PC Tools and TouchStone's WINCheckIt. (See Do-it-Yourself Diagnosis)

2. BACK UP FAITHFULLY

You've heard it over and over, but we'll say it yet again: Backing up the data on your computer is one of the easiest and most effective forms of preventive maintenance. Yet even those of us with the best of intentions often skip backups in our haste to move on to the next project. It's not until we lose hours, or even days, of work that we wish we'd spent the few minutes it takes to create a backup.

Everyone has a different idea about what constitutes a sound backup strategy. Here's what we recommend: Once a week, back up your entire hard disk; every day, make an incremental backup of new files and those that have changed since they were last backed up. You should also perform a full backup prior to making any system changes.

A few points to remember: Keep your backups in a safe place, and when it's time to make the next one, don't overwrite the previous version. It's wise to use a different tape or Floptical, so you have another on hand in case something goes wrong. And if your system has multiple drives, make sure you are backing them all up. (For more information, see "Tick-Tick-Tick-'' in our September issue.)

3. GET IT TOGETHER

If your hard disk seems to be getting slower and slower, it's time to defrag it. When files are stored in bits and pieces in different locations on your hard disk, the hard disk heads have to scurry around the surface to reconstruct an entire file. If you're a heavy user and frequently work with lots of small files, you should probably do a complete defrag of your hard disk about once a month.

Disk optimization utilities will put all your files in contiguous order on your hard disk, which reduces head movement and improves performance. Many programs have a quick optimization feature that cleans up the major fragmentation in just a matter of minutes. However, full-fledged disk optimization can take as long as several hours, depending on the size of your hard disk.

The newest generation of optimizers can work automatically in Windows. Many of these programs offer various options. You can, for example, have the program "watch'' your hard disk for fragmentation and have it automatically perform the optimization when fragmentation reaches a certain level. You can even set it to do the optimization overnight, so it doesn't bog down your system while you're in the middle of a hectic workday.

Play it safe: Defrag programs rarely cause problems, but it doesn't hurt to make a full backup of your hard disk first, just in case the unexpected glitch materializes.

4. CLEAR OUT THE CLUTTER

Uninstalling software isn't always a simple proposition. Many of today's badly behaved installation programs have a nasty habit of scattering bits and pieces of applications in .INI files and in other places you'd never think of looking. That can slow down your system, since Windows reads every line in its .INI files every time it starts up.

Using a product such as Uninstaller 2.0 from MicroHelp or the uninstall utility within WIN-CheckIt from TouchStone Software Corp. can help you find the files you don't need, along with all their widely scattered bits and pieces. (See Optimizing Windows and Getting Started for more information on uninstalling files.)

Uninstaller will also check for duplicate files and "orphans'' (Windows files that are not necessary for installed Windows applications). However, don't indiscriminately delete files just because a utility has put them on the orphan list. First make sure that the files are not critical to Windows or any of your applications.

5. SPEED THINGS UP WITH A DISK CACHE

A disk cache speeds up your PC by using part of the RAM to store data you access frequently. That's especially important when you multitask in Windows. Both DOS and Windows come with a disk cache utility called SMARTDrive. Many third-party utility packages also come with their own caches.

To find out if you're already using SmartDrive, check your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files to see if there's a SMARTDRV.EXE line. (SMARTDrive is activated from CONFIG.SYS in DOS 5.0, but from AUTOEXEC.BAT in later versions of DOS.) One drawback to using SmartDrive is that it takes up low DOS memory.

Like many of the utilities included with DOS, SmartDrive isn't as sophisticated as some of the third-party products. Add-in caching utilities such as the Norton Utilities or standalone caches such as PC-Kwik automatically load themselves into the upper memory blocks (between 640KB and 1MB) if space is available, thus freeing up more space in your lower memory area.

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 has its own sophisticated 32-bit file access cache, which replaces SmartDrive. It reads data no matter where it is on the disk, rather than contiguously, which speeds performance if the disk is fragmented. Thirty-two-bit file access is a glimpse of what lies in store when Windows 4.0 becomes its own operating system, leaving DOS behind. It runs disk services in Windows' protected mode, rather than in DOS. (See The Fastest Windows Ever.)

6. USE SWAP FILES

When you run several applications at the same time, you may run out of memory. You can get around that by using swap files, which use virtual memory--hard disk space that Windows uses as if it were RAM.

If disk space is limited, you can use a temporary swap file; Windows grabs swap file space as it needs it and releases it later. For maximum swap file performance, use a permanent swap file, which gives Windows a permanent, directly accessible, contiguous space on your hard disk.

Windows set up a swap file with default settings based on your processor, RAM and hard disk space during installation. It comes up with a recommended size, which is usually the maximum allowable. (It will never let you use the entire free hard disk space as a swap disk.)

To change the size of swap files, go to Control Panel and choose the 386 Enhanced icon; press the Virtual Memory button for a list of current settings. Choose the Change button, make the change, and click on OK.

If you're running a system with 4MB of RAM, start with a swap file of about 8MB (8192KB). For systems with more memory, the sum of your RAM size and swap file size should equal 16MB. If you have 16MB or more of RAM, a 4MB swap file will probably be plenty. If you get an out of memory message when running an application, check the Help/About screen in Program Manager. If that shows less than 1024KB free, try making your swap file larger.

Anne Fischer Lent is coauthor of The Windows for Workgroups Bible (1993, Addison-Wesley) and author of the upcoming Learn Desktop Publishing on the PC (Addison-Wesley). Reach Anne care of the Editor in the Letters to the Editor Folder in the WinMag Message Exchage on America Online.


Do-It-Yourself Diagnosis

Do-It-Yourself Diagnosis

What's an IRQ Anyway?

An IRQ 7 Trivia Question

A Loopback Plug Test Note

Resolving VxD Conflicts in SYSTEM.INI

Directory of Vendors


Do-It-Yourself Diagnosis

By: JOHN WORAM

Everywhere you turn, you stumble across yet another third-party utility designed to help you solve yet another problem. It's no wonder that most power users have utilities galore on their desktops. Which utilities make the most sense for you? To help you make an informed choice, we decided to see how a small collection of utilities could help solve a common problem.

What problem? Well, consider this one: You just put the cover back on after installing a brand-new sound card. The software setup procedure went flawlessly (so you think), and now you're ready to explore the wonderful world of multimedia. But there's one little hitch: Your system locked up, perhaps to the accompaniment of an endless "ding-ding-ding'' audio loop. You've just discovered a big problem waiting to be resolved--getting all those DMA (direct memory access) and IRQ (interrupt request) settings straightened out (actually, better make that two problems).

Of course, you don't need to have a sound card to get into trouble with DMA and IRQ conflicts. You can do that simply by running a few applications. If all goes well, maybe you don't have a conflict. If all doesn't go well, maybe you do. Now that might not seem to be the most specific diagnostic tip you've ever heard, but sometimes it seems to be the only one that really works.

Part of the problem is that most devices don't stake a permanent claim to a DMA or an IRQ line. They just use what they want, when they want it. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for a utility to report a conflict that may not turn up until later on, when some currently inactive device wakes up and suddenly collides with something else.

Even if no conflicts develop down the road, the "simple'' job of reporting DMA and IRQ usage is still no trivial task. In fact, reliable DMA reporting eludes the utilities tested here. Most don't even try, although some display a static list of typical assignments. Such a "report'' may be handy as a base reference, but it's misleading if you don't recognize that that's all it is. In other words, your system configuration may vary. Having said that, here's what we found in trying out half a dozen utilities.

OUR TEST SYSTEM

We used a Dell 450SE (486DX/50) tower computer as our DMA/IRQ guinea pig, with Microsoft MS-DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 installed. Our hardware configuration included the following components:

•	COM2 (IRQ 3) port disabled via CMOS setup

•	External modem installed on COM1 (IRQ 4, I/O address 3F8)

•	Intel EtherExpress network adapter (IRQ 5, I/O address 240)

•	Floppy disk drives (DMA 2, IRQ 6)

•	Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 printer on LPT1 (IRQ 7)

•	Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card (DOS DMA 3, IRQ 10; Windows DMA 7, IRQ 11)

•	Kensington Expert Mouse installed as a bus mouse (IRQ 12)

•	Math coprocessor built into Intel 486 (IRQ 13)

•	Conner IDE hard disk (IRQ 14, I/O address 1F0)

The components were installed in the Dell computer long before running the tests, and all had operated for many months without incident at the indicated settings. Although this is a generally excellent system on all counts, it is no longer on the cutting edge of technology. This is a very nice system that makes good use of its available DMA/IRQ resources, so it should present no problems to our simple test procedures--other than the basic one of figuring out DMA and IRQ usage.

Although our first concern was to check the system with Windows up and running, there were a few tests that could be run only under DOS, as we've indicated below. Please keep in mind that our comments pertain solely to the tasks of diagnosing DMA and IRQ usage. These are tough calls for any diagnostic software, and if any utility comes up a bit short in either department, it's no reflection on how it performs its other functions.

MICROSCOPE UNIVERSAL DIAGNOSTICS 5.06

Unlike the other utilities described here, the MicroScope utilities cannot be installed on your hard disk. Although you can run most tests from the diskette after booting in the normal manner, the MicroScope diskette has been formatted with its own operating system. If you want the most reliable testing, you should boot the system with the diskette in drive A:. This obviously eliminates all the potentially confusing TSRs and device drivers in your usual configuration, but it also precludes testing any settings established during normal start-up, to say nothing of all Windows tests.

After we booted with the MicroScope diskette in drive A:, the System Information menu's IRQ Assignments option opened on a very basic table with headings for IRQ, Status, I/O Ports, Devices and Memory Vector. The Status column showed IRQ 4 as active; IRQs 3, 7, 10 through 12, and 15 disabled; all others enabled and correctly identified (Timer, Keyboard and so on). Since the usual DOS interrupt vector table is not loaded during a MicroScope boot-up, all memory vectors pointed to addresses in ROM (F000:xxxx).

When we pressed the C key to test all IRQs, MicroScope discovered that IRQ 4 (our COM1) was at I/O port address (03F8) and was a serial (Ser) device. It did not find our network card, which was not surprising since the network software normally loaded during conventional start-up was of course absent after booting from the MicroScope diskette. We did discover a few potentially confusing reporting quirks later on. For instance, after exiting a normal Windows session, if we inserted the MicroScope diskette and did a warm reboot, the IRQ list reported our network device (LAN) at the right IRQ (5) but at the wrong address--0280 instead of its actual 0240. Also, if the interrupt-check test was repeated, the I/O port address of IRQ 7 was lost, unless the printer was physically disconnected and a loopback plug was placed on the LPT1 connector.

Within narrow limits, the MicroScope utility can also test, or retest, a specific IRQ line. We took the manual at its word: "Press U (User Defined) to display a window to toggle individual IRQs to test their disabled or active state.'' When the window appeared, we typed 7 to test that IRQ line. The system promptly froze and required a cold reboot. The manual does not make it clear that you must enter the I/O address, not the IRQ itself, to test the IRQ line. The on-screen prompt, however, does say Check I/O address.

For all practical purposes, this User Defined option allows one to test an IRQ only if its I/O address is already known. For example, if an external modem on COM4 is repeatedly tested at I/O address 03F8, and the modem is alternately powered on and off before each test, the Devices column reports Ser, Mod, Ser, Mod and so on. The on-screen display shows the results of up to three sequential tests. If the parallel loopback plug is removed after the first test of IRQ 7, its absence is not detected.

Our hard disk was reported at IRQ 14 and I/O address 01F0, even before running any IRQ tests. This information is collected as the diagnostics program itself loads, and is therefore available independently of the actual check-interrupts procedure. In fact, that procedure does not test IRQ 14, but simply displays the previously collected data. However, you can retest IRQ 14 by entering its I/O address via the User Defined option described above. Although the screen display shows no evidence that anything is happening, the IRQ is in fact exercised each time the test is run.

Notwithstanding the obvious limitation of excluding anything loaded during conventional boot-up, MicroScope is an excellent gut-level diagnostician. If your basic system can pass this physical, it will be that much better equipped to survive the illnesses that will surely follow, back at the old DOS prompt.

TOUCHSTONE WINCHECKIT 2.0

WINCheckIt can run a complete test procedure as it opens, or load and view the results of any previously saved data file. This has the obvious advantage of allowing various before/after comparisons to be made. The IRQ Analysis screen displays the standard textbook name for each IRQ, its current status, the actual hardware using that IRQ and the software owner.

For our first before/after test, we ran WINCheckIt with our normal two-floppy disk drive configuration, and then with the floppy disk drive controller disabled. In both cases, WINCheckIt reported IRQ 6 status as in use by floppy disk hardware. Leaving the controller disabled, we again reconfigured CMOS to uninstall the drives themselves. This time, the IRQ Analysis reported IRQ 6 as in use by an unknown device (although it wasn't). As a final test, we reconfigured our Me-dia Vision sound card to DMA 2 and IRQ 6, rebooted and reopened Windows. The sound card had no problem with these settings, which were verified via the Windows Media Player applet. The applet uses the assigned DMA and IRQ lines to play .WAV audio and .AVI video files. The IRQ Analysis again reported that IRQ 6 was in use by an unknown device.

On a brighter note, WINCheckIt was the only software utility to correctly recognize that our IRQ 5 (standard for LPT2) was in fact assigned to a network card. (Others did report that it was occupied, though.) And if we loaded our sound card DOS driver during boot-up, the utility also correctly reported its IRQ (10) as in use. WINCheckIt also spotted an IRQ 4 conflict when a third serial port (COM3) was installed.

In general, TouchStone's screen reports are among the most user-friendly ones around, and its IRQ Analysis offered the best report of IRQ assignments. It did especially well with our IRQs 2, 5 and 10, which many of the others missed.

LANDMARK WINPROBE 3.0

One of the options on WINProbe's Hardware menu is an Installation Wizard. According to the accompanying manual, "This module assists you in installing additional hardware devices and software into your machine. Installation Wizard will automatically determine and display all of the necessary information including available DMA channels and hardware interrupt request lines (IRQs).'' The good news is that Wizard does indeed display all eight DMA channel and 16 IRQ assignments. The bad news is that the information is a mixed bag of right, wrong and misleading data.

For example, DMAs 0 and 3 are reported as Memory Refresh and Hard Disk on systems with one controller, and as Available on two-controller systems, even if they are in fact assigned to a device. On all systems, DMA 2 is reported as Floppy Controller. As a test, we again disabled our floppy disk drive controller and still later assigned DMA channel 2 to our sound card, as in the WINCheckIt tests. In each case WINProbe still reported it (and IRQ 6) as Floppy Controller. Although our sound card was subsequently configured for DMAs 3 or 7, in both cases the channel was reported as still available. DMA 1 was likewise reported as available, although it appeared to be in constant use on our EISA system.

Our system's IRQ 3 was correctly reported as available, since the COM2 port had been disabled prior to running the tests. But WINProbe also reported IRQs 5 and 11 as available, when in fact they were occupied by our network and sound card. WINProbe was the only utility that completely missed finding our bus mouse on IRQ 12, which was also reported as available. However, it did accurately report IRQ 13 status, based on the presence (or absence, in our secondary 386 system) of a math coprocessor.

Although other WINProbe diagnostic features (not covered here) are first-rate, the potentially misleading DMA display and spotty IRQ reportage limits its usefulness in diagnosing or resolving conflicts in these important areas.

DIAGSOFT QAPLUS/WIN 6.0

The latest version of QAPlus/Win reports IRQ usage in its DOS Information window. If you click on the Interrupts button at the top of the window, the screen shows IRQs 0 through 15 under a heading labeled Interrupt Vectors Table. That table actually follows the IRQ listing. The accompanying manual describes some advanced IRQ checks that have not yet been implemented. It also states that the window reports DMA channels currently in use, but this feature is also not yet supported. If it eventually does give an accurate report of DMA assignments, it will be the first and only software that manages to do so.

In the meantime, the QAPlus/Win has a nice extra feature to complement its IRQ report: It was the only program tested that gave the correct I/O port addresses for COM1, LPT1 and our hard disk (the others usually omitted the LPT1 assignment). And as part of its separate Multimedia test suite, QAPlus/WIN reported our sound card's settings as Media Vision (DMA 3, IRQ 10) if the DOS device driver was loaded during system boot-up with those settings on the command line.

DiagSoft's DOS utility, QAPlus/FE 5.13, has a more extensive IRQ/DMA detection feature, but like most others it simply lists standard DMA channel usage, which may or may not correspond to your own system usage. As with other DMA-reporting utilities, QAPlus/FE did not discover that our system's floppy disk drives and controller were disabled, thereby making DMA 2 available.

THE NORTON UTILITIES 8.0

There is probably not a power user out there who has not been rescued at least once by some feature tucked away in the famous Norton Utilities.

If you install the latest version from within Windows, and then open the Integrator applet in Norton's DOS group window, its Commands box lists various services that you might reasonably assume are actually available. Most are, but Diagnostics is not. If you select it, the Integrator itself will exit if it can't find about 500KB of free conventional memory. If that much memory is free, then you'll get a lengthy message that says, in a nutshell: Norton Diagnostics won't run from within Windows. (Then why is it on the menu?) To run it, you must exit and run NDIAGS at the DOS prompt. Or type NORTON at the prompt and choose Diagnostics from the Commands list.

Although the Diagnostics utility checks the DMA controller itself as part of the System Board Test option on the System menu, it offers only a Passed/Failed report. Actual DMA assignments are not reported. In fact, the only reference to DMA is in the Undocu-mented NDIAGS Switches section of the READ.ME file, which reads in its entirety: "If your system locks up after the hard drive test, try using the /NO-DMA switch.''

The System menu's IRQ Status option correctly reported that IRQs 3, 11 and 15 were not in use, and that IRQs 5 and 10 were assigned to unknown devices. Oddly enough, IRQ 2, which is universally redirected to IRQ 9, was likewise reported as an unknown device, and IRQ 9 itself was completely omitted from the list. With the printer connected to LPT1, NDIAGS reported IRQ 7 as not in use. However, if the Norton loopback plug is connected to the printer port, IRQ 7 is correctly reported as Parallel 1 (see An IRQ 7 Trivia Question and Loop-back Plug Test for more details).

Returning to Windows once again, you can check IRQs by selecting the System Info command. (System Info also has its own dedicated icon in the Norton DOS group window.) However, the information is not as reliable as that reported above. Although IRQ 2 is now correctly reported as the cascade--that is, the input from the second interrupt controller--the Windows report didn't know that IRQ 3 (our COM2) was disabled. Also, IRQ 5 was reported as LPT2 (its default assignment) and our sound card's Windows IRQ 11 was listed--like 9 (the redirected IRQ 2), 10 and 15--as reserved.

If you don't have the Norton Utilities, you'll want to get it soon for its many other features. But look to a utility such as TouchStone's WINCheckIt for better software IRQ reporting.

ALLMICRO DISCOVERY CARD

How many software engineers does it take to resolve a DMA/IRQ conflict? None: It's a hardware issue.

That may not be much of a joke, but it's not such a bad commentary on this black art. With all due respect to the various software diagnostics used above, their considerable strengths clearly don't lie in DMA/IRQ reporting. None got our DMA information right. Wisely, some didn't even try. As for IRQs, most were right, but only some of the time. So our next step was to try a hardware solution.

The Discovery Card is a small (about 3 inches by 5 inches) card that plugs into any ISA or EISA slot on the system board. There's one green and 18 red LEDs laid out across the top of the card, the green one representing the CPU, the red ones for DMAs 0 through 3 and 5 through 7, IRQs 2 through 7, 10 through 12 and 14 and 15. IRQ 2 is labeled as 2/9, since it becomes IRQ 9 on AT and later systems. The "missing'' IRQs (0, 1, 8, 13) are reserved for the system itself and do not appear at any adapter slot. The Discovery Card's power is in its simplicity: It doesn't do a thing except watch the DMA and IRQ lines. When one is used, the appropriate LED comes on and stays on. That's all there is, and all there needs to be.

Just plug the card into an empty slot, then sit back and watch the light show. To get a fix on who's doing what, press the card's reset button to turn off all the lights. The CPU light will immediately come back on again (if it doesn't, you're in big trouble). Do a diskette directory listing at the DOS prompt--the DMA 2 and IRQ 6 lights come on. If you do the same thing in File Manager via the mouse, the mouse IRQ will also light up. Reset the card and then play a .WAV or .AVI (video) file. The DMA and IRQ lights show you exactly which ones the card uses. If you play CD audio or MIDI files, you'll discover that neither uses DMA or IRQ.

Since the Discovery Card simply perches on top of the system lines looking for action, it isn't intimidated by TSRs, operating systems, Windows or anything else that gets stirred into your configuration soup. In short, you can sequentially operate every hardware and software device in your system, and if anything uses DMA or IRQ, the card will catch it. It also catches minor misconfigurations that might otherwise escape notice.

For example, our sound card's DOS device driver was configured for DMA 3 and IRQ 10, while the Windows settings specified in SYSTEM.INI were DMA 7 and IRQ 11. If we played a .WAV or .AVI file via Media Player, Windows used DMA 7 but ignored IRQ 11 in favor of the DOS IRQ 10. Only if we rebooted without the DOS driver did Windows use IRQ 11.

Without the Discovery Card (apparently, well named), little quirks could make conflict resolution all but impossible, especially on a multimedia system if a DOS sound card driver is not always loaded. It's a must-have tool for anyone who needs to know what's really happening on all those DMA and IRQ lines.

TROUBLESHOOTING THE TROUBLESHOOTERS

Before any software utility can check an IRQ, or pretend to check a DMA, you need to get the utility itself to work, which is sometimes easier said than done. Add Windows to the mix and things don't get any easier, especially if one utility conflicts with another installed on the same system. We encountered a few such roadblocks while testing the software in this article.

After installing the software utilities reviewed here, none of our DOS applications would work from within Windows. In every attempt to launch a DOS application, we'd get a General Protection Fault error message. The problem showed up if we tried to open any Norton DOS applet, or if we loaded Landmark's WINProbe and selected the General Info option on its OpSys menu. If we attempted to view DOS Hardware Configuration in DiagSoft's QAPlus/Win utility, the applet and Windows itself closed, leaving us back at the DOS prompt.

After some experimenting, we discovered that each of these utilities added one or more virtual device drivers (device=filename.386) to the [386Enh] section of our SYSTEM.INI file. These drivers didn't seem to like each other; get rid of any two sets and all the DOS-related problems went away.

Once the device conflict was resolved, we could open most DOS applications, but not the Norton Integrator. The problem turned out to be not enough conventional memory, which was initially puzzling, since we had some 570KB available.

The real problem was indirectly related to DOS 6.0's MemMaker utility. Our new AUTOEXEC .BAT file reported that an 18KB chunk of one of our TSRs was to be loaded into upper memory. But it wasn't. There was not enough room for it up there, so it got dumped into free conventional memory. In the process, it cut the remaining conventional memory into two segments--one about 445KB, the other about 125KB, with neither big enough to run the Norton Utilities.

A bit of juggling cleared up the problem. This reinforced the importance of this closing piece of advice, which all of us have so often heard and which most of us all too often ignore: Boot with a plain-vanilla configuration before running any serious diagnostic utilities. And do a cold boot after running any serious DOS diagnostics, such as the MicroScope utilities diskette.


What's an IRQ Anyway?

From time to time, various hardware devices need the services of the CPU. Depending on each device's place in the hardware pecking order, these requests for service are carried out in the order of their importance to the overall system. To help prioritize these hardware demands, the system board on the old IBM PC contained a single Intel 8259a PIC (programmable interrupt controller) chip, which could referee eight requests for attention, each known as an interrupt request, or IRQ for short. The controller processes requests according to the line (IRQ 0 through IRQ 7) on which each is received. The system timer got its own dedicated line (IRQ 0), which accorded it the highest priority. Next came the keyboard controller on IRQ line 1. And then came the realization that eight lines were not enough.

The IBM personal computer AT and subsequent PCs added a second interrupt controller, whose eight lines are cascaded to the first controller via the original IRQ 2 line. This gives a total of 15 IRQs: 0, 1, 8 through 15 (cascaded to 2), 3 through 7. Since IRQs 8 through 15 are routed to the first controller via IRQ 2, these numbers get higher priority than IRQs 3 through 7. With four of the IRQ lines (0, 1, 8, 13) set aside for internal system use, the remaining 11 are available for assignment to devices that require them. Now all you need to do is figure out how to assign them without causing conflicts.

And a DMA?

Direct memory access is the process by which data may be exchanged between system RAM and a hardware device such as a floppy disk drive controller, sound card or other I/O device. As the term suggests, data is transferred directly; that is, without intervention by the microprocessor. The original IBM PC and XT contained a single Intel 8237a four-channel DMA controller, which supported 8-bit data transfers. DMA 0 line was reserved for dynamic RAM refresh operations, while DMA 2 and DMA 3 handled floppy disk and hard disk transfers.

The IBM PC AT and other 16-bit computers include a second DMA controller. The output of the first one is routed to the first input on the second controller, thus providing the user with seven DMA lines: 0 through 3 and 5 through 7. Although DMA lines 0 through 3 still support transfers only between 8-bit I/O devices and 8- or 16-bit memory, DMA lines 5 through 7 support full 16-bit transfers in either direction--assuming of course that the I/O device itself supports 16-bit operation. Given the improved performance (that is, speed) of 16-bit microprocessors (80286 or better), direct memory access is no longer needed for RAM refresh. Therefore, a new DMA 0 line is now available on the system board for use by adapter cards. The original DMA 3 line is also available, since it is not used for hard disk operations in 16-bit machines.


An IRQ 7 Trivia Question

Pick up any book that mentions IRQs, and you'll learn that IRQs 7 and 5 are associated with LPT1 and LPT2, respectively. So the question is, what does either IRQ do for either printer (or vice versa)?

If you answered "nothing,'' you're absolutely right. Although there's a fair amount of two-way communications between computer and printer during the typical print job, none of it requires the services of an IRQ line. In fact, about the only action IRQ 7 sees is if a loopback plug is inserted during a diagnostics check. On some systems it may also be used during system reset (but not warm reboot) or in some network printing operations, but that's about it. For all other cases, you can assume IRQ 7 is free, even though all the manuals imply it isn't.


A Loopback Plug Test Note

Some diagnostic utilities require the use of a so-called loopback plug for running a complete parallel and serial port test. With the plug connected to a serial or parallel port, various send signals are simply routed back to the appropriate receive line, so the utility can verify that a test signal was correctly sent/received without a problem. The loopback plug is always required for a complete test of a parallel port, to detect IRQ usage.

If you already have a set of loopback plugs on hand, they may or may not be wired properly for the utility you're using. For example, the Micro2000 loopback plugs don't work with Norton Utilities. In case of doubt, check the NDIAGS Serial and Parallel Loopbacks section of Norton's READ.ME file for the required pinouts.


Resolving VxD Conflicts in SYSTEM.INI

Here's yet another source of conflict, which you may already have discovered during your adventures. This one turns up in SYSTEM.INI, where some utilities insert virtual device driver (VxD) lines in the [386Enh] section. Some examples are listed here.

device=symevnt.386 ;Norton Utilities

device=C:\WINPROBE\VWPD.386 ;WinProbe

device=cs$vxd.386 ;QAPlus/WIN (optional CoSession software)

device=cs$cbuf.386

device=cs$vcd.386

During our testing we discovered that if devices from two or more companies were installed, no DOS applications could be executed from within Windows, including the DOS segments of the utilities themselves. Our fix was to simply disable all such lines, and then reenable only those required by the utility in use.

Here's a tip: Make a backup copy of SYSTEM.INI before installing any Windows utility. After installing the utility, compare the new SYSTEM.INI with the backup copy, and make a careful note of all changes, especially new device= lines. In case of trouble later on, disable the new lines and see if the trouble disappears.

Both Norton 8.0 and QAPlus/ WIN have excellent file comparison options. Use either one to quickly spot your own SYSTEM.INI changes.


Directory of Vendors

This listing includes only vendors whose products were mentioned in this article.

AllMicro,

Discovery Card,

$299,

800-653-4933, 813-539-7283

DiagSoft,

QAPlus/Win 6.0,

$99.95,

800-342-4763, 408-438-8247

Landmark Research International Corp.,

WINProbe 3.0,

$49,

800-683-6696, 813-443-1331

Micro 2000,

MicroScope Universal Diagnostics 5.06,

$499 (includes three loopback plugs), 818-547-0125, 818-547-0397

Symantec Corp.,

the Norton Utilities 8.0,

$179 (three loopback plugs sold separately, $19.95),

800-441-7234, 503-334-6054

TouchStone Software Corp., WINCheckIt 2.0,

49.95 (estimated),

800-531-0450, 714-969-7746

John Woram, a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine, is the author of the Windows Configuration Handbook and the PC Configuration Handbook (Random House). Contact John care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


First Aid For Ailing Systems

First Aid For Ailing Systems

Don't Be a Gas Guzzler

Troubleshooting GPFs

Play Detective


First Aid For Ailing Systems

By: KAREN STRAUSS, TECHNICAL EDITOR

You don't have to put up with the sudden crashes and erratic performance that GPFs inflict on you.Here's how you can prevent, and treat, the most common problems.

Have you ever had an application crash in the middle of an important project, causing you to lose hours of work? You've probably been the victim of a GPF (General Protection Fault). If you haven't been attacked by one of these Windows gremlins yet, you probably will be soon. Fortunately, it's rather easy to go from victim to victor, if you understand what's causing the problem and take a few simple steps.

GPFs occur when a program tries to access memory for which it has no rights, potentially overwriting important code and data from other running programs or even pieces of Windows itself. The results can be anything from the loss of a file to a system crash requiring you to turn your computer off before restarting Windows. While the situations may vary, one thing is for sure: You're going to lose data.

You're likely to encounter a GPF when Windows runs low on system resources (the memory Windows uses to handle such things as memory management, fonts, graphics, icons and other essential elements of the Windows environment) or if you have a buggy video driver. Other causes include hardware conflicts, outdated software modules and drivers, corrupted files, or memory conflicts.

If you're lucky (so to speak), you'll see a message box titled "Application Error'' that lists the program Windows thinks caused the problem, along with the program module and address in memory where the fault occurred. When you get this message, you know that the application you were using is dead. You'll also find yourself wondering how recently you saved your work.

As bad as that may sound, it's the best-case scenario where GPFs are concerned. The most serious GPFs can cause your system to crash without a single bit of helpful information.

How do you figure out what caused a GPF? For starters, when a GPF occurs, write down the information contained in the Application Error message box (if you get one). Try to remember what you were doing right before the GPF occurred. This information is vital for determining the cause.

Most GPFs are easy to find and fix, as we'll explain shortly. But others require an extensive trial-and-error process that can frequently lead you to a dead end. The good news is that once you've found the root of the problem, it tends to stay fixed. The worst-case scenario, which happens rarely, is that you will need to reinstall Windows. But before you push the panic button and go to that extreme, follow the steps in this article to track down the most common causes of GPFs and use the solutions provided to eliminate them.

SYSTEM RESOURCE GPFS

As we mentioned earlier, the number-one cause of General Protection Faults is low system resources. The longer Windows has been running in a given session, the more likely the GPF is resource related. That's especially true if you're using numerous applications. Every application you open and close will use system resources, but some don't return all the resources when you close them. In addition, some poorly designed video drivers steal segments of the GDI (graphics device interface) heap as they run, making it possible to run out of resources even if you have no applications open!

Here are some questions to help you determine whether the problem is resource related:

•	Have you been loading and unloading applications and files often throughout the session?

•	Did the computer's performance get slow and erratic just before the GPF?

•	Were screen redraws slow and uneven?

•	Did the problem disappear when you restarted Windows?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it's quite possible the problem is resource related. The good news is that you can clear up resource-related GPFs by restarting Windows. The bad news is that you can't eliminate them for good. Instead, you'll have to find ways to limit Windows resource use by cutting back on things like fonts, Program Manager icons and open applications. (See Don't Be a Gas Guzzler for some tips.) This will reduce--but won't entirely eliminate--your chance of getting resource-related GPFs. Future versions of Windows are expected to take care of the resource limitations.

If GPFs have been a chronic problem since you installed Windows and don't stop when you reduce resource use and restart Windows, then it's a good idea to reinstall Windows. Something obviously didn't work right the first time around. If the symptoms continue after you reinstall Windows, then it's likely the problem may lie in one of the following areas.

NEW HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

GPFs often rear their ugly heads after you've installed new hardware or software. The culprit could be a bad or outdated driver or software module, or a memory conflict with existing hardware or software. Having backups can help you determine the cause of the problem. If you were smart, you made backups of your system files before you did the install. (Or if your installation software is good, it's done that for you.)

First, take a look at the module pointed out by the Application Error message as the cause of the problem. If this module is a hardware driver, then you've isolated the problem. Try reinstalling the driver and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, call the product manufacturer, who is probably familiar with the symptoms, and ask for a new driver.

If a message box didn't point the way, start by checking the date on the driver in question. Drivers can usually be found in the WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory. If the driver is more than six months old, there is probably a newer version available that might correct the problem. If the hardware is a fairly new product, the driver that shipped with it may be buggy, or even beta. Call the hardware manufacturer, who should be able to set you up with new drivers or offer other solutions.

If the driver is not the problem, you'll have to investigate further. Start by checking the memory, IRQ (interrupt request) and DMA (direct memory access) usage with a utility such as Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD.EXE) or one of the other tools discussed in Troubleshooting GPFs. If an area of memory, an IRQ or DMA setting is already in use by other hardware, then you are going to have to make some changes. Most new hardware allows you to change the IRQ and DMA settings through software, so you won't have to open up your machine. Follow the installation instructions to change the settings to those that are unused. If you are unable to change the settings for the new hardware, you may need to change the settings on the conflicting hardware. (For information on how to disentangle the memory conflicts, see the memory section near the end of this article.)

Installing new software can also cause an otherwise perfect system to go haywire. If you've just loaded up an application and it doesn't run right, causing GPFs whenever you try to run it or when you work with a particular part of the program, chances are that the installation didn't work correctly the first time. Try reinstalling it. Most of the time, this will clear up the problem.

If it doesn't, you'll need to do a little more digging. Remember that most programs these days bring along a lot of baggage. You have to install drivers and DLLs (dynamic link libraries) and make changes to the WIN.INI and, sometimes, to the SYSTEM.INI file. Compare the backups of your system files with the newest versions and note any changes. Sometimes the new software will replace an existing driver with an older copy. This can happen because most installation programs don't pay attention to the files you have on your system. If this happens, try to track down a copy of the old file and reinstall it; you might have it on your system backups.

DEJA VU

Maybe you've tried reinstalling your software and hardware, but the errors keep occurring in the same old application or module. Nothing you've done has made a difference. As Yogi Berra said, it's like "deja vu all over again.'' Well, you don't have to feel like you're trapped in the movie, "Groundhog Day,'' reliving events over and over. The matter's quite basic: Some of the application files are probably corrupted, cross-linked or located on a bad disk sector. All of these things mean trouble and probably will require a reinstallation of some or all of the applications.

Run the DOS utility Scandisk (or Chkdsk, its predecessor) or a third-party utility that reports on bad files. You can find Scandisk and/or Chkdsk in your system's DOS directories. Exit Windows and run these disk diagnostic utilities from the DOS command line. If any disk utility reports that there are problems with files belonging to that application, you'll either need to restore working copies of the files from your backups or you'll need to reinstall the application.

If GPFs always occur in the same module, it could be a bad module. If the Application Error message box refers to the driver module, then the video driver may be corrupted, outdated or unsupported. Reload the driver from diskette or rerun the install program. If these don't work, call the company that makes the hardware and ask for a new driver, or download the latest version from a BBS or on-line service.

Let's say nothing has worked so far. There is one more easy way out before we move into the system memory and memory management problems. If you have a permanent swap file set up--and you should--this file can get corrupted, too. If the swap file is corrupted, it's like having bad memory modules. This will make it difficult for Windows to operate. Fortunately, the fix is a lot simpler and less expensive than bad RAM. Delete your swap file and create a new one.

Go to Windows' Control Panel and double-click on the 386 Enhanced icon. Next, click on the Virtual Memory button, then on Change. Under New Settings, select None as the type of swap file and then click on OK. When asked if you are sure you want to make changes, click on Yes. Then click on Restart Windows. This will delete your current swap file. Once Windows has restarted, follow the directions above to get back to the Virtual Memory dialog box. Click on Change, select Permanent as the type of swap file, set the file size or accept the default. Then click on OK, and choose Yes and Restart Win-dows. Try to recreate the GPF. If you can't, the problem's solved. If not, it's time to go spelunking through your system's memory settings.

MEMORY PROBLEMS

Once you've established that the problems are not caused by bad drivers, disk errors or corrupted application files, you move into the more complicated issues of memory conflicts. Start out in DOS since TSR programs can use areas of memory that Windows needs. Because Windows normally manages memory for all apps running under it, anything preloaded by DOS can cause conflicts. If GPFs persist after you've done a few warm and cold boots, look at your configuration files (AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS) to see if you are loading any TSRs. Comment them out by putting the word REM in front of each of them (REM is short for "remark''). Don't tinker with drivers for disk compression, extended memory boards, disk partitioning software and other hardware-specific device drivers. Then reboot your machine and run Windows. If Win-dows is fine, reload TSRs one at a time, removing the REM statements, rebooting your machine and trying Windows again until GPFs recur. When the GPF reappears, the last TSR that you loaded is the culprit. You'll have to jettison it.

If the problems persist after you've commented out all of your TSRs, then the memory conflict lies somewhere else. Memory managers can be a persistent cause of GPFs, since they use areas of memory that Windows needs to run. A sure road to GPFs is paved when two programs, such as device drivers, memory managers and other similar programs, try to use the same memory location. Memory squabbles usually take place in the UMB (upper memory block) area, memory located between 640KB and 1024KB (A000-FFFF).

The UMB area does double duty as storage for hardware ROM BIOS and as a place memory managers use to load programs high. To solve conflicts in this area, you'll have to exclude specific areas of memory from your memory manager and/or Windows. Here's how:

1. Back up system files.

2. Type win /s to start Windows in Standard mode.

3. If Windows doesn't have GPFs, then you'll have confirmation that the problem is in the UMB area. Standard mode doesn't touch that area of memory.

4.Exclude the UMB area from your memory manager.

5. Use command WIN /d:x to load Windows and exclude the UMB from mapping.

6. Check for GPFs.

7. If GPFs are still gone, you can begin the process of ruling out specific memory locations from use and isolating the cause of the GPFs.

Figure out which UMB address is causing the problem. Start by getting a map of UMB usage. MSD, which comes with DOS, provides a good overview, as do utilities that ship with memory managers such as Quarterdeck's QEMM, Qualitas's 386MAX and Helix Software's NetRoom. Central Point's System Consultant (available in Speed Tools) also gives excellent information on memory usage. In particular, look for areas that are marked as adapter RAM or ROM; you'll need to exclude them from both your CONFIG.SYS and SYSTEM.INI. To find all of the memory used by your adapters, you may need to peruse the manuals to get the exact locations.

Once you've done that, here's the plan: Exit Windows and modify your SYSTEM.INI to exclude all UMB memory and slowly add it back in different memory locations.

If you can't determine which areas need to be excluded, you'll have to resort to trial and error. Here are a few common problem areas you might try excluding before you begin to sequentially exclude and include memory:

C000-C7FF VGA BIOS area

B000-B7FF Monochrome display adapter area, required by some VGA cards

E000-EFFF BIOS used in some systems such as IBM PS/2 Micro Channel

F000-FFFF BIOS used in most systems

If you still have problems with GPFs, use this methodical procedure to find out which mem-ory area is causing the problem. In the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI, put in the line EMMExclude = B000-FFFF. Try running Windows for a while this way. If you get no GPFs, A000-AFFF is safe to use. Continue onward, moving the bottom line of memory upward (using C000, D000, E000 as the first number in the EMMExclude statement) until you do get GPFs. Once GPFs start appearing, go back to the previous exclude statement and then start at the top. When you've isolated the memory locations that cause GPFs, add this information to your memory manager and Windows. This should have taken care of all your GPFs. If they persist beyond this point, then they need some one-to-one counseling--or a sledgehammer.


Don't Be a Gas Guzzler

The more system resources that are in use, the greater your chances of experiencing a GPF. Here are some simple steps you can take to reduce Windows' resources requirements.

1. Do away with seldom-used icons and groups in Program Manager or replace Program Manager with a shell that uses fewer bitmapped icons.

2. Don't keep an application running unless you need it. Any active application, even if it sits idle on the desktop, still uses resources.

3. Use a 256-color driver with your 24-bit video card for all but special purposes. Reserve 34,000, 64,000 and 16.7 million colors settings for Photoshop, CorelDRAW, desktop publishing and other applications that require detailed color work.

4. Reduce the number of fonts that you load. This not only reduces your resource requirements, but can also make Windows load faster.

5. Limit the number of fonts you use in a document. This precaution not only lowers your resource requirements but offers a cleaner-looking page as well.

6. Complex color wallpaper images can rapidly chew up resources. Consider converting your 256-color or 16.7 million color images to 16 colors.

7. In an application, keep open only those documents that you need at the moment. Each additional window chews up more resources.

8. Cut down on the number of times you open and close the same application, since some don't free up all the resources they claimed.

9. Make sure you always have the most current video driver. Some drivers can eat resources.

10. Watch out for OLE 2.0. As applications make use of it, they require even more resources.


Troubleshooting GPFs

Chasing down a GPF is usually a simple matter of running through a checklist. Sometimes it can become complicated--and that's when you need help. Spelunking through memory, for example, requires either X-ray vision, which most of us don't have, or a good utility. There are a host of excellent utilities that can help you probe the inside of your system to discover the minute details of memory, IRQs, DMAs and other settings. Here is a brief look at a few of the best. (For a more in-depth discussion of utilities, see "Do-It-Yourself Diagnosis'' in this issue.)

1. One of the best tools available comes bundled with Windows and DOS. Microsoft System Diagnostic (MSD.EXE) provides a look into every aspect of your system setup. While you can use it to examine your disk drives, video and network setups, this program also provides detailed maps of upper memory usage and lists of IRQ usage that can help you pinpoint which adapters and applications have a claim on which memory blocks. There are two big drawbacks for Windows users: MSD is a DOS application so you'll have to exit Windows to use it; MSD also does not provide tools for watching system resources or examining .INI file contents. It is an excellent tool for working through memory and IRQ problems, but if you want a more robust Windows-based utility, consider third-party utility packages such as PC Tools from Central Point Software and Norton Utilities from Symantec Corp.

2. PC Tools not only provides an excellent Windows replacement desktop and disk and file management tools, but also offers two superb tools to help you through a GPF elimination session. Start with the System Consultant. This utility reports on memory, devices, interrupts and video, without requiring a side trip out to DOS. It includes INI Consultant, which explains the contents of your SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI and allows you to make edits. System Consultant offers all of MSD's detail and then some, with an easy-to-use Windows interface that may help you eliminate your GPFs sooner. Once you've taken care of GPFs, add CrashGuard to your StartUp folder and it will watch GDI and USER resources, RAM usage and free disk space, alerting you when the resources fall below a level you've selected. This will give you advance warning of impending resource-related GPFs.

3. Another excellent utility package for the GPF hunter is the Norton Utilities 8.0. Containing more than 40 tools, Norton will help you isolate memory and hardware conflicts. SysWatch points out potential problems in resources and memory, and the upgraded Diagnostic utility checks every piece of system hardware. The Diagnostic utility will check all hardware devices on your system while you watch, offering you a look at the interrupts as they happen. This will help you isolate IRQ conflicts in short order. The INI Tuner allows users to view .INI entries in a format similar to Windows' Control Panel, making it easy to change settings that may be responsible for GPFs. Finally, to get a handle on system resource use, try Norton's SysWatch, which lets you keep an eye on nearly every critical Windows parameter.


Play Detective

Figuring out what caused a GPF is often the hardest part of correctiing it--and preventing it from happening again. Use this as a quick reference for determining the cause of a GPF and finding a , then go back to the main article for a more detailed course of action.

Problem	CAUSE	Solution
GPF occurs after Windows has been running all day	SYSTEM RESOURCES DEPLETED	Restart Windows
GPF occurs after opening and closing numerous applications	SYSTEM RESOURCES DEPLETED	Restart Windows
Slow and erratic performance just before GPF	SYSTEM RESOURCES DEPLETED	Restart Windows
Slow and uneven screen redraws just before GPF	SYSTEM RESOURCES DEPLETED	Restart Windows
GPF occurs after you install new software	OUTDATED MODULE OR DRIVER: BAD INSTALLATION	Reinstall the program
GPF occurs after you install new hardware	1. OUTDATED MODULE OR DRIVER	1. Get new driver from manufacturer
	2. MEMORY IRQ OR DMA CONFLICT	2. Compare the memory, IRQ or DMA used by the new hardware with that used by existing hardware and eliminate any conflicts
GPF occurs with existing software	CROSS-LINKED OR CORRUPTED FILES	Use Scandisk or Chkdsk to loacte the files, then fix or replace
GPF always happens in same module	SOFTWARE MODULE MAY BE BAD	Reinstall the module
GPF occurs although none of the above apply	USUALLY A MEMORY CONFLICT	Follow the instructions in the article to isolate and eliminate high blocks memory


The E-Mail Explosion

E-Mail

The Consolidation of the E-Mail Market

Coming Soon

The Internet Connection

Get connected


E-Mail

By: Ron Rassner

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

E-mail's role has changed dramatically in the past five years, but the shift isn't over yet. It won't be long until e-mail is embedded in operating systems, used in seamless remote access, and maintained as part of a communications highway over which critical data will flow. With the workplace migrating from the central office to the road or home, e-mail will provide access to applications, as well as the means to transport them.

Here's everything you need to know to prepare for the next wave in e-mail--the trends affecting the technology, the nature of e-mail's store-and-forward architecture, and an overview of recent industry consolidation and what it will mean to product offerings. We'll also look at how to deal with the heterogeneous e-mail landscape, e-mail's role as an application pipeline, the factors driving remote access, and what the future holds for e-mail.

How E-Mail Got Here

The convergence of several trends contributed to e-mail's quick growth:

•	Corporations changed from hierarchical and functionally defined organizations to cross-functional groups without geographical boundaries--and e-mail became a critical application.

•	Mergers and acquisitions left thousands of globalized enterprises in their wake, with a need to communicate quickly and cost-effectively. E-mail was the best way to do that.

•	Telephony access improved worldwide, with the synergy between telephony and computing heightened by e-mail.

•	Finally, e-mail is by far the least expensive form of communication. The table (right) compares its cost with other messaging media.

Currently, there are four basic concentrations of e-mail, all of which are growing: legacy (like PROFS, Digital's ALL-IN-1, Hewlett-Packard's Desk); Internet-based (SMTP, UNIX mailers); X.400 (the e-mail standard); and LAN-based e-mail, like Lotus's cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail. Many organizations have all four, as well as mailers on other platforms.

STORE-AND-FORWARD ARCHITECTURE

Store-and-forward (s-and-f) architectures have been around since at least the early 1970s, when IBM introduced the Network Job Entry (NJE) protocols. The s-and-f protocols were adapted to network e-mail traffic, unsolicited file transfer, and transmission of nodal message records. S-and-f networks accept disassembled packets of information, store them and forward them once they've been reassembled. The forwarding of the data is generally done with the aid of accessory routines that rely on routing tables. For example, a LAN-based

e-mail package might store a message in a directory, and a dedicated application will look into the directory, read the message header and forward the message to the appropriate recipient using a global address list.

E-mail is composed of two major body parts--the header and the content. The message's header, or envelope, contains its routing and addressing information. The content comprises the text message and file attachments. Today's more sophisticated mailers permit multiple and, in some cases, unlimited body parts.

CONNECTING IN A HETEROGENEOUS LANDSCAPE

Even with the recent industry consolidation (see The Consolidation of the E-Mail Market), there are still numerous e-mail systems. In order to navigate this disparate world of e-mail systems, APIs (application programming interfaces) and message formats, a niche industry has evolved in interconnect technology. Interconnect vendors specialize in the translation and conversion of one message format (such as SMTP, with its "username@domain.domain'' format) to another (such as Microsoft Mail's username/workgroup/domain format). Message formats can be as simple as cc:Mail's username AT nodename, or as complex as X.400's C=USA/A=MCI/P=WI/O=CNI/OU=MKT_RES/S=RASSNER/G=RON.

Four basic topologies can connect these dissimilar formats--gateways, switches, backbones and a client-server model.

Gateways.

Gateways are the simplest solution, providing a single, bidirectional conversion between no more than two messaging formats. Gateways are appropriate for an environment that has only two different e-mail systems and a relatively small number of users. But it's rare for an enterprise not to need access to other mailers, especially since most people use front ends that don't automatically coincide with the two most popular networks, X.400 and SMTP for the Internet. Therefore, as soon as another e-mail format is introduced or needed, the system must add another gateway, creating a resource and administrative logjam in the network. That's why many medium and large enterprises prefer messaging switches.

Switches.

Switches provide multiple connections for the various mail communities they support. Sometimes referred to as multiple gateways, switches also offer multidirectional translation services. Unlike a gateway, however, a switch makes two translations in any direction as it sends a message into multiple environments. It accomplishes this by utilizing what is referred to as an internal or intermediate format. Let's assume your e-mail environment consists of cc:Mail, MS Mail, SMTP and X.400. A message sent from cc:Mail to the other three would go through your switch, which translates the format first to an intermediate format, and then to its destination formats (once into SMTP, once into X.400 and once into MS Mail). When a switch provides some "intelligence,'' such as directory, management and document conversion services, it may be referred to as an intelligent messaging hub.

Backbones.

The backbone topology offers a third strategy. Like the switch, a backbone provides multiple gateway services. However, it also provides uniform format and transport links between it and similar systems around the world. The standards-based backbone is X.400. For example, say you are sending a LAN-based e-mail message to your X.400 backbone, with a remote LAN mailer as its final destination. The message would be transported in X.400 format until it reached its destination, where it would finally be converted to its destination format. The backbone topology, in the case of X.400, offers larger enterprises features that they need for global communications, including management, security and tracking.

Client-Server.

The client-server topology takes advantage of the backbone strategy, but offers another enhancement by providing plug-and-play clients for its server backbone. An example of this is Hewlett-Packard's OpenMail, which gives cc:Mail and MS Mail users direct access to the OpenMail (X.400) back end. With this topology, users can keep their familiar GUI or Windows interface, while relying on an independent, industrial-strength backbone to provide proven directory and management service.

THE APPLICATION PIPELINE

The installation of e-mail is analogous to the laying of a worldwide pipeline for the transport of corporate-critical information. Enterprises have taken advantage of e-mail's ubiquity to create virtual traffic links over which other applications can flow.

But this wasn't always the case. When e-mail environments belonged to one vendor and were intra-enterprise, the basic messaging need was delivery, or the simple routing of memos among known colleagues. Many e-mail applications developed in the 1980s fit this model. But simple delivery mechanisms have become outdated. Now, heterogeneous e-mail products and multiple communications exist among unknown people worldwide, in inter-enterprise environments.

E-mail directories have emerged to accommodate this growing complexity. These directories are databases that contain all the essential information that's available regarding people and the devices and applications they use.

REMOTE ACCESS AND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

Remote LAN access software and hardware solutions provide dial-up users with real-time network access. Another possibility for remote users is remote control software. This software allows remote users to access their desktop systems and log into their networks. In addition, the rise of remote and wireless computing has created a compelling case for vendors to supply remote e-mail clients for their LAN-based e-mail products. Here are some of the requirements for remote computing.

•	There should be little or no differentiation between working on the LAN desktop and being mobile, and there should be a single program for both LAN and mobile applications. This means that similar, if not equivalent, feature sets will be necessary.

•	Vendors must provide ease of use for workers without easy access to LAN administrators. This includes nearly automated communications setup and dialing.

•	All users must have complete, synchronized access to their mailboxes. This access means that users will have seamless links to mail-enabled applications, directories and bulletin boards.

•	Administrators need the capability to provide directory and system updates, and field upgrades. They also need guaranteed access privileges.

ONE VENDOR'S APPROACH

Lotus's cc:Mail Mobile provides many of the above ingredients, and is available today on Windows, DOS, Macintosh and HP100LX (palmtop) platforms. The program provides a consistent user interface between the mobile platform and the desktop system. There are multiple communications options, including ordinary phone lines, IPX/SPX, TCP/IP, data PBXs, X.25, ISDN and wireless networks.

Filtering is based on rules technology first introduced in Lotus's LAN version of cc:Mail for Windows. With it, you can create filtering on 14 different message elements. In addition, cc:Mail Mobile's rules can automatically send out-of-office replies, prioritize messages and generate alerts.

Location profiles let you configure your systems to make connections from a variety of locations. And cc:Mail Mobile will record telephone numbers and communication methods, and set up schedules for repeated use. If you need to maintain two mailboxes (one on the laptop and one on the desktop), DockingAssistant lets you copy and move messages between the two. A session log stores data on every connection you make for future troubleshooting. Message previews provide summaries about incoming messages so you can decide whether to download.

It has been a moderately quiet evolution, but suddenly e-mail is at the center of the software universe. Along with real-time database access, store-and-forward e-mail will be one of the most important applications well into the next century.


The Consolidation of the E-Mail Market

The e-mail world changed dramatically when the likes of Microsoft, Lotus and Novell bought into it in the early 1990s. The majority of growth in the e-mail market stems from the current products of these three companies. Their pronouncements reverberate throughout the standards-setting organizations, and their announcements concerning upcoming releases and new products have essentially sealed the market from other vendors.

Lotus

Since it purchased cc:Mail and introduced Notes, Lotus has experienced dramatic growth in the e-mail sector. The company will have nearly 6 million installed seats by the end of this year. Currently, Lotus is delivering cc:Mail and Notes separately, but they (along with other products) are linkable through a Lotus-built application-level API called VIM (vendor-independent messaging). Lotus recently announced a new, overall communications architecture known as LCS, or the Lotus Communication Server, which will provide back-end services for both Notes and cc:Mail clients. LCS will also provide gateways to other transports and access to other directories, message stores and third-party applications. In addition, Lotus recently finalized the purchase of SoftSwitch, a preeminent switch and X.400 developer.

Microsoft

Microsoft's e-mail product, Microsoft Mail, will cover more than 5 million seats by the end of this year. The product uses a system of shared network directories and separate executables for moving messages. Recognizing the limitations of this system and the need for an industrial-strength back end, Microsoft recently announced Microsoft Exchange (or Information Exchange), currently in beta. This product uses a Windows NT server-based database that will provide more than simple mail functions. Microsoft Exchange has been positioned as a messaging back end for heterogeneous environments, with links to multiple directories, transports and message stores. It will also serve as an "application database server'' and should be available later this year or in early 1995. Microsoft's own API, called MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface), gives third-party vendors access to Exchange and other Microsoft products. Early versions of Chicago supported rich text formats (.RTF), allowing users to edit their e-mail as a direct word processing document in the message body and send it without leaving mail or relying on file attachment mechanisms.

Novell and WordPerfect

Satisfied until recently to sit on the sidelines as the king of network operating systems, Novell had been involved only peripherally with e-mail. The company provides a primitive mailer with NetWare called FirstMail, as well as a LAN-to-LAN message transport, Message Handling Service (MHS). Novell also partially owned or supported other third-party mail programs, such as Da Vinci, ON Technology and Beyond. But the company entered the e-mail fray wholeheartedly several months ago with the purchase of WordPerfect. WordPerfect's suite of messaging applications, GroupWise (formerly called WordPerfect Office, then Symmetry), is a formidable contender in the market, with strong, group-enabled messaging, directory, calendar and gateway applications. Novell's Open Messaging Environment merges the WordPerfect and Novell messaging technologies.

Smaller Players

There are, of course, many other e-mail vendors, but even at the second tier there has been an enormous amount of reshuffling. For example, ON Technology, developers of Notework and Meeting Maker, purchased Da Vinci. Banyan bought Beyond. CE Software, the developers of Quickmail, a leading calendar/scheduler developer, purchased Powercore (Network Scheduler 3). And Lotus's purchase of SoftSwitch may portend further consolidation among interconnect and application vendors.


Coming Soon

The future of e-mail and messaging technologies is a bright one. Developments in wireless applications are continuing, and you can look forward to increasingly seamless remote access, as well as more sophisticated filters and rules-based technologies.

Exciting developments are likely to occur with e-mail agents--rules that can act on specific mail messages in a narrowly defined manner. Today, agents are fixed and cannot be changed once created. Over time, agents will, through interaction with users, be able to determine the habits of users and respond accordingly. This ability to learn and predict behavior is indicative of the intelligence you can expect from future agents.

Expanding e-mail networks will span the globe, with both wireline and wireless access. These networks will be linked through what is called the "universal message box'' for multiple media, like voice and fax. Security for networks like these is just now being addressed, with issues like public and private key encryption, digital signatures, and authentication and access controls being explored. The rapidly growing e-mail industry has so far let security issues lie dormant, but this will not be the case in the near future.


The Internet Connection

E-mail owes much of its growth to the increasing popularity of the Internet, which provides e-mail access to anyone who logs on. Although estimates of the number of Internet users vary widely (from 20 million to 40 million), it is clear that e-mail plays an important role among them, with surveys showing that most of those on the Internet make use of its e-mail features.

Contrary to popular belief, DOS and Windows users, not UNIX devotees, comprise the majority of those logging onto the Internet. DOS and Windows systems make up more than 50 percent of Internet hosts, according to Matrix Information and Directory Services, an Austin, Texas-based Internet market research group. About 20 percent of Internet users are Macintosh-based, according to Matrix, and about 15 percent are users of UNIX workstations.

New Standards

In addition to providing e-mail access to large numbers of users, the Internet is also leading to new developments in e-mail technology. Currently, the standard message format for the Internet is SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol). Based on RFCs (Request for Comments), SMTP is one of the oldest and simplest messaging protocols. It ships with every copy of UNIX and, because it is the sine qua non of Internet e-mail traffic, it is the largest message transport in the world.

However, SMTP was designed for an era when only brief message exchanges were utilized. Other communication activities were reserved for FTP (file-transfer protocol, sending files from one host to another), TELNET (logging into a remote site to copy, download or scan a file) and other Internet applications. The Internet community responded to the growth of e-mail by creating a new RFC called MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, RFC 1521). MIME lets you attach multimedia data to a simple SMTP message. Before MIME, all binary files had to be "uuencoded'' into the text portion of the message, and "decoded'' at the destination site. MIME resolves that by tagging the attachments so that they are recognized at the receiving site. MIME holds much promise, but has not been universally adopted by vendors.

Smarter Mail

Other efforts are under way in the Internet to make SMTP more "industrial strength,'' including Extended SMTP, and PEM (privacy enhanced mail). A major concern confronting the Internet is security, and PEM is meant to resolve that challenge.

Active Mail is a controversial development in Internet e-mail. It allows you to embed a routine or set of routines within the e-mail application. The routine instigates an activity, like a macro, at the destination site, as long as access and authentication controls have been cleared. Although the history of security problems on the Internet could give rise to controversy surrounding Active Mail, the technology holds promise for pushing the intelligence envelope of e-mail in general.


Get connected

E-MAIL

a la mode workgroup systems

800-252-6633, 405-359-3346

Banyan Systems

800-828-2404, 508-898-1000

CE Software Inc.

800-523-7638, 515-221-1801

ConnectSoft

800-234-9497, 206-827-6467

Digital Equipment

Corp. (DEC)

800-DIGITAL, 603-884-5111

FreeMail Inc.

406-586-4200, fax 406-549-7457

Image Machines Corp.

703-709-7475, fax 703-709-8966

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

ON Technology

800-767-6683, 617-374-1400

Reach Software Corp.

800-MAIL-FLO, 408-733-8685

SWFTE International Ltd.

800-237-9383, 302-234-1740

WordPerfect, the Novell

Applications Group

800-861-2507, 801-225-5000

REMOTEACCESS/CONTROL

AirSoft Inc.

800-708-4247, 408-777-7500

Avalan Technology Inc.

800-441-2281, 508-429-6482

Citrix Systems Inc.

800-437-7503, 305-755-0559

Digital Communications Associates Inc.

800-348-DCA1, 404-442-4000

Funk Software Inc.

800-828-4146, 617-497-6339

Microcom Inc.

800-822-8224, 617-551-1000

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Network - 1 Software and Technology

800-NETWRK1, 718-932-7599

Shiva Corp.

800-458-3550, 617-252-6300

Symantec Corp.

800-441-7234, 503-334-6054

Triton Technologies Inc.

800-322-9440, 908-855-9440

Xylogics Inc.

800-889-9229, 617-272-8140

MODEMS

ATI Technologies Inc.

905-882-2600, fax 905-882-2620

Best Data Products Inc.

800-632-2378, 818-773-9600

Boca Research Inc.

407-997-6227, fax 407-997-0918

Cardinal Technologies Inc.

717-293-3000, fax 717-293-3055

Digicom Systems Inc.

800-833-8900, 408-262-1277

GVC Technologies Inc.

800-289-4821, 201-579-3630

Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.

800-964-2937, 404-441-1617

Intel Corp.

800-538-3373, 408-765-8080

MediaMagic

800-624-8654, 512-339-3500

Megahertz Corp.

800-LAP-TOPS, 801-320-7000

Microcom Inc.

800-882-8224, 617-551-1000

Multi-Tech Systems Inc.

800-328-9717, 612-785-3500

New Media Corp.

800-453-0550, 714-453-0100

Practical Peripherals Inc.

800-442-4774, 805-497-4774

Prometheus Products Inc.

800-477-3473, 503-692-9600

Racal-Datacom

800-722-2555, 305-846-1601

Telebit Corp.

800-989-8888, 508-441-2181

US Robotics Inc.

800-USR-CORP, 708-982-5010

Zoom Telephonics Inc.

800-666-6191, 617-423-1072

ZyXEL USA

800-255-4101, 714-693-0808

Ron Rassner is vice president of consulting and market research at Creative Networks Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. He also chairs the LAN messaging committee for the Electronic Messaging Association. Reach him care of the Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder of the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Inside the New Scanners

Scanners

Is Slide Scanning in Your Future?

Overcoming Hand Scanner Limitations

Scanned Goods

Scanning the Market


Scanners

Faster, sharper color scanners at lower prices, tighter integration with Windows software, and some truly useful applications mean you really can "scan and deliver.''-

By: David D. Busch

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

That high-resolution scanner with the whiz-bang OCR software you've been thinking about buying is actually a really old dog that's been learning new tricks. The first scanned image was sent in 1863 over telegraph lines between Paris and Le Havre, France, but the originators had to wait 13 years for the invention of the telephone to see if their fax ever arrived.

Scanner technology made its most significant strides of this decade in the past year. As a result, for less than $1,000, you can now purchase a full-color scanner that boasts wicked-fast operation and more resolution than you can plausibly use in most business applications.

Today, with that $1,000 scanner, you can scan images directly into your favorite desktop publishing or presentation software. You can import hard copy into your word processor as text. And that's not all: Savvy users have even uncovered some new applications for this veteran piece of hardware, which we'll outline below.

HOW SCANNERS WORK

Scanners capture images one line at a time, using a charge-coupled device that stores patterns of charges sequentially. Flatbed scanners utilize a moving light bar that passes under the image you're scanning. Sheetfed scanners also use a light bar, but it remains stationary while the original is drawn past by rollers. Hand-held scanners substitute the movement of your arm for the traveling light bar.

The light is then reflected (or transmitted, in the case of slides) to a sensor array, which is made up of a tiny light-sensitive element for every pixel across the maximum width of the scan. The more sensors packed into the array, the higher the horizontal resolution and the better the scan.

The vertical resolution of a scan is determined by the size of the sensor--the smaller the better--and the distance traveled between each scan line. A scanner with a 600-sensor array that moves 1/1,200th of an inch between lines has an optical resolution of 600x1200 dots per inch (dpi).

Color scanners capture the individual red, green and blue components of a full-color image. Three-pass color scanners do so by making three separate passes with a different colored filter. One-pass scanners may have individual sensor arrays for each color, or they may use a single set of sensors with a light source that alternates among the three colors during a scan. The analog information captured optically is then converted to digital format, merged to form a single image, and sent on to your image-editing software through a proprietary interface or a SCSI port.

You might think one-pass scanners are faster than three-pass models, but this is not always the case. Neither type has a decisive edge in speed or image quality. Many other factors are involved, including resolution, and how quickly or accurately the device can capture and process an image. That means a well-designed three-pass unit can easily be faster and provide better scans than a low-end single-pass scanner.

Other than the need for a physical interface between the scanner and your computer (you'll need a free slot in many cases), there are no special hardware requirements for scanning. If your system comfortably runs Windows, you probably already have the graphics and RAM setup you'll need to scan.

WHY SCAN?

Scanners come in handy for a multitude of jobs. Here are eight ways you can cut costs, improve your output or work more efficiently with a scanner.

Scan line art for publication.

Even if you have a CD-ROM drive and discs with megabytes of clip art, you'll still want to capture logos, drawings and other artwork for your desktop publications.

Capture photographs for halftones and color separations.

Unless you're using an expensive, thermal dye sublimation printer, you can't print continuous tone images--black-and-white or color photographs--until they are broken up into patterns of dots called halftones. Color images must also be separated into their component primary colors, which are then output with separate sets of dyes or inks.

Once you've acquired a modicum of expertise in handling images, a scanner is an easy way to capture color or black-and-white prints so you can convert them, right on your desktop, to halftones or color separations.

Capture images for autotracing.

Vector-oriented drawing programs and CAD (computer-aided design) applications can't do much with bitmapped images. Instead, they require scalable outlines that can then be incorporated into illustrations, designs, custom-tailored fonts and so on. Once you've scanned line art like an architectural drawing, for example, it can be converted to a scalable outline using an autotracing program such as CorelTrace.

Low-resolution images for presentations and desktop publishing.

The images used in desktop presentations can be scanned at resolutions as low as 75 to 100 dpi. Low-resolution images are also used by publications for position only, to be replaced in the final output by conventional halftones, color separations or even higher-resolution scans.

Optical character recognition.

Whether it's a legal brief or a business letter, a document is a lot more manageable once it's captured with a scanner, converted into editable text using optical character recognition (OCR) software, indexed and stored on computer for rapid retrieval. OCR software also makes a great data compression tool. For example, a picture of a one-page fax stored on your hard disk can easily consume between 50KB and 150KB of space. Once it's been converted through OCR to an ASCII or word processing file, that same page will take 50 to 100 times less space.

Image 3-D objects.

You can actually capture images of some 3-D objects, particularly relatively flat items, with a scanner. With a little care, you can scan nuts and bolts, coins, product packaging, small mechanical components and many other objects for documentation or for use as background texture, for example.

Translate hard copy to a faxable format.

If you have a fax modem and a scanner, you don't need a dedicated fax machine. Images of any document you want to fax can be captured and pasted or imported into your fax software. At least one fax modem--the Intel SatisFAXtion line--has a built-in hand-scanner port. In a pinch, a scanner also makes a good photocopier. The "faxes'' you create can immediately be printed out in the same size or in a reduced or enlarged format.

Forms input.

Converting information entered on forms is a huge business. A scanner, along with specialized forms-reading OCR software, provides a practical alternative to error-prone key entry for translating piles of forms into orders, claims or databases. Some OCR programs can even recognize ordinary or constrained (carefully written) handwriting.

TRENDS IN SCANNING

Trends that affect scanners don't change too rapidly, at least by the standards of the computer industry. But low prices, tight software and hardware integration, the availability of higher resolutions and the resurgence of high-end desktop models are making their mark on the scanner market.

Color scanning.

Unless your budget is exceptionally tight, buy a color scanner. With mail-order prices ranging from $600 to $1,000, color flatbed scanners are firmly entrenched as the image-capture device of choice. In addition, some vendors offer features like transparency scanning, a legal-sized scanning bed, automatic document feeders or higher resolution only on their color models.

Low-cost color scanners threaten to make gray-scale models obsolete, or force prices down to a sub-$400 point that competes with hand scanners for the casual user's dollar.

There is a downside to color scanning. Color scanners can devour hard disk space with massive, multi-megabyte image files. An 8- by 10-inch photograph scanned in full color at 300 dpi can balloon to nearly 22MB before compression. Remember to scan in full color only when you need to. Use 256-color, gray-scale, or black-and-white scans when you can. Scan only the portion of an image you need, at a resolution adequate for the intended application.

Higher resolutions.

Scanners with resolutions between 400 and 600 dpi are becoming increasingly common. In addition, software interpolation allows many scanners to simulate resolutions up to 2400x2400 dpi.

Despite the hoopla about high resolutions, low-resolution scanning may be sufficient for most of your needs. Black-and-white or color photographs--continuous tone images--don't require more than 150 dpi, unless the final halftones will be output to a very high-resolution device like an imagesetter. The typical 300-to-600-dpi laser printer reproduces gray-scale images at only 53 to 100 dots (or lines) per inch, so the information generated by scanning an image at a high resolution is wasted.

There are only a few common applications in which you can actually use resolutions of 400 to 600 dpi or higher. If you want to enlarge a small portion of a photograph, you'll appreciate the ability to grab a section at a high resolution. Even in this case, there's a point of diminishing return--you can't avoid the graininess of the original film, even at 600 dpi . Line-art images benefit from higher resolutions because you can enlarge them without introducing "stair-stepping'' or "jaggies'' in diagonal lines.

Resolution is not the only criterion for choosing a scanner. For example, dynamic range can make a much more important contribution to final image quality. Dynamic range is made up of the number of different tones, from the purest whites to the deepest blacks, that still hold detail after scanning. This is measured from no density (0) to maximum density (4.0).

Black-and-white or color photographs have a limited dynamic range from 0 to about 2.3. Conventional scanners do a good job of capturing that type of image. Color transparencies can include a much broader range of tones and probably require a high-end scanner with a broad dynamic range like those described below.

High-end desktop scanners.

Even as scanners become less expensive at the low end, the $3,000-plus desktop scanner is making a dramatic return in the form of 30- to 32-bit color models like the UMAX PowerLook and Microtek Lab ScanMaker III. Are any of these brutes worth the extra bucks?

Both the UMAX and Microtek offerings claim true resolutions of 600 to 1200 dpi and accurately capture a broader range of colors. All scanners lose some information when the analog data is converted to digital format. However, a 30- or 32-bit color scanner has bits to burn and can create a true 24-bit color image.

Professionals who routinely rely on drum scanners can easily justify a flatbed scanner of this type. Even at $3,500, they cost a fraction of what you'd pay for a high-end drum device.

Tighter integration of hardware and software. Early scanners used proprietary interface boards and required special, memory-hungry drivers. Most current scanners connect to your computer using the same SCSI card that drives your internal hard disk or a CD-ROM drive.

Not only has peace been declared among hardware components, but scanning and imaging software have also been more tightly integrated, thanks to TWAIN, a common set of driver protocols that can interface your Windows software with a broader range of applications.

Up until a few years ago, software developers had to write their own routines to access each scanner's features. A given image editing or OCR package might support only a few of the most popular scanners and was sure to lag behind as new models were introduced. To deal with the problem, scanner vendors were forced to provide dedicated scanning applications or bundle special "lite'' editions of third-party image editors with their hardware.

TWAIN provides a common (although still-evolving) interface that couples any TWAIN-compliant software with any scanner offering a TWAIN driver. As a result, you'll have little trouble scanning directly into diverse applications, even if your scanner is the newest product on the market. There's one problem, however. Individual application developers often provided better, more powerful scanner interfaces than those available from the hardware manufacturer. If your scanner's TWAIN driver makes it difficult to adjust resolution, crop a prescan, or select an output format, you're stuck, unless an alternative driver like Corel's TWAIN Source is compatible with your scanner.

Some TWAIN drivers, like the MagicScan provided with the UMAX PowerLook, are sensational. Others are less than stellar. TWAIN has simultaneously expanded your software choices while limiting your interface options.

Scanners have quietly become one of the most popular Windows add-ons since the laser printer. With a relatively small investment, and a little experience, you'll no longer be at a loss for words--or images.

David D. Busch is the author of PC F/X: Tools and Techniques for Creating Outrageous Graphics, and 45 other books, including The Complete Scanner Toolkit and The Hand Scanner Handbook. Contact him care of the Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Is Slide Scanning in Your Future?

Transparency scanning--once the exclusive province of high-end drum scanners--is becoming an important tool for the desktop publisher and individual graphic artist. Virtually all the leading color scanners can be fitted with a slide-scanning attachment. This is important because slides may be your lowest-cost and most faithful medium for originating color images. Professional photographers favor color slides for those very reasons.

A roll of color slide film and processing are generally less expensive than the equivalent number of exposures and high-quality, custom printing of color negative film. As a bonus, your images aren't subject to the vagaries of automated or manual printing. A transparency is the closest thing to "what you see is what you get'' in conventional photography.

Dedicated slide scanners, like the Nikon CoolScan, fit an internal drive bay or act as a standalone external unit. These tools simplify slide scanning--you just insert a slide into a carrier and pop it into the slide scanner's slot. Many flatbed scanners also have slide attachments. Some, like the Sharp JX-325, include a second set of sensors specifically for slide scanning. Others, such as the UMAX PowerLook, incorporate an additional light source into the slide attachment to backlight the transparencies for capture by the flatbed's original sensor array.

In selecting a slide scanner or attachment, your key considerations will be resolution, color fidelity and scanning area--probably in that order. Since 35-millimeter slides measure only 24 by 36mm (roughly 1 by 1.5 inches), you'll want relatively high, true optical resolutions to capture all the detail they can contain. You'll find 600 to 800 dots per inch will be sufficient for images used in desktop presentations. Higher resolutions don't give you much detail you can use, and they generate huge image files.

If you have a strong stomach and a stout heart and intend to scan transparencies for reproduction, you'll want a generous dynamic range to pull information out of inky shadows and luminous highlights. Couple that with accurate color and some calibration and proofing tools so you can match what you see with what you're going to get on the press.

Keep in mind that some transparency attachments for flatbed scanners narrow their scanning area as resolution increases. An 8.5- by 14-inch scanner may not be able to handle 120-format (2.25-inch-wide) transparencies or 4-by-5 transparencies at the highest resolutions.


Overcoming Hand Scanner Limitations

Hand scanners are the mountain bikes of the scanner world. Fast, compact (like a slightly overgrown mouse) and flexible, you can use them to do the same jobs as a flatbed scanner, and then some. For example, some hand scanners can be attached to a laptop computer through a parallel port, so portable scanning--say, of reference works in a research library--becomes practical. Gray-scale models are priced at $150 to $250, while color units cost approximately $100 to $150 more.

A hand scanner's swath is generally limited to 4 to 5 inches, but the accompanying software can easily stitch together several scans from large originals to meld them into a seamless image. You may actually find it easier to scan an 11- by 17-inch original with a hand scanner than with a flatbed that uses an 8.5- by 11-inch platen.

Indeed, many of the limitations of hand scanners can easily be overcome if you know a few tricks like these:

1. Watch alignment. While some scanning software has a de-skewing feature to straighten out errant scans, you're better off hand scanning on a straight and narrow path with one of the tray-like devices available, or even with a homemade tool that can be assembled from a few wood blocks glued to a clipboard.

2. Scan with the grain of large images that have strong vertical or horizontal lines. You'll get better combined images if the seams fall on or between one of these lines when multiple passes are stitched together.

3. Some gray-scale scanners use color LEDs, which are usually red or yellow-green. If that's the case with your scanner, keep the hue of the light source in mind when you scan color originals. Red LEDs, for example, can't see red. That means skin tones, particularly ruddy cheeks and rosy lips, are portrayed much lighter in gray-scale scans, and greens are portrayed correspondingly darker. You can use this effect to drop out stains and unwanted colors, or to accentuate other tones.

4. Some hand scanners have a halftone setting that produces a dithered image. Use this only if the image you're scanning is the same size that will appear in your publication, and if you don't plan to retouch the image with an editor like Photoshop or PhotoStyler. Once an image has been halftoned, you can't easily change its size or make any other corrections.

5. Concentrate on the strengths of your hand scanner. Explore portable scanning with a laptop computer and hand scanner with a parallel port interface. Take advantage of the hand scanner's zero footprint and instant setup time by keeping one connected and available for spur-of-the-moment scanning of articles, pictures and other material. A hand scanner can capture books or flat surfaces of objects that are too large or bulky to fit on the platen of a flatbed scanner.


Scanned Goods

Scanned images can be broken down into three broad categories--Line art, gray-scale and color images

LINE ART

These monocrome images, usually black-and -white , or black and another color on a white background, are composed of lines or dots. Pen-and -ink drawings logos, signatures, architectural drawings and many other images can be successfully scanned and reused (copyright restrictions permitting, of course). A scanner represents a bilevel line-art image as a stream of 1-bit pixels that are either on or off. The threshold, or brightness level a given pixel is assigned, can often be adjusted.

GRAY SCALE

A black-and -white photograph is the most familiar type of gray scale inage. Other types of originals, such as charcoal or pencil drawings, can also be captured in gray scale mode. The scanner assigns 8 bits to each pixel of an image, providing up to 256 different levels of gray that your eye can see as a continuous tone image with a smooth progression from the darkest black to the whitest white.

COLOR

A full color photograph is another type of continuous tone image. Color images, however, usually have 8 bits available to represent 256 different shades each of red, green and blue which gives you up to 16.7 million different colors. You'll never need that many individual hues. For example, if each pixel on a 640x480 screen were assigned a unique color, a 307,200-color palette would suffice. The availability of that many shades means that the subset of colors in your image has the right tones to re-create the scene accurately.


Scanning the Market

COLOR FULL-PAGE SCANNERS

Agfa Graphic Systems

800-685-4271, 508-658-5600

AVR Technology Inc.

800-544-6243, 408-434-1115

Canon Computer Systems Inc.

800-848-4123, 714-438-3000

Envisions Solutions Technology Inc.

800-365-7226, 415-692-9061

Epson America Inc.

800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770

Fujitsu Computer Products of America

800-626-4686, 408-432-6333

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900, 408-246-4300

IBM Corp.

800-772-2227, 914-765-1900

Microtek Lab Inc.

800-654-4160, 310-297-5000

Mustek Inc.

800-468-7835, 714-453-0110

Nikon Electronic Imaging

800-52-NIKON, 516-547-4355

Niscan Inc.

800-466-9096, 214-242-9696

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

800-742-8086, 201-348-7000

PlusTek USA Inc.

800-685-8088, 408-745-7111

Recognita Corp. of America

800-255-4627, 408-241-5772

Relisys

800-945-0900, 408-945-3113

Sharp Electronics Corp.

800-BE-SHARP, 201-529-9593

Tamarack Technologies Inc.

800-643-0666, 408-956-0144

UMAX Technologies Inc.

800-562-0311, 510-651-8883

Xerox Imaging Systems Inc.

800-248-6550, 508-977-2000

SLIDE SCANNERS

Nikon Electronic Imaging

800-52-NIKON, 516-547-4355

Polaroid Corp.

800-816-2611 x971, 617-386-3591

HAND SCANNERS

Envisions Solutions Technology Inc.

800-365-7226, 415-692-9061

Howtek Inc.

800-444-6983, 603-882-5200

Logitech Inc.

800-231-7717, 510-795-8500

Mouse Systems Corp.

510-656-1117, fax 510-656-4409

Mustek Inc.

800-468-7835, 714-453-0110

Visioneer

800-787-7007, 415-812-6400


How to Buy a 15- or 17-Inch Monitor

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

So you've outgrown your 14-inch monitor, and you're ready for a display that gives you more workspace. Is a 15-inch unit big enough, or does your work demand a 17-inch model? This month's Pullout helps you see the situation clearly.

FIRST CHOICES

1. 15-inch or 17-inch?

Consider the kinds of applications you use, the amount of money you're willing (or able) to spend, and available desk space when deciding between a 15- and a 17-inch monitor.

If you spend most of your time working at resolutions no higher than 800x600, a 15-inch monitor should provide you with enough room for applications such as word processing and database entry.

You're probably better off with a 17-inch monitor if you work at resolutions of 1024x768 and higher. A monitor of this size also offers advantages at lower resolutions--the extra screen real estate gives you more room to work with multiple windows, applications minimized to icons and large spreadsheets. If you use desktop publishing, graphics or CAD applications, a top-of-the-line 17-inch model offers a viable alternative to a 21-inch model.

Bigger displays come in bigger boxes, so make sure you've got the desk space to accommodate the size you choose.

Another point to remember: While a monitor may be labeled a 15- or 17-inch unit, the actual image size may be an inch or two smaller.

2. Refresh Rates/Dot Pitch

Make sure the monitor you buy supports the same refresh rates as your video card. Also make sure that the refresh rates supported by the monitor are high enough, since a low refresh rate can cause eyestrain. The recommended refresh rate is 72Hz or higher; less than 70Hz will result in obvious flicker.

If your video card supports DPMS (Device Power Management Standard), look for a DPMS-compliant monitor. When paired, the two will power down after a period of inactivity. Most monitors that meet the EPA's Energy Star guidelines are DPMS-compliant.

A monitor's dot pitch is also an important consideration--the smaller the dot pitch, the sharper the image. Your monitor should have a dot pitch no higher than 0.28 millimeters for typical text work. If your work is graphics-intensive, consider a dot pitch of 0.26mm.

3. WYSIWYG

If possible, don't buy a monitor sight unseen. Find a store where you can test and compare a number of models. Check for margins of black around the screen edges. Ideally, the image should fill the screen from top to bottom and left to right, and should be adjustable. Also keep an eye out for bowed and pinched edges--see if you can fix the problem by using the pincushion or barrel controls. Check for color distortion and poor convergence on the edges of the screen, and see if controls improve what you see. Depicted below are examples of common screen distortions.

TERMS TO KNOW

COLOR CONVERGENCE: Alignment of the three electron beams in the CRT that generate the three primary screen colors--red, green and blue--used to form images on-screen. In a misconverged image, edges will have color fringes (for example, a white area might have a blue fringe on one side).

COLOR TEMPERATURE: A way of measuring color accuracy. Adjusting a monitor's color-temperature control, for example, may change a bluish white to a whiter white.

DOT PITCH: The distance between two phosphor dots of the same color on the screen.

INTERLACED: An interlaced monitor scans the odd lines of an image first, followed by the even lines. This scanning method does not successfully eliminate flicker on computer screens.

NONINTERLACED: A noninterlaced monitor scans the lines of an image sequentially, from top to bottom. This method provides less visible flicker than interlaced scanning.

On-screen Controls: On-screen controls let you change settings as you would program a VCR--visual feedback is provided on-screen as you push certain buttons.

Presets: Many monitors offer control presets that enable you to switch between different resolutions and color depths. The number of custom settings varies from monitor to monitor, and ranges from around 4 to 28 settings.

REFRESH RATE: The rate in hertz, or cycles per second, at which the monitor updates the image on-screen.

RESOLUTION: The number of pixels, horizontally and vertically, that make up a screen image. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the image.


First Impressions: Quattro Pro 6.0-Perfect Spreadsheet

By: Christopher O'Malley

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Quattro Pro has always blazed its own trails. Previous editions have sought to redefine the way we look at numbers, with such innovations as Spreadsheet Notebooks and Object Inspectors. Quattro Pro 6.0 seeks not so much to stand out as to fit in--with a new office suite, other applications and an increasingly networked world.

Indeed, Quattro Pro 6.0 strives to fit in "perfectly'' with the PerfectOffice suite from the combined forces of Novell and WordPerfect. For starters, that means conforming to the interface and file-handling manners of the other suite programs. It also means sharing data more fluidly, both with disparate programs and distant people. Novell, after all, is nothing if not a proponent of good connections.

To its credit, Quattro Pro 6.0 manages to make this transition without sacrificing any of the power and personality that made it arguably the best Windows spreadsheet going and--with an upgrade price less than $100--certainly the best value. Anyone expecting a crush of substantial new features, however, will be disappointed. The beta version of Quattro Pro that I tested has been enhanced in a number of important ways, but there are few major changes to the program's basics.

That's not necessarily bad news. Quattro Pro's fundamentals are not only solid in the analytical and graphical departments, but also very approachable. The embodiment of this combination of form and function, and Quattro Pro's signature feature, is its Spreadsheet Notebooks. Unlike the flat model of old, Quattro Pro organizes spreadsheets into stacks of worksheets, or notebooks, separated by visible tabs. Each notebook can contain up to 256 worksheets, or pages, plus an "objects'' page that contains icons representing graphs, slide shows or custom dialog boxes.

Aside from being elegant organizing devices, Quattro Pro's notebooks are a crafty method of introducing the power of 3-D spreadsheets--or more precisely, forcing you to use that power--without the usual conceptual barriers. Notebooks make it a snap to enter the same data into several worksheets simultaneously, for example, or to apply the same formatting. The notebook arrangement also makes it less vexing to distribute and consolidate spreadsheets.

Happily, version 6.0 doesn't make any major alterations to this finely tailored suit of clothes; it stitches up a few loose threads. You can now simply double-click on the notebook tabs to change their names, a process that previously required several steps. You also can move notebook pages by dragging and dropping the tabs and copy pages in similar fashion when pressing the Ctrl key. In addition, worksheet pages now can contain arrows, boxes, clip art and other drawn objects.

Paging through a notebook, particularly one with many active worksheets, is a little easier with the addition of VCR-style controls. Recalling a notebook is faster, too, because the last five notebook files you worked with now appear on the File menu.

Quattro Pro 6.0 gives you added flexibility in formatting and editing the cells within these pages, too. Text inside cells will now word-wrap, for example, and you even can align text vertically. Both of these features could be helpful for reports, invoices and special forms. You can double-click on any cell to create or edit a formula, rather than using a separate edit line.

But easily the most intriguing new cell-editing tool, and one of Quattro Pro's few major additions, is a feature dubbed the Formula Composer. Basically, it's a special window that allows you to visually create, edit and debug a worksheet formula. Within this window, there are multiple "panes'' or views of the formula in question: an @ function pane showing the formula as it's normally written, a formula outline pane showing the structure of the formula and, in some cases, a calculator pane for performing calculations inside a formula.

It's the outline view of formulas that sets the Formula Composer apart. While we don't normally think of mathematical expressions in outline terms--and the concept definitely takes some getting used to--the hierarchical approach does make it easier to dissect and understand the flow of a formula. The outline works much like Windows' File Manager, expanding and collapsing to show multiple levels that each represent a different piece of the formula, or subexpression. A red question mark appears next to a subexpression that's incomplete or uses incorrect syntax, and an editing field is continually updated as you move through the outline.

As you might expect, the visual and methodical nature of the Formula Composer makes it ideal for working with complex formulas. Less obvious is the fact that the Formula Composer is actually a valuable learning aid for spreadsheet novices unaccustomed to burrowing into the depths of a worksheet. Unfortunately, Novell does little to play up this aspect of the feature.

Quattro Pro has, however, strengthened its staff of on-line assistants in 6.0. Its interactive Coaches and Experts both demonstrate features by actually letting you use them with your data. Coaches, as the name implies, nudge you along the chosen process. Experts automate the task by largely doing it for you. Budgeting, what-if and bullet chart routines have been added to the Experts list, which also includes help with graphing, analysis and consolidation.

Quattro's top-notch graphics features have been made a little easier for stick-figure artists--mainly by removing some of the decisions you'd otherwise have to make to prepare a presentation. You now can apply what Quattro Pro calls a Graph Gallery--a preformatted graph type and background--to an entire slide show, for example. And there's even an on-line "advisor'' that can offer suggestions on an appropriate style and color set based on the type of presentation you tell it you want.

Most of the other ease-of-use improvements are relatively minor tweakings. The changes are mainly in the form of redrawn icons and reshuffled menus, along with some new WordPerfect-ly correct terminology. Quattro Pro's SpeedBar is now called the Toolbar, for example, and it has different icons. There's also a Property Bar just beneath the Toolbar with pull-down menus full of data formatting options, such as fonts and numeric formats.

Minor as they are, these adjustments are likely to prove a blessing for some and a curse for others. PerfectOffice users will no doubt admire the consistency between applications, but those who use Quattro Pro separately likely will wish they'd left well enough alone.

Quattro Pro 6.0's support for OLE 2.0 should be welcomed by all. The program can act as the client or the server in an OLE exchange, letting you focus more on your work and less on where the data comes from. With 6.0, for example, you can edit WordPerfect files from within Quattro, or edit Quattro worksheets from WordPerfect. Drag-and-drop editing is also supported.

If you're ambitious (and technically adept) enough, you can further integrate your Windows programs with the interapplication scripting API in OLE 2.0. Quattro Pro 6.0 supports this feature, raising the possibility of manipulating other applications from within Quattro.

Quattro Pro is considerably better connected than before, too. All the features of Quattro Pro's Workgroup Edition, which previously sold separately for $495, have been folded into Quattro Pro 6.0. These connectivity features include the Workgroup Desktop for sharing spreadsheets over a network or public e-mail system, and SQL database server support.

Version 6.0 adds direct support for the MAPI e-mail protocol. It also now supports GroupWise, the e-mail and scheduling office automation software from WordPerfect. When Quattro Pro detects an active GroupWise or MAPI driver, it will automatically produce a Send File option on its File menu. If both are present, you're given a choice between the two, and the proper address book is summoned.

This version also replaces Quattro Pro's @DDE_LINK function with a new @TABLE_LINK function. Both enable you to establish a real-time link to dBASE or Paradox databases, either within your PC or across a network. Although I was unable to test this feature with the beta software, Novell claims the new function is much faster and more reliable.

Quattro Pro 6.0 can read the .WB1 files of previous versions, but earlier versions can't read version 6.0's new .WB2 file format. You can save 6.0 spreadsheets in the older format, however.

Even without a lengthy roster of new talents, Quattro Pro 6.0 is an impressive collection of spreadsheet power and showmanship that's complemented now by some of the best linking features to be found. With a suite to call home, and a low upgrade price, Quattro Pro may be even more inviting now for Excel and 1-2-3 users.

Quattro Pro 6.0

Price: $395; upgrade, $49.95; competitive upgrade,.$99.95

In Brief: This new version is really more a refinement of a good thing than an overhaul; it now offers better connections with other apps via network and OLE links, as well as a tidier fit inot the PerfectOffice suite.

WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000


First Impressions: Alpha Five-New Life for Old DOS Database

By: Rich Castagna

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

A beta of an Alpha. No, this isn't a lesson in the Greek alphabet--it's the preproduction version of Alpha Software's first Windows database management program.

Until now, the company offered only Alpha Four, a DOS database program that achieved near cult status as a populist dBASE. Alpha Five is more than just a digit better than its predecessor; it's also a full Windows implementation of the application. While it retains much of Four's signature ease of use, it's not a mere porting of the DOS product to Windows.

Alpha Five has something of a split personality. At times, it has the end-user friendliness of Approach, with amenities such as bubble help, although it lacks some of Approach's conveniences. And at other times, it bears a stronger resemblance to Access with its property-sheetlike displays at almost every turn.

At startup, you see the Control Panel, a tabbed dialog box that's similar to the central activity controllers in other database programs. The four tabs--Views, Tools, Database and Apps--provide access to virtually all of Alpha Five's features.

The Views tab has buttons for creating or modifying forms, browse screens, reports, labels, letters, queries, summaries and crosstabs. A click on the Tools tab brings up a dialog box for accessing database maintenance operations, such as appending records, copying a database, exporting or importing data, creating joins between related files and packing a database to remove records marked for deletion. You can set up a posting procedure in which a database file is updated based on transactions from another database, and make field value changes to a group of records in a single operation.

With the Database tab, you can create a data file, rename it, alter its record format or even erase it. You also can alter the record structure of a database, copy the structure to another file or use Zap to delete all the records while leaving the structure intact. From the same dialog, you can set validation rules for data entry, too. The Apps tab lets you combine data files, forms, reports and so forth to create applications. You also can access an editor to write scripts in Alpha Five's Xbasic language, and convert files from the Alpha Four format.

Creating a database involves little more than filling in a spreadsheet with field names, types and lengths. It's further simplified by pull-down lists that make describing fields a point-and-shoot exercise. Alpha Five, like Four before it, uses the .DBF file format.

The next step in building a database application is to design screen forms for data entry, editing and querying. Alpha Five makes good use of the graphical environment with an object-oriented screen painter, featuring a floating toolbar and one-click access to the tools that control the properties of screen objects.

You start designing a screen based on a default form, which is a simple arrangement of the database fields. When you right-click on a selected object, the Object Properties dialog opens. The Object Properties dialog varies slightly depending on the type of object that is selected, but you can adjust characteristics such as font style and color, borders and fills, and object alignment.

The forms designer has all the tools you're apt to need, but getting to them--or using them--can be a bit awkward at times. For example, if you want to change the font used for all fields, you can't select all of these objects with a simple menu pick. You either have to Shift-click each one individually or drag a box around all of the objects to select them. There's no format painter, so you can't dip into one field to copy its formatting onto another.

Other shortcomings make design more time consuming that it should be. As you change the characteristics of an object, you can't see the total effect of all your changes. The preview boxes show only the single format change you're applying, not the cumulative effect of all modifications. And, unlike Approach, Alpha Five requires you to close the Object Properties dialog box to see the changes on the form.

Setting the tab order on a form is also awkward. To set the sequence, you click on each field in the desired order. If you goof, you have to start all over again at square--or field--one.

When it comes to making sure that the data finally getting into a database is the right data, Alpha Five overshadows its competitors with a sophisticated data entry and validation process.

You can mark fields as required so that they must be filled in before the record can be saved. Fields can even be designated to require double entry so the user has to type information twice to make sure it's correct. Double entry can be set to kick in only under certain conditions or every time the field is filled.

Fields can be designated as unique, so the database is checked to make sure a duplicate entry doesn't exist. Cross-file validation, a type of lookup where another database is scanned for the entered value before accepting it in the current database, also is supported.

Alpha Five also can ensure uniformity and speedy data entry. The Transforms feature automatically adjusts the case of an entry. So you can type all lowercase, and have it stored as all upper or with the first letter of each word capitalized. You can create a list of exceptions so that acronyms, for example, don't get switched from all uppercase to another format. A time-saving feature, the Speed Typing Glossary, lets you set a sequence of one or more characters that will recall a word or phrase to fill a field.

The program's report writer uses a similar graphical approach as the forms designer. Help is provided by the Quick Report dialogs that step you through assembling a report. It's more than just a tutorial because you work with real files as you pick the fields to include and arrange them. Quick Report provides enough help to make it easy to add the finishing touches to a report, such as titles, page numbers and dates.

After walking through the initial design steps, the next screen displays the report format. It is essentially a banded report writer with dialogs that pop up with a right-click, enabling you to adjust layout properties. There's a print preview, but it's just as easy to run the report on some test data and see the real thing.

In addition to a report writer, Alpha Five has a built-in word processor so you don't have to leave the program to create a letter that is to merge with database field data. There's also a facility for labels. The program offers a selection of standard label sizes, or you can define your own if you prefer.

Alpha Five's import and export facilities curiously lack support for other database formats. You can import or export data to ASCII, .RTF; Excel 3.0 and 4.0; Lotus 1-2-3 .WKS, .WK1 and .WK3; and Symphony file formats. While the selection of formats leans decidedly to spreadsheets, the facility for mapping import and export files is easy to use. You can select the individual fields that you want to move in or out, adjust the format to accommodate the new data and indicate whether or not to include field names.

Alpha Five might still have a few rough edges to smooth out, but for a first-time Windows effort, it's impressive. Hundreds of thousands of Alpha Four users can now carry their applications into the graphical world. But the program is certain to catch the eyes of new users, too, and just may cause Approach and Access to look over their shoulders.

Alpha Five

Price: Expected to be $100-$150

In Brief: The first Windows version of the popular database program still uses the dBASE file format, but bears little resemblance to its DOS ancestors.

Alpha Software

800-799-6877, 617-229-2924


First Impressions: Presentations 3.0-Presentations Without Pain

By: Lynn Ginsburg

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

You'll be productive before you know it with Presentations 3.0. From the opening screen, the program sets you on a simple and straightforward path to completing your presentation.

With new Show Experts and Coaches, WordPerfect Presentations streamlines the process of creating a presentation, even suggesting tips and theories about pitching your presentation. While it may lack some of the power and precision-control features that graphics mavens prefer, it's ideal for those who wish to steer clear of the clutter of choices and just get their work done.

Presentations 3.0 is a standalone product, but it also fits into the new PerfectOffice suite of applications that includes WordPerfect's flagship word processor, Quattro Pro and other programs. The products share resources, such as the spell checker, thesaurus and so forth, and have a common screen interface.

Still, presentation software can be a different breed with its own specialized tools. Luckily, Presentations 3.0 helps overcome the differences with its Show Experts and Coaches. When you start up Presentations, you can choose Show Experts right away and get a helping hand to guide you through the entire process. Presentations' Show Experts are versatile, too, and can help you create a variety of presentations for a variety of audiences.

You're first asked to choose a slide from a gallery of styles and designs. Next, you choose a slide type, including backgrounds, titles and charts. The Show Expert then asks you to state your intentions: Do you want to persuade, inform or teach? Is the slide show for a special occasion?

Once you've defined your goal, the Show Expert leads you through some techniques. For instance, if you want to persuade, you can inform the program that your audience will be doubtful, negative, neutral or positive. Based on this information, the Show Expert will set up a strategy. If you're up against a negative crowd that is inclined to disbelieve, the Show Expert directs you through a step-by-step outline for turning them into believers. By the time you fill in each of the steps in the outline, you'll have a completed presentation.

The Show Expert doesn't leave you a moment to hem and haw about where to begin a presentation or how to order your thoughts. So if your boss asks you to whip up a last-minute presentation with impossible time limitations, let the Show Expert do the work. The program's Coaches weren't working yet in my beta version of the software. But WordPerfect said they will complement the Show Experts with help for completing specific tasks, such as creating data charts, slide transitions and layouts.

The presentations you create using the Show Expert are somewhat rudimentary, without the bells and whistles that most presentation packages offer. But with your basic completed product in hand, you can return to more complex menu choices and select the appropriate amenities to add a little pizzazz to your production. If you want to add a chart, Presentations offers a choice including bullet lists, and data and organizational charts. A wide variety of data charts is available, including area, bar, line, mixed, pie, radar, scatter, surface and table. All of the data charts can be rendered in 2-D or 3-D perspectives. You can edit data or bullet charts directly in your slide or drawing. The organizational chart feature is especially impressive. It offers predefined formats as templates that you can edit and rearrange to suit your needs.

The paint module is a step above the usual add-in bitmap tools, with some fun-to-use features that can easily jazz up a presentation. For instance, you can assign attributes such as graduated fills and hatching patterns to the paint can or brush tool to color or texturize objects and backgrounds. You can easily add special effects to graphics such as blur, emboss, mosaic, rain, saturation and wind. With just a click, QuickWarp takes a graphic or text and bends it to one of many predefined shapes. Quick 3-D bends an object or text to one of several predefined 3-D perspectives and angles, or you can specify your own 3-D controls along the x, y and z axes. You also can add some not-so-original art by snipping a few pictures from the QuickArt clip art gallery. The program offers good color-mode support, including RGB, HCS and CMYK. For pixel-by-pixel editing, there's a bitmap editor. Presentations also includes some limited vector drawing tools, including editable Bezier curves.

To grab your audience's attention, you can use eye-catching slide transitions, including wipe, spots, blinds, jigsaw, snake, diagonal and overwrite. You also can add cascading bullets to make sure nobody reads ahead of you. Presentations offers good sound support, with the ability to import digital, MIDI and CD sound tracks, with audio controls for each format. The product also ships with more than 100 MIDI files. For adding images to your show, Presentations offers TWAIN support, which allows you to scan images directly into the program.

If speaking in front of an audience makes you lose your cool, Presentations lets you easily generate speaker's notes to accompany your slides. The notes can include thumbnail sketches of the corresponding slides. And you can be ready to respond to questions with Go To keys that branch to nonsequential slides in your presentation. The entire show can be edited using the slide list, which shows slide titles, advances, transitions, speaker notes, sound, controls and templates that are associated with each slide. You can edit each of these elements by clicking on the right mouse button. Presentations will produce a runtime version of your presentation so it can be distributed and viewed, regardless of whether the full program is installed.

While Presentations certainly bends over backward to make creating a presentation painless, it does sacrifice some of the sophisticated features that are often found in other multimedia presentation programs. For example, you still need a more powerful paint or drawing package if you want to include more complex graphics in your presentation. Similarly, Presentations simply does not offer the power or control to juggle extensive multimedia elements.

But what may be a limitation to some power users can be a blessing for the average business user. Presentations is particularly suitable for business people whose knowledge of graphic arts may be limited, but who are nonetheless expected to create presentations with a professional look. This program will help you get the job done.

Presentations 3.0

Price: $495; upgrade, $89; competitive upgrade, $109

In Brief: Creating a presen-tation is easy with new Show Experts and Coaches that guide you to a completed presentation.

WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000


First Impressions: Picture Publisher 5.0-Snappy Shots from Image App.

By: James Bell

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Don't let that first look fool you. Picture Publisher 5.0 isn't just another pretty interface. The popular image-editing program earned a reputation for its friendliness, and the latest release--which adds some sophisticated features--doesn't tarnish that reputation.

Those familiar with earlier versions of the program should feel at home with Picture Publisher 5.0 (which I looked at in beta). Despite substantial internal renovations, Micrografx has left the interface essentially intact. It's a workspace where you can edit multiple images using a floating toolbox and a ribbon bar that displays the options for whichever tool is selected. But Micrografx's tinkering under the hood shows up in 5.0's performance, particularly when editing 1-bit black-and-white images.

Convenience features abound in Picture Publisher 5.0, making it a good choice for novice or casual users who don't want to climb a steep learning curve. Help is provided with hint balloons that describe each tool icon--except for the flyaway selections in the toolbox, where some assistance would have been especially beneficial. The ribbon bar makes it easy to find and adjust tool options without having to navigate through a veritable maze of menus. And you can right-click in most situations to get a pop-up menu that lists common editing commands.

Picture Publisher 5.0 fully implements OLE 2.0, so you are able to drag and drop images between windows and applications. You can also use in-place editing to alter images created with Picture Publisher from within other OLE 2.0-compliant applications.

The program even makes managing files easier, with a complete cataloging system integrated with the Open, Save and Import file options. You can get file details, preview thumbnails of images and group graphics in "albums'' that can span a single directory or multiple directories. In addition to the program's native .PP5 file type, support is provided for common bitmapped formats, including TIFF, Targa, .GIF, .BMP, .DIB, .PCX, .EPS, JPEG, .DCS, .AVI and Scitex CT.

But Picture Publisher isn't just for neophytes. For every user-friendly function, it has a power user shortcut. For example, a button on the ribbon bar lets you easily control defaults for tool options. You can customize the layout of your workspace, and create multiple custom toolboxes with icons that represent regular tools, menu choices and even macros.

The real power is in the program's editing tools. It has all the basic capabilities you'd expect in a high-end image-editing package. You can mirror, rotate and resize images; globally adjust contrast, brightness and color settings; change resolution; and convert between HSL, RGB and CMYK color models. You also can edit with paint tools, including brushes that can mimic natural media such as crayons, markers and watercolors. Images can be touched up with clone and smudge tools, and you can add text to pictures, too.

Picture Publisher includes one of the most extensive collections of masking tools available. The basic rectangular, oval, freehand and SmartMask (magic wand) tools are supplemented by a paintbrush mask that lets you "paint'' the selected area; an auto mask that identifies area boundaries; and--new in 5.0--a chroma mask for selecting color ranges. Also added in this version is the ability to import AI, .CDR, .CGM, .WMF and .DRW vector files (but not Designer's new .DS4 format). You can use AI graphics as masks using the Load Image option, and the program supports node and Bezier curve-editing for masks.

An EffectsBrowser dialog box lets you quickly preview and experiment with over 40 special-effects filters that are included with the package. The filters are grouped into five basic types: artistic (such as oil painting and pop art); color adjustments (posterize, threshold, etc.); distortion (Gaussian blur, add noise, etc.); photographic (remove pattern and unsharp mask); texture (such as crystallize and stucco); and three dimensional (punch, sphere and others). Two new filters--Despeckle and User Definable--are now included, and third-party filter packs such as Kai's Power Tools and Aldus's Gallery Effects are automatically recognized by Picture Publisher.

With its pre-5.0 release, Picture Publisher jumped ahead of its principal competitors, such as Adobe Photoshop and Aldus PhotoStyler, with an object-layering technology that allowed pasted bitmapped objects to "float'' on discrete layers above a background image. The 5.0 version expands on the object layering features with new options to align, lock and combine layers.

Picture Publisher also pioneered ways to reduce the difficulties associated with working with multimegabyte images. When opening image files, you have the option to retrieve the entire file or to select just a portion to open. Changes made to the section can be saved back to the original file. The program also lets you open a low-resolution rendering of a file for experimentation. Changes made to the low-resolution version can be saved as a macro and then applied to the original file.

The most interesting new feature I found is the program's ability to generate command lists. Command lists are ASCII text files that chronologically show all the commands you've issued during an editing session. You can delete, reorder and edit the list, and the program will automatically regenerate the current image, based on the revised commands. You also can save portions of command lists as macros. Micrografx bundles the program with several sample macros to produce special effects like glow text.

Picture Publisher 5.0 is no slouch when it comes to output. The program offers extensive controls, especially for color output and separations. You can preview a thumbnail of your printout and assign crop and registration marks, separation labels and step scales. There are also sophisticated options for customizing screen frequency, angle and dot shape; and for controlling ink settings, black removal and limit, custom colors, and dot gain. Micrografx has included Kodak's Precision color management system to help improve consistency between your scanner, screen and output device. The Kodak system uses "precision transforms,'' which are configuration files used to describe the visual characteristics of various input, display and output devices. With the beta software, 13 transforms were included, ranging from Photo CD and HP ScanJet, to Kodak color copiers, HP DeskJet and generic film recorders, and to SWOP coated and uncoated generic CMYK proof devices. The software provides excellent calibration and color conversion controls for each stage of the design process.

Micrografx plans to bundle a CD with 300 TIFF images, 500 pieces of clip art in .DRW format and 200 TrueType fonts with the program. There is also a CD-based tutorial to supplement the user manual. In fact, the entire package is also available on CD (printed manuals are optional).

Picture Publisher is the easiest image-editing package around and this new version places it among the most powerful.

Picture Publisher 5.0

Price: On diskettes, $595; on CD-ROM, $395, (printed manuals, $29.95); for CD-ROM version until December 31, 1994, $149.95

In Brief: The new version of this high-end image-editing package improves basic features, offers more customization and adds several new power tools.

Micrografx Inc.

214-234-1769, 800-676-3110


First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IN THIS FILE-Part 1

TravelMate 4000M

askSam 2.0

QMS 2001 Knowledge System

Globalyst 200

Quicken 4.0

NEC Versa S/50C

WINCheckIt

CoStar Label Writer XL Plus

TRAVELMATE 4000M-MOBILE MULTIMEDIA MACHINE

By: JONATHAN BLACKWOOD

Taking a Texas Instruments TravelMate 4000M and its portable CD-ROM docking station on the road is a bit like packing your briefcase with both the dog and the pony. The unit I tested was the super-deluxe, 75MHz DX4 version.

This is a worthy machine in a compact package. How compact? The notebook itself weighs a mere 6 pounds, 8.1 ounces. However, throw in the docking station (5 pounds, 6.7 ounces) and the power transformer and cord (9 ounces), and it tips the scales at a back-breaking 12 pounds, 7.8 ounces. Whining about the weight at this stage in the development of miniaturization, though, is like criticizing a singing horse. What's interesting is not that the horse sings so badly, but that it can sing at all.

And the TravelMate 4000M does sing. Its integrated 16-bit Media Vision Jazz 16 sound card produces acceptable sound, even when pumping through the small built-in speakers. With the MPC-2 compliant CD-ROM drive, the built-in microphone, the built-in SCSI-2 interface, the 16-bit bidirectional MIDI interface and a PCMCIA Type III slot that accommodates either a single Type III card or two Type I or Type II cards, the TravelMate 4000M is a dense package. And I do mean dense; it seems to have the specific gravity of lead.

Part of the ballast comes from the separate batteries for the system unit and the CD-ROM docking station. The batteries are of the no-memory nickel-metal hydride variety, which demonstrated extremely long life in our testing with up to three hours per battery charge. This is excellent performance for a system unit with an active-matrix color screen. Although TI boasts that this unit is the only notebook with a battery-powered CD-ROM docking station, I didn't test the docking station's battery life. Why? You easily could find AC power almost anywhere you'd use this machine for multimedia presentations.

Besides offering the novelty of the multimedia capabilities, this machine performs. Its 41.7 MIPS (millions of instructions per second) on our WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests is competitive with desktop 75MHz DX4s, and significantly faster than other 75MHz DX4s that we've tested. I believe this is partly because TI uses fast, 60-nanosecond RAM in the 4000M. This type of memory is more expensive than the more common 70ns or 80ns chips, but can provide a major performance boost, as indicated by its test scores.

The TravelMate 4000M easily outdistanced other 75MHz notebooks in the CPU test. With the same CPU but different RAM configurations, 75MHz notebooks typically yield CPU ratings in the 26 to 28 MIPS range. Its disk and video performance, clocked at 3.60MB per second and 2.08 million pixels per second, respectively, were less impressive, putting it in the middle of the pack among similar systems.

The system also automatically slows itself down to conserve battery power whenever it's disconnected from an AC source.

Although the display provides an excellent image with rich colors, it is small--especially for a system intended for portable presentations. Its 8.5-inch diagonal screen is a full two inches smaller than the IBM ThinkPad's 10.5-inch screen. Put another way, the IBM's screen is 56 percent larger than the TravelMate's screen. Also, the CD-ROM unit generates quite a bit of heat. A diskette left inserted in the floppy disk drive will be almost too hot to handle when you pull it out. I wouldn't make a habit of leaving diskettes mounted while the system is docked to the CD-ROM unit.

TI markets the 4000M in several configurations, ranging from a monochrome 25MHz 486SL with a 120MB hard disk that has an estimated street price of $1,899 to the 75MHz DX4 screamer we saw with its 340MB hard disk and $5,299 price tag. The $849 portable CD-ROM docking station fits all configurations.

TravelMate 4000M

Price: 75MHz DX4 with active-matrix color, $5,299 (estimated street price); CD-ROM docking station, $849

In Brief: You can take it with you with the TravelMate 4000M and its CD-ROM docking station. You get desktop-level performance to boot.

Texas Instruments Inc.

800-TI-TEXAS, 512-794-5970

ASKSAM 2.0-DATABASE DONS WP DISGUISE

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

If the word "database'' tends to make your eyes glaze over, you need to take a look at askSam 2.0. This sturdy application is a database in a word processor's clothing, but it doesn't lack the power or flexibility of most other end-user database management systems. I tested a late beta version of the newest release of askSam.

If you know how to operate a word processor, you know enough to use askSam 2.0. It's a versatile database that's adept at contact management and other tracking applications. When you start the program, you won't see a form builder or a spreadsheet screen to create a new data file. What you will see is a clean slate, ready for you to define the information you want to have included in your database.

In some ways, askSam 2.0 is a word processor--at least it works like one. Among its word-processor-type features are word wrap, font support and buttons to automatically change the spacing of highlighted text--a feature not found in many word processors. The new version also has a spell checker, as well as Auto Spell Checking for correcting misspellings as you type. And the program's bookmark feature lets you tag documents, which, in askSam terms, is analogous to a database record.

Other new or upgraded features include a number of indentation options to format database records. You now can indent the first line of a field entry or have hanging indents that will indent the entire field to create easy-to-read lists and numbered paragraphs. You also can add subscripts or superscripts. Unfortunately, askSam does not have an undo feature in case you go overboard with the word processing frills.

Creating databases within askSam is simple. You just type a field name, such as FIRST NAME, LAST NAME or COMPANY, and add an open bracket ([) to denote the beginning of the field entry. AskSam does not require a closed bracket (]) to define the end of a field unless you want

to limit the field size. How-ever, the manual recommends that you define fixed field lengths for notes or other narrative fields.

After entering records--or documents--in your database, you can search for items by typing a word or phrase in the search field. The search field is visible at all times, and when askSam does a search, it searches all fields. After performing the search, the first match is displayed with VCR-like buttons to view the other records that meet the search criteria. You don't, however, get any indication of the total number of records found. AskSam does let you add the AND, OR and NOT logical conditions to your search criteria.

You also can tag a docu-ment with a click on a button and then return to it from any point in the database simply by clicking on another button. Another slick feature lets you double-click on a telephone number or drag the cursor to highlight it for automatic dialing.

Unlike other applications that tend to grow unwieldy as new features are added, askSam did not put a noticeable resource drain on my system. In fact, askSam's memory footprint was so light that during my testing, I put the program to work keeping track of my telephone messages. I created a simple form, and, with a handy pair of icons, I was able to stamp the date and time of each call in the notes field. I kept askSam minimized and out of the way when it was not needed.

AskSam 2.0 is a database that masquerades as a Windows word processor. I was constantly surprised by its features. If you're intimidated by databases, fear not. AskSam 2.0 can provide a welcome solution to your information management needs.

askSam 2.0

Price: $395; until November 30, $149.95; OCR model, $99.95

In Brief: The new version of this nontraditional database has an environment that more closely resembles a word processor, but its database features are powerful and easy to use.

askSam Systems

800-800-1997, 904-584-6950

QMS 2001 KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM-IT FAXES, IT COPIES, IT SCANS

By: BEN MYERS

Look around a typical office. You'll see a fax machine, a copier, a PC or two, and maybe even a scanner. It's a lot of gear and it takes up a lot of space. The QMS 2001 tucks all that equipment--and its functionality--into one box.

The system looks like a laser printer with a keyboard, monitor and mouse attached. It integrates an officeful of functions into a space-saving, power-conscious package.

Delivered with DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1 and QMS software already installed, the QMS 2001 takes about 15 minutes to set up. You need to install the toner cartridge and a printer photoconductor unit, attach the paper trays, and then hook up the mouse, keyboard and monitor.

When the QMS 2001 powers up, it loads Windows and checks that all of its parts are operating correctly. Because the scanner and the printer are two-way devices, the QMS software displays detailed messages to explain problems such as paper jams.

The QMS 2001 has a series of control panels for scanning, copying and faxing.

The copy control panel resembles that of a standard photocopier, with buttons to Copy, Stop, Reset, select the number of copies and control collation. You can enlarge or reduce copies and adjust contrast or brightness.

The fax control panel provides access to a phone book, offers a selection of cover sheet templates, and lets you schedule faxes for later transmission. It maintains a log of faxes sent, but does not notify you if a transmission fails. It always receives incoming faxes, a feature that cannot be disabled, so you can't use the QMS 2001 on a shared telephone line.

You can scan one or more pages at a time. The OCR button transforms a scanned document or a fax into editable text. The OCR software recognizes nearly 100 percent of the text when it reads a high-quality original.

Like most photocopiers, the QMS 2001 produces copied pages that appear to be about 98 percent of the original size. Printed documents and copies have a very crisp and fine appearance, created by the 600-dot-per-inch Ricoh print engine. It handles six pages per minute. The black-and-white scanner operates at up to 400 dpi, which is lower than the resolution of the printer. The difference between scanner and printer densities requires that the software does more work when copying to interpolate the extra bits. This slows down the copy-ing process.

The context-sensi-tive help for the QMS 2001 software is a little sketchy. Complete and illustrated documentation, one Windows Write file per topic, is readily accessible via appropriately labeled icons.

The QMS 2001 is propelled by a 33MHz 486SX single-board computer with two open slots for expansion. It comes with only 4MB of memory. You should plan on adding at least another 4MB of RAM to get a truly work-able Windows system (the QMS 2001 can accommodate up to 20MB).

The unit also has parallel and serial ports, a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and a 170MB IDE hard disk. The 14-inch CTX color monitor operates at a 0.28mm dot pitch at up to 800x600 resolution.

Some of the QMS 2001 hardware is a little lightweight: The Logitech mouse is first-rate, but the Mitsumi keyboard has little or no tactile feel. The internal Zoom Telephonics fax modem supports 9600bps fax, but its 2400bps for data is barely adequate.

The concept of the Knowl-edge PC is great, but it falls slightly short in the implementation. For about $5,000 I would expect a computer to have enough memory--at least 8MB of RAM and prefer-ably 16MB--to be usable for most general-purpose Win-dows work.

Still, the QMS 2001 does help alleviate much of the clutter, expense and electrical consumption of separate pieces of office equipment.

QMS 2001 Knowledge System

Price: $4,999

In Brief: QMS helps save space and electricity by combining several office machines into one box, but this convenience comes at a cost.

QMS Inc.

800-523-2696, 205-633-4300

GLOBALYST 200-AT&T EXTENDS SAFARI'S SPHERE

By: RICH CASTAGNA

AT&T embarked on a Safari, but has now set its sights on the whole world. The Globalyst 200 is AT&T's new notebook, replacing its Safari line of portables.

The Globalyst's two-tone color scheme makes it stand out in a black and gray jungle of look-alike notebooks, but its paint job--with a couple of turquoise buttons for contrast--bears an eerie resemblance to a '54 Chevy.

But make no mistake, this is a '90s machine, built around the Intel 50MHz 486DX2 CPU that is so popular in portables these days. Its standard configuration also includes 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB) and a 250MB hard disk. The test unit had 8MB of RAM.

The 9.5-inch active-matrix display is driven by a local-bus accelerator with 1MB of video memory and is based on the Western Digital WD90C24A2 chip. The display produced well-defined characters, but the colors looked a bit faded and the white portions of the screen appeared to have a bluish green tint. Video performance, however, was good. On WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests, the Globalyst 200 scored 2.57 million pixels per second.

In other Wintune testing, the Globalyst 200 clocked 28.29 MIPS in the CPU test and 5.44 MFLOPS for floating-point operations. It was less impressive, however, when it made its run through the hard disk test. The unit's data-transfer rate was clocked at a ho-hum 2.03MB per second, due largely to its lack of 32-bit disk access support.

The Globalyst also has an integrated floppy disk drive, and its PCMCIA slot can accommodate a Type II and Type III card at the same time--a rarity among notebooks. Its other connections include the usual array of parallel, serial, PS/2 and external monitor ports. A flip-down door conceals the docking station plug. AT&T's two optional docking stations are really port replicators, with one providing just cable connections and the other adding a couple of PCMCIA slots to the hookups.

In addition to its unique color combinations, the case has a very sturdy feel. The keyboard is at a slight angle, which makes it a little more comfortable than other flat designs. On the other hand--specifically the right hand--the size and location of some keys resulted in misses, messes and a couple of cusses. The Enter key is a little too small, and the Delete and Insert keys are far too small and tucked all the way up in the right corner. AT&T must think Globalyst users just won't make many mistakes.

At the base of its keyboard, there's a palm rest, about 2.5 inches deep. A 19mm trackball is in the center, flanked by buttons that curve around the bottom and sides of the trackball. Both the ball and buttons were a little stiff, but they provided good cursor control and positive clicking response. The problem with the trackball is its location. Like the Duracom TravelPro, also reviewed this month, the trackball is centered in the case about an inch off-center in relation to the home row and spacebar. This arrangement leaves the inside portion of your right thumb on the left of the trackball with your left thumb resting barely in the neighborhood of the left button.

The Globalyst 200 weighs 6.3 pounds. The AC adapter, with its short electrical cord and extra-long line running to the unit, adds about a half pound.

The nickel metal hydride battery delivered power for about three hours under normal working conditions. In the WINDOWS Magazine stress test, in which all power management is shut down and the screen and disk are constantly accessed, it lasted less than 1.5 hours.

The Globalyst 200 also comes in a more modestly priced version (around $2,400) based on a 33MHz Intel 486SX processor and has a dual-scan passive-matrix screen.

AT&T's Safari successor is a competent machine, with good performance, a solid feel and only a couple of ergonomic glitches.

Globalyst 200

Price: As reviewed, $4,190

In Brief: This notebook offers strong performance, with minor ergonomic drawbacks.

AT&T Global Information Solutions

800-225-5627, 513-445-5000

QUICKEN 4.0-EASY BOOKS ON ALL ACCOUNTS

By: MANJIT K. SAHAI

Quicken, already the best-selling financial management software, has been overhauled in this new edition. Version 4.0 is chock full of improvements, with both functional and usability enhancements.

Quicken's on-screen checkbook makes keeping the books--for small businesses or personal finances--easy. This simplicity, along with an extremely flexible approach to accounting, makes it ideal for people who need to keep track of money but have little formal accounting experience and training.

And the new version is easier than ever to use. For instance, instead of printing several reports to get an overview of your finances, now you can click on the Snapshots button and a dialog box will appear with thumbnail representations of six different aspects of your financial data: expense comparison, monthly income and expenses, discretionary budget, investment portfolio value and weekly memo notes. The Snapshot view of your data is customizable, so you can select the number of panes of data to display and the type of data included.

Also new to this version is the concept of supercategories that let you group related budget categories for consolidated reporting. You press Ctrl+C to open the Category and Transfer List dialog box, and click on the Super button. The Manage Supercategories dialog box appears, with a display that shows two columns of data, the category list and supercategory list. You highlight the budget categories that you wish to group and create a supercategory where you can drop them. Using supercategories, you get an overall picture of items such as travel expenses without having to separately scan allocations for travel, lodging and so forth.

Perhaps the most significant addition to the program is Tax Planner, which complements the tax tools that Quicken already had for transferring your financial data to a tax preparation program. Tax Planner helps you project your federal income taxes for the 1994 and 1995 tax years. Its dialog box provides data fields for entering income and buttons corresponding to various tax schedules, such as the Interest/Dividend Income button for Schedule A data. You don't have to manually enter all of this information--a click on the Quicken Data button will import the information from your Quicken data files. And because it can maintain information for one base and two alternative tax scenarios, you even can analyze the tax consequences of exercising various options, playing out "what-if'' scenarios and seeing the effect of each on your tax liabilities.

One of Quicken's usability enhancements is the addition of a row of account selection buttons along the bottom of the checkbook register window. Clicking on these buttons will quickly switch between the different accounts you've set up.

The new HomeBase makes it easier to navigate Quicken. Accessed from the toolbar, HomeBase is a graphical menu organized by functional categories such as Setup, Day to Day, Reports and Planning. To the right of these categories, large buttons provide access to the functional areas within each. HomeBase makes it easy to find things because its organization is logical, and it replaces accounting jargon with simple and familiar activity descriptions, such as Write Checks and Use Register.

Two optional add-ons are available: QuickInvoice to track inventory and generate invoices, and QuickPay for payroll capabilities. With these products, Intuit is expanding its business functionality.

Quicken has an outstanding interface that makes keeping track of your bank accounts, credit cards and investment portfolios a breeze. While it lacks the sophistication of some higher-end business accounting programs, it also lacks their complexity. For a small business, it may be all the accounting you need.

Quicken 4.0

Price: $49 (estimated); upgrades, $30

In Brief: This is a polished home-finance management package.

Intuit Inc.

800-624-8742, 415-322-0573

NEC VERSA S/50C-NEC'S WELL-VERSED NOTEBOOK

By: JIM FORBES

Smaller, lighter, faster. It's the Holy Grail for notebook manufacturers. It's a mantra in a market where cramming desktop power into a case the size of a software manual is the standard.

NEC, a veteran of portable computing, has taken the middle road with the Versa S, blending full-sized notebook features with a near-subnotebook form factor.

The Versa S/50C measures 1.5 inches high, 11 inches wide and 8.3 inches deep, and is about 25 percent smaller than NEC's other Versa units. The Versa S/50C tips the scales at 5 pounds without its battery charger.

The Versa is not only a competent performer, but also a testament to NEC's engineering and design. It's avail-able with an active-matrix color display. You have a choice of processors, either an SL-enhanced 50MHz Intel 486DX2 or an SL-enhanced 33MHz 486SX.

The Versa S/50C uses a nickel metal-hydride battery. A secondary "bridge'' battery protects the contents of system memory for as long as five minutes while you swap batteries on the fly.

Battery life, at around two hours under real work conditions, isn't impressive. The models with the passive-matrix color and monochrome screens should run a little longer on a single charge. It takes about an hour to fully recharge the battery. The standard configuration includes 4MB of RAM, accelerated local-bus graphics with 512KB of video memory, an external 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and two stacked Type II PCMCIA slots that can accommodate a Type III card. There's also the usual assort-ment of external connectors with serial, enhanced parallel and external video ports. You can complete your Versa configuration with either a 210MB or 260MB hard disk.

While the Versa S/50C does share some traits with its larger cousins, it boasts some innovations, too. For example, it has a sculpted case with a palm rest and integrated selector pads, and a SurePoint pointing device. The SurePoint, NEC's version of IBM's TrackPoint pointing device, is nestled between the B, G and H keys. After working with this pointing stick for a while, I found it easier to use than most integrated trackballs. I also liked the keyboard on the Versa, and had no difficulty adapting to its somewhat nonstandard layout.

A couple of convenient features stand out. There's a hinged plate at the bottom of the rear of the case that puts the notebook at a slight tilt and makes it more comfortable to use for extended periods. You also can secure the external drive to the notebook with a latching mechanism.

The TEST unit's active-matrix screen had a clear, crisp display. The colors were bright, the contrast was excellent, and the cursor was clearly visible most of the time. More importantly, the accelerated graphics made short shrift of chart redraws and graphics applications. The Versa uses software to control screen brightness and contrast. In fact, the only physical control on this notebook is the on/off switch located on the left side of the case. The LED indicators are mounted on a raised lip of the case where they can be seen easily.

The Versa's performance, as measured by WINDOWS Maga-zine's Wintune tests, was respectable. In CPU tests, it clocked slightly more than 27 MIPS and 5.3 MFLOPS, comparable to other 50MHz note-books. Its video subsystem, which uses a Cirrus graphics chip and CL-GD62x5 Version 1.30 drivers, generated 1.55 million pixels per second performance, which is slightly below average in this class. The 260MB hard disk turned in a rather slow transfer rate of 1.68MB per second.

NEC ices the Versa S/50C cake with a three-year stan-dard warranty.

NEC Versa S/50C

Price: $3,899 for the 50MHz, 260MB disk drive with active-matrix display

In Brief: NEC has trimmed the size of the latest Versa notebook and added the handy SurePoint pointing device.

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-NEC-INFO, 508-264-8000

WINCHECKIT-SYSTEM SNOOP TELLS INSIDE STORY

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

Like a 3,000 mile check-up for your car, you have to pull your PC over every billion or so CPU cycles for a little fine-tuning. And when you get in under the hood, WINCheckIt can help you monitor your system's performance and make any necessary adjustments.

The beta version I tested is a set of utilities that lets you safely delete unwanted applications and redundant or orphaned files, perform diagnostic procedures, and keep hardware and software configuration lists, among other maintenance tasks.

When you launch WINCheckIt for the first time, the program collects data about your PC. In my tests, it took less than two minutes to do a thorough evaluation and inventory of my system. WINCheckIt displayed the inventory with Realtime Data and a System Summary. The Realtime Data gauges display the amount of hard disk space used, the largest memory block available, the amount of free system resources and free memory below 1MB. Next to the hard disk space gauge, there is a drive menu. If you are running WIN-CheckIt on a networked PC, it also will indicate the amount of space available on each network drive.

The System Summary lists the type of CPU, the amount of system memory, and any installed peripherals such as network, fax modem or sound cards, or a CD-ROM drive. The peripherals will be listed whether or not they are currently in use. WINCheckIt flattered my system by referring to it as an "ultra-high performance PC.''

WINCheckIt correctly determined the versions of Windows and DOS the test PC was running. It also listed the BIOS manufacturer, and it indicated that I was using a two-button mouse.

The Clean Up utility will find duplicate files on your hard disk and let you perform narrow searches to locate specific files. For example, you can search for all files with a .BMP extension, and then further narrow the search by indicating a size or date range. The conditions you can apply to a search include greater than, less than or equal to a certain file size, and before or after a specific creation or modification date. After WINCheckIt presents its list of files, you have the option of deleting the ones that are needlessly hogging your hard disk space.

When you click on WINCheckIt's Tune Up button, the readout of the real-time data is refreshed. It worked well, with the Largest Memory Block gauge plummeting when I launched a word processor and then returning to its initial reading when I closed the resource-sapping application.

WINCheckIt also has an Uninstaller utility that provides a simple way to remove unwanted applications and orphan icons. It finds related files whether they are in the application's directory or in Windows directories. The utility will ask for confirmation before deleting files, especially if the files in question could be used by other Windows applications.

One of WINCheckIt's strongest features is its array of reports. You can get a detailed breakdown of your PC's hardware and software configuration by making a selection from the SysInfo menu or by clicking on a toolbar button. Click on the hardware button and your PC's innermost secrets are revealed, ranging from the main system all the way down to video and system memory, hard and floppy disk drives, comm ports, sound card, fax modem device, and CD-ROM drive information. The Memory icon displays your available memory within Windows, extended and expanded memory, and base and upper memory. The Windows and DOS icons provide vital information about the software setup, such as fonts, setup load strings and drivers. With WINCheckIt's built-in editor, you can modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

The level of detail in WINCheckIt's reports lets you see exactly what you are running. WINCheckIt's report files have an .RPT extension. It would be more convenient if you had the option of saving reports with .TXT or .WRI extensions, but this is a small bother.

WINCheckIt is more than a collection of system utilities. It's easy enough to use for a nontechnical user, yet it provides enough information to keep a real propeller head occupied.

WINCheckIt

Price: Estimated street price expected to be under $50

In Brief: A collection of related system utilities that provides detailed configuration infor-mation along with diagnostics.

TouchStone Software Corp.

800-531-0450, 714-969-7746

COSTAR LABEL WRITER XL PLUS-SMALL PRINTER ADDRESS BIG JOBS

By: JIM FORBES

Printing labels or addressing envelopes should be an Olympic event. First, you need the dexterity of a gymnast to coax your word processor into odd formats. Then, you need the eye of a marksman to get everything aligned. Finally, you need the speed of a sprinter to make the mad dash to the printer to load the label stock before someone else starts a print job.

Or, you can get the CoStar Label Writer XL Plus.

The first generation of this small desktop label printer was practical, durable and versatile. The newest version is all that and more.

The Label Writer XL Plus is unobtrusive. It occupies an area only 8 by 4 inches and stands approximately 8 inches tall. The printer connects to your computer using a pass-through parallel adapter, which allows you to use both your normal printer and the label printer without having to fumble with cables.

The principal enhancement to the printer is its new print engine. With its new internal mechanism, the Label Writer XL Plus takes only about two or three seconds to print a label at densities as high as 203 dpi. The print output is crisp, easy to read and at a high enough resolution to include graphics such as company logos.

The software supplied with this machine is the secret to its versatility. It offers context-sensitive pop-ups that describe the functions of buttons. Other enhancements include better facilities for generating postal and other bar codes, and more preconfigured label layouts.

This release also comes with a number of macros that install directly onto the toolbars of Word, Ami Plus and WordPerfect. The macros let you use those word proscessors to print labels concurrently with a document, so you don't have to reload one printer with envelopes after printing on regular paper.

The software also has an address book. You can save and edit a list of addresses as a separate file that can be printed en masse by choosing Select All and Print. You also can import .DBF or comma-delimited files to the address book. It's as simple as selecting New Book from the File menu and clicking on Import.

List books store information to print labels for items such as storage containers, video cassettes and file folders. This is an opportunity to leave no piece of Tupperware unlabeled.

CoStar Label Writer XL Plus

Price: $299

In Brief: This reliable label printer takes between 3 and 4 seconds to generate mailing, shipping and other labels at resolutions up to 203 dpi.

CoStar Corp.

203-661-9700, 800-426-7827


First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IN THIS FILE-Part 2

BusinessWorks Accounting 9.0

ImageFast 2.0

Micrografx Designer 4.1 Technical Edition

TravelPro 5110

Macromedia Director 4.0

XTree Gold 4.0

Day-Timer Organizer

Image 466M

BUSINESSWORKS ACCOUNTING 9.0-BOTTOM LINE FOR BOOK BALANCERS

By: MANJIT K SAHAI

BusinessWorks is a sophisticated accounting package intended for small- and medium-sized businesses. In the spectrum of accounting software, it sits somewhere between low-end offerings, such as Peachtree, and the upper reaches, represented by products such as Macola's Progression Series. BusinessWorks is available in modules, so you buy just what you need now and add modules as your business requirements change.

Besides General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Payroll mod-ules, BusinessWorks offers Inventory Control, Purchasing Order Entry, and Job Cost.

BusinessWorks is a double-entry accounting system with many high-end features such as departmental accounting, a built-in ZIP code database and the ability to consolidate the financial data of multiple companies. It also can per-form the batch import and export of journal entries, and has the capacity to handle nearly 10,000 accounts. But some of its basic functions are unnecessarily complex. To set up a new company, you must switch to the System Manager, select the Multiple Companies option from the Maintenance menu, and then click on a button before getting to the dialog where the entry is made. But it does come with 21 sample charts of accounts for a variety of industries to help with the initial company setup.

BusinessWorks has a non-standard interface. There are no File or Edit menus, and no DDE or OLE support. When you start the program, a win-dow with icons for each of the available modules ap-pears. When you click on an icon, the menu bar changes for that particular module.

Once you begin work in a module, the form-based interface of BusinessWorks is easy to use. Also, you can define multiple account distributions as defaults for transactions, so even complex recurring transactions can be saved. For instance, the Distribution button on the Maintain Recurring Invoices form lets you distribute a transaction amount to six different accounts.

The customer and vendor data forms lets you maintain separate billing and shipping addresses, phone and fax numbers, and other contact information. You also can attach free-form notes to indi-vidual records.

BusinessWorks offers real-time posting only (no batch posting).

You can import and export ASCII data; the program also lets you save its data in the .WKS and .DBF file formats.

BusinessWorks does not have a custom report writer, but it offers a comprehensive set of reports, such as Balance Sheet, Income Statement, 1099 Worksheet and Customer History. When you select a module from the main window, the options under the Reports menu change to list reports applicable to that module. A particularly nice feature is Flash Reports, an option on each module's Reports menu that summarizes all activi-ties that occurred in a particular module.

The program also supports foreign currency and data formats; the ability to track vacation and sick time, pension plans and dependent care benefits; electronic deposit of pay-checks; modifiable tax tables; and transaction rollback for data recovery in case of hard-ware failure.

As with any double-entry accounting software, you'll probably need some help from a bookkeeper or an accountant for the initial setup. But BusinessWorks uses simple English in its menus and dialog boxes, so even an accounting neophyte should be able to figure things out.

The documentation is well written and offers a comprehensive index. There's also a competent on-line help system that is context sensitive.

BusinessWorks offers all the features most small- to mid-sized companies need. But its interface could use some usability improvements.

BusinessWorks Accounting 9.0

Price: $995 (includes System-Manager, GL, AP and AR) add on modules, $395 each

In Brief: A capable midrange, double-entry business accounting software with great documentation and a nonstandard interface.

Disk Space Required: 10MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Manzanita Inc.

800-447-5700, 916-791-7730

IMAGEFAST 2.0-FOR THE IMAGE CONSCIOUS

By: LYNN GINSBURG

Some programs just want to do it all. ImageFast fares well as a one-stop-shop for all of your image management needs, but it suffers from overambition when it aspires to be a desktop and network work-flow manager, a database program, and even a limited e-mail messaging package.

ImageFast can help you organize imaging tasks and make it easier to retrieve and index these files. It's best suited for imaging-intensive environments, such as elec-tronic production departments and service bureaus, but can also be useful if you use desktop publishing or presentation programs.

The basic metaphor of ImageFast is the ubiquitous file cabinet, and its modus operandi is drag-and-drop. You can define your own file cabinets, and the drawers and folders within them. Drag-and-drop comes into play with icons for faxing, scan-ning, OCRing and printing--just drag a file over and drop it to the appropriate icon. This adds a welcome dose of simplicity to these operations, and you'll appreciate their convenience.

One of ImageFast's most powerful features is its Forms capability, which lets you attach a descriptive header record to an image file. The record can contain multiple indexed data fields that you can use to describe the file. But entering information into the record's fields isn't so easy. Rather than just moving the cursor to a field and typing, you have to hold down the Shift key and double-click to enter descriptive information. Also, note that the field lengths are limited to 32 characters.

After entering descriptive information, you can use the program's query facility to search through your image files, based on criteria listed in the header record. When you export an image that has an attached header to another program, the data fields are written to a file in ASCII format. Of course, adding lots of lengthy data fields can slow down queries and will even-tually use up considerable hard disk space.

The program offers a network work-flow feature for routing files in a workgroup environment. When a task--a single image or a set of files--is sent to you, the program notifies you. You can then forward the task to another user on your network. When you send something, you can attach additional information, such as the type of task, date sent, date due, the name of the sender, current status, priority and other associated comments. When a package you sent has been received, you also receive notification. ImageFast doesn't use an installed e-mail system, so it is neither VIM nor MAPI compliant.

ImageFast includes scan-ning management tools for batch scanning with simultaneous automatic indexing. You also can view and retrieve incoming faxes from within the program.

Its OCR module offers the standard OCR options, such as ad hoc, zone and full text-recognition options. TextFast is an add-on to the OCR module that creates a searchable, full-text database of OCRed documents.

ImageFast tries to do more, though, with features designed to handle common document and desktop management tasks. Here, the operations get cumbersome, and offer little reason to cast away your File Manager.

For example, it claims to provide the means to view any document stored in ImageFast simply by double-clicking on it, which is supposed to launch the document's native application. But it recognizes only those documents saved with standard file extensions. It's hard to see how this feature would be more useful than Windows' own File Manager. Similarly, the program offers Action Icons that combine an application and a file for one-step launching. Again, this is something that can be done from within File Manager.

Although ImageFast can't be all things to all people, it is a good program for imaging professionals who need to or-ganize a large number of files and simplify their work flow.

ImageFast 2.0

Price: Single user, $495

In Brief: This integrated imaging environment can help organize work flow for imaging professionals.

Disk Space Required: 11MB (full install)

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 4MB

ImageFast Software Systems

800-899-6665, 703-893-1934

MICROGRAFX DESIGNER 4.1 TECHNICAL EDITION-QUICK DRAW FOR TECH DESIGNERS

By: RANJIT S. SAHAI

With Designer Technical Edition 4.1, Micrografx has addressed the performance problems of the previous version and has targeted a more technically oriented audience.

As a long-time Designer user, I was disappointed after upgrading to Version 4.0 from 3.1. That upgrade, which was released last year, was painfully slow even when I ran it on a 66MHz 486DX2 system with 16MB of RAM.

Version 4.0 offered new features I would have loved to use, such as customizable floating symbol palettes, lines that maintain their dash-dot pattern even after they're assigned a weight, and many other improvements. But its poor performance was discouraging enough that I was willing to sacrifice the new features and continue using the snappy old 3.1. But now I can move on, because Designer 4.1 is clearly tuned for performance.

Designer's interface is well thought out and very usable. The toolbox along the left edge of the application window offers buttons to access Edit, Draw, Dimension, Text, Bitmap, Style, Page Manager and View tools. Selecting any of these buttons brings up an appropriate set of tools in the ribbon bar just below the menu bar. For example, if you select Draw in the toolbox, the ribbon bar updates to present an array of drawing tools. Designer also offers non-modal dialog boxes that remain open as you continue to work. This is a great shortcut because it lets you leave an often-used dialog box open and available.

To help get new users up and running quickly, Micrografx has added bubble help in Designer 4.1. A small rectangle with a brief description appears as you move the cursor over an icon in a toolbox or on the ribbon bar. It also has a Hint Line that can be placed along the bottom edge of the application window, or can be left floating on-screen in a window. The Hint Line dynamically displays helpful information about any screen element as the cursor passes over it. The context-sensitive on-line help is competent, and the documentation is well written and task oriented. A CD-ROM is included in the package with a multimedia tutorial that does a good job of introducing newcomers to Designer.

Although it's not a CAD package, Designer offers some of the flexibility and precision drawing capabilities normally associated with CAD. For instance, it works with layers and provides tools to draw lines parallel and perpendicular to existing elements. It also has a Coordinates dialog box to let you draw and edit entities by keying in coordinates, and it provides dimen-sioning tools to create linear dimensions (horizontal, vertical and aligned). What differentiates it from CAD software and makes it suitable for illustrations are features such as gradient color fills, text effects, bitmap editing, presentation slide-show capabilities and the ability to directly edit objects by manipulating their handles.

The program is especially useful for technical illustrators because Designer drawings can be based on those created by other CAD packages. Some additional Designer 4.1 highlights include a larger set of file filters, including those for PageMaker 5.0, HPGL and the two most popular CAD file exchange formats, .DXF and IGES. The command for aligning text to curves has been improved with a new interface and the Master Page, a new feature, which can be used to store elements common to all pages in a file.

A few features that disappeared in version 4.0, such as a hotkey to rotate ele-ments and opaque text, have staged a comeback in version 4.1. The 3-D capabilities intro-duced in version 4.0 have been removed in version 4.1 for performance considerations.

With support for custom page sizes (up to 9,999 by 9,999 inches), multiple pages in a file, multiple open documents, OLE 1.0 client and server abilities, a customizable toolbox, thousands of clip-art symbols, a spell checker, and a flexible set of illustration tools, Designer is well worth looking into for your illustration needs--technical or otherwise.

Micrografx Designer 4.1 Technical Edition

Price: $695

In Brief: This is a mature vector illustration package with an extensive clip-art library, translation filters, and drawing and presentation tools to help design and communicate ideas for even the most demanding user.

Disk Space Required: 20MB minimum, 30MB full install

System Resources: 11%

RAM: 8MB

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-234-1769

TRAVELPRO 5110-BOOK IS BRAWNY, BUT BLEMISHED

By: RICH CASTAGNA

It's a puzzlement,'' said the King of Siam in The King and I. My guess is he wasn't talking about the TravelPro 5110, but if he had stopped his waltzing long enough to give this new notebook a whirl, he might've said, ``This portable is a puzzlement.''

And indeed it is. It's a hot machine that--for the most part--is built like a tank, but it's marred by a couple of surprisingly so-so features.

The TravelPro is a standard-sized notebook at 2 by 11 by 8.6 inches, and it tips the scales at about 6.6 pounds. You'll be impressed by its sturdiness, with every seam, slot, door and hinge fitting together snugly.

The engineering doesn't stop on the outside. A 100MHz Intel DX4 cranks almost unbelievable processing power for a sub-7 pound PC, helped by a secondary cache. Its CPU performance, measured using WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests, was a knock-your-socks-off 49.59 MIPS. That was about 20 percent faster than a 100MHz Dell notebook without a secondary cache.

In other tests, the TravelPro's performance was closer to what one would expect. On the floating-point test, its 10.75 MFLOPS rating was roughly equal to Dell's score. The TravelPro 5110's video score was good at 3.05 million pixels per second. Disk performance, at 4.19MB per second, was also good but no match for Dell's 7-plus-megabyte data-transfer rate. The TravelPro comes with Windows for Workgroups and supports 32-bit disk and file access.

Complementing its speedy CPU, the TravelPro accelerates the graphics it displays on its 9.5-inch active-matrix screen, using Cirrus Logic's GD6440 chip set and 1MB of DRAM. The screen handles resolutions up to 640x480 pixels with 256 colors. Those colors are displayed in rich, even hues, with well-defined lines and characters. On an external monitor the maxi-mum resolution is 1024x768.

The TravelPro also has serial, parallel and PS/2 ports and a docking station con-nector--all concealed by a rear-panel door that springs open when a small, indented area is pressed.

The floppy disk drive is on the right side of the unit, just above the microphone and speaker jacks for the built-in sound card. Further back, a plastic grill covers a small fan that helps keep the under-cover electronics cool.

On the other side of the unit, a simple flip-down door hides the PCMCIA port, which will accept two Type II or one Type III card. Just next door is the removable 200MB hard disk. Two NiMH batteries pop out from the front of the unit. The battery power lasted a shade under two hours under strenuous conditions. Under normal working conditions, it ran for about three hours.

So what's so puzzling about the TravelPro? Up to this point, everything about this machine is fine--some of it's even terrific. But after cramming tower-sized technology into this tiny powerhouse, Duracom overlooked two things: your hands.

The keyboard on the TravelPro 5110 is rickety enough to rank among the most difficult to use. While the arrangement of the keys is fine, the keys themselves aren't. They are so loosely connected that they pivot and tilt as your fingers strike them. The whole keyboard sags slightly when gentle pressure is applied.

The built-in trackball is another mystery. The ball is large, tracks smoothly and provides excellent cursor control--that is, if you can reach it. Inexplicably, the trackball is set smack dab in the middle of the notebook. If you have your hands on the keyboard home row, the track-ball is a full inch too far to the right to reach comfortably.

The TravelPro 5110 doesn't come with a software gauge for monitoring battery life. And you're supposed to be able to set the power-saving features from the setup screen, but I couldn't find any. An addendum to the manual suggests running a program call WINLCD.EXE to shut the display down after a period of inactivity, but the program wasn't installed.

If Duracom applied the same level of engineering to ergonomics as it did to the rest of this otherwise fine machine, it would have the hands-down value among high-powered notebooks.

TravelPro 5110

Price: $4,099 (as tested)

In Brief: This sub-7-pound subnotebook with a 100MHz Intel DX4 processor is built like a tank and surprisingly fast.

Duracom

800-551-9000, 214-518-1200

MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR 4.0-REEL-TIME MULTIMEDIA

By: LYNN GINSBURG

Macromedia Director 4.0 has made its Windows debut, giving PC users the same powerful multimedia authoring tools that Macintosh users have enjoyed for years. Director offers deliberate control over every aspect of multimedia development, putting you in charge of your own PC production studio with the ability to integrate multiple sound tracks, digital video, graphics, animation and text. Director 4.0 carries a high-end price tag, but it delivers serious software suitable for professional multimedia productions.

The central concept of Macromedia is a movie pro-duction, complete with cast members, a score, a stage and even a scripting language. The main module is the Score, in which all the different multi-media elements of your movie are assembled and edited. The Score resembles a grid, arranged by channels and frames, with up to 48 channels and more than 200 frames. Multimedia elements, such as sound, video, graphics, animation and text are placed in the channels. The Score contains separate channels that give you precise control over sound, transitions between scenes, color, scripts and tempo. There are two sound tracks so you can combine both voice-over and music in your production.

By controlling the combination of multimedia elements frame by frame and channel by channel, the Score empowers you to accurately synchronize and edit your productions. For example, if you want the sound of a speeding locomotive piping in just as the digital video of a train starts to run, and then fading as the train disappears around the bend, you would simply start the sound element on the same frame that the train enters, and have it fade into the distance by the last frame. Such control over each of up to 48 integrated elements can yield high-quality professional results.

No production is complete without actors, and Director assembles them all in the Cast window. The Cast resembles a film strip, giving you a thumbnail representation of each of your multimedia players. These elements can be in file formats imported from a variety of programs, including .BMP, .DIB, .WMF, .EPS, .PIC, .PCT, .PNT, .GIF, TIFF, Kodak Photo CD, .AVI, .MOV, .WAF, .AIF, .FLC and .FLI. You also can create multimedia elements within the program, using Director's paint and animation tools. Elements stored in the Cast window can be dragged and dropped onto the Score for placement in channels and frames. They also can be placed on the Stage, the active window in which the presentation takes place.

Macromedia Director also includes Lingo, a scripting language for interactive productions. With Lingo, you can add buttons that a viewer can push to make the show branch off. You also can write scripts to control external audio and video devices such as CD-ROM drives, video disc players and frame-controllable videotape recorders.

Your audience doesn't need a copy of Director to view your finished production. Productions created in Director can be distributed as self-contained runtime versions called Projectors. Macromedia claims binary file compatibility with Director for the Macintosh, so products created in either Windows or the Macintosh can be played back on either platform.

The only hitch to Director is that its power doesn't translate into ease of use. Initially, the interface can be confusing, with unfamiliar tools and menu choices. Because Director makes you not only the production's director, but also its sound editor, film editor, casting director and art director, the myriad controls that must be mastered can be overwhelming. It's the inherent complexity of the multimedia development process itself that contributes to Director's steep learning curve. But professionals who already know their way around a PC multimedia editing room will revel in Director's dynamic power tools and creative flexibility.

Macromedia Director 4.0

Price: $1,195

In Brief: This is a breakthrough product for Windows, featuring powerful multimedia authoring tools that are able to turn a PC into a high-end multimedia production studio.

Disk Space Required: 30MB

System Resources: 21%

RAM: 8MB

Macromedia

800-288-4797, 415-252-2000

XTREE GOLD 4.0-24-KARAT SUB FOR FILEMAN

By: JOHN J. YACONO

File management in DOS has always been torturous. Unfortunately, file management via File Manager hasn't been all that wonderful either. It's no wonder that file management tools, popular as DOS get-arounds, have been migrating to Windows. One fine example is XTreeGold, which in its latest Windows incarnation has much in common with its DOS cousin. Of course, it offers some slick Windows features, too.

One item borrowed from the DOS version is the command window, which lists available keyboard macros. The keystrokes are now the same as those used in the DOS version, and greatly speed most operations. Using the mouse, especially in prior XTree for Windows versions, was especially taxing for the long-time DOS user.

The new version also maps network drives. A single button gives you access to all your drives through a single drive window. If you prefer separate drive windows, the program will automatically tile them for easy viewing.

The directory-tree struc-ture also has been improved. In earlier versions, you had to select a branch to collapse it. Now, you can click on a small button to the left of the directory name. By pressing the button you can again expand the branch.

An outlining feature lets you group and indent lists of files that have common characteristics, such as file-name extensions, creation or modification dates, attributes and so forth. Smart tabs let you filter and sort files according to these characteristics, too, and display them in the mode and number of columns you choose. You can define your own smart tabs for the file arrangements you most commonly use. One tab I really like lets you display just the deleted files and then recover them.

The right button is put to better use: It activates context-sensitive flying menus. In other words, if you click the right button over the file window, a menu for file operations pops up. Do the same over the smart-tabs area, and a smart-tabs-specific menu pops up. The context-sensitive pop-up menu is extensive, so you usually can avoid having to pick through the selections on the drop-down menus.

To select a contiguous block of files, you can click and drag in the area just to the left of the file listing. Alternatively, you can use the Windows convention of shifting and clicking on the first and last files in the block. To select multiple files that are dispersed throughout a directory, you click on a special button and then click on the individual files in the list. Again, you can resort to the Windows' standard Ctrl+click to do this. To select files across directories, you tag them by pressing the tag button in the file Window and then use one of the file selection techniques.

XTreeGold also supports drag-and-drop. You compress files by dragging the filename to an archive file listing and dropping it. The dropped file will be added to the destination archive and compressed. Compression formats sup-ported by XTreeGold include PKZIP 1 and 2, SEA ARC, LHA 2.1 and NoGate PAK.

A powerful file viewer window and a file search facility both can be activated from within the program or from their own Program Manager icons. The viewer can display files stored in many formats, including .GIF, .EPS, .PCX , TIFF, .WMF, .DXF, .CGM and .BMP graphics; ASCII, .TXT, .RTF and a number of word processor formats.

The search feature lets you locate files on the basis of such criteria as filename, file extension, date, size, time and file attributes. You also can search the contents of files for text strings using qualifiers, such as case sensitivity and whole-word matching.

XTreeGold requires some time to learn, but probably no more than for learning the ins and outs of File Manager. And once you get comfortable within its confines, you'll find it's a powerful replacement.

XTreeGold 4.0

Price: $99.95; upgrade rebate for DOS or Windows, $25; competitive rebate, $10

In Brief: This power-packed File Manager substitute is perfect for those who don't want to commit to loading a full Windows-replacement shell.

Central Point Software

800-964-6896, 503-690-8088

DAY-TIMER ORGANIZER-PAPER ORGANIZER GOES ELECTRONIC

By: RON BEL BRUNO

No matter what corner of the PIM universe you dwell in, Day-Timer Organizer will pique your interest. With this Windows version of the venerable organizing system, Day-Timer neophytes get a PIM they can navigate as easily as a paper-based portfolio, while tried-and-true Day-Timer veterans now can reap the benefits of hassle-free electronic data storage and printing options.

Any PIM worth the disk it's stored on accommodates all the basic categories of personal and business data--daily, weekly and monthly calendar views, task lists, expense accounting and an address book with that seldom-used autodialer. You need to judge a PIM by its methods of data access, input and display. In this respect, Day-Timer consistently excels.

The program uses the spiral-bound notebook metaphor throughout its modules. This means you can bid a fond farewell to those scary dBASE-inspired input forms.

Day-Timer features at least two data views not often found in other packages: the Global and Timeline notebooks. The former lists all the additions, deletions and edits you've made to the database by data category. For example, if you stashed 20 addresses, five tasks and four expenses into Day-Timer during the past week, the Global notebook would list these by the indicated categories. Concurrently, the Timeline notebook lists these activities by the date on which they were executed.

Throughout Day-Timer's unintimidating interface, you'll find flexible reporting and display options. You can create custom data fields in areas such as the address book by pulling down the Setup menu and defining the field within one of the many custom field blanks provided. You might, however, be hard-pressed to find a category to add, since the thoroughly up-to-date Day-Timer already provides blanks for e-mail addresses, fax lines and mobile phone numbers.

Entering data into Day-Timer Organizer is easy. You may experience a little frustration, however, with the recurring dialog boxes required for even the tiniest entry to the task list. When entering an appointment or expense entry, for example, you start by clicking on the blank notebook space to initiate the entry process, but you'll actually enter the information into a dialog box.

While this method is pro forma for address book entries and other more extensive functions, it can get tedious for a simple ``lunch with Jim'' memo. However, this two-step approach gives you comprehensive options for classifying and defining all sorts of information.

You can, for example, distribute and refresh data throughout modules for immediate access--even with all windows open. You also can establish your own data categories and link any piece of data--a task, address or appointment--to another activity when you create the new item. Day-Timer's help balloons also save a lot of time that might otherwise be spent poring through the manual or hopelessly poking around with your mouse.

If you're already a paper-based Day-Timer devotee, you'll want to give some special attention to its effortless printing options. As a Day-Timer owner of several years, I've yet to find a pain-free Windows address book that prints Day-Timer pages without the hassle of having to program custom sheets. With Day-Timer Organizer, all page formats are supported, and you can select from a menu to print as little as one line per entry to almost an entire page of data for each person in your book. Likewise, all other modules of the program print WYSIWYG pages without a lot of setup hassles.

The program also boasts import/export features, with data links to Instant Recall, a DOS version of Day-Timer.

The strong link between Day-Timer Organizer and its paper-based counterpart makes this program hard to pass up--especially if you've been reluctant to surrender your spiral-bound organizing system to your PC.

Day-Timer Organizer

Price: Single-user, $139; 5-user, $599

In Brief: This PIM is based on the popular paper-based personal organizer system.

Day-Timer Technologies

800-255-5005, 610-266-9000


First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 3

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IN THIS FILE-Part 3

NEC Image 466M

HP Color LaserJet

Ami Pro 3.1

Graphics Xpression

Acecat II

FlexScan T2-17

Latitude XP 4100CX

Quad Studio

Toshiba XM-3501

VoiceLock 1.05

PowerGraph Pro PCI

RomeBlack xTransit

Multimodem II MT2834BA

IMAGE 466M-DIAL "M" FOR MULTIMEDIA

By: JIM FORBES

Apreconfigured multimedia system is usually a potpourri of parts from a number of vendors--a sound card from one, a display system from a second, a CD-ROM drive from a third and so on. With its Image 466M system, NEC hopes to lead the way through the multimedia maze by loading up its offering with quality components from--NEC.

NEC is a leader in both monitor and CD-ROM drive markets, so it's no surprise that the Image 466M features good performance and value, an ample mix of software, and compatibility with industry standards. I tested the system for nearly two months and came to the conclusion that NEC has assembled a winning combination.

The test unit was based on Intel's 66MHz 486DX2 processor and configured with 8MB of system memory and a 420MB IDE hard disk. The multimedia mix included a 16-bit Sound Blaster-compatible sound card, LabTec CS-800 amplified speakers, a 32-bit graphics card with 1MB of video memory and NEC's MultiSpin 3X CD-ROM drive.

Rounding out the Image 466M's hardware components are a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, a keyboard, a mouse and a 9600bps fax modem. The motherboard has a 237-pin zero insertion force (ZIF) OverDrive processor socket for future expansion.

Software supplied with the system includes Windows 3.11, DOS 6.2, Lotus Screen Cam, introductory offers for trial memberships with several on-line services and a variety of multimedia titles.

The Image 466M has a low-profile design so it has limited expansion capability with four available slots. Two accept 16-bit ISA cards, and the other two are VESA local-bus compatible. External connections include two high-speed serial ports that use 16550 UARTs, a SCSI connector and an enhanced parallel port. The mouse and keyboard plug into receptacles that are mounted on the side rather than the back of the computer.

If you've used other multimedia systems, you're bound to be impressed by the NEC Image 466M's triple-speed SCSI-II CD-ROM drive. Although there are faster units available, this drive is speedier than those usually included with MPC-2 compliant multimedia systems. And, if you've ever waited for a CD-based program to load, you'll appreciate the difference. NEC also supplies a SCSI software control panel that makes adding other devices a snap.

NEC is a major player in the monitor market, so you'd expect the Image 466M's graphics subsystem to be special. You won't be disappointed. The test unit was equipped with NEC's excellent 4FGe 15-inch flat-display monitor. Coupled with the 32-bit accelerated graphics card, it's capable of displaying 16.7 colors at 640x480 pixel resolution or 16,256 colors at 1024x768.

The sound system of the Image 466M is also impressive. It's fully Sound Blaster compatible, and the LabTec CS-800 speakers generate crisp tones and have the necessary power for serious bouts of middle-aged air guitar. Stereo headphones also are supplied with this system. Software supplied by NEC lets you control volume, balance and other attributes.

The system's per-formance was con-firmed by its solid results on WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests. The CPU scored nearly 38 MIPS and 7.2 MFLOPS, which is very quick even for a 66MHz chip. Not surprisingly, the video system blazed, hitting 4.5 million pixels per second. The hard disk fared well, too, with a transfer rate of 4MB per second.

Value-conscious buyers may balk at the cost of this system which, as tested, should sell for $2,612 without a monitor. But I still give NEC's Image 466M a thumbs up for performance and quality.

NEC Image 466M

Price: $2,612 (estimated, as tested; monitor not included)

In Brief: The NEC Image 466M is a well-constructed desktop multimedia computer.

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500

HP COLOR LASERJET-NEW LASER IS STUNNING

By: SUSAN RICH

Imagine going straight from a number-two pencil to a 64-crayon box of Crayolas. That's what it's like when you switch from an ordinary laser printer to the new HP Color LaserJet. This printer combines the speed, quality and affordability of laser printing with the ability to print such vibrant colors that it makes all other output pale--literally-

By: comparison.

The Color LaserJet performs its magic by using four bottles of toner (black, cyan, magenta and yellow) and two developers (black and color). You can replace each of these consumables individually.

If you've used any other HP LaserJet, you'll feel right at home with this one. It has the familiar front-panel menu and the usual HP features: 45 scalable typefaces, automatic language switching between PCL and optional PostScript, 8MB of memory (expandable to 72MB) and a standard Bi-Tronics parallel interface.

The instructions for setting up the printer are easy to follow. But when I powered it on, a "63.2 SIMM ERROR'' message appeared on the display panel. A quick check revealed that an optional, factory-installed Adobe PostScript SIMM had been inserted in the wrong slot.

When I printed the first page, my coworkers' reactions indicated just how cool this printer is. The guys from the art department who are used to waiting (and waiting and waiting) for color output were bowled over by the Color LaserJet's speed. It ranges from 2 pages per minute for full-color printing to 10 ppm for monochrome printing. Color ink jet users grabbed the page straight out of the printer and tried in vain to smudge the colors. These pages come out dry and colorfast, and the colors won't fade or crack over time.

The colors of the CorelDRAW file I printed were vivid, but not a close match to the colors on my screen. This has to do with the ColorSmart technology built into the printer driver. ColorSmart analyzes the objects on each page, then automatically applies the best and brightest colors and halftone patterns--which aren't necessarily the ones on your monitor. If you don't have a lot of experience with color, you can stick with the default ColorSmart setting and be assured of richly colored printouts.

On the other hand, if you're an advanced user (or just a control freak, like me), you can select Manual Color in the Print Setup dialog and adjust the settings for text, graphics and photos. If you choose Screen Match, the driver lets you calibrate your screen. When I tried it, the printed colors were duller but a closer match to the ones on my screen. The Color LaserJet is also Pantone certified.

All in all, the solids were smooth, the quality crisp and the gradient fills stripe-free. As for print resolution, the Color LaserJet prints at 300 dpi, as opposed to the 600 dpi of most black-only HP LaserJets. But the difference, barely discernible, is truly a small price to pay for full-color pages.

Of the few color lasers available, the Color LaserJet is the least expensive unit I've seen. The per-page printing cost is reasonable, too. HP estimates the cost at 2.5 cents per page for monochrome printing. For color printing, the cost per page ranges from 5 cents (for 5 percent coverage) to 50 cents (for 100 percent coverage). That's not bad, compared with a typical thermal wax printer's fixed cost of around 60 cents per page.

The Color LaserJet won't fit on an average desktop, but it's not meant to. Your kindergarten teacher made you share those Crayolas, and your network administrator will likely make you share a Color LaserJet. It's easy to do, with an optional HP JetDirect MIO card and the included network software. The standard input tray holds 250 sheets of letter-sized paper; an optional tray holds legal- or tabloid-sized paper, and an optional rear feeder raises the input capacity to 500 sheets.

All right, I guess I can share. That's preferable to stopping every five minutes to accommodate yet another coworker's print request. Even if you've never used color, you won't have to rack your brain to come up with applications. In fact, your biggest problem will be exercising some restraint. Once you've printed in color, it's hard to go back to black and white.

HP Color LaserJet

Price: $7,295

In Brief: This printer combines the speed, quality and affordability of laser printing with the ability to print vibrant color on your pages.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900

AMI PRO 3.1-MERCI, AMI, FOR NEW E-MAIL LINKS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Ami Pro users who need to get connected will want to take a look at version 3.1 which adds new hooks designed to facilitate communications and collaborative computing.

Ami Pro has been updated to work with Lotus' two VIM-based mail systems: Lotus Notes and cc:Mail. The program supports Notes/FX 1.1 technology, providing document tracking and management for workgroups. If you're not using Notes or cc:Mail, this interim version will probably hold little interest for you, but if you're a Notes user, the upgraded Ami Pro could represent a strategic investment for your company.

Version 3.1 ships with the Document Sharing System, a Notes database. The database makes it easy to create new Ami Pro documents based on user-defined templates, and then lets other users find, update and add comments to documents within a specified workgroup. You also can create new versions of a document from within Notes, while preserving the original. Notes' security handles the access rights associated with a document, controlling who can read and update it, or who can create a new document within the group. It's an out-of-the-box solution that has worked well in my tests with Notes 3.1, the latest version of Lotus' workgroup software.

Also new in version 3.1 of Ami Pro is a front end to cc:Mail and Lotus Notes mail, so you can create, send and reply to mail from within Ami Pro. You can create e-mail just by selecting Send Mail from the File menu. The program provides a stylesheet for your mail messages, and with a click on a button, you can select an address or send your mail. There are options to save your message and to send it as an attachment--choosing from several file formats, including Word, WordPerfect and .RTF. You also can attach other files to the message. Furthermore, you can tell Ami Pro to suggest that respondents to your message use Revision Marking in their replies.

The only other change in Version 3.1 is a minor cosmetic addition: Bubble help now appears when you place the cursor over an icon on the toolbar.

If you're using Ami Pro as a standalone word processor, there's no reason to upgrade. If you have Notes in your organization, version 3.1 is a worthwhile--perhaps even essential--update.

Ami Pro 3.1

Price: $495; $129 until 12/31/94; upgrade $19.95

Lotus Development Corp.

800-831-9679, 404-391-0011

GRAPHICS XPRESSION-TAKE THIS EXPRESSWAY FOR FAST GRAPHICS

By: SERDAR YEGULALP

ATI claims its Graphics Xpression card delivers 64-bit performance for the budget conscious--and it does.

In addition to its 2MB of DRAM, the Graphics Xpression has several eye-opening features. One is on-the-fly mode switching using ATI's FlexDesk, which lets you go from one resolution and color depth to another without rebooting. Another is accel-erated .AVI playback.

ATI includes a virtual desktop for a work area larger than the screen.

I tested the Graphics Xpression on a 33MHz 486DX system with 8MB of RAM. At a resolution of 640x480 pixels with 256 colors, the board clocked 3.513 million pixels per second on WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests. At 800x600, also with 256 colors, it registered 3.609. Both scores indicate excellent video response. Activating the 32-bits-per-pixel option boosted performance in the supported modes nearly twofold.

ATI's manual is clearly written and has plenty of illustrations. The board is available in ISA, PCI and VESA local-bus versions.

Graphics Xpression

Price: $299

ATI Technologies Inc.

905-882-2600, fax 905-882-2620

ACECAT II-DIGITAL PEN (AND PAD) PAL

By: RON BEL BRUNO

The Acecat II just might take digitizing tablets out of the hands of designers and put them into mainstream computing.

The principal enhancements to this second-generation 5- by 5-inch input device improve applications compatibility. For example, if you're going to use the tablet exclusively with only one or two programs, the Acecat's multipointing driver lets both the tablet and your mouse coexist peacefully.

Mice and trackballs use relative positioning to navigate the screen, but the Acecat II tablet uses absolute positioning. This means that when you tap the tablet's upper-left-hand corner, you're immediately at that exact position on the screen. And if you find your wrist growing weary of traversing the pad's 25 square inches, you can reduce the tablet's tracking area to limit your hand movement.

The Acecat II's Tablet Control Panel provides precise control over the tablet's operations and er-gonomic features. From there, you can adjust the pointer's sensitivity, select either relative or absolute positioning, and reassign functions to the stylus buttons. Acecat II replaces the two buttons on a mouse with its clickable stylus-point functioning as the left button and the stylus barrel button as the right. You can, however, reassign these functions to suit your pen-holding preferences.

The Acecat II is about the size of a mouse pad. It takes just minutes to set up and actually makes computing tasks a little more fun.

Acecat II

Price: $129

Acecad Inc.

800-676-4223, 408-655-1900

FLEXSCAN T2-17-FINE LINES MARK DISTINCT DISPLAY

By: ARTHUR H. GERMAIN III

Nanao's 17-inch Flex-Scan T2-17 monitor produces sharp--virtually glare-free--images at resolutions up to 1280x1024 pixels at an 80Hz refresh rate. Built around Sony's Trinitron technology, the monitor displays uniform solids and fine lines from corner to corner.

I tested the T2-17 using DisplayMate for Windows from Sonera Technologies. With the exception of some moire in 1024x768 mode, this monitor quickly hurdled DisplayMate's obstacle course, which is designed to highlight any flaws in color display, resolution, moire patterns and color convergence. I noticed a slightly darker area in the upper-right-hand corner of the unit I tested, but it was only a minor blemish.

The T2-17 has convenient front panel controls for horizontal and vertical size and position, brightness, and three user-definable color modes. The power and screen degauss switches, and another for selecting either the standard D-sub or the 5-wire BNC cable connections, are also on the front. The controls to alter the dimensions, color or intensity of an image are under the bezel at the center of the unit.

Another switch pops up a set of built-in geometric distortion adjustments. The on-screen menus allow you to adjust pincushioning, trapezoidal distortion (keystoning), horizontal and vertical convergence, tilt and moire reduction. Color controls for red, green and blue balance and gain are also available. You can access the contrast control, and a subcontrast control that works for each separate color, via the menus. Colorific, color calibration software from Sonotech, is offered free to all registered T2-17 owners.

A power management utility lets you set two sleep modes for the T2-17. One drops the monitor's power requirement to 15 watts, and the second drops it all the way down to 8 watts when the unit has been idle for a user-specified time.

FlexScan T2-17

Price: $1,299 (estimated street price)

Nanao USA Corp.

800-800-5202, 310-325-5202

LATITUDE XP 4100CX-ROADSTER SIZZLES AT 100MHZ

By: RICH CASTAGNA

Dell isn't taking long to fill out its notebook line since re-entering the market with its Latitude models. The latest, the XP 4100CX, is a portable that would be at home on top of a desk or on a lap.

This lustiest Latitude yet is a burner built around a 100MHz Intel DX4 processor. Except for the hopped up CPU and an active-matrix display, it's identical to the 50MHz Latitude reviewed here last month.

As expected, the XP 4100CX's scores on WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests overshadowed its sibling system considerably. The 100MHz model racked up a CPU rating of 40.6 MIPS and a floating-point score of 10.2 MFLOPS, compared with the 75MHz Latitude's 26.73 MIPS and 5.5 MFLOPS. The XP 4100CX's video and disk performance was also considerably better, nearly doubling the numbers turned in by the 75MHz notebook.

Besides its pumped-up processor, the big story about the XP 4100CX is its active-matrix display. The 9.5-inch screen is capable of 640x480 pixel resolution while dis-playing 256 colors--256 richly hued colors that are evenly rendered without shadows or streaks. Lines and letters are well defined with sharp edges and crisp angles.

It's the XP 4100CX's screen that makes it a candidate for desk duty and an eye-saving road companion. Toss in its fast processor, 8MB of RAM, and roomy 340MB hard disk, and you've got a desktop-class machine--minus expansion slots--in a 6.1-pound package.

Latitude XP 4100CX

Price: $4,799

Dell Computer Corp.

800-613-3355, 512-338-4400

QUAD STUDIO-HOT TRACKS FOR MIX MASTERS

By: MARTIN HELLER

Quad Studio, a digital four-track recording and mixing software system, helps eliminate the loss of quality that typically occurs when mixing down multiple audio tracks.

Quad supports simultaneous recording and playback, and four- to two-track bounc-ing so you can lay new tracks over previously recorded ones, as well as make adjustments to the balance. The included Wave SE editing software lets you add reverb and just about any other effect or equalization to your recordings.

Quad won't work with just any sound card. To play four tracks simultaneously, play and record at the same time, and synchronize audio with MIDI, you need a Turtle Beach card. The MultiSound, Monterey and Tahiti cards all have the signal-processing chip required to use Quad. Quad also requires at least a 33MHz 486 and a 16ms hard disk. You may need a more powerful CPU and a faster disk if you use Quad to work with four CD-quality tracks at the same time.

I was able to use Quad for live recording and mix downs, and to mix waveform and MIDI sound. I could ride the volume when playing back tracks, and Quad would remember the slider motions for future playback and mix down--a feature called "Turtle Recall.''

Like any first software release, Quad 1.0 still has some rough edges. The program's use of modes is confusing, and some of its most elegant features are buried deep in the documentation. Even some common operations, which are likely to be used frequently, are rather awkward to execute.

Working with stereo pairs would also be a lot easier if the Quad software were better integrated with the Wave SE waveform editor. Wave works best with a single stereo .WAV file, while Quad needs to split stereo waveforms into two monaural channels.

All in all, this is a killer product for musicians and multimedia specialists. If you have a 486 (or faster) PC with a large, fast hard disk and one of the supported Turtle Beach sound cards, adding Quad Studio to the mix will give you the tools for professional-quality sound editing.

Quad Studio

Price: With Tahita Card, $499; software only (requires Turtle Beach sound card), $299

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 12%

RAM: 4MB

Turtle Beach Systems

800-645-5640, fax 717-767-0200

TOSHIBA XM-3501-CD-ROM DRIVE SHIFTS INTO FOURTH GEAR

By: BEN MEYERS

Don't let its looks fool you. While Toshiba's XM-3501 quad-speed CD-ROM drive looks like its double-speed predecessor, the XM-3401, Toshiba has worked some technical tricks in this new model. Using a 256KB data buffer and a fast seek mechanism, Toshiba squeezes the most performance out of quad-speed technology.

I tested the external version of the XM-3501 in a 66MHz 486DX2 system with an Adaptec 2842 VL-Bus SCSI host adapter and EZ-SCSI ASPI host manager and CD-ROM driver.

In a variety of tests, the XM-3501 easily bested both its older sibling and NEC's MultiSpin 4X Pro.

Using Microsoft Video, the XM-3501 played several large 16.7 million color .AVI files in their allotted times without dropping a frame, while the XM-3401 and the NEC Multi-Spin both took several seconds longer. It took the XM-3501 15 seconds to load a program from a test CD-ROM, compared with 23 for the other drives. A DOS Tree command took only 13.5 seconds with the XM-3501, compared with 17 and 37, respectively, for the XM-3401 and the NEC drive.

The XM-3501 is priced just a little higher than some double-speed drives.

Toshiba XM-3501

Price: External $600; internal $470; SCSI host adapter, $155

Toshiba America Information Systems DPD

714-457-0777, fax 714-583-3133

VOICELOCK 1.05-SYSTEMS STAY SAFE AND SOUND

By: SARA G. STEPHENS

Like a fingerprint, your voice is unique. VoiceLock takes advantage of this fact with a voice recognition security system for your computer. The program records your voiceprint and then allows access to files, directories or your entire system only when it hears your voice.

Locking up your data this way may seem scary. What if a cold changes your voice? Or your office is noisy? VoiceLock handles these issues remarkably well.

I tested it by blasting a stereo in the background and by trying to disguise my voice. But VoiceLock recognized me each time. If, for some reason, the program cannot verify your voice, you can still access your system by entering a manual override password.

You can either activate VoiceLock with a hotkey or set it to kick in whenever your screen saver turns on. To get back into the system, you just move the mouse or press a key: VoiceLock's security guard pops up and demands voice verification.

A lock-when-starting-Windows option prevents would-be snoops from rebooting your system to circumvent security.

Training VoiceLock is simple. After typing in your name and sex, you start speak-ing into the microphone using a script that's designed to sample a wide range of vocal qualities. Once training is complete, your name is added to the list of trained users.

With VoiceLock you don't have to worry about data security or memorizing passwords. After all, no matter where you go, there you are--along with your voice.

VoiceLock 1.05

Price: $79.95

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 2%

RAM: 30K

QVoice Inc.

201-786-6878, fax 201-786-5868

POWERGRAPH PRO PCI-GRAPHICS BOARD OFFERS REFRESHING IMAGES

By: BEN MEYERS

STB soldered two technologies together--S3's Vision864 graphics chip and dynamic RAM (DRAM)--and came up with a winning combination in the PowerGraph Pro PCI graphics accelerator.

The modestly priced card proves that DRAM-based graphics cards can handle true-color, high monitor refresh rates and high resolutions. The Vision864 chip provides a 64-bit-wide data path to 2MB of fast 45-nanosecond memory.

The PowerGraph Pro is a jumperless card with a VESA feature connector. I installed it in a 60MHz Pentium system. It provided fast, flicker-free graphics in true color (16.7 million colors), up to 800x600 pixel resolution, high color (32,768 or 65,536 colors) up to 1024x768 and 256 colors up to 1280x1024. On WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune video test, the card posted speedy scores of 4.9 million pixels per second when running with 16.7 million colors, 6.7 with 65,536 and 7.8 with 256.

STB's new setup utility simplified the installation of drivers and control software. It added the Vision Control Panel, from which you can change resolution, color depth and font size.

Other Vision features are Zoom and Bird's Eye. With Zoom you can magnify a portion of the screen up to eight times its actual size. Bird's Eye does the opposite: You can display a small window that provides a panoramic view of the entire virtual desktop. To obtain the new software,contact STB.

Selecting the best refresh rate is somewhat inconvenient. The DOS REFRESH program offers a simple menu for picking refresh rates, but you can't preview them.

Drivers are also included for OS/2 2.1, Windows NT, AutoCAD and Microstation software.

PowerGraph Pro PCI

Price: $239

STB Systems Inc.

800-234-4334, 214-234-8750,

ROMEBLACK XTRANSIT-THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME- BY LYNN GINSBURG

It's a buyer's market. Special-effects software that was once the domain of high-end video workstations--such as the RomeBlack xTransit morphing package--is now available for desktops at previously unheard-of prices.

Although xTransit lacks some professional-quality features, the $79.99 program makes it possible for the most casual user to easily spiff up a presentation or animation with impressive morphing special effects.

XTransit is distinguished by its very spare interface. Limited menu choices make it easy to figure out how the program works. You simply choose a starting and ending image, and the program creates the transitional images. You're given the choice of a variety of transition effects, such as fade, distort, wipe, warp, delay or mosaic. To control the accuracy of the morph, you add control points to match features that are similar between the two images.

For instance, to seamlessly morph the image of a boy and a koala bear, you'd add control points to align features such as the eyes, ears, mouth and head shape. The transition takes place over a series of frames. Each frame can be previewed individually, and the entire sequence can be saved frame by frame in a film strip. The individual images from the morph sequence can be manipulated in other graphics programs and saved in a variety of formats including .BMP, TIFF, .TGA and Kodak Photo CD.

XTransit offers some limited control over the morph and special-effects transitions, including the ability to add other effects to individual frames of the morph sequence and to configure display and playback modes. However, in keeping with the simplicity of the program, there aren't any extensive high-end video control features.

As with most other PC morphing programs, xTransit is painfully slow. Rendering a morph sequence takes several minutes, so you should plan to have something to do to fill the time while you wait for each and every edit to complete. You can speed up the process by reducing the resolution from 24 bits to as low as 4 bits, but you'll sacrifice considerable image quality.

XTransit is a fun program and is easy enough for anybody to use. While it runs slowly on the average PC, it's an inexpensive introduction to the special-effects world of Hollywood.

RomeBlack xTransit

Price: $79.99

Disk Space Required: 4.5MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 4MB

RomeBlack Inc.

212-727-9735, fax 212-727-9546

MULTIMODEM II MT2834BA-FAST COMM WITH AN EYE TO THE FUTURE

By: JOHN PERRY

The Multimodem II MT-2834BA is ready for V.Fast and beyond. Multi-Tech's new high-speed modem uses flash ROM technology, which lets you upgrade the modem to accommodate evolving communications standards.

The MT2834BA conforms to ITU-TSS V.34 for 28.8Kbps operation, AT&T V.32terbo for 19.2Kbps and all lower-speed standards. It offers V.42 error correction and V.42bis data compression, and is capable of speeds reaching 115.2Kbps.

The MT2834BA earns the name Multimodem. It com-bines leased-line, dial-up and fax capabilities. The modem comes with Multi-Tech's MultiExpress communications software and Multi-ExpressFax, but offers no documentation for either.

The MT2834 is best for networks, with features such as callback security.

The only bad thing about the MT2834BA is its manual. It's harder to follow than an episode of "Twin Peaks.''

The MT2834's upgrad-ability should reduce your risks in a market where the evolution of standards often outpaces a product's life cycle.

Multimodem II MT2834BA

Price: $799

Multi-Tech Systems Inc.

800-328-9717, 612-785-3500


First Impressions: Nov. 1994-Part 4

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

IN THIS FILE-Part 4

The Xerox 4900 Color Laser Printer

Canon BJC-4000

CompuWorks Notebook Companion

wInformant 2.0

PanelBook 750

Adobe Acrobat 2.0

XEROX 4900 COLOR LASER PRINTER

By: LASER SETS TONE IN LIVING COLOR

By: SERDAR YEGULALP

The Xerox 4900 Color Laser Printer has two notable features that have nothing to do with print quality: ease of use and a reasonable price.

The 4900 is designed for workgroup duty, with parallel, serial and AppleTalk ports, and an Ethernet interface.

It can print color or black-and-white, with four-color PostScript Level II printing on plain paper. The 4900 can output up to three full-color pages per minute at 300 to 1200 dpi, and 15 black-and-white pages per minute.

Windows and Mac PostScript printer drivers are included, as well as printer definition files for color-corrected output for applications such as QuarkXPress, PageMaker and Photoshop. A utility program enables you to check the printer's status and to download PostScript files or fonts.

The 4900 keeps an eye on itself. For example, it knows how to recover from paper jams without losing pages.

To test the printer, I scanned a 35mm slide at 200 dpi, saved it as a CMYK-style PostScript file and then used QuarkXPress to print it at full-page size. The colors were rich and faithful to the original. The printouts didn't smudge, and solid color was evenly distributed. Black-and-white printing was impressive, too.

Xerox also offers a feature called the Media Server option. It's a floppy disk drive mounted right in the printer, so you can print directly from a diskette--without a PC or active network connection.

Xerox 4900 Color Laser Printer

Price: $8,495

Xerox Corp

800-ASK-XEROX, 716-256-4446

CANON BJC-4000-INK JET SHOWS OFF ITS ARTISTRY- BY RON BEL BRUNO

Many color ink jet printers seem to concentrate so intently on color that their black printing suffers, with quality that pales compared with black-only ink jets or lasers. The BJC-4000 gives equal time to both.

The BJC-4000, unlike its sibling, the BJC-600, is geared toward users in search of high-resolution (720x360 dots per inch) black output with color printing as a pleasant bonus. These attributes, as well as its competitive price, make it a worthy competitor to the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 550C.

With a tall profile and a very small footprint (7.5 by 14.5 by 8 inches), the BJC-4000 is far more compact than its bulkier rivals. Like its HP counterpart, the BJC-4000 features a two-part modular cartridge, with black-only and color ink cartridges. When it prints black, it prints black--not a composite of other colors. It's no slouch either, printing text at 5 pages per minute in high-quality mode, which is even faster than many lasers. I printed a page with a multicolored graphic and text in 1.5 minutes.

Whether you're printing a scanned-in photo or a 3-D pie chart, the BJC-600 yields consistent, high-quality output. I tested the BJC-4000 in proof-quality 360x360-dpi mode using pages that had large areas of solid colors, detailed artwork and simple colored text. Printing on ordinary copier-quality paper, the output from these samples featured clear definition between color segments, even coloration and remarkably little saturation of the paper stock.

The BJC-4000 has a built-in 100-sheet/15-envelope feeder and over a dozen TrueType soft fonts. It's fairly quiet.

The BJC-4000 might leave the competition seeing red, as well as 255 other colors.

Canon BJC-4000

Price: $549

Canon Computer Systems Inc.

800-848-4123, 714-438-3000

COMPUWORKS NOTEBOOK COMPANION-WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE-

By: RICH CASTAGNA

CompuWorks thinks that you might get lonely on the road with just your notebook computer.

Notebook Companion is a loose collection that includes ScheduleWorks, Expense Wiz, Battery Watch Pro, and the Information Security System.

There are separate instal-lations for each module, but you can't just pick, choose and load. If you install the scheduler first and then add the expense report program, the scheduler's icon will be zapped.

The programs range from moderately useful to downright puzzling. In the former category, Expense Wiz lets you enter daily travel expenses for hotel, meals and so forth. It then subtotals by category, and totals by day and week. You can't set the travel period.

ScheduleWorks' book wants nothing to do with weeks. You enter appointments on a daily calendar that lets you enter any number of conflicting appointments.

For a traveling companion, Battery Watch Pro is a strange bedfellow. It's supposed to provide more accurate battery readings than the gauge supplied with your notebook. Of the 50 notebooks that are supported, the newest model is about two years old. If yours isn't on the list, the program won't install, although it will appear to. If yours is on the list, you'll wish it hadn't installed.

I loaded Battery Watch on a listed notebook. The program's gauge showed 100%--precisely at the time its low-juice beep went off. The weird part is that you can change the gauge to any level. You can track your battery just as well with a watch or egg timer.

A virus checker is included--called "an ultimate virus-protection solution.''

CompuWorks Notebook Companion

Price: $59.99

Disk Space Required: 7MB

System Resources: 7% to 14%

RAM: 3 to 4MB

WizardWorks Group

612-559-5140, fax 612-559-5126

WINFORMANT 2.0-TOOLBAR HAS WINDOWS WASHERS

By: JULIE R. BLUMENFELD

WInformant takes the dirty work out of Windows housekeeping. The seven functions that come with this toolbar utility pack--Search, Swap File Check, DLL/VBX Redundancy Scan, Profile Editor, Uninstall, Restart and Eject--will help you keep your system orderly.

Search does quick text searches on hard disk files, and it lists the filename, including the full directory path, for valid matches as well as the total number of successful hits. Search options include edit, delete and launch. The only significant limitation to this program is that it can search only one drive at a time.

The Swap-File Check utility displays the drive, path and filename of the current swap file along with its settings. It also will make recommendations on how to improve swap file performance, if necessary.

DLL/VBX Redundancy Scan does exactly what its name suggests: It finds and lists all .DLL and .VBX files, and it indicates duplicates. You can delete a duplicate file or double-click on it to get its path, name, size, and creation date and time. As a safeguard, the utility lets you delete only those files it has determined are duplicates.

The Profile Editor provides an easy way to edit .INI files in a two-part dialog box that shows the .INI file's Section at the top and the associated Key Names at the bottom. You can edit in either the top or bottom pane.

To give your Windows a really good cleaning, you can use wInformant's Uninstall. It removes unwanted applications, associated .DLLs and .INI file entries. It has built-in safeguards to help ensure that you don't accidentally delete files used by other programs.

Restart is a simple way to shut down and restart Win-dows, and the Eject command shells out to DOS.

WInformant's interface makes it very easy to use. Its toolbar is customizable, too, and it livens things up with some cool sound effects.

wInformant 2.0

Price: $49.95

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 3% to 5%

RAM: 4MB

NEOCOM Microspecialists Inc.

703-666-9533, 703-666-9534

PANELBOOK 750-PANEL IS FOCUSED ON THE BIG PICTURE-PHILIP ALBINUS

For the business professional whose notebook computer is a presentation tool, the PanelBook 750 LCD projection panel is a capable solution.

The PanelBook 750 works with an overhead projector to display PC-based presentation slides on a large screen. It sits atop the projector and con-nects via cable to your PC.

The PanelBook 750 measures roughly 2 by 9.5 by 11.5 inches. If you plan to take it on the road, figure that the notebook will add about 6 pounds to your traveling weight. Throw in the AC power adapter and the electrical cord and interface cable, and you have a nearly 8-pound road show.

A drawer on the PanelBook 750 opens to provide access to its controls for brightness, contrast and synchronization. A remote control lets you make these adjustments from a distance and center the image on the screen. The carrying case included holds only the projection panel. You have to pack--and keep track of--the remote control, power pack and cables separately.

The PanelBook 750 has a 1024x768 pixel display and is compatible with VGA and Super VGA systems. Installing the unit requires little more than plugging in the cable. The panel has open metal grids to promote cooling, so it doesn't generate much heat even though the manual warns against leaving it on for too long.

The PanelBook ships with a cable, complete with multiple-pin attachments so you can connect it to a variety of notebooks and desktop systems.

PanelBook 750

Price: $7,499

InFocus Systems Inc.

800-294-6400, 503-685-8888

ADOBE ACROBAT 2.0-HIGH-WIRE ACT: ELECTRONIC DOCS

By: IAN HANDEL

Acrobats make something difficult look easy. Adobe's Acrobat does just that by making files created within different applications readable by those who lack the originating program.

Acrobat's two main modules, Exchange and Distiller, effectively turn your computer screen into a printer. In fact, when you want to create an Acrobat document, you use Exchange's virtual printer driver to create a Portable Document Format (.PDF) file. A .PDF file preserves the content and appearance of the original.

You can then send a .PDF file to someone, along with a copy of the Acrobat Reader, which the recipient uses to view the document. Reader is freely distributable, but it cannot be integrated with the .PDF file; you'll always have at least two files to distribute.

.PDF files can contain text documents or graphics, and they are generally smaller than the original files, sometimes significantly so. I found that Word documents were reduced in size by a third to a half, and bitmap images by a half. Exchange offers compression options, so you have some control over the process.

In my tests, the Acrobat versions of most files were either identical in appearance to the originals or only slightly different. Text maintains its size, color, thickness and other properties. You can embed a particular TrueType or PostScript font, or Exchange will substitute the original font with one that closely matches it. The results were quite good: On a machine that lacked the fonts in the original document, the .PDF version managed a close approximation.

Distiller also can convert files that have been saved in PostScript or Encapsulated Post Script (.EPS) format directly to .PDF format. The result is a file even more compressed and better looking than you'll get from using Exchange alone.

You can use Windows' Clipboard to cut portions of a .PDF file and paste them to other documents. You also can search the text in a .PDF file, just as you would with a word processor.

Acrobat's thumbnail viewer displays multiple pages, so you can quickly find the one you need.

Adobe Acrobat 2.0

Price: Exchange only, $195;with Distiller, $595

Adobe Systems Inc.

800-83-FONTS, 415-961-4400

TALKWORKS-EXPRESS YOURSELF WITH UTTER EASE-IAN ETRA

TalkWorks lets you skip the keyboard and talk to your documents. The program makes it easy to embed dictated notes in a document.

TalkWorks is composed of three easily installed applications that have some overlap in their feature sets.

AudioRecorder lets you record, play and embed sounds into documents. AudioEditor is for more detailed manipulation of .WAV files. It also has tools for fading sounds in or out, changing the amplitude and adding echo effects.

HotTalk is a version of AudioRecorder that can be either added to the toolbar of your OLE server apps or accessed from a desktop icon. When you click on the button, HotTalk pops up and starts to record. A click on the stop button embeds the recorded file into the open document.

Several TalkWorks features stand out, including a variable speed control that doesn't distort pitch. It also offers a host of compression formats for recording and playback, including the proprietary AF36 format that offers dramatic 36-to-1 compression technology.

If you have a sound card based on the Analog Devices chip set, the software can use the programmable digital signal processing for compression in real time.

TalkWorks

Price: $59

Disk Space Required: 1.7MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 340KB (each program)

AudioFile

617-863-0890, 617-863-0956


Optimizing Windows: Prune Your Windows Directories

By: John Woram

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

One way to maintain an optimum Windows configuration is to trim your WINDOWS and SYSTEM directories regularly. With all the files your applications dump into them, both have a tendency toward overgrowth. Sooner or later, you'll find an incredible amount of stuff in there, and the purpose of much of it may be a mystery.

If things get really out of hand, you can always resort to the ultimate Windows weeder: the DELTREE.EXE file in the DOS directory. With a few simple keystrokes, this program lets you delete all your Windows files and then reinstall just what you need. I've resorted to this "technique'' a few times (okay, more than a few times)when I wanted to wipe the slate clean and start all over again.

But there are less drastic ways to keep your directories neat and trim. Last month, Mike Elgan's column (Getting Started, October) contained a list of files you can safely delete from your WINDOWS and SYSTEM directories. I'll follow on that approach but dig a bit deeper, showing you how to examine the different groups of files you may unearth, determine what they're used for, and decide whether or not you really need them.

As an example, I'll look through my own directories, pruning and transplant-ing as best I can to clean them up. Because we all have different apps and configurations, you won't be able to duplicate my cuts exactly. But by applying the same general principles, you should be able to achieve a similar result: trimmer directories and recovered space in which to do some new planting.

Some cuts may be obvious, such as any file with a .BAK or .TMP extension. Don't, however, erase any .TMP files with the current day's date. Usually these are temporary files in use by Windows during the current session, and Windows itself will get rid of them when you exit. In case of doubt, leave the .TMP files alone and then erase them from the DOS prompt after you exit Windows.

Getting ready

The first step is to unclutter File Manager so it shows only the information you need in order to begin cleanup. For the moment, you don't need to look at your directory tree, and it doesn't matter when each file was created, how big it is, or which attributes are set. With that in mind, select your WINDOWS directory, open the View menu and check the following three options: Directory Only, Name (that is, Name only), and Sort by Type. Then select the By File Type option at the bottom of the menu and, in the dialog box that pops up, clear the check box next to Directories.

Having done all that, filenames will be displayed in the customary filename.ext format, but will be sorted as if each filename were written as ext.filename. So the list will begin with files without any extension, followed by those with a numeric extension, and finally, files with the usual three-letter extensions.

At the bottom of the window is the bad news. I found 308 files squatting on nearly 10MB of real estate. Actually, it was worse than that: A DOS directory listing showed these files took up 10,411,843 bytes, or more than double the original full installation of about 121 files in 4,400,000 bytes.

If you're not quite sure what a particular file is, there are a few ways to check it out. In many cases, it won't help to double-click on the file and hope File Manager knows what to do with it. Instead, open a little DOS window and change to the C:\WINDOWS directory. Now, while the File Manager window continues to display the big picture, use the DOS window to examine all files with a certain extension by typing DIR *.ext, where ext is the extension of interest. This gives you a quick summary of how many files exist with that extension, and how much space they occupy.

If a suspect file is small, and its extension is ambiguous (say, .003, .DAT, or maybe even an .INI file whose name you don't recognize), just type the word TYPE, followed by the complete filename. If the file is in simple ASCII text format, you'll see its contents on-screen. Otherwise, you'll probably see gibberish, punctuated by beeps and an occasional screen clear. In either case, you now know a bit more about it. Perhaps the text was sufficient to identify it, or the non-text lets you know the file has some other purpose.

You might also trot out the DOS debug utility. You don't have to be a programmer to type debug filename.ext and then hit the D and Enter keys a few times. Often enough, the file will begin with a bit of text that tells you what it is. Or, you might try searching the file for the word copyright--often near the end and followed by a company name.

Another technique is to use a tool, such as Text Search in Norton Utilities ($179; 800-441-7234, 503-334-6054), to help you identify mystery files. For example, a file called FOOBAR.WHO gives no clues to its identity in either its name or extension. Using a search tool, you could look for FOOBAR.WHO in all the .EXE programs in the WINDOWS directory. If you find a file that contains the name, you'll be able to tell which program needs it.

But even if you don't find one, it doesn't necessarily mean you can erase the file. For example, you don't need to search for PBRUSH.DLL and RECORDER.DLL--their names are enough to let you know these files are related to the Paintbrush and Recorder applets. Yet neither applet's .EXE file contains an explicit reference to its .DLL file (there's only an embedded error message in RECORDER.EXE that refers to RECORDER.DLL). In other words, a text search may be good, but it's not infallible.

Speaking of searches, it's often worth examining readme files and/or .TXT and .WRI files. Sometimes one of these contains a description of the files that accompany an application, or there'll be a simple filename listing, even if no explanation is offered. Any such information can help you pin down various ambiguous files in your collection.

As a final suggestion, think about creating a WHOKNOWS subdirectory. If you find a file that you're absolutely, definitely, positively certain you'll never ever need again in the entire future history of Windows, move it into this directory. If you guessed right, you can erase it next month. If you guessed wrong, you can recover it with a minimum of effort.

And now, get out the hedge clippers and let the purges begin.

Ghosts of setups past

At the head of the list of files in my WINDOWS directory I found 15 files named WFWxx, where xx were the numbers 2 to 16 (I wonder what happened to WFW1?). A little snooping revealed that these are temporary copies of various system files created during a Microsoft Word setup procedure. They should have been erased at the end of the setup, but weren't--perhaps due to a glitch during that procedure. You may have similar ghosts of setups past in your own WINDOWS directory. It's worth having a look.

.INI file backups

Next on my list was a collection of files with numeric extensions of .000, .001 and so on. Here, the filenames themselves (PROTOCOL, SYSTEM, WIN) told me that these are former versions of .INI files. When some configuration operations rewrite these files, they save the former versions with .000 extensions. The next configuration procedure saves with .001 extensions, and so on. Chances are you saw a message stating that the former version of one or more of these files was being saved with a numeric extension. Chances are it was so long ago you forgot about it.

If that's true, then it's probably safe to erase them all now. But you may want to save the files with the highest-numbered extensions, in case you need to go back to the previous configuration. Note that the highest number might not be the same for all backed-up files. If that's the case, it's because not all of them needed to be rewritten during each previous procedure.

Any other files you find with one- or two-number extensions were probably also created as part of a configuration procedure and can also be erased. As a variation on this theme, the DOS MemMaker utility places your old CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files in the DOS directory, and gives each a .UMB extension.

The first files on my list that had letter extensions were WIN.BIT and SYSTEM.BIT. Obviously, these are more backups of you-know-what files. The extension was enough to let me know they belong to Bitstream's FaceLift for Windows, which I installed on my system. This is a good time to consider a diversionary tactic: Do a search for WIN.* and SYSTEM.* to find out who else has left old versions of these files behind. In addition to WIN.BIT, I found WIN.COM, WIN.SYD, WIN.TT and a few others. With one important exception (WIN.COM), they're all backup copies of WIN.INI, and all can be erased if the present WIN.INI has been working properly for a while. The same general comments apply to SYSTEM. xyz files.

.BMP files

Moving down the list, I next came across all those bitmap (.BMP) files. You can erase the whole bunch if you're sure you don't want them. Or move them into a separate BITMAP directory as I described in last month's column. Note that if you're using one of these files as wallpaper, either leave the file where it is, or enter its new pathname in Control Panel's Desktop dialog box.

.DAT files

My WINDOWS directory showed several files with .DAT extensions, only one of which I recognized (REG.DAT). This is the Windows registration database, and even if you don't meddle with the undocumented registration database editor utility (REGEDIT.EXE), Windows itself does, so leave this file in peace.

As for the other .DAT files, some were ASCII and some weren't (I found this out via the DOS TYPE command). One of the ASCII files appeared to be some kind of survey. Because there happened to be an .EXE file of the same name in the directory, I was able to run the program to refresh my memory. It was indeed a survey from a long-gone beta test. Erasing both the .EXE and .DAT files gained me 60KB.

One of the other ASCII files (AFMTOPFM.DAT) appeared to be a list of font equivalents, so the filename probably means Adobe Font Metrics to PostScript Font Metrics. Okay, but where did it come from? Using Norton's Text Search command, I found references to the file in two others: FLREADME.TXT and TYPE1.SCL. Looking at the former file in Notepad, I discovered these files were among those that Bitstream's FaceLift for Windows installed. In fact, the readme file conveniently listed the names and locations of all installed FaceLift files.

(Time out: If you find yourself about to delete a Windows application by running a utility such as MicroHelp's Uninstaller, first take a look in the application's directory for a readme file. Friendly applications will follow Bitstream's example and list all installed files. Use this as a checklist when Uninstaller asks you about deleting specific files.)

Back to work. A search for the mysterious WINTUTOR.DAT found the following text fragment in WINTUTOR.EXE: "The WINTUTOR.DAT file cannot be opened. Either the file has been deleted, or it is not in the same directory as the Tutorial.'' Now then, when was the last time you looked at the Windows Tutorial (on Program Manager's Help menu)? If your answer is "What tutorial?,'' you can pick up more than 150KB of disk space by erasing these two files.

.DLL files

Now we come to the Windows collection of .DLL (dynamic link library) files. I found 27 of them in my WINDOWS directory and another 62 in the SYSTEM directory. Because the usual search sequence is WINDOWS directory followed by SYSTEM directory, you may gain a slight speed improvement by placing all .DLL files in the WINDOWS directory. But don't do this on a network system where a remote application may look to the SYSTEM directory after searching its own local directory. In fact, unless you're very sure that a move won't cause any problems, you may be better off just leaving the .DLLs where you find them.

You should, however, check the .DLLs in both directories for duplications. If you consider a line-by-line check too tedious, copy all the WINDOWS directory .DLLs into a temporary directory and then copy the SYSTEM directory .DLLs into the same directory. You'll get a warning message for each duplication. Make a note of them, compare the two files with the same name and delete the older one. This will often resolve a "Call to Undefined Dynalink'' message, which will show up when an application finds an old .DLL file in the WINDOWS directory, and therefore doesn't move on to the SYSTEM directory to find the newer one. Don't forget to erase the .DLL collection from the temporary directory when you're done.

.EXE files

Next up is the .EXE group. Fortunately, you can recognize most of these by their names (PROGMAN, MSHEARTS, WRITE and so on). If you find any you don't recognize, make a note of their filenames and execute each one via the Run option in Program Manager's File menu. If you encounter a file that you know you don't want any more, then search for filename.* to see if there's an accompanying .HLP file--and, possibly, a .DLL file--that you can also erase.

While you're at it, check EMM386.EXE, MSCDEX.EXE and SMARTDRV.EXE in both the DOS and WINDOWS directories. Make sure your start-up files cite the latest version of these files, and then erase the earlier versions. You may also find two versions of the MSD.EXE utility, and, in the DOS directory, an MSD.COM as well. The .COM file is, in effect, an expanded-memory bug fix required for MSD versions prior to 2.1. Because DOS gives precedence to .COM files, the MSD.COM file loads, sets up the bug fix, and then calls MSD.EXE. If your own MSD.EXE is version 2.1 or later, you can dump the MSD.COM file.

.GRP files

It's probably worthwhile to count your .GRP files, and then count the number of open and closed group windows on the desktop. If you find more files than windows, then compare the list against the [Groups] section of PROGMAN.INI. Any file not cited in this section does not appear on the desktop. If you find such a file, erase it if you know it's something you no longer want.

If you're not sure what it is, open Program Manager's File menu, select the New option and then click on the program group radio button. Type in any convenient description and then type the name of that .GRP file into the Group File box. Click on the OK button to open that group window and see what it is. Now you can decide whether or not it's a keeper. If it is, then rewrite the description so that the window's title bar is a proper description of the group.

.HLP files

The next file type is the help (.HLP) group. For most of these files, you'll discover an equivalent .EXE file in the WINDOWS directory. You may also discover other help files scattered from one end of your hard disk to the other. I found 30 in my WINDOWS directory, and a whopping 90 others here, there and everywhere.

It might seem like a nice idea to set up a separate HELPFILE subdirectory and move the entire collection into it, especially if you regularly use the undocumented WINHELP.EXE utility to browse through the files. Unfortunately, some Windows applets and applications can't find their own help files unless they're in the same directory as the application itself. (Some--RECORDER.EXE, for example--will find a relocated help file if you add C:\WINDOWS\HELPFILE to your PATH statement.)

A little-known WINHELP.INI file may help here. Once you've moved all your help files into a HELPFILE directory, open any app and try to access its help file. If a "Cannot open Help file'' message appears, create a WINHELP.INI file that contains two lines: [files] and filename.hlp=C:\WINDOWS\HELPFILE. Replace filename with the name of that application's own help file and repeat the line for each application that needs it. If it works, great. If it doesn't (PBRUSH.HLP is one that doesn't), then you'll have to put the help file back where the application can find it.

.INI files

You probably have a fair collection of .INI files--some vital, others less so. Because the whole collection of these text files probably doesn't take up too much space, it may not be worth the time and trouble to go through it looking for dispensable files. But if you do recognize a distinctively named .INI file that you know you don't need any more, then by all means dump it.

What you're more likely to find, though, is an .INI file of dubious origin. I found one called TTEMBED.INI. Obviously (I thought), this has something to do with TrueType (TT) embedding (EMBED) work. But Norton's Text Search found a TTEMBED reference in MSINFO.TXT, which turned out to be a report generated by the MSINFO.EXE utility supplied with Microsoft Office.

I still had no idea what TTEMBED.INI was, but I'd already wasted more time than its meager 280 bytes deserved. In such a situation, I'd advise just leaving the file in peace. (Unable to follow my own advice, I eventually unearthed the file's purpose: It lists fonts that can't be embedded in a document, and contains the names of the 14 TrueType fonts supplied with Windows. More on this in a future column.)

Miscellaneous WINDOWS directory files

Several other file groups take up residence in your WINDOWS directory, among which are .PIF (545-byte program information files), .SCR (screen saver), .SYS (system), .TMP (temporary), .TXT (text), .WRI (Windows Write) and .WAV (wave) files. If you never run DOS applications in Windows, you can do without the .PIFs. The screen savers are usually about 16KB each, and SSFLYFNT.SCR is 38KB, so you might want to erase the ones you never use.

Regarding the .SYS files, most of these are loaded via CONFIG.SYS while the system boots up. Check CONFIG.SYS for various DEVICE=filename.SYS lines to verify which .SYS files are currently in use. You can erase RAMDRIVE.SYS if you use some other electronic disk software. As for any others not cited in CONFIG.SYS, erase them only if you're sure you don't need them now or in the future.

I mentioned earlier that you should erase .TMP files only after you exit Windows. As for .TXT and .WRI files, some users move these into a separate README directory and eventually erase any they don't need. Bringing up the rear are the .WAV files, which are the various sound effects you hear if you've installed a sound card in your system or configured your internal speaker to play them. You can either erase them if you don't use them, or move them into a dedicated directory if you're getting serious about multimedia audio.

SYSTEM directory files

Cleaning out the SYSTEM directory is reasonably easy, because so many of its files are explicitly cited in your SYSTEM.INI file. To begin with, search the directory and the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI for files ending in .386 and compare the lists. If you find a filename.386 file in the SYSTEM directory without an equivalent device=filename.386 line in SYSTEM.INI, then you don't currently need the file.

You can apply the same general technique to filename.DRV files, only this time search CONTROL.INI, PROGMAN.INI and WIN.INI in addition to SYSTEM.INI. Before you get carried away with this search though, keep in mind that if you change configurations, you may need files you're not currently using. As a typical example, you'll need various video drivers on hand if you regularly switch screen resolution or color depth.

Finally, for suggestions about what to do with TrueType fonts (.FOT and .TTF extensions), see my May 1994 column.

Cut with caution

In trimming your own WINDOWS and SYSTEM directories, you may discover a fine line separating caution from catastrophe. I've found the line a few times-

By: tripping over it--when I erased a little something I just knew was unimportant. So I'll repeat what I said earlier: If you have the slightest doubt about any file, move it into a holding directory for a little while. You can always erase it later on, once you're sure you won't miss it.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook and The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House). Contact John care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag Message Exchange on America Online.


Getting Started: Try These Tricks of the Trade

By: Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

I try to be honest with my Windows PC. I really do. But sometimes I just can't make it do what I want unless I play a little trick on it. For example, Cardfile refuses to let me save its documents in any format except its own. But if I trick Cardfile into thinking that it's printing, I can get it to convert a Cardfile database into an ordinary text file.

Or, when I use a PC that isn't connected to a printer, some applications won't let me use the fonts on my system. So, to use them, I simply trick the apps into believing the PC is connected to a printer.

Here's another example: Double-clicking on your desktop will bring up Windows' Task Manager. But if you don't want to use TaskMan, you can use the shortcut to load a different application by tricking Windows into thinking the other app is TaskMan.

And, finally, Windows prefers to have ProgramManager as its shell. To use a different program, like File Manager, as your shell, all you have to do is trick Windows into loading that program instead.

Here's how to play all those sneaky tricks and have your way with Windows.

Q: I have a Cardfile document full of information that I want to import into a better personal information manager (PIM). Is there any way to save the file in text format?

A: The only way to get information out of Cardfile--other than manual card-by-card copying and pasting--is to send it to a printer. Or make Cardfile think you're sending the information to a printer. Here's how:

In Program Manager, double-click on the Control Panel icon to open Control Panel. Double-click on Printers. In the Printers dialog, click on the Add button, then on the Generic/Text Only item in the List of Printers. Click on the Install button, then feed any Windows installation diskettes that it asks for into your floppy disk drive. Click on the OK button. You've now installed a printer driver called Generic/Text Only. (Don't click on the Set As Default Printer button. You want to leave your current printer as the default.)

The next step is to configure this driver so it writes to a text file rather than a printer. You should still have the Printers dialog box on your screen. With the Generic/Text Only printer selected, click on the Connect button. In the Ports box, scroll down and find the FILE: item, then click on it and select OK. Close the Printers dialog box.

Now, open Cardfile and the Cardfile document that you want to print to a file. Open Cardfile's File menu, select Print Setup, then click on the Specific Printer radio button. Select the Generic/Text Only on FILE option, then click on OK.

To remove the formatting Cardfile places on printed pages, open the File menu, select Page Setup, erase both the header and footer information (so both boxes are blank) and set all four margins to zero. Click on the OK button.

Finally, print the file by opening the File menu and selecting Print. You'll be prompted for a filename. You can give the file any name you like, but make sure to use the extension .TXT instead of .CRD. Cardfile will then create a file with that name. You can open the file in any word processor, or import it into your new PIM.

Q: I just installed a new word processor, and the fonts I want to use don't seem to be available. I know they're installed because I can use them in other applications. Why can't my new program see them?

A: I happen to know the solution to this problem, and it's a good thing, too. Knowing this trick once saved my ASCII. Earlier in the year, I chaired a session at Windows World. Microsoft provided all the speakers with copies of PowerPoint, a presentation package that's part of the Microsoft Office suite. The idea was that speakers would create PowerPoint presentations and bring them on diskettes to the show. In the auditorium, Microsoft provided brand-new 486 Windows PCs loaded with Windows and PowerPoint.

I arrived at the room 15 minutes before the session was scheduled to begin, and everything was set up. After transferring my presentation to the system, I launched PowerPoint and discovered that it wouldn't use the original typeface, but instead used a microscopic system font that would have been impossible for the audience to see.

Fortunately, I had read the solution to this problem a couple of years ago in WINDOWS Magazine. Some applications will let you use your fonts only if you've installed a printer driver, regardless of whether the PC is actually connected to a printer. Because the PCs at Windows World had been set up as presentation machines and were not connected to printers, no printer drivers had been installed.

You can solve the problem--as I did--simply by installing a printer driver, which will trick the application into thinking the PC is connected to a printer. To do so, open Control Panel, then double-click on the Printers item. Click on the Add button. Scroll down, find and click on the HP LaserJet III (hey, if you're going to install a printer, you might as well install a good one), then click on the Install button. A dialog box will likely pop up and ask you to insert one of the Windows installation diskettes. Go ahead and do that. Click on the OK button, then on the Close button.

Now restart your word processor. You should be able to display all your fonts.

Q: I discovered quite by accident that Windows' Task Manager pops up when you double-click on the desktop. This would be great if I ever wanted to use Task Manager. I'd rather have File Manager pop up instead. Is this possible?

A: You can trick Windows into thinking some other application is Task Manager by adding a line to your SYSTEM.INI file. Open File Manager and find SYSTEM.INI in your WINDOWS directory, then open it by double-clicking on it.

Find the [boot] section of the file, then add the following line: taskman.exe= winfile.exe. Close the file and save the changes. After you exit and restart Windows, you'll be able to launch File Manager by double-clicking on the wallpaper or by pressing Ctrl+Esc. Note that you can launch any program, not just FileMan, by putting the name of the file that launches the program on the SYSTEM.INI file's taskman= line (in place of winfile.exe).

Some systems will give you an error message if you attempt this trick. If you're determined to make it work, you can try one of these two workarounds:

•	Move the File Manager icon from the Main group into the StartUp group, then open the File menu, select Properties, and click on Run Minimized. This will load File Manager as an icon when Windows starts. To make this work, minimize, rather than close, FileMan each time you finish using it.

•	Or remove the line you added to the SYSTEM.INI file, then open File Manager's File menu, select Rename, and change winfile.exe to taskman.exe. Then, in Program Manager, click once on the FileMan icon, open the File menu and select Properties. After Command Line, change winfile.exe to taskman.exe.

Q: Okay, I'll admit it: I'm a DOS fan from way back. I'm much more comfortable with File Manager's DOS directory structure than I am with Program Manager's cute little icons. Truth be told, I'd rather never see ProgMan. Can I make it go away?

A: Sure. All you have to do is--you guessed it--trick Windows. Just open your SYSTEM.INI file, look for the shell=progman.exe line in the [boot] section, and then change it to read shell=winfile.exe.

Close the file and save the changes. The next time you start Windows, FileMan will come up and ProgMan will be nowhere in sight. (By the way, you can substitute any program to operate as your shell, not just FileMan.)

A word of caution: Before you install a new application, put ProgMan back in place as the shell. Some apps won't install correctly if you don't.

And now, for my final trick, I will disappear from this column!

Mike Elgan is the executive editor of WINDOWS Magazine and former Getting Started columnist. Look for Mike's new column in the Analysis section of the magazine. And send your Getting Started questions and comments to the new author, Jonathan Blackwood, at screen name JonathanB2 on America Online.


Power Windows: Drive Your Hard Disk to Better Performance

Drive Your Hard Disk To Better Performance

Data Flow in the Dark Ages of DOS

How Windows Data Flows


Drive Your Hard Disk To Better Performance

By: Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Remember when anyone with a screwdriver and a copy of DOS could install a hard disk and get it working? Well, that's one trip down memory lane that won't leave me misty eyed. In the "good old days,'' hard disks were big, slow and stupid. New, small, fast and smart hard disks run circles around their predecessors, and although configuring them has gotten harder, it's well worth the effort.

This month I'll show you some ways you can optimize hard disk performance. Along the way you'll learn a bit about what goes on behind the scenes when data is read or written.

Before Windows entered the picture, data moved between an application and disk along a complex and time-consuming path. (For details, see the Data Flow in the Dark Ages of DOS). Fortunately, the software that implements each step is isolated, making it easy to replace--and improve. This is what programmers call modularity. Modularity allows a complex system to be upgraded piece by piece, so that individual modules can be replaced with new and improved versions.

Working smarter

The first major improvement to the disk read-write process was a disk cache called SmartDrive. This program made its first appearance with the release of MS-DOS 4.0. It reappeared, in a much improved form, as a part of both MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.

A disk cache is simply a small program that stores the most recently read or most often read disk sectors in the computer's main RAM. It monitors requests for data, providing the data from its personal cache of sectors whenever possible. Some caches, including later versions of SmartDrive, also cache sectors being written. This involves temporarily storing new information in RAM, and then waiting until the computer is temporarily idle before actually writing the new data to the disk. That way, you can get back to work in the program you're running without having to wait for the disk write to complete.

The current SmartDrive 5.0 is included as a part of MS-DOS 6.0 and later. You can also download it from the Microsoft Download Service and most popular on-line services such as CompuServe and America Online.

Since version 4.0, SmartDrive has existed as an .EXE file named SMARTDRV.EXE (its previous form was as a device driver named SMARTDRV.SYS). Once executed, usually from a user's AUTOEXEC.BAT file, SmartDrive inserts itself between DOS and the hard disk driver. From this vantage point, SmartDrive monitors requests to read and write disk sectors, substituting data from RAM whenever possible.

By default, SmartDrive 5.0 will attempt to cache all hard disk reads and writes. Data read from diskettes will be cached also. SmartDrive will even cache reads from CD-ROM drives if SMARTDRV.EXE is loaded after MSCDEX.EXE. The default amount of RAM that SmartDrive uses is determined automatically, on the basis of the total amount of RAM in your computer.

But SmartDrive allows you to modify its behavior and tune its performance, via command-line parameters. Perhaps most importantly, it allows you to specify the amount of RAM it will use under various circumstances. For most users, SmartDrive's default choices work best. But there's one important exception if you're using Windows for Workgroups 3.11. We'll get to that in a moment.

Working faster

The second improvement in the way disks are read and written came with Windows 3.1. This innovation, called FastDisk, is a Windows component that replaces the BIOS INT 13h software.

To understand how FastDisk speeds disk reads and writes, you need to know a thing or two about the CPUs that supply the brain power for PCs. The CPUs that powered the original PCs (Intel 8088) were weaklings by today's standards. At best, they could move 16 bits of data at a time. And they couldn't move it very far. Their entire universe consisted of one million data addresses. Today, 80386 and newer CPUs can easily toss around 32 bits of data at once, and they inhabit a much larger world. Under the right circumstances, they can store data in as many as four billion addresses.

Unfortunately, the BIOS's INT 13h routine was written in the days of the Intel 8088, which means the routine doesn't take advantage of the greater capability of newer CPUs. Even though it's now possible to move data 32 bits at a time, the BIOS routine can move it in chunks only half that size.

But there's an even more important benefit to replacing the BIOS routine. 80386 and newer CPUs, in order to remain compatible with software written for older CPUs, can operate in either of two modes. In real mode, the CPU emulates an old 8088. Protected mode, on the other hand, allows the CPU to operate at maximum speed, taking advantage of all its newest features.

Like DOS itself, the BIOS and most driv-ers require the CPU to run in the slower real mode. But Windows normally takes full advantage of the CPU's protected mode. As a result, reading from or writing to disk causes a series of mode switches. Before each real-mode component (DOS,

driver and BIOS) can be executed, the CPU must switch from protected to real mode. After each component finishes its task, the CPU must switch back again to protected mode. As many as six mode switches may be needed to complete a single read or write! And mode switches are s-l-o-w.

FastDisk solves both problems. It takes full advantage of a newer CPU's ability to move 32 bits of data at a time (giving rise to its nickname, 32-bit disk access). And it runs in protected mode, eliminating two mode switches per read or write.

Unfortunately, FastDisk has a few problems of its own. Because FastDisk is a part of Windows, it can speed disk reads and writes only when Windows is running. It also requires you to run Windows in Enhanced mode.

What's more, the FastDisk software that comes with Windows 3.1 replaces only the "standard'' INT 13h routine found in the BIOS of most PCs. This means it will work only with IDE drives, and other drives and controllers that emulate the original PC's Western Digital 1003 hard disk controller. Luckily, some hard disk adapter manufacturers have developed their own FastDisk software to speed up hard disks attached to their adapters. And any drive that can work without the INT 13h routine doesn't need FastDisk at all.

The Workgroups workhorse

The next, biggest and most recent change to the disk read/write process involves two components of Windows for Workgroups 3.11: VFAT.386 (also known as 32-bit file access) and VCACHE.386.

VFAT.386 (named after an important part of DOS's file system, the file allocation table) is a replacement for DOS itself--at least, the part of DOS that understands the disk file system. Because VFAT.386 runs in protected mode, it's faster than DOS's original real-mode routines. In addition, it eliminates two mode switches per read or write.

When you first install Windows for Workgroups 3.11, VFAT.386 is disabled. To enable it, double-click on Control Panel's Enhanced icon. Next, click on the Virtual Memory button, and then on the Change button. Finally, place a check in the box next to Use 32-bit File Access.

Like DOS, 32-bit file access is hardware independent. This means you can use it even if your hard disk and controller aren't compatible with FastDisk's 32-bit disk access.

(Note that some folks still can't use 32-bit file access. In certain cases, an incompatible disk compression utility causes the problem. Although 32-bit file access is compatible with the most recent versions of Microsoft's DoubleSpace and DriveSpace compression software, as well as the newest version of Stac Electronics' Stacker, older software generally won't work. Another problem is that VFAT.386 will fail to load if any disk files are open at the time you start up Windows. For example, a TSR program may keep a file open, or the command that starts Windows may redirect text output to a disk file.)

VCACHE.386 is a protected-mode hard disk cache that's enabled automatically whenever you enable 32-bit file access. You can control the amount of RAM that VCACHE.386 uses by adjusting the Cache Size setting on the same Control Panel dialog box that allows you to enable 32-bit file access.

By default, VCACHE.386 caches both reads and writes, but you can disable write caching by adding the following line to the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file: ForceLazyOff=DriveList. Replace DriveList with a list of drive letters (for example, CDE to disable write caching on writes to drives C, D and E).

Because both VCACHE.386 and SmartDrive are disk caches, you might think that the protected-mode VCACHE.386 should replace the real-mode SmartDrive. But while VCACHE.386 caches only hard disks, SmartDrive can cache hard disks, CD-ROMs and diskettes. The ideal solution, which would cache all types of disk storage, requires the cooperation of VCACHE.386 and SmartDrive.

To accomplish this, VCACHE.386 automatically tells SmartDrive to stop caching hard disks as soon as Windows loads. This allows the more efficient VCACHE.386 to perform hard disk caching exclusively.

The two caches cooperate in another way: by sharing RAM. Before Windows loads, SmartDrive is your only cache, so all RAM set aside for caching should be assigned to it. But after Windows loads, VCACHE.386 takes over most caching duties. Ideally, SmartDrive should surrender most of its RAM once Windows starts, thus providing more RAM for VCACHE.386 to use.

To make this happen, all you have to do is specify the correct arguments on SMARTDRV.EXE's command line. (Here's that exception I mentioned earlier.) SmartDrive accepts two numbers, indicating the amount of RAM (in kilobytes) SmartDrive should use before and after Windows loads. For example, to instruct Windows to use 2048KB of RAM before Windows loads and 256KB after, you'd start SMARTDRV.EXE using this command line: SMARTDRV.EXE 2048 256.

The future

By all accounts, Windows 95 (Chicago) will continue the trend of the last few years. Microsoft has already indicated that DOS will completely disappear, to be replaced by high-speed protected-mode software. Rumor has it that Windows 95 will provide protected-mode software to control most popular hard disks and CD-ROMs. As a result, your disks will be read and written to at full speed, giving you all the hardware performance you paid for. (For more information on this subject, see "The Fastest Windows Ever,'' June.)


Data Flow in the Dark Ages of DOS

Without Windows, if an application wishes to write data to the hard disk, it first passes the data to DOS by calling DOS's INT 21h interface. Using variations of the basic INT 21h CPU instruction, application programs ask DOS to read data from disk files, write new data to the files, and even cause files to be deleted.

DOS performs considerable magic, allowing applications to live in a sort of fantasy land. Applications believe that such things as directories and files actually exist. But DOS knows that disks contain nothing more than seemingly endless sequences of sectors (blocks containing 512 bytes). DOS sets aside portions of each disk to keep track of directory names, file-names, and the locations of each file's data. All this housekeeping information is known as the disk's file system, and only DOS and a few disk utilities understand it.

DOS uses its knowledge of the file system to convert each application's request into a series of sectors to be read and written. It then turns those requests over to the next link in the chain: the hard disk driver.

Although DOS thinks of a hard disk as merely an endless sequence of sectors, disks actually consist of stacks of round platters. Both sides of each platter are covered by hundreds of concentric circles known as tracks. Finally, these tracks consist of dozens of sectors, laid end to end.

SCSI hard disks manage these details of disk geometry themselves. Ask a SCSI drive for sector 20,000, and it'll figure out which platter, track and sector must be read. Most other drives, including the IDE drives found in most of today's computers, aren't as helpful. If you want them to read or write to a sector, you'll have to tell them exactly where to find the sector.

This difference in drives accounts for the two different paths shown in the illustration on the left. The driver in the top path must know and understand the disk drive's geometry. It converts requests from DOS into requests to read specific sectors from specific tracks on specific platters. The driver then hands the more detailed request to a routine found in your computer's BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) ROM. This BIOS routine (accessed via the INT 13h instruction) "talks'' to the actual disk hardware, causing data to be read or written.

If the drive itself handles details of its geometry, the BIOS step can be eliminated. In that case, the disk driver talks directly to the disk hardware. This is shown in the bottom path.


How Windows Data Flows

Although the Windows data path may look as complex as the DOS one (see Data Flow in the Dark Ages of DOS''), data actually moves more quickly. Four components are responsible for the improvement:

•	VFAT.386 (also known as 32-bit file access), which is a component of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, replaces the part of DOS that understands the disk file system. Because VFAT.386 runs in protected mode, it's faster than DOS's original routines, and eliminates two mode switches per read or write.

•	VCACHE.386, another component of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, is a protected-mode hard disk cache that's enabled automatically whenever you enable 32-bit file access.

•	SmartDrive is a disk cache that lets you get back to work in your application without having to wait for a disk write to complete.

•	FastDisk (also known as 32-bit disk access) replaces the BIOS and runs in protected mode, eliminating two mode switches per read or write. It also takes full advantage of a newer CPU's ability to move 32 bits of data at a time.

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing, 1994), a nonprogrammer's introduction to VBA. She's also the manager of WINDOWS Magazine Online on America Online. Reach Karen at screen name WinMag1 on America Online.


Networking Windows: Management Strategies for Notebooks on the Go

Management Strategies For Notebooks

Setting Up Setenv.bat


Management Strategies For Notebooks

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Trying to keep up with your globe-trotting notebook PC users can be tough. Travelers have an on-again, off-again relationship with the network back at the office that makes system management a real challenge. Because notebooks are a corporate resource, they need the same administrative care that you give their desktop counterparts. This includes making sure notebook users adhere to the guidelines you've established for operating systems, applications and hardware setup. That's easy enough to do when the notebook users are logged into the LAN. But it's a whole different story when they're working off the LAN, hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the office.

Well, now you can sit back and relax. With just a bit of thoughtful planning and some careful use of environment variables, log-in scripts and batch files, you can automate notebook management.

The first step is to standardize as much as you can on hardware, software and configuration options. It's a lot easier to manage 10 identical notebooks all running the same applications than it is to manage 10 different combinations. If for some reason you can't insist on identical equipment and applications, at least try to limit the number of choices.

You'll also want a standardized directory structure. Updating files--both application and user data--will require a lot less work if the directory structures on local drives match those on the network. Simple commands, such as XCOPY with its subdirectory switch, /S, will act intelligently when the directory structures match. And your users will always find their data in the same location, whether they're on the LAN or on the road.

The next step is to create a directory on the notebook to be used for administrative purposes only. One way to warn users that a directory is off limits is to begin the directory name with an exclamation point (!). For example, you can call the directory !MGMT. To protect the directory even more, select it in File Manager, open File/Properties and check the Hidden box. Although advanced users can easily set up File Manager to display hidden directories, this step should be sufficient to protect the directory from most of your users.

Tampering with the environment

Now, don't call the EPA on me--we're going to tamper with the DOS environment. By placing information there in the form of environment variables, you'll enable your batch files and log-in scripts to communicate. In the case of a notebook machine, you'll create a file named SETENV.BAT, whose sole function will be to place machine-specific information in the environment, where other batch files can use it. Then you'll call the batch file from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

The principle to keep in mind is that the only thing you want to be unique about the machine is what must be unique. For example, if a machine needs a special mouse driver, that's important, machine-specific information. On the other hand, information that's not machine specific, such as the user's log-in name and group memberships, should not be included in the SETENV.BAT file. (You'd put that information in the system or user log-in script.)

So what will you put in SETENV.BAT? In the case of the notebook machine, you want to know that it is a notebook. To indicate this, set a variable with this command: SET NOTEBOOK=TRUE. Then, to test for notebook status when the notebook is connected to the LAN, you simply check for a non-null value of NOTEBOOK (NOTEBOOK <>""). The actual name of the variable is arbitrary, as is its value. You can use this variable in a number of ways. A more sophisticated variation is SET NOTEBOOK=TI_4000E, where the information provided is twofold: (1) I am a notebook, and (2) I am a Texas Instruments TravelMate 4000E.

Once the NOTEBOOK variable is in the environment, the system log-in script can respond to it by performing the maintenance functions specific to notebooks.

Other entries in SETENV.BAT point to specific requirements of the machine. Notebook machines, by nature, require special drivers for just about all the hardware. Depending upon the level of sophistication of your management scheme, this information can range from interesting to essential. You'll need to do three things relating to these special drivers. First, gather the information about them from the SYSTEM.INI file. Second, archive the drivers onto tape in case you need them later. And third, document the identity of the drivers by placing the information into the environment.

In the SYSTEM.INI file's [boot] section is a list of drivers the notebook needs in order to work properly (if Windows is up and running, that means the drivers are all in place). You need the identity of the following drivers: COMM.DRV, SOUND.DRV, SYSTEM.DRV, DISPLAY.DRV, KEYBOARD.DRV and MOUSE.DRV. You also need the names of files associated with the display driver, the grabbers: 386GRABBER and 286GRABBER. These files are responsible for windowed DOS sessions. In addition, you'll want to record anything that appears on the drivers= line.

Further down, in the [386Enh] section, you're concerned with any device that isn't supplied on the Windows distribution diskettes and doesn't have an asterisk (*) prefix. The * indicates an internal device, so no file is associated with it. One clue to devices of interest is a full path specification (for example, C:\USERS\ JSLOMAN\!WINDOWS.311\VPEMCD.386). Full path names usually indicate that the device was installed after Windows and thus may be associated with special hardware.

Finding all the devices that you need to deal with can be difficult. To make it easier, try comparing the notebook's SYSTEM.INI file with the SYSTEM.INI file on a generic workstation installation. Also in the [386Enh] section, you'll need the name of the display's Enhanced-mode device driver, which is on the display= line. Setting up SETENV.BAT, shows a sample SETENV.BAT file for a TI notebook machine.

Start cloning around

Now it's time to think about applications. Although I'm a strong proponent of installing apps on the file server, I make an exception when it comes to notebook machines. Notebook users can't always connect to the network when they need to use their machines. This means that all the files needed to run Windows and apps must be on the notebook's local drive. So how do you manage this arrangement when the notebooks are scattered around the globe? You could try cloning yourself, but it would be a lot easier to clone Windows and the applications.

First, create a USERS directory on the notebook's C: drive (even if the notebook has only one user). Second, create the user's subdirectory (for example, JSLOMAN) and, from there, a subdirectory for Windows (for example, you could call it !WINDOWS.311). Third, copy all the files from the notebook's WINDOWS directory to the new backup directory you just created (C:\USERS\JSLOMAN\!WINDOWS.311). You'll now have two installations of Windows on the notebook.

Next, get the notebook to see the server from the DOS prompt. If you're running NetWare, you should use ODI drivers and VLMs that are appropriate for the docking station NIC (network interface card) or parallel port NIC that you have. Once the notebook is connected to the network server, run SETUP.EXE from the directory on the server that contains Windows, and upgrade the Windows that you copied to the user directory on the notebook. This will sync the Windows on the notebook machine with the Windows in the rest of your enterprise, while keeping the notebook-specific drivers intact. (Note that you should not use the /N switch when you run SETUP.EXE, because you want a standalone installation.)

When you're sure the new notebook installation works, delete the directory on the notebook that contains the original installation of Windows.

Now install applications the same way: from the network. Make sure that you install all user files, such as .INI and .CFG files, to the notebook-based user directory. The goal is to duplicate on the notebook whatever resides on the server for a fixed workstation user.

Once you've installed Windows and any apps on the notebook, and everything is working properly, copy the \USERS\username directory structure to its proper place on the server. For example, use the command XCOPY C:\USERS

\JSLOMAN F:\USERS /S to clone the notebook's setup on the file server. Because the Windows is a full installation, this will take a fair amount of space. If you don't have the space to spare, move all nonuser files to a C:\WINDOWS.3x directory on the notebook before you create the clone on the file server. Be careful not to move the font files (.TTF and .FOT), though--they must remain wherever they were installed.

Getting automated

Now that you've set up a standardized directory structure and the notebook's apps are in place, you can get to work on automation. When a user logs into the file server, the log-in script maps drives to Windows and applications. But these mappings won't work for notebook machines. To distinguish a notebook from a fixed workstation, you can test for the NOTEBOOK variable.

To do so, after the general drive mappings in the log-in script, put a conditional block: IF <NOTEBOOK> != "" THEN BEGIN. This will execute any statements after the BEGIN command but before an END command, if the NOTEBOOK variable is set to anything. You need the angle brackets < > because the NOTEBOOK variable is in the DOS environment; it's not a NetWare identifier variable.

Here's a typical conditional block for notebook machines:

REM Notebook conditional block

REM Executed if <NOTEBOOK>

REM isn't null

IF <NOTEBOOK> != "" THEN BEGIN

map del s3:

map del s4:

END

These statements will be executed when a user logs in from a notebook machine. In this simple case, we delete the search mappings s3 and s4. These were set earlier in the log-in script for desktop users and point to Windows and an application that the notebook user must run locally. Eliminating the search drives causes the DOS path to be used.

A very important note: Use MAP INS (insert) when mapping any search drives in the log-in script. If you don't, your search drive mapping will remove one path entry for each drive, and this technique that we're discussing for notebooks won't work. You can, of course, put any other lines that are appropriate for your notebook machines in this same conditional block. But don't call any DOS functions from here.

Instead, execute a batch file by adding the following line to the end of the log-in script: IF <NOTEBOOK> != "" EXIT "NOTEBOOK.BAT". This line should come after anything that applies to all users in your system log-in script, such as group membership directory assignments. You can use several lines if you need to distinguish other sorts of machines or users for special treatment when they leave the log-in script.

The EXIT "NOTEBOOK.BAT" command instructs NetWare to exit the log-in script and execute NOTEBOOK.BAT. You'll create this batch file for notebook management and place it in the \PUBLIC directory on your NetWare server. It's placed there for two reasons: to make it accessible to users and to ensure that it's on the search path. You can't specify a search path in the EXIT command because you're limited to 14 characters between the quotation marks.

NOTEBOOK.BAT will do a lot of work for you; its level of sophistication is up to your imagination. Let's look at a few uses. For our purposes, let's assume that each of your users has a directory that's been assigned to U:\ in the system log-in script. The full path is F:\USER\%LOGIN_- NAME%. When a notebook user logs in, the machine has probably just returned from the road. This means the user files on the notebook probably differ from those on the server.

NOTEBOOK.BAT can get the notebook user directory and the network user directory in sync for you, using one of three schemes: unconditional automatic, conditional automatic or user initiated. In an unconditional automatic scheme, NOTEBOOK.BAT would contain something like these lines:

XCOPY U:\F:\BACKUP

\%LOGIN_NAME% /S

XCOPY C:\USERS\%LOGIN_NAME%

F:\USERS /S

The first line copies the existing network user directory files to a BACKUP directory, to ensure that at least one old copy exists. The second line copies the notebook-based user directory to the server. This puts the directories in sync. Note that both lines make use of an environment variable called LOGIN_NAME. This is not automatically available. Your system log-in script should place the NetWare LOGIN_NAME identifier variable into the DOS environment.

In the conditional automatic variation you do the same thing, but to prevent inadvertent synchronizing (for example, a user logs in twice in five minutes and destroys your archival copy), you add a flag file to the user directory and then test it to see whether it's necessary to sync. The simplest way to do this is to insert the DAY identifier variable into the DOS environment from the log-in script. This variable returns the number of the day relative to the month (1 to 31).

Once you know this information, you can create a flag file that uses it. A flag file is an empty file that you can use to denote whether an operation has occurred. In NOTEBOOK.BAT, just add this conditional statement: IF EXIST %DAY%.FLG GOTO NOSYNC, where NOSYNC directs the batch command to skip to a label beyond the code that syncs directories. If the test for the flag file fails, you delete the old one and create a new one as follows:

DEL *.FLG

REM > %day%.FLG

The second line will create an empty file with the right name. This technique limits directory synchronization to once per day. If your users often log in around midnight, this probably won't work.

The third option is user initiated: Use CHOICE or some other batch file enhancer to ask the user whether he or she wants the directories to be synchronized.

Easier app updates

You can also use NOTEBOOK.BAT to update applications on notebook machines. Simply create a version flag file (for example, VER.101) and place it in the user's application directory. During the execution of NOTEBOOK.BAT, check the flag. If it isn't current, just copy from the server the files that need to be updated. For example, if you receive an updated communications driver for Windows that must be distributed to notebook users, check for the flag as follows:

IF NOT EXIST C:\USERS

\%LOGIN_NAME%\!WINDOWS.311

\VER.105GOTO NOWUP

where NOWUP is a label for the update section of NOTEBOOK.BAT. Then use these commands for updating:

NOWUP

C:

CD \USERS\%LOGIN_NAME%

\!WINDOWS.311

XCOPY F:\UPDATE\NOTEBOOK

\WINDOWS.311 /S

DELETE VER.*

REM > VER.105

The UPDATE directory contains the update files for whatever classes of machines and applications are needed.

When you try out these techniques, keep in mind that these are just suggestions. You'll probably need to adapt them to suit your particular enterprise. But the end result should be the same: the ability to manage your notebook users whenever they connect to the server.


Setting Up Setenv.bat

To simplify notebook management, you can create a file called SETENV.BAT. The file's sole function is to place machine-specific information in the environment, where other batch files can use it. Here's a sample SETENV.BAT file for a Texas Instruments 4000E notebook computer.

@echo off

rem *** SETENV.BAT sets management environment variables

rem *** Texas Instruments TravelMate 4000E with Xircom PEM

rem *** edited 07/20/92 by Jeffrey Sloman

SET NOTEBOOK=TI_4000E

SET COMM.DRV=PEMCOMM.DRV

SET DISPLAY.DRV=256_1024.DRV

SET SOUND.DRV=MMSOUND.DRV

SET 386GRABBER=VGA256.3GR

SET 286GRABBER=VGACOLOR.2GR

SET MOUSE.DRV=MOUSE.DRV

SET KEYBOARD.DRV=KBDTI31.DRV

SET DRIVERS=MMSYSTEM.DLL POWER.DRV WINMM16.DLL

SET XIRCOM=C:\USERS\JSLOMAN\!WINDOWS.311\SYSTEM\VPEMCD.386

SET POWER=VPOWERD.386

SET VXD_DISPLAY=VDD64XX.386

This file sets the NOTEBOOK variable to the model name (TI_4000E) and lists the machine's essential drivers. The last entry has the same value as the display= line found in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI, but it uses the name VXD_DISPLAY to distinguish it from the display= line in SYSTEM.INI's [boot] section. It's a good idea to store copies of all the files referred to in SETENV.BAT in a C:\!MGMT\MACHINE directory. You can use these files to recover from disasters and also to make upgrading easier.

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration Inc., an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. Contact Jeffrey care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag Message Exchange on America Online


eNTerprise Windows: NT and NetWare: Friends at Last

By: John D. Ruley

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

A little more than a year ago, I wrote about connecting Windows NT and NetWare. The column was titled "Tame the Two-Headed NT-NetWare Beast,'' which should give you a good idea of what was involved. NT 3.1 was still in beta, and the NetWare connectivity situation was rather--ahem--hairy.

Now that NT and NetWare have had a year to learn to get along, the situation's considerably improved. In fact, the level of support built into Daytona (Windows NT 3.5) is so good, it makes me believe NT will become the most NetWare-friendly operating system ever produced. Here's a look at what your options are today, and how they evolved.

Windows NT 3.1 didn't have a built-in NetWare client requester, but it did come with one critical piece of NetWare-compatible plumbing: Microsoft's NWLink protocol stack. This is a full-blown 32-bit native implementation of Novell's IPX (Internet Packet eXchange) for NT. Without a requester, you couldn't use this to connect NT to a NetWare server. But you could run NT's own native networking over IPX. And applications, such as Microsoft SQL Server for NT, could employ NWLink to offer NetWare-like services to other systems that had a NetWare requester installed.

Daytona retains NWLink, but the low-level implementation has been rewritten and, according to Microsoft, gives much better performance. In NT 3.1, both NWLink and the TCP/IP implementation were based on an NT port of a UNIX-style Streams interface, which was easy for Microsoft to get running but didn't give great performance. The new protocols are pure NT-native implementations. NWLink in Daytona also supports multiple networks and SPX-II.

But the fact remains that what most NT users would really like to have is a way to access their NetWare server or servers. And although NWLink provides the all-important low-level plumbing for such a client requester, it doesn't understand NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) packets. Translating the NCP packets requires another piece of software.

Services for NetWare

Originally, Microsoft expected Novell to provide NT's client requester. Eventually Novell did, but the requester was late into beta (it still hasn't actually shipped, as of this writing), and had a slew of problems. Basically, for its first few months on the market, NT had no clean way to connect to a NetWare server. When it became apparent that Novell wasn't going to ship an NT requester in NT's first few months, Microsoft stunned the industry by announcing that it would develop its own NetWare client for NT.

The clumsily named NetWare Workstation Compatible Service (NWCS) was the result. Right from the start, NWCS offered considerable advantages over Novell's client. Hosted on NWLink, it worked cleanly alongside NT's built-in networking. It also mapped NetWare servers directly into the NT file system, so you could access NetWare resources transparently from File Manager or the command line. In fact, NWCS was so good--even in beta--that it all but killed off Novell's competing requester.

Microsoft eventually shipped NWCS (which it renamed Services for NetWare) in an unusual way. You can still get it in the usual ways (by downloading it from the WINNT forum on CompuServe, using anonymous ftp to get it from ftp.microsoft.com, or calling Microsoft and asking for it on diskette), and you'll be charged only for the shipping. But if you plan to buy Daytona, you don't have to bother with these methods--NWCS is in the box.

NetWare Gateway Service

Just having a good, reliable client requester for NetWare might have been enough, but Microsoft went further. One major complaint about NWCS in NT 3.1 was that you couldn't use it remotely. NT's built-in Remote Access Services (RAS) wouldn't extend NCP packets over phone lines. As a workaround, Microsoft provided a gateway feature in beta versions of NWCS that translated between NCPs and NT's native Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. The result was that you could dial into an NT server using RAS and access a NetWare directory that had been "re-shared'' as an NT directory using the gateway.

When later versions of the NWCS beta dropped this feature, users howled in protest. But it turned out that Microsoft had been listening to us and had, in fact, decided to package the gateway feature separately. In Daytona, it's called NetWare Gateway Service, and it's included with Windows NT Server but not with Windows NT Workstation.

That decision to put NetWare Gateway Service in the server reflects Microsoft's determination to do a better job of distinguishing the workstation and server product lines in Windows NT 3.5. Whether that's a good thing for users won't be clear until we see what the final pricing is. Regardless, it's usually a server that's going to need the service, so it makes sense for the service to be packaged along with the server.

What makes the Gateway Service so interesting is that it breaks the link between the server and client protocol drivers. In a classic mixed NT and NetWare LAN, like we have here at WINDOWS Magazine, all client systems have to run one network protocol stack for NetWare (which talks in NCPs) and another for NT (which prefers SMBs). This is true even if both networks run the same underlying protocol. You can use NWLink as NT's only protocol driver, which means that all the traffic for both NT and NetWare go out over the wire as IPX packets. But even so, every client still needs two requesters: one for NetWare, one for NT.

Using the Gateway Service eliminates the need for dual stacks. All the clients run NT requesters, and all access to the NetWare server is through the gateway (an NT server that talks to the NetWare server using NCPs). It's a pretty slick idea, but it has one serious limitation: Because every request made of the NetWare server has to be translated, you take a pretty substantial performance hit (just how much, I haven't measured--yet). So although you wouldn't want to use the gateway as the only way for a large number of users to connect to NetWare, it does make sense in a number of special situations, as I'll point out.

Remote Access Services

You may remember that the original gateway feature in NWCS was a response to users' complaints about not getting any access to their NetWare servers over RAS in NT 3.1. That happened because NT 3.1 RAS functioned purely as an SMB gateway. It used a proprietary Microsoft protocol and didn't handle NCPs. Curiously enough, even while Microsoft developers were perfecting the NetWare Gateway for NT servers, they were eliminating the original need for it from the clients by extending RAS to handle NetWare connections.

RAS in Daytona uses the industry-standard Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and handles all types of connections--SMBs, NCPs, UNIX-style IP--transparently. So if you dial into an NT server using RAS on an NT client, you get all the same connections you'd have on the LAN, including your NetWare connections. In fact, because PPP is an industry standard, Daytona RAS should allow you to dial into a NetWare server directly, provided the server has PPP support installed (either using a PPP NetWare Loadable Module, or a multiprotocol router that supports PPP).

NetWare support built into the RAS client is consistent with Microsoft's view of RAS as a client-to-server connection tool. This makes a lot of sense in a central office environment that also has mobile users. But what about a true wide area network (WAN), where you need to connect entire offices?

Combining RAS with the NetWare gateway in Daytona Server could be the answer. You'd run one high-speed data link between the central office and an NT server at the remote office, and then you could access the central office NetWare server(s) over that link using RAS. Then you'd use the NetWare gateway to re-share the NetWare directories to users on the remote office LAN.

In contrast to NT 3.1, the Daytona Workstation comes with excellent NetWare client support. Daytona Server has a built-in NetWare gateway, and both versions of Daytona are capable of extending NetWare connectivity over WAN links using RAS. NT is starting to look better connected now, isn't it?

If client-side support were as far as Microsoft went, Novell probably wouldn't mind, because it makes its money selling server licenses. And although gateway support might bother Novell a bit, it's a special case and won't happen all that often. (In the remote-office scenario I described earlier, the NetWare server sees just one connection from the remote NT server, regardless of the number of users accessing the re-shared directories over the remote office's NT-based LAN.) The following item, however, surely bothers Novell a lot.

NetWare Migration Tool

Naturally Microsoft would rather have us replace our NetWare servers with NT servers, solving all the protocol problems in a single stroke. But leaving aside the political issues and thinking about this only in practical terms, it's just too hard for most of us.

Think about it. You have one or more NetWare servers running, each with its own directory structure, user accounts, file permissions and so on. Migrating users from NetWare to NT means either duplicating the NetWare user accounts or saddling each user with a separate NT account. It's not a simple prospect.

Yet it needn't be all that difficult. The Microsoft NT Advanced Server for LAN Manager kit includes a nice set of tools for migrating OS/2 LAN Manager servers to NT. The tools create duplicate file structures with permissions, duplicate user accounts and so on. If Microsoft can do this for LAN Manager, why not for NetWare?

They can. And they have. Beta 2 of Daytona Server includes a Windows NT Migration Tool for NetWare that automatically migrates NetWare users and groups, directory structures (including permissions), log-in scripts and print queues. It's run in conjunction with NetWare Gateway Service, and requires that you be logged in as both Administrator on the NT server you're migrating to and Supervisor on the NetWare server you're migrating from. One of the Migration Tool's nicest features is Trial Migration with Logging. This lets you carry out a complete dry run to see what will happen without forcing you to commit yourself to the switch.

I detect only a couple of drawbacks to using the Migration Tool. First, it requires you to have two servers, at least temporarily. And you must have enough disk space on the NT server to store the NetWare server's complete directory structure and files. This can be a real problem on a large LAN, especially if you want to carry out a full migration.

It might be possible to do a step migration, initially duplicating only the users and groups, then the log-in scripts, then parts of the directory structure, then more. With each step, you'd give users access to the remaining, unmigrated directories and printers through the NetWare gateway. Another way your users could get access is by directly logging into the NetWare server if they continue to run dual client requesters.

And that's the second problem. Migrating to NT from NetWare means you have to add an NT requester to all your clients. Eventually, when you've completed the migration, you can unplug the NetWare server and eliminate the NetWare client requesters. But during the migration you have to run both. Personally, I don't see that as a disaster--we run dual stacks here at WINDOWS all the time. But some folks don't want to change the software in the clients. Hey! Now there's an opportunity for a third party!

MultiConnect-NT

When I first saw the NWLink+NWCS combination for NT 3.1 in the late stages of the beta program, one of my first thoughts was: Couldn't you add an NCP server and effectively turn NT into a NetWare clone? It turns out you can, but you can't get it from Microsoft.

You can get it from Beame & Whiteside, and it's called BW-MultiConnect (from $495 to $9,695; 919-831-8989, 919-831-8990). You can request a free evaluation copy of this product to check it out before you buy. It comes on just three diskettes and installs as a standard Windows NT service. When you bring it up, be prepared for a shocked reaction from your LAN Administrator, because he or she will suddenly see an additional NetWare server announce itself on the LAN.

That's the magic of BW-MultiConnect: It runs on NT and uses NT's security system, but it looks to the LAN and to users on the LAN exactly like a NetWare 3.11 server. Performance isn't quite as good as native NetWare 3.11, although Daytona should help. But for many LAN users, this could be a very viable option.

Novell's client requester for Windows NT

And let's not forget Novell, who did provide the first NetWare client requester for NT. It still hasn't shipped as of this writing, but the latest beta has quite a few nice features, including the ability to run on top of NWLink or use Novell's own client-only IPX stack for Windows NT. The beta is available on CompuServe (GO NOVFILES).

Using Novell's client-only IPX stack still requires nonstandard (for NT) 32-bit ODI (Open Datalink Interface) network drivers, of which more than 60 are available at this writing. If you choose to do this and you want to run native NT networking over the same network card (you can run a separate one, if you're so inclined), Novell supplies an ODINSUP "shim'' driver to translate between the ODI stack and NDIS.

As for running NetWare-aware applications, Novell's requester now includes a NetWare DOS box, which runs custom versions of Novell's VIPX and NETX components. This gives you capabilities similar to those you'd have on a real DOS client. Unfortunately, the connections established within a NetWare DOS box are local to that box--they don't apply to the rest of the system. Moreover, the NetWare DOS box doesn't support all NetWare VLM system calls, so some NetWare applications (NWADMIN, for instance) won't run in it.

All in all, although it's clear that Novell certainly has improved its client, I for one am going to stick with Microsoft's Services for NetWare. It is simply a cleaner solution to use just the network drivers NT was born with, and not have to make an arbitrary distinction between the NetWare connectivity in a DOS box and that available to NT itself.

So what's not to like?

Overall, NT users and administrators now have a very broad range of options for using NT in a NetWare LAN environment. You can use it as a client, either locally on the LAN or remotely over RAS. You can use it as a gateway server, making NetWare directories available to clients without requiring NetWare client software. And you can even use it as a file and print server, either by migrating the user accounts, directory structure (and ultimately, the users themselves) from NetWare to NT Server, or by running BW-MultiConnect on the server, which makes NT look like NetWare to the clients.

In itself, not much is wrong with this picture. I now run NT, Windows for Workgroups, and even Windows 95 (Chicago) clients against both NT and NetWare servers, and I don't have any trouble with the combination. What does worry me is how this will play out for future operating system implementations, Windows 95 and Cairo.

So far, Windows 95 has had an easier road than NT, in part because since the very first beta Microsoft included a native requester (based, I'm told, on the NWCS source code). But another political blowup between Microsoft and Novell could leave users out in the cold and unconnected--as happened with NT 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups.

Fortunately, that doesn't seem likely now. Microsoft appears to be willing and able to move ahead with client requesters irrespective of what Novell plans to do. I think that's a good thing. The way for Microsoft and Novell to compete is for each to do the best engineering job it can on system components and let the market (that's you and me!) decide who's got the better approach.

So I'm rooting for Microsoft to continue developing NetWare-compatible client software and to keep packaging it with the company's operating system products. How do you feel about this issue? Please let me know.

John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor at large and resident NT guru, as well as the author of Networking Windows NT (Wiley, 1994). Contact John in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Programming Windows: When the Fat Lady Finally Sings

When the Fat Lady Finally Sings

Create and Manipulate the List View Control

Get the Message?


When the Fat Lady Finally Sings

By: Martin Heller

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

"The Silver Swan, who living had no note, When death approached unlocked her silent,

silent throat.''

Thus begins a lovely Elizabethan madrigal about what we call a swan song. A swan song tells you that something's about to die.

Perhaps you prefer a more modern, if less literate, metaphor: "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.'' Ladies and gentlemen, she's sung.

Writing 16-bit Windows applications has been one of my major activities for the last five years or so. But I'm not going to do it anymore. At least, not voluntarily. Nor should you. What I'll be doing instead is Win32 programming. If Chicago isn't here now, it will be soon enough, and it's likely to make Windows 3.x obsolete rather quickly.

This shouldn't come as a complete surprise, unless you've been on Fiji for the last year. What you might not know is that Microsoft has finally gotten serious about promoting Win32 programming at the expense of Win16 programming. If you want to display a Windows logo on your software, you now have to obey eight commandments. Why eight? There were more, but Mel Brooks dropped one of the tablets. What can I say? (Actually, there are 20, but the last 12 apply to utilities and development tools.)

Microsoft's "Eight Commandments'' for using the Windows logo

1. Thou shalt be a Win32 executable.

2. Thou shalt have Chicago shell and user-interface support.

3. Thou shalt run on Windows NT 3.5 as well as on Chicago.

4. Thou shalt support long filenames.

5. Thou shalt be aware of plug-and-play events and slow links.

6. Thou shalt support UNC (Universal Naming Convention) pathnames.

7. Thou shalt support OLE 2.0 containers and/or objects, drag-and-drop, compound files and automation.

8. Thou shalt be mail-enabled.

The dog ate my homework

Now, I'm sure you have lots of excuses for not switching over and not obeying all these commandments. I think I've heard them all:

•	Chicago adoption will be slow. Well, speed of adoption is inversely proportional to the size of a company. But the people who do upgrade their systems are also the ones who buy applications.

•	I don't want to abandon my existing 16-bit customers. You don't need to. What you do need to do is really take advantage of Win32 in your next version, so that the bulk of your customers will want to upgrade for better performance and more features.

•	I don't want to lose the Windows 3.x market. Again, you don't need to. You can make your application run on Chicago and also on Win32s--and on Windows NT, for that matter.

•	All that requires at least a 386. Some of my customers still run on 286 machines. They probably aren't serious prospects for upgrading. Continue to support them on the current version, and offer them the option to upgrade in the future.

•	OLE 2.0 is too hard. There's some truth to this, but it's not so hard if you use Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0's Wizards to generate MFC support for OLE. If you don't like Visual C++, well, most of the other compiler vendors are working furiously on similar OLE 2.0 support.

•	It's all too confusing. Yes, but being confused doesn't help you sell software. You're going to have to bite the bullet and learn this stuff eventually.

•	I'm not ready to test my software on multiple operating systems. It's time to get ready, although the process is painful. To test Win32 applications thoroughly today, you need to be able to run Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with Win32s (versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.15 and 1.2), Chicago, and Windows NT (versions 3.1 and 3.5) on Intel, Mips, Alpha and PowerPC machines. It would also help if your machines were on a network, with access to a Novell server and a UNIX box. You could perhaps cover the Intel and Mips options on one machine using a Shablamm Nitro-VLB board (100MHz, from $1,995; 800-742-2526, 408-730-9696) and a really big hard disk, but as far as I know you'll need separate Alpha and PowerPC machines if you want to support those platforms.

The last roundup

Book publishers, at least, have seen the handwriting on the wall. Most book publishers are no longer even reading proposals for 16-bit Windows books, but a few stragglers are still hitting the shelves. Among the best of the last: The Windows Programming Puzzle Book by Kim Crouse ($29.95; Wiley, 1993), and Windows Programming Power with Custom Controls by Paul Cilwa and Jeff Duntemann ($39.95; The Coriolis Group, 1994).

Kim Crouse's book contains 101 16-bit Windows programming puzzles, grouped by subject, and their solutions. It sounds hokey, but it works: I find out something new every time I open the book. If you have moderately obscure how-to questions about Windows programming, this is the book to look at first. In most cases, the answers apply almost unchanged to Win32 programming. How much do I like this book? After reading it, I asked Kim to coauthor my upcoming book on Chicago programming.

In Paul Cilwa's book, he teaches you to write 16-bit Windows custom control DLLs that also function as VBX controls, gives you a skeleton you can use for developing your own controls, and gives you seven completely worked out custom controls you can use in your applications. I wish I'd had this book years ago--and I wish Paul would now adapt it to the brave new world of OCX controls.

Speaking of controls, in response to my column on VBX controls that work (Programming Windows, August), I received a flood of VBX controls from vendors. Some are good; some are not so good. None will be of significant interest in a few more months unless the vendors turn them into OCX controls, but most vendors assured me they'll be ready to ship their OCX controls as soon as Microsoft ships VB 4.0. If everything goes according to schedule, that will already have happened by the time you read this. If not, it should be Real Soon Now.

A few of the current crop of VBX packages caught my eye. From Visual Tools (800-884-8665, 913-599-6500) comes Formula One ($295), an Excel 4.0-compatible spreadsheet control; VT-Speller ($149), a spell-checking engine and dictionary; and ImageStream-VB ($249), a control for viewing and converting images. Crescent Software offers PDQComm ($149; 800-35-BASIC, 203-438-5300), a serial communications control with terminal emulations and file-transfer protocols. From Sheridan Software, we get Designer Widgets ($129; 516-753-0985, fax 516-753-3661): a dockable toolbar, an index tab and a special-effects widget. And from Pinnacle Publishing comes Tool Things ($179; 800-788-1900, 206-251-3510), not VBXs but a useful collection of VB programming aids.

Chicago controls, redux: the list view

I could keep talking about obsolete 16-bit VBX controls for the balance of this column, but I thought you'd probably prefer to learn more about the new common controls in Chicago. In last month's column we took a look at the toolbar and status bar controls. This month, let's investigate the list view control.

The list view control has four display modes: large icons, small icons, list and details.

How do you create and populate a list view control? Creating it is the easy part: Just call CreateWindow or CreateWindowEx using the WC_LISTVIEW window class (see Create and Manipulate the List View Control). Use a call to InitCommonControls to guarantee that the common controls DLL that contains the list view class definition is loaded. In the sample code, the list view control is created with styles LVS_REPORT and LVS_AUTOARRANGE, and sized to fit the client area of its parent.

The four styles LVS_ICON, LVS_SMALLICON, LVS_LIST and LVS_REPORT correspond to the four views that we have called large icons, small icons, list and details. In the two icon views, you can drag the icons wherever you like. In the details view, a header is displayed unless you specifically set the LVS_NOCOLUMNHEADER style. You can use the header labels as sorting buttons.

Populating the control takes a little more work. Because the list view control has four view modes and numerous options, you need to provide quite a bit of information for each item in the list. To start with, a list view control has two image lists: one containing the full-sized icons, the other containing the small icons. Your application explicitly adds icons to the image lists.

(Push stack: You need to know what an image list is all about. It's a collection of same-sized images, each of which can be referred to by its index, all contained in a single wide bitmap in screen-device format. Pop stack.)

Adding icons to the image lists is demonstrated in function InitList-ViewImageLists (see Create and Manipulate the List View Control').

In addition to creating and filling the image lists, you need to create columns for the details view, as shown in function InitListViewColumns, and also to create items and subitems as shown in InitListViewItems. An item contains icons, a label, and an application-defined value, and may also contain subitems. Subitems are the additional fields that are displayed in the details view.

The list view control can switch modes fairly easily, but the method you use is fairly ugly: You poke a new value into the control windows' GWL_STYLE longword (see Create and Manipulate the List View Control). If you like, you can just steal the SwitchView function and be done with it.

Like most common controls, the list view sends its parent window a number of notification messages (the messages and their meanings are listed in "Get the Message?'' on the preceding page.) You'll find more discussion on this in the Chicago PDK help (look in the "Processing the WM_NOTIFY Message'' subsection of the "Using List View Controls'' topic).

If you've gotten the impression that the new list view control is very flexible and powerful, I agree with you. If you've gotten the impression that it's also a chaotic mess, I agree with you again. It's so complicated and modal that I can't imagine trying to use it from scratch without sample code. I despair for the designer of this control--who, according to reliable sources, was long ago responsible for having the window structure use a single word for the child ID and the menu handle depending on the window style. I'm sure there's a circle in Dante's Inferno reserved for the arrogant, brilliant and short-sighted.

Time to brush up on my Italian. Maybe I'll listen to La Traviata and wait for the fat lady to die of consumption.


Create and Manipulate the List View Control

Among Chicago's new common controls is the list view control, which has four display modes. Here's how to create and populate this control, and tell it to change modes:

CREATE THE LIST VIEW CONTROL

HWND hwndLV;

RECT rc;

InitCommonControls();

GetClientRect(hwndParent, &rc);

hwndLV = CreateWindow(WC_LISTVIEW, "",

WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | WS_BORDER |

LVS_REPORT | LVS_AUTOARRANGE,

0, 0, rc.right-rc.left, rc.bottom-rc.top,

hwndParent, (HMENU)IDD_LISTVIEW,

hInst, NULL);

POPULATE THE LIST VIEW CONTROL

BOOL WINAPI InitListViewImageLists(HWND hwndLV)

{ HICON hicon;

UINT i;

HIMAGELIST himlSmall;

HIMAGELIST himlLarge;

himlSmall = ImageList_Create(16, 16, TRUE,

IDC_NUMITEMS, 0);

himlLarge = ImageList_Create(32, 32, TRUE,

IDC_NUMITEMS, 0);

for (i = IDC_ONE; i <= IDC_MSFT; i++)

{ hicon = LoadIcon(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(i));

if( ImageList_AddIcon(himlSmall, hicon) == -1

|| ImageList_AddIcon(himlLarge, hicon) == -1)

return FALSE;

}

ListView_SetImageList(hwndLV, himlLarge,

LVSIL_NORMAL);

ListView_SetImageList(hwndLV, himlSmall,

LVSIL_SMALL);

return TRUE;

}

BOOL WINAPI InitListViewColumns(HWND hwndLV)

{ LV_COLUMN lvc;

int iCol;

charszText[IDC_MAXCOLUMNHDG];

lvc.mask = LVCF_FMT | LVCF_WIDTH | LVCF_TEXT

| LVCF_SUBITEM;

lvc.fmt = LVCFMT_LEFT; lvc.cx = 75;

lvc.pszText = szText;

for (iCol = 0; iCol < IDC_NUMCOLUMNS; iCol++)

{ lvc.iSubItem = iCol;

LoadString(hInst, IDS_FIRSTCOLUMN + iCol,

szText, sizeof(szText));

if (ListView_InsertColumn(hwndLV, iCol, &lvc)

== -1)

return FALSE;

}

return TRUE;

}

BOOL WINAPI InitListViewItems(HWND hwndLV)

{ LV_ITEM lvi;

int iItem;

int iSubItem;

lvi.mask = LVIF_TEXT | LVIF_IMAGE | LVIF_PARAM

| LVIF_STATE;

lvi.state = 0;

lvi.stateMask = 0;

for (iItem = 0; iItem < IDC_NUMITEMS; iItem++)

{ lvi.iItem = iItem;

lvi.iSubItem = 0;

lvi.pszText= LPSTR_TEXTCALLBACK;

lvi.cchTextMax = IDC_MAXCOMPANYLEN;

lvi.iImage= iItem;

lvi.lParam= (LPARAM)&rgStockInfo[iItem];

if (ListView_InsertItem(hwndLV, &lvi) == -1)

return FALSE;

for (iSubItem = 1; iSubItem < IDC_NUMCOLUMNS;

iSubItem++)

{ ListView_SetItemText(hwndLV, iItem,

iSubItem, LPSTR_TEXTCALLBACK); }

}

return TRUE;

}

TELL THE LIST VIEW CONTROL TO CHANGE MODES

void SwitchView(HWND hwndLV, DWORD dwView)

{ DWORD dwStyle = GetWindowLong(hwndLV, GWL_STYLE);

if ((dwStyle & LVS_TYPEMASK) != dwView)

SetWindowLong(hwndLV, GWL_STYLE,

(dwStyle & ~LVS_TYPEMASK) | dwView);

}


Get the Message?

Like most of Chicago's new common controls, list view sends its parent window a number of notification messages. Here's what the messages mean:

LVN_BEGINLABELEDIT signals the start of in-place label editing.

LVN_BEGINRDRAG signals the start of a drag-and-drop operation using the

right mouse button.

LVN_COLUMNCLICK indicates that the user clicked on a column header in

report view.

LVN_DELETEALLITEMS signals the deletion of all list view items.

LVN_DELETEITEM signals the deletion of a specific item.

LVN_ENDDRAG signals the end of a drag-and-drop operation that was handled by

the list view control rather than its parent window.

LVN_ENDLABELEDIT signals the end of label editing.

LVN_ENDRDRAG signals the end of a drag-and-drop operation, using the right mouse

button, that was handled by the list view control.

LVN_GETDISPINFO requests information that the list view control requires to display

an item.

LVN_INSERTITEM signals the insertion of a new list view item.

LVN_ITEMCHANGED indicates that an item changed.

LVN_ITEMCHANGING indicates that an item is in the process of changing,

and enables the parent window to accept or deny the change.

LVN_KEYDOWN signals a keyboard event.

LVN_SETDISPINFO notifies a parent window that it must update the information

it maintains for an item.

Martin Heller has been known to write articles, books, music and software; to consult for companies large and small; to fiddle and sing; and much, much more. Contact Martin via the Internet at mheller@bix.com, or care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Letters:Nov. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

You flooded our mailboxes with letters this month, many of them in response to a few articles. The biggest draws: Fred Langa's comments on Windows' resource limitations; Peter Lewis's protest against techno-invasion of privacy; and Cheryl Currid's column on software license infringements.

LIMITED RESOURCES

Many thanks for keeping the pressure on Microsoft for the pathetic state of resource limitations in Windows (WIN.INI, September). I am one of the fools who equipped his office PC with 20MB of RAM in the expectation that it would let me do more than I could with 8MB.

I restart Windows every hour or two, just to clear its stupid head and avoid crashes. Maybe Chicago will let me avoid the restarts, but unless it lets me reach all my RAM all the time, it's forcing me to work in a graceless and irritating manner.

I'm glad you include resource demands in software reviews, too. Don't let them forget.

John Corso

via America Online

I was pleased to learn you are pushing Microsoft to remove the resource heaps in the upcoming version of Windows. Everyone running Windows--not just power users--desperately needs this obsolete bogeyman buried.

Bruce E. Harang

via CompuServe

You are the first writer to step up to the plate and expose a major Chicago flaw. I discovered, as you did, the inconsistencies of Chicago and what Microsoft is hoping to slip by everyone: the dreaded Windows resource problem. Microsoft decision makers are wrong if they think that a new interface will prompt everyone to upgrade. The company's oversight of this resource issue will drive a nail in its coffin. We're all going to have to bite the bullet and switch to OS/2 or NT for the real benefits of a 32-bit operating system.

Eric Caldwell

via America Online

DO NOT DISTURB!

Peter Lewis's article on invasion of privacy (Dialog Box, September) is long overdue. I have been concerned about my privacy ever since the federal government began pushing the Social Security Number as a personal identification number. We need more articles like this to educate the American public.

Dan Clark

via America Online

I agree completely with Mr. Lewis, and I firmly believe that a computer magazine should be very active in the movement to defeat the legislation now in Congress. Your little disclaimer at the end does you no credit among the computer community and will not endear you to the feds no matter which way the law goes. Magazines that sell and support the computer industry and its users cannot be neutral on this issue. I, for one, want to know where WINDOWS Magazine stands.

Jeffrey K. Risner

via CompuServe

[Editor's note: We publish WINDOWS Magazine to help readers buy and use Windows hardware and software. Defeating or promoting legislation is not part of our mission. Our Dialog Box column provides a forum for industry leaders, Windows gurus, and WINDOWS Magazine editors and readers to express their varied, and often controversial, opinions. The disclaimer does not mean that we disagree (or that we agree) with the opinions expressed in the column.--ME]

PERSPECTIVES ON PIRACY

I am a Windows applications developer and know from personal experience how piracy hurts the industry (Windows at Work, August). When someone copies a program from a friend just to try it out, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people like me who are hurt.

Eric N. Francis

via CompuServe

So Microsoft has established an 800 number to combat software piracy, encouraging the reporting of license violations in the workplace. I find it ironic that this company--which so recently defended itself against charges of the wholesale theft of Stac Electronics' chief product--can in turn expect its customers to uphold such an extraordinary standard of honesty. Perhaps the question should be, "R-U-LEGIT, Microsoft?''

Matthew Growhoski

via the Internet

What can you do with old software once you've upgraded? Can you pass it on to a school or a church, or are you legally responsible for taking it out of circulation?

Kathy Thorne

via MCI Mail

[Editor's note: It's up to the company that made the software, so give them a call. Licensing agreements vary.--ME]

NO MYSTERY HERE

I greatly enjoyed Martin Heller's July Programming Windows column on encryption. I really like PGP encryption. How can I integrate it with my mail package (Microsoft Mail)--or do I have to wait for Microsoft to integrate it?

Jesse Markowitz

via the Internet

[Editor's note: It's not hard to access Mail through Simple MAPI or CMC. You can write a Windows program to take a file, process it through PGP and mail it. --MH]

NEWSLETTER NOTES

Your article "Award-Winning Newsletter Design'' (August) was not only well written, but also informative. The seven basic design principles to a professional layout were extremely helpful.

Paul Yeh

New York, N.Y.

TIPS ARE TOPS

My company recently completed a network upgrade with the installation of several new Windows workstations. Most of those workstations had the DOS prompt removed, which left us wondering how to use the Send message capability in the network. The system engineer who installed the upgrade seemed stumped. Then I remembered the WINDOWS Magazine annual Tips Issue ("500 Tips,'' December 1993). The answer was on page 200!

I get something handy out of every issue of WINDOWS, but your Tips issue alone is worth the price of a subscription. I look forward to the next one!

Michael R. Warren

via CompuServe

[Editor's note: Good news, Michael. This year's tips issue contains twice as many tips as last year's. Look for it around late October.--FL]

OPTIMISTIC ON OPTIMIZING

I always knew you could get to DOS via the icon in Program Manager (Optimizing Windows, August 1994), but the ability to paste between DOS and Windows totally escaped me. What a time saver!

Trent P. Roberson

via CompuServe

HEADS UP ON BACK-UP

Robert Lauriston's article ("Tick, Tick, Tick'' September), offered very good advice about backing up data, but it missed a simple technique. At home, I have a batch of files that runs PK.ZIP when I start the system. It goes through the critical data directories, checks to see if any of the files have been updated, and, if they have, it compresses them and adds them to a 3.5-inch 1.44MB disk that always lives in my floppy disk drive. On my 386SX/16 system, the process takes about 10 seconds if nothing has to be updated. Of course, it takes a little longer if there are new files, but rarely more than a minute.

Ed Anderson

Syosset, New York

CORRECTIONS:

Our September New Products omitted a phone number and Inquiry number for Target Software Group. For info on CashGraf, call 800-872-4381, or 813-528-2477, or respond to Circle Inquiry #597.

Our October First Impression of Peachtree for Windows 3.0 carried an incorrect byline. The author is Manjit Sahai.

We want to hear from you. Please send letters, with a daytime phone number, to: Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753, or by e-mail to 5648326@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


News: Nov. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

MICROSOFT RENAMES 'CHICAGO' WINDOWS 95

By: JIM FORBES AND JOHN D. RULEY

Microsoft has rechristened the next version of Windows, widely known as Chicago, as Windows 95. The company confirmed it will release the product during the first half of next year.

Responding to press accounts that development delays could stall delivery until late 1995, Microsoft Vice President Brad Silverberg told WINDOWS Magazine, "We're on track for a release in the first half [of 1995].''

In keeping with Microsoft's policy of not discussing precise release dates in advance, Silverberg declined to say exactly when in the first six months of 1995 Windows 95 will ship. But statements at a recent analysts briefing by senior Microsoft executives, including CEO Bill Gates and Executive Vice President Steve Ballmer, predict significant revenue from Windows 95 during Microsoft's fiscal year 1995.

Windows 95 is still undergoing extensive testing by software developers, and some programmers continue to find bugs in the Chicago beta. Accordingly, Microsoft announced at a reviewer's workshop in June that it had rolled back the introduction of Windows 95 to early 1995 because it is concerned about releasing an operating system product that has not been fully tested, according to Microsoft insiders.

"More people would remember that Chicago shipped with bugs than the fact it shipped one or two months late,'' said Richard Freedman, Microsoft's product manager for personal operating systems. "Actually the reason it's late is straightforward. It takes a long time to build a--product like Windows 95.''

Silverberg denied rumors that features are being removed from Windows 95 as development comes down to the wire. He said that all major features disclosed to date for Windows 95--including the "Capone'' e-mail client, Internet-ready communications support, and the 32-bit NetWare redirector--will ship in the initial release. "That's not to say there's no third-tier driver or viewer we might leave out,'' Silverberg admitted. "But we are not planning to drop any major feature from the first release.''

"This program needs to have a much higher degree of backward compatibility than previous versions of Windows,'' Freedman said. "Not only must Chicago run new 32-bit applications, it also has to run older applications designed for Windows 3.x and DOS.'' Microsoft is devoting considerable attention to the ability to run DOS applications, which may be critical to the acceptance of Chicago. "In 3.1, and earlier versions of Windows, if a DOS-based application didn't run well, the user had the option of exiting Windows and running it in Real mode,'' Freedman said. Because Chicago does not separate Windows from DOS, "users will not have that crutch,'' he added.

Third-party developers report difficulty programming for Windows 95. "Writing applications for Chicago takes a lot of work,'' said Tom Freeman, manager of development for the applications group of Novell (formerly WordPerfect Corp.). "Shell integration and OLE 2.0 are not easy things to do correctly, and these are two major components of Chicago.''

The task of third-party developers has been made more difficult by a lack of information from Microsoft on how to integrate forthcoming applications under Windows 95's shell, Novell's Freeman said. Most developers are likely to announce Chicago-specific versions of their programs concurrently with Microsoft's shipment of the new release, but Microsoft executives believe it will be some time before those applications actually ship.

COMPANIES FACE STIFF PRICE FOR TRIP TO CHICAGO

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

A small- to midsized company moving from Windows 3.1 to Chicago will find the transition expensive--about $527 per employee. When the same company installs the 32-bit applications that run with Chicago, the cost will climb by an additional $736 per employee. (Microsoft recently said Chicago will be called Windows 95. See previous article.)

The cost stems from the new operating system's hardware requirements and installation costs, according to a working model created by the Gartner Group.

But other analysts, and Microsoft, disagree with the projections of the Stamford, Conn.-based computer industry consulting and analysis firm. Disagreement is particularly strong on the issue of Chicago's memory requirements.

Chris Goodhue, the Gartner Group's research director, said Chicago's networking features and the 32-bit applications that would run on top of Chicago require more than the 4MB minimum memory that Microsoft has recommended. "We don't believe that even 8MB of memory is the bare minimum [for Chicago],'' said Goodhue. "It may be acceptable, but in the business model we recommend 16MB.''

Microsoft expressed surprise at the Gartner Group's predictions. A Microsoft official countered that Chicago, like Windows 3.1, would operate acceptably on a personal computer with 4MB of memory and would perform smoothly on a desktop system with 8MB of memory. "I'm not sure where they came up with their numbers,'' said Rogers Weed, Microsoft's Chicago product manager. "The whole goal of Chicago is (to operate with) 4MB on 486 machines. If you're running Windows 3.1 today on a 386 or newer PC with 4MB or more, you will get as good a performance with Chicago,'' he said.

Other industry analysts agree that Microsoft will fight to keep Chicago performing acceptably on PCs with 4MB of RAM. "They are going to try to get Chicago to work at 4MB,'' predicts Martin Reynolds, Computer Intelligence InfoCorp.'s director of technology assessment. "If Chicago works at 4MB that's good; if it needs 8MB that's not too bad. There's huge incentive to keep Chicago working at 4MB. The logic is simply financial. Even Bill Gates wouldn't turn down another billion dollars.''

PC MAKERS WONDER WHEN TO MOVE TO CHICAGO (AKA WINDOWS 95)

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

Personal computer buyers will have a choice of Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Chicago when the 32-bit operating environment finally ships next year. So for a few months in 1995, the leading PC manufacturers must juggle distribution, installation and technical support for all three Windows operating systems.

Dell Computer Corp. expects to offer Windows for Workgroups and Chicago when Chicago ships. "If the introduction of Windows for Workgroups can be used as history,'' said a Dell spokesperson, "then we can assume that Dell will offer Windows for Workgroups and Chicago.''

Officials of Gateway 2000, Zeos and Compaq said discussions were under way concerning Chicago.

"Microsoft would like everybody to move to Chicago,'' said Sean Burke, a Dell official, "but it will take time for people to get used to the idea.''

Digital Equipment Corp. has promised to offer Chicago on its PCs, but DEC representatives are cautious when pronouncing DEC a Chicago-only desktop manufacturer. "We think it'll happen but we don't know when. But, initially, Windows for Workgroups and Chicago will be offered,'' said DEC's Ed Ellett.

So far, PC makers have not seen any arm-twisting from Microsoft. "There was some (pressure) when Windows for Workgroups first appeared, but there really isn't any right now,'' admitted DEC's Ellett. "Obviously Microsoft wants Chicago to be on desktops.''

Despite Microsoft's efforts to move the world to Chicago, the end of Windows 3.1 is not in sight. "I don't think it'll fade away quickly,'' said Stephen McClellan, analyst for Merrill Lynch. "Look, MS-DOS is still here. It will be a two- to three-year process to go from Windows 3.1 to [Windows 95].''

IBM ATTEMPTS TO LEAPFROG WINDOWS 95

By: P. ALBINUS AND S. YEGULALP

OS/2 3.0, a full 32-bit multithreaded and multitasking operating system code-named "Warp,'' should be on the market by mid-October, months before Microsoft's Windows 95.

OS/2 3.0 offers one-button installation, Internet access, and an integrated productivity application--not unlike Microsoft Works--that includes a spreadsheet and word processor. It even includes a version of HyperComm, the same communication module Microsoft chose for Windows 95. On systems already running Windows, Warp will search out the operating environment and install OS/2 over both Windows 3.1 and--unlike past versions of OS/2--Windows for Workgroups 3.11. This feature saves disk space and allows IBM to avoid paying royalties to Microsoft. The networking features in Windows for Workgroups, however, are still not supported under OS/2.

IBM is clearly targeting the same installed base of home- and small business-users that Microsoft has targeted for Windows 95. While earlier versions of OS/2 required as much as 12MB RAM, IBM has made a point of demonstrating the Warp beta on 486 PCs with 4MB of memory.

OS/2 3.0 will have a suggested list price well under $100, IBM officials said. That includes an OS/2 "Bonus Pack'' containing the CompuServe graphical front-end WinCIM (for OS/2), FaxWorks for OS/2, IBM Person to Person videoconferencing program, and an Internet access program using IBM's Advantis Internet service provider.

At press time, IBM acknowledged that Warp still needs some fine-tuning before shipment. Some DOS- and Windows-level support functions were not completely functional in the beta. Also, beta testers reported that OS/2 DOS-level support for SCSI hardware was problematic. Perhaps most critically, IBM has not announced a strategy to migrate Warp users to the more capable (and still unannounced) OS/2 network client--and Warp lacks any built-in network functionality.

Still, for small business and home users, these weaknesses appear to be more than outweighed by Warp's strengths, which include: a broad range of hardware support (including drivers for many new video and sound boards), multimedia tools, PCMCIA and power-management support for laptops (two things not included in the Daytona version of Windows NT, but which will be with Windows 95), thorough on-line documentation, and a customizable user interface. Windows programs run seamlessly on the Warp desktop, or can be run on a separate screen for better speed and color accuracy in programs that demand it.

OS/2 3.0 is seen by beta test users and developers as the most direct competitor to Windows 95, which is not expected until next year. Early reports indicate that writing software to fully exploit OS/2 3.0 may be easier than writing equivalent software for Windows 95.

AT&T MARRIES PHONE AND PC

By: JONATHAN KARL MATZKIN

With the release of its new Globalyst 360TPC, AT&T is hastening the marriage of phones and PCs.

AT&T's Globalyst 360TPC includes a full-duplex speakerphone, voice mail and fax functions. These capabilities are provided by an add-in card based on a 32-bit digital signal processor (DSP) from AT&T Microelectronics. Two external stereo speakers (with embedded microphone) round out the telephony hardware.

The system's phone-software interface resembles a phone/answering machine. Features include speed and autodialing, and call screening/caller ID.

AT&T will aggressively market the Globalyst 360TPC, which is based on an Intel 486DX2/66 processor, at a price of $1,899, less monitor. The system comes with a 420MB hard disk and a double-speed CD-ROM drive.

GOING MOBILE: PENTIUMS FINALLY HIT THE ROAD

By: JIM FORBES

Power-hungry mobile users can expect to see Pentium-based portables soon from major manufacturers. Intel, hardware makers and custom semiconductor suppliers have overcome the three hurdles that have until now limited the development of Pentium portables: heat, power consumption, and the processor's physical size.

Companies such as NEC, Toshiba, AST and IBM are about to enter the market with high-performance mobile systems based on a 75MHz Pentium chip crafted especially for notebooks.

The mobile Pentium processor is substantially different from the chips socketed in most of today's PCs. New chip packaging deals with the size issue, and solves the heat problem by exposing the back of the die (where the actual CPU circuitry resides), allowing Intel to attach a vitally needed heat sink to that part of the chip.

Power management chip sets from semiconductor manufacturers such as PicoPower solve the power consumption problem. According to notebook designers now testing prototypes, PicoPower's Golden Gate chip reduces Pentium power consumption by up to 90 percent. The chip accomplishes this by stopping the Pentium's clock when the processor is idle. Throttling back on clock cycles also reduces battery consumption, which will be important to Pentium notebook users, given projected power consumption ratings.

In the past, acquiring the latest technology has always cost users dearly. Pentium notebooks may break this trend. Executives of PC makers (who asked not to be named in this story) say the marketing of Pentium notebooks will take into account the realities of the current price war. The executives say Pentium processors adapted for notebook computers are likely to cost roughly $500 each, or about the same as the current crop of Intel DX4 chips. As a result, it is very likely that users will be able to purchase 75MHz Pentium notebooks for less than $3,500 within one year of introduction.

Standard on such machines will be a 75MHz processor, a minimum of 8MB of system memory, hard disks with capacities of between 250MB and 320MB, accelerated local-bus graphics, 9.5- or 10-inch active-matrix color screens, external Super VGA video, enhanced parallel and serial ports, and a docking station connector. Such a system would be more powerful than most of today's 486-based desktops, said Martin Reynolds, analyst at Computer Intelligence InfoCorp.

Along with other analysts, Reynolds predicts Pentium-powered notebooks will take off quickly, accounting for up to 25 percent of the overall domestic notebook market by the end of 1995. In the same time period, the sale of notebook computers is expected to account for 50 percent of the overall market for personal computers.


Why carry all that power?

By: Jim Forbes

Pentium notebooks will be more than status toys for power users. The next generation of ultrapowerful portables will handle increasingly common tasks such as portable video- and teleconferencing, voice mail, and multimedia.

Sources close to Toshiba say that the company may position its forthcoming 75MHz Pentium-based portable as a teleconferencing system for salespeople and other mobile professionals who need to participate in meetings at company headquarters. AT&T's global information systems may be involved with Intel in the development of a similar portable Pentium machine for video- and teleconferencing.

Martin Reynolds, an analyst at Computer Intelligence InfoCorp, predicts that it won't be long before we see Pentium portables used in applications that previously required separate DSP processors. Pentium portable users would have the horsepower to call their offices, download voice mail, work with the voice mail off-line, then log back on and transmit new messages.

The possibilities for Pentium portables in sophisticated presentations are obvious, especially as sound and on-screen video become more and more complex.

WINDOWS PUBLISHERS REAP PEACE DIVIDEND

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

American software companies--including some familiar Windows publishers--are using Russian programmers to bring their customers lower software prices, quicker upgrades and better technical support.

The end of the Cold War has spawned these new business opportunities. "[In Russia,] you had a selection system where people were educated to the highest level possible. The peace dividend for us was that all these talented people were out of a job,'' said Richard Pick, president and CEO of Pick Systems. Pick Systems started hiring Russian programmers about two years ago, and now has 50 programmers and 25 support people working in Moscow.

"From our standpoint, it lets us put more R&D into product for the same number of dollars and get our products to market quicker,'' said Pick. The company has done all of the development on its Windows database product in Moscow. Pick claims that his access to Moscow programmers made all the difference in getting the Pick Open Database for Windows to market.

"Software publishers will be able to provide more value for money and cut down time between releases because they will be able to stretch their dollars further,'' said Mark Skiba, president of Inset. Inset, maker of the HiJaack PRO graphics utility, has half of its developers in Moscow. The company hired its first Russian developers two years ago. It now has nine people in Russia and expects to double that number in the next year.

Ph.D.-level programmers can be hired in Russia for around $300 a month--substantially below what a less-educated programmer would make in the U.S. "I can hire 10 or 15 programmers in Russia for what it costs me to hire one in California,'' said Pick.

E-mail and the Internet have made it possible to communicate despite time-zone differences. Pick and Inset also provide English lessons to their Russian employees to further enhance communication.

It will be a while before Russian companies begin producing their own software for the U.S. market. "Russian publishers don't have a clue how to package and support a program. But you will start seeing more parts of programs that have been written in Russia,'' said Skiba.

MICROSOFT SHOWS KEY MANAGEMENT SOFTWAREBY ARTHUR H GERMAIN III

Microsoft Corp. has unveiled its vision for managing distributed systems in a corporate environment. The Microsoft Systems Management Server (code-named Hermes) combines many components of traditional desktop systems management into one software package that runs on the Windows NT Server platform. SMS is scheduled to ship during the fourth quarter of 1994.

The system uses an SQL Server database engine based on a Windows NT Server, but it can interact with other network operating systems, including Novell NetWare, to accomplish its many missions.

SMS allows a network administrator to remotely capture packet traffic, schedule software upgrades from the network, and even take over a system in remote-control fashion to diagnose problems and make system adjustments.

This last tool has raised questions about privacy in the workplace. Rich Barth, product manager for Windows NT said, "We have created a set of tools that gives administrators information on all aspects of their networks, but access to these tools is controlled by security and auditing features.''

NEWS BITS-COMPILED BY PHILIP ALBINUS

•	IBM is absorbing its wholly owned subsidiary, Metaphor. The once high-flying independent software company introduced object-oriented programming to workstations earlier this year and was just bringing its technology to Windows. A company spokesperson said IBM will continue to market Metaphor's recently introduced Capsule, an OLE 2.0-based drag-and-drop Windows visual programming environment that allows users to automatically perform complex tasks by connecting the inputs and outputs of existing commercial applications. IBM purchased the company in 1991 and ran it as a wholly owned subsidiary until the absorption, which was effective in October of this year.

•	The maker of the popular software package, Quicken, is on another spending spree. After buying ChipSoft's TurboTax, Intuit has now set its sights on Parsons Technology, maker of Money Counts, Personal Tax Edge and other legal, medical and advice-oriented software titles. In a deal for a reported $64 million in stock and cash, Parsons will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intuit. Parsons is growing in its own right. A $1.5 million construction project is under way to enlarge the Hyawatha, Iowa-based software concern's distribution capabilities. Parsons hopes to finish the project in early 1995 and to add about 100 more employees to its 447-member staff.

•	Borland International has expanded its on-line technical support following an agreement with Software Creations BBS, an electronic bulletin board service based on the East Coast. SWC members will be able to download product information, sample code, template fields, utilities, patches and updated technical information. The agreement with SWC is part of Borland Assist, Borland's technical support program, which also consists of on-line support forums on CompuServe, GEnie and BIX, as well as numerous toll-free telephone support and fee-based services.

•	If you're looking for a PC and a leaf blower, you may want to head to Sears. Compaq Computer Corp. and Sears have agreed to sell some of Compaq's desktop and notebook PCs in Sears, Roebuck and Co. stores. Compaq will sell its Presario and mini-tower models, and Contura notebooks via the mass merchandise giant. Compaq said the first model available at Sears will be its Contura Aero subnotebook, making it the first subnotebook sold through Sears Brand Central, according to Compaq. Sears currently sells computers in 727 of its 799 stores nationwide.

•	Microsoft will market software featuring characters and story lines from the Children's Television Workshop "Ghostwriter'' series. The software will be developed by the Children's Television Workshop, creator of "Sesame Street.''

•	In the hope that independent software vendors will develop Windows NT software applications for the PowerPC platform, the Motorola RISC Microprocessor Division has released a suite of development tools. Motorola's Software Developer Kit for Windows NT "Daytona'' provides a native PowerPC development environment that allows developers to compile and execute programs on the same PowerPC machine. Effective until the end of this month (November), Motorola is offering the SDK for $195, down from the list price of $495. Developers can call 800-845-MOTO or 512-343-8940.

•	America Online surpassed the one million subscriber mark late last summer. Industry analysts predict that AOL's membership could reach 1.1 million U.S. users by the end of 1994 and could surpass Prodigy by the end of next year. Prodigy has an estimated 1.2 million U.S. users.

•	Looking for a free utility to spice up your Harvard Graphics presentations? Software Publishing Corp.'s new ScreenShow Plus utility lets you jump to any slide in a presentation without exiting ScreenShow and gives you a choice of 64 colors for the Chalk on-screen annotation tool. The utility also adds a floating control panel that resembles a TV remote control. Download the self-extracting SSPLUS.EXE from CompuServe's SPCFORUM, Harvard Graphics for Windows library #8; or call 800-336-8360 or 408-986-8000.

•	Make way for the ink jet juggernaut! According to a BIS Strategic Decisions report, ink jet printers made up 30 percent of all printer shipments and 16.3 percent of all printer revenues in 1993, and the technology will represent 62 percent of all printers shipped and roughly 30 percent of all printer revenue in 1998. Monochrome and color ink jet printer shipments nearly doubled, from 1.66 million units in 1992 to 3.29 million in 1993, according to the Printer Marketrends 1994 report from BIS. Ink jet revenues rose 50 percent, from $1.2 billion in 1992 to more than $1.68 billion in 1993. Ink jet printers" popularity was boosted by the strong growth in the home and home-office markets, according to the report.

•	Computer Associates has established a new division called 4Home Productions that will market CA's existing Simply financial software titles, such as Simply Tax, Simply Accounting and Kiplinger's Simply Money. Existing products will be joined with other "lifestyle software'' packages for home PC users. The Long Island-based CA plans to release five new software applications under the 4Home banner by the end of this year and will release another six by June 1995. CA will add its name to the software versions of The Ernst & Young Tax Savings Strategies Guide 1995, Stanley's Complete Step-by-Step Book of Home Repair and Improvement, and titles from Parents Magazine.


New Products: Nov. 1994-Part 1

Compiled by Hailey Lynne McKeefry

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS FILE

DX4/100 Notebooks

Word Processing

Clip Art

Application Add-Ons

Graphics

Financial

Databases

Utilities

DX4/100 NOTEBOOKS

Don't Confine DX4 Speed to Your Desktop

Notebook computer makers, following the lead of desktop computer manufacturers, are introducing high-speed processing power in systems that use 100MHz DX4 processors. Three such products recently made available come from FutureTech Systems Inc., Austin Direct and Aspen Computer Inc.

FutureTech Systems Inc.'s FutureMate Notebook Series includes 10-inch active-matrix color, dual-scan color and monochrome models. The units, which come with 1MB of video RAM and 4MB of RAM, feature a Sound & Audio Play Back feature that enables you to record, compress, store and play back voices, sounds or music. The FutureMates come equipped with a 250MB removable hard disk.

The Business Audio Notebook from Austin Direct features 1MB of video RAM, a built-in speaker, a built-in microphone, external speaker jacks, a 16-bit on-board sound module and a 32-bit local-bus Windows accelerator. The system comes with 8MB of RAM and a 340MB hard disk. The active-matrix notebook, which weighs 6.5 pounds, includes a 16mm trackball.

The Aspen Select DX4-100 from Aspen Computer Inc. measures 2 by 11.4 by 8.7 inches and weighs 6.5 pounds. The units come with 4MB of RAM and a 250MB hard disk. You can choose between a dual-scan passive or an active color display. It comes with a carrying case, a 25mm built-in center trackball and an AC adapter.

FutureMate Notebook Series

Price: From $2,629.

Contact: FutureTech Systems Inc., 800-275-4414, 201-488-4414.

Business Audio Notebook

Price: From $2,849.

Contact: Austin Direct, 800-752-1577, 512-339-3500.

Aspen Select DX4-100

Price: From $2,595.

Contact: Aspen Computer Inc., 800-472-3273, 716-626-0315.

IN BRIEF-IMAGE EDITING

The HiJaack Graphics Suite provides tools to handle and organize graphics files. The suite consists of Browser, a visual file manager and organizer; PRO, a conversion, screen-capture and trace/raster-to-vector utility; Touchup, a raster editor; Smuggler, a thumbnail utility; and Micrografx Windows Draw, a vector editing program. The program provides bidirectional graphics format support for a variety of file formats, from .BMP to .WPG. It includes 200 full-color images and 2,600 clip-art images. CD-ROM, $99.99; diskettes, $109.99; upgrade from HiJaack PRO 2.0, CD-ROM, $49.99; diskettes, $59.99; Inset Systems, 800-828-0068, 203-740-2400.

WORD PROCESSING

Become a Doc Design Wizard

DocStudio 1.0 helps you create high-quality documents in Word 6.0 no matter what your level of design skill. The Wizard feature lets you match one of 10 kinds of documents (from memos to reports and manuals) with 19 professionally designed "looks'' (such as Elegant, Conservative and Exotic) to create 190 different designs. The preview window lets you fine-tune your results by choosing options from a drop-down menu.

DocStudio also polices for style and design blunders: The program will not allow certain formats or feature combinations. You can use DocStudio to create new documents, apply a design to existing documents, or create your own templates and save them as Word stylesheets.

DocStudio 1.0

Price: $139.

Contact: Alki Software, 800-NOW-WORD, 206-286-2600

It's a Small World After All

You can bridge the language barrier and communicate in the global marketplace with the Accent multilingual word processor. The program lets you work with 34 languages using five alphabets (Western European and Scandinavian; Central and Eastern European; Cyrillic; Turkish; and Greek) in a single document.

The program includes menus and help screens in nine languages (Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) and supports multilingual translation. It includes 79 TrueType fonts, and keyboard remapping for multiple languages. You can access a 17-language spell checker, a 12-language hyphenation utility and a five-language Berlitz translation tool. The network-ready program can share WordPerfect, Word and RTF-formatted files.

Accent

Price: $449; limited time, $299.

Contact: Accent Software International, 800-535-5256, 011-972-2-793-723.

Mobilize Pen Power

Aha InkWriter 2.0 provides word processing for your pen-enhanced mobile computer running Windows for Pen Computing 1.0. The program recognizes words or diagrams input with a pen and lets you select, edit and work with handwritten electronic ink. You can format paragraphs, and insert and close up space. You can also create rough drawings, then resize or rotate them. Ink-Writer supports font characteristics such as bold, strike through and color, has 20 levels of undo, and can defer ink-to-text translation.

aha InkWriter 2.0

Price: $199.

Contact: aha! Software Corp., 800-AHA-SOFT, 415-988-2080.

IN BRIEF - CLIP ART

A handshake, hands clapping and mountain scenery are just some of the 75 royalty-free video clips on DigiClips Special Edition CD-ROM. Also included are blue screen video clips, voice clips, bitmap graphics images and music clips (in .WAV and MIDI formats). All video clips use Intel's Indeo Release 3.2 digital video technology. $49.99;Tri-Digital Software Inc.,800-206-CLIP, 206-286-9402.

Harvest any of over 500 images from the portfolios of award-winning photographers with ClipPix. Images from the two-CD set are royalty-free and optimized for full-screen display at 72 dpi. The discs include full-screen 8-bit color images (640x480 pixels) and compressed 24-bit versions at both 640x480 and 1024x768 pixels. ClipPix includes images from business and nature, backgrounds, landmarks and common objects. $149;, PhotoDisc Inc., 800-528-3472, 206-441-9355.

Aris Entertainment has bundled 10 Media Clips clip-art collections in its Super Bundle. Titles include Business Backgrounds; Majestic Places; Money, Money, Money!; WildPlaces; and WorldView. Each CD includes photos, original audio clips and live-action video. Each provides a self-running slide show and built-in search engine. $49.95; Aris Entertainment, 800-242-5588, 617-494-1200.

APPLICATION ADD-ONS

Enhance Your PageMaker Power

Get more out of PageMaker with the PageMaker Enhancement Pack from Aldus and SmartPad from Softblox.

The PageMaker Enhancement Pack Volume One for PageMaker 5.0 provides a variety of tools that help you maintain compatibility with your other programs. The program tools include an import filter for Microsoft Word 6.0, a Ventura Publisher-to-PageMaker conversion utility, and an image library that enhances compatibility between Aldus PhotoStyler and some Hewlett-Packard printers.

Softblox Inc.'s SmartPad for PageMaker utility provides eight toolbars that you can embed into the PageMaker window for single-click access to commonly used commands that normally demand pull-down menus and dialog boxes. For example, specific toolbars for drawing, text formatting and changing page views are included. The toolbar development environment is also included to let you further customize the toolbars.

PageMaker Enhancement Pack Volume One for PageMaker 5.0

Price: $9.95.

Contact: Aldus Corp., 800-628-2320, 206-622-5500.

SmartPad for PageMaker

Price: $79; until Nov. 30, $49.

Contact: Softblox Inc., 800-434-0202, 404-892-0202.

Access Database Bar Codes

You can implement bar coding for any function that you track using a Microsoft Access 2.0 database. Bars & Stripes for Microsoft Access 2.0 lets you add bar-code information to your existing Access database entries and print bar-coded forms and reports from it.

You can also create sequentially numbered bar codes or encode a selected field in an existing Access table. The software supports a variety of symbologies including Code 3 of 9, Code 128, Code 93, Interleaved 2 of 5, EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC-A, UPC-E, MSI, Codabar and Postal/PostNet.

Any Access-compatible printer can print the bar codes. The program can also calculate postal Delivery Point Bar Code digits (which are used on envelopes to speed mail delivery) and add them to Zip + 4 zip codes automatically.

Bars & Stripes for Microsoft Access 2.0

Price: $149.

Contact: Tippecanoe Systems Inc., 510-416-8510, fax 510-416-8516.

Map Your Spreadsheets

You can chart data housed in an Excel spreadsheet on a map with MapLand for Excel 5.0. The program includes 14 Geographic Workbooks, which contain various maps including U.S. states, North and South America, Europe and Asia. All you need to do is block data in Excel and apply it to a Workbook map.

MapLand for Excel 5.0

Price: $99.95.

Contact: Software Illustrated, 510-463-9898, fax 510-463-1843.

IN BRIEF-ADD-ONS

Redirector for Lotus cc:Mail lets you forward your e-mail to a coworker while you are away from your desk. The product has two parts: RServer, which manages and performs the forwarding commands; and RClient, which allows users to request or cancel e-mail forwarding operations. Up to 100 users, $775; 100 and over, $925;C2C Systems International Inc., 206-885-7888, fax 206-885-9191.

You can print labels with information taken directly from Lotus Notes with Avery LabelPro Lotus Notes Edition. The program provides templates for a variety of label formats including address, shipping, file folders, diskettes and videotapes. The program also supports business cards, postcards, rotary cards, index dividers and transparencies. You can also add geometric shapes to your labels. $99; Thuridion, 800-LPW-1806, fax 408-439-6963.

Navigator XT lets you move around QuarkXPress documents by clicking on a palette containing a thumbnail of a current page or spread. The software lets you go directly to the spot you want without redrawing the screen several times. The Flash feature lets you bookmark a position in your document. $65; Vision's Edge Inc., 904-386-4573, fax 904-386-2594. Circle Inquiry #613

GRAPHICS

Leap to an All-in-One Solution

If you are on the prowl for a complete multimedia graphics package, you might want to hunt down Cheetah 3D 1.5, an all-in-one 3-D modeling, rendering and animation package. Standard rendering features include up to 10 light sources, four viewing modes, 3-D sweeps and extrusion modeling. High-end features include multiple object rendering, bitmap and video textures, support for complex objects and a file navigator. Using the Walk-Through mode, you can take a virtual stroll through your animated sequence. The Cheetah Script scripting language simplifies animation production and gives you complete mathematical control over object movement, rotation, rendering and light sources. Cheetah supports OLE 2.0 and lets you import graphics from a multitude of programs.

Cheetah 3D 1.5

Price: $349.95.

Contact: Looking Glass Software Inc., 310-348-8240, fax 310-348-9786.

These Tablets Cure Graphics Headaches

The UltraDigitizer line of graphics tablets may be a panacea for a designer's space-constraint complaints. The UD-1825R provides an active area of 25 by 18 inches, while the UD-1218R and the UD-1218RE have an active area of 12 by 18 inches. The tablets can track signals from both the included cordless, pressure-sensitive UltraPen stylus and the optional multibutton cursor (a mouse-type device) at once. The UD-1218RE features an electrostatic surface that holds down paper for tracing or for overlays. Each device provides buttons, which can be programmed with macros to perform keyboard functions.

UltraDigitizer UD-1825R, UD-1218R, UD-1218RE

Price: UD-1825R, $2,795; UD-1218R, $995; UD-1218RE, $1,145.

Contact: Wacom Technology, 800-922-6613, 206-750-8882. Circle Inquiry #574

Preview Filter Effects

Version 2.0 of Kai's Power Tools has been enhanced with a real-time preview feature and explorer filters. The filter and extension add-on can be used with Aldus PhotoStyler, Adobe Photoshop, Fractal Design Painter, and other programs that support Adobe standard plug-in design. Numeric controls let you control gradient directions and postblurring effects. You can preview changes and effects in real time before applying them. The Equalizer feature, new to version 2.0, provides control over textures.

Kai's Power Tools 2.0

Price: $199; upgrade, $59.95.

Contact: HSC Software, 310-392-8441, fax 310-392-6015.

IN BRIEF-SOFTWARE

Turn your Windows PC into an electronic workbench. RF Vision, a software/hardware package, turns your computer into a radio frequency spectrum analyzer. You can identify various frequencies and signals (such as radio stations, cellular phones or even your microwave oven) in real time. The program includes a 3-D Surface Plot and a Color Spectrogram. $196; Science Workshop, 516-731-7628, fax 516-796-1693.

You can create room diagrams for your meetings and other events with Room Viewer. The program takes into account the style of seating and the audiovisual requirements. Several best-fit options help in determining the maximum number of seats, section sizes, stage widths and best screen size. $495; TimeSaver Software, 714-651-4662, fax 714-731-2423.

Does pondering the difference between metric and standard English measurements frazzle your brain? Conversions provides instant access to over 15,999 other unit conversion factors. It's as simple as choosing the unit you want to convert, the unit you want to convert to and the original value. Typical equivalent conversion factors include length, area, volume, mass, temperature and stress. $39.95; ISE Corp., voice and fax, 508-888-7680.

FINANCIAL

'Tis the Season for Taxes

As the year end approaches, the ideal time to move to automated tax preparation is at hand. Financial Decision Systems has released a Windows version of its corporate tax preparation package, CorpTax 1.0, that is designed to help companies do just that. CorpTax includes modules for federal, state and city returns; trial balance reports; extensions; estimates; and international, federal and state planners. CorpTax's relational database structure lets you control and maintain data dynamically so that when you change one item, all related items are adjusted. This feature lets you create "what if'' scenarios when preparing your corporation's tax returns. CorpTax also links to Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, Word and WordPerfect.

CorpTax 1.0

Price: From $5,000.

Contact: Financial Decision Systems Inc., 800-966-1639 ext. 165, 818-706-2000.

Quicken Your Corporate Payroll Process

CheckMark Payroll lets you export your financial data to and print checks from Intuit's Quicken, so you can continue using your existing checks. CheckMark can act alone or work with other accounting systems.

The program lets you calculate and print checks for employer expenses, such as federal and state unemployment (FUTA and SUTA); enter employee hours into a single spreadsheet-style window; and calculate federal, state or local taxes, including Earned Income Credit, Social Security and Medicare and state disability insurance, for all 50 states. You can update the tax tables manually or use CheckMark's tax update service. Predefined deductions, such as 401(k) and cafeteria plans are included, or you can create personalized deductions. The program provides options for additional income items, including bonuses, tips and mileage. You can print W-2 forms and 941 tax reports.

CheckMark Payroll

Price: $129.

Contact: CheckMark Software Inc., 800-444-9922, 303-225-0522.

Give Yourself a Blank Check

Check Factory lets you print checks on blank check stock from within your accounting program's standard check printing routines. Check Factory is compatible with two dozen accounting packages, including DacEasy, Quicken and Peachtree Accounting. It offers a security feature, tracks an unlimited number of checking accounts and lets you add bitmap logos to your checks. Check Factory ships with the Laser Form Energizer for printing invoices, statements and purchase orders. It works with all Hewlett-Packard laser printers and most MICR-capable laser printers.

Check Factory

Price: Single user, $599; network version, $799.

Contact: Trans-Micro Inc., 800-749-2335, 407-878-5858. Circle Inquiry #564

IN BRIEF-FINANCIAL

Track, compare and evaluate your stock and mutual fund investments with Fundwatch Plus. The program provides a spreadsheet-like tracking system for maintaining investment price data at weekly intervals or longer and automatically incorporates dividend and distribution information. Superimposed performance plots let you compare patterns, market trends and volatility. $39; Hamilton Software Inc., 800-733-9607, 303-795-5572.

Stable Technical Graphs 2.0 is a financial technical analysis tool that helps you make trading decisions. Version 2.0 features a refined interface, interactive chart drawing of text and trend lines, chart group management, batch printing, selective display fonts, scalable graphs and zoom capabilities. More than 20 technical indicators are included for making in-depth analyses. $49.95; Winterra Software Group, voice and fax, 303-470-6323.

Let the LoanWizard in PC-Loan wave his magic wand and predict your investment future. PC-Loan calculates the normal attributes of financing (such as the monthly payment or the interest rate) based on the information you enter. LoanWizard displays payment patterns graphically and lets you compare loan alternatives. $59.95; 20/20 Software Inc., 800-735-2020, 503-520-0504

DATABASES

DB Finds Documents on the Net

Not sure where that document is? Fulcrum SearchServer 2.0 can check every computer in the company and retrieve the document you want, thanks to its client/server architecture and ODBC drivers. With its Text Reader function, the program can search databases for the desired text. SearchBuilder for Visual Basic is a companion tool, providing access to SearchServer functionality for VB developers.

You can either create an SQL statement or use the product's Intuitive Searching feature to establish which document you would like to see. Standard Boolean and proximity searches are supported as well. The program features Immediate Indexing, so that documents are indexed as soon as they are added to the database and reindexed when modified.

SearchServer 2.0, SearchBuilder for Visual Basic

Price: SearchServer, $695 per user for 100 or more; SearchBuilder, $995 per user for 100 or more. Contact: Fulcrum Technologies Inc., 613-238-1761, fax 613-238-7695.

Get Access to Paradox Data

AccSys for Paradox allows developers to create or access a Borland Paradox database with the C programming language rather than through Paradox's native language PAL. This C-language function library supports all features of Paradox 4.5, including public and private BLOBs (Binary Large Objects) as well as composite secondary and case-insensitive field indexes.

You can also access the library from Visual Basic. It handles all C memory models and works with any version of Paradox.

AccSys also addresses some memory problems associated with Paradox by using smaller optimized functions that achieve tighter memory control and CPU usage. Link this library into your program and you add only between 25KB and 40KB of code.

You can use AccSys for Paradox to read, write, modify and update Paradox databases without knowing anything about the necessary internal file formats.

You can control primary and secondary index files in addition to tables. The library is network ready. Copia does not charge runtime royalties.

AccSys for Paradox

Price: $495; source code, $1,195.

Contact: Copia International Ltd., 800-689-8898, 708-682-8898.

Find DB and Legacy Data

CrossTarget 3.0 allows you to use software suites such as Microsoft Office or Lotus SmartSuite to interface with data in legacy systems or relational databases. The toolset includes the Builder, which compresses, indexes and stores data; the Reporter, which generates customizable electronic reports; the Selector, which allows ad hoc access to relational databases; and the Data Integrator, which joins data from dissimilar applications.

CrossTarget 3.0

Price: Per station, $1,000.

Contact: Dimensional Insight, 617-229-9111, fax 617-229-9113

Plug into Dozens of Databases

You can have a consistent front-end interface even if you are plugging into data all over an enterprise. Intersolv Q+E 6.0 provides access to over 30 databases, such as dBASE and Paradox. It is fully ODBC compliant. The program supports a variety of client/server data formats, including DB2/2, Oracle and Sybase. Version 6.0 of the database query and reporting program adds analysis and presentation tools to help create reports and extended administrative features.

The Query Builder lets you generate database quer-ies without using SQL commands. The Job Scheduler feature allows you to run searches at predetermined times. The Q+E Administrator feature lets you set graduated access privileges for employees or workgroups.

The toolset in version 6.0 includes a Report Writer, a Chart Builder and a Forms Builder. The program supports drill-down to obtain more information on a particular data aspect. Q+E is OLE 2.0 compatible.

Intersolv Q+E 6.0

Price: $499.

Contact: Intersolv, 800-876-3101, 919-859-2220.

Unlock DB2 Data from a Windows PC

You can perform Windows-based data conversion and reporting using DB2 data stored in a minicomputer or a mainframe with SQLAssist 3.5. The program also automatically retrieves primary and foreign key restraints from DB2.

The Conversion Facility lets you convert your data to one of several formats, including SAS and RS/1, or to PC formats, including Excel, FrameMaker, WordPerfect, Word and Lotus 1-2-3. SQLAssist allows you to compose SQL Select statements. Direct access is accomplished via IBM's Direct Data Connectivity Service (DDCS), a component of IBM's DRDA client/server architecture. The Graphs & Charts feature presents data in a variety of formats. Third-party gateways supported include Micro Decisionware's MDI, Technosis' SequeLink, EDA/SQL, OracleConnect and Sybase's Omni-Server.

SQLAssist 3.5

Price: $495.

Contact: Software Interfaces Inc., 800-SI-ACCESS, 713-492-0707.

Graph Your ODBC Data

Power Graph converts ODBC data to charts and graphs. It combines a query tool with presentation graphics to simplify data management and analysis. You can access any column or table standard and create statistical queries using only mouse clicks. Results are displayed in a spreadsheet format and can be saved to Windows' Clipboard for pasting into other applications. This tool can access any database that has an ODBC driver installed.

Power Graph

Price: $99.95; five users, $249.95.

Contact: Mojahmbee Ltd., voice and fax, 303-543-0521.

IN BRIEF-SOFTWARE

Simultaneously reduce the memory requirements and speed the operations of multimedia applications with Multimedia Cloaking. You can save 80KB of RAM below 1MB and cache CD-ROMs 50 percent faster than Microsoft's SmartDrive. The special cloaked MSCDEX takes only 2KB of conventional memory, while the special cloaked mouse driver takes only 1KB of memory. Drivers run faster because they are in 32-bit protected mode. $39.95; Helix Software, 800-451-0551, 718-392-3100.

Working Watermarker can print a watermark graphic of any size behind documents from any application, including ones that do not support graphics. It runs concurrently with the application doing the printing. You can also use text and graphic objects to create your own watermark. $49.95; Working Software Inc., 800-229-9675, 408-423-5696.

Tired of using complicated e-mail to send simple messages? QuickFlash allows you to send or receive messages without leaving your application. It has no log-in procedure. You can send text, screen captures or other graphics. QuickFlash can also inform those messaging you that you are unavailable. It's even possible to send reminder memos to yourself. $249; ADM Group, 212-371-4900, fax 212-750-7419.

IN BRIEF-UTILITIES

If you need to know the time to within one second, Precision Time 2.0 can help. A memory-resident, Windows-aware program, Precision Time synchronizes your computer with an atomic clock, then compensates for any drift between checks. The utility guards the time and date to prevent accidental resetting. $79.95; Crystalogic, 800-391-9190, 615-391-9100. Circle Inquiry #658

Version 2.1F of Outside In, a file viewing and data import utility, offers 11 new formats, in addition to the original 160 DOS, Windows and Macintosh word processing, database, graphics and spreadsheet formats previously included. The program lets you print, cut and paste, view and import. It can be used as a standalone product, or be integrated into other programs. $89; upgrade, $29; Systems Compatibility Corp., 800-333-1395, 312-329-0700.

CD Workshop determines the number, types, lengths and modes of tracks or sessions on a CD-ROM. You can view the Volume Descriptors, Path Tables and Directory Records; Flag File settings; System Use fields; and attributes. You can even use CD Workshop to copy an audio track to hard disk. $295; Incatsystems Software USA Inc., 800-774-6228, 408-379-2400.

Continued Part 2-Topics Covered

Printers

Monitors

Cross-Platform Connectivity

Laptop Acessories

Conferencing

Emulation

PCI Graphics Cards

PCMCIA

Application Development

Programming


New Products: Nov. 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS FILE

Printers

Monitors

Cross-Platform Connectivity

Laptop Acessories

Conferencing

Emulation

PCI Graphics Cards

PCMCIA

Application Development

Programming

PRINTERS

Put 600-dpi Printing on Your Net

You can add 600x600 dot- per-inch printing to your workgroup with the C.Itoh ProWriter CI-88 laser printer. The unit, which prints 8 ppm, supports Enhanced PCL5e emulation.

The printer comes with 2MB of RAM, which can be expanded to 32MB, and both parallel and serial (RS-232/RS-422A) interfaces. You can add optional Ethernet, AppleTalk and Token Ring boards. It also includes 35 Intellifont and 10 TrueType fonts and a built-in cartridge slot for customized font installation.

The CI-88 measures 11.2 by 15.3 by 14.5 inches, and weighs 38 pounds. It can handle transparencies, labels and envelopes. The printer also includes a user-adjustable cassette tray that holds 250 sheets.

C.Itoh ProWriter CI-88

Price: $1,499

Contact: C-TECH Electronics Inc., 800-347-4017, fax 714-757-4533.

Laser for as Low as $399

Brother International Corp. has introduced a line of low-cost 300-dpi laser printers. The 6-ppm printers ship with a Windows 3.1 printer driver, a 16MHz processor and a bidirectional parallel interface. Each comes with 21 resident bitmapped and 24 TrueType-compatible fonts.

The HL-630 gives you 412KB of RAM, while the HL-645 has 1MB and the HL-655M has 2MB. Other features include auto emulation switching, auto interface switching, power save mode, reprint mode and automatic data compression.

The HL-655M comes with BookMaker Corp.'s ClickBook software, which lets you print documents in a variety of formats and styles.

HL-630, HL-645, HL-655M

Price: From $399.

Contact: Brother International Corp., 908-356-8880, fax 908-356-4085.

Print the Big Picture

Print oversized pages with the Unity 1800XL-O and Unity 1800XL, two 1800-dpi plain-paper typesetters. The 1800XL-O features a 66MHz, 32-bit processor and prints pages up to 12 by 19.5 inches. It has two adjustable paper trays and includes 235 Type 1 typefaces preinstalled. The 1800XL prints pages up to 11 by 17 inches and has a single, adjustable paper tray. It comes with 135 Type 1 typefaces preinstalled and a 33MHz, 32-bit processor.

Unity 1800XL-O and 1800XL

Price: 1800XL-O, $8,995; 1800- XL, $6,995.

Contact: LaserMaster Corp., 800-950-6868, 612-944-9330.

IN BRIEF-MONITORS

The ClearVueColor 21, a 21-inch color monitor, has a maximum resolution of 1600x1280 and resolutions up to 1280x1024 at a 77MHz refresh rate. It provides a 0.25mm dot pitch and Invar shadow masking. $2,449; RasterOps Corp., 800-SAY-COLOR, 408-562-4200.

The Accuvue Galaxy GX-21 can handle resolutions up to 1600x1280 and features an 84Hz refresh rate at 1280x1024 resolution. It includes Invar shadow masking, as well as antireflective, antiglare and antistatic screen coating. The GX-21 features a 0.28mm dot pitch. The monitor also has an optional RS-232C interface. $2,099;Hitachi America Ltd., 800-225-1370, 201-573-0774.

The CTX 2085GM, a 20-inch monitor that complies with Energy Star guidelines, features a 0.28mm dot pitch and noninterlaced resolution of 1600x1280 at a 60Hz refresh rate and 1280x1024 at 75Hz. It adjusts to horizontal frequencies of 30kHz to 85kHz and vertical frequencies of 50Hz to 100Hz. It accepts either a 15-pin mini or D-sub input from standard PCs and provides digital controls for adjusting the display. $1,685; CTX International Inc., 909-595-6146, fax 909-595-6293. Circle Inquiry #618

The NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21 includes a scanning capability of 90kHz, and 1600x1200 resolution at a 72Hz refresh rate. It has a 0.28mm dot pitch CRT with Invar mask and antireflective coating. It also offers pincushion adjustment and two inputs for dual system configuration. $1,995; NSA/Hitachi, 800-441-4832, 617-461-8300.

CROSS-PLATFORM CONNECTIVITY

Harmonize UNIX and Windows

TinyTerm Plus 2.1 is a DOS/Windows-to-UNIX networking solution that allows network printer and file sharing, visual file transfer, and network and terminal emulation. The program supports TCP/IP.

Network users can access any printer connected to a system running Windows, DOS or UNIX, including PostScript printers using the LPR/LPD protocol. The program enables printer sharing with LPR/LPD-compliant systems, even systems not running TinyTerm. TinyTerm Plus also includes LPR/LPD implementation for the SCO environment, and is compatible with AIX, Interactive and Sun environments.

The program includes FTP (file-transfer protocol) and NFS (network file system) capabilities to enable file transferring and file sharing between desktop personal computers and a UNIX server.

TinyTerm Plus offers a range of UNIX terminal emulation options including Wyse 60, SCO ANSI, AT386 Color Console, and the DEC series VT320, VT220, VT100 and VT52.

TinyTerm Plus 2.1

Price: Five users, $395; additional users, $79. With NFS and network printing, five users, $795.

Contact: Century Software,800-877-3088, 801-268-3088.

Interface with UNIX Servers

You can access UNIX servers that are part of an NFS, AFS or DFS file system with PC-Interface 5.0.

NFS files already mounted on a server can be accessed without configuring each PC for NFS server access. You can also transfer files and directories (via a network or the Internet) to or from any PC that supports an FTP server.

Other networking features include support for TCP/IP; local, enterprise-wide and Internet e-mail; file and printer sharing; and coexistent NetWare and Windows for Workgroups. In addition,

the program supports a variety of other standards including SNMP (MIB3, SMTP and POP 3), WinSock.DLL and Kerberos Authentication.

PC-Interface 5.0

Price: $279.

Contact: Locus Computing Corp., 800-95-LOCUS, 310-670-6500.

Free Your Wizard Info

Unlock the information in your Sharp Wizard with RuppLynx for Wizard. The organizer-to-PC software lets you import and export information between any Sharp 8000 or 9000 Series device and a Windows computer. You can interface Wizard data files with a number of compatible Windows programs, such as Lotus Organizer, ACT and Calendar Creator Plus. The program provides a variety of file-transfer capabilities.

RuppLynx for Wizard

Price: $99.99.

Contact: Rupp Technology Corp., 800-844-7775, 602-224-9922.

IN BRIEF-ON THE ROAD

AirAccess 2.0 enables LAN access with a notebook by improving caching and data compression. Users can access and work with files stored on their desktop PCs. Files are synchronized with the server. AirAccess caches the server information allowing for continued work on a remote server drive after the network connection has been dropped. $199; AirSoft Inc., 800-708-4247, 408-777-7500.

Use your car's lighter socket to power your portable PC. The AC Traveler, a DC/AC converter into which you plug your portable's AC adapter, transforms your 12-volt car, boat, plane or RV battery into 140 watts of AC power. It includes an automatic low battery alarm and shutoff, and short circuit/overpower shutdown. $89.95; Major Electronix Corp., 216-942-0054, 800-966-2345.

Protect your notebook even while you're using it. The Portable Laptop Workstation is a carrying case made of ballistic nylon, the material used in bulletproof vests. The case is configured to allow the notebook to remain in the case while you use it. It weighs about 3 pounds and includes internal wiring for routing peripheral cords. $129; Brookstone Co., 800-343-9855 ext. 099, 314-581-7777.

Mouse Slide is a platform attachment for the bottom of your portable. It slides away when not in use and adds only 5/8 of an inch to the notebook's total height. The device mounts on either side of most notebooks. $24.95; for limited time, $19.95; Creative Computer Accessories, 510-934-1930, 800-SLIDE-11.

CONFERENCING

Don't Just Hear 'Em--See 'Em Too

The Communique ConferenceKit's full-motion video technology allows you to see the reactions of meeting participants in real time on your 486 personal computer. The kit also facilitates document exchange. It includes a video board, a CCD video camera, an Audio Technica microphone, a 16-bit audio board and conferencing software.

The product is based on a technology called Digital Video Everywhere, an open systems environment that can be used to support different video compression standards such as Indeo, JPEG, DVE2 and CellB simultaneously.

If the full package is too much, you can choose a smaller configuration. CommuniqueLite allows users to share a common workspace on PCs and UNIX workstations. The software provides shared whiteboard and writeboard capabilities.

Communique ConferenceKit

Price: From $1,995.

Contact: InSoft Inc., 717-730-9501, info@insoft.com. Circle Inquiry #568

Connect Live with 31 Sites

LiveBoard 3, an upgraded version of LiveBoard 2, allows you to share an electronic whiteboard at 31 different sites simultaneously and costs 30 percent less than its predecessor. It includes a 67-inch rear projection display for easy viewing in well-lit areas and can display 256,000 colors. The board is 20 percent brighter than previous LiveBoards. In addition, the pen has been modified to increase the clarity of small-sized text.

The cabinet includes space for peripherals that are frequently used with LiveBoards (including laserdisc players, VCRs and CD-ROM drives) to allow the unit and peripherals to be moved simultaneously. The overall height has been reduced to 78 inches and the depth to 28 inches.

LiveBoard 3

Price: $34,900.

Contact: LiveWorks, A Xerox Company, 800-200-1167, 408-324-2200.

ConferencingCamera

The IK-M27A, a 1/3 CCD board camera, can be integrated with standalone conferencing programs. It is compatible with NTSC video capture boards, and comes with a fully enclosed camera, quick-lock base, AC adapter and video cable. The single-chip camera includes white balance and registration optimization, as well as 330 lines of horizontal resolution and a signal-to-noise ratio of 46 decibels. The camera comes equipped with a 45-degree infinite field lens.

IK-M27A

Price: $399.

Contact: Toshiba Multimedia Systems Group, 800-253-5429 ext. 212, 708-541-9400.

IN BRIEF-EMULATION

Connect from your Windows PC to any host that expects a DEC VT300 terminal using PC340 (DEC VT340 emulation) or PC320 (DEC VT320 color-text emulation). Supplemental software allows you to use the emulation over BAPI, FTP, PC/TCP and local area networks. Both packages include support for WinSock (for compatibility with third-party TCP/IP stacks) and Pathworks. These emulators can be used directly through a serial port or via a modem. Included are programmable softkeys and an automatic modem dialer. PC340, $349; PC320, $199; network supplements, $30 each; White Pine Software Inc.,603-886-9050, 800-241-PINE.

Tektronix 410x/420x emulation from inside Windows is now possible with EMU-TEK. You can connect to the host via modem or directly on a network. A WinSock compatibility pack is optional. Graphics downloaded from the host can be captured, printed and exported, in either .BMP or .WMF format. This package can also emulate DEC VT100 and VT200 terminals. A toolbar offers access to such functions as zoom, copy, upload, download and print. You can also program your own toolbar buttons. $495; FTG Data Systems, 800-962-3900, 714-995-3900.

PCI GRAPHICS CARDS

Hop on the PCI Graphics Bus

You can add PCI-bus 64-bit graphics capabilities to your system with a card from VidTech Microsystems Inc. The FastMax P20 is based on the S3 Vision 864 video controller/accelerator chip, which integrates a 64-bit GUI engine, 64-bit internal data paths and a 64-bit frame buffer interface.

The card offers VESA-standard 75MHz refresh rates at resolutions up to 1280x1024 including 800x-600 at 16.7 million colors. The FastMax also supports 1600x1200. The FastMax P20 includes a "Green PC'' power-saving feature to comply with VESA Display Power Management Signaling standards. It also has a VESA 26-pin VGA feature connector on-board. The board comes with driver-installation, mode-change and CRT-adjust utilities.

FastMax P20

Price: $235.

Contact: VidTech Microsystems Inc., 612-633-6000, fax 612-633-9164.

Perform Full-Screen Magic

Transforming video clips into full-screen images used to be nearly impossible. Now, you can create full-screen video playback with the PCI Movie accelerator card, which features VESA Media Channel connectivity. VideoLogic has combined the PowerPlay32 digital movie accelerator, Weitek's P9100 graphics controller and the VESA Media Channel to let you scale postage-stamp-sized video clips up to full screen without frame-rate reduction or degradation in quality.

The card's SmoothScale scaling algorithm enables you to scale Indeo, Cinepak and Video1 movies. The PCI Movie card supports 24-bit true color for images and resolutions of up to 1280x1024. The card ships with 2MB of VRAM on the board.

PCI Movie

Price: $499.

Contact: VideoLogic Inc., 800-578-5644, 617-494-0530.

Video Vrooom!

The 32-bit PCI SuperX VGA video accelerator card frees up your CPU by handling some common graphics functions, such as line draws and area fills.

The card utilizes the Cirrus Logic GD5430 accelerator chip and ships with 1MB of DRAM. It supports 256 colors at 1024x768 resolution and 16.7 million colors at 640x480. The card ships with a hardware cursor, bit-block transfer, 15/16-bit high color and 24-bit true color.

PCI SuperX VGA

Price: Estimated,$129.

Contact: Boca Research Inc., 407-997-6227, fax 407-997-0918.

IN BRIEF-PCMCIA

The New Media SVGA adapter card allows Gateway 2000 HandBook users to connect their subnotebooks to conventional VGA monitors. The adapter can be used anytime after the PCMCIA client driver software is installed. When the SVGA card is inserted into the PCMCIA slot of the notebook, the screen display automatically appears on the VGA monitor. When the card is removed, the display reappears on the HandBook's display screen. With any HandBook, $229; Gateway 2000, 800-846-2000, 605-232-2000.

The Noteworthy Portable Digital Video Card lets an active-matrix color notebook perform high-end multimedia tasks such as recording and displaying real-time full-motion video. The Type II PCMCIA card provides a live video image in 256 colors. It allows full-screen and multitask television functionality when connected to the portable TV tuner module. The card displays NTSC video signals in 320x240 multitask mode at 27 to 30 frames per second. $499; Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., 800-959-4100, 714-583-3000.

The CardWare 2.0 PCMCIA utility ensures compatibility between your notebook and more than 250 PCMCIA cards including flash memory, fax modem, rotating media and LAN cards. CardWare 2.0's Card Information Structure Parsing system guarantees that future PCMCIA cards will remain compatible as they are introduced. CardWare allows unlimited hot swapping. $30; Award Software International Inc., 415-968-4433, fax 415-968-0274.

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

Keep Your Code Within Bounds

Version 3.0 of MemCheck automatic error detection tool for C and C++ programmers has been improved to intercept more API calls and function libraries. By adding a single header file, MemCheck can track an application's GDI objects, including device context, bitmaps, brushes, fonts and metafiles. GDI objects not released are specified by source file and line number. MemCheck can spot invalid window or object handles, memory overwrites and underwrites, memory leaks, out-of-memory conditions and heap-related bugs.

MemCheck 3.0 can be linked in, royalty-free, with your application, and used in combination with traditional debuggers such as CodeView and Turbo Debugger. The program is compatible with Microsoft C/C++ 7.0, Visual C++, and Borland C++ 2.0 or later.

MemCheck 3.0

Price: $139.

Contact: StratosWare, 800-WEDEBUG, 313-996-2944.

Compiler Aids NT Developers

MetaWare has optimized its High C/C++ Compiler for Windows NT for Intel's Pentium. The compiler is plug compatible with standard Microsoft 32-bit development kits and produces Windows NT COFF object modules as well as NT CodeView-4 debugging information so you can use any CodeView-compatible debugger. The compiler includes EasyDLL, which allows export or import functions in a given code block to maintain compatibility with current libraries. The compiler's EasyThread feature lets you convert existing routines and programs to take advantage of NT's multithreading capabilities. The feature supports stackable toggles to turn on and off sections of code that use thread-local storage. High C/C++ includes the Win32s Enablement Package to create applications that can run under Windows 3.1.

High C/C++ Compiler for Windows NT

Price: $595.

Contact: MetaWare Inc., 408-429-6382, fax 408-429-9273.

Print Your Source Code

Put SftPrint to work formatting and printing your source code listings on any matrix, ink jet or laser printer supported by Windows.

SftPrint gives you complete control over margins, including alternating between odd and even pages (for binding your output). You can define headers and footers, print up to four pages per physical page, define the font style and size, include a page border, and save settings for each printer or paper size. You can also assign settings, such as tab position and number of columns, by source-file extension. The program includes print preview mode, and lets you automatically print files by dragging those files from File Manger.

SftPrint

Price: $49.

Contact: Softel vdm, 201-366-9618, fax 201-366-3984.

Get Some Cool Tools

Put music into your Visual Basic application with MIDI CoolTools. The MIDI In control automatically detects the available in ports and lets you select which to use, while the VU indicator offers a horizontal or vertical LED VU meter. Other controls include knobs, faders and sliders, and a MIDI Out control. Examples included present a real-time graphic piano keyboard, a MIDI mixer and a MIDI file editor.

MIDI CoolTools

Price: $59.

Contact: Artic Software, 800-892-0677, 414-534-4309.

IN BRIEF-PROGRAMMING

WinPAK Professional Edition is a collection of C++ custom controls ranging from bitmapped GUI controls (radio buttons, check boxes and list boxes), data-entry controls (for string, integer and floating-point input) and instrumentation objects (faders, gauges, knobs and odometers). Two spreadsheet controls that support in-place editing are also included. $249.95; with source, $499.95; Faison Computing, 800-500-6535, 714-854-6535.

VB HelpWriter includes an integrated word processor and a CASE feature to generate a complete help file template from any Visual Basic source code. The editor displays text exactly as it will appear in your final help file and allows you to build jumps by dragging highlighted text between topics. You can generate a module of custom subroutines for interfacing your application to the Windows help engine API. Professional edition, $99; Teletech Systems, 800-242-4775, 404-475-6985.

IMSL Exponent Graphics, a library of graphics subroutines for 2-D and 3-D plot types, now supports Windows NT. The program features nearly 300 customizable graph attributes (such as fonts, line types and shading) and high-performance output drivers. It also includes an interactive user interface for plot development and prototyping. $895; Visual Numerics Inc., 800-222-4675, 713-784-3131.


Screaming Pentiums

Screaming Pentiums

Motherboard Madness

Intel Motherboards

Self-Branded Motherboards

Report Card

Info Files

Screaming Pentiums Table

Drives That Thrive

Also Coming Up


Screaming Pentiums

By: Jonathan Blackwood, Ian Etra, David Gabel, John Gartner, William Gee, Arthur H. Germain III, James Miller, John Yacono, Serdar Yegulalp-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Suppose you could make a wish list for your ideal Windows PC, and money were no object. Chances are you'd want a machine with a Pentium processor running at 90MHz. You'd want to outfit it with a fast (SCSI or Enhanced IDE) half-gigabyte hard disk, a PCI bus and 16MB of RAM. And since you're just wishing, why not throw in a double-speed (or faster) CD-ROM drive and an Energy Star-compliant monitor? Sounds good, doesn't it? What if we told you that you could get all these goodies (and more) for under $3,000? Sounds a little too good to be true, you say. So, you want to know how it's possible? Well, keep reading.

As luck would have it, two factors have combined to push these fastest-ever Intel-powered machines out the door at these rock-bottom prices. The first is competition: Intel is determined to beat back the PowerPC threat on one front and the crush of cheap 486 knockoffs on the other. That, combined with the fact that the 24 manufacturers featured in this review are determined to match the price point of their competitors, has put enormous downward pressure on prices. Yet another factor is that several of the components that go into these machines--CD-ROM drives and hard disks, for example--have matured so that economies of scale in manufacturing are driving down the prices of the individual components. Bottom line: You get more for less.

The systems reviewed here are the fastest Intel-based production single-processor Windows machines we've ever tested. How fast? Two to three times as fast as a 486DX2/66. Twice as fast as a DX4/100. Half again as fast as a 60MHz Pentium. For the moment--until the advent of 100MHz or 150MHz Pentiums--this class of machine is King of the Hill.

Most of these systems have an Intel motherboard, but two--the Micron and the MIS--have boards made by Micronics. There were also motherboards from Prima and Supermicro. Dell and Zeos each used proprietary motherboards. All but the Supermicro boards used the Intel Neptune chip set. We saw Award, American Megatrends and Phoenix BIOS firmware. (For more information about the system boards, see Motherboard Madness

Motherboards are almost as important to a computer as the microprocessor. The motherboard determines the expandability of the system, the speed of the peripheral communications, and the overall layout of the machine. Because of the importance of the motherboards we grouped our review systems according to that feature.

The machines we tested suffered from many of the opening-night jitters common to any new generation of products: BIOS glitches, incorrect configurations from the factory and so forth. Overall, however, these problems were minor. If the manufacturers tackle these annoyances as they have in the past, by the time you read this, such problems will probably have been corrected.

It turns out that yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And in this case, he has 24 gifts in his sack. Just in time for the holiday season, these 24 dream machines will hit all your hot buttons. Enjoy!


Motherboard Madness

The 24 systems reviewed here are made with only six different motherboards. Here's the lowdown on the boards we tested.

Dell

The dell computer came with a slightly modified intel motherboard that added a PS/2 mouse port and AMI BIOS version a00.

Intel Premiere/PCI II baby AT

The Premiere/PCI II uses Intel's neptune PCI chip set and 256kb of secondary, or l2, cache on-board. It has four 72-pin simm sockets that let you expand memory from 2mb to 128mb. The Premiere/PCI II motherboard supports two buses, one 16-bit ISA bus and one 32-bit PCI bus.

The motherboard has four ISA and two PCI expansion slots, plus one shared ISA/PCI expansion slot. This means that you can have either a total of five ISA and two PCI, or four ISA and three PCI cards at any time. Two on-board IDE controllers, one on the ISA bus and one on the PCI bus, allow you to connect as many as four IDE disks simultaneously. Our tests show that there is no significant difference between either controller for IDE hard disk performance.

The Pentium P90 chip sits in a ZIF socket. Individual manufacturers use CPU fans, large heat sinks or both to cool the units. Unlike other Pentium microprocessors, these P90 chips run at a cool 3.3 volts and so require less heat dissipation.

Intel uses the AMI BIOS version 1.00.0x.ax1. We tested both the 1.00.06.ax1 and the1.00.08.ax1 versions. This BIOS provides all standard and advanced post setup as well as PCI and ISA configuration utilities through a dos-style menu system.

The SMC37C655 super i/o controller chip governs the parallel and serial ports, floppy disk drives and ISA IDE hard disk functions.

Micronics M54PI

Micronics uses Intel's 82430 PCI chip set on the M54PI motherboard, which supports both ISA and PCI buses. The board can take up to 512kb of on-board secondary cache, and six 72-pin SIMM sockets provide room for up to 192mb of memory.

The motherboard has one shared PCI/ISA slot sandwiched between four ISA and two PCI slots. On-board peripherals include two serial ports, one parallel port, and a floppy disk drive connector, which are handled by the smc 665 Super I/O controller. There are also two IDE interfaces, one on the ISA bus and one on the PCI bus. A ZIF socket holds the Pentium 90 chip, which is usually cooled by a heat sink and miniature CPU fan.

Micronics uses Phoenix BIOS version 4.0x to control boot options, peripheral settings, and post setup. The systems we tested used versions 4.02 and 4.03; no differences between the two were readily apparent.

Prima/EPS

This motherboard uses the Intel neptune PCI chip set and is configurable for up to 512kb of secondary level cache on-board. It has six 72-pin SIMM sockets for expansion to 192mb of ram. The prima/eps supports the ISA bus and the PCI bus.

The board has three ISA and three PCI expansion slots as well as one shared ISA/PCI slot. Separate cards provide multi i/o and PCI IDE controller functions.

The Pentium P90 chip sits in a ZIF socket. EPS, one of the manufacturers whose product we reviewed, uses a large heat sink.

The award ISA/PCI 586 BIOS, version 1.45g, provides standard and advanced post setup as well as PCI and ISA configuration utilities. The BIOS displays a wealth of information on screen at start-up, including the size of the installed l2 cache.

Supermicro Super P54VL-PCI

The Super P54VL-PCI uses the opti chip set and supports up to 512kb of on-board l2 cache. It is expandable to 128mb of ram via four 72-pin SIMM sockets.

This motherboard is unique in offering two vesa local-bus slots in addition to two ISA, three PCI and one shared PCI/ISA slots.

The Pentium 90 chip plugs into a 296-pin ZIF socket. Both systems we tested had a heat sink and CPU fan.

The Super P54VL-PCI uses a version of the AMI BIOS (050294) with a mouse-driven graphical interface. The BIOS provides post codes at start-up, as well as several predefined setup configurations.

Zeos

The Zeos motherboard uses Intel's neptune PCI chip set and provides a socket for a cache card supporting 256kb or 512kb of secondary cache. It has six 72-pin SIMM sockets allowing for memory expansion from 4mb to 192mb of ram.

There are four ISA and two PCI expansion slots, plus one shared ISA/pci expansion slot.

The board comes configured with multiple components on-board: two IDE connectors allow you simultaneously to connect up to four IDE disks. There are a floppy disk drive controller and its connector, business audio provided via an on-board chip, and all i/o (comm and parallel) ports. If you add the optional controller chip, the motherboard can also support on-board Ethernet, SCSI or both. The Pentium P90 chip has a large heat sink.

Zeos uses a Phoenix BIOS to provide all standard and advanced post setups.


Intel Motherboards

ACMA P90

Notebook users who have been wishing they had some place to use their PCMCIA cards besides on the road need look no further than the Acma P90. It's a full-height tower machine with a PCMCIA socket that will accept one Type II card and one Type III card simultaneously. It's a thoughtful extra, one that ought to be copied by other manufacturers; the Acma was the only machine of the systems reviewed to be so equipped.

Beyond the novelty of the PCMCIA connector is a well-made tower with empty ISA and PCI slots, and drive bays galore. The tower is so roomy that you can actually access the entire system board--including the SIMMs--without moving anything. We do have one minor complaint: Although the system seems well put together overall, the feet that came with our unit did not match the case; we had to attach them with only one screw each because the holes didn't line up.

Rounding out the standard equipment was a 15-inch Impression 5 monitor of average quality, a Maxi-Switch keyboard with a rubbery feel, and the OEM-version (with a matte finish) of the Microsoft Mouse 2.0. The Mitsumi FX001D 2X CD-ROM drive performed well, and the Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM graphics adapter excellently.

The P90 came with a Conner CFA540A hard disk that died shortly after we finished our evaluation; that could have happened to any system. The Acma carries a one year parts-and-labor warranty that would cover such an occurrence, and the company is still small enough that you can actually get through to customer service or tech support.

This system was quick, especially running our Word and Excel benchmarks. Its PCMCIA socket is a plus, too.

AMERICAN MULTISYSTEMS INFOGOLD P90

The InfoGold line comes with a pretty black case (aping minicams, perhaps?), a black American MultiSystems keyboard with nice tactile and audible feedback, and a generic three-button mouse whose claim to fame is its blackness. Even though the mouse is better than you might expect, you'll want to lose it and buy one from Microsoft if you purchase this machine--and it is a machine worth considering.

The InfoGold is a full-sized tower unit built for the ages, with four round steel feet that come bolted and spot welded to its steel chassis. The design is wide enough that you can access everything easily--even the SIMMs. The left panel comes off to reveal the insides, and the front panel pops off to allow access to the drive bays from the front. One especially nice touch is that the front panel contains an air-conditioning-type filter to keep dust out of the machine.

Another nice touch is the inclusion of the excellent Sony Multiscan 15sf monitor. The putty-colored monitor breaks the black color scheme, but it was by far the best 15-inch monitor in the group, even though it showed some color misconvergence along the right side of the screen. The Diamond Stealth 64 (VRAM) PCI graphics adapter gave video scores at the head of the class. Otherwise the P90's benchmark scores were in the middle of the pack.

Finishing out the features list is the Sony CDU33A double-speed CD-ROM drive, which performs well enough, though its tray is a little flimsy. In all, the InfoGold is a combination of Gibraltar-like construction, quality components, expandability, serviceability and respectable performance.

ANTHURIUM INTEL PLATO 90MHZ SYSTEM

The Intel Plato 90MHz has an odd, 129-key keyboard with a good, clicky feel and a built-in calculator, complete with LCD, so you can throw away your calculator. The function keys are positioned in the top row in groups of threes (rather than fours), but since it also provides all 12 function keys arrayed along the left side of the keyboard, it worked fine.

The system is a medium-sized tower unit. This means that while in general its innards are easy to get at, the SIMM sockets are pretty inaccessible behind a drive bay housing. You'd have to remove the housing to provide good access.

A Daytek (made by Daewoo) 15-inch monitor arrived with the Plato, which was unique in this group for having a 16Si Mirocrystal graphics adapter. This adapter can drive two monitors at once (each with a different view), an especially useful feature for CAD applications. The video wasn't very fast, though, and it crashed attempting to run our Excel benchmark, which is video-intensive. We had to deal with German dialog boxes in the Miro section of CompuServe to download the updated drivers which worked fine once installed. Future machines will be shipped with the Western Digital Bahamas card.

The Plato 90MHz came equipped with a Creative Labs sound card and dual floppy disk drives, a rarity. Stranger still, it was configured with the 5.25-inch drive as drive A:. Rounding out the package is the excellent, slick-finish Microsoft Mouse 2.0 and a double-speed Panasonic CD-ROM drive. All in all, the Plato 90MHz is a reasonably sturdy, pleasant machine with some nice extras.

AUSTIN POWER 90

The Austin Power 90 system is arranged in a roomy full-tower configuration that holds eight drive bays. The case is very well ventilated, with a large fan mounted in the back and a smaller one directly on the processor. Most of the slots and SIMM banks are easy to reach, since the internal cables are thoughtfully routed out of the way. Installing floppy disk drives can be a little tricky; connecting a 3.5-inch drive requires that you remove the entire drive bay. To attach 5.25-inch devices, you use specialized mounting rails that easily snap into the case, but no extra rails are included. Reading the manual helps with system configuration, since it contains detailed explanations of every function in the AMI BIOS.

The controller for the Sony double-speed CD-ROM drive also provides unamplified audio output, as well as an input for attaching an additional sound device. The controller plays only Redbook audio; under Windows, you must install the driver for CD audio manually. The system also ships with the slick-finish Microsoft Mouse 2.0. Its keyboard has a soft feel, and the often-needed Backslash key is inconveniently in the lower-right corner.

The Stealth 32 PCI video card is an older cousin of the Stealth 64, but performed competitively on our video tests. It also uses the Diamond InControl Tools to change the display resolution, refresh rate, screen saver and more. Less remarkable was the monitor, a 14-inch curved-CRT display with analog thumbwheel controls. Using a screwdriver to adjust the pincushioning, we were unable to correct fully some distortion, and a faint ring of discoloration surrounded the image.

Achieving respectable benchmark scores across the board, the Austin Power 90 is a very nice machine. Still, it suffers in comparison with some of the other systems here.

COMTRADE PCI PROFESSIONAL P5/90

Comtrade's offering is a mini-tower system with a 15-inch monitor. Getting into the guts of this machine is no problem; cables are neatly arranged so that all seven expansion slots are accessible. You can get to the two available SIMM banks easily, although the upper two banks are obstructed by drive bays. Installing too many cards into this system could present a heat problem; the only fan, aside from the one in the power supply, rests directly on the Pentium chip.

The main benefits of this system lie in its peripherals. There's a Conner 810A hard disk with room for 772MB of data, as well as a Diamond Stealth 64 video card, which produced the highest video score of any machine in this review (albeit by a slim margin). You can change refresh rates, screen resolution and various characteristics of your display easily through the InControl Tools control panel. The Mitsumi CD-ROM drive meets MPC-2 specifications, and the ISA controller card provides connections for playing Redbook audio.

The CTX 15-inch monitor is unexceptional, with no-frills analog thumbwheel controls that include a pincushioning adjustment. It performed adequately on our subjective video tests, producing only a small amount of discoloration off to the edges of the picture. The system also includes the comfortable Microsoft Mouse 2.0 and a somewhat soft keyboard in a standard key configuration.

Aside from InControl Tools, there is no extra software included on top of Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and MS-DOS 6.2x. Although the system includes a detailed reference for the Intel motherboard, the system manual itself is fairly generic. Overall, the Comtrade is a solid performer, but a minimally configured system compared with others here.

CORNELL POWER WORKSTATION

Cornell's Pentium tower of power is a dynamo of speed and expansion. The Power Workstation's huge cabinet houses up to 11 drives and seven expansion adapters. A massive heat sink and fan protect the Pentium chip, which, like all the internal components, has plenty of territory to call its own. The entire unit is protected by a thick metal casing that is firmly attached via six screws and secured to a supporting pedestal.

The Power Workstation is not a misnomer; the robust configuration includes a fast Diamond Stealth 64 video card that runs among the fastest boards tested. The CPU performance was also among the elite, but the sluggish Conner 540MB hard disk detracts from this workhorse's overall performance. Our 16MB configuration included two 8MB SIMMs, leaving two free slots for expansion modules.

The 15-inch ADI monitor generates rock-solid images at 72Hz--and with little distortion--although the display could be brighter. You adjust the display using Diamond's InControl Tools, which enable the power management, allow for color correction, and let you view the refresh rate and resolution. A serial Microsoft Mouse 2.0 and Sony CDU-33A CD-ROM drive are included. The generic keyboard lacks good firm tactile response.

The Power Workstation carries a three-year warranty, making it an even more impressive value. Its formidable size and unparalleled expansion make it stand tall against the competitors.

With five available expansion slots and eight drive bays in the Power Workstation, you can add a large number of peripheral devices. Installing and servicing components should not be difficult, since this tower is laid out for maximum ease of service.

DIAMOND TECHNOLOGIES DT POWER HURRICANE

The DT Power Hurricane has a rugged metal chassis and cover. There are two free 5.25-inch internal drive bays. This limits the unit and requires additional mounting hardware if you want to add another 3.5-inch hard disk. The front plastic bezel has rounded edges and removable external drive bay covers.

Diamond Technologies uses only one PCI slot (for the video accelerator) and one ISA slot for a CD-ROM controller, leaving a lot of expansion room, with two PCI and three ISA slots available.

The 101-key keyboard is adjustable for height and is comfortable to use. The shipping pointing device is a two-button serial mouse.

The installed double-speed CD-ROM drive is the CRMC-FX001D from Mitsumi. This drive uses a solid trayloading and ejecting mechanism. It came installed using the MTMCDAS.SYS driver that does not employ DMA channels for memory access.

The PCI-bus ATI Mach 64 video accelerator ships with 2MB of DRAM. The supplied IDE hard disk is a Conner with 810MB formatted capacity, which turned out to be the largest hard disk in our review.

The Scepter is a standard 14-inch monitor with controls for horizontal and vertical position, brightness and contrast. We observed some slight barreling and moire patterns that we could not correct.

This system has nice expandability and performance. But you'll want to get a larger monitor with better geometric distortion controls.

EVEREX STEP SP/90 MINI TOWER

The Step SP/90 is a sturdy, compact mini-tower with surprising room for expandability. A pair each of free internal 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch bays allows for additional hard disks and other devices. Externally, the front bezel has removable panels for one 3.5-inch and both 5.25-inch bays.

The Step SP/90 has one open PCI and three open ISA slots, plus one shared PCI/ISA slot available. Expansion cards install easily while the unit is upright or turned on its side for better leverage.

The solidly built Everex 101-key keyboard has audible reports for each keystroke and is also adjustable for height. Its color does not match the front bezel of the system, though. The computer system ships with a Logitech serial mouse, which works very well.

One surprising feature is the inclusion of a TEAC CD-55A 4X CD-ROM. The Everex came with a quadruple-speed CD-ROM and, as you would expect, it outperformed the double-speed drives that shipped with the others.

Everex manufactures and ships its own video card, which is based on the S3 model 864 chip. This version uses DRAM and performed very well during our tests.

The 17-inch TVM AS 6G monitor that Everex ships with the Step SP/90 displayed sharp, focused images with excellent color quality. There was some slight barreling that was easily corrected using the on-board pincushioning correction controls. A slight tilt in the screen image could not be corrected. The unit also showed poor screen regulation, which makes the image change size when it switches from one frame buffer to another. This problem is common in smaller monitors. The monitor has controls for correcting horizontal and vertical size and position, pincushioning, brightness and contrast. There's a degauss button at the rear.

In all, this system offers excellent features in a small package.

GATEWAY 2000 P5-90

Gateway 2000's P5-90 is an excellent buy. No other system in this roundup offers so much in its basic configuration.

Cable traffic is conveniently kept to the right side of the motherboard. The CPU is kept cool by a heat sink and fan blowing across it to the side. The only exit for air circulation is a vent toward the lower front end of the case.

To install anything in the 5.25-inch drive bays you must remove the 3.5-inch bays. To make matters worse, you must remove the floppy disk drive to get to the SIMM banks underneath.

The system comes with a US Robotics TelePath II 14.4 fax modem and Traveling Software's CommWorks for Windows. CompuServe software is preinstalled. The modem came installed in the shared ISA/PCI slot, which wastes a slot of one variety or the other, but you can always move the card.

The included Media Vision Jazz16 sound card uses FM synthesis, rather than the better, wave table synthesis. There are better-than-average Yamaha YST-M10 speakers. The Philips CD-ROM drive includes a headphone jack as well as volume control.

The STB LightSpeed W32P video card is adequate and performs fairly well, but there is no applet for adjusting the refresh rate from Windows. Gateway promises a 64-bit video card by the time you read this. The supplied monitor was the Gateway 2000 CrystalScan 1572, which provides good, sharp image quality toward the center of the screen, but the image is distorted around the edges. The bezel is too small, resulting in about a quarter of an inch of dead space around the image.

The system comes with Gateway 2000's system CD version 3.5, a convenient way to store your system software. It contains, for example, many of the system drivers, as well as Windows 3.11. The system also includes Microsoft Office Pro 4.3, which includes the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access on CD, as well as Corel Sampler. All software is preinstalled on the hard disk.

INSIGHT PCI P90 CD

Think of this system as the Incredible Hulk. It's that big. Of course, in all that space you have a lot of room to expand. There are nine 3.5-inch drive bays, one of which is externally accessible, and four externally accessible 5.25-inch bays. The four SIMM slots are all easy to reach.

There are also eight I/O slots at the back of the tower chassis. Three are PCI, three are ISA, and there is the ubiquitous shared PCI/ISA slot that can be used for one or the other, as well as that occasional rare card (so far we've seen just one, an IDE Mode 3 disk controller) that makes use of both connectors.

Since there is so much already on the motherboard, our review system had a total of six I/O slots open (the system has an STB Nitro PCI 5434 video accelerator in one PCI slot and a sound card in one ISA slot). The availability of the two IDE connectors means you can expand your hard disks to four (two apiece).

Expandable it is. The one quibble about the expandability is the mouse, which takes up one of the serial ports. A PS/2 mouse would have been the piece de resistance.

This system is no performance slouch, either. The machine placed in the top third in our performance testing, a good position in this company of computing greyhounds. So while it's not the fastest, it won't leave you time to get a cup of coffee while you wait for something to happen.

The exterior fit and finish could be tuned up: The fake covers over the unused drive bays kept falling out, no matter what we did.

The supplied MaxiSwitch keyboard is a bit mushy, but not a lot. The supplied MAG Innovision 15-inch monitor performed exceptionally well, with only slight moire effects, good color convergence, and no geometric distortion that couldn't be adjusted away, although the first one we received failed and had to be replaced. The Logitech mouse is neither as sleek nor as comfortable as the new Microsoft mice, but it behaves as well as any mouse we have used.

Setting energy-saving parameters is easy; you do it through Windows applets.

If you have the floor space for the Incredible Hulk, you won't go wrong at this low price.

MITSUBA PREMIER SYSTEM-90

The Premier System-90 is a solidly built desktop unit with a metal chassis and cover and a plastic front bezel. This shell has excellent expansion space for extra hard disks or backup tape devices, as well as additional ISA and PCI cards.

The keyboard is sturdy and reports an audible click for each keystroke. The supplied mouse is the lightweight Microsoft Mouse 2.0 with matte finish.

Mitsuba uses a dual drive to provide both a 3.5-inch and a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive together in one 5.25-inch bay, a plus if you're upgrading from an older system that uses 5.25-inch diskettes.

The Mitsumi double-speed CD-ROM, which uses a tray loading and ejecting mechanism, is located just under the floppy disk drives. Mitsuba is one of two manufacturers to provide a Conner Peripherals 810MB hard disk in this review. The large drive required increasing the BIOS hard disk pre-delay setting to allow the hard disk to spin up to operating speed. The factory setting was not sufficient and the BIOS could not recognize the hard disk during POST when we first turned on the system. Beyond that, the system arrived with the enhanced IDE feature disabled in CMOS. When it finally recognized the 772MB hard disk, it was able to "see'' only 503MB. Enabling enhanced IDE operation corrected this error.

An initial failure to run some of WINDOWS Magazine's graphically intensive tasks was not related to the video card, but instead, to a bad SIMM that caused load segment failures during these tests. Once we replaced the SIMM, the Premier System-90 was able to complete the tests without problem.

The supplied VGA Mentor PCI video accelerator card uses the Tseng Labs ET4000 chip and comes configured with 1MB of DRAM. The video drivers run in Standard mode, and the card does not have its own Windows applications for changing video modes and refresh rates; we used the Windows Setup program. The 1MB DRAM on the card supports up to 65,000 colors at a resolution of 800x600.

The supplied monitor is an unimpressive 14-inch Mitsuba model. It exhibited faded colors and lacked the image detail that some of the other monitors in this review displayed. The monitor has controls for horizontal size and position, brightness and contrast, but lacks any geometric distortion controls.

This system has some nice features, but you'll want a better monitor.

Continued Part 2- NMC Expert-System+ Quantex QP5/90W-2Robotech Cobra RS, Tangent PCI 590, Vektron PCI Power Station,

Micronics Motherboard systems, Prima Motherboard systems, Self-Branded motherboard systems, Supermicro motherboard systems

NMC EXPERT-SYSTEM+

The National MicroComputers NMC Expert-System+ is a respectable Pentium 90MHz system with multimedia capabilities. Although shorter than most full-sized towers, this bantam system packs a fully functional multimedia system. Gaining access to this unit requires nothing more than a twist of a thumb screw (most cases are configured with a half dozen screws). The SIMM banks aren't buried beneath any drive bays, making the job of adding extra memory simple. Installing an additional 3.5-inch hard disk is as easy as swinging out a hinged drive bay mounted next to the power supply. Get mounting rails, and 5.25-inch devices aren't a problem either.

The Toshiba 3401B CD-ROM drive included is attached to the SCSI interface located on the Media Vision Spectrum 16 sound card. The Tseng ET4000 W32p-based LightSpeed PCI graphics adapter provided respectable video performance. Unfortunately, the video card was installed in a shared PCI slot (two PCI-only slots were unused) and the sound card could have been placed closer to the actual CD-ROM unit. The entry-level LabTec Speakers are a nice touch.

As configured, the 503MB Conner hard disk is not compatible with 32-bit disk and file access provided with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (which explains the relatively low disk performance numbers). The NMC Expert-System+ comes with DOS 6.22 and Media Vision multimedia software.

QUANTEX QP5/90W-2

The QP5/90W came with an incredible 17-inch MAG monitor. The monitor wasn't just large and flat, it was almost free of any perceptible distortion. It also had a variety of controls, all available from the front panel. The monitor weighed heavily in the system's favor simply because that's the end of a computer you end up facing time and time again.

However, the keyboard and mouse--the two other important interfaces--weren't as impressive. The keyboard was spongy, providing only moderate feedback. The mouse was a lightweight Qtronix, sorely lacking in ergonomics. What's more, the mouse was a serial mouse, but the computer loaded a PS/2 bus mouse driver, even though the system can't support such a mouse, since there's no PS/2 connector.

There were some niceties under the hood. For example, the tower case provided plenty of hand room for upgrading and cable snaking; but adding adapter cards to two of the three available ISA slots is hampered by two connector-bearing back panels that hover above them. On a more positive note, there were 60ns memory modules where slower 70ns units would have sufficed. The system also has five 3.5-inch internal drive bays, four of which are free.

Once you turn the system on, a few easy-to-cure peculiarities became apparent. The BIOS apparently supports Enhanced IDE operation, but the feature was disabled. Also, not only did the mouse driver need to be changed, but the system "asked'' us to load a TSR for 72Hz refresh-rate operation.

The Sony CD-ROM drive provides average performance, and a spring-loaded CD tray. When you push the eject button, the tray sort of snaps out at you.

On the whole, though, if you want good performance and an impressive monitor bundled with your system, the QP5/90W-2 might be the way to go. Just remember, you might have to configure it first.

ROBOTECH COBRA RS

The Cobra had everything a Pentium should, including a tower case for easy, generous upgrading. The case is unusual in that you can remove the cover without unscrewing anything. Instead, you pull off the front panel, and pry the cover around the front edges with a screwdriver. That feature is nice for those who make frequent upgrades; it would have been a nice touch to find some instructions for disassembling the unusual case.

The system is made for serviceability. Unscrew one screw, pull a handle and the motherboard rotates down for easy access. All the drives are mounted on spring-loaded slides so you can pull them out without tools.

Robotech threw in a multiple-outlet surge arrestor, but forgot one of the power cables, a minor omission in an otherwise well thought out product. (In fairness, it is possible that the company was in a rush to get the unit to us because the power switch had been left on, too.) The unit includes a keyboard with good feedback and a firm feel, along with a Microsoft Mouse.

The monitor, a Tatung, was also a strong point. It provided a quality picture and was easy to operate. It had the frequently used controls (for picture size, position, contrast, brightness and so on), a zoom button, and a one-preset memory, although it didn't have every control known to man. We learned later that this is not the monitor usually bundled with the system, but is available at no extra cost upon request.

As you can tell from the scores (see our performance ratings), the machine performed well and provided the fastest AutoCAD scores of any machine in this group. Its monitor and hard disk (but not its CPU) are Energy Star compliant. The only drawbacks, which are minor in the scheme of things, are that the extended parallel port was not activated in our system, and a Mitsumi CD-ROM drive had been substituted for the expected Panasonic unit due to back ordering. On the whole the Cobra RS is a fine system.

TANGENT PCI 590

Tangent's system is remarkably easy to get into. The case is held on by a single large thumbscrew on the rear panel; turn it and the case comes free. The machine's innards are very well organized, both with respect to easy access to the components and airflow.

All the SIMM sockets are placed out in the open; it's easy to get chips in and out without having to dismount anything. The CPU has both a cooling fan and a heat sink, and is located far from other heat-generating components: The power supply and the drive chassis are on the far side of the system case. The CD-ROM controller in our test system was held in its socket by a blob of hot glue. Getting the controller out if it ever failed would be a major headache.

On the front panel, the power button and the reset switch sit one on top of the other, but the reset button is deliberately very small. It's so small, in fact, that it's almost impossible to activate by accident even if you do brush it with a finger.

The included CD-ROM drive, a Sony, pops a disk out rather abruptly when you push the eject button. It's equipped with a headphone jack and a volume control, but no independent controls (install the Windows CD-ROM extensions to get control over it). A mini-plug connector on the back of the CD-ROM controller provides a way for you to plug in speakers, which are not included.

The included CTX monitor is fine. There's little distortion, and what exists is correctable, but the image is only moderately crisp. Analog knobs center and size the image, which creates a problem if you often work in different text and graphics modes, since what's centered and proportional for one mode isn't for another. It's still possible to use all the available screen space, but you'll have to readjust the monitor each time you change modes. While the keyboard has a nice feel to it, it does not have a full-sized backspace key. The mouse is a two-button model.

VEKTRON PCI POWER STATION

One very useful touch we noticed as soon as we opened the Vektron is a large sticker on top of the drive-mounting chassis that lists all the major points of interest on the motherboard, such as connectors, jumper locations and settings, and where to connect leads for the hard disk and turbo lights. For the tekkie who wants to get into the guts of his system, it's invaluable. But it's impossible to get to the filled SIMM sockets without removing the chassis that secures the hard disks. And of the empty sockets, only one of them is accessible. Rather than using a separate fan, Vektron provided the CPU with a heavy-duty heat sink, which is also directly in the path of the airflow from the internal cooling fan.

Cable traffic on the inside stays to the right side of the motherboard, making it easy to access the slots. There's also plenty of room behind the drive bays to get cables in and out. The hard disk mounting chassis is on top of the power supply, which makes it easy to get hard disks installed, removed and connected; you can slide them in from the side instead of through the front.

Vektron does not supply an actual system manual for the machine, just OEM manuals for the various components: the video board, the internal CD-ROM, and DOS and Windows manuals. The CD-ROM controller board has RCA connectors for output on its rear panel.

Push-button controls on the monitor allow you to configure each video mode precisely. The buttons are tiny though, barely larger than the diameter of a pencil, so you'll need some sort of tool to use them. The keyboard's soft; in fact, the only tactile feedback is the feeling of a key hitting bottom. And the backspace key is undersized. The mouse is a two-button model that gave us no trouble.

The CD-ROM is a basic double-speed model, a Mitsumi with a tray that rolls out smoothly, rather than abruptly.

MICRONICS MOTHERBOARD

MICRON P90PCI POWERSTATION

The Micron P90PCI offers the fifth best overall performance of any system here, ranking above the middle in all but two of our tests, and very high in our low-level tests and our Word and Excel benchmarks. Being fifth among two dozen dragsters isn't bad at all.

One PCI slot is occupied by the Diamond Stealth 64 video card, and an ISA slot has the sound card that also controls the CD-ROM. All the other slots are free. There are three 5.25-inch externally accessible bays, two of which are filled with floppy disk and CD-ROM drives, and three internal 3.5-inch bays, one of which holds the hard disk.

This machine is easy to take apart. One thumbscrew in the back of the chassis holds the plastic cover in place. Loosen this screw and the cover pulls forward and off. Even though it is plastic, it has electronic noise suppression installed in the form of sheet metal bent to fit inside the cover and mate with the metal parts of the chassis, thus trapping EMI inside.

Three plastic fingers hold the front bezel on, and they depress easily for removing the bezel. It was a bit tricky getting it back on again properly, but you can accomplish it with a little fiddling.

The keyboard, from NMB Technologies, has the familiar slightly spongy feel. The Microsoft Mouse 2.0 is great, and the MAG Innovision monitor was, like all the units we have tested in this review, clear, properly converged and sharp as a tack.

The voltage regulator for the Pentium's supply voltage was firmly affixed to the motherboard and mechanically supported by a massive heat sink. The only construction detail that was not top-notch was the presence of SIMM sockets very close to the edge of the motherboard, where the cover could bang into them during installation and removal. But their location there means you can install new SIMMs easily.

MIS M9PM

On the inside, this system's as clean and well organized as can be. On the outside, the front panel arranges the Big Three Buttons--turbo, reset and power--all in a row, and all looking more or less identical. They are, at least, a good distance from the drives, so banging into one of them by accident on the way to put in a disk isn't that easy. The 3.5-inch drive's mounted in a 5.25-inch bay with a conversion bracket, and the hard disk's mounted vertically in one of the 3.5-inch bays.

MIS outfitted its system with a Sound Blaster 16 sound card, a companion to Creative Lab's own CD-ROM drive. Redbook playback (regular CD audio) comes out sounding good through the card, which also serves as the CD-ROM's controller, saving a scarce I/O slot. There are, however, no external speakers provided.

One major minus is the system manual, one of those off-the-shelf jobs that's far too generic. Not a single piece of advice specific to the computer itself is in it. In general, be warned when you see any manual that has nothing but "Personal Computer Operations Manual'' on the cover! On the plus side, there are OEM manuals for all the third-party innards (like the bundled Sound Blaster and the MAG monitor).

PRIMA MOTHERBOARD

EPS P90 EXPLORER

The P90 Explorer is a solidly built desktop unit with metal chassis and cover. There is a 512KB secondary cache, and room to add one additional 5.25-inch and one 3.5-inch component, such as a hard disk and a tape drive. The plastic front bezel has rounded corners and removable drive bay covers to match the internal bays, but the expandability stops there.

EPS uses a multi I/O card that takes one slot and uses a second rear slot, effectively knocking out two ISA expansion slots, including the shared PCI/ISA slot. In addition, a PCI IDE controller resides in one of the PCI slots, the video card is in another and a CD-ROM controller card sits in one of the ISA slots. All of this leaves one ISA and one PCI slot free, which is little help if you're planning to add more than one of either type of expansion card.

In addition, the Kouwell KW556AM multi I/O card refused to recognize the installed serial mouse during boot-up a number of times. EPS will soon be shipping the newer KW557AM version which, a spokesperson claims, should correct this error.

The EPS 101-key keyboard is solid and comfortable to use with audible click reports for each keystroke. The supplied Microsoft Mouse 2.0 is the OEM version. It's lighter than its cousin and comes in a matte finish. Despite these major differences, it's still a comfortable and reliable pointing device.

The supplied double-speed CD-ROM drive is the ubiquitous Mitsumi CRMC-FX001D. It uses a fairly solid tray loading and ejecting mechanism. It came installed using the MTMCDAE.SYS driver which employs DMA channels for memory access and generally gives fast performance.

The Diamond Stealth 64 PCI video accelerator is based on the S3 964 VRAM chip set. EPS shipped the unit with the DRAM version of the video driver installed. This resulted in odd behavior while attempting to switch video modes. The correct drivers were not on the supplied system diskette, but we were able to download the latest version from America Online. Once installed, the card performed very well.

The P90 Explorer ships with the ADI MicroScan 4GP 15-inch monitor. This monitor displays sharp images with good observed color quality, but it lacks a full suite of geometric controls. The unit has controls for horizontal and vertical size and position, brightness and contrast, RGB intensity, degauss and pincushion correction.

Overall, the P90 Explorer has some very nice features, but is restrained by its reliance on separate add-in expansion cards for all major I/O traffic.

POLYWELL 590P-5

The Polywell Pentium we looked at held some surprises--some good, others not. On the positive side, the documentation, consisting of a fair-sized system manual and smaller manuals for the peripherals in addition to the usual Microsoft fare, was good. The ergonomic Logitech mouse had a nice feel, and if you like mucho keyboard feedback (that is, if you hail from the IBM Selectric era) you'll like the extra-firm keyboard.

There were signs that the system might have been rushed to us for review. For one, there was no audio cable from the OEM Philips CR-328A CD-ROM drive to the sound board. And the CD-ROM was secured with three screws, not four.

Polywell says the unit has a 16550 UART for high-speed modem communications, but none was found. We were told later that it was a $10 option. The computer had a standard game port, but that's useless on a fast machine. There's an extended parallel port on an adapter card, whose bidirectional operation is enabled via a jumper, not the BIOS setup program.

Speaking of the BIOS, the Polywell was supposed to have an AMI (American Megatrends Inc.) BIOS, but actually featured an Award Modular BIOS from Award Software Inc. (Polywell claims that the motherboard is AMI compatible but we didn't test that.) The Award BIOS had its limitations. For example, it does not have options to shut down the CPU and hard disk, a la the Energy Star specification.

In keeping with WINDOWS' requirements for the test systems, the unit does come with an Energy Star-compliant monitor. However, the monitor is not flat, which leads to an interesting phenomenon: While its geometric distortion is very low, its image quality is not as good as that of other monitors in this review. We suppose that's indicative of the computer overall; it has the speed of a good Pentium, but an economy-class feel.


Self-Branded Motherboards

DELL DIMENSION XPS P90

Using the Dell is an enjoyable experience, thanks largely to the solid construction and superior peripherals. Its metal case and sturdy chassis provide sufficient expansion and access for upgrading the Dell-enhanced Intel motherboard. As far as we could tell, the motherboard differs from other Intel designs in three areas: It has a PS/2 mouse connector, silk-screened name and the Dell/AMI BIOS. The fine keyboard and mouse are top notch, and the 15-inch Dell monitor generates robust, sharp images. Only uneven brightness at the edges of the screen mars the high quality of this otherwise very friendly display.

The Number Nine XGE64 adapter that drives the video subsystem has a raft of utilities to control the screen easily, including virtual desktop and resolution-switching applets for customizing the display. We had to change the monitor refresh rate from the default 60Hz to 72Hz eliminate a noticeable flicker. The Panasonic CD-ROM drive interfaces with a Sound Blaster 16 card, making the Dell one of the few systems reviewed to include a sound card.

But speed holds this Dell system back. The disk subsystem, featuring a Quantum 540MB hard disk, is conspicuously slow, as highlighted by our low-level Wintune test. The video subsystem was also slow. As a result, this computer ranked just below the median system evaluated.

The XPS P90 is a large-footprint workstation with two available drive bays and expansion slots to accommodate up to five additional expansion cards. Installing peripherals in the first ISA slot will conflict with the serial port and IDE connectors that are integrated in the motherboard. Two memory slots are vacant in our 16MB configuration and are unobstructed. The XPS P90 is a solid all-around package.

ZEOS PANTERA 90

This was one of the fastest machines we reviewed. One standout feature of the Pantera is 16-bit audio integrated onto the motherboard. Although it's not designed to play back CD-ROM Redbook audio through the PC speaker automatically, it will play .WAV files and MIDI sounds that way. The internal speaker is also loud--its self-test beep carried the length of our lab.

The front panel shows smarts. The power, reset and turbo switches are segregated. Two 5.25-inch drive bays are stacked on top of a single 3.5-inch slot, leaving the topmost slot empty and easily accessible. On the inside, the wiring is pretty clean: Most of the cables in the main area of the chassis go to and from the CD-ROM and its host controller. All the preinstalled cards are kept to the right to keep the cabling out of the way.

The internal layout is good except for the SIMM sockets, most of which are inaccessible, buried behind the chassis that keeps the hard disk in place. Getting at the SIMMs requires unbolting the hard disks and the surrounding chassis.

Zeos provides full documentation. Manuals for the Diamond Stealth 64 video board, the monitor, hard disk and CD-ROM are all included along with general system instructions, which explain in detail how to configure BIOS and other good, esoteric details.

Like the Tangent's CTX monitor, this monitor uses analog knobs to perform all screen adjustments. While this is easy and straightforward, you can't make changes that will work for every screen mode; you'll have to readjust after every mode change. The keyboard is good, if a little mushy, but lacks the large backspace key that many people enjoy. The mouse is the most recent revision of the Microsoft two-button mouse. It fits like a glove and tracks like a Porsche.

SUPERMICRO MOTHERBOARD

BLACKSHIP BLK P-90

The BLK P-90 we got for review had both VL-Bus slots unnecessarily occupied by ISA cards. And there was a PCI card in the shared PCI/ISA slot, even though other PCI slots were available. The RAM was configured with four SIMMs of 4MB each, taking up all the available banks; if you wanted to upgrade the memory, you would need to throw away at least two SIMMs--about $400 worth of silicon. This system would be tough to upgrade.

You have to navigate a forest of cables when you try to access the machine's interior. The system BIOS has a very nice graphical, mouse-driven interface that makes it simple to change system options.

One added bonus is the inclusion of a MediaMagic ISP-16 sound card and a pair of nonamplified speakers. The FM-synthesis card provides the controller for the Mitsumi double-speed CD-ROM drive, and the system is all set up with software to record and playback .WAV and MIDI files, and to play audio CDs.

A 15-inch ADI MicroScan monitor provides digital controls, power-saving software, and a clear, consistent picture. But the video card, the Orchid Kelvin 64, produced very slow video performance that was evident in our real-world macro tests. The video drivers were also somewhat unstable; text would often run over itself when scrolling in a window. On the plus side, a Windows control panel lets you easily adjust resolution and refresh rate.

The keyboard is pretty soft, with short keystroke travel. The smooth, flat surface on the keys has fingers easily slipping off. The unit also came with a 5.25-/3.5-inch combination drive, a nice touch. The system was incompatible with Windows for Workgroups 32-bit disk access.

Construction is very solid, with an extra welded rail crossing the chassis to provide structural support. But the immovable rail hinders access to the upper sections of the motherboard, and would make it very difficult to remove the motherboard itself.

The multimedia capability of the Blackship is offset by performance that was below average (see Systems Tests). The VL-Bus slots are a plus, though.

HERTZ P9E

This system's performance was fairly slow, ranking it in the bottom third of the machines we tested. And it took several phone calls to technical support to straighten out the BIOS settings so the machine could get the MIPS score it should have. In fact, it was the fastest in the low-level fixed-point test of all the computers in the review, but ranked close to the bottom for all other tests except the CD-ROM exercises.

The externals were fine; the keyboard performed as expected, and the three-button mouse did likewise. The MAG Innovision monitor was clear and sharp. Although the monitor is DPMS energy saving compliant, we could find no way to activate the feature either in the BIOS or the control panel.

Hertz had to add a hard disk controller card (a SCSI card with external SCSI port, actually), a floppy disk drive controller (stuck into a VL-Bus slot even though it's not a VL-Bus card) with one parallel and two serial ports on it, a sound card that controls the CD-ROM drive (why not use the SCSI card?) and a video card.

The net result is that the system isn't very expandable, despite its wealth of slots. The video card takes one VL-Bus slot, leaving one. The floppy disk drive controller takes the other (although it should be in an ISA slot). That leaves two ISA slots and the shared slot. The SCSI controller takes one PCI slot, leaving two, and the shared slot, free. This gives you a total of five available slots. With an internal modem you're down to four. You might think that's enough, but you might change your opinion before long.

There's another catch. While you can upgrade memory to 128MB in four SIMM sockets, the sockets are under a removable 3.5-inch drive bay (a nice feature, since the bay pulls up and out of the way with a nifty thumb release). Also under the bay are two bundles of wires. It is doubtful that you'd ever be able to populate all the SIMM slots, simply because the wires get in the way, or, if you lift them, the drive bay gets in the way. And the drive bay rests on the edge of the installed SIMMs, about 1/16 of an inch away from the leads on the ICs; it's a short circuit waiting to happen.

When we got the system, the front-mounted fan was lying on top of the processor, and when we tried to mount it properly, we found that the housing banged into the heat sink. The fan would affix firmly to the front wall of the computer only with real effort.

Near the front of the motherboard is a large three-terminal IC that regulates the 3.3V supply to the Pentium. It is stuck into the motherboard with no mechanical support and has a large heat sink attached so close to the edge of the motherboard that if you're not careful with the cover when you remove and replace it, you're likely to bend the regulator's leads, and maybe destroy one of the solder joint holding the regulator to the motherboard. If those joints fail, so does your computer. Overall, this system is just not well-thought-out.

How We Tested

To compare the performances of these super-fast machines, we used the same WINDOWS Test and Tune-up Kit (Wintune) benchmarks that you can download from America Online and CompuServe. This battery of benchmarks measures the performance of the CPU, floating-point unit (math coprocessor), video (graphics board) and hard disk. Each of these machines was fast--very fast. Even the slowest was far faster than any other Intel-based single-processor Windows machine we've tested. (See our performance charts.)

We also used both our Windows and Excel benchmark macros, which have been upgraded for use with the new versions (6.0 and 5.0, respectively) of those programs. The Word macro formats the U.S. Constitution, and the Excel macro builds a large spreadsheet complete with charts and graphs.

Our Fractal Painter test measures the amount of time it takes to replay the Burning Ice Cube session that ships with the program. The AutoCAD benchmark measures the time it takes to render the 3D-Nozzle drawing that Autodesk includes with each copy of AutoCAD.

We measured subsystems using the same tests and criteria we use for our product comparisons of those products when evaluated as a group. To judge monitor quality, for example, we used Sonera Technologies' DisplayMate for Windows ($79; Sonera Technologies, 800-932-6323, 908-747-6886), which provides a battery of tests that reveal geometric distortion, misconvergence, poor focus and other common flaws.

For testing CD-ROM drives, we measured 1/3 stroke access times and data-transfer rates using a proprietary test program provided to us by Toshiba that the company uses in its internal testing program.


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Construction	Ergonomics	Expand-ability	Service-ability	Extras	Performance
	Acma P90	B	B	A	A	B	B
W	American MultiSystems InfoGold P90	A	B	A	A	B	B
	Anthurium Intel Plato 90MHz System	B	B	A	B	C	A
	Austin Power 90	A	B	A	A	C	B
	Blackship BLK P-90	B	B	C	D	B	C
	Comtrade PCI Professional P5/90	C	B	A	B	B	A
	Cornell Power Workstation	A	B	A	A	C	B
	Dell Dimension XPS P90	B	A	B	B	B	C
	Diamond Technologies DT Power Hurricane	B	C	B	B	B	B
	EPS P90 Explorer	A	B	C	C	C	A
W	Everex Step SP/90 Mini Tower	B	A	A	B	A	B
	Gateway 2000 P5-90	B	B	B	C	A	C
	Hertz P9e	D	B	C	C	C	C
	Insight PCI P90 CD	B	B	A	A	C	B
	Micron P90PCI PowerStation	B	B	A	A	B	B
	MIS M9PM	B	B	A	A	B	C
	Mitsuba Premier System-90	B	B	A	B	B	C
W	NMC Expert-System+	A	B	A	A	A	B
	Polywell Poly590P-5	B	B	C	B	C	B
	Quantex QP5/90W-2	B	B	B	C	B	B
W	Robotech Cobra RS Pentium Workstation	B	A	A	B	A	B
	Tangent PCI 590	A	B	B	A	C	B
	Vektron PCI Power Station	B	B	B	B	C	B
W	Zeos Pantera 90	B	B	A	A	B	A
•	Construction: How well is the system put together? Will the case and construction provide years of service?

•	Ergonomics: How pleasant is the machine to use? Does it have a comfortable mouse, keyboard and monitor? Are drive bays, disk drives and power switch easy to reach?

•	Expandability: How well will the system adapt to future needs? Can you add additional memory, peripherals or disk drives easily? Can the processor be upgraded?

•	Serviceability: Can all the components and subassemblies be reached easily? How thoughtful is the layout?

•	Extras: What thoughtful, even unexpected, features does this machine offer?

•	Performance: How well does the machine perform relative to other machines in this group? Our performance grades are weighted to emphasize real-world application performance (80 percent).

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

THE NMC EDGED OUT the next group of machines with its solid construction, good ergonomics, expandability and serviceability, and its thoughtful extras. It was an above-average performer as well. Also garnering the WINDOWS Magazine Recommended seal were the machines offered up by Everex, American MultiSystems, Robotech and Zeos. Each excelled in different areas.

•	The Everex offered excellent ergonomics, performed well and had extras, such as the quad-speed CD-ROM, included in its low price.

•	The American MultiSystems performed well, was solidly constructed, and came with an excellent Sony monitor.

•	The Robotech was above average in performance and the fastest machine in the AutoCAD tests. It also brought serviceability to new heights.

•	The Zeos was the best overall performer, and was expandable and serviceable as well.

Performance, of course, is relative: Each of these machines is a screamer, and even the slowest in this group outperforms by a wide margin the best 66MHz Pentium we've tested.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV2.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Screaming Pentiums Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV1.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Info Files

Acma P90

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

In Brief: This system has loads of expansion room, two PCMCIA slots, and a design that offers easy access to all of its components.

Acma Computers Inc.

800-786-6888, 510-623-1212

American MultiSystems InfoGold P90

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

Brief: An unusual computer built to last, this system comes with a unique black case and an excellent Sony monitor.

American MultiSystems Inc.

800-888-6615, 408-524-9091

Anthurium Intel Plato 90MHz System

Price: $2,785 (Direct)

In Brief: An above-average performer, this system also scored high marks for expandability.

Anthurium Technology Corp.

800-724-0210, 714-375-0210

Austin Power 90

Price: $2,999 (MSRP)

In Brief: This spacious tower system offers plenty of room for expansion and good performance.

Austin Direct

800-752-1577, 512-339-3500

Comtrade PCI Professional P5/90

Price: $2,895 (MSRP)

In Brief: The PCI Professional P5/90 boasts fast video performance and an enormous hard disk.

Comtrade Electronics

800-969-2123, 818-961-6688

Cornell Power Workstation

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

In Brief: With seven expansion slots and room for 11 drives, the Power Workstation is ready for whatever you might want it to do.

Cornell Computer Systems

800-886-7200, 909-594-5848

Diamond Technologies

DT Power Hurricane

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

In Brief: A well-constructed unit with good expansion space, this system also sports 2MB of video memory.

Diamond Technologies Inc.

800-989-7253, 714-553-9910

Everex Step SP/90 Mini Tower

Price: $2,995 (Estimated street price)

In Brief: Good performance and practical design, plus bundled extra features, make this a recommended system.

Everex Systems Inc.

800-821-0806, 510-498-1111

Gateway 2000 P5-90

Price: $2,999 (MSRP)

In Brief: We found this to be a superb system with many extras included in its

low price.

Gateway 2000

800-846-2000, 605-232-2000

Insight PCI P90 CD

Price: $2,999 (Estimated street price)

In Brief: Here's a big tower system with all the room to grow that you'll ever need, and performance that will bring a smile.

Insight Direct Inc.

800-755-3931, 602-902-1176

Mitsuba Premier System-90

Price: $2,975 (MSRP)

In Brief: A solidly built system with plenty of storage and expansion space, and sturdy key board and mouse.

Mitsuba Corp.

800-648-7822, 909-392-2000

NMC Expert-System+

Price: $2,958 (Estimated street price)

In Brief: This system scored well in almost every category; those high marks combined with its included extras, such as a Toshiba 3401B CD-ROM drive and a Spectrum 16 sound card, make it a winner.

National MicroComputers

800-800-4NMC, 801-265-3700

Quantex QP5/90W-2

Price: $2,879 (Direct)

In Brief: The large, high-quality monitor easily offsets the low-key mouse; be careful to set the system up just right though.

Quantex Microsystems Inc.

800-632-5022, 908-563-0407

Robotech Cobra RS

Price: $2,989 (MSRP)

In Brief: A good monitor, high performance and easy-to-configure design, along with the fastest score on the AutoCAD benchmark, make the Cobra an excellent value.

Robotech Inc.

800-533-0633, 801-565-0645

Tangent PCI 590

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

In Brief: Smartly organized both inside and out, the Tangent has "well-thought-out design'' written all over it.

Tangent Computer Inc.

800-800-5550, 415-342-9388

Vektron PCI Power Station

Price: $2,695 (MSRP)

In Brief: Clean, intelligent internal design (complete with a motherboard "road map'') makes the Vektron easy to upgrade, outfit, and generally get your hands into.

Vektron International Inc.

800-725-0047, 214-606-0280

Micron P90PCI PowerStation

Price: $2,999.99 (MSRP)

In Brief: This computer features top-notch performance and lots of expansion room in a compact desktop chassis.

Micron Computer Corp.

800-347-3486, 208-465-9188

MIS M9PM

Price: $2,895 (MSRP)

In Brief: Have a little multimedia for your Pentium, with a Sound Blaster to go, and a very smartly designed interior besides.

MicroNiche Information Systems

800-733-9188, 510-226-9188

EPS P90 Explorer

Price: $2,895 (Estimated street price)

In Brief: This system's excellent performance is offset by its need to rely on add-on expansion cards for all I/O activities.

EPS Technologies Inc.

800-447-0921, 605-966-5586

Polywell Poly590P-5

Price: $2900 (MSRP)

In Brief: A budget computer at a budget price, it has many upgrade options; be clear about what you want in your system before ordering.

Polywell Computers Inc.

800-999-1278, 415-583-7222

Circle Inquiry #712

Dell Dimension XPS P90

Price: $2,929 (Direct)

In Brief: The quality of the ergonomics makes this a system built for comfort.

Dell Computer Corp.

800-613-3355, 512-338-4400

Zeos Pantera 90

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

In Brief: On-the-motherboard 16-bit audio hardware (that plays through the system speaker!) adds to the value of this entry

from Zeos.

Zeos International Ltd.

800-828-0413, 612-362-1234

Blackship BLK P-90

Price: $2,995 (Direct)

In Brief: The Blackship BLK P-90 boasts VL-Bus, PCI and ISA slots, as well as a sound card and speakers.

Blackship Computer Systems

800-531-7447, 408-432-7500

Hertz P9e

Price: $2,995 (MSRP)

In Brief: This is one of two systems we reviewed with a motherboard that sports both VL and PCI slots.

Hertz Computer Corp.

800-232-8737, 212-684-4141


Drives That Thrive

Our specification for the systems to be included in this review called for either a SCSI-2 or Enhanced IDE (integrated drive electronics) controller for the hard disk. All but the Hertz, which came with an Adaptec SCSI-2 PCI disk controller, provided Enhanced IDE interfaces.

Both major hard disk technologies have reached their second iteration promising easier configuration, enhanced compatibility and higher performance. Call it Drive Technologies: The Next Generation. Just like Formula 1 race cars, they keep getting faster and smaller.

For several years, SCSI has enjoyed an advantage in disk-controller technology because it has a higher transfer rate (10 megabytes per second in SCSI-2), can support larger hard disks (up to 8.4 gigabytes in SCSI-2), handle more devices per adapter, and control a larger variety of devices. Enhanced IDE (also known as ATA-2, for AT Attachment specification 2) closes that gap, raising the throughput from 5 megabytes per second (MBps) to as high as 13MBps, maximum storage capacity to 8.4GB, and number of devices per adapter to four. What's more, the new spec supports CD-ROM drive and tape-backup devices, in addition to hard disks (the current BIOS chips do not support IDE CD-ROM or tape backup devices, however).

The vast majority, 23 of 24, of the manufacturers participating in our review opted for Enhanced IDE over SCSI. The reasons are cost and simplicity. System BIOS supports IDE directly, so the necessary supporting electronics and connector can be added directly to the motherboard at very little cost. Even the cheapest SCSI adapter costs about $50 more than IDE, and SCSI drives run $150 to $200 more than similar IDE devices.

The last word has yet to be written on the subject. Chicago will include drivers to allow CD-ROM drives to be attached directly to Enhanced IDE connectors, eliminating the need for separate adapters or additional IRQs or DMA channels. Chicago should also support both SCSI-3 (20MBps transfer rates) and SCAM (SCSI configured Auto-Magically), so that SCSI will at last allow plug-and-play. Stay tuned for further developments.


Also Coming Up

Besides the 24 manufacturers included in this roundup, also be sure to look for new 90MHz Pentiums from AT&T, Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard and Zenith Data Systems. These are rock-solid companies that produce dependable, long-lasting products of the sort favored by Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. Machines as powerful as these tend to be marketed through VARs (value-added resellers) rather than the direct channel or computer discounters. As a result, their manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRPs) were too high to be included here, even though you would rarely be charged the full amount.


Databases: I Can Relate to That

Relational Databases

Report Card

Info Files

How's That Again? Structured?

For Best Results, Start with Pencil and Paper

What's Coming in Databases

Database Glossary


Relational Databases

By: Karen Strauss

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

If data is the lifeblood of business, a powerful Windows database is an essential part of doing business in the '90s. And do we have some powerful databases for you.

Once your business gets beyond that critical size, you'll need a relational database, and eventually one that you can get through SQL (Structured Query Language). SQL is just what it says: a language that allows you to gather information from a database just by asking for it in a structured way.

A relational database differs from a flat-file database in a very important way. Flat filers are like file cabinets: They have distinct files inside them, filled with forms that are separate from one another. Relational databases, on the other hand, allow links between the files, so that one field on a form from file A can get you information from file B and file C. The links are the relations from which the relational database gets its name. SQL lets you get the information from all those interrelated files.

Today, businesses need apps that offer SQL access to many files (popularly called tables in relational lingo); the ability to work with data in a variety of popular formats; and the option of either programming or macro languages. Each of the packages chosen for this review has a wealth of query, report and other data manipulation tools with the flexibility of a Windows front end.

This review marks the beginning of a new age for Windows databases for two reasons. First, dBASE for Windows has finally arrived. Over the past several years, the Windows database market was defined and refined by Microsoft Access and FoxPro, Lotus Approach and Borland Paradox. But with over 18 million DOS users around the world, everyone was waiting for the other shoe--dBASE--to drop. Now, it has.

Second, all of the major heavyweight Windows databases have been updated this year. Access 2.0 and FoxPro 2.6 were introduced this spring. Approach 3.0 and Paradox 5.0 were released as this review went to press. This review pits these five heavyweight database products against each other in a head-to-head contest of features, interfaces, SQL connectivity, and programming or macro customization.

Each of these five applications has strengths that make it ideally suited for specific tasks. All of these products can import and export data in a variety of formats, including text, dBASE and spreadsheets. This enhances their flexibility within the Windows environment, simplifying the matter of sharing data between applications. And all five products allow all users to connect easily to enterprise-wide SQL databases.

ACCESS 2.0

Wizards--Microsoft's tools for automating most routine, and many advanced, business tasks--define Access 2.0. There are Wizards for creating tables, designing forms and reports, adding command buttons, building menus and even writing queries. Wizards let novices take advantage of Access's power, and experienced users its flexibility. If a predefined format isn't available for the tasks you perform most often, you can customize the Wizards easily to add a new table, report or form option to the predefined lists--even if you're not a programmer.

A new user can--working only with Wizards--create a complex database in just a few hours. Start with the new Table Creation Wizards, and you'll have access to more than 50 predefined business and personal tables, including invoices and customer tables. Once you've defined the tables, you can enter new data or import it from DOS text, Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, dBASE, FoxPro or Paradox files, or SQL databases.

Retrieving data using the Query Wizard, however, isn't quite as easy as creating a database. It offers only three query choices, no customizing options and no help for defining query filters. The three queries offered are rather complex, allowing you to locate duplicate records, find records in one table that have no related records in another table, and copy records from an existing table into a new one. You also can use crosstab queries to list, for example, orders placed for a particular product by region or the number of orders taken by each salesperson. With the new AutoJoin feature, Access can automatically query all the tables you specify through a relational link based on a common field.

The limited Query Wizards probably won't be enough for you, but Access offers a slew of new and improved features that make it easy to create custom queries across multiple tables, even tables residing in remote SQL databases. When a query includes fields from more than one table, you can update the fields that came from both sides of the join. You can set and save many query properties so that rows and columns use the same layout each time you open the query. A new Top Value option makes it easy to define a query that locates the top customers, for example, based on values that you select, such as the top 20 percent, or the top 10 customers.

Connecting to an SQL database and running a query is as simple as connecting to a native Access 2.0 database. You don't have to know SQL coding, although an SQL window that shows you your Wizard-built query or a query built from scratch, for that matter, is available. Just create your query as if you were running it against a native format table, and Access will convert it to SQL for you. The SQL view window allows you to enter any SQL statement, even those you can't build with QBE (query by example, see "Database Glossary''). Access will pass SQL statements directly to ODBC databases, too, so you don't have to learn ODBC connectivity to access those databases.

You can make professional-looking forms and reports with a single mouse click on the new AutoForm and AutoReport options, and the Report Wizard provides a Word 6.0 mail-merge option. Forms are fairly powerful in Access, but not as flexible as in Approach. The Command Button Wizard, a new feature in Access 2.0, allows you to assign actions to buttons on a form. Wizards also simplify the creation of nice GUI features such as toggle switches on forms, combo boxes, radio buttons and check-box items.

If Wizards define the front end, new technology defines the power of Access 2.0. When you create a multiple-table database, Access automatically provides a graphical representation of the relationships between tables--an invaluable aid to database design. The Relationship window displays all the tables in the current database, so you can edit relationships between the tables and create new links by dragging fields from one table to another.

Wizards, nice as they are, limit you to predefined objects. The design tools available in Access for custom forms or reports are very easy to use. Each object in a form, such as the name field, is controlled by a property sheet, which is brought up by clicking the right mouse button on the object. The property sheet handles everything from fonts and colors to programming calls and makes it easy to experiment with design elements. One thing that is missing from form and report design is the ability to group and layer objects.

Although Microsoft clearly tried very hard to make Access easy for almost any Windows user, the company didn't forget to consider the very large group of developers. New tools, intended for more experienced users, include Expression Builder, which provides scrollable pick lists to build the complicated expressions needed to define many macros; complex queries; validation rule properties; and calculated fields in forms and reports. The Database Documenter allows you to print very complete and detailed information about the design of your database, right down to a list of the controls that are used in forms.

Microsoft has promised that all Office applications will eventually use the common Visual Basic, Applications Edition (VBA) programming language. In the meantime, however, Access Basic is an event-driven language that makes it possible for your application to support a wide variety of events.

APPROACH 3.0

Approach will delight those who don't have the time to learn a new software package, but who do want the power a relational database has to offer.

Approach 3.0 has more than 40 new commands in its easy-to-use macro language. With the power available in macros and the ability to assign macros to buttons on forms, most users will probably never pine for that missing programming language. Just by using the macro language, you'll be able to create custom applications that can support conditional branching, exit a field or view, and trigger on entry or update, for example. But professional developers will notice the lack of a full-featured programming language.

The all-new on-line tutorial is not only easy to use and full of hands-on examples, it's also entertaining and full of delightful graphics. But, most importantly, it won't leave you with more questions than you had when you started.

The opening dialog will look familiar to you if you're accustomed to other Lotus applications. If you create a new database, you can use one of the supplied templates. Each template offers a predefined table structure that gets you started building standard databases, such as employees, customers, inventories and mailing lists.

Once you've chosen a template, Approach presents you with a classic, if rather ugly, data-entry form, so you can immediately begin to populate your database. You can also import data from a variety of formats, including dBASE, text and Lotus 1-2-3. (If you import a dBASE or 1-2-3 file, Approach will automatically create a simple form with field titles.) Switch to design mode and you'll have access to some impressive tools. You can drag fields around the screen or use the cursor keys to move objects around in small increments. Fields and other objects align quickly, and a status box at the bottom of the window displays the dimensions and location of each object. You can make fast changes to an object's size, style or font through its property boxes. The new snap-to-grid option and grid-control spacing make forms more precise.

Approach includes a new set of Assistants, similar to Microsoft's Wizards, that help you with complex tasks by allowing you to run through the steps in any order you choose, accepting defaults for some steps and specifying your own preferences for others. The Assistants make use of SmartMasters, which are predefined layouts you can change to fit your requirements. SmartMasters are also used to define layouts in Lotus Freelance Graphics.

Approach, unlike most of the other applications here, concentrates its energies on the design and interface aspects of database usage. It doesn't use a set of menus for switching among various forms; instead, a new tabbed notebook interface makes views available with a simple click on the appropriate tab. In fact, the program uses the tab metaphor throughout.

A new context-sensitive InfoBox, available through an icon on the toolbar, lets you specify properties, styles and other settings from within a tab-based dialog box. The dialog allows you to make changes to properties and settings, and you see the effects immediately.

Named styles (for example, word processor styles) are another addition to the program's design tools. They let you store a group of attribute settings, such as lines, text and colors, that can then be applied to other objects. Styles also make it easy to change the properties of many objects at the same time, since changing the settings of a style automatically affects every object based on that style. Fast Format, another new feature, allows you to copy an object's attributes and apply those settings to other objects. You select an object, click on the Fast Format icon, and then click on one or more target objects to apply the attributes, exactly as you do in Lotus's Ami Pro.

The Report Writer offers more than just cosmetic improvements. Single-click tools can sort and group data, as well as generate totals, averages and counts. There's even a Sort With Trailing Summary icon that will automatically sort a report on the basis of a selected field and insert a summary after each group.

If forms aren't to your liking, you can click on a tab in the forms view to get a tabular, spreadsheet-like view of your data. The worksheet view provides a more comfortable format for looking at multiple rows of data, and there are a number of options for setting the worksheet's appearance. You can resize columns and rows by dragging, and you can divide the worksheet into panes.

A new crosstab view will group data over two or more categories based on the field values. You can, for example, summarize monthly regional sales by salesperson or product. Just drag and drop fields to create a crosstab view, or use the Crosstab Assistant to guide you through the steps.

Approach's SQL connectivity is good. You can open an SQL database directly from the File/Open menu and then use it as you would a native Approach database. You can even save the SQL database as an Approach database. When querying an SQL database, you'll be working with only a snapshot of the SQL data, so if the data changes while you're working in Approach, you won't have access to the new information unless you open the database again.

Working with SQL in this way means that numerous users will be able to access the SQL database at the same time, through a variety of front-end applications, but the data will not necessarily be the most current. This approach should not worry small business users, but it is a consideration for those looking for a corporate-wide front end for back-end databases.

dBASE 5.0

If you're a dBASE developer, stuck till now in DOS but anxious for Windows, you'll want this product. First of all, switching to dBASE for Windows guarantees your investment in dBASE programming, since your DOS applications will run under Windows. The catch is that they won't instantly become Windows applications, but will retain their character interfaces. Still, you won't need to shell out to DOS anymore to work with your data.

Happily, dBASE provides extensive guidelines and help for porting your DOS-based dBASE applications to Windows. It'll take some work, but it's still not as bad as starting over. The program allows you to maintain backward compatibility with the millions of lines of code that you may already have written. The powerful, object-oriented development tools and fast database engine are guaranteed to delight any developer.

The Windows version of dBASE doesn't look anything like its character-based predecessor. The main work area, the Navigator, puts all tools at your fingertips and provides easy access to your dBASE-compatible files. In this view, you can create new tables, forms, reports and queries just by selecting items from a menu. A file view and catalog give you access to any supported data types, including dBASE files, Sybase tables and Paradox tables. For dBASE for DOS users, the familiar dBASE DOT commands (available in a command Window) make the transition painless and allow DOS to circumvent the mouse a while longer.

There is an extremely well-designed Interactive Tutor, which guides you through such tasks as creating a new database, designing a form and creating a query. There is even a section on using the GUI environment, which is sure to appeal to DOS converts. A single mouse click brings up the tutorial.

The developers of dBASE for Windows took an interesting approach when adapting the program to the Windows GUI. The SpeedBar is a set of icons representing common database tasks. Right-clicking brings up a context-sensitive Speed menu that includes an optional Object Inspector, which gives you information about the object to which the mouse is pointing.

Experts, like Wizards, provide interactive design shortcuts. The Form Expert helps you, with just a few keystrokes, create professional-looking data-entry screens. You can then modify the design as much as you wish, dragging and resizing objects on-screen. You can even add custom controls, such as Cancel or OK buttons, and you don't have to be a programmer to do it. Experts for creating Queries and Reports don't yet exist, but are expected in the next version.

Even without Experts, designing queries in dBASE is fairly simple. Using the Query Designer, you can check any field that you want to display in a query, then set relations by dragging a line from one table to another. The on-line help and interactive tutorial are most helpful in settling any questions you may have about creating queries. If you are a dBASE for DOS user, you'll be able to write a query right off the bat. New users will need a little help getting the criteria terms worked out.

Crystal Reports, a report generator from Crystal Computer Services, is integrated very closely into the dBASE environment. You designate data as text or headline and determine its location on the page. Crystal Reports isn't as easy to use as Wizards or Assistants, but you should be able to create reports without too much difficulty.

Passing through queries and receiving data in a transparent, seamless manner, dBASE proved that it can work intuitively with the SQL Server database here at WINDOWS Magazine. In addition, dBASE can access data stored in Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, InterBase and other SQL databases through IDAPI (Integrated Database Application Programming Interface). The dBASE engine makes it possible for dBASE applications to work seamlessly with any enterprise-wide back-end database. You can make SQL queries using the standard dBASE expressions generated in the Query Designer. The program translates these queries into the proper SQL dialect and passes them to the server. If you want to create queries using SQL statements that have no dBASE equivalents, dBASE will pass the commands through.

Programming remains one of dBASE's strengths and makes it one of the most powerful databases in this group. Although you can build queries, generate reports and design forms without writing code, every report, query or form that you create using the design tools automatically generates dBASE code written in the dBASE object language. You then have access to this code to incorporate it into your applications or to use it as a dynamic tutorial to help you learn how to write code for dBASE. You also get custom controls, calls to DLLs, event handling, the ability to use C/C++ programs, access to the Windows API, as well as design and debugging tools. Developers with C++ level skills will find this environment flexible and exciting. Old hands at dBASE for DOS design will need to brush up on their skills but won't be disappointed at the changes. There remains only the tiny little problem of the lack of a compiler, but it's expected to start shipping early next year.

A serious database management system for advanced users, dBASE provides excellent tools for department-wide or enterprise-wide installations.

For most small-offices it's just plain overkill and--until more intuitive end-user tools are added--less-experienced users are going to need some pretty serious hand holding.

FOXPRO 2.6

FoxPro is a powerful programmable relational database, but you'll need to be an expert programmer in order to fully access the power of its advanced features. It's the most difficult to use of the Windows databases I reviewed.

FoxPro's database engine uses Rushmore query optimization technology, which speeds up the query processing. It handles such operations as sorts, searches, ordered browses and mass updates. Rushmore technology means that any applications that you develop in FoxPro will run faster than a database application written, for example, in Visual Basic.

Working directly from the Catalog Manager, you can browse through a table; create, run or modify a custom screen; create and run a query; or work on a report. You still need FoxPro's Project Manager to track an application's components and build a finished application.

When you first load FoxPro, you can choose between a traditional Windows menu system or the new Catalog Manager, which is easier to use. Like the dBASE Navigator or the DOS dBASE Control Center, the Catalog Manager offers six indexed file cards, one for each file type, which provide access to all the tables, queries, reports, screens, labels and programs in the currently open database. The Catalog Manager lets you create databases (FoxPro calls them, what else, catalogs) and work with the files that make up a specific database. The Catalog Manager organizes the application's components into a central repository.

FoxPro will automatically read and convert dBASE files from the Catalog Manager. A new AutoMigrate feature not only opens dBASE files, but also converts forms, indexes, tables, queries, reports and other elements.

FoxPro 2.6 now incorporates Wizards and a new Catalog Manager, which do make some tasks easy. Eight new Wizards handle a number of common database tasks, leading you step by step through such items as query definitions, screen design and creation of new tables. These Wizards simplify FoxPro enough so that even a novice can do some basic database tasks without running to a programming guru. There is also another, easier-to-use menu system that should help the inexperienced user make some progress.

One of the hardest parts of working with the old FoxPro was creating anything from scratch. With version 2.6, the Wizards step in to make life a little easier. Use a Wizard to create a new table; you can choose from about 50 predefined table structures that can be used as is or cannibalized for defining a custom table. When you've finished the design, the Wizards automatically generate a data-entry screen for the table. The screen is on the bland side, but it incorporates navigation and editing control buttons; and, most important of all, it works just fine.

If the generic won't do, try the Screen Wizard. It helps you build entry screens for existing tables, and offers control over style and structure. You can select the fields that you want to appear on the screen, choose text and icon styles, and set sort order. Once the Wizard has helped you create a screen, use the Design Tool to customize it. Wizards can also help you generate data into Avery label formats, create mail-merge files for Word, WordPerfect and other word processors, and create a number of different report formats.

Three new Wizards, which extend into SQL and ODBC, also help you create queries. The SQL Query Wizard creates an SQL SELECT statement to do the query, allowing you to use aggregate functions, sort, filter or group query results. The result of an SQL query is a new, temporary, read-only table that you can browse or sort for a report. If you are planning to update data, use the Update Query Wizard and you'll get a table that you can edit by using the SET RELATION command. Finally, there is a Client/Server Query Wizard, in the Professional Edition, that helps you connect to any ODBC database.

PARADOX 5.0

Paradox 5.0 is a major upgrade that boasts a host of features; in addition, it's easier to use, performs much faster than its predecessor and can be tied into the new dBASE 5.0 for Windows.

Paradox shares a data engine with dBASE for Windows and has much of the same look and feel, yet it retains its own unique working style throughout much of the program. Still, some of its features are similar to those in dBASE.

Both experienced users and novices will find the set of 15 on-line tutorials informative as well as accessible. These tutorials, similar to the Cue Cards found in Access, can help you do everything from creating a table to sorting a report. They load a bit more slowly than the Cue Cards, however, and there are no cards for the more advanced features of Paradox or for the program's ObjectPAL programming language.

The new on-line help is excellent. The entire help system is now in one easily searchable format, so you can search through program and programming help at the same time. And you can paste ObjectPAL help sample code into your projects.

Even though this version of Paradox is faster than the previous version, its query speed just isn't up to that of the Rushmore technology incorporated in Microsoft's products, Access and FoxPro. Still, the overall program speed is comfortable on a 33MHz 486 PC.

Paradox 5.0 includes Experts that walk you through the sometimes complicated process of creating forms and reports. These experts have a number of advantages over Microsoft's Wizards. They contain more choices of form and report formats, and they let you preview some sample output so you can judge your choices as you progress. This means you can instantly correct yourself if you select the wrong option. Accessing some of the experts resulted in error messages on one of my test machines. Reinstalling Paradox cleared up the errors.

One Expert helps you design mailing labels, another is for creating reports and the third automates form design. They're written in the Paradox ObjectPAL language, so users and third-parties can develop additional Experts.

Using the Form Expert, I created a complex form in just a few minutes. I needed some programming, though, to do what I wanted to do. ObjectPAL is a very powerful programming language that requires some concentration to learn, but any time you spend learning it will pay off in productivity. Once you grasp the programming, it takes just minutes to jazz up forms.

As great as the Experts were, they left me wanting more. For example, there's no query-building expert. Paradox leaves you to your own devices and a good on-line help facility for forming them. Queries have always been powerful in Paradox--QBE (query by example) began as a Paradox feature--and they remain as powerful as ever. Paradox uses a query-by-checkmark style; you check off the fields that you want to include in your specification, and add in special criteria. Using these checkmarks and query operators, well documented in the on-line help, you can easily set up a fairly complex query and even interconnect with an SQL database.

The use of live data in the result sets of queries is new to Paradox 5.0. Since this is one of the most popular features of Microsoft Access, it's no surprise that Borland chose to add it to Paradox. You can edit the data produced as a result of a QBE, so that any updates made to the query result are applied to the original source tables. This works only with queries involving one table.


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Ease of use/ease of learn-ing	Documen-tation help	On-line tutorial	Forms design	Reports	Queries	Macros	Program-ming/ease of use	Program-ming/ versatility	Program-ming/ under-standing	Import / export	Windows interface
W	Access 2.0	A	A	NA	A	A	A	B	B	A	B	A	A
W	Approach 3.0	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NA	NA	NA	A	B
	dBASE 5.0	B	A	A	B	B	B	A	B	A	B	A	A
	FoxPro 2.6	C	B	NA	B	B	B	A	B	A	C	A	A
	Paradox 5.0	B	A	A	B	B	B	NA	B	A	B	B	A
NA: Not applicable

•	Ease of use/ease of learning: How difficult is it to perform common tasks, following a period of familiarization? Is it necessary to go to the manuals to complete a task, or is the process intuitive?

•	Documentation/help: Is the documentation relevant to the task, easy to use, context sensitive? Is there a good index? Does the help file use illustrations and hypertext?

•	On-line tutorial: Does it use real-world data? How easy is it to use? How detailed are the lessons? How long does it take to complete each one? Is the information clear? How broad is the scope?

•	Forms design: How easy is it to create new forms and modify existing ones? Is there on-line help to guide you through the process? How intuitive are the design tools?

•	Reports: How easy is it to create new reports and modify existing ones? Are samples offered? Is there on-line help to guide you through the process? Can you turn queries into reports?

•	Queries: Is query by example (QBE) offered? How easy is it to query across multiple tables? How flexible is the search criterion? How fast do queries run?

•	Macros: How easy is it to create macros? Can you edit macros? How powerful are the macros for small programming jobs?

•	Programming/ease of use: How easy is it to learn the programming language and create a new application? Is a debugger available?

•	Programming/versatility: Does the language resemble BASIC, C or C++? Is programming easily accessible to all users?

•	Programming/ease of understanding: Are sample code and applications provided?

•	Import/export: Can the database application import data from a variety of sources, such as spreadsheets, ASCII text, and existing dBASE databases? How flexible are the export choices? Can the program read the data in its native format or are conversions necessary?

•	Windows interface: How well does the program adhere to the standard Windows GUI? Are menu items and toolbars what you expect from a Windows application?

•	SQL: How easy is it to issue SQL commands to a remote database? Are the commands structured in English?

•	Speed: How fast is each product compared with the others, based on the results of our benchmark results?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

Each of these five products has a lot of features, and each has its strengths and weaknesses in key areas. That made it difficult to select a winner. Ultimately, we chose two products: Access 2.0 and Approach 3.0.

•	Access offers a clean, easy-to-use interface that combines a powerful desktop database with efficient programming tools and access to corporate SQL databases. Although Access lacks an on-line tutorial, it does offer the user excellent on-line help in the form of Wizards and Cue Cards.

•	Approach offers good performance and an excellent design that is amazingly easy to use. It features an exceptionally well-executed on-line tutorial that will get you up and running fast. Forms, queries and reports offer powerful data views, and the macro facility can almost make you forget that Approach doesn't offer a programming language. Approach is excellent for creating a database for a small department, and it also provides all the tools you need to access an enterprise-wide corporate SQL database.

•	An honorable mention goes to dBASE 5.0 for Windows. This is the first generation of dBASE running under Windows, and it is an extremely powerful database program. Users of dBASE for DOS should pay special attention to the product, since it offers a painless way to migrate your existing applications to Windows with a minimum of fuss. Once you have dBASE for Windows, you'll never go back to the DOS version.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV4.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Info Files

Access 2.0

Price: $495

In Brief: This easy-to-use database has SQL connectivity and Microsoft's Wizards, so you can automate almost everything.

Disk Space Required: 23MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 8MB

Microsoft Corp.

800-227-4697, 206-882-8080

Approach 3.0

Price: $495

In Brief: With Approach, you don't have to learn a slew of procedures just to get started with your work.

Disk Space Required: 20MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 4MB

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

dBASE 5.0

Price: $495; upgrade, $199.95

In Brief: There's no longer any excuse for the dBASE crowd to shun Windows; this program is compatible with dBASE for both DOS code and data.

Disk Space Required: 24MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB

Borland International Inc.

800-331-0877, 408-431-1000

FoxPro 2.6

Price: $495; Professional Edition, $695; upgrade, $19.95

In Brief: Programmers will love this fast and powerful database, but ordinary users may find it takes some getting used to.

Disk Space Required: 21MB

System Resources: 12%

RAM: 4MB

Microsoft Corp.

800-227-4679, 206-882-8080

Paradox 5.0

Price: $495; upgrade, $199

In Brief: Tutorials, on-line help and on-line programming help--including pasting sample code into an application--make this version a major upgrade.

Disk Space Required: 15MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Borland International Inc.

800-331-0877, 408-431-1000


How's That Again? Structured?

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a database querying and programming language for constructing relational database management systems. Traditionally, SQL databases have been employed in multiuser, mission-critical applications within mainframe client/server environments. SQL is a tool to create, maintain and use relational databases within a database system. A SQL database consists of a collection of tables, views, indexes and other objects with related data. Today, most popular SQL environments can run on a broad range of hardware platforms and operating systems, including UNIX and Windows NT. You can use your Windows database to function as a front end to database servers, providing access to enterprise data from your desktop system.

If you wanted to compile a list of employees in your organization and sort them by last name, this SQL query would do it:

select last_name, first_name

from employees

order by last_name

SQL commands can be used to perform other functions such as creating new tables and views, editing existing data and adding new data. Most SQL products easily exceed the ANSI standard by providing more functionality. For that reason, it is hard to find any two SQL products using sets of commands that are exactly alike. Microsoft SQL Server for Windows NT, for example, uses a superset of standard SQL called Transact-SQL, which provides a control-of-flow language, triggers and stored procedures.

Traditional mainframe SQL application vendors Gupta, Sybase, Oracle, Informix Software and Microsoft offer SQL products for the Windows NT environment. Microsoft SQL Server 4.21 for Windows NT runs on Intel, Mips and Alpha AXP platforms. Sybase System 10 is available for various operating systems including UNIX, VAX, Network and Windows NT. Sybase is currently shipping System 10 SQL Server for Windows NT. Microsoft is currently developing its next major release of SQL Server, code-named Microsoft SQL Server 95.

SQL Server 4.21 for Windows NT Price: $669 - $13,289

Microsoft Phone: 206-882-8080

Workgroups SQL Server10 Price: $995 - $19,995

Sybase Phone: 510-922-3500

Workgroup Server for Windows NT Price: $995

Oracle Phone: 415-506-3700

SQLBase Server 5.2 Price: $995 - $9,995

Gupta Phone: 415-321-9500

Informix-SE Price: $500

Informix Software Phone: 415-526-6300


For Best Results, Start with Pencil and Paper

When planning a relational database, you should always begin by placing a blank piece of paper, a pencil and a sturdy eraser on the table. It's the best way to avoid the kinds of mistakes that can pop up and torment you only after you've implemented your system. As a general rule, you can avoid problems by creating separate tables for each type of information you need to track, in the same way that you create separate fields (columns) for each fact about a record that you wish to track (or by which you want to sort).

Let's say you are the owner of an auto parts store and are trying to create a custom application to help you run your business. Ask yourself what types of information you will need to track. This information will be the basis for your tables and the fields they contain (here's where the pencil and eraser come in--you'll need to write it down so you can see the interrelationships among the data types). You will need, at the very least, tables for products, customers, suppliers, employees and invoices.

Next, you'll want to determine the relationship among the tables. For example, you may be able to get a particular product (Jaguar mufflers, maybe) from only one supplier, but the suppliers you deal with each provide multiple products. This means the relationship of supplier to product is one-to-many, but the Jaguar muffler-to-supplier relationship is one-to-one. Another type is many-to-many, like that between invoices and products. One product can appear on many invoices, and an invoice may contain many products.

In its simplest terms, a table is a spreadsheet. The columns are the individual fields (supplier name, address, phone), and the rows are records (Bob's Distribution, Dave's Wholesale Parts). Each table must have at least one key field, a field that must be unique to each record. The easiest way to accomplish that is to use a counter ID field, which the program will use automatically to assign a number to each new product, customer, supplier, employee or invoice (for employees, of course, a social security number will suffice). The table should be indexed on the key column, and the key-column information will more than likely be the column that links tables, such as a unique customer ID that will appear on each invoice. The best way to deal with a many-to-many relationship is to create an intersection table, which would contain the key columns from both tables.

You'll also want to spend some time thinking about constraints. For example, if you're creating an invoice, there has to be a customer to bill. You must, therefore, design your invoice table with customer name as a required field.

Once you have your tables, relationships and constraints figured out, but before you actually start setting up your tables, take some time to double-check your work. You'll invariably find something that looks cumbersome, or a single table that mixes apples and oranges. The most important thing, of course, is that you take the time to look at the nature of the information you want to track (and the sorts of reports you want to be able to generate) before implementing your database design.


What's Coming in Databases

FoxPro 3.0 is expected sometime around the beginning of the year. Look for even more user-interface and ease-of-use improvements at that time.

When the next version ships, dBASE should include more Experts. But don't look for it any time soon.

Paradox should soon have an SQL Connect adjunct that will allow you to connect to SQL databases. With SQL Connect, you'll be able to set up the links between Paradox and SQL databases such as SQL Server, Sybase, Informix and others. Once it's connected, Paradox should be able to run queries to SQL databases transparently, by using queries designed in its QBE window or by writing SQL code.


Database Glossary

BLOB (Binary Large OBject): A BLOB is a variable-length data type used to store image or other complex data.

Crosstab: Crosstabbing allows you to summarize data in one field by expressing it in terms of two other fields. The result is displayed in a spreadsheet-like manner.

DBMS (Database Management System): This is the software that controls the organization, storage, retrieval, security and integrity of data in a database. It accepts requests from the application and issues instructions to the operating system to transfer the appropriate data.

Field: A field is a single item of information in a table. A set of fields makes up a record and is equivalent to a row in the table. In a table, records are the rows and fields are the columns.

Field Type: When working with databases, you specify the type of data that can be entered into a field in a table; for example, the data could be alphanumeric or integers only. The field type is specified when you add a new field to the table.

Form: An alternate presentation of a table's data, forms are often more graphical than a crosstab or table view.

Index: An ordered set of keys that identifies specific records in a table, an index organizes data for rapid retrieval and ordered display.

Key: When a single field in a table is indexed, it becomes a key field, and the index will order the table according to that key field.

ODBC (Open Database Connectivity): A standard interface for connecting an application to SQL data.

Primary Key: A main index for the table used to associate data between tables. The primary key uniquely identifies each record that is contained in a given table.

QBE (Query By Example): This method by which you query a database requires you to ask questions about data by providing an example of the type of answer you are looking for.

Query: When you query your database, you are asking specific questions about the data stored in your tables or requesting the program to perform an action on the data.

Records: These can be as simple as an entry in a table containing fields and data or they can comprise a group of fields containing information about a single person, place, or thing. In a table structure, records are the rows and fields are the columns.

Relational Database: The standard type of database for corporate applications, a relational database can take any two or more files and generate a new view of the data using information in both. For example, it can use an inventory file and a mail-order file to create a report giving a projection of how well inventory is keeping up with sales of a particular product.

Report: A report contains the information from one or more tables; the information is retrieved by querying the database.

Secondary Index: You use secondary indexes (there can be more than one) to link, query and change the way you view tables.

SQL (Structured Query Language): A language used to interrogate and process data in a relational database, SQL commands can be interactive or issued from within a program. (See How's That Again? Structured?)

Table: A table is a file containing fields and records, in which you view, edit and add data. A single database can consist of multiple tables, and each table typically contains information relating to a distinct subject.


Mastering SCSI

SCSI

Glossary

The Software Solution

Pretty Devices All in a Row

Who You Callin' SCSI?

Report Card

Info Files

Mastering SCSI Table


SCSI

By: Serdar Yegulalp, Assistant Technical Editor

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

SCSI promises a great deal--and it delivers. A SCSI host adapter helps you take full advantage of your system by letting you hook up several devices to one card. This enables you to use all those newly liberated peripheral slots for other things, like an internal modem or a network card. And SCSI host adapters with internal SCSI ports can control a hard disk. That's a big plus, since SCSI disks are faster than garden-variety IDE drives.

It used to take a goodly amount of blood, sweat and tears to reach a point where you could enjoy SCSI's benefits. You had to set jumpers, configure I/O addresses, and so forth. Not any more. The new SCSI products make it possible to enjoy the closest thing to plug-and-play there is. Just hook everything together, add the vendor-supplied software, and you're off.

The introduction of the VESA and PCI buses has made it possible to do justice to SCSI. Think of your computer's CPU as a city, and the local-bus architecture as a newly paved six-lane highway to and from the suburbs that house your peripherals. SCSI is like a high-speed exit ramp to high-speed, high-storage peripherals such as WORM drives, CD-ROMs, DAT backup systems and Flopticals.

The most important element in any SCSI chain is the controller. What good is that rush of data on your 1-gigabyte, 8-millisecond access-time, 10 megabyte-per-second (MBps) hard disk if your controller is choking the data stream down to a measly trickle?

We'll examine eight local-bus SCSI controller cards that break that bottleneck wide open. All these cards are either PCI or VESA local-bus compatible with the Fast SCSI-2 standard, with a transfer rate of at least 5MBps (according to the manufacturer's specifications). All the cards have at least one internal and one external connector (the external connectors were to be the high-density 50-pin variety), and supply power to the SCSI terminations.

VL-BUS SCSI ADAPTERS

Five of the cards we selected work on the VESA local bus. They provide accelerated performance comparable to the speed boost that graphics cards obtain from the VL-Bus.

Adaptec VL SCSI Master AHA-2842

The Adaptec adapter has a lot of pluses. For starters, it's jumperless. A DIP-switch bank along the top edge of the card means that once you've installed it, you won't have to pry it out again to change settings. But another bit of good news is that it's unlikely you'll have to change anything anyway. The I/O address and SCSI ID of the card are controlled through the switch block, but everything else is handled in a BIOS setup screen. Pressing the Ctrl+A keys at boot-up (you'll get a prompt instructing you to do so) brings you into a series of intelligently organized menus. These menus enable you to accomplish a number of things: You can toggle the card's termination power without prying out, and possibly damaging or losing, fragile resistors. You can enable or disable removable disk support (which allows you to set up a Bernoulli or SyQuest drive as a boot drive). You can even get detailed on-line help about how to configure the whole SCSI setup.

On the software end, Adaptec uses its own EZ-SCSI ASPI and device manager. The software auto-configures everything, loading whatever device drivers and managers are appropriate to the equipment on your chain. If you have BIOS drive support turned on and no devices connected except for hard disks, then you don't have to load any software. The included Adaptec Interrogator lists every chained device and allows you to get every last bit of information about them, which is great for debugging connection problems. Adaptec's manuals are on the technical side, but they're full of illustrations and crystal clear in explaining everything.

AdvanSys AdvanSCSI Silver

The AdvanSCSI Silver is a smartly designed and well-behaved card all around. It uses fewer chips than most other boards in its class, which means it draws less power than most. And because of the way it handles SCSI requests--it's designed to process up to 255 simultaneous requests from SCSI devices--it handles multiple devices better than many of its competitors.

This card, like the Adaptec, has a jumperless design. The AdvanSCSI Silver has only two DIP switches set into the connector end of the board. One controls automatic port addressing and the other the on-board floppy disk drive controller. More elaborate configuration is handled through the BIOS, and the provided utility disk enables you to plug in the card and boot with the utility disk to configure the card automatically. The setup program works in plain everyday English, walking you through any part of the setup that requires your participation. It doesn't install ASPI drivers or anything of that kind. Instead you get a complete copy of CorelSCSI for that purpose.

A hallmark of really great SCSI cards is BIOS-level support for fixed and removable media, such as standard SCSI hard disks and Bernoulli/SyQuest drives. The AdvanSCSI Silver is complete in that respect, allowing you to designate any connected SCSI drive as a boot drive in your system BIOS. You can also use all drives transparently without an ASPI manager. AdvanSys's manual is wordy, but thorough.

BusLogic KT-445C

Another solid entry, the BusLogic KT-445C is full of good features and well-implemented ideas. Like the best of the bunch here, it doesn't use jumpers, but a combination of DIP switches and BIOS-configurable settings. Even better, you probably won't have to adjust a thing. BusLogic's BIOS contains an Auto-Config option that scans every device on the chain and sets everything up accordingly. The DIP switches govern things that are likely to be set only once, such as the local-bus clock speed, and are located externally for easy access

There's BIOS support for hard disks and removable media: You don't need an ASPI manager to support them directly. Hardware support exists for Floptical devices, too. You can disable all the BIOS support options if you want to substitute software ASPI support. The BIOS also features hardware-level testing and the formatting of SCSI hard disks. Another feature is the ability to send "start unit'' commands to specific device IDs on the chain, or to ignore specific IDs during the power-on cycle--useful for excluding a removable device that can be software-supported later on.

BusLogic's manual is no more technical than it needs to be, and thoroughly explains every option and item it touches on. According to the instructions, the card's been tested on everything up to a 50MHz bus, but since the bus we used clocked in at 100MHz, there shouldn't be a compatibility problem there.

Forex FR600AF

The FR600AF isn't as sophisticated in its design or BIOS support as some of the other cards, but it does the job just fine once you clear the installation hurdle. The board's dependence on jumpers is an obstacle. However, as with most cards that need jumper settings, you can probably set them up once and leave them. At least with jumpers, you can disable BIOS-level support for hardware, which is handy in many cases.

Some SCSI devices, such as SyQuest drives (or plain old internal SCSI hard disks), can be recognized by SCSI adapters without additional software. You can boot from them as well, and DOS automatically assigns drive letters to them. However, you may want to control such devices through additional software, such as ASPI drivers, instead.

Configuring the software isn't automatic. In fact, the software is the second big obstacle you'll have to hurdle. There are step-by-step instructions on how to place the reference to the ASPI manager--which can't be loaded high, by the way--into your CONFIG.SYS file and how to make the appropriate exclusions in EMM386.EXE. But if you're inexperienced with SCSI, you can still make mistakes because the manual suffers from slightly garbled syntax in some places and a few omissions. For example, it mentions the settings for the jumper that controls the AT bus IRQ, but has no detailed description of its properties or when to change the jumper. The setup disk does contain a host of auxiliary SCSI utilities, such as low-level formatting and CD-ROM device drivers.

Xirlink Eureka XL-525

Xirlink's card can serve as the I/O for an entire system if it needs to. In addition to the hard disk controller, it has support for a floppy disk drive, a parallel port, a joystick port and two serial ports--all on the same card. (Straps and connectors make these ports available on the faceplate of an adjacent slot.) You can disable all these extras, of course.

ASPI-less BIOS support for hard disks is also present, and works with regular fixed disks and removable-media SyQuest-style drives. The driver setup is as straightforward as a program can be: The most complicated part is the choice of drivers to load--CD-ROM, magneto-optical or fixed disk. One drawback is the card's dependence on jumpers for every setting. There's no BIOS-level control of addresses or interrupts. You also have to enable or disable the card's active termination, and the only way to do this is by yanking out or plugging in resistors. But once I had the card configured and all the right software in place, it performed well and without conflict.

Documentation for the Xirlink adapter is a 12-page pamphlet that covers setup and installation in the briefest possible way. There are times when it's not terribly coherent, but there's enough information in it to get you started.

PCI-BUS ADAPTER CARDS

PCI is the newest local, or mezzanine, bus in the market. Unlike the VL-Bus, which was designed to support accelerated video, the PCI bus aims to support other kinds of peripheral systems, which purportedly will give it more general applicability than the VL-Bus over the long haul.

Acculogic PCIpport 40

One thing that's striking about the PCIpport, right out of the bag, is how small it is, even for a PCI card. It's only long enough to cover the PCI local-bus connector, and crammed onto it are internal and external support for standard Fast SCSI-2 and Wide SCSI-3. It's also jumperless (with one exception)--in it goes and you're off.

After you've put in the card, the first step in installing the Acculogic is to boot with the diagnostics disk provided. If anything's wrong with the board, the program finds out about it before it becomes a problem. The board's BIOS resides in the C8000-CBFFF segment of memory, and that location can't be changed. The card handles host termination automatically, but if you want to force termination on or off--say, for debugging--you get a set of jumpers (the only set) for just that.

The software end of the installation is interesting. Instead of directly installing CorelSCSI, which comes bundled with the PCIpport, you run Acculogic's own setup program. It checks for the presence of hardware that would require CorelSCSI software support (essentially, everything short of a standard SCSI hard disk) and it installs CorelSCSI only if it finds such hardware.

Acculogic gets points for its clear and thorough manual, which was also thoughtfully spiral-bound. It's a small touch, but very much appreciated when you're working on a computer with both hands and can't hold the manual open.

The pack of software that comes with the Acculogic is heartening. In addition to CorelSCSI which comes with the card, there are separate installations for DOS, Windows, Windows NT, SCO UNIX, Novell Net-Ware, and OS/2. Each platform is covered in separate detail, since the installation for each is not totally automatic--some editing of system files is required. There's also troubleshooting information for each platform.

Future Domain TMC-3260SVP

On the hardware level, it was childishly simple to get this card working: Plug it in, and it works. On the software level, it was slightly more complex.

In place of a single, simple Adaptec-esque ASPI driver or the CorelSCSI package, Future Domain has its own software layer, PowerSCSI. It's CorelSCSI-compatible but isn't itself a Corel product. (For a full explanation of PowerSCSI versus CoreSCSI, see The Software Solution). The BIOS recognized the SCSI hard disk, but I had to load several DOS drivers--the CAM driver, the CAM/ASPI converter and the Corel ASPI driver itself--to get the SyQuest drive to operate. Obviously there's a tradeoff involved here: PowerSCSI installs more drivers than CorelSCSI--an ASPI driver and an ASPI-to-CAM driver--but forces you to sacrifice that much more memory to load drivers.

Fortunately, the software is self-configuring and simple to install. An automated setup of both Future Domain and Corel drivers took less than five minutes, and it recognized everything and had it all running the first time around. The card also knows when to terminate itself, no matter where it is in the chain, so there's no jumper to set, no resistor to remove, not even a BIOS configuration to change. Future Domain's manual is profusely illustrated, but a little too technical at times.

QLogic FastSCSI IQ PCI

QLogic has put out an impressive PCMCIA-based SCSI adapter. It's almost jumperless. The one pair of jumpers on the board is used for enabling or disabling the board's active termination, so there's no auto-configuration in that department. On the other hand, the board is Wide SCSI-2 compatible via an internal and an external 68-pin connector. The board doesn't come with an external cable, so you'll have to supply a SCSI-3 cable to connect to external devices. It will be a little tough for those of us with only SCSI-2 devices, but it's not altogether impossible. You'd need a cable that can accept SCSI-2 at one end and Wide SCSI-2 at the other, or an adapter. You would not be able to use Wide SCSI on such a chain, though.

Instead of using a power-on menu to control the hardware configuration, FastSCSI IQ has a disk containing a BIOS control program. The host adapter can be disabled this way, allowing for software-layer control, along with a number of extremely esoteric SCSI configuration options. Fortunately, everything that isn't crucial to the proper functioning of the card isn't explained in excruciating detail, and everything that is crucial gets a good amount of description. Overall, the QLogic manuals are brief enough to cover the required territory (without being skimpy) and are always clearly written. The rest of QLogic's bundled software consists of the usual mix of hard disk utilities (disk formatting, verifying and partitioning), a custom CD-ROM driver, and a standalone ASPI that doesn't need the included CorelSCSI software.


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Setup/ installation	Driver Software	Hardware compatibility
	VL-Bus SCSI Adapters
	Adaptec VL SCSI Master AHA-2842	B	A	B
W	AdvanSys AdvanSCSI Silver	A	A	A
	BusLogic KT-445C	B	A	A
	Forex FR600AF	C	B	B
	Xirlink Eureka XL-525	C	C	C
	PCI-Bus SCSI Adapters
	Acculogic PCIpport 40	A	B	B
	Future Domain TMC-3260SVP	A	B	B
W	QLogic FastSCSI IQ PCI	A	A	B
•	Setup/installation: How easy is it to install the board in the computer and get it preconfigured (that is, everything that has to be done before the computer gets turned on)?

•	Driver software: How easy is it to install the software? Does it provide adequate software-layer support for a variety of SCSI hardware?

•	Hardware compatibility: Is there a user-configurable BIOS setup? Does it allow you to make hard disks bootable or accessible without software? Did the BIOS check out quickly on power-up?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

WE AWARDED a WINDOWS Recommended seal to the top contenders in both the VESA and PCI categories. For VESA local-bus users, the AdvanSys AdvanSCSI earns the highest marks because of its excellent overall design and impressive real-world performance. Its intelligently designed BIOS, which auto-terminates the card when it is placed in the middle of the daisy chain, makes the setup and management of the card as easy as it can be. Runner-up kudos go to Adaptec, with its cleanly designed and near-jumperless setup, and BusLogic, which also had an excellently implemented BIOS setup program that auto-configured at the push of a button.

•	QLogic's entry took top honors in the PCI category. It nosed out the others with its immensely powerful on-disk BIOS setup and also its overall simplicity (if you wanted to, you could just put the card in and go, or you can tweak to your heart's delight). It is also Wide SCSI compatible, internally and externally, a bonus that makes this a good future investment as well. The other two PCI entries, the Future Domain TMC-3260SVP and the Acculogic PCIpport, are also excellent. The Future Domain card comes bundled with the universally adaptable PowerSCSI software package, and the Acculogic board features a tremendous overall simplicity of installation and design.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV6.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Mastering SCSI Table

SCSI HOST ADAPTERS

NA: Not applicable

	PRODUCT	Price	Host bus speed (MBps)	Interface speed (MBps)	Interface type	Drives controlled	Settings controlled via:	Software	Termination control	Warranty	Additional features
	VL-Bus Products
	Adaptec VL SCSI Master AHA-2842	$399	40	10	Fast SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2, 2 floppy	BIOS	Adaptec ASPI	Through BIOS	1 year	Bus master
W	AdvanSys AdvanSCSI Silver	$379	120	10	Fast SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2	Software-controlled BIOS	CorelSCSI	Automatic	Lifetime	NA
	BusLogic KT-445C	$439	132	10	Fast SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2	BIOS	CorelSCSI	Through BIOS	1 year	Includes 20MHz 80186 processor, bus master
	Forex FR600AF	$240	132	10	Fast SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2	Jumpers	ASPI manager, CD-ROM driver, disk utilities	Remove resistor	1 year	NA
	Xirlink Eureka XL-525	$149	26.6	10	SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2, 2 floppy, 2 serial ports, 2 parallel ports, 1 game port	Jumpers	ASPI manager, CD-ROM driver, disk utilities	Remove resistor	1 year	2 serial ports, 2 parallel ports, 1 game port
	PCI-Bus Products
	Acculogic PCIpport 40	$449	132	20	Fast SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2, 2 floppy	Software-controlled BIOS	CorelSCSI	Automatic	2 years	Supports disk mirroring, floppy controller, bus master
	Future Domain TMC-3260SVP	$195	132	10	Fast SCSI-2/Wide SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2	Software controlled BIOS	PowerSCSI	Through BIOS	90 days	Bus master
W	QLogic FastSCSI IQ PCI	$360	132	10	Fast SCSI-2/Wide SCSI-2	7 SCSI-2	Software controlled BIOS	CorelSCSI	Automatic	5 years	Bus master
Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV5.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Info Files

Adaptec VL SCSI Master AHA-2842

Price: $399

In Brief: A jumperless card that ships with its own self-configuring software. It can even configure its own line terminations.

Adaptec Inc.

800-442-SCSI, 408-945-8600

AdvanSys AdvanSCSI Silver

Price: $379

In Brief: This well-behaved card is a jumperless model that can handle as many as 255 simultaneous SCSI requests.

Advanced Systems Products Inc.

408-383-9400, fax 408-383-9612

BusLogic KT-445C

Price: $439

In Brief: The self-configuring BIOS in this card--issue one command and it automatically configures every BIOS setting--makes it a snap to install and use.

BusLogic Inc.

408-492-9090, fax 408-492-9118

Forex FR600AF

Price: $240

In Brief: This card performs very well, but its installation isn't as straightforward as that of some of its competitors.

Forex Computer Corp.

408-955-9280, fax 408-955-9611

Acculogic PCIpport 40

Price: Card only, $349; card and kit, $449

In Brief: Jumperless, software-based configuration and a clear manual mean that this card sets up easily and quickly.

Acculogic Inc.

800-234-7811, 714-454-2441

Future Domain TMC-3260SVP

Price: Card only, $139; card and PowerSCSI software, $195

In Brief: The extensive software-layer support that comes with the TMC-3260SVP guarantees connectivity with any SCSI software or device.

Future Domain Corp.

800-879-7599, 714-253-0400

QLogic FastSCSI IQ PCI

Price: $360

In Brief: The RISC-based design of the QLogic adapter insures good performance; internal and external Wide-SCSI connectivity are on the card.

QLogic Corp.

800-TOP-SCSI, 714-438-2200


Glossary

ASPI (advanced SCSI programming interface) manager: This software sits between the SCSI controller and your computer's other software, and manages the flow of commands to and from the controller, providing a standardized way in which other programs, such as device drivers, can address SCSI devices.

CAM: A CAM (Common Access Method) is a standardized SCSI software interface that is similar in function to an ASPI manager.

MSCDEX: This program, which comes bundled with DOS, allows you to assign a specific drive letter to a CD-ROM driver. SCSI software packages usually include their own versions of MSCDEX for SCSI CD-ROMs drives.

SCSI (small computer systems interface): A definition of an interconnection scheme from computer to peripherals and from peripheral to peripheral.

Terminator: An electronic module on a SCSI device, which marks the extreme end of the SCSI chain. The first and last devices on a SCSI chain--including the SCSI controller itself, if it happens to be at either end--must be terminated, or outfitted with terminators. No more than two devices on any chain should ever be terminated. On most SCSI hardware, the terminators must be removed manually to disable them. Some have jumpers and a few, like some of the cards profiled here, can automatically sense whether or not to enable termination.


The Software Solution

You'll need some driver software for certain SCSI devices and functions. The good news is that most of it is self-configuring. The most common piece of software is the ASPI manager (see Glossary'for the full definition), which is needed for devices, such as scanners, that have to be dealt with specially through their own software. Fortunately, the ASPI driver isn't that large--the largest we've seen is about 10KB--and needs to be loaded only once for the whole chain. After that, any SCSI device's driver, if it has one, goes through the ASPI manager to do its business. Most SCSI card manufacturers (for example, Adaptec, which developed the ASPI standard in the first place) will have their own custom ASPI drivers.

CorelSCSI is one of the most popular ASPI manager packages around. Most SCSI cards come bundled with a special version of the program designed specifically for the card. From the outside, they're functionally identical. You just load the ASPI manager itself and any other card-specific software. But CorelSCSI is, as we said, a package: It contains the ASPI manager, as well as the auxiliary drivers for many popular SCSI devices that may need them, such as CD-ROMs (there's a Corel version of MSCDEX, too), tape drives and so on.

Among the other goodies provided with the CorelSCSI package include utilities for using a SCSI CD-ROM drive as a full-featured CD player and CD cataloging system.

Future Domain, another important SCSI software and hardware vendor, has a slightly different take on the SCSI software issue. Its package, PowerSCSI, comes bundled with its own controllers and provides SCSI support for programs that use ASPI or CAM (another standardized method of accessing the SCSI controller; see "Glossary'').

Future Domain uses both the CAM and ASPI standards for the sake of working well across platforms, and for working with software that has been transported across, too. There are far more ASPI-compliant applications than CAM-compliant ones, but the additional support is there for the people who need it.


Pretty Devices All in a Row

SCSI is most useful when you need to have a variety of different devices active or available simultaneously without conflict. In a small- to midsized network, for instance, you

could hook up backup drives, a CD-ROM or two, a Floptical jukebox, and even a printer--all on the same SCSI chain, and all independent of each other. Or on a desktop system a scanner, a CD-ROM and a backup device all could be hitched together through one SCSI card with several more spaces to spare for the devices you'll acquire in the future.

There are several advantages to SCSI. One is speed. Another is that no matter how many devices are on the chain, the whole SCSI chain takes up only one IRQ and one memory address. Previously, these devices would have used their own separate controllers and drivers, each of which would have occupied an IRQ and/or a DMA, and probably a memory address as well. Four or five such devices in one system would have been unthinkable or, at the very least, a giant headache.

Compare a standard CD-ROM with a SCSI CD-ROM. If the CD-ROM is of the same controller type as your hard disk (for example, IDE), you're luckier than most: All you have to do is wire up the CD-ROM and set up the drivers--troublesome enough by itself. If the CD-ROM uses its own controller, then the hassle of installing another controller board, with the potential for device conflicts, hardware incompatibilities and so on, comes into play. With a SCSI CD-ROM, things are more straightforward. One piece of software, the ASPI manager, handles the connectivity of the CD-ROM and every other removable-media drive on the SCSI chain. (You'll still need to load the MSCDEX driver to assign a letter to the CD-ROM, but in most cases that's handled automatically anyway. CorelSCSI is one software package that does this.)

Most SCSI controllers also have the ability to make an external or secondary hard disk (or Floptical, or WORM drive) into a hardware-level device. Boot DOS, and the device has a drive letter just like your original hard or floppy disk drive.


Who You Callin' SCSI?

Do you need SCSI? A more basic question is: What's SCSI for, anyway?

SCSI (small computer system interface) originally appeared on the Macintosh platform as a way of standardizing the connection between a computer and its external peripherals. Most of these peripherals are mass-storage devices: external hard disks, tape backups, CD-ROM drives, WORM drives, magneto-optical drives and so on. You can connect as many as seven of these devices, through each other, to a SCSI controller, and they all can operate simultaneously, without conflicts or problems.

The SCSI standard was very quickly adapted to other peripherals, such as scanners. Before SCSI, scanners had two major ways of interfacing with a DOS/Windows-platform computer--through a parallel or serial port, or through a custom port that came on its own board. Neither was an elegant solution. The first could eliminate a printer, and the second was a hotbed of DMA and IRQ conflicts.

There have been several different "versions'' of SCSI. The first, known originally as SCSI, but now called SCSI-1, had a data path of 8 bits, was far less standardized than the current SCSI standard, and suffered from compatibility problems. SCSI-2, the next tier up, works faster and uses the ASPI standard (see glossary) to ensure that everything works together. It also uses a wider data path--up to four times the width, or 32 bits. CSI-2 itself has two variants: Fast SCSI-2, which has been optimized for speed, and Wide SCSI-2, which allows up to 14 devices to be chained together. Fast SCSI-2, supported by some of the cards in this review, is more useful to the average user than Wide SCSI-2, which was designed mostly to connect bandwidth-hungry devices, such as RAID arrays, to network servers.

And, of course, there is now SCSI-3. It has a significant edge over all its predecessors in speed and connectivity, but its relative newness means there's little hardware or software support for it yet. But stay tuned. It's supposed to be downward compatible and allow connectivity with fiber-optic networking.


Anyone Can Be a Statistician

Statistical Programs

Report Card

Info Files

Statistical Software Table


Statistical Programs

By: John J. Yacono, Technical Editor

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

Statistical software packages used to be very narrow in scope. Each program catered to a specific type of user--scientist, sociologist, pharmacologist and so on--and most were designed for use on mainframe computers or DOS-based PCs. Well, things have changed. There's now a wealth of Windows programs addressing the needs of a broad range of users. In this review, we'll look at five packages that give almost any Windows PC user the ability to be a statistician.

Stat packages can incorporate a huge number of features, but most have a certain basic set. In the statistical analysis chain, raw data handling is an all-important link. All the packages here import and export data in at least the ASCII, dBASE and Lotus 1-2-3 formats. In addition, they allow split-file processing--combining data from different files for a single analysis--and support data selection by case and variable subsets, conditions, and ranges. They also provide a data editor and descriptive text for their data files.

Some of the more sophisticated features include the ability to accept transforms (mathematical operations performed on one cell or a group of cells) as algebraic input via at least one menu, as well as a real lag transform for shifting a column of data cells with respect to another (not just a cut-and-paste style substitute), probability functions, and the transpose-data transform.

Determining the interdependence of variables in tables is also important, and these programs, at a minimum, produce Chi-square tests of independence and provide other measures of association.

The products provide a wide variety of analytical techniques, including independent-sample and paired t-tests. In the linear-regression category, they perform automatic subset selection, basic residuals, colinearity diagnostics, extended-regression diagnostics, and standard-multiple and weighted regressions. They can also do basic analysis of variance (ANOVA), planned comparisons, and post-hoc tests and, in addition, have weighting support.

Because of the importance of graphical output, we selected software that can generate box-and-whisker plots, histograms, line graphs and scatterplots. The histograms allow curve fitting, and the scatterplots can be displayed with regression lines and least-squares confidence bands. Also, a single page can contain multiple scatterplots.

All this makes for an impressive set of features, especially since we're talking about base packages. Many of these programs have add-on modules that enable them to do even more.

BMDP 1.0

BMDP is a user- and data-friendly program. In addition to the file types listed in the table, BMDP is capable of handling Quattro Pro and SAS files. It also maintains backward compatibility with files from its DOS relative. When you import a file, you can specify missing-value codes for each row of data, as well as the variable type, or you can specify it later by double-clicking on a column heading.

Another data-handling plus is the use of object linking. The program links any graph plotted to the data that generated it and lets you reveal the cases that generated specific data points or regions on a graph simply by selecting them. Once you have a plot of data, you select Toolbox from the View menu and click on the Lasso button. The cursor changes to the Lasso tool (it looks like a fishing net), which you click and drag to form a closed loop around points of interest. When you let go of the mouse button, all the pertinent data entries are highlighted. This is a great way to pick through outliers carefully to see which should be discarded. You can have the program ignore the data that was in the enclosed area, redraw the plot, and quickly see the effect on your analysis. You'll get your r-squared value in shape 1-2-3.

Obtaining plots is very easy. Once you've got data to plot, you select a plot type and drag variable names to boxes near the axes of a mock graph. When you click on a variable name, it disappears from the variable list, but the dragged object (a rectangle) contains the variable name, not a universal "mystery'' icon.

The program does not have a command language, but you can add your own transforms to those already present. You call them up by activating the Transform window and selecting User Defined.

There's an on-line tour-of-features tutorial accessible through the help menu within the main program or via the help icon outside the program. The on-line help excels in both scope and inventiveness. All the vocabulary is clearly understandable, either through context or by requesting more help. Glossary definitions are rarely circular (to understand A you must understand B, to understand B you must understand A).

In addition, the help is divided into two main parts--statistical and procedural--and you can jump between them easily. Let's say you want to learn about ANOVA. Using statistical help, you'll get a good idea of what the technique is for and the algebra involved. Once you're "ANOVA literate,'' you can click on the procedural-help icon to see the steps involved in performing the analysis. The help screens even refer you to books that will give you more detailed information on the current topic. Stat students are sure to find that useful.

Although its limited number of analysis techniques and 3-D plots would not satisfy advanced users, BMDP's battery of teaching tools, ease of use and minimal system requirements make it an ideal package for beginners.

SPSS 6.1

As far as analysis goes, SPSS is clearly the most well-rounded package in the group. Aimed at the hard-core statistician, it has a generous roster of analytical techniques. The program can handle most of your multivariate-regression, t-test, and factor-analysis needs. Its greatest strength is in categorical-data analysis. There are modules you can add to extend the program's usefulness in time-series analysis, process-control, geographic mapping and much more. Most folks will probably want to add the Professional Statistics and Tables modules (at $395 each) to the base module. The company has many different bundling options, most at significant discounts, so request pricing information for the add-ons you think you might need.

The program has a strong command language, but incorporates an Excel-like worksheet for easy data entry. That's typical of SPSS overall: It leans toward the advanced user in power, but provides all the amenities Windows affords. While you don't need to be a computer whiz to use SPSS, you do need to know stats. For example, its on-line help is only as useful as your statistics vocabulary permits.

Learning SPSS's extensive command language is advisable. For one thing, the language will allow you to broaden the base package's capabilities significantly. Perhaps more importantly, it can greatly automate your analysis tasks. For example, the program has a batch-processing mode (called "production'' mode) in which it will run a command script in the background. That's great for analyses you use repeatedly. Thus, the program can create and save all the charts and graphs for your monthly report while you're busy writing the introduction in your word processor.

The software is the most data-friendly of the group. It supports OLE 2.0 and can import data from SYLK files. It also supports Microsoft's Open Database Connectivity (the program's current gateway to Oracle and SQL databases) and the Messaging Application Programming Interface. So, not only will it be compatible with programs that adopt ODBC in the future, but it enables you to e-mail your data around today--from inside the program!

As if that weren't enough, you can even create your own database structures. Furthermore, its own files are cross-platform compatible with the UNIX and Macintosh variants of SPSS. This latest version now conforms to the Win32s standard, so some of its routines run much faster now than they did in the past. That is especially true of the charting and graphics routines.

However, this high-powered program can't run on a four-cylinder system. Although the vendor recommends 8MB of memory, I had trouble just opening it with 8MB on-board. It really needs about twice that amount of RAM, but even then charts will come up slowly.

The program has some nice creature comforts. For example, you can move between various charts and your data with a hotkey. It also lets you use value labels (good, fair, poor) in place of raw numbers (1, 2, 3) in tables, so your tables come out in English and not in "numberese.'' You can even bring your Lotus macros into the program.

Report generation is the only weakness in this formidable package, but you could always dress up your output in some other application. To facilitate that option, the package generates .WMF, .CGM, TIFF, .PCX and .EPS graphics files. The slight inconvenience is a small price to pay for this level of analysis.

Statgraphics Plus 1.0

Statgraphics Plus is a modular package. The base program allows you to perform simple and multiple linear-regression, multivariate analysis, and other common business and manufacturing procedures. It's weak with regard to nonlinear regression and handles fewer regressions than the other packages. The add-on modules perform quality-control, experimental-design, time-series, and multivariate analyses. They make the software much stronger in nonlinear and other types of regression, table presentation, and various analysis-of-variance techniques.

Oddly enough, while the program is one of two that accepts .DIF (Data Interchange Format) files, it's the only one that doesn't accept Excel data. Users of the DOS-based package will be glad to learn their files are compatible with the Windows version. Also, even though the package was rewritten from the ground up for Windows, it retains some of the best features of the DOS version, such as interactive graphics.

The new features in the Windows version take good advantage of the Windows GUI. For example, there's something called a StatFolio, which is like a folder in which you can keep data, analysis procedures and chart output (all represented by icons) together. You can run a folio's procedures on new data by selecting the folio and applying the new data. The program will plot the results on the charts that were in the folio, replacing the plots generated from the old data. It's sort of the GUI equivalent of batch processing statistics, and you don't even have to learn a command language in order to be able to use it.

The program's on-line help, even though it does support a simple glossary feature, is not fully hypertext based. The definitions of statistical terminology provided by the glossary are sometimes circular, with the meaning of one definition depending on another. The on-line help, much like the single manual that comes with the package, is intended for those who already speak fluent "statistics.''

Its modicum of help and absence of nonlinear regression techniques make Statgraphics Plus a package for those with moderate needs. It is easy to use and makes novel use of the Windows concept to replace script writing. If you are just getting started working with statistics on a computer, this software can provide you with a comfortable, command-line-free introduction.

Statistica/w 4.5

Statistica/w is one of those rare programs that achieves a balance between power and ease of use. Because it also has good graphics and a broad suite of analytical techniques, the package is indeed unique.

The program takes you by the hand during analysis, supplying useful prompts should you forget to supply a variable or important parameter. It accomplishes most tasks with very few mouse clicks, thanks to extensive toolbar use (even most of the menus have icons in them). To speed things up more, the right mouse button brings up flying menus, depending on the cursor position.

For those who want to have their cake and eat it too, Statistica's impressive features are customizable from the opening screen on. For example, when you launch the program, you get a scroll box of module names so you can pick the category of analysis that interests you. Both the modules listed and their order are user-definable, so the ones you use most can be pushed to the top of the list and you can eliminate those you don't need at all.

The module screen might lead you to think that only one module can be launched at a time, but that's far from true. Not only can you have more than one module open, you can also run them simultaneously; the program multitasks the modules. That's a resource-hungry venture, but we are talking about statistics.

There are also powerful macro features that go far beyond Windows' standard macro support. For example, you can record your mouse actions and play back cursor movement at the speed it was recorded--a neat presentation tool.

The powerful SCL command language, used for batch processing, is customizable, too. You can even add onto its command set. Also, since the software supports DDE, you could write and execute command scripts from inside another Windows application. For example, if you're in Excel, you could write an Excel macro that launches Statistica, submits SCL commands to it, and imports the data when the analysis is done.

The program provides extensive graph-editing capability for its abundant, powerful plots. Like everything else, the plots are also configurable (to the tune of 400 different settings). Generating plots is startlingly simple.

The three-volume documentation (with emphasis on volume) provides over 3,000 pages of information about the program and statistical analysis in general. The index in each volume gives you cross-references to the other volumes for easy look-ups, and there's also a smaller Quick Reference book if your arms are tired.

The on-line help contains most of the information that's in the paper documentation, but instead of hogging loads of disk space, the help text is in a 2MB compressed file. It would have been nice to see a tour-of-features tutorial with a package this immense, but the Quick Reference manual is a suitable substitute. Besides, the tour would probably take hours, maybe days.

Systat 5.01

Systat is incredibly versatile, containing features for almost every field of statistics, particularly the physical and social sciences at the academic level. In fact, its only weak spot is in quality-control-type analysis.

Its very colorful graphics are truly awesome in scope and aesthetic appeal. They make the package useful for on-screen presentations, as well as assisting comprehension. In fact, Systat has more general graphs than the other packages. It allows for plot brushing and can present data with Cartesian, polar or spherical coordinates. Graph-editing power is, however, lacking; it boils down to adding text and simple objects (circles, ovals, squares and the like). Being a Windows program, it should show more muscle in this department.

It could also be a little easier to use. Apparently, Systat for Windows was written with consideration for the long-time, command-line user. If you are used to the commands inherent in the older DOS-based Systat, you'll feel at home right away. You can always migrate to using the Windows goodies later. Of course, the command-line interface is quicker, so some command-literate users may never wish to make the transition.

There's a scratchpad of sorts for composing command scripts or entering data. You can enter, edit and run commands to affect your data, allowing you to move from exploratory to analytic data and plots quickly.

As is the case with the other packages, raw data can also be entered via a typical spreadsheet interface. Alternatively, the program can grab data in various formats, including .DIF. Data files can be transposed, concatenated or merged. You can also select subsets of data or cases for placement in a separate file. However, you cannot make customized data-entry screens as you can in the DOS version.

Systat's BASIC programming language is complete and adds to the software's versatility. Its many functions even include numerous ways to generate random numbers.

To begin analyzing data, you can select a method from a drop-down menu and fill in a dialog box with the variable names in question. There's also a customizable button bar at the top to launch the more common analytic procedures and present graphs.

One unfortunate limitation of the program is the number of variables, which maxes out at 256 per data file. Compounding that is the eight-character limit on variable names and limited report-generation facilities, which can make your finished work seem cryptic. Those shortcomings make the software best for use with smaller databases.

If your needs are advanced, but your data files aren't all that large, then you'll be pleased to hear it has a facility for calculating almost any univariate or multivariate regression or ANOVA. Called Multivariate General Linear Hypothesis (or MGLH), it's easier to use than its SPSS or BMDP counterparts. There's also comprehensive nonlinear-analysis support for probit and logistic regressions.

Systat's documentation is excellent. There's a Getting Started guide (which presents two tutorials), a Data manual (which discusses entering data via the spreadsheet interface), a Statistics manual (which discusses analytical procedures), and a Graphics manual (which covers graphical output). The books really give you insight into the overall analysis procedure, not just how-to information. The on-line hypertext help is also useful, but even with all this support, the software is definitely not for rank beginners.


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Installa-tion	Documen-tation	Ease of learning	Ease of use	Analytical techniques	Opera- tors & transforms	Data visual-ization	Data compati-bility	Additional features
	BMDP 1.0	B	A	A	A	D	C	C	A	C
W	SPSS 6.1	A	B	B	A	A	A	B	A	A
	Statgraphics Plus 1.0	A	B	B	A	C	B	B	C	B
W	Statistica/w 4.5	A	A	B	A	A	A	A	A	A
	Systat 5.01	A	A	B	C	A	B	A	B	B
•	Installation: How easy was it to install the program?

•	Documentation: How well is the documentation organized? Does it cover all aspects of the software? Does it provide insight into the program's analytical techniques?

•	Ease of learning: How quickly can a new user become familiar with the software? Is a tutorial included?

•	Ease of use: How convenient is the software once you know its basics?

•	Analytical techniques: How many techniques does the program support? How broad is its scope?

•	Operators and transforms: How many mathematical functions does the program support? Do they have broad applications?

•	Data visualization: How many ways can you view your data? Is the graphics quality high?

•	Data compatibility: How many, and which, file formats does the package accept and generate?

•	Additional features: Are there additional, easy-to-use features that boost productivity?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

SPSS AND STATISTICA are both packages of choice for the professional statistician. They have abundant (and almost identical) analytical techniques, strong command languages, DDE and OLE support, and extensive data friendliness. However, Statistica does have more bells and whistles, better documentation, more import capability and stronger graphics (especially for 3-D plots). It's a tough call between the packages. Your choice will probably depend a lot on the dollar value you assign to the distinctions.

•	Systat is versatile (both in analysis and presentation) with a capital V. Its graphics are stunning, although it lacks graphical-editing capability. It's not the easiest program to use, but its Scratchpad gets you from here to there quickly. Its low maximum number of variables relegates it to use on small databases. It's like a classic sports car: slick look, power to spare and fast moving. But don't expect to be too comfortable in the driver's seat. If you use statistics mainly to generate eye-catching graphics for on-screen presentations, this program may suit you.

•	Statgraphics Plus shows promise in its use of StatFolios to replace processing scripts and a command language. If your statistical needs are light and you don't have use for a command language, this program offers a fast learning curve and ease of use.

•	BMDP's strengths are its user and data friendliness. Its object linking between data and graphs is a wonderful feature. While it lacks analytical power, its excellent help support with bibliographic references, its low price, and its meager resource requirements make it a good learning tool for statistics students.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV8.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Statistical Software Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\NOV7.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Info Files

BMDP 1.0

Price: $395

In Brief: This program features extensive, innovative help and object linking that couples graphs with their underlying data.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 1%

RAM: 4MB

BMPD Statistical Software Inc.

800-238-BMDP, 310-207-8800

SPSS 6.1

Price: $695

In Brief: You can increase this program's powerful analytic strength by using modular add-ons to handle special requirements.

Disk Space Required: 20MB

System Resources: 18%

RAM: 4MB

SPSS Inc.

800-543-2185, 312-329-3300

Statgraphics Plus 1.0

Price: $649; add-ons, $399 each

In Brief: Rewritten for Windows to include features such as folders that hold data and procedure definitions, this program also includes some of best features of its DOS predecessor.

Disk Space Required: 5MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 4MB

Manugistics Inc.

800-592-0500, 301-984-5123

Statistica/w 4.5

Price: $995

In Brief: Statistica is an extensive, strong, well-documented, and easy-to-customize analysis machine, with all the creature comforts you could want.

Disk Space Required: 14MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

StatSoft Inc.

918-583-4149, fax 918-583-4376

Systat 5.01

Price: $895

In Brief: Numerous analytical techniques, super plots and in-depth documentation are the highlights of this package.

Disk Space Required: 8MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB

Systat Inc.

708-864-5670, fax 708-492-3567


Superior Shareware: Nov. 1994

By: Julie R. Blumenfeld

Recommended downloads from America Online (Keyword: WinMag), CompuServe (GO WINUSER) and the Internet (at ftp.cica.indiana.edu in pub/pc/win3/upload)

AccuSet 3.0 Hey kids--do you know what time it is? AccuSet synchronizes your PC's internal date and time with the atomic clock at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado. You can also dial into clocks in Austria, Australia, Italy and Sweden.

$10;

Scott D. Kister,

321D West Shady Ln., Enola, PA 17025

ACUST3.ZIP; 113,091 bytes;

Requires VBRUN300.DLL

Allini 2.2 Editing .INI files is easier when you use Allini. This utility lists the sections of any .INI file you specify (WIN.INI is the default). Then it lets you delete any section, edit existing sections, or insert new sections. Versions for Windows, Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT are available.

$5;

Words Plus Connectivity, 26452 San Torini Rd., Mission Viejo, CA 92692;

714-582-7242

ALLINI.ZIP; 36,864 bytes

The Bridge Timbre CD Player 1.1 You and your PC will make beautiful music together with this programmable audio CD player. While a disc is playing, you can set the player to skip, shuffle and repeat tracks, and control color and sound. The CD-player interface displays track numbers and song lengths.

$14.95;

The Bridge Timbre Corp., PO Box 470102, Cleveland, OH 44147; 216-535-8254

BTCD.ZIP; 211,010 bytes;

Requires VBRUN300.DLL

Draggin' Viewer 2.20S With this utility, viewing files isn't a drag--it's a drag-and-drop! Select filenames in File Manager, then drag and drop them on the Draggin' Viewer icon. The files will load up in the app in which they were created. You can also launch associated, registered and executable files.

$5;

VB Expressions, 64 Burning Brush Dr., Rochester, NY 14606

DRAGGN.ZIP; 20,069 bytes;

Requires VBRUN300.DLL

Financial Freedom Designer Envelopes 1.0 Create graphical layouts for printing letterhead and envelopes with this program. The drag-and-drop interface lets you easily place text and .BMP graphics. You can add lines and rectangles, scale layouts to fit different envelope sizes, and use any fonts on your system.

$19.95;

M & R Technologies Inc.,PO Box 061298,Palm Bay, FL 32906;407-951-2268

FFDELP.ZIP; 566,512 bytes

SuperClip 1.6 This simple Clipboard viewer lets you save all or part of an image to a graphics file in .BMP, .GIF or .PCX format. You can capture a full screen or the currently active window, and even crop images. If you find Paintbrush too complex for a simple screen capture, this is the utility for you.

$30;

Steven A. Brown, Andromedia Software, 125 North Prospect St., Washington, NJ 07882

SCLIP.ZIP; 19,677 bytes

TimeKard 1.0 TimeKard helps you keep track of how much time you spend with each application on your PC--a great function if you do hourly billing. The utility also monitors your PC when you're not around, noting which programs were used and for how long, and provides you with an audit trail.

$24.95;

Bill Pytlovany,Tartan Software,143 Horstman Dr.,Scotia, NY 12302

TIMEKARD.ZIP; 62,436 bytes

Virtual Monitors 3.0 Turn one disorderly desktop into a dozen neat displays. With Virtual Monitors, you can create multiple screens, and set up apps and windows as if you had 12 monitors. The utility lets you move from screen to screen with your mouse, keep screens minimized and more.

$10.95 to $14.95;

Federated Telecommunications, 99 Stephenville Pkwy., Edison, NJ 08820; 908-205-0357

VMON3D.ZIP; 293,237 bytes

Win Exit 5.0 Despite the name, this utility does a lot more than just exit Windows. You can use it to shell out to DOS, restart and reboot Windows, and run File Manager, Notepad, Calendar, Calculator and Control Panel. For easy access, you can place the Win Exit icon on the Title Bar.

$10;

G. L. Liadis & Associates, 5167 1/2 Saling Ct., Columbus, OH 43229; fax 614-888-4449

WEXIT5.ZIP; 31,265 bytes;

Requires VBRUN300.DLL

Wordware Personal Information Manager 2.5 Make MS Word do double duty as a PIM. You can have up to 10,800 entries in Wordware's Virtual Rolodex, which you can use to dial, insert contact information into documents, and more. In addition, Wordware works with WinFax PRO 4.0.

$15;

Andrew M. Freeman, PO Box 189, Holbrook, NY 11741

PIM.ZIP; 25,957 bytes;

Requires MS Word 6.0


R & R: Resources and Recreation: Nov. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994 CMP Publications All Rights Reserved

HOT PICKS

GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

Twelve business texts, including "Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers'' and "Total Global Strategy, Managing for Worldwide Competitive Advantage,'' jump to the multimedia age on this CD-ROM. Whether you're a budding tycoon or a seasoned corporate warrior, the extensive search capabilities and two hours of video make this disc worth checking out.--Jonathan Karl Matzkin

$59.95; Allegro New Media, 800-424-1992, 201-808-1992.

PLAN THE PERFECT TRIP

TripMaker combines Rand Mc-Nally's renowned map-making know-how with rich databases of places to see and things to do along the way. The software guides you along 641,000 miles of road through 125,000 cities and towns in North America. Initially available on seven diskettes, the product will soon be published on CD-ROM.--JKM

$79.95; Rand McNally, 800-671-5006, 708-329-8100.

BOX SEATS FOR BASEBALL BUFFS

Turn your desktop into a showcase of highlights from America's favorite pastime. The Legends and Superstars CD-ROM library contains baseball action images, animated team logos and video clips that run nearly full screen at 30 frames per second. It's easy to create wallpaper or screen savers, or you can just browse around for the sheer fun of it all.--JKM

$49.95; 3 diskettes, $24.95; Kelly Russell Studios, 800-224-4448, 612-331-3884.

POETRY IN MOTION

The latest in a series of in-depth composer profiles, Multimedia Strauss offers an overview of the romantic composer's art. The CD-ROM also delivers recordings and detailed analysis of three of Richard Strauss' tone poems: "Don Juan,'' "Death and Transfiguration'' and "Till Eulen-spiegel.''--JKM

$59.95; Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

AT YOUR LEISURE

Going Once--The computer gamer who's looking for less of the lethal and more of the cerebral will find a welcome change of pace in Millennium Auction. In the united world of the year 2009, authentic art treasures from the past, as well as late 20th- century "ant-iques,'' are auctioned off to the highest bidder. Items for sale range from Pom-peiian frescoes to Bob Dole's spleen. Stunning graphics and new sets of merchandise, as well as surprising content and intelligent humor, will keep you coming back to this auction-packed extravaganza.--Ian Etra

$69.95; Eidolon, 718-884-7095, fax 718-884-1563.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

If you know what to do with it, Excel 5.0 can be the ultimate numerical power trip. If you don't, then seek out The Underground Guide to Excel for Windows 5.0 by Lee Hudspeth and Timothy-James Lee. This book can help you get the most out of your spreadsheets--and quickly. Most of the features in Excel 5.0 get a thorough treatment, warts and all. Bug-shaped icons point out troublesome "features'' and explain how to maneuver around them. There is also a lively discussion of OLE 2.0 and its quirks, a topic I haven't seen explored in any other book. -David W. Methvin

$19.95; Addison-Wesley, 800-358-4566, 617-944-3700.


December 1994

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Win.INI: That sound you hear is me eating my words.

Windows at Work: So Santa Boss said...

The Explorer: The PC is going to gobble up everything.

Dialog Box: They're smart. They're mean.

Exit Windows-Dec. 1994


Letters

Letters:Dec. 1994


News

News: Dec. 1994


New Products

New Products: Dec. 1994-Part 1

New Products: Dec. 1994-Part 2


First Impressions

First Impressions: Layers Appeal to Graphic Artists

First Impressions: Create Convincing Slide Shows

First Impressions: Hot off the Presses: DTP Update

First Impressions: Notebook Takes the Plunge into Mainstream

First Impressions: Dec. 1994-Part 1

First Impressions: Dec 1994-Part 2

First Impressions: Dec 1994-Part 3

First Impressions: Dec. 1994-Part 4


Features

Networks Come Together

Go Windows Shopping

Explore the brave new world beyond desktop Windows.


Reviews

Awesome Video Accelerators

Hot-Shot Modems

Drawing Made Easy: Business Graphics in a Jiffy

Cleaning Your Communications Windows


How-To

How to Buy a Sound Card

Getting Started: Get That Demon Up to Speed

Optimizing Windows: Where Have All the Icons Gone?

Power Windows: Find the Right Path For Hardware Upgrades

Enterprise Windows: Fear, Loathing and The NT File System

Networking Windows: Cruise onto the Net With Your Network

Programming Windows: Keep Your Program Outta My Face

Superior Shareware: Dec. 1994

R&R: Resources and Recreation-Dec. 1994


New Products: Dec. 1994-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS FILE

CD-ROM Authoring

On-line Services

Internet Access

Remote Access

Graphics

Multimedia

Audio

IN BRIEFS

Word Processing

Monitors

Modems

Graphics

Multimedia

Input Devices

CD-ROM AUTHORING

Put Recording Power On Your Desktop

CD-ROM recorder prices are dropping dramatically, making the technology affordable for backup and mastering. Single-speed recorders cost around $2,500, while quadruple-speed devices run about $6,000. The units adhere to a variety of standards, including ISO 9660, Hi-Sierra, CD-DA, Photo CD and CD-I.

Master CD, a single-speed CD-ROM recorder, comes with Incatsystems 2.11 MM software, which lets you edit your CD-ROM without creating a separate partition. The unit features a 1.2MB cache and data-transfer rates of up to 8.5MB per minute.

The RCD-1000, a double-speed recorder from Pinnacle Micro Inc., has a 1MB cache buffer. It comes with a backup utility so that CD-ROMs can be used for random access data archival, as well as software mastering.

The CD-R 2000 from Smart and Friendly has a 2MB buffer, expandable to 32MB. The unit transfers data at 5MB per second. The double-speed recorder can be daisy-chained to make multiple copies simultaneously and comes with CD Copy, Corel's backup and archival software. The recorder also includes an Adaptec SCSI host adapter.

The dataDisc CDR4x quadruple-speed recorder from dataDisc Inc. ships with DiscMaker premaster/mastering software, a SCSI card and cable, and 10 blank discs. The unit can create a 650MB CD-ROM in about 15 minutes.

Master CD

Price: $2,495.

Contact: MicroNet Technology Inc., 714-453-6100, fax 714-453-6101.

RCD-1000

Price: $2,995.

Contact: Pinnacle Micro Inc., 800-553-7070, 714-727-3300.

CD-R 2000

Price: From $3,999.

Contact: Smart and Friendly, 800-366-6001, 818-994-8001.

dataDisc CDR4x

Price: $5,995.

Contact: dataDisc Inc., 800-328-2347, 703-347-2111.

IN BRIEF- Word Processing

Version 3.0 of KanjiWORD lets you edit and create Japanese text through OLE 2.0 within U.S. applications, such as WordPerfect, Word, Excel or PageMaker. The program lets you cut and paste Japanese text from KanjiWORD into another application and then edit the text from within that program. $279;Pacific SoftwarePublishing Inc.,800-232-3989, 206-562-1224.

ON-LINE SERVICES

Get Financially Informed

You don't have to get your broker on the phone to obtain the latest financial information. Quote.Com On-line Financial Information provides delayed stock quotes on over 40,000 stocks, mutual funds, commodities and futures in the U.S. and Europe.

The service gives you a spreadsheet that lists the day's high, low and last quote prices (at a typical 15-minute delay from the exchange), as well as volume, P/E ratios, dividend/share and 52-week price range. It lists 23 domestic and international exchanges and lets you look up the trading symbol for specific companies.

You can also store and monitor a custom portfolio of up to 50 financial instruments and ask the program to alert you via e-mail if certain price alarms are triggered. Finally, the service generates an end-of-day report on the performance of your chosen investments. The Quote.Com service gives you access to five years of historical information on financial instruments and to data banks of trading-related data for publicly traded companies.

You can access the service with e-mail, Telnet or World-Wide Web. You can use one of many Internet browsers, such as Mosaic and WinWeb. The basic rate allows you to access up to 100 quotes daily on all U.S.-traded companies, monitor a portfolio containing up to 50 items, receive a close-of-business report, and set price-limit alerts. Other services, such as access to the London, European and Canadian Exchanges, are offered on an a la carte basis.

Quote.Com On-line Financial Information

Price: From $9.95 monthly.

Contact: Quote.Com, 800-261-7740,  info@quote.com.

Research Fine Works of Art At an On-Line Auction

Now you can join the legions of institutional and private art dealers who view art without going to an auction house. The Art Price Index Online lets you view electronic images of artwork that is offered for sale at 500 auction houses and lists daily sales data.

The service combines high-resolution images of about one million works of art recently sold or offered for sale, with presale and postsale data from auction houses on a two-day turnaround basis. The Art Price Index allows you to search by artist, title, work date, sales status, price or date of sale. You can access information about the medium, technique, work date, sale status, price and date of sale.

Centrox is offering its software and two hours of connection time free of charge for a limited time. The software works best on 486-based PCs running Windows 3.1 with 9600-bps modems, and 8MB of system memory.

Art Price Index Online

Price: At 9600 bps, $1.75 per hour in the U.S.; $1.95 per hour in Europe and Asia.

Contact: Centrox Corp., 800-278-6397, 212-319-4800.

IN BRIEF-Monitors

Four color monitors from Wyse Technology meet EPA guidelines for low energy consumption and support multiscanning. The WY-1791DES, a 17-inch monitor with a 0.26mm dot pitch, has noninterlaced resolutions up to 1600x1280 pixels at a 60Hz refresh rate. The 14-inch WY-1450A supports nonin-terlaced modes of 800x600 and 1024x768. The 14-inch WY-1470AES can display 1024x768 at 76Hz and a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 at 60Hz. The WY-1570DES is a 15-inch monitor with a maximum noninterlaced resolution of 1280x1024 at 60Hz. From $305; Wyse Technology Inc., 800-GET-WYSE, 408-473-1200.

With the PanaSync C-1791E and PanaSync C-1491, Panasonic has improved the performance, image clarity and energy efficiency of its VGA displays.

The C-1791E 17-inch monitor includes 17 preset factory image settings and has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 and an operating range of 30kHz to 64kHz horizontal and 50Hz to 60Hz vertical. The C-1491 14-inch analog monitor ships with four factory preset autosizing modes that display images with resolutions up to  1024x768 with refresh rates of 50Hz to 60Hz. From $369; Panasonic Communications & Systems Co., 800-742-8086, 201-348-7000.

INTERNET ACCESS

Take Your Pick of Protocols

IMail 1.0 allows you to receive your TCP/IP Internet mail on an individual PC using the SMTP Internet mail protocol or have it all sent to a POP3 server.

The program minimizes the number of keystrokes and mouse clicks needed to send or receive mail, and provides file import and export. Its filtering feature lets you view all the mail in a mailbox that pertains to a certain subject, that came from a particular sender or that includes specific text. And an address book allows you to save the return address from any incoming message and create mailing lists.

IMail supports the MIME (Multimedia Internet Mail Extension) standard for translating binary files into text for transmission over the Internet. The package runs on any PC with a WinSock 1.1-compliant TCP/IP protocol stack, including Ipswitch's Acadia/VxD TCP/IP, Catipult (CQ) NetWare-TCP/IP gateways and Piper/IP TCP/IP.

IMail 1.0

Price: Single user, $55.

Contact: Ipswitch Inc., 617-246-1150, info@ipswitch.com.

Get Yourself up to Speed on the InfoBahn

Both Moon Valley's Hitchhiking on the Information Highway and Modus Corp.'s Modus Internet CD-ROM will teach you how to read the road signs on the information highway.

The Hitchhiking on the Information Highway CD-ROM is filled with multimedia reference works, instructional videos and Windows communications software, such as Softerm for Hitchhikers from Softronics. The disc includes autodownload detection for Zmodem and CompuServe B protocols, FTP and TCP/IP support, terminal emulation and RIPterm 1.54 graphics.

Video tours include video simulations of the on-line experience. The disc houses instruction in modem operation, and the complete text of Internet Basics, Zen and the Art of the Internet and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet. It includes trial subscriptions to CompuServe, GEnie, America Online, Prodigy, and, for direct Internet connections, NETCOM and Netcruiser. The package also includes 5,000 BBS numbers.

The Modus Internet CD-ROM includes samples of Internet content, lists of frequently asked questions and the text of several books and articles. Included are The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Guide to the Internet, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet, Zen and the Art of the Internet, Online World Book and NetPages (an Internet address directory).

The disc contains freeware, shareware and free commercial software for both direct and dial-up Internet connections, as well as trial subscriptions to BIX, CompuServe, GEnie, ImagiNation and the Pipeline. The CD-ROM also contains the Adobe Acrobat reader.

Hitchhiking on the Information Highway

Price: $99.

Contact: Moon Valley Software, 800-473-5509, 805-781-3890.

Modus Internet CD-ROM

Price: $9.95.

Contact: Modus Corp., 800-820-6504, 505-820-6500.

IN BRIEF-Modems

The 2842EX external fax modem sends data at 28.8Kbps and faxes at 14.4Kbps. Included with the modem is a two-port serial card that supports eight logical COM ports (instead of the usual five). Buyers will receive a free upgrade to the V.34 protocol when it is ratified. The modem uses the Hayes AT command sent with extensions. $249;CalCom Products, 714-961-1888, fax 714-961-1994.

The PocketPlus gives you cellular fax capabilities in a palm-sized package. The unit offers 19.2Kbps Cellular Digital Packet Data transmission. From a wireline outlet or a cellular phone, it can handle 14.4Kbps V.32bis and V.17 fax transmissions. The unit includes a cellular transceiver and rechargeable batteries that last up to 12 hours. $1,195; Sierra Wireless Inc., 604-231-1100, fax 604-231-1109.

The ViVa 14.4 Internal Data/Fax/Voice Modem features an easy-access slide switch that allows you to change the modem's assigned COM port without removing it from your PC. The ViVa 14.4 PCMCIA modem offers the same features in a credit-card-sized portable computer peripheral format. Either modem can act as a telephone answering machine. Internal, $99; PCMCIA, $250;Computer Peripherals Inc., 714-454-2441, fax 714-454-8527.

REMOTE ACCESS

Here's a Funky Way to Dial In

Communicating on the road doesn't have to be a problem. WanderLink from Funk Software lets you dial into your NetWare network over a standard telephone line.

Once connected to the LAN, you become a node on the network, gaining access to resources such as file servers, e-mail and printers. With the integrated remote-node and remote-control capabilities, you may choose the optimal method of LAN access and switch between the two types of operations within a single Windows session.

The program offers a wide range of security features, such as password authentication, dialback to known telephone numbers and domain filtering (which allows a network administrator to control which nodes and networks are visible to remote users). The NodeID lets the network administrator assign a "fingerprint'' to PCs to which authorized users can connect. WanderLink includes Proxy, a remote-control application that lets you operate any PC on the LAN.

WanderLink (Funk SW)

Price: From $295 for the one-port system.

Contact: Funk Software Inc., 800-828-4146, 617-497-6339.

Quell Multiplatform Worries

TribeLink offers a solution to organizations reeling from multiple platforms accessing the server at once. The software provides remote users of Macintosh, Windows and UNIX computers eight ports to connect with AppleTalk and TCP/IP networks. Based on the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), TribeLink has security features and SNMP management.

TribeLink is also compatible with InterCon's InterPPP, as well as Novell LAN Workplace, PC/TCP, Chameleon and the built-in remote client to be found in Windows 95, the next major version of Microsoft Windows.

TribeLink is upgradable to support Novell IPX protocol, and provides full remote access to NetWare services. It consists of four Zilog multiprocessors for handling serial I/O functions; the Motorola 68340 CPU handles protocol processing. TribeLink's parallel architecture allows eight simultaneous dial-in sessions at speeds up to 57.6Kbps. The built-in security features prevent unauthorized users from accessing the network with the Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) and the Password Authentication Protocol (PAP).

TribeLink

Price: $1,995.

Contact: Tribe Computer Works, 800-77-TRIBE, 510-814-3900.

Open Your Network

:Home-based workers don't have to feel cut off from the network. AccelePort, a high-speed serial port board, lets you connect up to eight asynchronous modems to an ISA file server. You can connect a single remote user to a network or configure an entire corporate communications hub. The AccelePort includes on-board serial input/output (I/O) processing and throughput speeds of 230Kbps unidirectional and 115Kbps bidirectional.

AccelePort

Price: Four ports, $895; eight ports, $1,095.

Contact: DigiBoard, 800-344-4273, 612-943-9020.

IN BRIEF- NotebooksIf you're out in the field gathering signatures for a contract, you can leave your pen and paper home. The Portable MP100 Writing Pad, a battery-operated, pressure-sensitive electronic signature pad, captures handwritten information and transfers it to your PC. You can then transmit the data back to the office with a fax modem. The unit's nickel cadmium battery provides up to 10 hours of runtime. The MP100 measures 6.5 by 8.5 by 1.25 inches and weighs under 2 pounds. $459;Inforite Corp.,800-366-4635, 415-571-8766.

The Escort 450 Colorscan notebook is powered by a 50MHz 486DX2 microprocessor and has a dual-scan passive-matrix screen, a 340MB hard disk and 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB).

The notebook weighs 6.5 pounds and has a built-in trackball and a 3.5-inch internal hard disk. It can accommodate one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA cards. The Escort ships with DOS 6.2, Windows 3.11, a CompuServe Starter Kit and AMIDiag Lite. $2,495;CompuAdd Corp.,800-627-1961, 512-250-1489.

GRAPHICS

Draw and Paint on One Canvas

SmartSketch, a precision drawing program, provides paint-program tools to smooth your way to digital artistry. The Brush tool lets you create shapes with back-and-forth mouse swipes, as you would in a paint program, yet the result is a discrete object that can be moved and reshaped. The Eraser tool allows you to delete an entire shape or a portion of one.

SmartSketch features shape recognition, which can automatically straighten and smooth lines or convert lines into precise shapes. You can also move or reshape a form by grabbing it along a line or at a corner.

The program includes eight interactive on-screen lessons and 600 drag-and-drop EasyArt images.

SmartSketch

Price: $99; introductory, $79.95.

Contact: FutureWave Software Inc., 800-619-6193, 619-637-6190.

Drawing Pad Lets You Travel Light

The EasyPainter graphics drawing pad can travel easily with your notebook computer. It measures 9 by 8 by 1/2 inches and has a working area of 5 by 5 inches. It connects with your PC through the keyboard power connector or with your notebook through the serial port with an AC/DC power adapter.

EasyPainter can work in either mouse or tablet mode. In the mouse mode, the tip of the pen-shaped stylus acts as the left mouse button, and the stylus' side button acts as the right mouse button. The stylus attaches to the pad's right or left socket.

Bundled with EasyPainter is SoftKey's PC Paintbrush. The color and paintbrush program features 87 painting tools, including 14 types of paintbrush strokes and five kinds of airbrushes. You can produce artwork with two-color, rainbow or neon strokes. The program also offers 18 special-effects filters, including Crumble, Crystallize and Mosaic. You can resize, flip and rotate effects at any angle.

EasyPainter

Price: $99 after $10 rebate.

Contact: KYE International Corp., 800-456-7593, 909-923-3510.

Stretch Your Special Effects

Elastic Reality expands your special-effects repertoire. The program offers morphing and warping capabilities. Its matting and layering features let you manipulate elements independently, so that they can be set to move behind or in front of each other.

It also provides a freehand drawing tool and a Shape-to-Shape interface, which lets you morph and warp images by drawing and manipulating shapes within an image. The TransJammer plug-in digital video effects generator lets you add preproduced effects and transitions.

Elastic Reality

Price: $495.

Contact: Elastic Reality Inc., 608-273-6585, fax 608-271-1988.

IN BRIEF-Graphics

Making your desktop look and work like you want it to can be a real Breeze. The program lets you add 3-D textures and special window frames, title bars, and dialog boxes to your interface. The toolbar, which holds up to 75 buttons, lets you organize and launch applications. $54.95;CrossWind Development Corp., 800-792-1105, 714-892-8775.

Looking for a graphics program that will make you a multimedia mogul? Painter 3.0, a natural-media paint and image-editing program, also provides multimedia and animation capabilities. Tools and effects, such as Image Hose and Gradation Composer, can be applied to movies or video. For video, the program lets you add or remove characters and objects, add colorization and textures, and record and play back sessions. $499; upgrades from versions 2.0 or X2, $99 to $149; Fractal Design Corp., 800-297-COOL, 408-688-5300.

Capture Professional lets you do screen captures in six different modes. Each mode--Client Area, Desktop, Icon, Rectangle, Region (polygonal) and Window--has a corresponding user-defined hotkey. The images can be touched up with effects like blurring, sharpening, brightening and pixelization. $29.95; Creative Softworx, 800-430-WORX, 404-434-7182.

MULTIMEDIA

Pick Up Portable Multimedia

You don't have to throw away your old notebook and buy a new one to give yourself portable multimedia. The CardStation ProMedia  adds MPC 2-compliant sound and a double-speed CD-ROM drive to virtually any Type II PCMCIA-based portable (or desktop) computer.

ProMedia weighs 4 pounds and measures 2.7 by 11.5 by 10.2 inches. The unit features 16-bit sound-track recording and playback, an integrated audio amplifier and speakers, full MIDI capability, and compatibility with NTSC standards. The package also includes a proprietary ISA expansion slot so you can add an NTSC video, ethernet LAN or high-speed modem card. It supports up to seven 16-bit ISA slots and five 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch bays.

CardStation ProMedia

Price: $819.

Contact: Axonix Corp., 800-866-9797, 801-521-9797.

Compression Makes PC Movies Practical

Play TV-quality images with CD-quality sound on your desktop PC without gobbling up mounds of disk space. The MPEG Player card works with VESA Media Channel compatible video cards. The card is a VM Channel replacement for VGA that can manage up to 15 data streams simultaneously to allow the daisy-chaining of video devices.

The card can deal with real-time video and audio input. MPEG Player's PowerStream Video Processor chip codes and decodes video and audio using the MPEG1 standard, compressing input up to 200 times. Using the card, you can record up to 75 minutes of synchronized video and audio onto a single CD-ROM.

The MPEG Player is compatible with the Microsoft Video for Windows, MCI digital video, and Whitebook VideoCD formats. You can also add a CD-ROM interface and Creative Labs Sound Blaster compatibility for an additional $50. The MPEG Player supports resolutions up to 1280x1024 and up to 16.7 million colors.

MPEG Player

Price: $349.

Contact: VideoLogic Inc., 800-578-5644, 617-494-0530.

Create Your Own Photo CD

Windows users now are able to create Photo CD Portfolio discs for their televisions, using Photo CD, CD-I or Panasonic 3DO players. With Arrange-It acting as the studio, you can link audio clips (.WAV files) to images (TIFF or .BMP files); control all aspects of Photo CD Portfolio disc production, such as time-out settings, delays and Image Pac settings; use a verify command to check for unconnected paths and other problems; and emulate playback on-screen before producing the disc. Final processing of the discs must be done at a service provider such as a Sir Speedy or LazerQuik.

Arrange-It

Price: $395.

Contact: Eastman Kodak Co., 800-CD-KODAK, 716-724-4000.

IN BRIEF-Multimedia The Extreme multimedia kit includes a double-speed MegaCD2X CD-ROM drive, a MegaSound 16-bit stereo sound card, shielded stereo speakers and four CD-ROMs. The Extreme Plus kit comes with the same hardware and 11 CD titles. Extreme, $249; Extreme Plus, $299; Megamedia

Computer Corp., 800-634-2633, 408-428-9920.

The ProColor 1300 and ProColor 1500 let you project overheads directly from your computer with an overhead projector. The full-color, active-matrix LCD projection panels feature 640x480 pixel resolution. The 1500 model adds sound and video capabilities and allows direct video feed. 1300, $2,999; 1500, $3,799; Boxlight Corp.,  800-762-5757, 206-779-4479.

The Diamond Multimedia Kit 1000 and Diamond Multimedia Kit 5000 come with 30 software titles, 16-bit stereo quality sound cards, speakers, headphones and a microphone. The 1000 has a double-speed CD-ROM drive with a 300KBps transfer speed and 250ms access time. The 5000 features a quad-speed CD-ROM drive with a 600KBps transfer rate and 195ms access time. 1000, $399; 5000, $599; Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., 800-468-5846, 408-736-2000.

AUDIO

Get a Desktop Recording Studio

Turn your desktop PC into a professional recording and editing studio with the Software Audio Workshop (SAW) 3.0 and the SAW Utilities Rack #1.

SAW 3.0 is a multitrack sound editor that works with any 16-bit sound card. SAW 3.0 has a nondestructive, nonlinear editing feature that lets you mix up to four stereophonic tracks on a single sound card. Other editing features include a simultaneous record/playback capability, real-time process previewing, instantaneous waveform manipulation and zooming, and MIDI/SMPTE generation and triggering.

The SAW Utilities Rack #1 provides edit list file management as well as conversion between .WAV and .SND files, mono and stereo, or 8- and 16-bit resolution. The add-on utility features a seven-band, fully parametric graphic equalizer, as well as a compressor/limiter with noise gate, audio compressor, peak limiter and digital normalizer.

SAW 3.0 and SAW Utilities Rack #1

Price: SAW, $599; Utilities Rack, $349.

Contact: Innovative Quality Software, 702-435-9077, fax 702-435-9106.

Turn It Up, I Love This Song!

You have a radio in your car. Why not put one in your PC? RadioActive, a software and hardware combination, brings full FM stereo to your multimedia PC.

RadioActive's software interface lets you control volume, manually or automatically scan stations, and preset buttons to your favorite stations. The program has a mute option and fine-tune adjustment. You can schedule the program to turn on and tune in a specific station at a preset time. When RadioActive is minimized, the icon will display either the radio station frequency numbers or a clock.

The half-size circuit card fits into any available 8- or 16-bit slot in your PC. You can store up to 100 radio stations, their frequency and call letters. The card includes a triple-gang, superheterodyne receiver and a 1-watt-per-channel stereo amplifier.

RadioActive

Price: $49.

Contact: Novex Technologies,

918-744-8001, fax 918-744-8077.

IN BRIEF-Input Devices

The Trackball Pro, a four-button trackball with click and click-lock, lets you zero in on an object on your screen without holding down a button. Designed for desktop publishing, CAD/CAM and games, Trackball Pro installs as a standard mouse. It has stainless steel shafts, five-point ball-bearing support and a 2.25-inch phenolic ball. $129.95; CH Products, 619-598-2518, fax 619-598-2524.

Notebooks are convenient, but typing on them can be like dancing in a phone booth. Alps Electric has introduced a variety of products to give you more elbow room. The Alps LPT-101 full-sized keyboard and the Alps KPX-17P numeric keypad plug directly into the parallel port of any portable PC. The Alps KPX-17S numeric keypad plugs into the serial port. The LPT-101 provides audible key clicks and low power consumption. Both keypads give you a standard numeric 10-key. LPT-101, $109; KPX-17P, $95; KPX-17S, $89.95; Alps Electric USA Inc., 800-825-2577, 408-432-6000.

If your desktop mouse isn't cutting the mustard when you use it with your notebook, turn to Mouse2Go. The Mouse2Go includes a mouse with a 20-inch cord and a mousepad that clamps to the side of your keyboard. A six-foot extension cord is included for desktop use. The mouse provides 400-dpi resolution. Serial, $59.95; PS/2, $69.95; Merritt Computer Products Inc., 800-627-7752, 214-339-0753.


News: Dec. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

MICROSOFT SHIPS POWERFUL NEW NT

By: JOHN D. RULEY

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates introduced Windows NT 3.5 recently in both "Workstation'' and "Server'' versions, and said both were shipping immediately.

Gates said the workstation version is three times faster than its predecessor on a 12MB platform, and the server's performance is twice that of the former Advanced Server product. He also pointed to improvements in connectivity, new features including OpenGL workstation graphics support, and built-in NetWare support.

Gates said NT on a $65,000 Compaq Pentium server can outperform (by close to three to one) an HP-9000 minicomputer costing three times as much. He said Microsoft has a $500 million investment in NT, and called it "our fastest-growing business.'' Gates added, "We believe we've just passed the knee in the [growth] curve, and volume is expanding substantially as pilot projects move to full deployment.''

The new versions are accompanied by new names: The standard version of Windows NT 3.1 is replaced by Windows NT Workstation 3.5; the Advanced Server version of Windows NT 3.1 is replaced by Windows NT Server 3.5.

With respect to third-party support, Gates said, Microsoft has relationships with AT&T, HP and DEC for worldwide support, relationships with VARs, and an NT certification program. "It's the kind of support you expect for mainframe systems: seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with remote access from our worldwide support centers.'' He said software products are supporting NT in both server and workstation configurations, citing (among others) Lotus Notes, IBM DB/2, and Novell Btrieve, as well as dozens of vertical applications covering many fields.

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES TWO NT SUITES

By: JOHN D. RULEY

In conjunction with Microsoft's introduction of Windows NT 3.5, the company introduced Office for Windows NT and Back Office.

Office for Windows NT consists of 32-bit versions of Microsoft Word and Excel bundled with a 16-bit version of PowerPoint. At press time, versions for Intel, Alpha and MIPS CPUs were expected to ship in October. It will likely take until the year's end for Microsoft to ship PowerPC versions.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said, "These are the same apps you find on standard [16-bit] Windows, recompiled to 32-bit. This gives increased capacity, long filenames and user security.''

Back Office contains Windows NT Server, Microsoft SQL Server for Windows NT, Microsoft System Management Server (SMS, formerly code-named Hermes), Microsoft Exchange and SNA Server for Windows NT. Portions of the bundle were still under development at press time, and the complete Back Office server suite isn't expected to ship until next year, although client licenses for it will be available by the end of this year, according to Microsoft.

BIG PC MAKERS USING NON-INTEL CHIPS

By: JIM FORBES

Intel's grip on the Windows PC microprocessor market is loosening as PC makers turn to its rival chip makers for component bargains.

AST and Epson are using a new 66MHz processor from Cyrix. Compaq, which analysts say is Intel's largest customer, is now using AMD-produced 486-compatible processors in at least four of its new brands. That includes one member of its Prolinea family, a popular desktop used by notoriously pro-Intel corporate MIS departments.

DEC announced recently that it will not only use AMD 486 chips in its systems, but will make the chips for AMD as well.

PC vendors report that non-Intel processors do not negatively impact system sales.

This fall, Intel announced a new 75MHz version of its Pentium processor that is designed expressly for portable computers. Industry analysts note that Intel is devoting virtually all of its marketing muscle to promoting Pentium and, to a much lesser degree, 486DX4 technology.

But even Intel's lock on the Pentium market is now in question. In late September, NexGen, a California chip maker funded partly by Compaq Computer, began shipping the Nx586, a high-performance x86-compatible CPU that is being billed as an alternative to Intel's Pentium. Available in versions with clock speeds that are faster than Intel's Pentium line, the Nx586 is being used by a few PC makers in machines that cost less than $2,000.

The Nx586 processor lacks an internal floating-point processor, unlike the Pentium.

Microsoft is helping hardware makers who challenge Intel's predominance in the Windows CPU market by certifying quality chips as Windows compatible.

'MARVEL' MAY SHIP WITH WINDOWS 95 BETA

By: JIM FORBES

A beta copy of the front end to Microsoft's planned on-line service may ship with beta copies of Windows 95 to select developers and end users.

Several industry sources believe Microsoft may include a front end and sign-up software for the company's planned on-line service, code-named Marvel, with the release of Windows 95.

The service is expected to be rolled out in phases over two years, according to reports from Microsoft and developers close to the project. When completed, Marvel should support e-mail, chat mode, content libraries and easy access to the Internet.

Microsoft plans to use its on-line service for the distribution of new programs and software updates.

Microsoft will first use the service as part of a developer support campaign that backs up the final testing of Windows 95. In this capacity developers will be able to use a prototype of Marvel to exchange messages with Microsoft programmers, according to company sources. The general public will not be able to use the first iteration of Marvel.

Marvel may find its way into one or more forthcoming home-based products. This could be helped by Microsoft's use of a unified communications front end in Windows 95. This feature provides a single interface that allows users to access electronic mail from a variety of on-line sources such as CompuServe or the Internet.

Sources inside Microsoft warn that it will take at least one year to perfect the underlying computer and communications technologies and to obtain licenses and the support of content providers.

LOTUS POSITION: WAIT-AND-SEE

By: JIM FORBES

While Microsoft is just beginning work on its Marvel on-line service, Lotus Development Corp. is already in the market with a generation of applications that have been either built from the ground up or recently modified to work directly with communications services.

Lotus has received a cacophony of demands for support of various communications services directly from within Notes and cc:Mail. But the company is adopting a wait-and-see position on the support of on-line services that also work with non-Lotus products.

POWER PIM PEOPLE GET ORGANIZED, PRESENT 'TO-DO' LIST

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Power PIM users in the New York PC users group hoping to influence PIM vendors have drafted a list of PIM capabilities they'd like to see, and have pledged to make themselves available to developers for focus-groups.

Because a PIM is the cornerstone of power users' day-to-day management, they are willing to spend between $350 and $650 for the personal information manager program, allot 20MB to 30MB of hard disk space, and run their ideal PIM on a system with 8MB to 16MB of RAM. The group expects that, while growth might be slow for a high-end product, it's likely that more people will switch to such a product as they quickly outgrow their low-end programs.

So far the volunteers have sent the proposal to several PIM vendors. Two vendors have responded.

"We don't care which company comes out with the high-end product. The last time something was built [that] the group liked was in 1987," said spokesman Bruce Frumerman, referring to Lotus Agenda, a DOS PIM. "We want a product that will make us more effective and productive with our time. We want to stimulate people to talk about what's wrong, and encourage the development of a 32-bit application now for Chicago.''

PIM Users' Wish List

•	Text parsing and an inference engine

•	Seamless import and export

•	Complex filtering

•	Report Creation wizards

•	Networkability

•	Effortless, intuitive ease of use

•	Improved security

FASTER MULTIMEDIA THE HARD(WARE) WAY

By: PAUL E. SCHINDLER

First there was graphics acceleration, which made PCs run faster. Then came graphical user interface (GUI) acceleration, which made Windows run faster. Now, there is multimedia user interface (MUI) acceleration, which will make Windows multimedia run faster.

S3 Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., is developing Vision868 and Vision968 chip sets that offer 64-bit graphics and video acceleration to improve performance.

Western Digital offers a new chip, the WD9710, that also combines 64-bit graphics with motion video acceleration. Slightly less expensive than the S3 chip, it also adopts more of a system approach by using a new software technology that changes the way in which decompression is split between the CPU and the acceleration hardware.

A more innovative method of MUI acceleration comes from the BtV MediaStream chip set, produced by Brooktree Corp. The firm said these chips would be priced "competitively.''

According to Thomas B. Clarkson III, Brooktree's vice president of multimedia marketing, his chips accelerate calls frequently used by Windows' Media Control Interface (MCI) and Device Control Interface (DCI). One example would be resizing a window. Instead of doing that in software, it could be done many times more quickly in hardware.

Brooktree also has unique plans to accelerate audio. Instead of pushing audio across the creaky old ISA bus in bursts, Brooktree plans to place a buffer on the PCI bus--a buffer that will be shared by video, audio and computer graphics--and allow the CPU to push all the audio across in a burst, greatly reducing CPU utilization.

'TRUEDOC' TECHNOLOGY MAY TRULY IMPROVE DOCUMENT SHARING

By: JAMES E. POWELL

A new technology may solve the problem of font fidelity across applications, platforms, operating systems and devices. Bitstream, developer of the "TrueDoc'' technology, released its software development kit, which includes TrueDoc capability. Bitstream claims TrueDoc solves problems of device and resolution independence, performance, incompatible font formats and typographic quality, and maintains the original look and feel of electronic documents on all screens and printers without the need for special font rendering programs.

TrueDoc works in the application that creates the document using a platform-independent Character Shape Recorder (CSR), which examines character outlines, scans the shapes of characters and automatically generates hints. The CSP then compresses all this information in a file, which is typically attached to the document. To view the document, TrueDoc's Character Shape Player, which can be embedded in the document view application, rasterizes the font information file using a high-performance bitmap cache. Bitstream provides a module to convert the characters in the font file to PostScript Type 1, TrueType or HP Soft Font formats to maximize printing speed.

Bitstream hopes to see the technology eventually incorporated into operating systems, but for now appears more concerned about having the technology used in programs that assist in viewing documents, such as WordPerfect's Envoy, Farallon's Replica and Adobe's Acrobat. No Hands Software announced that it has incorporated TrueDoc technology in its newest release of Common Ground, its electronic document sharing program.

MICROSOFT REJECTS EARLY NT INTERFACE CHANGE

By: JOHN D. RULEY

A Microsoft executive recently confirmed reports that the company had considered, but then rejected, a plan to release a new Windows 95-like user interface for Windows NT at the same time that Windows 95 launches. "We did consider it--and decided not to,'' Jim Allchin, Microsoft's vice president of business systems, told WINDOWS Magazine in an exclusive interview. The reason, Allchin explained, was that Cairo development remains on schedule while Windows 95 is running late. The period in which Windows 95 and NT will show different interfaces should be relatively short. Allchin said, "Our plans are not written in stone--if we hit a major delay [in Cairo], we'll switch to the alternate plan.''

MICROSOFT'S 'INFORMATION ACCESS' LICENSING CONFUSES CUSTOMERS

By: JOHN D. RULEY

In conjunction with the recent introduction of Microsoft's Windows NT 3.5 and Microsoft Back Office, the company introduced a pricing strategy that has customers scratching their heads.

Traditionally, server-side products such as network operating systems, database servers and the like are priced according to the number of users (or in some case, connections) the product supports. A 100-user version of Microsoft SQL Server, for example, was substantially more expensive than a 10-user version. With 1993's debut of Windows NT Advanced Server, however, Microsoft introduced fixed per-server pricing to support an unlimited number of clients.

This approach, with Windows NT Advanced Server list priced at $2,995 (and widely available for less than half that price), would support any number of users. It was hailed by some and decried by others. Former Novell CEO Ray Noorda once called such pricing "predatory.'' Microsoft did not apply it to other server products, opting for more traditional licensing policies for SQL Server, MS Mail and SNA Server.

With Microsoft Back Office, in which all these products (and several new ones) will be shipped in a single box, Microsoft unified the pricing for all server-based products. It is using neither traditional pricing nor per-server/unlimited client pricing, but rather is splitting the pricing between a per-server license and a completely separate per-client "information access'' license. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said, "We've separated the license into a fee for the server and a per-user fee for access to a particular type of service--SNA Server versus SQL Server for instance.''

In this new approach, separate server and client licenses are purchased for each type of network software that runs on a server. For example, an SQL Server site running on Windows NT Server would purchase one NT Server license, one SQL Server license and then enough client licenses to cover the anticipated maximum number of users accessing each. Adding additional clients requires only additional client licenses, so long as no servers are added. Adding additional servers requires only additional server licenses.

FIRM HARNESSES ATM FOR NETWORKED MULTIMEDIA

By: PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR.

You can't do multimedia on local area networks, says Ralph Ungermann, cofounder of Ungermann-Bass, a major Ethernet supplier. Ungermann's new firm, First Virtual Corp. (FVC), is working to bring Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology to the desktop using a multimedia operating system designed to complement Windows.

"First Virtual is focused on desktop multimedia networking. That means Windows. You get everything you have now plus image and graphics, real-time video and audio,'' said Ungermann.

The applications, he believes, will be in compound document distribution and collaboration. He said his ATM system can provide "full-duplex hands-free audio while you share a 3-D graphic or a document,'' all without bringing the network to its knees.

REPORTS OF OPEN DOC'S DEATH GREATLY EXAGGERATED

Despite industry rumors to the contrary, OpenDoc is alive and well, thank you.

OpenDoc--a competitor to Microsoft's OLE technology--is a compound document and component software architecture championed by Apple, IBM and Novell.

Beta versions of the developer's kit will ship in early 1995, and the first OpenDoc parts and container applications should ship in 1995 as well.

Component Integration Laboratories, the blanket organization in charge of the technology, confirmed that OpenDoc development was proceeding apace with Apple's Macintosh version, IBM's OS/2 version and WordPerfect's Windows version. The OS/2 and Windows versions follow the Macintosh versions by four to six weeks.

Although Apple originated OpenDoc, compound documents and object software need "an industry revolution,'' said Guerrino De Luca, an Apple executive. "We can't do it alone.'' That is why Apple took on IBM and WordPerfect as partners and gave them the OpenDoc technology, he added.

OpenDoc is not just a compound document architecture, said Jed Harris, a CI Labs official. He said that it will facilitate the creation of component software. He defines a component as a piece of software "small enough to create and maintain, big enough to deploy and support, and with standard interfaces for interoperability.''

OpenDoc for Windows to Need 32-Bits

There won't be a Windows 3.1 native version of OpenDoc. It will be a 32-bit Windows 95 application, although there may someday be a Win32s version that will run on Windows 3.1. "Sixteen-bit Windows can't handle the stress we put on it,'' said Chris Andrew, WordPerfect's project leader at Novell.

LOTUS TO PUSH NEW NOTES, SMARTSUITE PACKAGE WITH SEMINARS

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

Lotus Development Corp. recently launched an aggressive seminar and software give-away program to promote its new NotesSuite product, which combines Lotus Notes and Lotus SmartSuite into a single package.

The company scheduled a series of technical workshops around the United States and Canada.

Registration fees for the seminars are $349 for one or $698 for both. The price includes the seminar, meals, materials and enough software to evaluate SmartSuite.

NEWS BITS-Compiled by Philip Albinus

•	IBM announced a new line of home PCs called Aptiva. The Aptiva line will be 486- and Pentium-based models that can turn themselves on to receive calls or faxes, then off again. They have built-in automatic schedulers of functions, such as backups, and the ability to be turned off without closing applications.

•	About 80 percent of notebooks shipped in the U.S. this year will contain PCMCIA slots, and all 1996 notebooks will contain them, according to a Dataquest forecast. Dataquest predicts more than eight million PCMCIA modems will be shipped in the U.S. by 1999.

•	Microsoft Corp. recently bought Altamira Software Corp., a developer of Windows image-editing applications and technology. Industry analysts speculate that Microsoft is looking to increase its presence on the information highway with Altamira's purchase. Altamira makes Composer, a graphics package with free-floating object architecture.

•	An update to Microsoft Mail that offers bug fixes and utilities is available free on CompuServe. Microsoft Mail 3.2a includes an electronic mail deleting and compressing utility; a synchronizing tool for personal address lists when changes have been made to global lists; and a utility that maintains the integrity of files in the post office. The update's filenames are MAIL32AS.EXE, MAIL32AC.EXE, MAIL32AM.EXE.

•	The average new home PC user spends four hours more per week in front of the PC than watching television, according to an AST Research Inc. survey. The survey of 1,200 new PC buyers shows that the new PC owner spends 13 hours per week using the PC compared with nine hours a week watching prime-time television. Thirty-four percent of the respondents use on-line services or the Internet.

•	The first products that qualify for a "Runs with Lotus Notes'' certification program have begun shipment. PowerChute Plus from American Power Conversion, Font Works from Else Ware and RightFAX 3.5 from RightFAX are among the products certified as Lotus Notes compatible.

•	Prodigy is looking for a few good men. And children, too. The Prodigy Services Co. is launching new services aimed at children, as well as business information and a product marketing service for the Internet aimed at male business professionals.

•	MTX Accounting for Microsoft Office 2.0, an accounting program from MTX International Inc., was developed using Microsoft Access' relational database management program. The software includes General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Payroll applications.(MTX: 303-790-1400)

•	Lotus Development Corp. acquired Edge Research, a Portsmouth, N.H., concern that creates application development tools for Lotus Notes.

•	Software Etc. merged with Babbage's Inc. to form the nation's largest consumer software retailer. The names of the stores will not change. Together they operate nearly 700 stores and have revenues of more than $500 million.

•	The Access Pack for Microsoft Windows NT 3.5, designed primarily for dexterity- and hearing-challenged users, allows single-finger typing of key combinations, ignores accidental keystrokes and allows users to adjust the character repeat rate. The Access Pack controls the mouse cursor with the keyboard, and provides keyboard and mouse control through other input devices. The Access Pack is free. (Microsoft: 206-882-8080)

•	The Home Shopping Network and Macromedia will develop interactive advertising using Macromedia Director for Windows. HSN's Internet Shopping Network subsidiary will use the new application.

•	Microsoft and Reader's Digest Association will develop a line of multimedia CD-ROMs based on Reader's Digest reference books. The CD-ROMs will be dual-labeled under the Microsoft Home and Reader's Digest brand names, and marketed by both companies.

•	MicroHelp, maker of the soon-to-be ubiquitous UnInstaller, has joined Dell Computer's "Try and Buy'' program. Dell will ship a trial version of UnInstaller 2.0 on all Dell PCs. The trial version lets the user uninstall three applications and includes an electronic copy of the user guide.

•	Marketing concerns and the lingering effects of legal action between Microsoft and STAC led to the September recall of the book Windows NT File Systems, by Helen Custer and NT designer Dave Cutler. The book apparently included references to a compressed version of the New Technology File System (NTFS) planned for release in Windows NT 3.5, but removed in the wake of legal decisions favoring STAC. Microsoft sources told WINDOWS Magazine that it will probably add NTFS compression to NT later this year--at which point the publisher will release the book for publication.

•	Windows NT-based systems now account for about 60 percent of Intergraph's unit sales and about 40 percent of its revenue. The company invented the UNIX graphics workstation using RISC hardware, but abandoned RISC two years ago in favor of Intel's Pentium chips. Intergraph expects to show an operating profit in the first quarter of 1995--after seven consecutive quarterly losses.

•	Novell is offering an upgrade for WordPerfect 5.2, the next-to-latest version of its word processor. WordPerfect 5.2+ for Windows is an upgrade for WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows that adds file compatibility with WordPerfect 6.x for DOS and Windows. The plus version will help 386-based PCs with 4MB RAM to speed up operation. The upgrade costs $24.95 plus shipping and handling. Contact WordPerfect at 800-321-4566.


Optimizing Windows: Where Have All the Icons Gone?

Where Have All the Icons Gone

Open Wide!


Where Have All the Icons Gone

By: John Woram

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Have you ever opened a group window to discover someone swiped some--maybe even all--the nice icons that used to live there? In place of each one is the generic (read: ugly) monitor-screen icon that Windows borrows from the PROGMAN.EXE file whenever it needs to replace a missing icon.

Where did the missing icon go? Probably nowhere. It's still where it always was, but Windows just can't find it now. In answer to your next question, because it came from a diskette (or more likely these days, CD-ROM) file, and that file is now sitting on a shelf somewhere. You and Windows might go for weeks or months without missing it, because a copy of the icon was written into a group window when the accompanying application was installed. You should never need the original again.

Make that almost never. Whenever you change color depth (from 16 to 256 colors, for example), Windows must change video drivers, exit and reopen. And then there's some behind-the-scenes work: Windows has to track down every single icon you're using in any Program Manager group, make a new copy to suit the changed color demands, and write each new copy into a new set of group files. But despite its efforts, Windows isn't always successful.

Using CD-ROM as an example, if you change color depth after installing an application, and that application's disc is not in the drive anymore, then Windows might not be able to find the icons it needs. So you get one or more of those dreary, generic icons. What's worse, you get one or more of the same dreary, generic icon--Windows doesn't even spice things up by offering you a choice from its collection of dreary, generic icons.

If your application's setup procedure is smart enough to know of this potential problem, it will place the application icon(s) on the hard disk so Windows won't have this problem later on. But some of your applications may not have done this. If the application's executable file is not copied to the hard disk, there's a very good chance that the icon, which may even be buried in that .EXE file, remains behind too. You'll never know about it until later on, after you change color depth. But once the damage is done, you may wonder where on earth (or disc) the original icon lives, and what can be done to fix this problem so it doesn't happen again and again.

Tracking down elusive icons

The first step is to find the original icon. All you need to do is click on its generic replacement, then open Program Manager's File menu and select the Properties option. Click on the Change Icon button and you'll be rewarded with a ``the path (drive:\directory\filename.ext) is invalid'' message. But now at least you know the location and filename of the file that holds the desired icon. If that filename happens to have an .ICO extension, you're in luck: Simply insert the proper disc or diskette in its drive and copy the tiny .ICO file (766 bytes) over to a C:\WINDOWS\ICONS (or similar) directory. Then specify that location for the icon via the Properties dialog box. The next time you ask Windows to change video drivers, it will find the icon it needs, even if the original application disc is lying on a shelf somewhere. (Not even Windows 95 can find an icon lying on a shelf somewhere.)

If you're not so lucky, that "invalid" message will cite an .EXE file on the CD-ROM, which means the icon is embedded in the application's no-doubt enormous executable file. Now, unless you just don't care about hard disk real estate, you will not be pleased at the prospect of copying a multikilobyte .EXE file, all for the sake of a dinky little icon. Fortunately, you needn't bother, because there are other solutions that work quite well.

To take the easy way out, just borrow a nicer icon from PROGMAN.EXE or the often-overlooked MORICONS.DLL file, both of which live in the WINDOWS directory. Better yet, get an icon extractor--a utility that finds icons buried in .EXE or other files and copies each one to its own separate .ICO file (see Open Wide). If you place all these icon files in your new ICONS directory, neither you nor Windows will have to be bothered with a search mission whenever one of you needs to refresh the icons in your group windows.

How icons hog hard disk space

Speaking of group windows, in this day of the monster-megabyte hard disk, you can probably afford to be generous and let the windows have as much space as they want. But if you do need to trim your file collection, and following the advice in my last column doesn't go far enough (``Prune Your Windows Directories,'' November), then consider this: If you have 20 or so group windows--open or closed, it doesn't matter--the supporting group files might take up about 140KB on a 16-color system. Convert to 256 colors and the same 20 files chew up an additional 100KB. And if you get even more elegant, you lose even more space.

Here's what's happening. On a 16-color system, each icon's 32x32 pixel matrix needs 512 bytes (4 bits per pixel). Upgrade to 256 colors and each one gets its own byte. Although the group file's basic overhead (header, path Info For each icon, and so on) doesn't change, a typical 15-icon group window grows from 10,989 bytes to 18,669 bytes if you do the upgrade. And if you go even further, each pixel will want 2 bytes (for 32,000 colors) or 3 bytes (for 16.7 million colors) for itself.

Another consideration is that a group window can contain only as many icons as it can squeeze into 64KB. So, as color depth goes up, icon capacity goes down: Figure a 128-icon maximum at 16 colors, 64 at 256 colors, 32 at 32,000 colors, and only 16 icons if you go all the way to 16.7 million colors. (In practice, these numbers will vary slightly depending on the specific video system.)

Chances are you won't have much trouble staying under the 128-icon limit at 16 colors, but if you decide to fly first class on a 16.7-million color machine, that 16-icon ceiling may be a problem. Add one icon too many and it shows up as a black box. Drag it into a less-populated window and it'll return to its normal self.

Putting your icons in order

Once you have the right icons for all your apps, your group windows may be disorganized. To keep the icons in your group windows arranged in neat rows, open Program Manager's Options menu and put a check mark next to Auto Arrange. Now, as you move icons around in any group window, they'll snap neatly into place at regular horizontal and vertical intervals. The last row may contain empty spaces, depending on how many icons are in the group. If you're really serious about icon placement, you can move the empties elsewhere in the group. This might be worth doing if you have, say, 17 icons arranged in a 6x3 matrix, and you want the second row to be the short row.

If you have an icon editing utility, just create an icon that's the same color as your group window background. If you don't have such a utility, cheat: Make a copy of any icon and call it BLANK.ICO (so you won't forget what it is when you don't see it). Now use the DOS Debug utility and type debug BLANK.ICO. At the debug prompt, type this one-liner: F CS:013E L40 FF FF FF 00.

What this uninformative command means is: Fill (F) the space that starts at byte 62 (hexadecimal CS:013E, taking into account Debug's 256-byte offset), then load the next 64 bytes (L40, in hex) with the string that follows. Because that string, which represents the color white, is only 4 bytes long (FF FF FF 00), it repeats 16 times. As a result, every pixel in the icon comes out white. Assuming that's the group window's background color, you now have an invisible icon.

Next, create a new program item and type a single blank space in the Description box. If you want the blank icon to do something, type a valid executable line in the Command box. Otherwise, you can just type C:\BOGUS (or make up your own). Then click on the Change Icon button and select your new BLANK.ICO file.

When you're done, place this invisible man wherever you want an empty space to show. And don't forget the usual disclaimer: Drive Debug with caution, and don't have anything important going on in the background while you experiment.


Open Wide!

Extracting icons can be a painless procedure

If your icons are buried in the application's .EXE file, getting them out can be tougher than pulling teeth. What you need is an icon extractor. My favorite is a great little freeware utility called EXICON, which is available on America Online (Keyword: WinMag), CompuServe (GO WINUSER) and the Internet (at ftp.cica.indiana.edu in pub/pc/win3/upload). Put this self-extracting file in a temporary directory and execute it once. It explodes into a Windows applet named EXTICONS.EXE, along with a few supporting files and a README.TXT file. (You'll also need VBRUN300.DLL.) Time permitting, the author, Charles Mulks, may add some enhancements to the program and offer it as shareware. But for now, it's free.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook (Random House). Contact John care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Enterprise Windows: Fear, Loathing and The NT File System

By: John D. Ruley

Chapter 1: It was a dark and stormy night in the 'burbs of Seattle. Somewhere in the night, a user cursed, a programmer sneered, and money continued to pour into the offices at One Microsoft Way.

The windows of the Burgermaster Cafedripped with rain as I pulled up in my pre-production Daytona roadster. I hunched my trench coat against the cold and went inside. It was a nasty night to be out, but I had a how-to column to write, and I needed some inside dope to back it up. Fortunately, the insider who gives me that dope--we'll call him Deep Dark--was already there, sitting in a corner and trying to to look inconspicuous behind his nearly empty latte.

"I thought you'd never get here,'' he muttered.

"I came as soon as I could. What's the story?''

Deep Dark leaned across the table, which was littered with coffee cups of all shapes and sizes. His beady black eyes nervously scanned the room. "Well, there's a rumor going around that Himself is upset.''

"Oh? What's the problem? Stock going up too fast?''

"No, he got wind of your working on a story about NT and file systems. Somebody caught you asking questions on the Internet.''

The temperature in the room dropped 10 degrees. Defiantly, I resorted to an old cliche: "Hey, I don't make the news, I just report it!''

Dark warmed his hands on a cup of cappuccino and said, "I know that, but the word from corporate is: It's bad for business.''

"Well, the story's not ready for print yet. Why don't you give me the company spin?''

Dark frowned, well, darkly. "You know I'm not supposed to do that! If they knew we were talking, I could get in serious trouble.''

"For what? Just for giving me the company line?''

Dark's fingers trembled as he squeezed a lemon peel over a double espresso. "Sometimes the company line isn't good for business,'' he replied. "There's already talk that you and that other columnist might have been right when you talked about putting the Chicago U.I. on Daytona.''

"You mean they actually listened to Dr. Heller and me? Great--but that's old news. My readers expect to find out something new every month. Let's talk about file systems.''

"Okay,'' sighed Dark. "You're bound to get the scoop anyway. Just remember: You didn't hear any of this from me.''

Chapter 2: Files (and other expletives) deleted

"Your sources are pretty good,'' Dark continued. "But so are ours. We hear you have itchy fingers--on the Delete key?''

My face turned red as I recalled that terrible day when half my hard disk went to the great bit-bucket in the sky. "So, my hand slipped. What's the big deal?''

"We hear you had trouble getting the files back.''

"Yeah, that really irked me--I couldn't do an undelete.''

Dark smiled nastily. "No, Mama's little boy can't do an undelete. NT is for grown-ups! Don't you people keep backups?''

"Of course we keep backups! But restoring from tape is a pain in the you-know-what! I just wanted an undelete.''

"I know. One of your lab rats called one of ours.''

"Much good it did him,'' I sneered.

"Much good it does anybody,'' Dark shot back. "NT doesn't do undeletes!''

"Well, I know it can't do 'em on an NTFS partition--''

"No, you're missing the point,'' Dark interrupted. "NT doesn't do undeletes--no way, no how, on no file system.''

"I thought you could undelete files on FAT partitions.''

"You can--if you dual-boot to DOS. But you can't run an undelete in NT.''

"Well of course you can't run a DOS undelete in NT. That would violate system integrity--'' My voice trailed off in response to Dark's withering look of impatience.

"Don't try to teach algorithms to your old professor! You can't run any kind of undelete in NT--even if you write one as a native NT app.''

Now I was really confused. "Why the heck not?''

"Remember, NT is supposed to be a C2-secure system. We can't risk having some sneak read somebody else's data.''

Light dawned (inside my head, at least). "Aha! So you're really doing a wipe instead of a delete--writing over the data with zeros on the disk.''

Dark smirked and shook his head. "Not on the disk. In memory.''

Chapter 3: So secure, you can't get your data back

My head hurt. I flagged down a waiter and ordered coffee--plain coffee--and a jelly doughnut. "That doesn't make sense,'' I mumbled through a mouthful of strawberry filling. "Why zero out the memory on a deleted disk file?''

Dark reached into his cafeViennese and pulled out a cinnamon stick. "Remember that all I/O in NT is cached,'' he said, pointing the stick at me. "There's no way to know what data has and hasn't been committed to disk. We could zero out the disk data, but that would require committing immediately on delete. It's easier and faster to zero the memory on any unused data when you read in a sector.''

I still didn't get it, so I said: "I still don't get it. If the data's on the disk, all I have to do is write an NT program--'' I flinched as Dark jabbed the cinnamon stick back into the cup.

"Nope. The data is zeroed at the kernel level. Your NT app still sees nothing. The only way to get at the old data is to shut down NT and boot DOS.''

"But Dark, that's insane! You're telling me that recovering data on my state-of-the-art operating system actually requires running an old, has-been, warmed-over disk monitor--''

"--with delusions of usability,'' Dark interjected.

"Well, with delusions of something. Anyway, are you telling me I have to boot DOS to recover files?''

"Yep, assuming you're using a DOS-compatible file system like FAT. If you're using HPFS--''

"The OS/2 File System?''

"One and the same.'' Dark paused to sip his caffe frangelico. "Anyway, if you run HPFS, you could boot to OS/2 and do your undelete from there.''

"Okay. So what do I run?''

"What file system did you set up?''

"NTFS.''

Deep Dark sighed, well, deeply. "You restore the files from tape. You did back the files up on tape, didn't you?''

I was appalled. "You mean to tell me that the only way to restore deleted files with NTFS is--''

"--backup. Right.'' Dark eyed my pasty face with curiosity. "What's the big deal? Mainframes don't do undelete, do they?''

"NetWare does.''

"Bah!'' Dark slammed down his caffefreddo. "Novell has a Salvage utility that may restore a deleted file, if you run it within 15 minutes of deleting the file. The plain fact is that undelete makes no sense in a multiuser operating system.''

"Okay,'' I admitted reluctantly, "on a server you should run a backup anyway--and we did. What am I supposed to do on my workstations?''

Dark waved his hand dismissively. "We'll get to that. Undelete's a minor problem. We've got bigger fish to fry.''

Chapter 4: Defragmentation grenade

I eyed Dark warily. The unhealthy light in his fevered eyes glowed through the mist of his mochaccino. "What's bigger than undoable undelete?'' I finally asked.

Dark's shoulders slumped. "You know, we really thought people would write more software for NT. We didn't expect to provide every tiny little thing.''

"Hey, an undelete's not tiny. Not if it's your data, and you're on deadline!''

"Okay, so maybe we missed that one,'' Dark admitted. "It's still just an end-user thing. We've got server problems too.''

At the thought that my precious data (not to mention the last 10 years' worth of collected racing forms) might be in peril, I gasped, "You don't mean there are problems with the file system on servers, do you?'' and reached for my cellular phone.

"Relax,'' said Dark, pushing my hand back down. "Your data's safe. NT File System is the most reliable file system ever.''

"Then what's the problem?''

"The problem is you and your buddies asking about fragmentation,'' Dark snarled. "Why couldn't you leave well enough alone?''

"Hey, it wasn't my idea. It was those guys from ACME Software who posted the public-domain Windows NT Fragmentation Checker 5.0 on America Online (Keyword: WinMag). It says our server drives are fragmented!''

"Yeah, I know.'' Dark sighed into his half-empty cafeau lait. "So the next question you ask is how to defragment your drives, right?''

"Right! All we need is a defragmenter for NT--'' I hesitated, a suspicion slowly dawning.

"That's right,'' Dark nodded. "We don't have one. If the disk is formatted for FAT, you can boot DOS and run Scandisk or Norton Speed Disk.'' He stopped, embarrassed.

"But what if the disk is formatted for NTFS, like ours?''

"You have a tape drive, right?''

I sat silently, knowing what was coming. Finally I broke down and nodded.

"You back up everything--and I mean everything--to tape. Then reformat the drive. Then restore the tape.''

Chapter 5: Floppies need not apply

At that I spat, "That's just great. To undelete I gotta boot another operating system. To defragment I gotta reformat the drive. If it weren't for the Macintosh support I don't think I'd bother!''

"POSIX, too--'' Dark began.

"POSIX, my Aunt Sara Stallings! The only POSIX apps I've ever seen are in the Windows NT resource kit!''

"Okay, so that was a cheap shot. But you're right: Macintosh support is what makes NTFS worth it. That and support for RAID-5.''

"Okay, answer me this: How do I use NTFS with removable media drives?''

"Just format them like hard disks,'' said Dark, avoiding my gaze.

"Oh sure,'' I replied, dunking my third doughnut, "and what do I do when I change media?''

"Well, format them as FAT instead.''

"We tried that. Then we can't use 'em with the Mac support.''

Dark's brows furrowed. "What do you need Mac support for, anyway?''

"Ever tried doing 24-bit page layout in Windows?''

Dark's gaze dropped about 10 stories. "Oops,'' he murmured.

"Oops is right,'' I growled, trying to catch his eye. "Let me see if I have this straight: I can format the drive using NTFS and treat it as a hard disk--in which case I can't change media. Or I can format with FAT and it'll act like a floppy--but then I can't make the disk available to Macs.''

Dark didn't answer.

"That really makes no sense,'' I continued. "It works just fine with CDs.''

"That's a different file system,'' Dark muttered, "but maybe it could be adapted.''

"Well I should hope so! It gives people the impression that NT can do just about anything--and it can, if you don't trip over some arbitrary limitation!''

Chapter 6: I'm not making this up

That last remark got Dark's dander up. "Watch what you're calling arbitrary! We've done pretty damned well considering that NT's only been out for a year. Look at outfits like Corel. The company's putting in NT servers to replace NetWare, and saving piles of money doing it.''

I knew this was true. I'd visited Corel in the summer, and the main office in Ottawa was in the process of moving from a nine-server NetWare 3.11 LAN to NT servers. I also knew the company had started with a single NT server sharing a CD among its users. "Okay, so you're cheaper than NetWare.''

"One heck of a lot cheaper.'' Dark smiled. "Putting in NT instead of NetWare 4.0 saved those guys a couple hundred K.''

"Fine, but you still haven't told me what I'm supposed to do about undelete on my workstations.''

"Hey, in a secure environment, you don't want users to undelete files!''

"I'm not running a secure environment,'' I said. "Most people aren't. And even if we were, we'd want to wipe the physical data on the disk.''

Dark drained his tepid mocha java and nodded. "That's supposed to be an option. When we implement B-level security in Cairo, we'll wipe data--encrypt it, too.''

"Fine,'' I said, closing in for the kill. "Great. I'm delighted for you, the IRS, the CIA and your other two high-security users. But what the rest of us want to know is how to set up non-secure workstations we can live with.''

"Hey, this wasn't my idea,'' Dark said. "In fact, there was supposed to be a book on NT file systems by now. Helen Custer's been working on it with Dave Cutler.''

"The Davester himself--NT's grand designer?''

"The very same,'' Dark replied.

"So where can I get hold of it?''

Dark shrugged and beckoned the waiter. "The NT marketing gleeps killed it. Dave and Helen used a compressed NTFS as their main example, and that got pulled from NT 3.5 while Stac was suing us.''

"Let me get this straight: Not only is there no undelete and no defragmenter now, there's not gonna be any--at least not until the dust settles and that book comes out? Is that what you're telling me?''

At last Dark gave in, and I clicked on my tape recorder to catch his answer. "Okay, I admit it. The best thing to do on a workstation is to run FAT partitions.''

"So at the end of the day, your advanced operating system winds up doing files the same as DOS?''

"Not the same as DOS,'' Dark replied. "With Daytona, we can give you long filenames on FAT partitions!''

"Really? And what happens when I boot to DOS and run a defragmenter on a partition with long filenames?''

Dark slouched back in the booth, watching the brew in his French press grow cold. "Well,'' he replied, "you could always dual-boot to Chicago.''

"Riiiiight,'' I said, rising. I left the waiter a five-dollar tip and walked out to the car. The rain had stopped and the sun rose over the spruce, fir and money trees. It was going to be a lovely day.

The story you've just read is true. Deep Dark really does exist, and you can pick his brains yourself: He hangs out in Chapter 5 of Microsoft's Windows NT Resource Kit, and in PSS article Q93600 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Editor John D. Ruley is still at large, but you can reach him via the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.. Beware: He's reported to be armed, legged, wired--and curious.


First Impressions: Dec. 1994-Part 4

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

PRODUCTS COVERED IN THIS FILE

BIZCARD READER

DATAPEN

ADDDEPTH

INTELLIVIEW DPS-3

QUICKXPENSE

SUPERPRINT 3.1

TRIPMAKER

MOBILSTOR TAPE250, MOBILSTOR 340

SAMTRON SC-728SXL

SHABLAMM NITRO-VLB WINDOWS NT BOOSTER

WINDELETE

PHILLIPS BRILLANCE 21A

WACOM ART PAD

SMARTSUITE 3.0

IOMEGA TAPE 510

BIZCARD READER-WELL SUITED TO DEAL WITH CARDS

By: RICH CASTAGNA

The buzz on the BizCard Reader is simple: It does one thing, does it well and does it with comparative dispatch.

The BizCard Reader is a miniscanner that's about the size of a box of 250 business cards. And business cards is what it's all about. You slip a business card into one side of the unit and--about seven seconds later--the card drops out the other side. In between, the BizCard reads the information on the card before storing it in its own database.

Loading the software and hooking up the reader takes less than five minutes. The unit plugs into your computer's parallel port and gets its juice from an AC adapter that plugs directly into a wall socket.

The software combines the OCR engine, a control to start the scanning process and a simple card file database. To add a card to the database, you insert it in the reader and then click on the Scan button. On-screen, the first thing you see is an image of the card, which soon changes color as the OCR engine kicks in.

At the end of the OCR process, the information from the card appears in the database record's fields. The program has some smarts, too, and will interpret some information so that it knows what field to put it in. For example, it picks up fax numbers well--as long as the word "fax'' precedes or follows the number.

Generally, the BizCard did a good job reading the cards, but results vary widely depending on each card's design. Some cards that I scanned were translated perfectly, but others looked like the remains of long-lost languages. When BizCard has trouble figuring out where to put something it has read, it drops it into a Notes area in the lower left corner of the screen. From there, you can cut and paste it into its proper place.

You can run the application interactively by scanning a card and then making the appropriate corrections. A background mode lets you feed cards through quickly and with all OCRing done in a single batch. Umax calls it background, but my 486 with 8MB of RAM ground to a halt so often while BizCard churned away that I couldn't work on anything else.

You can automatically enter card information in ACT and PackRat, or output to an ASCII file. If you don't use a PIM, the BizCard software is a handy little card file, too.

BizCard Reader

Price: $245

Umax Technologies Inc.

800-562-0311, 510-651-8883

DATAPEN-THIS PEN DOESN'T WRITE--IT READS

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

The DataPen makes big promises. With the pen-sized scanner, you're supposed to be able to scan information faster and more accurately than typing. The results are more modest.

The package includes the pen, power cable, software, stand and battery pack. You train the pen by scanning in test mode and then correcting the line character by character.

Prior to training, the pen had trouble with characters that almost touched or were similar. I used half a page of text to train the pen, and its accuracy improved considerably although careful proofreading still was needed.

You'll have to train your hand, too. The pen reads best when held at the recommended angle (70 degrees) and moved at a speed of about 2 inches per second.

The DataPen had trouble recognizing colored inks or printing on colored paper. I tried to scan business cards into my PIM, but found that typing them in was faster and more accurate.

The DataPen is a good idea, but it takes time to learn and use proficiently.

DataPen

Price: $399

I.R.I.S. America

407-395-7831, fax 407-995-9290

ADDDEPTH-PLUMB THE DEPTHS OF 3-D

By: RON BEL BRUNO

If it's HARD for you to find excitement among the thousands of clip-art images available today, maybe it's time to get a new perspective--a three-dimensional one.

AddDepth gives graphics novices a quick, inexpensive way to pack graphical and textual 3-D punch into newsletters, reports, letterheads or logos. With the program's rich toolbox of graphics design elements, it's easy to transform images from drawing programs and clip-art collections into 3-D masterworks. You even can create your own graphical wonders, without having to learn a new graphics program.

The program provides two-way compatibility with .WMF, .CGM, Adobe Illustrator and FreeHand formats, and accepts CorelDRAW files.

If you want to start from scratch, addDepth's two types of templates get you started on the road to graphics excellence. If you're new to graphics--or just in a hurry--you can tap the assortment of ready-made art. Just add your own text, select a color scheme, and you're done.

Letterheads, newsletter mastheads and other design-intensive graphics elements call for addDepth's step-by-step templates, which take a building-block approach. You're asked to specify your preferences for the object's angle, degree of 3-D depth, color, shading and rotation.

As if this weren't helpful enough, your options are laid out graphically. For example, the program displays a dozen rotation and perspective options. Likewise, it shows you a dozen options for each color scheme, shading option and lighting effect. No matter how much help you choose to get started, you can still edit your image after it's drawn.

If you're not a graphics pro, here's one caveat: Don't forget your memory. This program's 4MB of RAM minimum is just that--a bare minimum. I found that a 4MB-equipped 486SX/25 struggled to keep up. This isn't to knock addDepth. The need for mega RAM puts it in good company with most graphics apps.

For those who are less than expert when it comes to graphics, addDepth provides an easy way to put some bang back into ho-hum graphics.

addDepth

Price: $149

Hard Disk Space: 4MB

System Resources: 21%

RAM: 4MB

Ray Dream Inc.

800-846-0111, 415-960-0765

INTELLIVIEW DPS-3-LIGHTER LOAD WITH PROJECTOR PLUS PC

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

When you take your show on the road, you want to break your audience's resistance with persuasive communications--not break your back lugging pounds of presentation equipment. The IntelliView DPS-3 weighs less than 8 pounds and combines a notebook PC with a projection panel.

The DPS-3 is deceptively simple. A little larger than a typical projection panel, the DPS-3 has ports for a mouse, keyboard and monitor, plus jacks for stereo input/output, a microphone and a headphone. It has a built-in floppy disk drive and a pair of speakers. The screen is an 8.4-inch active-matrix color LCD capable of 640x480 resolution.

An infrared remote-control unit with a range of 25 feet is included. It has buttons for contrast, brightness and volume, and a pressure-sensitive pad called the MouseDisk to control the cursor.

But the DPS-3 is a notebook too, with a 50MHz 486SLC CPU, a 120MB hard disk and 4MB of RAM.

You can load your presentation--as well as the software you used to create it--onto the DPS-3's hard disk and run it from there. If you need to make changes, just hook up a keyboard and a monitor.

The DPS-3's projected image is crisp and clear and easy to control.

Now if they could squeeze an overhead projector-

IntelliView DPS-3

Price: $6,995

IntelliMedia Corp.

800-706-0077, 616-925-3675

QUICKXPENSE-EXPENSE REPORTS TRUE TO FORM

By: DAVID GABEL

Everybody hates to do expense reports. They're hard to fill out, the totals never add up right, and you always forget something.

Deliverance from the expense-report miasma is at hand. It's called QuickXpense, and it's great.

Portable Software is in the process of garnering the formats for expense reports from the Fortune 1000 companies. If you work for one of them, the program will print your report in your company's format, provided that Portable Software is able to acquire and incorporate the format. If you don't work for one of these corporations, don't worry: Buy two copies of QuickXpense and Portable Software will make up a template for your company's form.

Don't want to buy two copies? For $49.95, Portable Software will create a template of your company's form. If you don't want to shell out $49.95, you can use one of the program's generic forms.

I received a beta version of QuickXpense at a most opportune time. I had receipts from a trip to Canada, and I needed to file an expense report. So I fired the program up and started working.

The niftiest thing about this program is that it uses the transaction-register metaphor popularized by personal-finance packages. You just enter your receipts in the register. You don't have to worry about order--just take one off the top of the stack and type the information. QuickXpense will sort and place the data on the form in the proper order.

The program has preset expense categories that match those on your report form, all available in drop-down boxes.

When you enter an airline name, the program remembers it and offers it as a menu choice when you fill out your next report. You can indicate if an expense was charged to the company, a cash transaction or a credit card charge.

As you add expenses, the program calculates them and keeps track of the totals. After entering all the items, you can click on the Preview button to see how the report looks. If it's okay, click on Print and you're done.

You can enter transactions in foreign currency, along with the conversion rate in effect when you changed your greenbacks to dinars, and QuickXpense calculates the dollar amounts.

QuickXpense

Price: $99.95

Portable Software Corp.

800-626-8620, 206-881-9393

SUPERPRINT 3.1-UTILITY ADDS A SOFT TOUCH TO HARD-COPY GRAPHICS

By: RON BEL BRUNO

Even veteran Windows users get the jitters at the sight of the Print Manager icon when printing graphics. SuperPrint 3.1 can soothe jagged nerves by adding speed and accuracy to printing.

The utility cleans up Windows' graphics act by addressing its key printing weakness--speed. Print Manager won't let you do anything until its print job is formatted and hammered out to the printer. SuperPrint gets around this problem with three weapons: SuperQueue, SuperMetafile and SuperRIP.

The SuperQueue print spooler stashes pixel-by-pixel data on text, bitmapped graphics and graphics object files for the SuperMetafile for each document to be printed. If something is already printing in the foreground, SuperDriver buffers the GDI descriptions for later retrieval or output.

The real star, however, is SuperRIP, a proprietary PostScript-like description language that rasterizes Windows text, bitmap and graphics objects simultaneously. If you have the recommended 8MB of RAM, SuperRIP pumps out a full-page image--instantly. If you have less RAM, a "banding'' system divides the rasterization chore into chunks.

I printed samples from a clip-art collection with great results. The cursor was freed 30 seconds after sending a large graphic to the printer, and I could print in background.

SuperPrint works with laser, ink jet, dot matrix and color thermal printers.

SuperPrint 3.1

Price: $49.95 (estimated street price)

Hard Disk Space: 2MB

System Resources: NA

RAM: 4MB

Zenographics

800-366-7494, 714-851-6352

TRIPMAKER-ON THE ROAD AGAIN

By: SUSAN RICH

Only minutes after installation, TripMaker had me happily road-tripping across the continent from my Windows desktop.

TripMaker shows you the fastest, shortest and prettiest ways to drive to and from 125,000 cities and towns in North America. The program's useful for recreation or busi-ness, and armchair travelers will get a kick out of it, too.

I used TripMaker to plan a trip from New York to Montreal. Always one to combine business and pleasure, I added a stopover to visit friends in Brattleboro, Vermont. Once you have a trip set up, you choose your routing preference (quickest, shortest or most scenic), and then click on Calculate. In less than a minute, TripMaker will tell you the mileage and time of the trip, display the route and list the directions.

You can change any aspect of your trip and adjust the itinerary with another click on Calculate. If you select Optimize, TripMaker will reorder your stopovers to give you the most direct route. A Trip Guide wizard will step you through all this, but it's easy even without the help.

Fine-tuning the trip is more of a challenge. For instance, TripMaker bases your end-of-day stops on the number of hours you plan to drive per day--it doesn't automatically assume that you plan to spend the night at the places you've designated as stopovers. So the itinerary had me visiting Brattleboro, but then breezing out of my friends' comfy home to spend a lonely night somewhere out on I-89. To end each day's travels where you want, you have to move the end-of-day markers on the map manually and then recalculate the trip.

TripMaker provides information on border crossings, toll roads, states and provinces. It also offers toll-free numbers for 27 airlines, 21 car rental agencies and 74 hotel chains. A Trip Costs option lets you estimate your budget for hotel, gas, meals and entertainment.

TripMaker's map printout shows destination points and the route, but it doesn't show all the roads. You'll have to check the included 1995 Rand McNally Road Atlas.

The itinerary is more helpful, but because it's in spreadsheet form, words that are too big for the cells are cut off. However, you can adjust the cells manually.

Despite some rough edges, TripMaker is a great tool for figuring out the best way to get from here to there. Best of all, when you're finished using the program, you won't have to fold it up.

TripMaker

Price: $79.95; competitive upgrade, $29.95

Disk Space Required: 11MB (15MB for full installation)

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 4MB

Rand McNally New Media

800-671-5006 ext.118, 708-329-8100 ext. 118

MOBILSTOR TAPE250, MOBILSTOR 340-TAPE TRAVELS, DISK DRIVES-JIM FORBES

Moving a lot of data from one computer to another is always a problem. But APS has two solutions. For disk jockeys, there's the MobilStor 340 hard disk. If tape's your thing, APS offers the MobilStor Tape250.

The units look similar, each in a case that measures 1.6 by 6.25 by 9 inches and weighs just over 2 pounds. Both con-nect to your PC's parallel port.

Software comes with each to help with installation. OneStep, a backup utility, is also included.

The MobilStor Tape250 uses industry-standard DC2120 250MB cartridges and has a maximum throughput of 6MB per second. In my tests, backing up 25MB took less than three minutes.

MobilStor hard disks are available in 340MB and 520MB models. I tested the 340MB version. All of the drives are portables, with rechargeable NiCad batteries that run for about four hours. The disk has an average access speed of 15 milliseconds.

Both units are easy to install. With the parallel connection, you don't have to open your PC, or fiddle with DIP switches.

MobilStor Tape250

Price: $229

MobilStor 340

Price: $399

APS Technologies

800-233-7550, 816-483-6100

SAMTRON SC-728SXL-FLAT SCREEN WITH LIVELY COLOR

By: JOHN J. YACONO

It's not often that high quality comes at a mid-range price. But Samtron's SC-728SXL, with its truly flat 17-inch screen, is an exception. Right out of the box, the quality of this 17-inch monitor was apparent.

The flatness of the screen--without overwhelming cabinet depth--was also notable. Most very flat 17-inch monitors have bulky cabinets that are usually one or two inches deeper than the SC-728SXL's case.

The SC-728SXL has thumbwheel controls for contrast, brilliance and "display adjustment.'' What the display adjustment control does depends on which control function button you press. There are buttons to adjust the horizontal and vertical size and position, pincushioning, and trapezoid correction. You also can perform a parallelogram adjustment by simultaneously pressing the vertical and horizontal position buttons, then using the adjustment control. There's also a button for degaussing the unit.

When you select a function, an on-screen display shows the function name, range and current setting. You scroll through the setting options using the adjustment control. Pressing and holding a recall button restores the factory defaults. The custom settings that you made are retained and automatically recalled each time you enter the same video mode.

The SC-728SXL is capable of refresh rates as high as 75Hz and a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 pixels (at 60Hz). The 1280x1024 resolution produced some noticeable flicker and fuzzy characters. Resolutions with higher refresh rates worked better, so 1024x768 probably represents the monitor's usable top-end resolution.

Tested with Sonera Technologies' DisplayMate software, the SC-728SXL performed well in all but the most stringent of tests. The monitor showed only a slight line-moire pattern and no geometric distortion. It maintained excellent focus corner-to-corner, and color convergence was fair. The monitor's only significant shortcoming was in the Display Mate gray-scale test, where the darkest nine steps of a 64-step gray scale were not distinguishable. But that shouldn't be a concern unless you're touching up black-and-white photos with an image editor.

To deliver its best, the SC-728SXL will need a quality partner, so be sure that your graphics card supports the same refresh rates and resolutions. You'll like what you see.

Samtron SC-728SXL

Price: $899

Samtron Displays

800-SAMTRON, 310-802-8425

SHABLAMM NITRO-VLB WINDOWS NT BOOSTER-RISC-Y UPGRADE BOARD SOUPS UP YOUR SYSTEM

By: MARTIN HELLER

Despite its comical name, the Shablamm Nitro-VLB Windows NT Booster is a serious CPU accelerator board. It uses two leading-edge technologies: the IDT Orion R4600 processor and TrueCache or EDRAM memory.

The Orion is a 64-bit RISC processor optimized for Windows NT that uses the MIPS instruction set. EDRAM is a new memory architecture that puts some 15-nanosecond static RAM cache on every dynamic RAM chip to achieve extremely high memory bandwidth.

The board can be installed in any x86 PC in a VESA local-bus slot. I tested a version with a 133MHz processor and 32MB of memory installed in a 33MHz 486SX with a SCSI hard disk and a #9GXE graph-ics accelerator. I ran a late beta of Windows NT 3.5 Server.

With the 133MHz Nitro-VLB installed, the system's CPU speed skyrocketed by a factor of 10 compared to the base machine. But it was still somewhat slower than a 90MHz Pentium system.

Using Intel emulation mode, I tested performance running 16-bit applications with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests. I found emulated CPU and floating-point scores about the same as a 486SX/33, but memory performance was almost triple that of the fastest Pentium system I've measured.

For MIPS versions of CPU- and memory-intensive apps the upgrade is a feasible alternative to a new system. But if you just want to run 16-bit software faster, you're better off with a Pentium.

Shablamm Nitro-VLB Windows NT Booster

Price: $3,495 (133MHz board with 32MB of RAM)

Shablamm

800-SHABLAM, 408-730-9696

WINDELETE-TAKE YOUR DISK TO THE CLEANERS

By: JULIE R. BLUMENFELD

WinDelete, a utility that removes unwanted programs from your hard disk, can help keep your PC a clean machine.

To get the most out of WinDelete, you should have it running before you start loading up your system with software. If you do, uninstalling a disappointing app will be a breeze. WinDelete is somewhat less successful when removing programs that were installed before it took up residence on your desktop, because it doesn't know what files the program is using.

The program does have an Achilles heel or two. First, it recognizes only applications that are represented by an icon in a program group. It also fails to provide enough information at times, such as when it displays a long list of .DLLs that it is loathe to eliminate since they may be used by other programs. Some indication of which programs might be using the .DLLs would be helpful.

WinDelete creates a log file, but not a running account of its clean-up activities. It saves information only about the last round of file removal. And you can't print the log directly from the program; you have to copy it to a text editor or word processor.

Although WinDelete provides the basic tools for sprucing up your system, it falls a little short when compared with similar programs, such as MicroHelp's UnInstaller.

WinDelete

Price: $49.95

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

International Microcomputer Software Inc.

800-833-4674, 415-454-7101

PHILIPS BRILLIANCE 21A-BIG PICTURE AT A BIG PRICE-BYJONATHAN BLACKWOOD

If a picture's worth a thousand words, the Philips Brilliance 21A is certainly eloquent. But the controls to fine-tune the picture and the 21-inch monitor's supporting documentation fall short.

The Brilliance 21A is Energy Star compliant. It has a front-mounted LCD for the image adjustment controls, BNC and D-Sub (standard VGA) connectors in the rear, CyberScreen software and a serial cable to connect the monitor to the CPU for fine-tuning. The monitor uses an Invar shadow mask for its 21-inch screen that has a 0.28mm dot pitch. The Brilliance 21A's maximum vertical refresh rate is 160Hz, and its maximum resolution is 1600x1280 pixels.

The monitor's image quality was quite good, and its color rendition was excellent. The nonglare screen did its job very well, and I could be quite happy staring at it all day.

The Brilliance 21A's feature list hits most of my hot buttons. By all accounts, the 21A is an excellent monitor, but getting it set up to your satisfaction is more difficult than it should be. As I tested the monitor, its difficult controls and inadequate documentation left me thinking, "What we have here is a failure to communicate.''

For example, the 21A's controls provide adjustments for just about everything but rotation, color matching and moire, but at first they were incomprehensible. The icons for Degauss, Memory Select, Memory Store, Memory Recall and Input Select were not just unfamiliar, they were unintelligible. You need to have the manual firmly in hand when you set out to learn the controls.

Unfortunately, the manual is organized poorly and does little to shed light on the monitor's controls. The documentation seems hefty at a reassuring 228 pages--but it includes information in seven languages, so only 34 pages of English instructions are devoted to the 21A.

Communications suffer, too, when it comes to the CyberScreen software that's included with the monitor. A five-page leaflet described its use. More accurately, the leaflet described what the software is supposed to do, not how to use it. The information is brief and cryptic, and offers little help to figure out the software.

The suggested retail price of the 21A is high at nearly $3,000--so I'd look for a significant discount.

Philips has obviously done the tough engineering work in producing a quality monitor. But it needs to pay more attention to the operational details.

Philips Brilliance 21A

Price: $2,999

Philips Consumer Electronics Co.

800-835-3506, 615-475-8869

WACOM ARTPAD-PEN GETS TO THE POINT

By: ADRIANO SVERKO

The Wacom ArtPad digitizing tablet was so sensitive, I was afraid I might hurt its feelings.

The untethered pen is used with a 7- by 7.5-inch pad that has an active area of about 3.75 by 5 inches. Its 6.5-foot cable plugs into the serial port with another cord running off the connector to an AC adapter.

You can adjust pen response by selecting Pen from the Settings menu and then clicking on one of the Sensitivity settings: Soft, Normal or Firm. You also can adapt the size of the area that will respond to taps of the pen from 0 to 15 pixels.

The pen has a handy button that can be set to work as the Alt, Ctrl or Shift keys. You can use the button as a hotkey to recall a combination of Ctrl and another key.

The tablet defaults to a landscape orientation, mimicking the display of most monitors, but another Settings menu option lets you rotate it to a portrait orientation. The Scaling selection on the same menu lets you map the active area of the tablet to the entire screen, or you can select only a limited region of the screen for your ArtPad cursor to roam.

Installation involves connecting the serial plug and loading the drivers. Initially, I ran into a problem related to the 16550 UART used in the test system's communications configuration. At the suggestion of Wacom's technical support, I removed a line from the WIN.INI file (Device=WACOM.386) that ArtPad's install program had added. The tablet then worked fine.

ArtPad

Price: $199

Wacom Technology Corp.

800-922-6613, 206-750-8882

SMARTSUITE 3.0-INTELLIGENT ASSEMBLAGE

By: JAMES E. POWELL

SmartSuite 3.0 includes 1-2-3, Ami Pro, Freelance Graphics, Approach and Organizer, but it's more than the sum of its parts. Though buying a suite saves you money, the real value lies in how well the applications are integrated--and SmartSuite 3.0 brings tighter integration than ever to this Lotus lineup.

SmartSuite does have some new members in its family. The suite has three ScreenCam movies that show you how to work with multiple applications. And a new guided tour illustrates common operations. There's also a customizable icon bar called SmartCenter from which you can launch any suite application--or any other app whose icon you add to the bar. You can move data between Approach, 1-2-3 and other OLE 2.0 applications simply by dragging it to the icon within the SmartCenter toolbar--a nice touch.

The help system is improved, too. Help Cards explain how to complete cross-application tasks with step-by-step instructions. The more than 50 topics help you get a job done. For example, you're shown how to use 1-2-3 data for a mass mailing in Ami Pro. Still, you have to know at least one of the applications you'll be using in order to benefit from the Help Cards.

The suite offers a customizable installation program, but the version I tested came on 27 diskettes, making installation tedious. A CD-ROM version should be available by the time you read this.

Lotus's applications have been evolving toward a common interface (they share a common toolbar full of icons, including bubble help), and SmartSuite 3.0 takes them a step further. An active status bar at the bottom of each application's screen provides feedback.

This package also brings Notes and Notes/FX support. In fact, team computing is a major focus of these applications. They also demonstrate an effort to interchange data, as seen in the Collect and Copy option that collects 1-2-3 ranges and places them in an Ami Pro document, and the ability of Freelance to accept 1-2-3 charts.

There's still room for improved integration, though. Freelance Graphics doesn't exchange data with other applications as well as the others do (you still primarily use cut-and-paste), and Ami Pro, still the leader as far as handling graphics and text together is concerned, is falling behind its competitors in the advanced features race.

Despite a few limitations, Lotus has done the best job to date of any suite maker to help you use data from one application in another. SmartCenter acts as a focal point, and it's a welcome meeting place.

SmartSuite 3.0

Price: $474 (street price); version or competitive upgrade, $272 (street)

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

IOMEGA TAPE510-MINIDRIVE MAINTAINS MAJOR MEGABYTES

By: JOHN PERRY

The Tape510 tape drive from Iomega is so user-friendly that it practically shakes your hand when you take it out of the box.

The Tape510 is a speedy, simple way to secure data. I backed up nearly 200MB of data in less than 30 minutes. I was even more impressed by being able to restore a single 25MB directory in under 10 minutes. The drive conforms to the QIC 3010 minicartridge standard and can hold up to 680MB using compression.

This blazing speed is secondary to the easy setup. With the included software, I had the unit configured and backing up my drive in no time. Although I rarely needed it, the on-line help is clear and comprehensive.

The software offers numerous options to customize your backup regimen. You can choose from password protection, automated backups and different scenarios from copying everything to only the files that have changed since the last backup. You also can set it up to back up only specific directories.

Tape backup just doesn't get any easier than this.

Iomega Tape510

Price: Parallel port, $599; internal, $399

Iomega

800-777-6654, 801-778-1000


Awesome Video Accelerators

Video Accelerators

Info Files

Report Card

Video Accelerators Table

Calling All Cards

Full-Screen, Full-Motion Video

Three Roads to Motion Video


Video Accelerators

By: John Gartner, Technical Editor,  Serdar Yegulalp, Assistant Technical Editor, and James Miller, Laboratory Assistant-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

IN THIS COMPARISON

Actix GraphicsEngine Ultra 64-PCI

ATI WinTurbo

Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM PCI 2MB

ELSA Winner 2000PRO

Genoa Phantom 64

Matrox MGA Impression Plus

miro miroCrystal 20SV

Orchid Kelvin 64

Spider Tarantula 64 PCI

STB PowerGraph 64

VideoLogic PCIMovie

VidTech GraphMax P24 2MB

The video performance showdown has just been raised to new heights, with 64-bit graphics accelerators blowing away all the competition. Not only will these graphics wonders keep up with your every keystroke, but they also pack features that will have you looking at your documents in new ways. But don't stop to blink; these PCI peripherals redraw the screen faster than you can say "accelerate.''

Nearly every graphics chip and board vendor has announced a 64-bit product, so the writing is clearly on the monitor, er, wall. The move to 64 bits means a wider bus and larger bandwidth between the graphics chip and the video memory, giving you twice the throughput of 32-bit chips. This high-speed link translates to faster communications with the monitor, so you spend less time waiting for images to show up on-screen.

In addition to high performance, these 64-bit accelerators provide capabilities that customize the desktop through Windows software. Applications can change pixel resolutions on the fly, so you can switch from viewing a large spreadsheet at 1280x1024 to viewing a letter in larger, more readable type at 800x600 or all the way down to 640x480 if you're getting--ahem--on in years. Using the zoom function, you can close in on a graphic for close inspection and then drop back to full page view.

Although the 64-bit accelerator market is relatively new, it has already been subdivided into entry-level, mid-range and high-performance segments. We asked board manufacturers, who could be competing in all three, to send their cards of choice. Eight of the 12 manufacturers chose to send products based on S3 chips; Matrox and ATI manufacture their own chips for their boards, while two others, Orchid and VideoLogic, use chips from other vendors. Several manufacturers, including Artist Graphics, Focus Information Systems, Hercules, Number 9 and TechWorks, were scheduled to release new products by the time you read this.

While these cards reduce the time needed to perform most graphics operations to mere nanoseconds, they do not address video acceleration and three-dimensional graphics. Three-dimensional CAD and modeling applications are invading the desktop, and 3-D functions are being included in more traditional graphics applications, such as illustration and drawing packages. The lack of a standard Windows programming interface has kept 3-D acceleration as a costly proprietary solution. The Matrox MGA Impression Plus is unique in including a 3-D hardware engine in its graphics chip. Windows 95 will include increased 3-D support, so watch for 3-D to become more widespread.

Video acceleration, required for smooth playback of multimedia, can be greatly enhanced through hardware, but products that do that are just beginning to ship. (For more details, see Full-Screen, Full-Motion Video).

Our evaluation cards came configured with 2MB of video memory (with the exception of the 4MB Matrox MGA Impression Plus), capable of displaying up to 16.7 million colors at resolutions as high as 800x600. For true-color operation at higher resolutions, you'll need to upgrade the video memory.

These cards include connectors for linking to special-function video peripherals, such as video editing, capture or teleconferencing boards. The STB PowerGraph 64 and VidTech GraphMax P24 include VAFC (VESA advanced feature connector) interfaces, while the Video Logic PCIMovie includes a VMC (VESA Media Channel). These  standards take different approaches to providing the necessary high-speed data path between the graphics accelerator and add-on boards without the intervention of the CPU.

ACTIX GRAPHICSENGINE ULTRA 64-PCI

The GraphicsEngine Ultra64 PCI is one of the few adapters that's intended to support refresh rates of up to 90Hz at 1024x768 resolution--necessary for editing high-resolution graphics. However, our test unit didn't quite live up to these lofty specifications. We noticed some fluctuations in the brightness of the display while scrolling and redrawing graphics.

We also experienced some difficulty with the software. The original setup utility we received did not execute properly, nor did it copy all the files correctly. We got an updated utility from the company that fixed these problems, and the adapter then functioned flawlessly. The resolution-switching applet was marred by typographical errors in the poorly written help file. You can change the refresh rate from within Windows using radio buttons, but you can't power down the monitor or customize the desktop from within Windows.

The GraphicsEngine, based on the S3 Vision964 chip, showed slightly above-average performance for this newest class of Windows graphics accelerators. It placed in the top half of all but one of our application tests, and it finished near the top in the PowerPoint test, which means it can handle demanding color-fill operations. Upgrading the board's memory to 4MB will give you true-color operation at resolutions of up to 1280x1024.

The GraphicsEngine is one of the more expensive cards tested, but it lacks the software included with most similarly priced products.

ATI WINTURBO

The WinTurbo is an excellent performer with an intuitive installation. You start the installation by selecting system information in the setup program to search for potential memory conflicts with your existing system configuration. Under Quick Setup, you'll find a list of monitors; if you don't see your monitor listed, you just choose Custom and enter the appropriate display specifications. An uninstall program is included, should things go awry.

An exceptional feature is the inclusion of hardware video acceleration, used for speeding up Windows .AVI files. Hardware acceleration is restricted to only high- or true-color playback modes. The driver's diagnostics section runs a useful series of self tests to verify that the circuitry and different functions of the card are operating correctly.

Desktop control applets are launched from within ATI DeskTop. The FlexDesk applet, which displays a graphical representation of the virtual desktop, extends the borders of the desktop beyond the edges of the screen while retaining the pixel size of the original. So what you see is one select area of the desktop blown up to fill the screen. Adjusting the FlexDesk slider bar selects the color depth; to the right of the slider bar is a palette window displaying the available colors. In advanced settings, you can manipulate font size manually or choose to have FlexDesk select the optimal setting. This same applet enables any application, such as Word, to determine which colors will be used in 256-color mode. Windows runs faster with this palette-sensing feature disabled.

ATI DeskTop includes several other useful applets. DeskScan has hotkeys that allow you to zoom in on different parts of the virtual desktop (or, if you prefer, you can use your mouse). DPMS lets you enable and set up power management, WinSwitch lets you use keystrokes to change the resolution and color depth without exiting Windows, and Color Correction matches your monitor to a desired color.

WinSwitch does, however, slow Windows down because it runs only in the slowest mode (24 bits per pixel), and emulates lesser pixel depths.

DIAMOND STEALTH 64 VRAM PCI 2MB

The Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM tore through our application tests in record time, notching the best overall performance of all the products tested. But be sure to check the version number of your installation diskettes; version 1.10, which came with our test card, slowed the Stealth down precipitously. We downloaded the updated install program from Diamond's bulletin board service, and that improved the card's performance by over 40 percent in some tests. Diamond uses the S3 Vision964 chip in its Stealth line (DRAM and VL-Bus versions of the card are also available). The Stealth 64 VRAM supports a refresh rate of only 70Hz at higher resolutions.

You can set up the Stealth software in minutes from within Windows. When specifying the monitor, you have to take the trouble to set refresh rates for each resolution. But you can make up for any lost time and trouble when you go to configure the power management; it's an easy point-and-click operation.

Diamond's In Control Tools is a flexible command center for customizing your desktop at the push of a button. Launched from an icon in Control Panel, In Control Tools lets you change resolutions on the fly. And, unlike most other cards, it provides applets for much more specialized options, such as resolution and color-depth functions. Programs for changing the cursor size and color, and a color correction utility for adjusting brightness and contrast, are both useful and easy to use. The virtual desktop lets you view the screen at high resolutions, and includes a graphic showing just how much of the desktop is off the screen.

ELSA WINNER 2000PRO

The Winner 2000PRO supports a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 and can use up to 4MB of VRAM. Although it has the same S3 Vision964 graphics engine as many of the other, better performing cards, the drivers and supporting components were not of the same caliber. The Winner 2000PRO failed to take the blue ribbon in any of our tests. In fact, it was near the bottom in our application benchmarks.

On the upside, the Winner 2000PRO supports refresh rates greater than 100Hz at nearly all resolutions, which yields a consistent, flicker-free image. We encountered no problems with the drivers, which is still more the exception than the rule. Powerman, a VESA-compliant screen saver, controls the monitor's power consumption.

To install the software for the Winner 2000PRO, you have to run Setup from the WINDOWS directory; no installation utility is included. You'll also have to keep your Windows diskettes close by because font files are not available on the ELSA diskette. Be prepared to swap disks a few times before you've completed the installation. There's an extensive list of monitors from which to select a model with specs comparable to your own. You can save your monitor information in a VDIF (Video Display Information File).

The WINman program controls the refresh rate, color depth and resolution, but you have to set these parameters manually. You'll find it takes more time to do it this way than when you just select from a drop-down list of the supported settings. Furthermore, you need to enter, and save, any modes you plan to access through dynamic switching.

GENOA PHANTOM 64

At $279, the Genoa Phantom 64 is an inexpensive graphics accelerator that sacrifices some flexibility for economy. The SetRes utility controls the monitor, display and virtual-desktop functions, but is not as intuitive or advanced as other programs in this review. You set up the power management feature as you would a screen saver, and it works with VESA-compliant monitors. Unfortunately, unlike many of the other manufacturer's utilities, this requires you to exit Windows to change screen resolutions.

Memory capacity tops out at 2MB, which limits working in true-color mode to a maximum resolution of 800x600. The card does, however, support a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 and generates higher refresh rates than you might expect from a reasonably priced card. The images were sturdy and bright, and we encountered no driver problems with this card.

The Genoa Phantom is based on the S3 Vision864, which interfaces by means of relatively slow DRAM, but the card still managed to post respectable performance scores compared with our other cards. So, even though it's not the fastest 64-bit card available, it is one of the most cost effective.

The manual presents clear step-by-step instructions on how to install the hardware and software. During installation, you can install all or part of the drivers. The monitor selection software, unlike many competing cards' utilities, does not list a group of monitors whose refresh rate and resolution parameters have been predetermined. You must select a generic monitor type (from a list of nine) and specify the refresh rate and resolution combination that your monitor supports.

MATROX MGA IMPRESSION PLUS

The MGA Impression Plus was the only product submitted that included 4MB of VRAM, so it's no great surprise that it's also the most expensive board here. Graphics professionals, in particular, will appreciate the additional memory, which enables you to edit true-color images at resolutions of up to 1280x1024.

Its Windows software utilities are equally robust. The installation program sets every parameter you'll need to get up and running quickly, and the documentation and friendly interface make selecting a monitor and resolution a genuine pleasure--especially compared with other programs. After you start Windows, a small monitor icon indicates your current resolution and color depth. You can close down the applet this icon represents to save resources, but then you lose access to resolution switching and you can't relaunch it short of restarting Windows.

MGA Control Panel is the centerpiece of the utilities. Clicking on the QCDP box in the program's interface lets you set up to four virtual resolutions. QCDP is great for jumping between resolutions without restarting Windows, but the price for this convenience is performance. Our tests indicate that QCDP exacts a 10 to 30 percent toll in performance as compared with true resolution switching. The Gouraud Shading option under Mode Setup enables 3-D imaging, which will be of increasing importance as more 3-D applications enter the market.

The Impression Plus is one of the leaders in our review, having scored near the top in almost every test. There's no wait when switching between applications, and screen redraws happen in the blink of an eye. The exception to this performance is the 16-bit (65KB color) operation; the Impression Plus finished last by a wide margin in our PowerPoint test run at this resolution.

Although overall the display was bright and images unwavering, we experienced driver-related glitches that distorted the display. A white box appeared on-screen during our Wintune test, and a pie graph overran its borders during our Excel macro. The Impression Plus offers powerful performance and software, but not without some imperfections.

MIRO MIROCRYSTAL 20SV

This card produces remarkably stable images and supports high refresh rates, up to 100Hz for a true-color display. We didn't encounter any problems with the video drivers or installation software, a claim we can make about very few cards. This is a solid product throughout, and it includes features beyond those of many of its competitors.

The Crystal 20SV does not include expandable memory; 2MB of SIPPs are the maximum allowable.

The Crystal 20SV isn't a blindingly fast performer, but it does thrive on video playback. Although it scored near the average in most tests --which is very fast in this crowd--its display of the frames of our test .AVI file was nearly perfect.

The Windows-based installation software requires setting up the monitor for use in both DOS and Windows. This straightforward process is supplemented by detailed documentation that provides extensive information about every setting and feature the board provides.

You can enable a Power-Save mode through the monitor setup; the extensive SuperScreen program controls all other functions (resolution switching, virtual desktop and so on). The Crystal 20SV also provides utilities for precise image editing. And to make it easier on your eyes, you can adjust the tint control (for daylight conditions and proofing) as well as the dots-per-inch option (which lets you match the size of the image with its hard-copy equivalent). There's even a Microscope feature that you can use to inspect areas of the screen at two, four and eight times magnification.

ORCHID KELVIN 64

The Kelvin 64's Cirrus Logic CL-GD-5434 graphics processor lags behind the S3-based products used in the majority of the products here. But the Kelvin 64 uses up to 2MB of less-expensive DRAM, which keeps the price hundreds below that of the other cards.

The Kelvin 64's setup is DOS-based. The program prompts you for the directory with Windows in it, automatically installs the driver software, and then launches Windows. You'll see a new Control Panel icon that contains Orchid's mode-switching program, which you also use to handle the  adjustment of the refresh rate. Everything is on drop-down menu listings, and it won't accept combinations the card can't handle (such as 1280x1204 in true-color mode). Controls also exist for managing the amount of memory dedicated to the font cache as well as the hard font size (small, large or automatic, depending on the current resolution). The bad news is that there's no on-the-fly switching. You have to restart Windows in order for all changes to take effect.

The virtual desktop utility can attain a maximum resolution of 1024x768, which isn't so remarkable, considering that many other cards can reach 1600x1200. There is a password-protected power management control, provided in the form of a standard Windows screen saver. The documentation is among the better we've seen: It's clear and precise, and it has plenty of illustrations and examples.

SPIDER TARANTULA 64 PCI

The Tarantula doesn't live up to its name: It doesn't crawl, it sprints. And not only is it one of the fastest 64-bit cards you can get, it's also competitively priced. Based on the S3 Vision964 chip, the Tarantula 64 supports up to 4MB of VRAM and displays resolutions up to 1600x1200.

The DOS program that installs the various drivers--Windows drivers included--has an attractive, iconized interface that makes choosing the proper driver a snap. The straightforward mode-change program gets installed in its own group. Radio buttons control resolution, color depths and font sizes, as well as the refresh rate. Like many programs of its kind, it resets Windows after every mode change. The clearly written manual is loaded with useful information.

The Tarantula supports virtual desktop panning and zooming through the Bird's Eye program. Panning the screen around the oversized desktop is smooth and error-free; nothing gets left behind or improperly restored. In addition, there's a utility that allows the adjustment of the screen's horizontal and vertical placement.

This product does have some shortcomings. It doesn't include power management nor does it have hardware zoom or color-calibration capability.

STB POWERGRAPH 64

The PowerGraph is highly integrated; you'll notice fewer chips because the RAMDAC is integrated into S3's newest 64-bit chip, the Trio64. The PowerGraph ranks among the fastest cards tested. There's also a VAFC, used to connect separate boards to perform video acceleration or capture.

The STB PowerGraph was one of the easiest cards to install, but its software utilities are not as flexible. The mode-switch program has to reboot Windows after every change. Also, only screen resolution and color-depth changes are possible in the Windows program; changing refresh rates requires a DOS utility.

Switching modes can be deceptive, though. The size of the current desktop is always no larger than the current video resolution--you have to reset the virtual desktop size before you can change to a higher actual video resolution.

There's an auto-panning feature to go with the virtual desktop sizes: Sweep the mouse off the edge of the screen and the display pans with the cursor on the edge of the virtual desktop. With this feature enabled, though, the cursor moves like it's slogging through molasses.

VIDEOLOGIC PCIMOVIE

Getting the VideoLogic PCIMovie software up and running was painless. The driver disk contains a Windows program that installs both drivers and interface software.

The Windows mode-switching program also handles color depths and refresh rates. Its main screen has three radio buttons, each with a preassigned mode, refresh rate and color depth. Although you can customize them, it's still less convenient than having the full mode-selection menu available simultaneously. On top of that, the program has to restart Windows whenever any changes are made. The power management capability is in another standalone program. It worked just fine.

The most highly vaunted feature of the PCIMovie is its hardware-level video acceleration. A Video Logic PowerPlay video-acceleration chip, not the CPU, provides a scaling function that stretches the standard small window up to full screen. When we played back .AVI files with scaling switched on, they looked a little blocky, and the scaling did not noticeably upgrade performance.

The PCIMovie handles standard graphics acceleration through a Weitek P9100 accelerator and proved to be a solid performer.

VIDTECH GRAPHMAXP24 2MB

The installation process for the VidTech GraphMax is flawless. There's even a desktop icon that allows you to de-install everything and return to VGA. The mode-changing utility, called SetRes, resides in its own group. It forces a restart of Windows after every change, and there's no on-the-fly mode switching, hardware zoom, or pan functions. There's no virtual desktop but you can get 1600x1200 resolution.

The mode-changing program is a bit different from the others tested. Instead of presenting a straightforward menu, it has three user-customizable choices for different screen modes.

Although the standard software isn't as extensive as other bundles, some unique programs help make up for it. For example, there's VidTech's Image Handler that displays images in a variety of formats and converts from one to another, and VidFlip, a Windows wallpaper-changing utility.

The GraphMax supports a maximum of 4MB of memory and has a VAFC (VESA Advanced Feature Connector) for video capture. We noticed one deficiency when we tested .AVI playback in 1024x768 mode. The image came out scrambled, an effect similar to a malfunctioning horizontal hold on a TV set. The GraphMax has a five-year warranty.


Info Files

Actix GraphicsEngine

Ultra 64-PCI

Price: $345

In Brief: True-color support and high refresh rates make this card a solid platform for graphics editing.

Actix Systems Inc.

800-927-5557, 408-986-1625

ATI WinTurbo

Price: $369

In Brief: This card accelerates both graphics and video, and its FlexDesk program lets you quickly personalize your desktop view.

ATI Technologies Inc.

905-882-2600, 905-882-2620

Diamond Stealth

64 VRAM PCI 2MB

Price: $399

In Brief: Excellent high-speed performance and flexible software are a winning combination.

Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.

800-468-5846, 408-736-2000

ELSA Winner 2000PRO

Price: $549

In Brief: This accelerator includes reliable software and produces sharp images at high refresh rates.

Elsa Inc.

800-272-ELSA, 415-615-7799

Genoa Phantom 64

Price: $279

In Brief: This low-cost 64-bit accelerator offers performance rivaling cards that cost nearly twice as much.

Genoa Systems Corp.

800-93-GENOA, 408-432-9090

Matrox MGA Impression Plus

Price: $748; 2MB version, $449

In Brief: This is a fast, flexible accelerator, with software that lets you switch resolution on the fly and has 3-D graphics in hardware.

Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd.

800-361-1408, 514-685-2630

miro miroCrystal 20SV

Price: $399

In Brief: This board's software utilities--which include programs for matching screen to page size, adjusting to lighting conditions and zooming--are the most complete in this review.

miro Computer Products Inc.

800-249-6476, 415-855-0940

Orchid Kelvin 64

Price: $325

In Brief: The Kelvin 64 is well-designed; its Big Picture utilities and quality documentation make using this card a pleasure.

Orchid Technology

800-7ORCHID, 510-683-0300

Spider Tarantula 64 PCI

Price: $359

In Brief: This upgradable card has a speedy accelerator that generates processing firepower, while the Bird's Eye software lets you pan and zoom with ease.

Spider Graphics Inc.

408-526-0535, fax 408-526-1622

STB PowerGraph 64

Price: $199

In Brief: Stellar performance at the price of yesterday's technology and a lifetime warranty put this card in a universe of its own.

STB Systems Inc.

800-234-4334, 214-234-8750

VideoLogic PCIMovie

Price: $449

In Brief: Dedicated chips for both graphics and video acceleration make multimedia soar, and the easy software setup will have you screening videos in no time.

VideoLogic Inc.

800-578-5644, 617-494-0530

VidTech GraphMax P24 2MB

Price: $435

In Brief: This upgradable card includes both standard and VAFC feature connectors for interfacing with the newest video peripherals.

VidTech Microsystems Inc.

800-752-8033, 612-633-6000


Video Accelerators Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC1.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Setup and installation	Software utilities	Image consistency	Performance
	Actix GraphicsEngine Ultra 64-PCI	C	C	B	B
	ATI WinTurbo	B	B	A	B
W	Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM PCI 2MB	A	A	B	A
	ELSA Winner 2000PRO	C	C	A	C
	Genoa Phantom 64	B	C	A	B
	Matrox MGA Impression Plus	A	A	B	C
W	miro miroCrystal 20SV	A	A	A	B
	Orchid Kelvin 64	B	B	A	B
	Spider Tarantula 64 PCI	B	B	B	B
W	STB PowerGraph 64	A	C	A	B
	VideoLogic PCIMovie	B	C	A	C
	VidTech GraphMax P24 2MB	A	C	B	B
•	Setup and installation: Is installation completed through one program or must multiple programs be run? Is the installation Windows or DOS based? How easy is it to specify a monitor and select refresh rates?

•	Software utilities: Can you change resolutions without exiting Windows? Are utilities for zooming and a virtual desktop included? How easy is it to reconfigure the desktop?

•	Image consistency: Are images bright and sharp without flicker throughout? Were fonts or images incorrectly displayed due to driver problems?

•	Performance: Did the application tests complete quickly? Was there any delay in opening windows or toggling between applications?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

THIS IMPRESSIVE GROUP of 64-bit cards clearly established a new standard of performance, far outpacing the previous generations of graphics accelerators. The software utilities offer unparalleled flexibility, allowing you to display images in customized views.

•	The Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM is the leader in performance and usability. It blazed through our tests, recording the best times in three of six applications. Its In Control Tools let you master your environment in every respect, icons make it simple to control power management, establish multiple views, and zoom in on targeted information.

•	The miroCrystal 20SV earns a recommendation for its robust software utilities and flawless installation. The graphics editing utilities take a back seat to none, and the documentation guides you through every feature with detailed description. Video playback was near perfect too; our expanded window played back smoothly without missing frames.

•	The STB PowerGraph 64's low price and great performance make it a value nonpareil. The liftetime warranty and simple installation should appeal to the dollar-conscious, and the performance will please even the most power-hungry.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC2.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Calling All Cards

By: John Gartner

Bulletin board numbers for driver updates

Video drivers have been the undoing of many a system. A well-written driver can accentuate a graphics board's performance or add utility with resolution switching or zooming features. A poor driver can slow down a system or, worse yet, cause intermittent GPFs (General Protection Faults) that will crash your system, threatening your data (or maybe your sanity).

To address these problems, board manufacturers update their drivers frequently. Updates are generally released at least quarterly, and interim fixes are made available weekly, or every few days. Since many vendors do not go out of their way to let you know about these enhancements and fixes (because they also have to absorb the cost of distribution), it's up to you to find out what and where the current drivers are. Companies provide drivers on their bulletin boards and, with increasing frequency, through on-line services, such as CompuServe.

We received updated drivers during our review period from over a third of the vendors, many in response to problems we uncovered. How much can a driver alter performance? Updating the Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM's driver more than doubled the Wintune score and yielded application scores that were up to 40 percent faster. Other updates gave less dramatic performance boosts, but helped prevent system crashes--and that can be even more important.

This lists the bulletin board numbers of all the products that we reviewed. Before you crack open your system to check for problems, check to see whether the software is still current. And before you install new drivers, make sure you make a backup copy of your WINDOWS directory and subdirectories or at least your win.ini and sys.ini files, so that you can reverse any adverse side effects of installing new drivers.

Actix GraphicsEngine Ultra 64-PCI

408-970-3719

ATI WinTurbo

905-764-9404; CompuServe: GO ATITECH

Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM PCI 2MB

408-730-1100, 408-524-9301

ELSA Winner 2000PRO

415-615-5862; CompuServe: GO ELSA

Genoa Phantom 64

408-943-1231; CompuServe: 71333,3543

Matrox MGA Impression Plus

514-685-6008

miro miroCrystal 20SV

415-855-9944

Orchid Kelvin 64

510-683-0327

Spider Tarantula 64 PCI

408-526-1219

STB PowerGraph 64

214-437-9615

VideoLogic PCIMovie

617-494-4960

VidTech GraphMax P24 2MB

612-633-3301


Full-Screen, Full-Motion Video

By: Arthur H. Germain III

Software and hardware combine to give you realistic video.

Graphics accelerators speed up everyday Windows tasks, such as resizing or navigating around the screen, but video accelerators address the particular demands inherent in motion video. Motion video on the desktop is most commonly seen in the form of Microsoft's Video for Windows format, which is found in multimedia presentations and content publishing.

Microsoft's format for recording and playback of audio-video images, .AVI (Audio/Video Interleaved), interleaves video frames with audio data to produce a file that will play back smoothly. Video accelerator hardware should be capable of displaying .AVI files at sizes larger than 160x120 pixels while maintaining a smooth playback. Persistence of vision (the physiological phenomenon by which movies and television appear to produce moving images on the screen) fools you into believing that the images recorded in .AVI files (if they're recorded at 15 or 30 frames per second) are actually moving along smoothly.

Since your ears are more sensitive to jumps or gaps in sound than your eyes are to jumps in visual information, the audio data is interleaved more often than the video data. When skips or frame drops occur during playback of an .AVI file, the audio data gets precedence to provide better continuity to the file.

There are three popular formats for compressing and decompressing .AVI data: Microsoft 1 from Microsoft Corp., Indeo from Intel and CinePak from SuperMac. Each uses a different algorithm to attain the highest possible quality in the smallest possible file size. To view any of these files, you need the appropriate CODEC (COder-DECoder) software, which is the overall manager of video playback.

Deep, deep color

Standard Video for Windows is recorded in 160x120 pixels in 256 colors (8 bits per pixel) at a rate of 15 frames per second. If you work out the numbers, you'll quickly discover that you need a system that can transfer data at a rate of approximately 300 kilobytes per second, the data-transfer rate associated with MPC 2 (double-speed) CD-ROM drives. This limits the video to less than one-fourth of your screen.

To display these files in larger windows and with greater color depths--16-bit and 24-bit, for example--two things must happen: Your hardware has to decompress and process the image into RGB (red, green, blue) data, and it also must interpolate the image data to accommodate the new size. For example, if the original image displays as a 160x120 image, and you want to expand it to fill an 800x600 screen, your hardware and software need to increase both dimensions of the original image by a factor of 5, or 25 times more information.

To achieve this goal, the CODEC software hands off data to the hardware, which then fabricates the missing pieces of data on the basis of the properties of the existing pixels. When the interpolation is complete, you should see smooth playback of the image at the new, expanded size. While most video accelerators are single-function boards, two of the graphics accelerators in this review, the ATI WinTurbo and Video Logic PCIMovie, also support video acceleration. Both cards accelerate video only in high-color and true-color modes.

Compression algorithms aren't new. The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) compression standard for still images uses lossy compression techniques at variable ratios to reduce data-file size without losing an unacceptable amount of image detail.

Squeezing the picture

MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) full-motion video compression routines, such as those used by the Sigma Designs RealMagic playback card ($449; 800-845-8086, 510-770-0100), record changes between frames of data. Rather than storing information about each individual frame, they store only the changed data during recording, and reassemble it during playback. This type of compression and decompression requires special CODECs that few vendors support. Although you can play back the MPEG files on your system, you'd need special encoders to create them.

DCI (Display Control Interface) is a new standard that allows the accelerator hardware to act independently, without making calls to the software, during scaling and displaying operations . Unlike MPEG, DCI uses existing accelerator hardware and new software drivers to speed up video playback.

DCI also uses a hardware-independent method for implementing the necessary color-space conversion from the TV-and-video-standard luminance and chrominance (YUV) color-space to computer standard RGB color-space. By decoding these directly through the hardware, the DCI method speeds up the color-conversion process as well.

Future video accelerators, based on the DCI method, should handle this task with even better results. Hybrid video accelerators that employ both DCI drivers and either software or hardware MPEG CODECs will add more functionality and options for Video for Windows playback.


Three Roads to Motion Video

Dedicated accelerator chips and DCI improve AVI playback

The process for decoding and displaying unaccelerated Video for Windows uses many steps, which creates a Windows display bottleneck. This relatively slow process constrains Video for Windows video clips to postage-stamp-sized displays.

The advent of accelerated video breaks these artificial boundaries by using hardware decompression methods when displaying Video for Windows files. The accelerated video adapter cards assume the last --and most demanding--part of the process, taking on the job of scaling the video. This reliance on the hardware, as opposed to the slower software scaling method, allows the smooth display of full-screen images.

The new DCI standard will allow video accelerator manufacturers to use special video drivers to instruct the hardware to take on many of the tasks generally shared with the Windows display software.

These tasks will be accomplished  much more quickly by using hardware-only methods, and the resulting displays can then be scaled for full-screen playback, and with the benefit of better color and image information.


How to Buy a Sound Card

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

You should always use your ears when shopping for a sound card, but there are other, non-aural considerations--such as software and hardware compatibility. Here's some sound advice.

FIRST CHOICES

1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS/SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY

If you plan to give elaborate presentations, run CD-ROM-based multimedia titles or play sophisticated games, upgrade your PC to at least 8MB of RAM (16MB if possible). You'll need the extra memory because the sampled sound files associated with these types of applications are typically large and are sure to tax system resources. You'll also need magnetically shielded speakers.

Look for a card that is compatible with your software. Most multimedia and game applications support the Sound Blaster and Ad Lib standards. Support for the Sound Blaster standard alone makes a sound card compatible with more than 15,000 software titles.

2. STRICTLY BUSINESS

If you use text-to-speech or voice recognition software, or if you add voice annotations to documents, an FM synthesis sound card will suffice. A microphone for recording voice annotations or commands should be bundled with the card.

An FM synthesis card is also fine for simple presentations, but if fancier performances are in your future, consider a card that is upgradable to wavetable synthesis. This latest technology provides a broader range of sounds than FM synthesis. A number of vendors offer daughtercards that, when snapped in place, upgrade an FM synthesis card to wavetable capability.

For the slickest of presentations, you'll want a card that provides the highest quality sounds possible. Get a DSP-based (digital signal processor) wavetable synthesis card.

Most FM synthesis and wavetable sound cards have sample sounds hard-wired into their synthesizers, and some provide extra memory (or room for memory modules) so you can download additional samples.

3. CD-ROM TITLES/GAMES

High-end presentation packages, CD-ROM titles and games include high-tech sounds. Get a wavetable synthesis card if your plans include any of these applications. If you'll be using a CD-ROM drive, shop for a sound card with an interface that works with your drive. Most sound cards support one or more of the following CD-ROM drive interfaces: SCSI, SCSI-2, Sony, Panasonic, Matsushita, Mitsumi or Aztech. And, if the games you play put you in the driver's seat, look for a card with a joystick port.

4. LET THERE BE MUSIC

To make your sound card the center of a powerful music system, go for broke. Get a DSP-based wavetable synthesis card. A MIDI interface will let you hook external MIDI devices, such as synthesizers, keyboards and guitars, to your sound card. With the help of a sequencer, you'll be able to input and edit sounds using your MIDI instruments and PC. You'll also want a card that comes with RAM (or has room for additional RAM) for downloading samples.

TERMS TO KNOW

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR (DSP): Microprocessors designed to operate on signals, as opposed to other data types. DSPs are multipurpose, and can perform functions such as wavetable synthesis, file compression and the addition of echo effects. Programmable DSPs enable you to add more functionality to the chip.

FM SYNTHESIS: A method of generating sound on the basis of frequency modulation. FM was once the predominant form of sound generation in PC sound cards, but it is being overtaken by wavetable synthesis, especially for games and multimedia.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): A protocol for communication with and control of MIDI-compatible sound devices, such as keyboards and synthesizers. MIDI files don't contain actual recordings of sound. Instead they consist of instructions to be read and interpreted by MIDI devices that actually produce the sound.

MIDI ADAPTER: A hardware interface that allows the PC to communicate with and control external MIDI devices. Not all MIDI-compatible sound cards have this hardware. Some can only play back MIDI files on their built-in synthesizers.

SAMPLE: A digital representation of a sound, recorded with sampling hardware and software, that can be played back or modified.

SEQUENCER: Software that allows you to enter and save music (either with the computer keyboard or a musical keyboard) to be played back by a sound card or synthesizer.

WAVETABLE SYNTHESIS: A method of synthesizing sound based on playing back short samples of actual instruments. Because it uses recordings of actual instruments, wavetable synthesis sounds more realistic than FM synthesis.

SHOPPER'S WORKSHEET

Here's a concise list of the key features to consider when buying a sound card. Determine which ones satisfy your computing needs. Then look for the card that comes closest to providing all of those features within your budget.

TECHNOLOGY

•	FM synthesis

•	FM synthesis, upgradable to wavetable synthesis

•	Wavetable synthesis

•	DSP

•	RAM (or room for RAM modules) for downloading additional samples

SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY

•	Sound Blaster

•	Ad Lib

•	Other

MIDI CAPABILITY

•	Playback files

•	Interface to connect external devices

CD-ROM INTERFACE

•	SCSI

•	SCSI-2

•	Sony

•	Panasonic

•	Matsushita

•	Mitsumi

•	Aztech

•	Creative

•	Other

EXTRAS

•	Joystick port

•	Microphone

•	Speakers


Go Windows Shopping

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

It's that time of year again--time to hit the malls, tune into the home shopping channel and browse those mail-order catalogs in search of holiday gifts for family and friends. Take a deep breath and don't panic. There's an abundance of unique, innovative hardware and software products sure to delight the technology-hungry people in your life. Here's a shopping guide to help you find the perfect gifts.

Get On-line with The Rest of America

America Online paves a pothole-free path to the information superhighway. The on-line service's intuitive interface makes navigation easy, so even travelers on the first leg of their journey won't get lost. Forums include magazines, newspapers, television programs and employment databases. Download software, order plane tickets, send e-mail, access the Internet and chat with other users 24 hours a day. Pay for a year's worth of log-in time, and you'll provide the recipient with hours of fun. $2.95 per hour.  America Online, 800-827-6364, 703-448-8700.

HP Color OmniBook Tops Wish List

Other new toys will go untouched once Hewlett-Packard's 3.8-pound OmniBook 600 color subnotebook is unwrapped. An update of the popular original, this model comes with a 50MHz i486DX2 or a 75MHz i486DX4 processor, a 170MB hard disk (270MB when compressed), and two Type II PCMCIA slots. Its video system boasts an 8.5-inch dual-scan twisted-nematic VGA screen that supports a resolution of 640x480 and boasts local-bus graphics with 1MB of VRAM. From $2,599 (estimated street price). Hewlett-Packard Co., 800-443-1254, 503-715-2004.

Computerize Your Snapshots

Bring photographs into your computer--scan-free. Apple's QuickTake 100 for Windows digital color camera works with both desktop and portable computers. Within seconds, images can be downloaded from the camera into an application such as Adobe Photoshop. A $99 connection kit allows you to use the camera with Macintosh computers. $749. Apple Computer Inc., 800-SOS-APPL, 408-996-1010.

Know It All

Knowledge junkies can get what they crave from the 1995 edition of the New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. One new feature, Pathmakers, contains interviews with luminaries like author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould. The CD-ROM also brings you all 21 volumes of the Academic American Encyclopedia--33,000 articles on a variety of subjects ranging from science to music. Take a multimedia journey through time or tour the human body, for starters. $149.95. Grolier, 800-285-4534, 203-797-3530.

Armchair Golf Course Tour

Golf enthusiasts looking for in-depth information about courses around the country no longer have to settle for printed golf guides. Let Arnold Palmer take them on a multimedia tour of more than 11,500 of the nation's most challenging courses. The American Golf Guide, on CD-ROM, offers more than 500 color photos, score cards, maps, course layouts, and resort and hotel information. It also provides a bird's-eye view of 15 scenic courses with full-motion video clips of helicopter flyovers. $59.95. DataTech Software, 717-652-4344, fax 717-652-3222.

News, Weather and Tunes on Your PC

The Radio Rock-It RDS add-on internal board lets you receive FM-stereo signals and get an on-screen display of text information from stations that support the Radio Broadcast Data System, a new subcarrier FM frequency that transmits data. View the name of the song and artist currently playing, and get the latest news and weather updates. $250 (estimated street price). Advanced Digital Systems, 800-888-5244, 310-926-1928.

Speak Your Mind in Spanish

Viva Espana! According to Bayware, if you use Power Spanish one hour a day, five days a week, you'll be speaking, reading, writing and understanding basic Spanish in six to 10 weeks. The CD-ROM course teaches the language using interactive video and audio clips, animation, games and drills. Power Spanish comes bundled with a copy of Spanish Assistant, MicroTac Software's automated text translation software. $239. Bayware, 800-538-8867, 415-312-0980.

End the CD-ROM Shuffle

Reduce the risk of damaging or losing CD-ROMs and boost your productivity with Pioneer New Media Technologies' DRM family of CD-ROM changers. The drives can read only one disc at a time, but they swap discs more quickly than people can. Pioneer New Media offers double-speed and quad-speed six-disc models, as well as a quad-speed model with three six-disc magazines. From $895. Pioneer New Media Technologies Inc., 800-444-6784, fax 310-952-2990. Circle Inquiry #716

All-Around Sound

Play your favorite game with Vivid 3D and you'll swear sounds are coming from every corner of the room. The external sound device adds a third dimension to the music and sound effects in PC- or cartridge-based software. Vivid 3D attaches directly to your system and requires a sound card and powered speakers. From $79.95. NuReality, 800-501-8086, 714-442-1080.

Stuff for the Movie Buff

If you liked them on the silver screen you'll love them on the computer screen. Cinemania'94 is an interactive movie guide on CD-ROM that features more than 500 movie reviews, 2,700 biographies, the complete list of Academy Award nominees and winners, and more. Full-motion video excerpts from 20 all-time best films, audio excerpts from more than 100 classic movie songs and themes, and the complete text of Roger Ebert's Video Companion are the latest additions. $59.95 (estimated street price). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

Bring Virtual Reality Home

Bring virtual reality into the living room with the MultiMedia Virtual Reality PC. The 486DX2/66-based PC houses a double-speed CD-ROM drive and Creative Labs' Sound Blaster 16 sound card, and ships with CrystalEyes Stereoscopic Eyewear, a 17-inch monitor, speakers and a joystick. The eyeglasses use liquid crystal shutters and an infrared emitter to provide a flicker-free 3-D perspective. $4,995. Real Time Solutions Inc., 718-672-2790, fax 718-672-2513.

Whither Five-Star Italian Cuisine?

Get around town with Middlegate's Taxi software packages, available on diskette or CD-ROM for most major U.S. cities. Taxi pinpoints any address on its detailed city maps, points out convenient routes, and includes hotel and restaurant data from Zagat Surveys. Middlegate offers maps and data for five cities in one diskette package, or on a single CD-ROM. CD-ROM Metroplex package, $59.95; on diskette, $49.95 (estimated street prices). News Electronic Data, 800-HEY-TAXI, 908-735-2555.

No RJ-11? No Problem!

You're back in your hotel room, rarin' to hop on-line and tell the boss you've closed the deal of the decade. But the information superhighway is roadblocked--the hotel management has epoxied the RJ-11 telephone jack to its socket. Don't panic. Just whip out your Konexx Koupler Model 204. The coupler plugs into the telephone-line jack on your modem and straps onto any telephone handset, allowing communications at speeds up to 14.4Kbps. $149. Unlimited Systems Corp., 800-275-6354, 619-622-1400.

Good Things Can Come in Big Boxes

National MicroComputers' Expert-System+ has a 90MHz Pentium processor, a 503MB hard disk, PCI-based graphics and a 15-inch monitor. The system's double-speed CD-ROM drive and 16-bit sound card bring the sights and sounds of multimedia to your desktop. Need we say more? $2,958 (estimated street price). National MicroComputers, 800-800-4NMC, 801-265-3700.

Grand Master of Sound

InterActive Publishing Corp. offers a CD-ROM jam-packed with sound effects at an eye-catching price. The disc combines 1,000 digitally mastered sound effects with searching, playback, recording and editing utilities--for under $40. 1,000 Of the World's Greatest Sound Effects offers .WAV file formats in both 8- and 16-bit samples. Sounds range from roaring tigers to dynamite explosions. Windows and Macintosh version, $39.95; Windows version, $29.95. InterActive Publishing Corp., 800-472-8777, 914-426-0400.

Takes a Licking and Keeps Your Schedule

Now your Timex can do more than just tell the time. The watchmaker has teamed up with Microsoft to produce The Timex Data Link. Just point the wristwatch at your monitor and a sensor "reads'' the data in the form of flashing bars of light, storing your choice of appointments, phone numbers, anniversaries and to-do lists taken from time management software such as Schedule+ or Timex's included PIM. In about 20 seconds, the watch loads up to 70 entries from a computer's time management program. $130. Timex Corp., 800-367-8463, 501-372-1111.

Remember Baseball?

Didn't get enough baseball this strike-shortened season? Microsoft Complete Baseball has a remedy for that on CD-ROM. This multimedia reference takes you back to the ball game with comprehensive details about baseball's history, players, teams, season summaries and statistics. Relive history with images and audio clips of play-by-plays from the good ol' days. An on-line service, the Microsoft Baseball Daily, keeps you up on the latest action. $49.95 (estimated street price). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

Pentium Power Times Two

If one Pentium processor isn't enough for you, take two. Intergraph's TD-4 offers dual 90MHz Pentium processors, making it a dream machine for demanding applications like CAD and CAE. It comes loaded with Windows NT, 32MB of RAM, a 1GB Fast SCSI-2 hard disk, a double-speed CD-ROM, integrated Ethernet, and a three-button mouse. You have a choice of a G91 2-D or a GLZ 3-D graphics accelerator and a single- or dual-screen monitor in 17-, 20-, 21- or 27-inch sizes. $14,450 (with single 21-inch monitor). Intergraph, 800-345-4856, 205-730-5372.

Multimedia Mobility

Multimedia's got legs. Panasonic's V41 notebook computer has an internal, double-speed CD-ROM drive, a 16-bit sound card, and your choice of a 100MHz 486DX4 or 50MHz 486DX2 processor. Weighing in at 8.4 pounds, the notebook comes preloaded with Panasonic's CD Viewer software for the playback of Photo CD and audio discs. The package includes DOS 6.2, Windows 3.11 and a variety of sound utility programs. PCMCIA slots support two Type II cards or one Type III card. You'll get 65,536 colors at a resolution of 640x480 on the 10.4-inch active-matrix screen. From $4,299. Panasonic Personal Computer Co., 800-LAPTOP-5, 011-44-818-99-2245.

It's a Phone and a Fax

The AirCommunicator not only serves as a cellular phone, but also offers data and fax transmission. When connected to your laptop, the AirCommunicator transmits data at 57.6Kbps and faxes at 14.4Kbps. The modem supports V.42bis data compression and both V.42 and MNP-10 error correction. It includes a battery charger, an adapter, a telephone cable, a serial cable and a modular RJ-11 jack. $1,495. Air Communications Inc., 408-749-9883 ext. 0,fax 408-749-8089.

Pager Plugs into PCMCIA Slot

Plug this alphanumeric pager into a Type II PCMCIA slot and you've got a wireless, one-way messaging solution. The PageCard provides a data-transfer rate of 2400 bits per second and has a 2-line by 12-character LCD. Scroll through message headers, read and delete messages, set the scroll speed and turn the audible beep on and off. The appropriate software allows for the seamless forwarding of received messages to groupware applications, such as MS Mail and Schedule+, and to productivity apps, such as Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect. Under $395. Socket Communications, 800-552-3300, 510-774-2700.

Next-Generation Display

You might feel like you're on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise as you sit in front of Sharp's futuristic QD-100MM, a flat-panel display that measures a thin 11 by 12.7 by 2.9 inches. The 10.4-inch TFT (thin film transistor) LCD screen supports up to 16.7 million colors and a maximum resolution of 640x480. It automatically adjusts to different video signals. $8,895. Sharp Electronics Corp., 201-529-8731,fax 201-529-9636.

Fight the Battle of Gettysburg

Fight the battle of Gettysburg your way. Gettysburg, a multimedia battle simulation that re-creates one of the largest military engagements in the history of the western hemisphere, lets you direct the marches, issue orders to cavalry, infantry and artillery, and bombard strongholds with artillery and ammunition. Play General Meade or Lee against a simulator that takes into account variables such as terrain, morale, stamina and ammunition. $69.95. Turner Interactive, 800-294-0022, 802-862-8881.

Office in a Box

It may be slightly bigger than most notebooks, but it's loaded with features. The NoteJet has both a dual-scan passive color screen and a built-in 360x360-dpi BubbleJet printer.  Add a PCMCIA fax modem and you can turn the notebook into a portable fax machine. It has IBM's TrackPoint II pointing device, a 50MHz IBM 486SLC2 processor, 4MB of RAM (expandable to 12MB), and a 130MB or 260MB hard disk. From $3,199 (estimated street price). Canon Computer Systems Inc., 800-848-4123, 714-438-3000.

Big Sound, Little Card

Turtle Beach's Daytona Type I PCMCIA sound card packs 128 General MIDI instruments into 2MB of ROM, and allows you to use any .WAV file as a MIDI instrument. It ships with a bundle of software goodies, including speech recognition and synthesis applications, and utilities for mixing and recording sound. $499. Turtle Beach Systems, 800-645-5640, 717-767-0200.

Old Masters on CD-ROM

Can't get to the National Gallery in London this winter? Take a private tour, via CD-ROM, with Microsoft Art Gallery. Enjoy the collections of Old Master paintings, including works by da Vinci, Michelangelo and Rembrandt.  Art Gallery also offers more than 700 artist biographies, and brings to life elements of composition, perspective and painting technique. $59.95 (estimated street price). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

One Box, Mega Multimedia

Sigma Design's RealMagic Special Edition Multimedia Upgrade Kit is sure to satiate the multimedia lover on your shopping list. The kit comes with Sigma's RealMagic video playback and 16-bit sound card, Pioneer's quadruple-speed six-disc CD-ROM changer, a powerful set of speakers, and 30 CD-ROM titles, including Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia and the movie Top Gun. $2,499. Sigma Design Inc., 800-845-8086, 510-770-0100.

Coax Out the Closet Artist

Unleash your creative side with PenMouse, a small-footprint multifunctional tablet with an active area of 4 by 5 inches. Compatible with Microsoft's Pen Extensions for Windows and IBM's Pen DOS, PenMouse comes with a cordless pen, an electronic tablet and accessories. Fractal Design's Dabbler, a learn-to-draw-and-paint program, comes bundled. This art school inside your computer lets you choose from brushes, pencils, crayons, charcoal, pens and chalk, as well as surfaces and colors. $249. Kurta Corp., 800-445-8782, 602-276-5533.

Two-Fisted Joystick

Climb into the cockpit and take control of your elevators, ailerons, throttle, rudder, and flight and weapon commands with the Phoenix Flight & Weapons Control System. This two-handed joystick offers 24 easy-to-program buttons, and is compatible with all games and flight simulators that support a standard joystick and keyboard controls. Control pitch and yaw, while guiding speed and direction. The system offers both analog and digital throttle and rudder control, plus 46 user-defined button functions. $149.95. Advanced Gravis, 800-663-8558, 604-431-5020.

Surround Yourself with Sound

More than just a sound card, the Pro 3-D creates the illusion that sound is coming from a source outside the speakers by throwing in a surround-sound effect, a technology from SRS Labs. The Pro 3-D sports a wavetable by Korg, a professional synthesizer manufacturer. Bundled software covers all the bases, from MIDI sequencing to voice recognition. MidiSoft provides the mixer and rack system, with customized controls for bass, treble and SRS (surround-sound). The board includes a clip-on lapel microphone and Dragon System's voice recognition engine. $379. Media Vision Inc., 800-845-5870, 510-770-8600.

Rock the House

What you see on your desk of Bose's magnetically shielded Acoustimass Multimedia Speaker System are two tiny speaker enclosures, each with a long-throw 2.5-inch wide-range transducer. What you tuck under your desk is the 8- by 8- by 19-inch bass module, which houses a biamplification system. The system delivers 50 watts to the bass driver and 20 watts to each cube. Active and dynamic equalization provide balanced output at any volume. Volume and room equalization allow you to tailor the sound to your environment. $699. Bose Corp., 800-444-2673, 508-879-7330.

What's Your Type?

More than 2,000 typefaces are locked onto Adobe's CD-ROM, Type On Call 4.0. To get the one you like, simply buy the code to unlock the typeface.  A single face can be purchased for $25 for one platform and $10 for a second platform. Registered users receive at least 35 percent off every purchase of a typeface family and special monthly offers.  A Windows interface lets you select typefaces on-line, then order by phone or fax. Version 4.0 includes the latest version of Adobe Type Manager and 30 typefaces. $99. Adobe Systems Inc., 800-833-6687, 415-961-4400.

Go Wireless

Keep your portable and desktop on speaking terms with the JetEye LT infrared data-transfer device. Just attach one module to your portable's serial port and point it at the receiver on your desktop to establish a connection. You can manually move selected information to or from your portable computer or allow JetEye LT to update your files automatically. If your desktop is attached to a network, you can access networked data, applications and peripherals. $199. Extended Systems, 800-235-7576, 208-322-7575.

ThunderSeat Ace

Hold onto your seat, it's going to be a bumpy ride! The ThunderSeat Ace, a game-simulation chair, rumbles and vibrates in sync to your favorite computer games. You're in the middle of the action as you shoot down enemy fighters, punch out evil-doers, or accelerate to 180 in your virtual Ferrari Testarossa. With a 100-watt subwoofer in its base, ThunderSeat Ace connects to your stereo amplifier and any sound source, such as a sound card or CD player. $159.95 to $773. ThunderSeat Technologies, 800-8-THUNDER, 310-410-0022.


Exit Windows-Dec. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Virtual Partying

If your holiday festivities are more ho-hum than ho-ho-ho, send Visual Technologies your photo and enter the fantasy setting of your choice. Go jet-setting with Bill and Hillary. Take center stage at Carnegie Hall. Visual Technologies will commemorate the "experience" on a screen-saver image you can enjoy all year long. Vistech Screen Saver Slide Show. Each fantasy, $12 (plus $9.95 shipping and handling); Visual Technologies, voice and fax 407-997-8225.

"Not a Creature Was Stirring"

Except for VoiceMouse. Grant someone on your gift list the ability to operate a computer simply by speaking to it. VoiceMouse recognizes the user's voice--and only that voice--and launches apps on command. VoiceMouse, $79.95; Interactive Products Inc., 503-341-4964, fax 503-341-4965.

Click-'n'-Trim

Here's a new spin on the old-fashioned tree-trimming party. Cygnus Support, Mountain View, Calif., has designed an  interactive Christmas tree. Cygnus employees can control the tree's lights, decorations and music from a terminal hooked up to the company's network. Anyone with access to the Internet can view the tree via command finger xmastree@cygnus.com.

They're your friends

But will they stick around for a New Year's Party with lousy beverages? Not to worry. Bartender 2.0 serves up recipes for more than 1,100 beverages. Tell it what ingredients you have on hand, and you'll get a list of all the various drinks you can whip up. Bartender 2.0, $24.95; Datalogic Infosystems Inc., 800-531-3290, 719-263-5532.

1995 Is in the Cards

What does '95 hold in store? Love? Money? A Tom-and-Roseanne reunion? Sneak a peek at the future with Virtual Media Works' Virtual Tarot CD-ROM and included Tarot deck. Virtual Tarot CD-ROM, with deck, $84.95; Virtual Media Works, 408-739-0301, fax 408-739-5551.

Yuletide Karaoke

So, silent nights aren't your thing? With Soft Karaoke 2.0's Christmas Party L.P., Vol. 1, you can belt out those Christmas carols while your computer plays percussion and patiently prompts you with lyrics. At a party or home alone, you couldn't ask for a kinder audience. Soft Karaoke 2.0, Program, $79.95; albums, $24.95 each; TUNE 1000 Corp., 800-363-8863, 418-877-8900.

Smokin' Stocking Stuffers

Obi-Win-Kenobi

Start Windows with the ominous voice of Darth Vader, or sound an alert with a wookie's wail. Comes with 50 sound effects and sentences. The Empire Strikes Back Talking Utility, $19.95; Sound Source Interactive, 805-494-9996, fax 805-495-0016.

Win Wings

Learn how to make 25 different sky slicers. Three-D animated cartoons and sounds guide you in creating your plane. The Greatest Paper Airplanes, $39.95; until December 31, 1994, $29.95; KittyHawk Software Inc., 800-777-5745, 602-622-2200.

If you've seen any offbeat Windows-related tidbit, please send it to us! We'll send you a cool WinMag coffee mug and T-shirt for each item we publish. Send Exit Windows items to Sara Stephens on America Online at SaraSteph.


The Explorer: The PC is going to gobble up everything.

By Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Over the next 10 years--fueled by the popularity of Windows hardware and software--the PC will devour fax machines, copiers and other office equipment. And it will take huge bites out of corporate PBX systems and telephones.

Already, many of you are using your Windows PCs to do things like plan vacations, book airline tickets, catch up on basketball scores, gather and read news, pay bills, educate your children, play music and watch CNN.

The PC will keep doing what it's been doing since its introduction in 1981: making things obsolete. In its short life, this hungry all-purpose machine has consumed the typewriter, the paper memo, the paper organizer, the slide show, the paper accounting ledger, the dictionary, the encyclopedia and other reference books. And good riddance to them.

The next casualty will be the fax machine. Just look how silly it is: We type a letter using word processing software, then print it, moving it from a digital medium to paper. We carry the paper from the printer to the fax machine, which converts the document to electronic information. At the other end, another fax machine puts the information back on paper. Then the recipient often types or scans the information into digital form again. The process is inefficient  and produces low-quality documents at the receiving end.

This year, the general public discovered e-mail and the Internet. People are increasingly using e-mail instead of fax machines for everyday business communications. Those who do fax use fax modems, which are selling like hotcakes. Next year, Windows 95 will sport easy point-and-click desktop faxing. And 10 years from now, the fax machine will be a curiosity at the Smithsonian.

And what about PBX systems and telephones? Smart people have been predicting the dawn of computer telephony for a long time, but it still hasn't taken off. Windows 95 will change that. A flood of applications will let you control your telephone from Windows.

Corporate PBX systems are just like the old mainframe-and-dumb-terminal setup of bygone years. Few of us take advantage of most of the features of our company PBX systems. Imagine if all those features were available on your Windows PC via buttons and menus! Control of PBX software will likely move from a centralized PBX setup to something that resembles a client/server model, just like productivity software did. Most of your telephone's intelligence will exist in your PC, and you'll control it. Incoming calls will bring up a PIM entry on the caller before you even answer the phone. You'll be able to set up your phone to tell callers, "Press 1 to receive our new price list. Press 2 to send a fax.'' And have your PC act on those selections.

Once we get used to controlling phones from our PCs, it's only a matter of time before we plug handsets into our PCs and tell our telephones good-bye.

The PC is eating up occupations as well. Every industry has its own story, but I'm most familiar with publishing. Remember the copyboy? He's been replaced by a Send button. An army of highly skilled artisans--typesetters, paste-up artists and so on--is also obsolete.

Lots of other occupations are ripe for obsolescence over the next 10 years. Take travel agents. With your budget, preferences and schedule in hand, a travel agent searches some databases for the right flights, hotels, tours and rental cars. Ten years from now, a diskette-bound "travel agent'' will be a $14.95 impulse buy at your local CompuEgg USA. It'll learn your requirements and scan the same databases at the speed of light, booking flights and sending you notices of any relevant changes via e-mail.

The ubiquitous Windows PC

What will make all these things possible is the widespread sales and acceptance of PCs (Windows PCs in particular). Next year promises to be a watershed for the Windows PC, helped by three trends.

•	A message from our sponsor: Major PC vendors will battle it out on TV, selling hardware and software like toothpaste and motor oil. PC ads on the idiot box are nothing new, but IBM, Intel and Microsoft plan to spend a whopping $100 million each next year on television advertising. Compaq will spend about $20 million in the first quarter (the company won't divulge ad spending for the rest of the year). This blitz will raise the public's awareness of PCs and stimulate demand, which will result in higher sales and lower prices.

•	The Warp and woof: Previous and current versions of Windows and OS/2 were fine for those of us who like to tweak and tinker, but neither has been ready for the mass market. Next year, consumers will enjoy a real choice of Windows operating systems. Windows 95 will ship in, er, '95. Plug and Play, the Explorer desktop, the Universal Inbox and other warm-and-fuzzy Windows 95 features--if they work as promised--will bring revolutionary ease of use to the desktop.

If Windows 95 doesn't live up to its promise, the new OS/2 Warp, with its 4MB operation, one-button install, Internet connectivity and plentiful applets, will suffice as a Windows operating system for the masses--at least for people who don't need to be networked. In short, we'll still have OS/2 Warp to fall back on if Windows 95 turns out to be a dog (woof!).

•	Cashing in the chips: Intel is going to have to fight harder than ever to maintain its dominance of the CPU market. Compaq, now the number-one PC vendor, announced it would use AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) 486 chips in some of its Prolinea and Deskpro PCs. The company is already shipping Presario systems powered by AMD chips. Digital Equipment Corp. announced in October that it too would use AMD 486 chips in its PCs. AST Research is already using 486 Cyrix chips in its Advantage line. And IBM will also use Cyrix chips. Chips targeted to Intel's Pentium are starting to emerge as well: AMD plans to roll out its Pentium-compatible K5 chip this summer.

The major PC vendors are getting more and more ticked off at Intel because of the company's huge profits on chip sales, its sudden and surprising shifts in strategy, and its competing line of Windows PCs and complete motherboards. They're also fed up with the chip maker's "Intel Inside'' campaign, which minimizes differences between brands just when vendors like Compaq are trying to differentiate themselves. And they've recently discovered that customers don't care what brand of chip is in a system, as long as it's compatible with Windows.

The widespread use of clone chips will put pressure on all chip vendors to drop prices and push for market share. The bottom line is that 486 and Pentium Windows PCs will get very cheap, very soon.

Revolution from below

Another factor that will spur the widespread acceptance of PCs is American culture. Today's kids grow up with computers the way we grew up with television. My son polled his sixth-grade class and discovered that 18 of the 21 students have desktop PCs at home. What really blew me away, though, was the fact that half his classmates carry digital pocket organizers in their backpacks. They use them to keep track of phone numbers, homework assignments and music lessons, and even as calculator replacements.

Children are not only comfortable with personal computing, they're increasingly relying--and probably becoming wholly dependent--upon computers for personal information storage and processing.

Computer culture is a big part of modern American childhood. A new Saturday-morning cartoon on ABC features protagonists, the Guardians, who keep the bad guy and his henchmen from destroying everything. Nothing new, right? Well, the show is called Reboot, and it takes place entirely in computer software.

The bad guy is a virus called Megabyte. The Guardians, intelligent agents designed to fight viruses, live in a virtual-reality city called Mainframe. Everyone communicates via 3-D resizable video windows that appear as needed. Bad guys threaten not to kill but to erase their enemies. And in a recent episode, an ancient software sage tells a young guardian, "There's an old readme file that says--." The point is that kids get these references.

In 10 years, my son, his classmates and a generation of now computer-savvy children will be adults. Having grown up with products and concepts we old folks are just learning about, they'll use Windows 2005 for just about everything. By then, PCs will have eaten our entire offices, and we'll all work at home!

Mike Elgan is the executive editor of WINDOWS Magazine. Reach him on AOL at screen name Melgan.


Dialog Box: They're smart. They're mean.

By: Rich Castagna

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

And they're out to get you. And when they do, you probably won't even know what hit you.

I'm not talking about the latest rage in urban violence. I'm talking about a form of crime far more subtle than getting bopped on the head and having your wallet stolen. It's a corporate terrorism so insidious that, before you even have a chance to react, it can bop your business on the head and take away all your profits.

I'm talking about computer viruses. I know, you've heard all about this stuff before and nothing has ever happened to you and, besides, most viruses are really harmless, right? The truth is none of them is harmless. A virus that makes funny phrases pop up on your screen or random letters drop out of your documents might seem innocuous, but silly stuff can put the brakes on a business just as quickly as serious stuff.

We're about two years removed from Michelangelo, probably the most famous virus scare to date. Michelangelo received the amount of media coverage more often associated with someone like Michael Jackson. At software outlets across the country, the utilities section was suddenly the place to be. And will any PC user ever forget Michelangelo's birthday?

Despite the hoopla, only a few unfortunates saw data disappear when their boot sectors got bombed. The rest of us probably figured that with his birthday come and gone, the old painter was back on his back resurfacing the Sistine ceiling and we were all safe again. I did.

At least I felt safe until a couple of months ago when I got two frantic calls in a week. Both came from software publishers and their messages were the same: "Don't load the program--it has a virus!'' I should point out that the programs were beta versions, not shipping products. Still, both came from reputable companies that take precautions to prevent these things from happening. Despite their efforts, a couple of viruses managed to worm their way into the products.

Granted, I get a lot of software because of my job. Really a lot--probably 100 or more programs a month. And this is the first time in the last year that I got close enough to catch anything. The odds of getting infected software obviously aren't overwhelming. But they are odds, nonetheless, which means it can happen.

I don't know whether the poison programs I received carried the Michelangelo or the Vincent van Gogh or whatever virus, but the incident sure made me reexamine the precautions I take.

Ironically, barely a week later I got a couple of phone calls from representatives of two of the leading antivirus programs. I learned some things that made my boot sector shiver. At last count, there were more than 2,500 known viruses lurking around, and new strains are being cooked up almost daily. There are worms that get inside your programs and destroy the data they use. There are Trojan horses and devilish little viruses called logic bombs with built-in timers set to attack data at a particular time, like when a certain record is deleted from a database.

The list goes on and on, but the thread is unbroken: The object of these two-and-a-half grand gremlins is havoc. And the outlook isn't rosy. Polymorphic viruses can change the way they look over and over again--up to millions of times--in an attempt to befuddle antivirus utilities. The people who write these utilities are, of necessity, always a step behind the invading army. Luckily for us, they're a very small step behind.

The biggest danger is to think it can't happen to you. It can, and industry statistics indicate there's a darn good chance a virus will try to creep into your system.

The second biggest danger is to discount the effects of the so-called nondestructive viruses. Sure, it's no big deal if one of those pesky little critters makes a silly message flash across your screen. But just because a data file isn't trashed or your hard disk dished doesn't mean you haven't been hurt.

Imagine, for instance, a company with a network that has a hundred or so PCs hooked into it. If just one of those workstations gets nipped by one of the not-so-nasty viruses, its data may be okay, but that machine is out of commission until the MIS crew can check it out and eradicate the virus.

So the user of that PC is likely to be less than productive and some of the MISers wll have to neglect other issues to work on this one. No big deal? A good excuse to take a long lunch? But wait--that computer with the critter inside is connected to the network, and another hundred or so computers share the same wires. Are they safe? How about the server?

The hit on your company's productivity is potentially staggering. A virus--even a relatively benign one--can bring business as usual to a grinding halt.

This should be scary, scary enough to make you think that you must provide the best protection possible to guard against viruses.

The enemies are smart--and also serious about sticking around and serving up their special brand of havoc. One of my sources told me about a CD-ROM that's circulating now. It has hundreds of viruses just waiting to be unleashed, along with helpful hints on how to build your own. And not too long ago, a number of virus writers held a convention. I'm not sure how well attended it was, but I did hear that the FBI paid a visit. If the FBI is taking computer viruses seriously, shouldn't you be, too?

I'll hop down off my soapbox now and get back to work. But before I do, I think I'll install Norton Anti-Virus, just to be on the safe side. Maybe ThunderByte, too. While I'm at it, it wouldn't hurt to install McAfee as well--and Central Point has a virus program that'll take only a minute or two to load. Come to think of it, by the time I'm finished, there won't even be room for a virus.

Rich Castagna is the First Impressions editor of WINDOWS Magazine. Have an opinion (or a gripe) about Windows computing that you'd like to share? Send it to Susan Rich on America Online at screen name SusieRich


Programming Windows: Keep Your Program Outta My Face

Keep Your Program Outta My Face

Using the Registry

Adding OLE to Your App

Defining the TCalc Class


Keep Your Program Outta My Face

By: Martin Heller

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Hey, you! Dat's right, you. I got somethin' to say. Keep your program outta my face! Unnerstan'? I don't want it in my path. I don't want it to set my environment variables. I don't want it fillin' up WIN.INI. And I don't want it stickin' its private .DLLs into places they don't belong. Is this comin' through?

Now, if your program stays in its own little directory, we'll get along just fine. It can keep its own little private .INI files there if it wants. Of course, I just might wanna edit the ol' .INI files, so maybe it should put its notes to itself someplace I can't see 'em, like the registry.  Catch my drift?

Whaddaya mean, you don't know how to use the registry? Is that your problem, Bunky? It ain't hard. Even I can do it. Come on, I'll show ya.

First, you need to have a key--a registry key, like HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT \CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping (in Windows NT). This key lets you use your old friends, the private profile functions, to write to the registry instead of an .INI file. As far as I can tell, there's no equivalent key in Windows 95.

Suppose your application uses an .INI file named MYAPP.INI. If you create a subkey MYAPP.INI in the registry under IniFileMapping, any calls that you make to WritePrivateProfileString and GetPrivateProfileString will go to the registry. But don't be a wimp: Real programmers write directly to the registry. In FORTRAN. (Just kidding--we all know that real programmers use assembly language.)

Next, you should think about the information you need to store. Decide whether each piece should be system-wide, like the current installed version of your program, or should apply to each user, like the current window size and position. System-wide information goes under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, which is one of the predefined top-level keys in the registry. Per-user information goes under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, another predefined top-level key. These rules are supposed to apply to all Win32 systems that have a registry. They certainly apply to both Windows NT and Windows 95; Microsoft's Windows Portability Library for the Macintosh doesn't appear to support the registry at all.

Let's look at an example of using the registry directly. When Acme Software Co.'s Rocket software 3.11 installs, it should create keys for itself under both the local machine and the current user (Using the Registry).

Not everybody bothers with the version part of the key, not even Microsoft--but it can be a good idea. The program should create values under these keys, corresponding to the sorts of things that used to go in .INI files. Acme Rocket might want to store a few important data points for the current user, and some general information for itself.

To find one of these values, the Rocket program can optionally enumerate keys and values using RegEnumKey, RegEnumValue and RegQueryInfoKey. It can access keys and values using RegOpenKey and RegQuery

ValueEx. When the application is finished with a key it has created or opened, it should release the key using RegCloseKey. Don't try to close HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_CURRENT_USER or any other standard predefined top-level key--these are always open. The fact that the handles are constants should be a hint.

OLE and the registry

If the Rocket program supports OLE, it should record the extensions it supports, its class IDs, and its verb information for the shell under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Classes.

In fact, OLE relies heavily on the registry. Under Windows 3.1, you did your registration at setup time by creating a registration file and running REGEDIT on it. (Under NT, that would be REGEDT32.) After loading the .REG file, you could modify your LocalServer, InProcServer and InProcHandler keys--the three keys that tell OLE where to find your app when it needs it--using RegOpenKey and RegSetValue. They should contain full path names.

Got it? Register the app's complete path name so you don't need to have your app directory on the system path. (Or else!)

If you don't want to write a .REG file manually, you can save keys in a "hive'' file from the registry with RegSaveKey, and restore them with RegLoadKey, RegReplaceKey or RegRestoreKey. Alternatively, you could create all the OLE keys and set all the values programmatically as we did for the Acme Rocket program, using RegCreateKey and RegSetValueEx. But that isn't usually necessary, because the OLE class libraries take care of the registry for you.

Most OLE apps written with Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) can use COleTemplateServer: UpdateRegistry to add their application information to the registry database, and that's what an OLE app generated with Microsoft's AppExpert will do. Some server applications that need more control can use AfxOleRegisterServerClass instead. But what if you didn't use MFC, perhaps because you prefer using Borland's C++ compiler or its OWL framework?

Happily, Borland has, at long last, added OLE 2.0 support to Borland C++. It appears in version 4.5 and is called OCF (Object Component Framework). Right now, it looks like Borland's OLE support is better than Microsoft's in a couple ways.

First, an OCF app generated with Borland's Application Expert has more functionality than an OLE MFC app generated with Microsoft's MFC AppWizard. Actually, that isn't a big deal--if you search for TODO in your MFC project and you know what you're doing, you can get to roughly the same level of functionality in less than an hour. But it sure is nice, especially when you don't know what you're doing.

Second, Borland offers a way to retrofit existing apps to become OLE apps. This is a much bigger deal to me. You don't have to use OWL at all, and you can even apply this to old apps written in C using the Windows API (if you can make the app compile as C++ and you're able to wrap some classes around your existing code). Making the C-to-C++ conversion can be painful, but it isn't hard--certainly not as hard as trying to write OLE code in C.

What you do in the second method is add some macro code to your source. For example, Adding OLE to Your App demonstrates the sort of code you need to add to your main window procedure to enable OLE. You'll notice that it looks a lot like the information you need to register any OLE app. In my book, that makes it no more complicated than it has to be.

The code in "Adding OLE to Your App'' exposes for OLE automation the methods and properties of the TCalc class (Defining the TCalc Class). You'll notice that macros have been added to both. The AUTODATA and AUTOFUNCxx macros used inside the DECLARE_AUTOCLASS block at the end of the class declaration take care of the type definitions that OLE's ITypeLib interface uses. And the EXPOSE_PROPxx and EXPOSE_METHOD macros, used inside the DEFINE_AUTOCLASS block in the preface to the class instantiation, take care of the method and property definitions that OLE's IClassFactory and IUnknown interfaces use.

ITypeLib? IClassFactory? IUnknown? If you don't know what these mean, you don't know enough about OLE to be dangerous, much less useful. And if you want to write good apps for Windows 95, you gotta know enough about OLE to be useful. Ya got that?


Using the Registry

Use this code to install root  keys for your appliactions

RegCreateKey(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,

"Software\\Acme\\Rocket\\3.11", &hkLocal);

RegCreateKey(HKEY_CURRENT_USER,

"Software\\Acme\\Rocket\\3.11", &hkUser);

And use this code to add values to your keys:

char szName[]="Uma Thurman";

char szPath[]="d:\\acme\\rocket.exe";

RegSetValueEx(hkUser, "RoadRunner Distance", 0,  REG_DWORD, &iDistance, 4);

RegSetValueEx(hkUser, "RoadRunner Direction", 0,  REG_DWORD, &iDirection, 4);

RegSetValueEx(hkUser, "User name", 0, REG_SZ, szName,  lstrlen(szName));

RegSetValueEx(hkLocal, "Path", 0, REG_SZ, szPath,  lstrlen(szPath));


Adding OLE to Your App

The code below uses Borland object component framework registration macros to retrofit an existing application for OLE.

BEGIN_REGISTRATION(AutoAppReg)

REGDATA(clsid,  "{877B6200-7627-101B-B87C-0000C057CE4E}")

REGDATA(progid, APP_NAME ".Application")

REGDATA(description, "@AppName")

REGDATA(cmdline, "/Automation")

REGDATA(typehelp, "@typehelp")

REGDATA(version, "1.0.5")

REGDATA(debugprogid, APP_NAME ".Debug")

REGDATA(debugdesc, "@AppDebug")

REGDATA(debugger, "TDW")

END_REGISTRATION

Here macros are added to the .CPP file to expose for OLE automation the TCalc class methods and properties (declared in "Defining the TCalc Class'' on the following page).

DEFINE_AUTOCLASS(TCalc)

EXPOSE_PROPRW(Opnd, TAutoLong, "Operand",  "@Operand_", HC_TCALC_OPERAND)

EXPOSE_PROPRW_ID(0,Accum,TAutoLong, "!Accumulator",  "@Accumulator_",

HC_TCALC_ACCUMULATOR)

EXPOSE_PROPRW(Op, CalcOps, "Op",  "@Op_", HC_TCALC_OPERATOR)

EXPOSE_METHOD(Eval, TAutoBool, "!Evaluate",  "@Evaluate_", HC_TCALC_EVALUATE)

EXPOSE_METHOD(Clear, TAutoVoid, "!Clear",  "@Clear_", HC_TCALC_CLEAR)

EXPOSE_METHOD(Display, TAutoVoid, "!Display",  "@Display_", HC_TCALC_DISPLAY)

EXPOSE_METHOD(Quit, TAutoVoid, "!Quit", "@Quit_", HC_TCALC_QUIT)

EXPOSE_METHOD(Button, TAutoBool, "!Button", "@Button_", HC_TCALC_BUTTON)

REQUIRED_ARG(TAutoString,"!Key")

EXPOSE_PROPRO(Window, TCalcWindow,"!Window",  "@Window_", HC_TCALC_WINDOW)

EXPOSE_METHOD(LookAt, TAutoLong, "!LookAtWindow", "@LookAtWindow_",

HC_TCALC_LOOKATWINDOW)

REQUIRED_ARG(TCalcWindow,"!Window")

EXPOSE_PROPRO(MyArray, TMyArray, "!Array",  "@Array_", HC_TCALC_ARRAY)

EXPOSE_APPLICATION(TCalc, "!Application", "@Application_", HC_TCALC_APPLICATION)

END_AUTOCLASS(TCalc, "OC_Calculator", "@TCalc", HC_TCALC)


Defining the TCalc Class

The following code declares the methods and properties of the TCalc class, which you need to expose for OLE automation.

class TCalc : public TAutoBase {

public:

TCalc();

void CreateDialog(HINSTANCE hInst, int cmdShow);

void Closed() {Window.hWnd = 0;}

void ShowWindow(int cmdShow);

// automated methods and properties

bool Eval();

void Clear();

void Display();

void Quit();

bool Button(const char far* button);

TCalcWindow& GetWindow() { return Window; }

long LookAtWindow(const TCalcWindow& wnd)

{return wnd.Background;}

int ButtonPush(int button); // not exposed

private:

TCalcWindow Window;

bool Entry;

// automated data members

short Op;

long  Opnd;

long  Accum;

short Elem[COUNT];

DECLARE_AUTOCLASS(TCalc)

AUTODATA (Accum, Accum, long, )

AUTODATA (Opnd, Opnd, long, )

AUTODATA (Op, Op, short,

AUTOVALIDATE(Val>=OP_NONE && Val<=OP_CLEAR))

AUTOFUNC0 (Eval, Eval, bool,)

AUTOFUNC0V(Clear, Clear, )

AUTOFUNC0V(Display, Display, )

AUTOFUNC0V(Quit, Quit, )

AUTOFUNC1 (Button, Button, bool,

TAutoString,)

AUTOFUNC0 (Window, GetWindow,

TAutoObject<TCalcWindow>,)

AUTOFUNC1 (LookAt, LookAtWindow, long,

TAutoObject<const TCalcWindow>,)

AUTODATARO(MyArray, Elem,

TAutoObjectByVal<TMyArray>,)

};

Martin Heller writes, programs and consults in Andover, Mass. You can reach Martin at mheller@bix.com, or care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Networking Windows: Cruise onto the Net With Your Network

Cruise onto the Net With Your Notebook

Location, Location, Location


Cruise onto the Net With Your Notebook

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

After you read this column, you'll be able to take your Windows for Workgroups (WFWG) workstations out for a spin on the information superhighway--if you can find it. This may sound blasphemous, but the superhighway is fictitious. The term was invented solely for political purposes. What does exist is the Internet.

An internet is a connection between networks; capitalize the I and the word refers to an international system that connects thousands of hosts and clients. It's a fuzzy entity, more like a system of roads (big, small, under construction and washed out) than any sort of superhighway.

Nonetheless, the Internet is an amazing resource. The amount of information and the available bandwidth out there are impressive.

In fact, you'll find that most of what you do today using expensive, pay-per-minute dial-up services can be accomplished using resources available to you on the Internet. I'll explain how you can do just that, using Microsoft's newly released 32-bit WinSock-compliant TCP/IP client software.

Speaking the same language

The language the Internet speaks is called Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, TCP/IP for short (or just plain IP). The first part, TCP, consists of a set of rules for controlling the movement of data. The second part, IP, provides a set of utilities for interacting with data. TCP/IP is what makes the Internet so successful, because you can use TCP/IP networking with just about any computer worth using (and even some that aren't).

Microsoft's new client software gets your WFWG machines talking TCP/IP. The software is available as a free upgrade to Windows for Workgroups. The best place to get it, somewhat paradoxically, is on Microsoft's FTP (file-transfer protocol) server. This is an NT machine on the Internet, which provides anonymous FTP access to files that Microsoft intends for public distribution. FTP is a standard Internet service, and an FTP client is included in the client software package.

If you can access Internet FTP, you'll find the software on ftp.microsoft.com in the /peropsys/windows/public/tcpip directory. The file is a self-extracting archive called TCPIP32.EXE. (Note the forward slashes in the directory path: This is a UNIX convention, and UNIX is basically the operating system of the Internet. You'll find that utilities such as FTP will use UNIX commands and conventions even though the host operating system is not UNIX.) Because TCPIP32.EXE is a binary executable, you'll need to type bin at the prompt when you're using FTP to ensure that the file transfer will be in a binary format.

If you're not able to use FTP, you can download the software from Microsoft's forum on CompuServe (GO MSL), Microsoft's BBS (206-936-MSDL, 905-507-3022) or from GEnie. There the file is called WFWT32.EXE. Your only cost will be the connect time. Alternatively, you can get the software from Microsoft ($45; 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080).

Installing the TCP/IP software

It's really a breeze to install the new TCP/IP software. First, create a temporary directory and run the self-extracting archive in it. Then, just like any other network protocol, install TCP/IP using Setup's Network Setup dialog box. To access the dialog box directly, you can do one of two things: Either find the Network Setup icon that the Windows for Workgroups default installation places in Program Manager's Network group, or type WINSETUP /Z at any Run prompt.

When the Network Setup dialog box appears, click on the Drivers button at the bottom, then click on the Add Protocol button in the Network Drivers box. Choose Unlisted or Updated Protocol and point Setup to the temporary directory that contains the new software. Setup is looking for the OEMSETUP.INF file, which contains the instructions for installing the software. Setup will do its thing and complete the installation. But you're not finished quite yet.

After the installation is complete, Setup will return you to the Network Drivers dialog box. Highlight the new protocol (Microsoft TCP/IP-32 3.11), then click on the Setup button and the Microsoft TCP/IP Configuration dialog box will appear. You'll need to choose your settings carefully here, so it's important to understand what IP addresses and subnet masks are. If you're not familiar with these terms, see Location, Location, Location. Your Internet provider will get you an official IP address and subnet mask. (An Internet provider is the service you use to access the Internet. Or, it could be your in-house IT staff, if your company has already established an Internet presence.) The Internet provider will also help you fill in the dialog box's DNS (Domain Name Server) information. If you don't have an Internet provider, user groups are great places to find out about reliable ones. The access you'll get from an Internet provider can come in a variety of forms. Full-time Internet connections vary from dedicated modems on each end to T3 connections, the equivalent of hundreds of 14.4-kilobit-per-second modems. As you might expect, the cost varies too.

If you don't intend to put your network on the Internet (in other words, if you plan to use IP only internally), you could forgo the Internet provider and invent the numbers yourself, but it's not a good idea. If, after setting up your entire network with invented addresses, you decide to make that connection to the outside world, replacing the addresses will take a lot of work. Any Internet provider can help you register a domain (an identity for your network) even if you're not going to use it in the world immediately.

At the top of the dialog box in which you enter your IP address information, you'll see a check box labeled Enable Automatic DHCP Configuration. This label is somewhat redundant, because DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. If your operating system supports it (for example, if you're running Windows NT 3.5), using DHCP will spare you a lot of work.

Because IP uses subnets, it's not enough for you to use the Ethernet card's unique address, the way that NetWare and WFWG do. Not only is an IP address unique, it also carries information about where the information came from, and where it should go back to. So each workstation actually needs a specific address that will work on the Internet.

Without DHCP, you would have to configure each workstation manually. DHCP automatically assigns IP addresses to workstations on your network as they're requested. These temporary assignments are referred to as leases. When the lease expires, the address is returned to the available pool.

Using the Internet

Now that you've got your Internet connection and you've configured your workstation, what can you do with it? The client software package includes two useful Internet utilities: FTP and Telnet. FTP transfers files from one machine to another, and anonymous FTP (connecting to an FTP server as user anonymous) is the way most traffic moves on the Internet. The Telnet utility is a special terminal emulator that allows you to log into a remote machine over the Internet. This is the primary method used to access host-based resources on the Internet.

You're not limited to these utilities, though. The TCP/IP client software is WinSock compliant, which means it provides a standard interface for third-party utilities. There are quite a few: All the Internet services--WWW (World-Wide Web), IRC (Internet Relay Chat), Gopher, Archie, Net News and so on--offer commercial, shareware or free WinSock-compliant client software. You'll be surprised at how transparent using these utilities will seem once you've laid the groundwork. With a WinSock-compliant protocol stack running on your workstation, it's simply a matter of starting any compatible utility and using it.

Plan carefully

Given the nature of TCP/IP, careful planning is required to avoid subnet and addressing difficulties. If you have five or 10 workstations to deal with, it's not a big concern. But if you intend to put 100 or 1,000 workstations on the Internet, you'll need to be sure that you choose an addressing scheme that matches your needs. This is one reason to build a good relationship with an Internet provider. The provider will be your expert at the network level, offering experience and advice that will save you time and trouble. But it's possible that the provider's expertise will be limited to UNIX, so you'll have to become your own expert on WFWG configuration. See you on the Net!


Location, Location, Location

If your networking experience comes from NetWare and Windows for Workgroups, you haven't had to give much consideration to network addresses. All the nastiness of addressing and routing is handled invisibly for you. TCP/IP is not as kind. In order to configure your network for TCP/IP, you need to know about IP addresses and subnet masks.

An IP address (the first number in the Microsoft TCP/IP Configuration dialog box, shown above) is a 32-bit address that's assigned to each computer on a TCP/IP network. The address is written in decimal notation as four separate bytes, and each byte is a decimal number between 0 and 255. For example, an IP address might be 192.207.21.111. Depending on the class of address, you can use the first through third bytes to denote your network address, and the second through fourth bytes to denote your host address.

The second number in the Microsoft TCP/IP Configuration dialog box is called the subnet mask. Subnetting is a technique the Internet uses to ensure that all the traffic on every network connected to the Internet doesn't go to every other network. After all, just because your network is connected to the Internet doesn't mean that a packet containing a piece of a spreadsheet you're using on your own server should also appear everywhere else in the world--or even everywhere else in your office. This traffic directing is handled by the subnet mask.

Your own Traffic Cop

The subnet mask indicates which traffic your workstation should pay attention to, and which traffic your gateway should move off your local net. Subnet masks are specified exactly like IP addresses. They represent all the possible addresses on your local network, and are used to determine mathematically if traffic belongs there. For example, the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 tells the workstation to look only at traffic that has the same first three bytes. So, for workstation 192.207.21.111, all traffic that doesn't have 192.207.21 as the first three bytes of the address will be ignored.

Subnet masks are critical: An incorrect subnet mask will prevent an otherwise perfect IP network from working. Note that the numbers in a subnet mask need not be all (0) or nothing (255)--subnets can be anything in multiples of eight. For instance, your subnet mask might be 255.255.255.128.

You can get an official IP address and subnet mask from an Internet provider (an organization that gives you access to the Internet).

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration Inc., an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. Contact Jeffrey care of Editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Power Windows: Find the Right Path For Hardware Upgrades

Find The Right Path For Hardware Upgrades

IRQs You Can Use

Any Port in a Storm?


Find The Right Path For Hardware Upgrades

By: Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

To navigate your way through a hardware upgrade, all you have to do is find the paths less traveled. Just pack a screwdriver, and I'll provide you with a road map for finding those underutilized data pathways and safe I/O ports.

Most hardware upgrades require you to install one or more adapter cards. These are circuit boards that plug into your computer's 8- or 16-bit expansion slots. The circuitry on these cards enables your computer to perform new tricks. Sound cards let your computer talk, sing or play the piano. A SCSI adapter allows access to a CD-ROM drive, a SCSI scanner or a SCSI hard disk. And a network card permits the sharing of data and printers with other computers.

There are two steps to installing an adapter card. First you have to plug the cards into their sockets, which requires only a screwdriver and a firm hand. Next you have to configure the cards so they can communicate with the rest of the computer. To do this, you have to know which paths your current computer configuration is using and which paths are free. We'll figure that out by looking at each type of data pathway individually.

Swapping secrets

Ever wonder what happens to an adapter card after you plug it in? The card doesn't appear to be active. But you know that, somehow, it's busily sharing secrets across the wires with the rest of your computer. It does this via IRQ (interrupt request) lines, DMA (direct memory access) channels and I/O (input/output) ports, the different communications pathways that connect your adapter card to your PC.

Most adapter cards need one or more of these pathways. Some cards even require several paths of the same type. Older cards required you to move jumpers or set switches to designate which of the computer's limited supply of data pathways the cards should use. Newer, jumperless boards receive their assignments electronically from drivers or other software.

The exact number and types of paths needed vary from card to card. But whatever paths a card travels, it travels alone. Each IRQ, DMA channel and I/O port a card uses must be set aside for that card's exclusive use. And this fact gets us to the nub of adapter card configuration problems: How do you provide a card the facilities it needs, without any conflict (inadvertent sharing of pathways) between cards?

Getting your computer's attention

A signal sent along an IRQ line causes the computer to drop what it's doing and immediately respond to the needs of the card. Usually, the computer responds by communicating with the card using one of the other pathways (DMA channels or I/O ports).

Your computer comes equipped with 16 of these IRQ lines. Because most adapter cards use a maximum of one line, you might think you have a lifetime supply. Unfortunately, IRQs are one of the scarcest of your computer's resources.

The reason is simple: Many of your computer's 16 IRQ lines are already spoken for by circuits on the motherboard, or by common add-ons such as serial ports, a keyboard, and floppy disk drives. Of the remaining lines, most are available only to 16-bit adapter cards (IRQs You Can Use). Six of the original 16 IRQ lines are never available for assignment to new adapter cards, and two others are available only if the device they're normally assigned to is not installed.

The good news is that three IRQ lines are often available, and five are always available (if you haven't already given them away).

Most of the IRQ lines that are always available have no normal use. They were provided by the PC's designers solely for add-in adapter cards. But two IRQs that are often available (IRQs 5 and 7) are assigned to parallel printer ports LPT1 and LPT2. How can they be available if they've already been assigned?

The answer is that under Windows and DOS, printer ports don't actually use IRQ lines. The port circuit's IRQ signaling capability, if present, is not activated by the operating system. As a result, on most PCs, these IRQs are available for assignment to new adapter cards. However, some third-party print spoolers use the IRQs assigned to the parallel port, so be careful if you're using a print spooler.

One other IRQ that warrants explanation is IRQ 14. It's supposed to be reserved for hard disk controllers, but most controllers (specifically IDE controllers) don't use an IRQ line. Many SCSI controllers do use this IRQ, though, apparently on the theory that you might have a hard disk attached to the SCSI bus. Consequently, IRQ 14 is often, but not always, available.

So, when you're installing a new card, which IRQs should you assign first? If you're installing a 16-bit card, start with IRQs 10 to 13 and IRQ 15. These IRQs have no normal use, so they should always be available (unless they've already been assigned to an adapter card).

When you install an 8-bit card, on the other hand, you'll have to dip into the shallow pool of lower-numbered IRQs in the 0 to 7 range, because these are the only IRQ lines connected to the socket that 8-bit cards use. Of these, only IRQs 5 and 7 are usually available.

Choosing I/O ports carefully

I/O ports are designed to carry large amounts of data between an adapter card and your computer's CPU. A single port can carry either 8 or 16 bits of information at a time, depending on the adapter and the software that talks to the port.

At first glance, it might seem your computer has a plethora of ports. It does come equipped with 4,096 I/O ports--more than you'd think you'd ever need. But although it's true that the supply of I/O ports is usually ample, the actual number of usable ports is quite a bit lower.

First, many of your computer's I/O ports are already in use before you even insert your first adapter card. The chips on the motherboard have to communicate with the CPU somehow, and many of them use I/O ports to do so. Second, most adapter cards don't use a single port. Instead, they reserve whole blocks of ports (often containing 8 or 16 individual ports). Finally, because of the design of the original PC, most computers and adapter cards can't use ports numbered higher than 3FFh (1,023). If ports above this number are used, the information sent through them gets confused with data sent through lower-numbered ports, and the result is chaos.

Any Port in a Storm?, shows the I/O ports that are readily available, meaning they're not normally used by motherboard circuitry or by the adapter cards found in most PCs (serial ports, video boards, disk controllers and so on). I've excluded small groups (less than 16) of consecutive ports. All together, there are 496 readily available I/O ports--more than enough for most situations.

Channeling data transfer

Like I/O ports, DMA channels allow the transfer of large amounts of data. Depending on the adapter card and its software, DMA channels can transfer either 8 or 16 bits at a time. Unlike I/O ports, DMA channels don't communicate with the CPU. Instead, they transfer data directly to and from your computer's RAM.

Although your computer comes equipped with only eight DMA channels (numbered 0 through 7), these are almost always sufficient. Only two channels--2 and 4--are normally in use (2 transfers data between the floppy disk drive controller and RAM; 4 is used by motherboard circuitry). That leaves six channels available for new boards. DMA channels aren't in great demand either: The majority of adapter boards use only one, if any. Most of the channels are used by boards that need to access large amounts of data quickly, such as sound boards. IDE hard disk controllers don't rely on DMA (they transfer data using I/O ports), but many SCSI adapters do.

Doing detective work

If you've kept careful records throughout your PC's life, you probably already know which IRQs, I/O ports and DMA channels are in use. But if you're like most of us, you never think about these things until it's time to add the next card.

Unless you've saved your old computer and adapter card documentation, it can be tough to decipher the switch and jumper settings that reveal the pathways in use. Fortunately, a couple of programs can do some of the sleuthing for you.

One such program, MSD (Microsoft System Diagnostics), comes with both Windows and DOS. You should find it in your DOS directory, your WINDOWS directory, or both. When you run MSD, it automatically scans your computer hardware and determines how it's configured. MSD can tell you a lot about your computer, but it has a limited ability to identify which IRQs, I/O ports and

DMA channels are in use. The program completely ignores I/O ports and DMA channels, and often misses IRQs assigned to uncommon devices, such as network cards and sound boards.

A better program is Touchstone's Setup Advisor ($29.95; 800-531-0450, 714-969-7746). Although it can't detect which DMA channels are in use either, it does identify active I/O ports and IRQ lines. Setup Advisor also tells you the requirements and configuration options of 175 common adapter cards. If asked, the program will recommend adapter card settings that avoid conflicts with your existing hardware. One other benefit is that Setup Advisor can detect and recommend assignments of memory addresses (for data transfers and ROMs).

Plug and Play is on the way

MSD and Setup Advisor are a big help, but installing adapter cards is still quite a bit more complicated than it ought to be. If computers are such smart, labor-saving devices, why can't they do most or all of the work for you?

Well, thanks to a lot of hard work by engineers at Microsoft, Intel and various adapter card and peripheral developers, installing adapter cards should soon be as easy as making toast. Just pop in a card and your computer will automatically detect and configure the card. This marvel goes by the name of Plug and Play, and it will be making its debut in the upcoming release of Windows 95.


IRQs You Can Use

IRQ (interrupt request) lines are some of the scarcest of your computer's resources

Most adapter cards need only one IRQ line, but that can be hard to come by. Of the 16 IRQ lines your computer comes with, only five are always available, and only three are often available. The remaining lines are already spoken for by circuits on the motherboard or by common add-ons like serial ports, keyboards and floppy disk drives. Here are the specific assignments of each IRQ:

IRQ : 0

Availability : Never

Normal Use: System timer (signals timer tick (18.2Hz))

IRQ : 1

Availability : Never

Normal Use: Keyboard (signals keystrokes)

IRQ : 2

Availability : Never

Normal Use: VGA vertical refresh, chain to second  PIC (8259)

IRQ : 3

Availability : Seldom

Normal Use: COM2

IRQ : 4

Availability : Seldom

Normal Use: COM1

IRQ : 5

Availability : Often

Normal Use: LPT2

IRQ : 6

Availability :Never

Normal Use: Floppy disk drive controller

IRQ : 7

Availability : Often

Normal Use: LPT1

IRQ : 8

Availability : Never

Normal Use: Real-time clock (1kHz)

IRQ : 9

Availability : Never

Normal Use: Redirected to IRQ2

IRQ : 10

Availability : Always

Normal Use: None

IRQ : 11

Availability : Always

Normal Use: None

IRQ : 12

Availability : Always

Normal Use: None

IRQ : 13

Availability : Always

Normal Use: None

IRQ : 14

Availability : Often

Normal Use: Some controllers, mostly SCSI

IRQ : 15

Availability : Always

Normal Use: None


Any Port in a Storm?

When you configure an adapter card, you need to select the I/O port carefully.

Before you even insert your first adapter card, most of your computer's 4,096 I/O ports are already in use. But the 496 that are readily available are more than enough for most situations. Here's where to find them:

Range: 0E0h to 0EFh

Available Ports: 16

Range: 110h to 1EFh

Available Ports: 224

Range: 220h to 26Fh

Available Ports: 80

Range: 280h to 2AFh

Available Ports: 48

Range: 300h to 36Fh

Available Ports: 112

Range: 3E0h to 3EFh

Available Ports: 16

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing, 1994), a nonprogrammer's introduction to VBA. Reach Karen at screen name WinMag1 on America Online.


Getting Started: Get That Demon Up to Speed

By: Jonathan Blackwood

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Now is a great time to buy a new computer. Prices have never been lower, and the new machines incorporate cutting-edge technology. They also typically come bundled with multimedia and all the software you'll need. But what do you do when you get that glorious new 486 or Pentium screamer, only to find that it moves at a crawl?

If this describes your new machine, chances are it arrived from the factory configured incorrectly. Sure, you can call technical support. But if you find yourself cooling your heels (and getting hot under the collar) waiting for a callback from themanufacturer, there are a number of things you can check on your own. This month's questions are about problems common to new systems, and the answers explain what you can do when there's trouble in paradise.

Q: I bought a new PC recently, and it's fast. I love the system, but I keep getting General Protection Faults when I run Excel. When I tell Windows to close Excel, it tells me the fault lies in module STLTH64.DRV. Is there anything I can do?

A: Yes. The problem you describe is caused by an outdated video driver, in this case for your Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM PCI adapter. This problem is not confined to any one card or manufacturer, and it can happen with an old or new system. The good news is that it's easily fixed. For example, we recently ran into this very problem in our Pentium roundup ("Screaming Pentiums,'' November), and traced it to revision 1.03 of the Diamond Stealth VRAM drivers. Upgrading to revision 1.06 fixed the problem.

The not-so-good news is there are so many system and peripheral manufacturers out there, and so many software publishers, that it's impossible for video adapter manufacturers to test their software drivers with every conceivable combination of hardware and software.

Then there's the problem of the distribution chain: Video adapters are already in the channel when many of these "bugs'' are found. Indeed, that's often when the manufacturers become aware of conflicts.

Video card manufacturers relentlessly upgrade their drivers, but they can't recall all the software, especially because many users neglect to register their purchases. So manufacturers usually have areas on the on-line services (such as America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy and GEnie) where you can find the most recent revisions of their drivers, or individual bulletin boards from which you can download the drivers.

Q: When I powered on my brand-new Pentium system, it couldn't find the boot disk. I discovered by accident that giving it the three-finger salute (Ctrl+Alt+Del) solved that problem, but then the hard disk turned out to have only 528MB, when it's supposed to be an 800MB hard disk. What gives?

A: As annoying as the problem is, the solution is quite simple. Your Pentium has an Enhanced IDE (integrated drive electronics) disk controller, which offers major improvements over earlier IDE controllers. Enhanced IDE is comparable in performance to SCSI-2, meaning it supports up to four devices, including new CD-ROM drives and tape backup drives. It can also handle drives with capacities up to 8.4GB, and it transfers data at a rate of up to 13 megabytes per second.

The trouble with a fast processor is that it may boot too fast for the new, larger hard disks to spin up to operating speed. A "boot disk not found'' error is the result. Your machine was able to find the drive when you did a warm reboot (as opposed to turning the machine off and back on, which is a cold reboot), because by then the drive was up to full spin.

The incredible-shrinking-disk problem is also related to Enhanced IDE. The original IDE specification supported drives only up to 528MB. So, if your system is configured for ordinary IDE instead of Enhanced IDE, the system's BIOS will be able to "see'' only the first 528MB.

To get the machine running right, you need to access your system's Setup routine. This is the place where you tell the BIOS exactly how your machine is configured. For example, if you add a second hard disk, you'll need to go into your system's Setup routine to tell it the second drive exists, and what type of drive it is. Many BIOSs flash a message on boot-up that explains how to access Setup. Others put you into the Setup routine by a combination of keystrokes, such as Ctrl+Alt+Esc. Check the manual for your system if you're unclear about how to get into Setup.

Once you're in Setup, look first for a Boot Disk Predelay setting. It's probably configured to 0 or to a very small interval, such as 1 or 2 seconds. Try setting the delay to 6 seconds. Next, look for the Enhanced IDE setting. Change it from Disabled to Enabled, then choose Exit/Save Settings. To make sure your system can now boot properly, turn it off, wait a few seconds for the disk to spin down, and then turn it back on. When it boots, your system should recognize the entire capacity of the hard disk. If it doesn't, chances are the disk was improperly partitioned and formatted. Run the FDISK utility on your DOS disks to repartition them (but be sure to back up your files first).

Q: My new system came equipped with a double-speed CD-ROM drive. I'd always heard that CD-ROM drives can be pretty slow, but I thought double-speed drives had solved that problem. So why is it that my drive seems to crawl? Could there be something wrong with it?

A: Don't be discouraged. It's true that CD-ROM drives have sped up considerably, but they're still not as fast as conventional hard disks. Because CD-ROM technology was borrowed from audio CDs, much of the design of CD-ROM drives is not optimal for computers. The principal advantages of CD-ROMs are their large capacity, convenience and durability. So you shouldn't expect too much in the way of speed.

There is something you can try that may speed up your drive, though. Most of the double-speed and faster CD-ROM drives come with on-board hardware caches to speed data throughput. These caches range in size from 256KB to 1MB. If you've configured SmartDrive (or any other disk cache you may be using) to cache the CD-ROM drive when it already has a hardware cache, you can actually slow the rate of data throughput. To disable CD-ROM caching, open your AUTOEXEC.BAT file using a text editor such as SysEdit. Then add the /U switch to the line that invokes SmartDrive.

Jonathan Blackwood is associate First Impressions editor of WINDOWS Magazine. Send questions and comments to Jonathan at screen name JonathanB2 on America Online


Superior Shareware: Dec. 1994

Recommended downloads from America Online (Keyword: WinMag), CompuServe (GO WINUSER) and the Internet (at ftp.cica.indiana.edu in pub/pc/win3/upload) Compiled by Julie R. Blumenfeld

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Almanac 3.5 This PIM has configurable windows for your phone book, and a daily schedule, to-do list, calendar and notebook. Almanac provides you with sunrise/sunset times, moon phases for your location, and Gregorian or Hebrew calendars. A search tool and reminder alarms are included.

$39.95

Impact Software

ALM35.ZIP, 388,756 bytes

DiskMan 3.0 Catalog the contents of hard disks, diskettes and Bernoulli drives with DiskMan. This utility lets you create virtual storage boxes, and add programs and disks for cataloging. Intuitive labels contain disk names and the names of individual files. You can also search, print reports and configure labels.

$35

DiskMaster Software

DSKMFW.ZIP, 360,746 bytes

Free Disk Space 2.0 Squeezed for hard disk space? This utility monitors all types of drives, including network, CD-ROM, RAM, Stacker and DoubleSpace, and tells you how much space you have to spare. Windows and DOS versions are in one executable file; both have graphical and textual displays.

$15

Mark Hamilton

WDFS.ZIP, 114,414 bytes

requires CTL3D.DLL

Issue Manager 1.2 More than just a to-do list, this utility is an issue/problem tracking system. You can track action items and issues until closure with reminders and notes. Issue Manager has predefined and configurable status types (open, pending) and full or custom installation--even on a network.

$49.95

Winnovation

ISSUMN.ZIP , 277,972 bytes

Network Email 3.21 Who says nothing's for nothing? This e-mail app, which works with any network, has all the basic features of pricey e-mail packages, but it's free. You can send and archive messages, attach files and send to distribution lists. A pop-up dialog box notifies you of new mail.

Freeware

Ivory Tower Software

EMAIL.ZIP , 74,579 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

Visual File Manager Miss your Mac? Visual File Manager replaces FileMan and ProgMan with a Macintosh Finder-like app. Mac features, such as colored labels for files and aliases, are included, as well as a configurable Pear menu option that gives you access to frequently used applications and files.

$20

Tuesday Software

VISUFIL.ZIP, 68,605 bytes

Visual Folders 1.0 Don't waste time launching and relaunching apps. Visual Folders uses OLE 2.0 to view and take snapshots of your files. You can organize the files in folders, then click on a folder, and the snapshots will be restored. The utility also supports editing, printing and e-mail.

$19.95

InfoStructs Corp.

VISFLD.ZIP, 221,456 bytes

requires OLE2.DLL

Win Manager 4.1 This file management utility lets you run apps and commands, and view file trees by file type, such as .EXE or .COM. Features include edit, delete, rename, view and about. Win Manager also displays free memory and resources, and allows you to jump to DOS or restart Windows.

$10

G.L. Liadis Software Inc.

MANAGE.ZIP,  53,512 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

WinUpD8R 4.0 Here's a helping hand for managing file versions on multiple PCs. This utility updates files using diskettes (or other types of removable media) as links between computers, and provides backup in the process. You don't need cables or modem transfers to use WinUpD8R.

$29.95

Open Windows

UPD8R4.ZIP, 266,715 bytes

Your File Cabinet 1.30 This program provides you with a desktop file cabinet in which you can neatly store your apps. The main folder has three subfolders, each with 15 buttons you can configure. Your File Cabinet also comes with 18 buttons configured for Windows applets and a text editor.

$30

Michael Grice

FILCAB.ZIP, 447,050 bytes


R&R: Resources and Recreation-Dec. 1994

R&R: Resources and Recreation

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

HOT PICKS

Stars in Your Eyes

Even if you're not among those who read Playboy "just for the articles,'' you'll find hours of fascinating reading in The Playboy Interviews: 3 Decades. This CD-ROM collection celebrates the magazine's features from 1962 to 1992. It covers a remarkable array of political and cultural icons, ranging from Miles Davis to Sharon Stone, Fidel Castro to the Beatles. An intuitive visual interface guides you through the full text of 352 interviews, supplemented with several audio clips and more than 1,000 photos. You can browse through particularly poignant quotes that have been arranged into groups, including the Meaning of Life, Civil Rights or Eros, Etc. (well, it is Playboy). --Ian Etra

$59.95; IBM Multimedia Publishing Studio, 800-898-8842, 615-793-5090.

An Apple a Day

The Complete Guide to Prescription & Non-Prescription Drugs outlines essential information on specific drugs in a clear, easily followed format. The program comes with a medical glossary and a simple, concise emergency firstaid outline for overdoses or severe reactions. When using any health-care program of this kind, remember that not all the information is current. For example, updated warnings or side effects, such as the potentially lethal interaction of Seldane and erythromycin (a common antibiotic) noted one year ago, have not yet been added. Still, when used with your doctor's advice, this program can help you take your medicine wisely. --Kate Bolton, M.D.

CD-ROM, $59.95; diskette, $49.95; Great Bear Technology, 800-795-4325, 510-631-1600.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

If you want to warm up a frosty winter, 3D Landscape may be just what you need. With a library of more than 400 plants and grasses, a database of information on topics like plant maintenance, and tools that help you plan details right down to the irrigation system, 3D Landscape will turn any thumb green. The CD-ROM (it's also available on diskette) provides an extensive listing of phone numbers for information and an estimator that prints out lists of materials with projected costs. It's too bad 3D Landscape can't dig the holes and roll the sod. Otherwise, it's virtually complete. --Jim Forbes

$50 (estimated street price); Books That Work, 800-242-4546, 415-843-4400.

AT YOUR LEISURE

Bombs Away

Blown Away is the CD-ROM sequel to the popular action movie of the same name. As Jimmy Dove, retired member of the Boston bomb squad, you must rescue friends and family from the clutches of a vindictive bomber. You are faced with 22 puzzles set into detailed 3-D environments, interspersed with full-screen, live-action video clips. Solve the puzzles in the allotted time, or risk setting off booby traps that will destroy everything you hold dear. No pressure. --Ian Etra

$49 to $59 (estimated street price); IVI Publishing, 800-432-1332, 612-996-6000.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Debug Your Workday

Okay, so maybe you're not a programmer. That doesn't matter. Debugging the Development Process has an anecdote, management strategy or pithy quote for you. Author Steve Maguire helps you organize your workday and proves that writing good code is like running a good coffee shop (really, it all makes sense). He also explains how to cut down on those 80-hour work weeks that seem to become normal practice in the life of a programmer--and lots of other hard workers, for that matter. --Donna Tapellini

$24.95; Microsoft Press, 800-677-7377,  615-793-5090.


Hot-Shot Modems

Modems

How We Tested

Info Files

Hot-Shot Modems Table

Report Card

The Next Modem Generation


Modems

By:  John J. Yacono, Technical Editor

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

IN THIS COMPARISON

BOCA RESEARCH MV28KE

HAYES ACCURA 288 V.FC+FAX

MAXTECH XM288EA

MICROCOM DESKPORTE FAST ES 28.8

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS PROCLASS PC288MT

ZOOM TELEPHONICS VFX 28.8

Faster! Smaller! Cheaper! That's the battle cry throughout the computer field, but nowhere is it more insistent than in telecommunications. In fact, the telephonic din is so great that new, improved products are being rushed to market in advance of approved standards. Case in point: the V.Fast-class modems, also called V.FC modems.

V.FC modems are designed to approximate the V.34 standard. At press time, the standard had just received a thumbs up from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, formerly the Comite Consultatif Internationale de Telegraphie et Telephonie, or CCITT) and will be implemented when it is finally accepted by 70 percent of all the voting countries around the world.

These V.FC models emulate early specs of the V.34 standard, which offers many improvements over the V.32bis specification. They can send and receive at 28.8Kilobits per second, twice as fast as the V.32bis maximum speed of 14.4Kbps. The new units can also alter their modulation schemes (the technique used to transmit information) to adapt to phone-line conditions. They can use modulation methods that double raw data speeds, even without on-board compression. In addition, they can vary the bandwidth--the scope of the frequencies--and the transmitting power they use. Like the V.32bis modems, the new modems test the phone line to determine which frequencies need a boost, but they are more flexible in how they emphasize frequencies.

Once the V.34 standard is ratified, the V.FC units will have to be modified or upgraded to conform fully to the new spec. All the products in this review can be upgraded for $39 to $99. Of course, the arrival of V.34s on the market will significantly reduce the street price of V.FC modems. It's likely that the cost of a V.FC modem plus an upgrade will provide V.34 functionality at a notable savings, provided the upgrade performs as desired. The only difference between some modems in this review and V.34s is a pair of chips that determines the nature of the beast.

The six V.FC modems we reviewed are Group 3 fax capable, based on the Rockwell V.FC chip set, and connected via the serial port. The throughput of a V.FC modem is so great you need a very fast serial port to supply it with data quickly enough. Such a port should use a 16550 UART or other data buffering chip. (You can determine whether your system has a 16550 by running the MSD.EXE program that comes with Windows. From the DOS prompt, type MSD, then look at the COM Port screen.)

For systems with less-capable UARTs, some modem manufacturers provide high-speed serial port adapter cards. During testing, if a modem manufacturer provided a serial card, we used it with that modem. Modems without serial cards were connected to our test computers' built-in 16550-equipped serial ports. At this data speed, you should be prepared to experience some difficulty connecting, depending on phone-line conditions. The modems we reviewed were generally good, but none of them connected correctly the first time, every time.

The low cost of buying and upgrading V.FC modems adds to their already powerful attraction. When shopping for the best price, remember that some of the modems bundle a cable and some do not. You can get a serial cable for less than $10, but many retail outlets charge $20 or more. Be sure the cable supports all hardware handshaking lines. Some inexpensive serial cables won't work with the modems here because they have only three wires (for transmit, receive and signal ground lines).

Boca Research MV28KE

The generous Boca bundle included a serial cable and a high-speed serial port at no extra cost. The card, a single-port unit, required no special drivers, addresses or IRQs for use. It can use IRQs 5 or 7 if 3 and 4 are already spoken for. The company sells a multi I/O card with dual high-speed serial ports and a parallel port for a very reasonable $65. The bundle also included software for fax and data transmission. However, this was one of only two modems in the group that did not provide on-line service trials in the box.

The MV28KE was excellent at receiving data and was just a little slower at transmission. It took the stress of the impaired phone line on which we tested (How We Tested for details) and compressed files very well. All told, it was a solid, well rounded performer.

To upgrade, you'll have to get an authorization number from Boca, and then send it to the factory. You can choose either overnight service, or three- to five-day turnaround (which cost $79 or $49 respectively).

Hayes Accura 288 V.FC+FAX

Whether it was on the receiving or transmitting end, the Hayes Accura delivered excellent compatibility with the other modems, along with very good performance. Some or all of its performance edge can be attributed to the optional Hayes Extended Serial Port board (ESP), a high-speed replacement for a standard serial port. This board provides more buffering than a standard 16550 chip and also reduces the overhead of high-speed I/O on the host PC. Although such overhead wasn't much of a problem on the Pentium/90 systems we used, it would be an issue in lower-speed PCs, and during background downloads. Factor the card into the overall cost.

In our tests, we used a single-port ISA version of the ESP that sells for an additional $99. There is also a dual-port ISA unit ($149) and a single-port MCA model ($199).

The ESP card requires its own nonstandard addresses, and you have to run a special setup program to use the card. The setup program alters your SYSTEM.INI file, replacing both the Windows' COMM.DRV and a virtual-device driver (called VCD), and adding a third driver of its own. It also adds a section to WIN.INI for configuration parameters. Replacing the drivers could cause trouble for communications software unwilling to accept imitations, but ProComm, which we used for testing, seemed unaffected.

Hayes has an interesting upgrade policy. Most folks will have to send their modems in for a replacement after calling for an authorization number. But if you are a sysop or other qualified technician, the company will allow you to perform the upgrade (a chip swap) yourself. Either way it'll cost $49, unless you purchase one or more V.34 modems from Hayes. For every V.34 you buy, you get an upgrade for one of your old V.FCs free. Be sure to register your modem, otherwise the warranty on the V.FCs will be for only two years instead of five, and you'll want the longer warranty if you upgrade.

MaxTech XM288EA

The MaxTech's front panel had nine indicators instead of the usual eight. The extra LED indicated when the modem finished its self-diagnostics and would flash during V.42 error correction. That's useful for keeping tabs on the phone-line quality.

The MaxTech came with enough software to transmit data and fax in both Windows and DOS. It also had free trial packages for three on-line services: America Online, GEnie and Prodigy.

Max Tech modems didn't have trouble talking to any of the other modems, except the Zoom model we tested. When acting as the host, the Max Tech didn't connect well, experiencing problems after the initial line negotiations. Also, during the impaired-line tests, it typically took three attempts to achieve each connection.

MaxTech offers the lowest factory upgrade price ($39) of the vendors in this review.

Microcom DeskPorteFAST ES 28.8

Overall, the Microcom modems performed well in our data-transfer tests and proved especially robust in transmissions over the simulated impaired line. When acting as a receiver, the modem speeded up when paired with a modem that was operating with a faster data-transfer rate. As a transmitter, it was fine, although it wasn't one of the fastest modems in that mode.

We actually tested two sets of ES modems. The first pair produced erratic results in our data-transfer tests and connected only with great difficulty with the other modems in this review and with each other over the impaired line. Informed of this difficulty, a Microcom spokesman told us that the company does not recommend the serial modem for Windows, and says so in its documentation. The box does state that a user running Windows should purchase a high-speed serial port for use with the modem, but we found no other caveats.

Apparently unable to explain or duplicate our results (even when given our complete software suite), the company sent replacement modems, which we subjected to the same tests. These performed in a manner similar to that of the serial modems from other manufacturers, turning in transfer-time results 20 percent faster than those of the first Microcom modems tested. They experienced no untoward problems connecting either with each other or with the other modems. Microcom also makes a parallel-port modem that gives very fast data transfer.

Puzzled about the discrepancy in performance, we opened the original and replacement modems and immediately determined why the first pair had so much difficulty. The analog section, which connects to the phone lines, lacked several line-conditioning components (a balun and four capacitors) that ease connection difficulties. Further, one of the original pair had a 35ns 256-kilobit data memory, while the other--and both the replacement modems--had a 20ns device. The slower chip could account for long data-transfer times. Since Microcom sent all four modems as shipping units, we cannot say whether or not modems on store shelves have the line-conditioning components and the faster chip.

With only five LEDs on its front panel (and one is for power), this modem sometimes leaves you guessing as to its status. Microcom will let you perform the chip-replacement-style upgrade at a cost of $39, which might be a plus for users with some technical prowess. Users who would rather have the upgrade handled at the factory may be disappointed to know there is no factory-upgrade option.

Practical Peripherals ProClass PC288MT

Practical sells a high-speed serial port for its modems, which we used in our testing. It's a Practical-labeled version of the Hayes ESP board. (Practical Peripherals is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hayes, but the modem divisions compete with each other on the open market.) Naturally, the high-speed serial card sold for use with the Practical requires the same unusual I/O addresses and alters the SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files, too. The Practical version sells for $89, $10 less than its Hayes twin.

The modem includes tiny clip-on feet to support it vertically. The front-panel labels are angled so you can read them easily whether the 288MT is laid flat or placed on end. Having almost no desktop space to spare at work or home--even for this, the smallest of modems--I took a liking to the feature.

When two Practical modems were connected head-to-head on an unimpaired line, they occasionally connected at the lowly 14.4Kbps (V.32bis) rate. A couple of retries cleared the difficulty, though, and it never recurred. The Practical modem also had problems transmitting and receiving with the first Microcoms, as did many of the other modems. It posted excellent transmit speeds and a relatively good receive speed.

The unit's lifetime warranty is worth mentioning and might help explain why it's the most expensive of all the modems that we reviewed. However, given the rapid changes in modem technologies, you have to wonder how many years of use you're likely to get out of a unit before you want a newer, better, and therefore faster one.  Nonetheless, if you're the type who resists frequent hardware upgrades, this could be a selling point.

Zoom Telephonics VFX 28.8

The Zoom modem had a full front panel consisting of 15 indicator LEDs that can tell the user everything from current transmission speed to fax status. It had more indicators than any other modem in this review and was the only modem to devote LEDs specifically to fax. Another plus is the seven-year warranty, which is bested only by Practical's lifetime promise among the products in this review.

During testing, the Zoom had a run-in only with the MaxTech, but just when it was the calling modem. During impairment tests, it did produce a few "no connects,'' but it handled compression and impaired-line stress adequately and was among the top three for compatibility. Like the MaxTech, it was an excellent receiver but had poor transmit speeds.

The Zoom had the highest V.34 upgrade cost, $99, which could be a problem if you want to keep the modem for a very long time.


Info Files

Boca Research MV28KE

Price: $345

In Brief: The Boca, bundled with a serial cable and port, is a right-out-of-the-box solution.

Boca Research Inc.

407-997-6227, fax 407-997-0918

Hayes Accura 288 V.FC+FAX

Price: $199

In Brief: The Accura's low price and excellent performance make it a hard value to beat.

Hayes Microcomputer Products

404-441-1617, fax 404-441-1213

MaxTech XM288EA

Price: $199

In Brief: The MaxTech had excellent receive speed, but took extra tries to connect during impaired-line tests.

MaxTech Corp.

800-9-FOR-MAX, 201-579-3630

Microcom DeskPorte

FAST ES 28.8

Price: $299

In Brief: The DeskPorte units proved to be very reliable under impaired-line conditions.

Microcom Inc.

800-822-8224, 617-551-1000

Practical Peripherals

ProClass PC288MT

Price: $349

In Brief: The ProClass provided good performance in a small and portable package.

Practical Peripherals

800-442-4774, 805-497-4774

Zoom Telephonics VFX 28.8

Price: $239

In Brief: The Zoom Telephonics was a respectable performer, but it costs  $99 to upgrade it to V.34 compatibility.

Zoom Telephonics

800-666-6191, 617-423-1072


How We Tested

Compatibility and speed are the keys

When we tested the modems, we decided to concentrate on two areas of utmost importance: repeatability (that is, consistent test results not affected by spurious factors) and minimum interference from software overhead. Because normal phone lines vary in their ability to handle data and can't provide stable repeatable results from one call to the next, we couldn't use them for our tests and still be able to compare the results. To get around this problem, we used the LS100-2J phone-line simulator from Micro Seven Inc. (503-693-6982, fax 503-693-9742) in place of normal phone lines.

We used two of the LS100's several operating modes: normal and partially impaired. Normal mode simulates a clean phone line with some insertion loss (a reduction of incoming-signal power), but no significant noise, envelope-delay distortion (where some frequencies in a signal arrive after others, usually on a long-distance connection), or frequency attenuation (the "squashing'' of some frequencies but not others). Partially impaired mode introduces envelope-delay distortion and frequency attenuation; it can also add random noise to the line, but, because of today's digital phone lines, we didn't use that feature.

To ensure that hardware performance would not be a bottleneck, we used two identical 90MHz Pentiums for testing, one for transmitting and one for receiving. The software environment consisted of Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Procomm Plus for Windows 2.0. Procomm was chosen for its versatile Aspect script language, informative transmission-monitoring windows, and high-speed modem support. And it doesn't replace the Windows communications driver.

We used Procomm's Aspect script language to automate all testing. Three scripts were used: two client (or "dialing'' scripts) and one host script. The client scripts both dialed the host's "phone number,'' requested downloads of the same two files, and wrote a transmission report to a user-specified file. They differed only in the phone number dialed (which determined the phone-line simulator's mode) and the commentary added to the report file (so the reader could determine which script generated the data).

We used the host script supplied with Procomm Plus, modified to permit ASCII file transfers. Unlike other transfer protocols, ASCII does not incur extra overhead on the PC. During an Xmodem transfer, for example, the transmitting computer spends a lot of time computing checksum values, transmitting them and waiting for a reply. Such protocols also add to the byte count. An ASCII transfer requires no computation, and only 1 byte is appended to the data, regardless of file size.

During all sessions we transmitted two files: one with ASCII text, the other compressed with PKZIP. The two files represent the extremes of the kinds of data you might send. Text is easy to compress because it's a repetition of character patterns (for example, the word the). The zipped file (which, compressed, is the same size as the ASCII file), significantly reduced the effectiveness of the modem's on-board compression. So the compressed-file transmissions give you a better idea of the data rate over the phone line sans compression. The ASCII transfers tell us how the modems did when compressing data.

Every possible combination of the modems was tested using the unimpaired script, and each modem played host and client to every other modem. When the two modems being tested were identical, the impaired script was used in addition to the unimpaired script. For all successful transmissions, at least three readings of the transfer time for both files were taken, more when the results were erratic. Then we averaged the times together to produce the performance graphs.


Hot-Shot Modems Table

High-speed modems

PRODUCT		Price	High-speed serial card	Serial cable provided	V.34 upgrade by user	V.34 upgrade by factory	Upgrade cost	Indicators**	Warranty period (years)	Bundled software	Trial memberships
	Boca Research MV28KE	$345	Single port included; multi I/O card, $65	yes	no	yes	3-5 day service, $49; overnight, $79	AA, CD, HS, OH, RD, SD, TM, TR	5	COMit Lite for Windows and DOS, FaxWorks	None
W	Hayes Accura 288 V.FC+FAX	$199	Single ISA, $99; dual ISA, $149; single MCA, $199	yes	Technicians only	yes	$49*	AA, CD, HS, MR, OH, RD, SD, TR	2  (3 with registration)	Smartcom LE, Smartcom Fax for Windows	America Online (10 hours), CompuServe (1 month + $15 credit), GEnie (1 month + 10 extra hours), Netcom (1 month Internet service)
	MaxTech XM288EA	$199	None offered	no	no	yes	$39	AA, CD, HS, MR, OH, RD, SD, TR, TST	5	COMit Lite for Windows and DOS, WinFax Lite, DOS Fax Lite	America Online (10 hours), GEnie (1 month + 10 extra hours), Prodigy (1 month)
	Microcom DeskPorte FAST ES 28.8	$299	None offered	no	yes	no	$39	CD, DTR, PWR, RXD, TXD	5	FaxWorks	America Online (10 hours), CompuServe (1 month + $15 credit), GEnie (1 month + 10 extra hours)
	Practical Peripherals ProClass PC288MT	$349	Single port, $89	no	no	yes	$49	AA, CD, HS, MR, OH, RX, TR, TX	Lifetime	WinFax Lite, Quick Link II	America Online (10 hours), GEnie (1 month + 10 extra hours), OAG Electronic Edition Travel Service (15 days), CheckFree (90-day trial)
	Zoom Telephonics VFX 28.8	$239	None offered	no	no	yes	$99	14.4, 28.8, AA, CD, DC, EC, FAX, FC, MR, MSG, OH, RD, SD, TR, V.FC	7	COMit Lite for Windows and DOS, WinFax Lite, DOS Fax Lite	America Online (10 hours), CompuServe (1 month + $15 credit), Delphi/Internet (5 hours), Prodigy (1 month), Reuters Money Network (1 month)
*Available, one free with the purchase of each V.34

**14.4=14.4Kbps operation; 28.8=28.8Kbps operation; AA=Auto answer on; CD=Carrier detect; DC=V.42bis data compression in use; DTR=Data terminal (computer) ready; EC=V.42 error correction in use; FAX=Fax connection established; FC=Flow control in use; HS=High speed (greater than 4800bps) achieved; MR=Modem ready; MSG=Faxes are waiting; OH=Modem has taken the phone off hook; PWR=Power is on; RD=Received data from phone line is being sent to computer; RX=Received transmission from phone line; RXD=Received data from phone line is being sent to computer; SD=Data sent from computer to modem was received; TM=Test mode in use or error detected; TR=Terminal ready ) same as DTR); TST=Modem okay when on. Flashes for V.42 correction; TXD=Data transmitted from the computer was received by the modem; V.FC=V.FC mode in use

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC7.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Transmit speed	Receive speed	Impaired line	Compati-bility	Indicators	Installation
	Boca Research MV28KE	B	A	B	B	C	A
W	Hayes Accura 288 V.FC+FAX	A	A	A	A	C	B
	MaxTech XM288EA	C	A	B	B	B	A
	Microcom DeskPorte FAST ES 28.8	B	A	A	B	D	A
	Practical Peripherals ProClass PC288MT	A	B	B	B	C	B
	Zoom Telephonics VFX 28.8	C	A	B	B	A	A
•	Transmit speed: On average, how much faster is the transmission speed on the uncompressed file during unimpaired transmission?

•	Receive speed: On average, how much faster is the reception speed during unimpaired transmission when the fastest transmitters are sending the uncompressed file?

•	Impaired line: How many trials were necessary to connect across an impaired line? How long does transmission take on the impaired line? How much does the compressed file slow transmission speed?

•	Compatibility: How successful is the modem at connecting to other brands? How good is the throughput?

•	Indicators: How informative is the front-panel display?

•	Installation: How easy is it to install the serial card if present? Was all the hardware present?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS--transmit speed, receive speed and impaired-line handling--got twice the weight of the other features. The Hayes Accura does something few products in any arena do: It provides the best performance at the lowest price. Even when you add the cost of the Hayes high-speed serial port, which likely accounts for its superior performance, you're still ahead of the game. Because of these features, we awarded it our WINDOWS Recommended seal.

•	The Boca was one of the top three performers. It had a good indicator panel, and its serial card was the easiest to install. It was only fairly compatible, but it was the only right-out-of-the-box solution that included everything you need to get going. Its high price tag may be best justified by those who don't want to shop for ports and cables and are satisfied with good, rather than the absolute cream-of-the-crop capability.

•	The other member of the top three, Practical Peripherals ProClass, provided good performance in the smallest package. However, you do have to pay a premium for that combination. You do get some perks: It comes with more free on-line service memberships than the others, two of them aimed at Fortune 500 types. It also carries a lifetime warranty. If that kind of bundling appeals to you more than the thought of spending the extra money bothers you (remember to add in a Hayes serial port), consider the PC288MT. The high Microcom scores should be taken with a grain of salt. They are based on the unit's possessing line filtering and fast memory chips, and we can't guarantee that's what's on store shelves. Also, its score for impairment handling was enhanced by the use of a proprietary transmission protocol.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC8.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


The Next Modem Generation

As this review was going to press, one of the first true V.34s arrived: the Motorola UDS V.3400. The product, which is designed for corporate and departmental use, will not be marketed until the standard is approved.

The V.3400 supports leased-line and dial-up operation and has a two-line programmable LCD, in addition to six indicator lights. The LCD, like the indicators, displays modem status. With the three buttons provided, you can set the LCD to display the operation of various data-terminal-equipment signals, protocol in use, compression used, information about the carrier frequency or other information.

Sixty-five of the modem's operating parameters can also be configured through the front panel, obviating the need to transmit AT commands from a computer; less technically oriented users should find this a real plus. The front panel also provides access to the modem's configuration, even during transmission, and you can initiate the self-diagnostics through it.

Security features are included. Front-panel password protection requires users to know a four-digit password to change settings. Auto-Callback allows the modem to receive a call, but it will immediately hang up and dial a preset telephone number, establishing connections with only one number when activated.

A low-security feature allows remote access only to those with a password. Local PC users may use AT commands to change anything but security features, which require the appropriate password. (The front panel might still be accessible, though depending on whether you separately lock it out or not.) A high-security mode forces you to follow a log-on procedure, in which the password must match one in a 50-entry table before communications access is granted.

The feature set is wonderful--but how well does this V.34 perform? To answer that question we connected two V.3400s, sending our compressed and uncompressed files between them. On a quality connection, these modems tied for first place in speed with the Hayes Accura for sending the uncompressed file and with the MaxTech for the compressed file. On an impaired connection, things got more interesting. For the uncompressed file it performed almost as well as the Hayes (which was head and shoulders above the other modems). For the compressed file, it lost to the Microcom, which proved robust over impaired lines. The Motorola beat the Hayes by a narrow margin, placing both way beyond the remaining units. There were no contact problems. Simply put, it performed very well. However, we didn't have time for compatibility tests.


Drawing Made Easy: Business Graphics in a Jiffy

Business Graphics in a Jiffy

Info Files

Business Graphics Software Table

Report Card

Business Graphics Versus the Real Thing

Testing in A Business Setting-For the business person, not the artist


Business Graphics in a Jiffy

By: Lynn Ginsburg

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

IN THIS COMPARISON

ABC SNAPGRAPHICS

CORELFLOW

INTELLIDRAW

VISIO 3.0

Plain-vanilla documents don't always cut it in our design-conscious culture, so ordinary business folks end up trying to be designers. The artistically challenged may spend hours struggling with a high-powered computer graphics program, only to end up with somewhat amateurish designs that inhibit, rather than enhance, communication. A poorly designed graphic will only distract the audience, and a distracted audience is one that doesn't get the message.

Enterprising software developers have galloped to the rescue by creating a new category of Windows graphics packages. I'm calling them "business graphics,'' since most of the programs claim to be for business users who need to create illustrations. These programs promise ease of use, even if you can't draw a straight line or tell a Bezier curve from a Belgian waffle.

The four packages I've included in this review are geared toward untrained users who'd rather drag and drop than create from scratch. These programs incorporate intelligent features--built-in program functions that streamline repetitive tasks and reduce the guesswork for novices. Such features include preformatted templates with task-specific designs (organizational charts, floor diagrams and so on); drag-and-drop symbol libraries that maintain links to objects placed in documents; the automatic connection of drag-and-drop shapes with connectors that move with, and remain attached to, objects; and the dynamic scaling and distribution of objects that allow your drawing to maintain specified relationships automatically.

As a result, processes that typically require in-depth knowledge, such as line drawing and shape design, are already completed for you. There's no need to draw the boxes, draw and align connectors, or format text. These programs also make it easy to add or delete shapes from the structure, often by just clicking on a shape to duplicate it.

Superficially, these programs function similarly and share many common features. Three include a variety of interactive tutorials that help you quickly become familiar with the program's processes and tools. The fourth, IntelliDraw, has an Info Palette that gives extensive on-screen help, even though it lacks a tutorial.

All of these programs use smart connectors--lines that join two or more objects and have built-in intelligence. On the most basic level, these connectors use a "glue'' to maintain a link between objects as they are repositioned on a page. Connectors work by automatically shifting to the closest connection point as the linked objects are moved, so it's much easier to reposition and manipulate linked objects without having to worry about the attachment and alignment of the connections as you would with a traditional illustration package.

ABC SnapGraphics 1.0

If ease of use is your primary concern, SnapGraphics is your program: It makes creating a chart or diagram almost painless. But its simplicity doesn't mean it's simplistic. Far from it. Even though you can get results easily, the program still offers enough powerful features to meet the needs of most business users.

SnapGraphics distinguishes itself from the outset with its single-diskette installation and 29-page, 5-inch by 5-inch manual. Once inside the program, it's difficult to get lost. You can choose one of the templates from the gallery, take a quick tour of the program, or view some samples of the products from each of the templates. I took the quick tour and got a complete working overview of the program in 10 minutes.

The workspace in SnapGraphics is built around a grid. All the templates in the gallery have default workspaces designed for specific graphics tasks, each with a custom grid. You put shapes on the grid in compartments called place holders, and they automatically snap in (you can also disable the snap feature so that you can place objects freely). You can easily resize the grids by moving tabs. The grid can also be used to resize proportionally an entire graphic or to control the size as well as the frequency of place holders.

Each template also comes with a default shape palette, which contains shape types specific to the task. These shape palettes are adequate for most jobs, although the computer palette offers too few computer components to create the network diagram (Testing in a Business Setting). Even so, I was able to import computer components from other programs saved as .WMF files, and use them to complete the network diagram. (Version 2.0, which should be on the market by the time you read this, will offer larger libraries containing a wider assortment of network components.)

Shapes rubber-stamp onto the grid and easily plug into place. In creating an org chart, I used three different shapes to designate distinct levels in the hierarchical order. Instead of having to return to the palette to choose each shape, I could load multiple shapes from the palette. Then I could cycle through these selections by clicking within the place holder.

Connecting shapes is as easy as selecting the Connected-Shapes tool. Thereafter, any shapes that you place on the grid are automatically connected. The process leaves very little room for confusion, even for novices, because the connection is automatically established with the placement of each subsequent link. SnapGraphics utilizes a ship-to-anchor metaphor to symbolize the link.

Entering text into the shapes is as simple as it gets: Just select the shape and type. The program has limited type control, however, and no options for specifying formatting (such as leading and indents); type size can be increased to a maximum of only 72 points.

Drawing tools are limited; you can create only simple shapes from scratch. I had to rely either on the program's small symbol libraries or imported .WMF files; the program supports no other import options.

SnapGraphics isn't a full-blown graphics design package and doesn't claim to be. But it delivers quick and easy graphics solutions with little or no learning curve. The program goes a long way toward achieving the elusive goal of a good software package: Its transparent machinations allow you to produce high-quality results without knowing or caring how it was done.

CorelFLOW 2.0

CorelDRAW, the market leader in Windows graphics, has decided to join the business graphics fray with its own entry, CorelFLOW 2.0. Its interface resembles that of its parent product, but lacks much of CorelDRAW's innovative edge. On the other hand, it also shares many positive attributes, including useful roll-up menus, an on-screen color palette and an abundance of clip art and fonts.

CorelFLOW offers three levels of on-line tutorials--beginner, intermediate and advanced--to introduce new users to the program. Once you're running the program, it's easy to find your way around the simple, streamlined interface, and you can get to the smart library easily from an icon on the toolbar. You can open multiple libraries and roll them up, which helps you organize your workspace and gives you easy access to a variety of clip art and templates. You move shapes from the library either by rubberstamp or drag-and-drop.

Once you've dropped a shape onto the page, you can edit it. Grouped objects, such as an org chart, are useful for moving and reorganizing complex components, but to edit those components, you must first ungroup objects. This added an unnecessary step to customizing the org chart, (Testing in a Business Setting) because I first had to ungroup the boxes to adapt them to my structure. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of grouped objects, you may find you get confused when you first try to edit them.

CorelFLOW, like the other programs I tested, allows you to connect symbols automatically as you place them on the page. But, unlike the other programs, it does not offer any other connector tools. Instead, you must use the Line tool to connect objects, which works well for connecting symbols and shapes, but won't connect one line to another or a line to a text box. This presented problems when I was working on the org chart. Perpendicular lines often intersect, but CorelFLOW will join only the end points of two lines. You can create a very complicated patch by drawing a box around the line being intersected, making the box invisible, and then grouping the line to the now invisible box. The other programs handle the same connection seamlessly.

Strong points of the program are its extensive clip-art libraries and its font selection. The package ships with 1,000 clip-art symbols, 1,000 photo images on Photo CD, and 100 TrueType fonts. This gave me a wide selection of images from which to choose while creating my Report Cover, and the program's wide range of import options gave me additional outlets for adding art. However, CorelFLOW's text-handling capabilities are minimal: It has no leading, kerning or paragraph-formatting controls. Still, with such a wide range of fonts and clip art to choose from, I was able to create an attractive cover. Similarly, there was a great range of network symbols, although the quality of these objects was inconsistent. Import options enable you to include quality art from other programs.

IntelliDraw 2.0

IntelliDraw offers the ideal balance between ease of use and power, with an incredibly well-designed interface that is both accessible to novices and inviting to professionals. Although the program does offer high-end functions that may be overkill for business users, these features in no way obscure the program's sensible design.

IntelliDraw features a highly customizable interface with optional line style, fill style, layers, page, text and animation palettes, and a floating toolbar. Although some of the icons might initially be confusing, an unusually explicit information bar explains each of the tools and functions in detail. Simply point the cursor to the icon in question, and you get a detailed explanation of how the tool works.

IntelliDraw implements the drag-and-drop template especially well, providing large high-quality clip-art libraries. You simply grab the desired shape from the template and drop it onto the page. Once you've done that, the element maintains a link to the original in the template, automatically updating any changes to the element in every document in which it appears.

The variety of clip art and the drag-and-drop interface made it easy to create the test Report Cover and the network diagram. And the program's full-featured text-handling capabilities--the best I tested--gave me detailed control options for creating the cover text.

Rather than using a grid for the placement of objects, IntelliDraw features an Auto-Align function that uses crosshairs to snap-align a selected object with any other object on the page automatically. Also included is an Align/Distribute tool that I found very useful for such tasks as creating org charts. It creates a special frame that you place around multiple objects; you can then format the frame to maintain a variety of alignment and distribution functions. For instance, in my org chart, I used this tool to control the horizontal alignment between title boxes, and the distribute feature to maintain spacing and sizing when adding or deleting boxes.

Because IntelliDraw's "smart'' features have built-in intelligence, to use them you must first be familiar with a tool's capabilities and inherent logic. Some of these features can be difficult to decipher, but the extensive Info palette explains both the function of a tool and how to use it. For instance, using the connectors can be straightforward when you use the simple Free Connector tool. And, like Visio, IntelliDraw includes a variety of connect options. The Info palette gives you sufficient instruction on how to use the Free Connector tool and the various options involved, so you can implement these powerful features just by following the on-screen instructions.

IntelliDraw offers such additional capabilities as an animation tool and interactive slide show. It accommodates most everything business users could need: an extensive clip-art library, a wide range of import/export options, and preformatted templates for creating most common business graphics. Although IntelliDraw has a higher initial learning curve than some of the other programs, its on-screen help leads you step by step, so you can quickly grasp the program's inherent logic and power.

Visio 3.0

For entry-level users who may want to graduate eventually to a more powerful package, Visio is a good compromise. Although it was not as easy to use for some tasks as the other packages, novices who are willing to invest the time will find its powerful features worth the effort.

Visio offers a unique approach to the configurable interface: You can choose between the standard Visio interface or one that resembles either Microsoft Office or Lotus SmartSuite. The screen has a drag-and-drop library, which Visio calls a stencil, on the left side and a drawing page on the right. Visio combines this easy-to-use drag-and-drop library with powerful drawing tools that can lend a level of complexity and capability to the program.

Because Visio gives you multiple tools for achieving the same results, the program can be easy to use, but it can also obscure the simplest way to get a task done. For instance, connecting two shapes--a fundamental task in any of these programs--can be accomplished more than one way. The easiest is to choose the Connector tool for an automatic connection between selected shapes. But Visio also offers preconfigured multiple line connector variables in each stencil for a variety of connection methods. Consequently, if you're a new user who just wants to make one shape stick to another, it's easy to get confused.

Once mastered, Visio's power can lend a speed advantage to repetitive processes. For instance, the program gives you the ability to create master shapes--graphical elements formatted with object-oriented stylesheets. You can define such formatting options as fill and line attributes, text attributes, shape behavior and protection. Once you copy a master shape and place it in a drawing, it maintains a link to the original in the stencil. Any changes made to the original are reflected in all the copies, so global changes can be made easily and quickly. Styles can also be applied to objects by selecting the on-screen style bar.

The Distribute tool automatically puts equal distances between three or more selected shapes. The Dynamic-Glue feature automatically repositions connectors so that the link is always maintained between the two closest sides of the objects. Shape manipulation tools, such as Combine, Unite, Fragment and Union, make for the quick creation of complex and irregular shapes.

I was able to accomplish tasks fairly easily with predefined templates for org charts and network diagrams, and easily accessed clip-art libraries. Creating the org chart should have been easy because of the variety of predefined stencils, but I got bogged down by the wealth and complexity of connector and glue options. Once I had mastered the connectors in the org chart, however, it was easier to create the network diagram, although the collection of network clip art was only adequate. In creating my Report Cover, I found text handling to be very limited, with few formatting controls.

Visio shares OLE compatibility with the other programs in this review. Like CorelFLOW and IntelliDraw, it is an OLE 2.0 client and server, so you can open Visio inside another OLE-capable application, such as Word 6.0, to work on a drawing embedded in a Word document without having to close the word processor. Visio itself will pop up in the Word document to allow you to edit on the fly.

If all you want from a graphics program is quick and easy output, Visio's complex features may not offer instant gratification. But if you're willing to spend some time to learn the program, you'll find that Visio can deliver the power.


Info Files

ABC SnapGraphics 1.0

Price: $99

In Brief: This simple-to-use program is fine for even a graphical novice.

Disk Space Required: 2.4MB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 2MB

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-994-5067

CorelFLOW 2.0

Price: $99

In Brief: Still in its infancy compared with the other programs reviewed, it's a strong entry into the arena at a good price.

Disk Space Required: 5MB

System Resources: 9%

Ram: 2MB

Corel Corp.

800-772-6735, 613-728-8200

IntelliDraw 2.0

Price: $199

In Brief: This package strikes a perfect balance between high-end features and ease of use.

Disk Space Required: 20MB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 5MB

Aldus Corp., Consumer Division

800-888-6293, 619-558-6000

Visio 3.0

Price: Estimated retail, $129; upgrades, $69

In Brief: This program offers many easy ways to accomplish common tasks.

Disk Space Required: 5MB (minimum install); 15MB (full install)

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

Shapeware Corp.

800-446-3335, 206-521-4500


Business Graphics Software Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC5.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Ease of use	User interface	Clip-art libraries	Intelligent connectors	Predefined templates
	ABC SnapGraphics 1.0	A	A	C	A	A
	CorelFLOW 2.0	B	B	A	C	B
W	IntelliDraw 2.0	B	A	A	A	A
	Visio 3.0	B	A	B	B	A
•	Ease of use: How easy is the product to use? Could a novice begin to use the features of the program with minimal time spent learning?

•	User interface: Is the user interface intuitive? Does it include a tutorial, or copious help, or both?

•	Clip-art libraries: Are libraries provided? Can you import clip art from other sources?

•	Intelligent connectors: Does the program include intelligent connectors? Do they work intuitively, allowing the repositioning of objects without redrawing connections?

•	Predefined templates: How many templates are included? Do they have the common symbols that make for a pleasing diagram?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

ALL THESE PROGRAMS are very good at doing what you'd expect--allowing business people to generate attractive graphics images both quickly and easily.

•	However, IntelliDraw 2.0 bested the competition because of its easy, intuitive user interface, its complete--we could even say large--clip-art library, its plethora of templates and its easy-to-use intelligent connectors.

•	ABC SnapGraphics, itself a very competent performer, has been around a while, and its version 2.0, which adds more template types and ease-of-use-features, should be available when you read this review.

Please Note:

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC6.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


Business Graphics Versus the Real Thing

Do you need a full-featured drawing package?

By: Lynn Ginsburg

What do business graphics programs have that conventional graphics packages don't (or vice versa)? CorelDRAW is both one of the oldest and most widely used packages on the Windows platform, so let's use it as a basis for comparison.

CorelDRAW is full-featured, with its Swiss-Army-knife approach to covering every graphics need in a single suite. But how does it stack up in the ease-of-use category? Do the new business graphics programs really offer a new and improved graphics option for the novice user?

CorelDRAW has always had a reputation for being one of the easiest graphics programs to use. It was easier to use than its early competition on the Windows platform. But the vector drawing and the computer translation of traditional drawing methods can be confusing if you're not trained in graphics. The program can handle business graphics chores, but only with difficulty. However, there have historically been few other choices available for business users who needed to create simple graphics.

CorelDRAW's latest version, 5.0, offers even more power and tools for professional artists. At $695 for the CD-ROM version, and $895 for diskettes, CorelDRAW now includes six full-featured modules, including the newly refurbished CorelVentura desktop publishing package.

The Test Suite

We used the same series of tests for CorelDRAW 5.0 as we did for the other packages (Testing in a Business Setting), looking for both ease of use and any power advantages that CorelDRAW might offer. With more than 22,000 clip-art images and over 825 fonts, CorelDRAW offered the most voluminous creative libraries of any of the packages. Using these resources, there was no need to tap CorelDRAW's powerful illustration features. We simply tiled a colored bitmap image and added a type treatment along with a few simple graphics elements to create the Report Cover that we generated as one of our graphics-program tests. Type handling was superior to any of the business-graphics packages we tested, with such additional features as a fly-up text menu, thesaurus, a type assist module that converts text to specified styles, and the ability to convert text to curves.

We did not use the illustration tools in this test, but CorelDRAW boasts some of the most thorough tools of any Windows vector-drawing program. But with that power comes complexity of use, making it difficult for a nondesigner to use these tools to yield professional-looking results.

Gobs of Clip Art

CorelDRAW's large clip-art collection was also a good resource for creating our network diagram. The clip-art library resembled the drag-and-drop templates we used in the business graphics packages, but did not offer the ability to create a master shape with global revision capabilities. Connecting the objects in the diagram proved more difficult in CorelDRAW, with no variation on the "smart'' connectors to link the objects. Using the Line tool, we created connections with no intelligent features. As a result, we were unable to maintain links when objects were repositioned, making it difficult to add elements to or subtract elements from the diagram. We had to manually redistribute and rescale objects and connecting lines. However, the program's high-end illustration tools offer illustration capabilities far beyond the business-graphics programs, giving you the ability to turn simple clip art into highly stylized, professional-quality images.

Creating the org chart for our tests was more difficult in CorelDRAW than with the business graphics programs. Rather than starting with formatted, predesigned templates, you have to create all the elements from scratch. And rather than having the ability to link objects automatically as you drop them onto the page, you must manually create all connecting lines using the Line tool. First you create what would translate in the business-graphics packages as a "smart'' or "master'' shape: Draw a box, apply a color fill, insert and style text, add rules to serve as connectors, and align the connectors along the horizontal and vertical axes. Then you can duplicate the box and manipulate other instances of it. There were many more steps involved to accomplish what can be done easily in the business graphics packages, with their simple drag-and-drop.

There's no denying that for the added cost, CorelDRAW 5.0 provides an abundance of creative resources that a business graphics package can't even approach. But if you're never going to tap the power of these specialized high-end design tools, there's really no reason to invest time and money in a product that's more than you need. If you simply want to take the path of least resistance to turn out quality graphics, business graphics software may be your best bet.


Testing in A Business Setting-For the business person, not the artist

By: Lynn Ginsburg

To simulate the varied tasks an average business user may need to accomplish, we created a mythical average user and a series of real-world tests. Our hypothetical user is an MIS department manager who needs to submit an annual budget review, complete with a departmental personnel organizational chart, network diagram and an attractive cover for the report. She has minimal experience with graphics programs and is not a designer. All that she's looking for in a graphics package is the ability to create graphical elements that support and enhance the content and appearance of her report quickly and painlessly. I tested these programs for their ability to accomplish these specific tasks.

For the org chart, we wanted to test for the availability of predesigned and preformatted org charts, the degree of difficulty in editing and manipulating the elements in the chart, and the various tools available. In creating the network diagram, we were testing for the quality and depth of available network component clip art and symbols, the ease of arranging and connecting the art, and the degree of difficulty in editing and manipulating the elements. For the cover, we tested for a program's type-handling capabilities and controls, the variety and quality of clip art available, and the ease of arranging and connecting the art, color controls, and basic drawing tools (if any).

Beyond these tests aimed at the basic user, we also kept in mind that some of you might appreciate ease of use but also want powerful tools and features available for more complex tasks. In general, we compared each product's basic tool sets and features with more full-featured graphics packages to assess the advantages and disadvantages of each.


Letters:Dec. 1994

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Judging by the steady stream of mail, our ongoing coverage of Windows 95 continued to strikea chord with our readers. Most of you appreciate the quality and quantity of information we're providing and want more! Others are voicing fears and expectations about the product itself.

BREAKING IN WINDOWS 95

Thanks for the look at the Windows 95 beta (Win.INI, September). With all the hype about Windows 95, it's nice to read someone who put it through its paces, found it wanting (resource limitations) and is willing to tell us about it.

Mike Palmer

Phoenix, Ariz.

I heard that Microsoft is trying again to push the competition out of the way by making Windows 95 incompatible with PC Tools and even Norton Desktop. Will Norton be the newest company Bill Gates stabs in the back? Will Central Point retaliate with a compatible shell? Will Novell be able to gain market share and eventually offer its excellent OS publicly without being suffocated by the behemoth Microsoft? Is it time for the government to slice off the heads of the Hydra?

Richard Rivera

via the Internet

[Fred Langa replies: You're painting with an awfully broad brush. While reasonable people may look askance at some of Microsoft's business practices, other items--such as the incompatibility of old-style 16-bit DOS disk maintenance tools with a new, DOS-less 32-bit operating system--seem to me more a consequence of progress than some Gates-ian plot. That part of your suspicion, at least, probably is unfounded.]

DOS is dead--hooray for WINDOWS Magazine! You continue to be the best source of information on anything concerning Windows, including the (hopefully) soon-to-be-released Windows 95. I recently tried a sample copy of another Windows publication and their article on Windows 95 was filled with incorrect information, including the misconception that in Windows 95, DOS boots up first and then calls Windows. Needless to say, I will never read that magazine again. Keep up the good work and let's see more articles on Windows 95!

Gerald Exstein

via CompuServe

KILL THE CALC BUG!

I read about that "glitch'' in Windows' Calculator that yielded incorrect results of 0.00 for the problem 3.11-3.10 (Exit Windows, September). Microsoft should find a way to fix the program or replace the applet.

Victor Peters

via America Online

Equal Access Is Good Business

Your article about all the useful products the disabled can find in the amazing world of Windows computing was great ("Equal Access Windows,'' September)! It's encouraging to know that companies are responding to the needs of such people, even though it's not being done in the name of law or humanity but because it's good business.

Mauricio Montero Diaz

via CompuServe

On Different Frequencies

Your spreadsheet tips article was great ("Zoom In on Your Spreadsheet Data,'' September). But I was surprised that you didn't mention the Frequency array formula. It really makes frequency distributions a breeze and makes me look like a data whiz to my peers!

Tom Kaminski

via America Online

CYBERSPACE COSTS AND BENEFITS

Cheryl Currid is right. Internet database searching will be more time-consuming compared to on-line services (Windows at Work, September). The trade-off is that the amount and diversity of information available on the Internet is substantially greater than anything the commercial on-line services can provide.

The Internet is not a service, but a tool that connects us with services. Some of these services are either not yet standardized, still under construction or not designed to accommodate casual users. Comparing the net with CompuServe and other commercial on-line providers is not completely fair.

Ms. Currid is also right that telnetting to 140.147.254.3 is not the most intuitive way of reaching the Library of Congress via the Internet. But it is misleading to imply that this is the only access method. Many Internet providers and on-line library catalogs (public and university) provide menu-driven links to reference sites. And there is a growing collection of Windows software that enables users to navigate the Internet by pointing and clicking.

Brian Globerman

via the Internet

Your article on the Internet and on-line services was great ("Gateway to the World,'' May). I decided to sign up with one of the on-line providers but soon discovered that since I live in a rural community, I couldn't even access basic service without paying long-distance charges.

On-line services could be a blessing to professionals in rural areas who are often stranded or faced with long commutes to do research. But we need local access numbers; we shouldn't have to pay high phone rates in addition to paying service charges.

Jody Tanesky-Coffing

Covington, Ind.

WHITHER DESKTOP SET?

Why hasn't James Powell tested the Okna Desktop Set in his two PIM reviews ("In Search of the Perfect PIM,'' June; "Mucho Tasks? Get a Macho PIM,''

September)?

D. Rich Lang

Atlanta, Ga.

[James Powell replies: We ask each vendor to submit a single product and Okna chose its Address Book for Windows instead of the Desktop Set]

VIRUS PROTECTION UPDATE

Contrary to reader Jonathan L. Caine's letter, it is not necessary to download files to a diskette in order to protect your system from viruses. Managing infected files with the DOS commands won't activate the virus. One problem with downloading to a diskette is that most on-line files are in a compressed form. Most antivirus software cannot detect viruses within compressed files. You must decompress files first, then check for viruses. Hard to do on a floppy these days! Downloading to a floppy is both unnecessary and unrealistic.

Erik Jorgensen

via Internet

MAKE PIRATES WALK THE PLANK

Kudos for Cheryl Currid's column on software piracy (Windows at Work, August). I have a suggestion for the Software Publisher's Association: Vendors should include binding legal documents to be signed by the [higher-ups] at the company buying the software. An agreement like this would legally require companies to take steps to avoid piracy.

Michael Norwood

Woodstock, Ga.

BROKEN THUMBNAIL

Your review of graphics utility software ("Graphics Utilities Lighten Image Overload,'' August) included eight graphics utilities, one of which was LeadView 3.0. I bought LeadView only to discover that one of its principal features (the Photo Album that lists thumbnail versions for easy cataloging and searching) doesn't work at all. The thumbnails are never created or displayed. It's as if this feature was never fully implemented.

Al Carlson

via the Internet

[Dave Gabel replies: LEAD Technologies reports that they did have some defective disks in their initial shipment. Affected customers can get replacement disks by calling 800-637-4699 ext. 1403.]

Corrections

In the feature table of the "Screaming Pentiums'' Review on pages 272-275 of our November issue, the Acma P90 system was marked as having earned the WINDOWS Magazine Recommended seal. Although the Acma is a fine machine, this seal should have been positioned next to the American MultiSystems InfoGold P90, which in fact was the recipient of the WINDOWS Magazine Recommended rating.

We want to hear from you! Please send your letter and phone number, to: Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753, in the Letters to the Editor folder of the WinMag message exchange on AOL, or by e-mail to winmag@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


New Products: Dec. 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS FILE

Management

Workgroup Computing

Utilities

Printers

Application Development

AND

IN BRIEFS

Boards

Network Management

Presentations

Utilities

Fonts

Programming

Bundles

MANAGEMENT

Keep Minute Books Up-to-Date#

It's tempting to neglect the chore of drafting corporate resolutions, recording stock ownership and tracking corporate documents. Minute Man helps automate these tasks to help you overcome that temptation.

The program includes a Counselor feature that walks you through the preparation of corporate documents, including creating them in Microsoft Write and logging them in the document database. The program solicits the information needed for the document you are creating, and provides explanations and advice on creating it.

A corporate Address Book and Calendar help you ensure that legally required events occur on time. The Stock Audit gives you information on authorized shares, available shares and unexercised options. You can also prepare a graphical summary of company ownership. An employee data screen helps you keep track of hire dates, vacation days and other legally required data.

Minute Man

Price: From $69 to $349.

Contact: Unabridged Software Inc., 800-248-7630, 713-662-7630.

Track Employee Skills and Training

Keep your employees on track by tracking the training they've had. Ingenium 2.0, an intelligent training management program, helps you monitor and administer your training programs. It automates skill-gap analysis and career planning, produces compliance and certification alerts, aids in proficiency benchmarking and helps develop course evaluation.

The package can affiliate an individual with more than one organization or job. You can analyze and plan training budgets at the employee and group levels. Course management features include class capacity alerts, instructor evaluations, conflict reporting, wait listing, and group grading and reporting. An optional add-in lets you import data from human resources databases.

Ingenium 2.0

Price: From $2,995; import add-in, $795.

Contact: Meliora Systems Inc., 800-388-7332, 713-461-1900.

Analyze Business Data

Apply sophisticated decision-tree analysis to your business problems with DecisionMaker. This application lets you examine all facets of an issue and come to a decision. The program prompts you to add intuition to the decision process. You also have the chance to actively consider the weight and probability of each decision factor. After you fill in the best-case and worst-case scenario, and factor in whether you are risk averse or risk seeking, the program creates graphs, charts and figures that indicate the likelihood of each outcome, as well as its value, expressed in dollars or points.

DecisionMaker

Price: $149.95.

Contact: Palo Alto Software, 800-229-7526, 503-683-6162.

IN BRIEF-Boards

Movie Line, a video card with a television tuner and an A/B transition, gives you frame grabbing, video overlay, special effects, video output and Motion-JPEG digital compression capabilities. It can handle two channels of live video. Output is composite, so you can record in VHS or Video 8. Adobe Premier software is included with the card. $999; Fast Electronic U.S. Inc., 415-802-0772, fax 415-802-0746.

The Monte Carlo, a game-compatible sound card, features 16-bit stereo record/playback, wavetable synthesis (capable of producing 128 general MIDI instruments) and a selection of CD-ROM interfaces. Also included are the MicroWave sound recorder and song-writing software. $149;Turtle Beach Systems,800-645-5640, 717-767-0200.

VicPlayer is a real-time, video/audio MPEG-1 playback card. It decodes an MPEG-1 bit stream from a CD-ROM or a hard disk, and offers 24-bit motion playback and 48kHz 16-bit stereo sound. The card provides full-screen, full-motion video by performing zooms in its own hardware. Software includes a playback utility and a DLL. $349; VIC Hi-Tech Corp., 310-643-5193, fax 310-643-7572.

WORKGROUP COMPUTING

Virtual File Cabinet for the LAN

You can add a virtual file cabinet to your network to allow workgroups to share files without completely overhauling your network. Network Central lets users share files across a variety of Windows networks, including NetWare 3.x and 4.x, Personal NetWare, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT and PC-NFS 5.0 and later.

You can organize files by project or topic and create folders so that you can access all the files relating to a single project no matter where on the network they are. Search tools let you browse by filename, extension or date, as well as for specific text within a file.

The Auto+Connect feature automatically connects users to the listed files, whether or not they normally access the drive where the file is located. Other features include a directory monitoring feature, which informs you when files are added, deleted or changed in a shared directory, and a notes capability that lets you attach instructions or comments to any file.

Network Central

Price: $179.95; until December 31, $99.95.

Contact: First Floor Inc., 800-639-6387 x618, 415-968-1101.

Make Working Together a Suite Experience

Lotus Development Corp. has created NotesSuite to help companies standardizing applications get everyone working together. The package combines SmartSuite 3.0, Lotus Notes 3.1 and the NotesSuite Application Collection.

You can evaluate NotesSuite with the Starter Kit, which includes a server, two Notes Windows clients, two SmartSuite clients, the Application Collection, the documentation and 90 days of support. License packs include one license each for Notes and SmartSuite.

SmartSuite 3.0 includes Lotus 1-2-3 5.0, Ami Pro 3.1, Freelance Graphics 2.1, Approach 3.0 and Organizer 1.1. The Configurable Install installs the applications at once and consolidates shared files to save space. Also included is a full version of ScreenCam 1.1, as well as FX 1.1.

Lotus Notes 3.1 has been upgraded to include a Customer Service Application, which shows how the program can expedite customer support operations.

The Application Collection includes a variety of databases, including the Introductory Application, which gives descriptions of Notes and Notes/FX applications; the Library Application, which provides SmartMaster templates for both SmartSuite and the Freelance Presentation Library, an electronic filing cabinet; the Business Process Applications, which leverage Notes/FX for business processes such as expense authorization or contact management; and Information Services Applications, which provide news services and corporate/financial databases in Notes format.

NotesSuite

Price: Starter Kit for Evaluators, under $1,000; license packs, under $500 per user for 100 or more (estimated street price).

Contact: Lotus Development Corp., 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500.

Collaborate with an OpenMind

When everyone is in his or her own office with the door closed, it may be that they are all working together. OpenMind lets people share files, combine documents and manage information in a shared electronic workspace. The software includes a search engine, a document management utility, a discussion database and a GUI.

The program, which is based on client/server architecture, uses a database that runs on Windows NT. OpenMind provides notification and retrieval tools and document management capabilities for group collaboration, as well as a transcript format for on-line conversations. Once information is posted on the system, it is automatically indexed so that you can search for a document by age, author, section or a user-specified criterion. You can choose between several views depending on how you want to work. The Explorer View lets you navigate through the sections which you are allowed to access. The Transcript View presents all the discussion topics and lets you access a summary of each discussion. The Search View lets you do full-text searches, while the Track View lets you mark a section so that you are notified when anything is added to it.

Other noteworthy features include user ID and password security, OLE 2.0 automation and e-mail integration with VIM and MAPI-compliant systems.

OpenMind

Price: Client, from $295 for one user, to $225 per user for 100 or more; server, $995.

Contact: Digital Communications Associates Inc., 800-348-3221, 404-442-4000.

Keep an Electronic Project Notebook

Virtual Notebook System (VNS) 4.0 takes the place of all the paper used to document a project. A VNS notebook lets you put text, images, audio and video together. Users from anywhere on the enterprise can share the information.

With VNS, you can continue to work in your favorite desktop applications and then create links from that data to the notebook, or cut and paste the information into the notebook. The program's Guided Tour feature lets you escort a group of coworkers through a notebook for on-line discussion and editing.

You can allow information to be updated on-screen with the included graphical annotation tools or render the original information immutable so that discussions and comments are layered over the original, leaving it intact. Information on previous completed projects is stored in the VNS corporate knowledge base so you can refer back to it later.

Virtual Notebook System 4.0

Price: Client, $595; server, $6,000.

Contact: ForeFront Group Inc., 713-961-1101, fax 713-961-1149.

IN BRIEF-Network Management

Diagnose network problems and maintain your Novell LAN (with up to 15 nodes) with Hooper Utilities. The package provides on-screen suggestions for correcting problems and restoring full performance. It includes network attendant, hardware inventory, LAN card configuration, connectivity diagnostics and software frame tests. $249.95; Hooper Software Corp., 714-632-1320, fax 714-632-1402.

You can put Ethertest, a hardware and software system, on the beat to police network performance and analyze LAN traffic patterns. The software supports TCP/IP, NetBIOS, OSI, Banyan's VINES, 3Com, and 3+Open protocols, and includes on-line troubleshooting and interface drivers. You can choose a PCMCIA interface, a parallel port device or an ISA-compatible port card. $2,995; Frontline Test Equipment Inc., 708-575-8570, fax 708-575-8577.

You've forgotten the supervisor password for your Novell NetWare network and it seems that the world is coming to an end. All is not lost. NTPass lets you access the network with a security code and then create a new password to maintain security. The program, which runs from your file server, then sends a networkwide bulletin that the supervisor password has been changed. $249; AccessData Corp., 800-658-5199, 801-224-6970.

IN BRIEF-Presentations

The AirMouse PC Remote Control puts a two-button remote control in your hand to control your on-screen presentations. The wireless unit works from within 7 meters of the computer. Its 9-volt battery gives you 30 hours of presentation time. $395; AirMouse Remote Controls, 802-878-9600, fax 802-878-9699.

The RemotePoint lets you control your computer 40 feet from the keyboard. The infrared remote allows you to control the cursor by placing pressure toward any edge of the single-button pad. The force sensor in the unit converts the pressure into a directional command. The unit goes to sleep mode when not in use. $199;Interlink Electronics, 805-484-1331, fax 805-484-8989.

The Laserex SM-2 helps you get your point across to your audience. While two of the buttons on the remote control emulate the right and left mouse buttons, the third activates a laser pointer that puts a red dot on the screen. Software presentation tools included with the device allow you to shade parts of the screen, create a horizontal bar, zoom in or activate a pop-up clock. $225; Laserex Inc., 800-225-5503, 602-951-6969.

PRINTERS

Multipurpose, Much Convenience

You can put an office full of equipment on your desk in a single machine with these copier, fax and printer combinations from Panasonic and Konica.

Panasonic's KX-SP100  prints at 300 dots per inch for both its fax and printer, and 4 pages per minute (after the first printout) for the copier. The fax can store up to 18 pages in memory (or up to 104 pages with optional RAM expansion boards). The printer features HP PCL 4 emulation, a 70-page input tray and an optional envelope tray. It comes with 2MB of RAM (upgradable to 4MB), which the printer can use or share with the fax.

The Konica 7310 connects to your PC for printing, or can stand alone as a fax machine and copier. The fax features a 30-sheet document feeder, 300-dpi printing, and 256KB of memory for storing 10 pages (upgradable to 1.25MB for 50 pages). The printer includes PCL 5 emulation and 1MB of memory (upgradable to 5MB). The copier prints letter size paper at 10 ppm.

KX-SP100

Price: $799.

Contact: Panasonic Communications & Systems Co., 800-742-8086, 201-348-7000.

Konica 7310

Price: $3,695.

Contact: Konica Business Machines USA Inc., 800-256-6422, 203-683-2222.

Look into a High-Resolution Solution

The ValueWriter 600 prints at 600 dots per inch and 5 pages per minute. The printer tackles a vast selection of media types and sizes, including paper stock up to 150 pounds, transparencies, envelopes and labels.

The normal paper capacity is 150 sheets, upgradable to 400 sheets with a 250-sheet secondary tray. The printer ships with 13 scalable Intellifonts and 14 bit-mapped fonts, and has PCL 5 emulation.

ValueWriter 600

Price: $849.

Contact: Lexmark International, 800-358-5835, 606-232-2000.

Very Merry Printing

You can put this dot matrix printer on your holiday wish list without worrying about draining Santa's bank.

The DL700 prints 216 characters per second in draft mode. It provides a rear-loading tractor and top-loading friction feed, and 110-column width for landscape printing. The DL3700 offers a narrow-carriage machine that prints 400 characters per second in draft mode.

DL700 and DL3700

Price: DL700, $199; DL3700, $629.

Contact: Fujitsu Computer Products of America, 800-626-4686, 408-432-6333.

IN BRIEF-Fonts

You can build font catalogs to suit your special needs with FontConsultant 2.0. The program lets you organize your fonts by style, name or other user-defined criteria. It judges the boldness of a TrueType or PostScript Type 1 typeface and calculates the height of capital letters. It then displays the data and a sample of a typeface to help you categorize and organize the font into a group. $99; FontShop, 800-TYPE-USA, 312-360-1990.

Linguist's Software has released foreign-language font packages that include Keyboard Switcher. Outline fonts in both TrueType and Type 1 formats are now available for Cambodian, Laotian, Cherokee and Tibetan; the software also provides fonts for the International Phonetic Alphabet. The Switcher utility supports multiple keyboard layouts and assigns four characters per key to reduce the number of ANSI codes that must be typed to display a character. Each font pack, $99.95; Linguist's Software,  206-775-1130, fax 206-771-5911.

Monotype has shipped an upgraded CD-ROM containing 800 classic fonts from its own collection, 2,100 fonts from the Adobe Type Library and 580 fonts from leading-edge designers. Monotype CD 4.0 also contains over 20 clip-art packages and background sets. The purchase price entitles you to eight fonts; if you want to buy more fonts, you can call to get the security code that unlocks them. You can search for fonts by name, designer, library or classification, and you can print sample fonts to assist in selecting and buying a font. $49.99; Monotype Typography Inc.  800-666-6897, 312-855-1440.

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

C++ Tool Adds Project Manager

WinMaker Pro 6.0, a C/C++ prototyper and code generator, sports a project manager to give you access to objects and resources instantly. Support for .VBX files has also been added.

Three new floating palettes (a Property Sheet, a Toolbox, and a Color and Font Palette) expand your design options. The program lets you create application templates for frequently used design objects (such as status bars and toolbars), as well as set default size, position or contents of resources. The ability to incorporate multimedia--including digital video and sound--to menus, buttons and graphics rounds out the new features. Three Switch-It code generation modules, which produce code for MFC C++ and OWL C++, are also included.

WinMaker Pro 6.0

Price: $995; until February 28, $395; upgrades, $199.

Contact: Blue Sky Software Corp., 800-677-4946, 619-459-6365.

Take a Fax Application Shortcut

Building multiline fax applications is as easy as using a Visual Basic custom control, thanks to Visual Fax. The Visual Basic custom control works with Intel's SatisFAXtion boards and allows you to create faxback applications for up to 10 fax lines per PC without using IRQs.

Visual Fax helps you create applications that handle sending and receiving faxes without writing polling logic. The program notifies you when faxes are sent or received, keeps an activity log, and provides a status window. The control supports binary file transfer and sending and receiving ASCII, .PCX, and .DCX files.

Visual Fax

Price: $495.

Contact: Stylus Innovation, 617-621-9545, fax 617-621-7862.

Cut Development Time

The Windows version of NetLib for FoxPro uses the same source code as the DOS version, allowing you to port applications from one to the other seamlessly. NetLib offers network printing control and NetWare or NetBIOS service layer access.

The library contains an assembler API of register-level functions to let you create your own networking functions. NetLib allows station-to-station communications and nonlooped asynchronous event processing.

NetLib for FoxPro

Price: $299.

Contact: Pinnacle Publishing Inc., 800-788-1900, 206-251-1900.

IN BRIEF-Programming

Enhance your application's document viewing and printing with VSView VB custom controls. The interface adds zooming, panning and a variety of formatting options. The control uses a word processing metaphor to simplify word wrapping, text alignment and indentation. $99; VideoSoft,  800-547-7295, 510-547-7295.

You can identify programming errors with Pretty Printer for Visual Basic. Version 2.0 adds connection lines that connect the beginnings and endings of calling structures. It features automated indentation and customized page headers. The program can print lines between procedure breaks or print each on a separate page. $99.99; for a limited time, $79; upgrades, $19.99; Aardvark Software Inc., 800-482-2742, 201-833-4355.

Put a Windows face on your existing AS/400 applications with GUI/400. The program's Collector utility extracts panel information from the program source. The Best Guess feature is a set of customizable rules for converting your screens and applying graphical features. From $5,000 to $20,000;  Seagull Software Systems Inc.,  619-486-1848, fax 619-486-2467.

Give your application charting and drawing power with VBGraphix. The VB custom control gives you high- and low-level functions that include 10 chart types. The program lets you import and export .WMF, .EPS and HPGL graphics files; input chart data from ASCII files; or use the built-in chart editor that takes input from a spreadsheet. $399; MicroHelp Inc., 800-922-3383, 404-516-0899.

UTILITIES

Give This Desktop Manager a Spin

The SpinWizard rotating toolbar allows you to access and manage up to 96 of your most used applications and documents. You can custom configure the rotating carousel by dragging icons to where you want them. In addition, you can add button labels and pop-up button descriptions for selected icons.

Buttons can link to an application, one or more documents, or an automated task. Buttons have indicator lights to show whether the associated application or file is already running. You can choose between using the application instance that is already running or holding Ctrl during launch to invoke a new instance of the application. The program configures itself automatically during installation.

The Record Function lets you automate multistep tasks, even across several applications, and assign the resulting macro to a button on the carousel.

SpinWizard

Price: $79.95.

Contact: Tansis Technology Inc., 800-460-SPIN, 512-263-1700.

Put a Band-Aid on Your PC

First-Aid will kiss your desktop bruises away. The utility runs in the background during normal operations, but during a conflict or error, First-Aid pops up, analyzes the situation, and offers to repair the problem or tell you how to do it manually. All changes are logged so you can track and undo if you're unhappy with the resulting configuration.

First-Aid has a knowledge base that can detect and fix over 1,000 common configuration problems (such as sound card and CD-ROM conflicts, misplaced drivers and .DLLs, and network printing problems) that occur when you are running popular Windows programs such as Excel, Word, Access, Quicken, WordPerfect, Ami Pro, Paradox, Quattro Pro, cc:Mail or Harvard Graphics. First-Aid also supports NetWare and Windows for Workgroups.

The program includes a Help Desk hypertext database of troubleshooting information. The Help Desk gives you tips and solutions for common problems that occur with a single program or that are due to the interaction of two or more applications.

First-Aid

Price: $129; until December 31, $49.95.

Contact: CyberMedia, 800-5-CYBER-D, 310-843-0800.

Manage Memory Problems

AnyView Professional manages your system's memory so you can avoid problems that crop up due to insufficient memory. The program helps you speed up graphics, change color-depth and color-matching options on the fly, and increase the energy efficiency of your system. Features include the GreenScreen display power management application, the DPI Wyzard color calibrator and the OptiMemm memory manager, which helps Windows to better handle multiple programs running simultaneously.

AnyView Professional

Price: $99.95.

Contact: Binar Graphics Inc., 800-228-0666, 415-491-4182.

IN BRIEF- Utilities

Disk Duplication System (DDS) copies and formats disks while you run other applications. The program reads the original disk and makes single or multiple copies without rereading the source. It also stores floppy disk images on your hard disk so you can produce more copies of the original disk at any time. DDS offers two different conversion methods and can access up to four floppy disk drives with single or multiple controllers. It supports all standard disk types, including 2.88MB. $29.95; Kitz Technologies, 414-233-3974, fax 414-235-8832.

You can track and destroy viruses before they hurt your system. ThunderBYTE Anti-Virus Utilities uses TbScan, a universal decrypter, to ensure accurate identification of new generation polymorphic encrypted viruses and repair the damage they cause. The program works with Windows and Windows NT. The AllExec option allows you to scan selected drives when executing files and scan copied, modified or created files automatically. $80; ThunderBYTE, 800-667-TBAV, 613-930-4444.

Finding what you need in a help file can be stormy sailing. Try putting Help Browser at the helm. The program provides an interactive help file map that outlines where each topic jumps and indicates which topics are linked to others. In addition, you can print multiple topics and search for any word or any phrase in the help file. $89; Cascadilla Press, 617-776-2370, fax 617-776-2271.

AND

Get a Better View of Report Data

You may feel as if information is cocooned away where you can't reach it. Monarch, a data access system and report viewer, helps you extract information from corporate databases for analysis.

Monarch lets you access information in databases that have been previously downloaded from mainframe, departmental and personal computers. The program filters data on the basis of user-definable criteria. It lets users feed electronic reports to an output device, such as a printer, and then displays them as electronic files.

Monarch can get data from most computer-generated reports. The application can extract, recognize and associate data drawn from different levels of a hierarchical report, and includes provisions that allow its users to parse for address breaks or discrete information, such as specific names or titles. Monarch presents report data in a format that resembles a traditional printed document (including the traditional green bars). Specific terms and discrete information can be located in Monarch reports using the supplied search engine. Facilities that allow users to print custom views are supported, so you can send information to most commonly used Windows and DOS data formats.

Monarch

Price: $499.

Contact: Personics Corp., 800-445-3311, 508-658-0040.

Tickle Your Memory for Information

InfoRecall helps you put your hands on information when you know you have the facts, but can't remember where you put them. Designed as a tool for creating, searching and organizing text and other types of free-form databases, the program lets you link records in one file with those in another.

InfoRecall lets you create and maintain records as small as a few words or as large as 25 pages. Records can be linked using the supplied hypertext tools. You can import and export information in commonly used database formats, or access DDE links to most Windows-based word processing programs.

InfoRecall

Price: $99.95.

Contact: Phantech Software Inc., 800-208-1311, 416-502-1311.

Look at Your Bottom Line

The BottomLine accounting program is optimized for forecasting business and personal cash flow.

The program projects weekly best-case, likely-case and worst-case cash flow scenarios for up to 52 weeks. You can consolidate your Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Budget data into a single cash-flow picture. The program can be used for standalone projections but also is compatible with Solomon III, Great Plains Accounting and FlexWare.

BottomLine

Price: $149.

Contact: end-if Software, 916-671-6700, 916-671-6170.

IN BRIEF- Bundles

IBM is bundling Triton Technologies Inc.'s CoSession with its family of ThinkPad notebooks. The CoSession remote-control package allows diagnostic technicians to examine a user's computer remotely. The package was selected by IBM for use in its IBM On-line Housecall program. Triton Technologies Inc., 800-322-9440, 908-855-9440.

Deneba has bundled a CD-ROM containing 10,000 clip-art images and 2,000 TrueType fonts with the latest version of its drawing and illustration program, Canvas 3.5. Version 3.5 allows its users to open files that were created using programs such as CorelDRAW 3.0. $399; competitive upgrade, $99; Canvas upgrade, $49.95; Deneba Software, 800-6-CANVAS, 305-596-5644.

O'Reilly and Associates will bundle Enhanced Spyglass Mosaic, a Windows version of the Mosaic interface from Spyglass Inc., with The Mosaic Handbook for Microsoft Windows. The book, a primer on the Internet, shows you how to use Mosaic to perform functions that were once accomplished using obscure file-transfer protocols and other commands.  The kit is designed to help computer users obtain information from the Internet. $29.95; O'Reilly and Associates, 800-998-9938, 707-829-0515.


First Impressions: Dec. 1994-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

PRODUCTS COVERED IN THIS FILE

OS/2 WARP, VERSION 3

WORDPERFECT 6.1

AST ASCENTIA 800N

LAPLINK 6.0

HP VECTRA XU 5/90C

QUICKBOOKS 3.0

ZENITH Z-STATION EX

NEW OS/2 ENTERS 32-BIT FRAY

By: WAYNE RASH JR.

If waiting for Windows 95 feels like waiting for Godot and Windows 3.1 is beginning to pinch like a tight shoe, IBM might have just what you've been looking for.

I tested a late beta of IBM's newest edition of OS/2 for Windows--called OS/2 Warp, Version 3. IBM has set its sights on those users whose needs have outgrown Windows 3.1 and who just don't want to wait for Windows 95.

Previously, IBM had stated that this version of OS/2 for Windows would work with Windows for Workgroups and Windows 3.11. In addition, it would include networking capability, work with less memory, and have a friendlier look and feel. IBM also promised support for a wider range of hardware and an easier installation. For the most part, IBM delivers on these promises.

IBM also said it would deliver more value with this new OS/2. The added value would come in the OS/2 Warp Bonus Pak, which is expected to include a set of applications called IBM Works, CompuServe Information Manager for OS/2, a set of Internet access tools, FaxWorks for OS/2, a PIM and a desktop conferencing tool. None of these were available for review.

I tested OS/2 Warp on two machines. One was a 60MHz Pentium with 16MB of RAM, a 540MB hard disk, a CD-ROM drive and a PCI-bus graphics card. The other was a highly modified 386 that had been upgraded with a Cyrix 486DX2, a SCSI controller with a 340MB hard disk, an accelerated graphics card and a CD-ROM drive. I installed Warp over Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on the Pentium and Windows 3.1 on the other.

I chose the Easy Install options for both systems. In each case, the installation program properly identified the hardware configurations and the installation moved along without a hitch--until it got to the end. At that point, OS/2 asks you to insert three Windows diskettes so it can copy some needed files. There was no provision for accessing the CD-ROM for this process, so you must be sure to have the Windows diskettes handy.

While installation was quite easy, it wasn't very different from previous OS/2 installations. And it was time-consuming; I had to feed nearly 30 diskettes into the computer. The really tough installation procedures, such as configuring network cards or defining TCP/IP addresses, weren't included in the beta.

Once you've installed it, OS/2 Warp starts and runs like OS/2 always has, which means that it takes a while to get running.

The OS/2 Warp desktop is indeed a little snazzier than before. The icons are colorful--some are in 3-D--and there's a new tutorial designed to help Windows users become familiar with the OS/2 environment. A new launching pad--sort of a super-floating toolbar--lets you click on an icon and start up a frequently used program directly.

As in the  past, Windows programs run fine under OS/2. Because of the way OS/2 manages memory, you sometimes can get slightly better performance running Windows programs under OS/2. While I didn't measure performance, I found no problems with compatibility or speed. Applications such as Microsoft's Word and Excel and Hilgreave's HyperAccess communications program worked perfectly.

While OS/2 can do some tricks with mem-ory, it has its limits. I was able to run OS/2 Warp, Version 3 in 4MB of RAM with adequate performance, but disk activity went up dramatically. Some programs, such as the Microsoft Office instal-lation, wouldn't work.

The long-touted crash proofing of OS/2 didn't work well either, although this might have been a beta-related problem. When things went awry during testing, all I saw were impressive displays of hexadecimal listings.

I couldn't install the Novell NetWare Requester for OS/2 with the beta version, but IBM said that the shipping version of the product will work with existing requesters.

With this new OS/2, IBM is targeting an area that has been Microsoft's undisputed domain. Only time will tell if Big Blue has the product to pose a serious threat. Right now, the new OS/2 has the potential to be the answer to many people's 32-bit needs.

OS/2 Warp, Version 3

Price: Expected to be under $100

In Brief: The next generation of OS/2 is aimed at Windows users who might otherwise use Windows 95--especially home users and small businesses--but it neglects networking.

IBM Corp.

800-3-IBM-OS2, 810-552-4200

WORDPERFECT 6.1-EXPERTS HELP YOU WRITE RIGHT

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Subtle but significant. That best describes the updates to WordPerfect. The major new features in version 6.1 help make writing easier, while other features help the program catch up to or surpass the competition.

In the beta version I tested, the most noticeable change was in the interface. It now conforms to the PerfectOffice suite standards. The toolbar icons are smaller, and bubble help has been added. Below the toolbar, a series of pull-down menus lets you quickly change font, text style, justification, line spacing, zoom percent, and table and column settings.

But that's all window dressing. The new features are what's interesting. For example, Find and Replace now finds all forms of the search word and even makes replacements with the correct form. Look for "buy'' and the program finds "bought.'' Change "buy'' to "purchase'' and "bought'' changes to "purchased.'' The Thesaurus and spell checker use this technology, too.

There are lots of new time savers. A history of your Find and Replace text lets you easily repeat the request. The QuickCorrect feature comes with 150 commonly misspelled words that can be automatically corrected as you type, and it now can check for improper capitalization. QuickFormat has been enhanced so that if you change the format of the original text, the sections to which you applied the formatting also will change.

Version 6.1 also offers intelligent cut and paste. When you cut and paste, or drag and drop text, the program will make any necessary adjustments--adding or deleting spaces--to accommodate the text in its new location.

WordPerfect now lets you just drag the mouse across an area to create a graphic and provides better drop-cap support where the enlarged letter or word is read by the spell checker. Version 6.1 also embellishes WordPerfect's already sturdy file maintenance with a new Open as Copy option. This selection will save the original version of a document and make a copy for you to work on.

The program also makes a new push for using templates. Templates are now arranged by function, and the number has been whittled down to those most often used. The templates have prompts to direct you to fill in the variable areas in the supplied skeleton documents. New Experts help you build letters, complete with openings and closings, and they can even substitute some boilerplate text for the letter's content.

The Table Expert provides dozens of formatting options for a table. You just select a table and choose a style. As you add rows, the formatting carries over to the additions. Best of all--and unlike its competition--WordPerfect lets you add your own new styles to the list. The program offers more than 100 formulas, and it supports named ranges, automatic data fill, column size to fit, and row and column totals.

Version 6.1 can adjust an entire document to a new size. You tell the Make It Fit Expert what it can adjust (fonts, spacing or margins), and your document is modified to fit the desired number of pages.

Among the dozens of other new features are Coaches to step you through more complex tasks, with a Show Me button for instructions and a Do It button that just gets the job done. WordPerfect is now an OLE 2.0 client and server, so you can drag and drop text between documents, use in-place editing, and drag objects between programs within the PerfectOffice suite.

Some of WordPerfect's new features match those in Microsoft Word 6.0, such as up to 300 levels of undo and redo (which can be saved with the document), the ability to add words to the QuickCorrect list from the spell checker and automatic selection of words (you can still select by character, too).

With its careful attention to making things ever-so-slightly easier, WordPerfect succeeds in helping skirt the drudgery of repetitive tasks.

WordPerfect 6.1

Price: $395; upgrade, $99; competitive upgrade, $129

In Brief: Ease-of-use improvements mark this new version, including improved Find and Replace, and intelligent cutting and pasting.

WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000

AST ASCENTIA 800N-BUSINESS-CLASS COMPUTER

By: RICH CASTAGNA

The folks in first class might not be overly impressed when you pull out the Ascentia 800N to put it through some in-flight maneuvers.

The 800N doesn't have the head-turning looks and lickety-split speed of its big brother, the 900N. But the business-class crowd will definitely appreciate AST's new all-business notebook.

This portable fits into a category that manufacturers like to refer to as their "value lines.'' That means you don't have to shell out major moolah. Sure, you sacrifice a little flashiness, but you get a machine that still delivers sufficient processing power for most business applications. The 800N lives up to the value label, while adding a healthy dose of convenience features usually associated with more costly machines.

The unit I tested had a 50MHz Intel 486DX2 CPU and came with 4MB of RAM. At 4MB, system memory is on the anemic side, but you can upgrade to 8MB, 12MB or 20MB by lifting a topside hatch and plugging in an optional module.

The 800N's storage system includes a 340MB hard disk and a floppy disk drive, both of which are removable. You'll have to carry a small screwdriver if you plan to perform on-the-road hard disk transplants because the hard disk is secured with two screws. The screws remain attached to the disk and can't fall out, and you won't accidentally jettison the disk.

The 800N has the usual group of ports with the exception of a docking station connection. The PCMCIA slot provides accommodations for one Type III card or two Type IIs. I tested the PCMCIA port with a modem and a hard disk. Both were immediately recognized by the included SystemSoft CardView software, and both worked fine.

This Ascentia is smaller and lighter than AST's top-of-the-line 900N. Its svelte silhouette measures 1.7 by 10.4 by 8.8 inches and it tips the scales at a modest 5.9 pounds. It's only a half-pound or so less than many other notebooks, but when you're on concourse A and your connecting flight is on concourse E, those few ounces can make a ton of difference.

To achieve its slim dimensions, AST reduced the overall size of the keyboard by more than an inch while maintaining a key size that's about 95 percent of a standard key. The most significant compromise is the lack of dedicated Home and End keys; these navigators are available by pressing the Fn key along with either Page Up or Page Down. It's easy to get used to and a small price to pay for the briefcase room you'll rediscover.

AST also replaced the 900N's pointing stick with a trackball on the 800N. Stick or ball--it's more personal preference than anything else, but the 800N's trackball works fine. It's large enough at 19mm and conveniently placed in its recess on the short palm rest.

The sharp 9.5-inch STN screen displays near-paper-white whites and vivid colors. Contrast and brightness are controlled using the Fn key and the cursor keys. The 800N has a wide range of contrast and brightness settings so it's easy to adjust to varying light conditions.

The 800N's performance, as measured with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests, also exhibited a rather wide range. For example, its ratings for CPU performance (27.59 MIPS) and floating-point operations (5.47 MFLOPS) were on par with similarly configured 50MHz notebooks. The 800N's video performance of 2.11 million pixels per second was above average, while its disk scores were low with a data-transfer rate of 0.46MB per second.

Battery life was good if not remarkable. With its conservation features disabled, the battery lasted 2.1 hours under rigorous testing. When I used the 800N in a more conventional manner--to do real work and with power saving turned on--the battery lasted just over three hours. If you pop out the floppy drive and slide another battery into its slot, you can get six or more hours of nonstop computing.

The high-end notebooks might grab the spotlight, but workhorses like the 800N are waiting in the wings.

AST Ascentia 800N

Price: As reviewed, $2,599

In Brief: The newest of AST's Ascentia notebooks, the 800N lives up to its "value line'' description.

AST Research

800-876-4278, 714-727-4141

LAPLINK 6.0-SWAP FILES BY WIRE, MODEM, AIR

By: JAMES E. POWELL

LapLink brings file transfer to Windows with a new technology that cuts transfer time dramatically.

Traveling Software also has added remote control, so you can run another PC from just about anywhere and do all the things you normally would do if you were sitting in front of it. From home or hotel, you can check your e-mail, connect to your network, or run other applications.

File transfer is still LapLink's bread and butter. You can transfer files using a serial or parallel cable (included) via modem, or without wires at all using the AirShare wireless radio-module units codeveloped with National Semiconductor.

However you connect, you see side-by-side windows displaying the directories of your PC and the linked machine, or host. You can transfer files, synchronize the PCs so that they both have the latest versions of the same files, or clone entire directories from one to the other. It's also possible to create directories or rename files. And you can accomplish most of this with drag-and-drop.

Version 6.0 has added SpeedSync, which shortens transfer times by sending only the parts of files that are different. LapLink checks the copy of the file at the destination and then just copies the bytes needed to make it match the original. In one test, I transferred 2.5MB of files in just under two minutes. LapLink reported using a compression ratio of 30:1 to achieve this remarkable feat at 9600bps. A status window reports what percent of the original file was transferred as well as the elapsed time. The company says you can increase effective transfer speeds up to 800 percent, but I never came close to that figure during my tests. Even so, transfer time was much shorter than expected.

The new remote-control feature is a pleasure. You can hook up to a host that has a display resolution greater than the PC you're working from. LapLink uses a single video driver that works with your existing drivers to make everything viewable. By connecting a lower resolution remote to a high-res host, I was able to view the desktop screen both shrunk and in "actual size'' with scroll bars around the image to view the extending portions.

Screen redraw was acceptable when connected by a 9600bps modem, which is normally far too slow for acceptable remote-control results. The program stores display elements such as icons for reuse, improving performance significantly. In fact, the more I used an application, the quicker screen redraws became.

LapLink also includes a chat mode during remote-control sessions that lets you pop up a window to carry on a real-time "conversation'' with the person at the other end. This feature is great to type explanations of what you're doing as you "operate'' someone's PC remotely. You even can perform a file transfer in the background as you use remote control.

Traveling Software hasn't overlooked the security concerns of having files flying over wires, modems or even through the air. You can tell the host computer to accept only incoming calls from selected users or require call back to establish connection. You also can limit remote dialers to specific functions such as chat, file transfer or remote control. To ensure that nothing disrupts a session on the far end, you can lock the host computer's keyboard and mouse, or force the host screen to blank to discourage prying eyes. You can even set the host to reboot automatically when you end the session.

The program is flexible. It supports more than 200 modems--including V.Fast and cellular modems--or you can create your own modem definition. An address book lets you automate your connections, and the program will even uninstall itself.

LapLink supports Novell NetWare and Personal NetWare, and Windows for Workgroups using IPX connections.

Installation is simple and the connections are easy to set up. If you tend to find yourself in one place and the files you need in another, Traveling Software has a solution for you.

LapLink 6.0

Price: $199.95; upgrade, $79.95

In Brief: Its new SpeedSync technology speeds up LapLink's file transfers by sending only the changes in large files.

Hard Disk Space: 6MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB minimum, 8MB recommended

Traveling Software

800-343-8080, 206-483-8088

HP VECTRA XU 5/90C-90MHZ SYSTEM MAKES ITS CASE

By: BEN MYERS

Hewlett-Packard's Vectra XU 5/90C 90MHz Pentium system is impressive because of its compact yet sturdy construction. It has a rugged case, but that doesn't mean it's difficult to open up. You don't even need a screwdriver to open this package, which measures 6 by 17 by 16 inches. But at $7,512, including a CD-ROM and 17-inch monitor, this Pentium is pricey.

Inside the Vectra XU 5/90C, the limited real estate is put to good use. A system board with dual Pentium sockets--one plugged with a 90MHz model--occupies almost the entire system footprint. The power supply rotates on a hinge to give you easy access to memory and the processor underneath. The hard disk mounting is similarly hinged so you can get to the system's cables.

In its standard configuration, the system comes with 16MB of RAM, which can be upgraded to 256MB using 32MB modules. Next to the processor socket is a bank of very fast 10-nanosecond 256KB external cache.

Similar to other systems housed in smallish cases, the Vectra XU 5/90C has many of its connectors built into the system board. These include a parallel port, two serial ports, 10BaseT and coaxial Ethernet ports, and a small 50-pin SCSI-2 connector.

The system has five slots for expansion--three ISA, one PCI, and one that can be used with either an ISA or PCI card. One of the XU 5/90C's slots is occupied by a Matrox PCI graphics card with 2MB of video RAM. The XU 5/90C offers either IDE or SCSI hard disks, almost identical 540MB Quantum units, and an optional Toshiba 4101 double-speed SCSI CD-ROM. There are SCSI and IDE cables for attaching an additional internal device. An AMD Ethernet-SCSI chip mounted on the system board manages both SCSI and Ethernet connections.

The monitor is HP's Ultra VGA 1280. It's a 17-inch monitor with 0.28mm dot pitch that has little curvature to its screen, so there is almost no distortion. It supports refresh rates of 72Hz at 640x480 pixels, 72Hz at 800x600, 75Hz at 1024x768 and 60Hz at 1280x1024, just meeting the minimum VESA standard. Controls on the front panel of the monitor let you align the size and shape of a screen image as needed.

The Vectra XU 5/90C comes with DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 preloaded, along with software for the Matrox graphics card, SCSI devices and the Ethernet interface. The system is not quite ready to go, because you have to change the CONFIG.-SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to install the CD-ROM drivers. Although drivers for the integrated Ethernet are on the hard disk, you need to set up the network software yourself to add, for example, LSL, IPXODI, various VLM modules and a shell to get a working NetWare client. Network client drivers include LANtastic, NetWare, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, OS/2 and Banyan's VINES.

On WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmark tests, the extra fast external system cache and speedy Matrox MGA chip helped the XU 5/90C achieve 96.7 MIPS on the CPU test and 8.6 million pixels per second on the video test (at 800x600 with 16.7 million colors). The double-speed CD-ROM drive averaged 300KB per second. The SCSI hard disk in one test system seemed a little sluggish, while the IDE disk was very quick.

The XU 5/90C is built with such thoughtfulness and precision that its low SCSI hard disk throughput is a bit puzzling, as is its not-quite-network-ready state. The system would benefit, too, if the Ultra VGA 1280 monitor were replaced with one that offers better refresh rates and ergonomics.

The XU 5/90C is also a pretty expensive computer. It's hard to put a price on durability and confidence but, still, there are many similarly equipped systems available for less.

HP Vectra XU 5/90C

Price: $7,512 (as tested)

In Brief: A superbly constructed computer, this system is somewhat hampered by a SCSI hard disk that's a little slow.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900, 303-625-1000

QUICKBOOKS 3.0-SIMPLICITY IS THE BOTTOM LINE

By: MANJIT K. SAHAI

QuickBooks is-

By: far--the easiest accounting package to set up and use right out of the box.

Windows-based small-business accounting packages have proliferated over the last couple of years. Most of these packages use a forms-based approach that lets you complete your accounting chores by filling in familiar business forms such as invoices, bills and check registers. QuickBooks follows this same path, but goes further to insulate you from accounting concepts and terminology. You'll be able to keep your company's books without knowing about debits, credits, general ledgers or journal entries. I tested a late beta version of the program.

QuickBooks even tramples on accounting traditions. For example, instead of enforced audit trails, QuickBooks leaves it up to you as an option. And, unlike most other packages, QuickBooks lets you edit or delete any transaction anytime. There is no posting, no month-end or year-end closing, and you always have access to all your data. QuickBooks also breaks ranks with other packages by letting you switch between cash-basis or accrual accounting.

QuickBooks is certain to appeal to you if you use Intuit's Quicken for your business accounting but are starting to outgrow it. You won't sacrifice any of Quicken's ease of use while getting new, business-oriented tools such as invoicing and inventory management.

You'll appreciate QuickBooks' simplicity from the start. Setting up an accounting system is usually the toughest part of the process. So tough, in fact, that most people seek an accountant's services. You probably won't need help with QuickBooks. Simply select New Company under the File menu, and choose one of the 20 sample charts of accounts as a starting point, and you are ready to go. And nothing is set in stone. You can create customers, vendors, payment terms--even the chart of accounts--on the fly as you enter transactions.

The QuickBooks menu is organized by logical tasks. The Lists menu provides access to basic information, such as chart of accounts, and customer and vendor lists. The Activities menu lets you write invoices, purchase orders, checks and bills, or reconcile bank statements. The Reports menu offers dozens of reports that can be customized, while Graphs lets you graphically visualize aspects of your business.

QuickZoom lets you drill down to examine the numbers behind a summary in a report or a graph simply by double-clicking on it.

Traditional accounting systems require that you provide GL, A/R and sales tax accounts in addition to item, quantity and price when you create an invoice. With QuickBooks, you just select Create Invoices from the Activities menu and supply the item number, quantity and price. The program uses the item number to associate an income account with that entry to simplify the process.

QuickBooks also simplifies paying for your purchases by providing several payment procedures. You can use Write Checks for the times when you dashed off a check at the office supply store, for example, even applying the expense to several different accounts. Alternatively, you can record bills and then pay them later using the Enter Bills and Pay Bills options. With other packages, ad hoc check writing requires journal entries and filling in debit and credit account columns.

But don't think QuickBooks is any less capable because it is so simple. It has invoicing capability, and it can manage your inventory (new in this version). It can automatically calculate finance charges and vendor discounts, and it can handle job-cost accounting. Though payroll is not included, it can be added in with the optional QuickPay module.

For the small business owner without an accounting background, QuickBooks is the clear choice.

QuickBooks 3.0

Price: $99; QuickPay (payroll module), $49.95 alone, or $40 with QuickBooks bundled

In Brief: Specially designed for small business owners who do their own accounting, QuickBooks assumes no knowledge of credit/debit accounting.

Intuit Inc.

800-624-8742, 415-322-0573

ZENITH Z-STATION EX-PINT-SIZED PENTIUM PLUGS IN

By: BEN MYERS

The $3,799 Zenith Z-Station EX is a 90MHz Pentium desktop computer that comes ready to hook into your LAN. It's packed in a case that's 4 inches high, 17 inches wide and 16 inches deep.

The baby AT-sized system board has a vertical riser for add-on cards. It also has two PCI slots and 3 ISA slots, one of which is already occupied by the SMC EtherCard Elite Ultra, an Ethernet network card. Each of the PCI and ISA add-in cards may be full-length, but the other slots are limited to half-length cards. The system's BIOS recognizes add-in cards that conform to Intel and Microsoft's Plug and Play specification.

The Z-Station EX I tested had 16MB of 60-nanosecond RAM, and a 256KB secondary cache. The system accepts up to 128MB of RAM using standard 32MB 72-pin SIMMs. Some peripheral controllers are built into the motherboard, reducing the number of slots needed for add-in cards. For example, an ATI Mach 64 graphics chip with 2MB of Video RAM (VRAM) memory is built into the system board. There are two integrated IDE interface connectors: One is a PCI connec-tor used by a 540MB Western Digital Caviar IDE hard disk, and the other--an ISA--is used by a Toshiba double-speed CD-ROM. An SMC SuperChip on the system board supports a parallel port and two serial ports--both high speed--so you won't run into many throughput problems.

The system chassis has limited room for expansion, with only one half-height 5.25-inch bay available for an internal device. The 200-watt power supply should be ample for most add-on gear. Typical of smaller computer cases, this one is a bit cramped inside. You have to remove the disk assemblies to add memory, and installing a device in the half-height bay requires some complicated maneuvering.

Both the keyboard and mouse have PS/2-style connectors. You may find yourself hitting the wrong keys now and then because the keyboard has a mushy feel, with keys closer together from top to bottom than the 101-key IBM standard. The mouse, on the other hand, has a hard touch.

Zenith's 15-inch, Nokia-built, Super VGA monitor supports refresh rates of 100Hz at 640x480 pixels, 85Hz at 800x600 and 75Hz at 1024x768--all beyond the minimum VESA standard. With its fairly fine 0.28mm dot pitch and high refresh rates, this excellent monitor is a sight for sore eyes. The controls on its front panel allow you to adjust the size and shape of a screen image at a given resolution, if the Windows utilities for your graphics card do not do so.

Zenith preinstalled DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11, as well as the necessary utilities and drivers for the Western Digital Caviar disk, ATI graphics controller and the SMC Ethernet card. When you first boot up your system, a neat utility will guide you through the customization process, and will help you set up the appropriate software for your network, including Novell NetWare, Windows for Workgroups or Banyan's VINES. The helpful utility also can be used to back up all of the preinstalled software onto diskettes. Network administrators will appreciate the easy network setup.

Windows starts up with standard VGA graphics, so you have to run ATI's DOS install program to choose a monitor type that most closely matches the 15-inch Zenith. Then, you can run the ATI Desktop Windows software to set resolution, color depth, virtual desktop and monitor power management. The ATI Mach 64 graphics chip and software allow the usual combinations of graphics resolutions and colors afforded by 2MB of graphics memory: 800x600 with 16.7 million colors, and 1024x768 with 65,000 colors.

WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmark tests verified that the Toshiba IDE CD-ROM was a double-speed drive, and recorded the hard disk's performance at a sustained transfer rate of 3MB per second. Wintune also showed that the processor is capable of 89 MIPS and the graphics controller can display 5.7 million pixels per second at 800x600 resolution with 16.7 million colors. In short, this is a pretty fast computer for applications that require true color.

The Z-Station EX's $3,799 price is a bit more than mail-order systems in its class, but it distinguishes itself with easy hardware and network setup and a first-rate monitor.

Zenith Z-Station EX

Price: $3,799

In Brief: A network-ready 90MHz Pentium workstation, the Z-Station EX system is simple to set up, and it has a world-class monitor, too.

Zenith Data Systems

800-582-0524, 708-808-5000


First Impressions: Dec 1994-Part 3

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

PRODUCTS COVERED IN THIS FILE

PACKARD BELL 486/DX2/66 MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM

DRAFIX CAD PROFESSIONAL 3.0

VISUAL VOICE FOR MWAVE 1.0

AZTECH EXPLORER DELUXE

JAZZ MULTIMEDIA JAKARTA, PROJECTOR, PORT OF ENTRY

HOTDOCS 2.0

MOUSEMAN SENSA

VALUEGRAPH 447L

PACKARD BELL 486/DX2/66 MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM-MULTIMEDIA--AND TV, TOO

By: JIM FORBES

If you're looking for an inexpensive multimedia computer that goes beyond providing great sound, a dual-speed CD-ROM and a couple of CD-based applications, you may want to take a long look at Packard Bell's line of television-tuner-equipped multimedia computers.

The Packard Bell 66MHz 486DX2-based system that I tested is a good example of what basic multimedia should be. You get mid-range processor performance, state-of-the-art video, enough hard disk storage for virtually all uses, and a solid bundle of applications that includes Microsoft's Works and Money and a number of reference and entertainment packages.

Another important addition, especially for novice or home users, is Packard Bell's Navigator. Navigator is a shell that helps make Windows even easier to use and simplifies most of the computer's operations. It includes a number of software-based activities for young computer users.

In addition to its 66MHz 486DX2 processor, this system's standard configuration includes an integrated graphics accelerator with 1MB of video memory, a Forte-16 sound card that is compatible with the de facto Sound Blaster standard and an integrated dual-speed CD-ROM. Other system components include a 540MB hard disk; 8MB of system memory; and ports for serial, parallel, PS/2-style mouse and keyboard connections. It also ships with a 15-inch Super VGA monitor and two large stereo speakers that can be attached directly to the monitor. A 9600-bit-per-second modem rounds out the equipment inventory.

With only one exception, the Packard Bell 66MHz turned in favorable performance marks when measured with the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune benchmarks tests. The DX2 processor registered a score of 35.17 MIPS and 7.14 MFLOPs for floating-point operations. These scores are average, or slightly better, than similarly equipped systems based on the 66MHz DX2 CPU. The graphics subsystem, which uses a Cirrus Logic graphics accelerator, took excellent advantage of its 1MB of video memory and delivered a very good mark of 2.134 million pixels per second on the Wintune graphics test.

On its first pass on the Wintune disk tests, this system clocked an extremely low data-transfer rate of 0.23MB per second. But after making some adjustments to the SMARTDrive entry in the system's AUTOEXEC.BAT, a second run through the tests yielded a more-than-respectable rate of about 1.3MB per second. The system does not ship with Windows for Workgroups, which might have improved the system's hard disk performance, since it has 32-bit disk and file operations.

Packard Bell also appears to be making a serious effort to make multimedia computing a little more accessible. For example, the company facilitated this system's setup by providing color coding for the cables and their corresponding connections.

But the real kick with this machine is its TV tuner. You can watch your favorite shows on your PC in a window or with a full-screen picture. I had no difficulty tuning in and receiving San Francisco Bay area commercial television stations without making any adjustments to the factory-set configuration. Packard Bell provides a utility to control the television functions via software. You can adjust the brightness, sound attributes, vertical and horizontal hold, and contrast using the program's sliding-bar controls.

The TV component is not just a gimmick. You can watch from multiple video sources, such as broadcast signals or from a VCR, but you can also capture images as you view them, and then use these graphics in other applications.

The Packard Bell 66DX2 offers good processor performance, is easy to set up, includes an on-board television tuner and ships with a great software bundle. This computer just might be as much fun for kids to use as it is for adults.

Packard Bell 66

Price: $2,399 (estimated street price)

In Brief: The Packard Bell 66 multimedia computer includes educational, personal productivity and entertainment software, and has an on-board television tuner.

Packard Bell

800-733-5858, 818-865-1555

DRAFIX CAD PROFESSIONAL 3.0-CAD PACK TAKES SHAPE

By: RANJIT S. SAHAI

In 1989, Foresight Resources released the first Windows version of Drafix. It was, in fact, the first Windows-based CAD program.

That early version of Drafix had a good blend of features, but it was burdened by a weak interface. Version 2.0, released three years later, introduced a thoroughly modern icon-based interface that made the software easier to learn and use. With Version 3.0, Foresight dramatically extends the usability of the already capable software by adding such features as right-mouse button menus, OLE support, customizable toolboxes, balloon help, direct .DWG file compatibility, macro-language enhancements and scores of other improvements.

Drafix offers all the basic CAD entities: point markers, lines (including multilines), polylines, polygons, circles, arcs, curves, text, associative dimensioning and hatching. It also adds some sophisticated features rarely found in packages in its price range, such as the ability to preview symbols prior to placement, an integrated database facility with flexible reporting and a selection set modifier with Boolean logic.

Drafix's toolbox puts drawing and editing commands within easy reach. The interface includes a Property Bar located directly under the menu bar, an Edit Bar, a Status Bar along the bottom edge of the application window and an icon toolbox. The Property Bar provides easy access to active-attribute settings such as layer, color, line style, width and hatch pattern. The Status Bar prompts you with descriptions of the commands you select, while the Edit Bar provides options for selected commands or highlighted entities.

While competing packages such as AutoCAD LT are limited in their ability to directly edit entities, Drafix excels in this area. For instance, you can drag an entity to move it, or press the Ctrl key while dragging to copy it. When you highlight an entity, its coordinates, along with other parameters, appear on the Edit Bar so that they can be easily modified.

Drafix also has outstanding customization features which, again, overshadow the likes of AutoCAD LT. The MacroPro language is feature-rich. It includes functions to get input from users via dialog boxes to create DDE links with other Windows applications and even to create new commands that are not among Drafix's standard set. Over five dozen sample macros are included for you to use, learn from and customize.

Drafix offers a limited undo facility. Though you can undo several steps of entity deletions, you can undo only your last edit. It does not support file referencing, where external files can be overlaid on top of your current drawing. This feature is important in a networked workgroup environment, where several people may need to share a common file. However, it does have file locking to provide security for those using Drafix on a network.

In addition to being able to read and write AutoCAD .DWG format files, Drafix supports .DXF and IGES formats to exchange drawings with other CAD packages. It also supports the .WMF file format and the OLE protocol for exporting drawings for use by other Windows application software packages. Drafix also supports the Multiple Document Interface for editing several drawings concurrently.

If you think CAD is just an architect's or an engineer's tool for creating drawings of buildings, bridges, airplanes or other similarly complex projects, think again. Drafix is easy and powerful enough to be used for practically any drafting project--office layout, network cabling or other technical illustrations.

Drafix CAD Professional 3.0

Price: $199 (estimated street price)

In Brief: A well-rounded 2-D CAD package, Drafix boasts a mature interface, a fabulous collection of symbols and a rich macro language.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 2MB

Foresight Resources Corp.

816-891-1040, fax 816-891-8018

VISUAL VOICE FOR MWAVE 1.0-VB Apps Get Phone Service- by Sara G. Stephens

"VB, phone home.'' Now VB--Visual Basic--can handle the phone as well as any dialog box or button with Visual Voice for Mwave.

Visual Voice lets you build  voice applications into your Visual Basic projects by generating code for call processing (voice mail, voice response, autodialing, fax-on-demand); call monitoring; and database access.

Visual Voice for Mwave is a single-line version of Stylus Innovation's Visual Voice for Dialogic. Because it works with IBM's Mwave DSP  technology, you'll need Mwave-based telephony-capable hardware, such as IBM's Windsurfer board, to actually use your applications over a phone line. I'll warn you: The Windsurfer does not install easily. After a few near wipeouts, it took considerable fiddling with comm ports and IRQ settings to get the board to work properly. If you already have the Windows Sound System or Creative LabsSound Blaster installed, you might want to save your good humor and experiment with them first. With these (or any MPC-compatible sound card), you won't be able to test your applications on an actual phone, but you can use Visual Voice's Virtual Phone to develop, test and demonstrate your applications.

You'll also need a copy of Visual Basic 1.0 or 2.0 (Standard or Professional edition). For voice response applications, Visual Voice works with Access, dBASE III, dBASE IV, FoxPro 2.0, FoxPro 2.5, Paradox and Btrieve.

The Voice Workbench is at the heart of this toolkit. You'll get a lot done here, but it's no sweat shop. By clicking on the appropriate radio button on the Workbench's Voice Object window, you can access a template for creating a voice file, voice string, voice query or subroutine. Each Voice Object window is set up about the same. To create voice files, you just type in a filename and the script, press Record, and start talking. Or you can choose to use Visual Voice's prerecorded files (.TAM compressed and .WAV formats). The .WAV files can't be played over the telephone line, but they can be used for testing. If you're using an Mwave board, you can record all your voice files in .TAM format.

When you get around to creating voice strings (combinations of voice files and values), a series of list boxes labeled Play, Item and Format help you through the definition process. If variable items need to be retrieved from a database, you can identify that database here.

The subroutine creation process is equally intuitive. You get the same arrangement of list boxes, except these are labeled Action and File. The actions can relate to playing files or strings, running voice queries, picking up the phone, hanging up, and so on. Here's where you enter Visual Basic code that tells your app to, for instance, look up a record in the indicated database.

The fun part is putting all of this together in Visual Basic. It's all copy and paste. You just select the subroutine from the Voice Object box, and Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V it onto your Visual Basic form.

This isn't to suggest that you don't need to know Visual Basic: You'll get stumped fast without some knowledge. But veteran VBers will feel right at home. You just load the Visual Voice custom controls into your Visual Basic form; to initiate actions, you go through the typical process of setting Action Properties to their appropriate settings. Visual Voice's documentation lists descriptions of all voice and fax control properties as well as voice control events. You also can initiate voice processing functions via procedures and arguments. The Visual Voice custom control includes procedures for each Visual Voice action.

Visual Voice nets an eight out of 10 points on my scorecard for the elegance with which it brings voice processing to Visual Basic, and six points for the effectiveness of its GUI in welcoming the programming novice. For the Visual-Basic-savvy, it's both visual and basic. For the inexperienced user, it lacks a tad of each.

Visual Voice for Mwave 1.0

Price: $495; with Mwave, $695

In Brief: Experienced Visual Basic developers can add phone functions to their applications with this easy-to-use add-on.

Disk Space Required: 8MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 5MB

Stylus Innovation Inc.

617-621-9545, fax 617-621-7862

AZTECH EXPLORER DELUXE-PLUG AND PLAY AND PLAY

By: IAN ETRA

If the words "conflict'' and "interrupt'' and "driver'' make you break out in a cold sweat, you've probably tried to install a multimedia upgrade kit. But you can wipe your brow and draw a sigh of relief as you get hold of the Aztech Explorer Deluxe multimedia package.

The Aztech Explorer Deluxe gets around conflicting resources and misplaced jumpers by using Intel's Plug and Play drivers. Although this requires the extra step of installing the Plug and Play software, it's well worth it.

When I installed the Explorer card and rebooted, the machine immediately recognized the Aztech Plug and Play ISA Sound Board, and cautioned that there was a potential conflict. I ran the ISA Configuration Utility, and it identified and listed all the cards and currently used resources in my system. It then explained that the sound board was conflicting with a network card at interrupt 10 and suggested changing the IRQ setting. I was able to reassign the IRQ by making a selection from a drop-down list of available resources. After another reboot, both the CD-ROM drive and sound card promptly started. This is the way it's supposed to be.

The external CD-ROM drive looks very slick, but feels light and fragile. The top-loading drive has a flip-up lid that didn't release properly on the test unit, and the plastic bezel on the back covered some of the output labels. Inserting a CD hearkens back to the days of LP records--you have to center the disc over the spindle and push it down into place. Once properly loaded, CD-ROM tests showed that the double-speed drive met all MPC Level 2 specifications.

Controls on the front of the drive marked Play/Skip and Stop/Pause let you play audio CDs without running any special software. All was not perfect, however: Even clean and unscratched audio CDs occasionally skipped.

A 62-pin interface connects the drive to the sound card in an unusual arrangement. The card has only a line-out jack on the back, while the CD-ROM drive has connections for a microphone, headphones, line-out, line-in, speakers, a MIDI/game port and a port for digital audio-out. Putting these connection points on the drive makes them easy to get for ad-hoc hookups. The CD-ROM drive gets its power from the PC via the interface, which eliminates the need for a separate power switch.

Aztech claims the Explorer is the first multimedia kit to include a wavetable sound card. Its interface uses the ICS Wavefront synthesizer, the same chip found on the Turtle Beach Maui. The music produced by the 2MB of wavetable ROM adds a new dimension to presentations or games, but you won't experience the high quality through the speakers that come in the bundle. Although they can be amplified with the addition of four size C batteries or a DC power adapter (neither is included), the speakers produce sounds with the flat, tinny quality of FM-synthesis. They are adequate for reproducing recorded voices, but if you want to get the most out of the sound card, you'll have to invest in higher quality speakers.

The Explorer kit complements its hardware with a host of multimedia software. In addition to Aztech's well-designed mixer applet for controlling input and output levels, the package contains Voyetra's software bundle. This extensive suite of applications provides tools for editing wave and MIDI files; voice annotation and multimedia presentation authoring; and text-to-speech and voice recognition applications. MidiSoft Recording Session supplements the audio software as a MIDI sequencer. Topping it all off are eight CD-ROM titles that provide a good cross-section of the multimedia market. A pair of games from Sierra will appeal to the home user, while MacroMedia's Action provides tools for creating multimedia presentations.

Although the CD-ROM drive could be beefed up a bit, the minor design flaws are outweighed by the high-quality wavetable synthesis and easy installation. With its extensive software and an affordable price, the Explorer Deluxe is a great value.

Aztech Explorer Deluxe

Price: $499

In Brief: Its novel use of Plug and Play technology makes this upgrade kit a snap to install.

Aztech Labs

800-886-8859, 510-623-8988

JAZZ MULTIMEDIA JAKARTA, PROJECTOR, PORT OF ENTRY-SAFE PORT FOR VIDEO VOYAGERS

By: WILLIAM GEE

Welcome to Jakarta. The Jakarta is an integrated MPEG video and graphics accelerator board powered by a Tseng Labs W32P graphics chip and a Viper V33 video-image processor. The Jakarta replaces your graphics card and adds MPEG hardware video and audio playback.

Jazz Multimedia also offers two optional cards that are designed to complement the Jakarta. The Projector daughterboard plugs into the Jakarta giving it S-video and composite video output, and two audio outputs. The Port of Entry is a separate ISA card that provides a TV tuner and connections for external video sources, such as a VCR or camcorder. The combination of the Jakarta, Projector and Port of Entry, bundled with a comprehensive set of software, provides a complete video and graphics solution.

The Jakarta is available in VL-Bus and PCI versions. If you plan to add the Port of Entry card, you'll need an available ISA slot adjacent to the Jakarta. Installing a fully configured setup with all three boards is easy. I removed my original graphics card and installed the Jakarta without performing major surgery on a 33MHz 486DX multimedia system. The Windows-based installation was simple.

I tested a beta version of the Jakarta package. The hardware worked without a hitch and seemed ready to ship, but the software showed some rough edges typical of beta versions.

The Jazz Multimedia Video Suite includes all the tools you'll need to make the most of each component in the Jakarta system. Soon after installing the software, I was able to display my monitor's screen on a TV and watch CNN's news on my PC.

You can make adjustments to the refresh rate, monitor type, resolution and centering from within Windows. AnyView Professional, also included, lets you alter resolution and color depth without restarting Windows.

The JazzView program provides a resizable window, where you can display any video source, including Motion JPEG. If you want to give a presentation from your computer using a large television monitor, the Projector application lets the Jakarta output simultaneous video to any television or VCR. Included in the bundle is Jakarta Tour, a demonstration multimedia presentation that introduces the product family. The beta software and video drivers still need some work, but with help from technical support at Jazz, I was able to test most of the functions.

With its 2MB of interleaved DRAM, the Jakarta is capable of 16.7 million colors at a resolution of 800x600 pixels or 256 colors at 1280x1024. The graphic performance of the Jakarta--3.4 million pixels per second at 800x600--was acceptable when you consider that it is a dual-purpose board. To play back video clips, you must have it set for either 64,000 or 16.7 million colors at a resolution of 640x480. A connector accepts the audio from your sound card.

The Jakarta is also capable of providing solid refresh rates. Again, except for intermittent problems with the beta drivers for the review unit, I found the software controls to be excellent. What really distinguishes this board is its ability to play back MPEG files at a resolution of 640x480 without dropping a single frame.

Jakarta's flexibility makes it possible for you to configure the components based on the task at hand. If you want to upgrade your graphics board to handle MPEG video, the basic Jakarta board does a nice job. If you're interested in capturing your Windows applications on a television or VCR, the Jakarta and Projector combination is what you'll need. And if you want to bring external video sources to your Windows desktop, get the full-blown package with all three products.

Regardless of the configuration you choose, the Jakarta showcases the potential of video and graphics integration on a Windows system. Purchasing a complete three-card setup will cost about $650. It's a very reasonable price for a comprehensive video system.

Jakarta, Projector, Port of Entry

Price: Jakarta, $449 (estimated street price); Projector, $119 (estimated street price); Port of Entry, $159 (estimated street price)

In Brief: These three products deliver full video capabilities and Windows graphics acceleration.

Jazz Multimedia Inc.

408-727-8900, fax 408-727-9092

HOTDOCS 2.0-SETTING DOCUMENT STANDARDS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

Boilerplate documents should be no sweat, but all too often you resort to searching and replacing because a word processor's template features are awkward.

HotDocs 2.0 makes creating and using standard documents easier. The beta version of the program I tested worked with Ami Pro (3.0 and 3.1), WordPerfect (5.2 and 6.0) and Word (2.0 and 6.0). With HotDocs, you can create a template from an existing document by high-lighting the words or passages that change when the document is reused. You begin the assembly process by answering questions in a series of dialog boxes to build your standard document.

For example, you can create a template for a legal document by selecting an existing document and telling HotDocs that you want to include a paragraph about "property rights'' for a real estate document. Later, to create a new document based on this template, you call HotDocs from within your word processor. It will present questions based on the conditions you've defined, such as whether the property rights paragraph should be included. HotDocs will then build the document with the appropriate passages. Similarly, you can specify that occurrences of the word "client'' in the template should be replaced, and HotDocs will prompt for the client's name.

You also can have HotDocs standardize the format of dates in the final document or turn numeric entries into formatted text, so "$1000'' becomes "One Thousand Dollars.'' Other HotDocs apps include changing the gender of pronouns, and computing variables and inserting them into a document.

Version 2.0 adds a front end to help organize your templates and provides the ability to insert a file into a template. The installation adds a button to the toolbar of your word processor.

Templates are interchangeable between word processors, so if you change word processors you still can use your HotDocs templates.

HotDocs offers an extraordinary alternative for routine documents and is surprisingly easy to learn and use. You can create templates that are far more sophisticated than those offered by your word processor.

HotDocs 2.0

Price: $99; upgrade, $39.95

Capsoft Development Corp.

800-500-DOCS, 801-763-3900

MOUSEMAN SENSA-COOL COLORS AND CURVY CONTOURS

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY

My index finger is still my most personalized pointing device, but the MouseMan Sensa is running a close second.

The dashing appearance of this mouse is its outstanding attribute. The Sensa comes in four eye-catching patterns. With the Deep Wood design, I was ready for the boardroom, while the Silver Pearl awoke the artist in my soul. Spotted with the Blue Leopard, I felt daring, and the Black Chess model added a high-tech look to my system. You do pay a slight premium for the esthetic appeal. This version costs about $15 more than the company's plain-vanilla counterpart.

But good looks aren't the only story. This mouse is as functional as it is fashionable. The three-button Sensa has the same pleasing shape as Logitech's ergonomic mouse model. Narrowed at the end, it fits the palm comfortably, with buttons and the left side indented for a better grip.

LogiMouse software lets you change the cursor's size and color, along with the functions of the right and center buttons. You can choose from 30 predefined functions, such as Copy To Clipboard, Delete, Close Application, Undo or Double Click, or you can choose to leave a button undefined.

The Sensa is comfortable and adaptable--and it looks pretty good on my desk, too.

MouseMan Sensa

Price: $74.95

Logitech Inc.

800-231-7717, 510-795-8500

VALUEGRAPH 447L-EASY ON YOUR EYES AND EARS

By: PHILIP ALBINUS

You can enjoy both the sights and sounds of your PC with the Valuegraph 447L, a 17-inch monitor with built-in stereo speakers.

The Valuegraph 447L provides a large, crisp image that's easy on the eyes. The monitor doesn't come with software for controlling and adjusting the image, but it does have a row of pressure-sensitive buttons across the bottom of the bezel to handle brightness, contrast, size and positioning. There's also a degaussing button.

The speakers are located underneath the front part of the monitor, aimed in a downward direction. With this arrangement, stereo separation is virtually nonexistent. But if you need to hear a tone when your e-mail arrives, or other simple sound effects, the 447L's speakers should suffice. Audiophiles are likely to be disappointed, however.

Four buttons let you set the volume and balance for the speakers. At the back of the monitor, there are two jacks for audio input and a third for attaching headphones.

The monitor is big. At 17 by 16.8 by 19 inches, it commands a healthy tract of desktop real estate.

And its documentation is sparse. Only half a page of the thin manual is dedicated to audio features.

The 447L is at the low end of the price scale for 17-inch monitors. Unless your audio demands exceed this unit's modest capabilities, you can consider the speakers a bonus.

Valuegraph 447L

Price: $695

Nokia Display Products Inc.

800-BY-NOKIA, 415-331-0322


First Impressions: Dec 1994-Part 2

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

PRODUCTS COVERED IN THIS FILE

ZEOS MERIDIAN 400

WINWRITER 400

WINBOOK XP

SHARKWARE PROFESSIONAL 1.0

SILENT SYSTEMS FE4

AGFA STUDIOSCAN II

DOC-TO-HELP 1.6

ZEOS MERIDIAN 400-LIGHTWEIGHT MIGHTY MITE

By: JIM FORBES

Good things sometimes do come in small packages. At least Zeos is out to prove that old saw true with its Meridian 400 subnotebook. The Meridian 400 is small. Its dimensions are a compact 1.7 by 10.2 by 7.8 inches, and it weighs a mere 3.9 pounds.

The Meridian line comprises two basic models: the 400 and its full-sized notebook sibling, the 800. The Meridian 400 is available in a variety of CPU configurations, with your choice of a 33MHz 486SX, 50MHz 486DX2 or 100MHz 486DX4. All come with local-bus accelerated graphics that have 1MB of video RAM. The Meridian 400's  standard system memory starts at 4MB and can be upgraded to a maximum of 20MB.

There are three sizes of IDE hard disks to choose from: 175MB, 260MB and 350MB. A slim, external 3.5-inch floppy disk drive is also included.

The display on the Meridian 400 is a color 7.8-inch STN passive matrix capable of a maximum resolution of 640x480 pixels with 256 colors. A monochrome model is also available. The screen on this system is easy to read, and the colors are crisp and bright. With conservative power management, I was able to extract nearly 3.4 hours of life from the nickel metal hydride battery while doing actual work. This battery life is more than respectable for a DX2-based machine with a color display.

The Meridian 400 has a connection for an external monitor, as well as enhanced parallel, serial, keyboard and PS/2-style mouse ports.

PCMCIA connectivity is provided via two Type II slots located at either side of the unit. This arrangement precludes the use of a Type III PCMCIA device such as a hard disk card. Although the basic offering comes with only DOS 6.2, other packages include Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Lotus Organizer.

The keyboard is an 84-key affair with a TruePoint pointing stick located on the palm rest roughly between the spacebar and the cursor keys. The TruePoint buttons are set into the front edge of the case and are easily accessible. The keyboard has a crisp and responsive feel.

I tested a Meridian 400 configured with a 50MHz DX2 processor, a 350MB hard disk, an STN color screen and 8MB of RAM.

Zeos has also managed to put respectable power in this small package. Tested with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune performance benchmarks, the 50MHz Meridian turned in a 27.03 MIPS score on the CPU test and clocked 5.4 MFLOPS in the floating-point test. These scores are just about what would be expected for a 50MHz notebook PC. Its video subsystem, which is based on a Cirrus Logic graphics accelerator, was rated at 1.6 million pixels per second, which puts the Meridian 400 somewhat above the middle of the pack for this class of computer.

The real eye-opener, though, was the Meridian 400's score on the disk tests. With its 350MB drive, the subnotebook clocked a data-transfer rate of 4.76MB per second--very fast for a notebook of any kind and rivaling the performance of many desktop PCs as well. This hot performance is largely attributable to Zeos's inclusion of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, which supports 32-bit disk and file access.

Zeos has been a key player in the subnotebook market since introducing the Contenda series almost two years ago. With the Meridian 400, the company again proves that you can lighten your load without sacrificing computing power or usability. At more than 2 pounds lighter than most full-sized notebooks, the Meridian 400 subnotebook deserves serious consideration.

Zeos Meridian 400

Price: As reviewed, $2,795

In Brief: Zeos's newest subnotebook offers good performance in a tiny package that weighs less than 4 pounds.

Zeos International

800-423-5891, 612-362-1234

WINWRITER 400-"HELLO, I'M YOUR PRINTER''

By: ARTHUR H. GERMAIN III

The WinWriter 400 is a full-featured printer that's easy to install and operate. It's quiet--except when it's talking to you to let you know how it's doing.

The printer uses LED technology to provide sharp images at up to 600 dots per inch. It's also Windows for Workgroups ready and ships with network printer drivers.

The WinWriter 400 uses the Windows Printing System, which means it takes advantage of your system's resources, sharing the CPU to process print jobs and print directly to the printer, without using translations such as PCL printer drivers. This process yields a true WYSIWYG image, and returns to your applications faster. The printing speed is fair--up to five pages per minute--depending on the type of image you're printing.

Saying that the WinWriter 400 is easy to install is an understatement. It has two cable connections--one for power, and one to hook up to your PC's parallel port. After connecting the printer, I ran the installation program and began printing. That was it.

Although the printer is ruggedly constructed, its 150-sheet capacity tray required a little extra effort to remove and reinsert. The one-step toner cartridge was a breeze to insert. The printer is ergonomically designed; its power button, status light and manual paper slot are located on the tilted front bezel. It's a nice design, but the printer tends to curl paper as it passes through its short length. Its rear cover can be lowered to offer a straight paper path, which is a handy option for printing envelopes or other hand-fed paper.

The WinWriter 400 uses bidirectional communications to dynamically inform the host system of its status. The software provides both visual and audio alerts while the printer is running. An animated pop-up display lets you know the status of your print job, along with optional .WAV file audio cues, such as "Printing Complete.''

Though I tried, I couldn't trick the WinWriter 400. I printed a 10-page document, pulled out the parallel cable, removed the paper tray and grabbed hold of a sheet of paper in order to cause a jam. Each time, the status display let me know what happened, and it offered a help screen that accurately described the problem and how to correct it.

The compact unit has a small footprint and is an environmentally correct companion. Energy-Star compliant, it cuts power usage by 50 percent after a predetermined period of downtime and uses an ozone-free printing process. If you choose a 300-dpi resolution and switch the toner to saver mode, you can further soothe your environmental- and budget-conscious psyche.

The WinWriter 400 has an optional PQET (print quality enhancement technology) mode, which smoothes out jaggies during 300-dpi print jobs, yielding an effective 1500x300-dpi image. Other options available through its Control Panel setup dialog boxes are copy collation, different paper source and size options, overall print darkness, and controls for brightness, contrast and bitmap halftoning.

The unit ships with 2MB of RAM which, surprisingly, was quite enough to print multipage documents and large TIFF images from various applications. Memory can be increased to a maximum of 6MB of RAM. The unit supports TrueType and ships with 44 TrueType fonts on-board; others can be downloaded on the fly.

Using the optional network printer drivers and Print Manager, I was able to share the WinWriter 400 and print to it from another system via a Windows for Workgroups network. To do this, I surrendered Windows Printing System capabilities, and the printer used a PCL-emulation mode. Some of the bidirectional status messaging still worked, however, and I received a message that the printer's cover was open.

WinWriter 400

Price: $779 (estimated street price)

In Brief: A clean, quiet Windows Printing System printer that's easy to operate for stand-alone use or to share with your Windows for Workgroups network.

Lexmark International Inc.

800-358-5835, 606-232-2000

WINBOOK XP-FUEL-CONSCIOUS ROAD MACHINE

By: JIM FORBES

The first WinBook I reviewed was a Power Book look-alike that offered good value and performance and great battery life. The newest member of the line--the WinBook XP--has the longest battery life I've ever seen in a notebook.

You can get the WinBook XP with either a trackball or a keyboard-mounted pointing stick. Both models have a palm rest. With the pointing stick, the "mouse'' buttons are located on the palm rest. I had little difficulty learning the layout of the nonstandard keyboard. I did notice, how-ever, that the pointing stick wasn't properly mounted on the test system, so it pressed against the screen when the unit was closed. This arrangement can probably cause damage over a period of time.

The XP I tested was based on a 50MHz SL-enhanced Intel 486DX2 processor. Its performance, as measured with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests, was average for notebooks of its class. The CPU clocked nearly 27 MIPS and 5.4 MFLOPS, consistent with tests on other 50MHz systems. The video subsystem, which is based on a Western Digital RocketChip graphics accelerator with 1MB of video memory, registered 1.8 million pixels per second. The XP's slowest component was its hard disk storage system. After I fine-tuned the settings in the system files, the 260MB hard disk turned in a data transfer speed of about 1MB per second.

The test unit had 8MB of RAM, although standard memory for the XP is 4MB. It comes with an integrated 14.4Kbps fax modem, a built-in 3.5-inch internal disk drive, audio-in and out jacks (with an external volume control), external Super VGA video, and enhanced parallel and serial ports. The XP's PCMCIA socket can accept two Type II or one Type III card. The machine is available with STN color or monochrome displays. Software supplied with the WinBook includes DOS 6.22, Windows 3.1, Delrina's WinFax and Comit (a commu-nications package).

The 9.5-inch STN monochrome screen on the review unit was bright enough to use under dim lighting conditions. The display controls are located above the hinges on the screen, and the power switch is on the upper-right-hand side of the system case. A panel is mounted on the middle screen hinge with status LCDs, including one that shows remaining battery life.

In several tests, I managed to get up to seven hours of battery life. The nickel metal hydride battery recharged in about 2.1 hours (although the manufacturer claims a full recharging takes only about 1.5 hours).

There are several models to choose from, with a choice of Intel 486SX, DX2 and DX4 processors, ranging from the 33MHz to 100MHz. If mono-chrome is not your cup of tea, you can opt for the dual-scan color screen, which measures 10.5 inches. But remember, battery life will be shortened.

An entry-level color version of the WinBook XP with a 120MB hard disk, 4MB of RAM, a 9.5-inch dual-scan passive-matrix display and a 75MHz processor costs $1,999. A monochrome with a 260MB hard disk and a 33- MHz 486SX processor starts at $1,599. It comes with a 30-day, money-back guarantee, and a one-year parts and labor warranty.

The WinBook XP represents the best kind of innovation in the rapidly changing field of notebook computers. It keeps the best of proven technologies, such as a sharp display, and complements them with new technologies, such as those employed to stretch battery life. The long battery life makes it a good choice for anyone who needs a basic notebook that also delivers solid performance.

WinBook XP

Price: As reviewed, $2,138

In Brief: The WinBook XP notebook computer offers exceptional battery life and is available with a monochrome or STN color display.

WinBook Corp.

800-468-2162, fax 800-448-0308

SHARKWARE PROFESSIONAL 1.0-PIM CASTS NET AROUND CONTACTS

By: JAMES E. POWELL

CogniTech has upgraded Sharkware by improving its user interface and making it faster. In its previous iteration, Sharkware, which is based on Harvey Mackay's networking philosophy, was an impressive entry in WINDOWS Magazine's September roundup of PIMs. But it was a little quirky, and its performance was disappointing.

Sharkware's flexibility is notable. Its database design lets you create unlimited custom fields. You can have multiple addresses and telephone numbers, and contacts can be included in several groups at once. The tabbed section at the bottom of the screen gives you a quick glimpse of all activities, contact history, correspondence or notes.

The new version, Sharkware Professional, includes a nice mix of new features while maintaining its pleasing visual design. You now can use OLE 2.0 to link files to contact notes, activities or the Notes section of a contact history. The new Company list box will show you everyone who works at the same company as the current contact.

Sharkware Professional works with most Windows word processors to create letters, fax cover sheets, memos and other correspondence. It comes with templates for Word, Ami Pro and WordPerfect. When you click on the Letter icon, Sharkware opens your word processor and fills in the date, contact information and salutation. In my tests, I was able to return to Sharkware from my word processor without logging my letter into the database; the program's integration sometimes falls short.

You can attach a priority, contact name or alarm to any to-do item. Select the item and click on Goto Contact, and the contact information is instantly available. The same is true of the Appointment screen, which provides a daily or week-at-a-glance view, and plenty of shortcuts for entering data. In fact, shortcuts is Sharkware's strong suit. When you make a call, you easily can record the results then take an action, such as setting an appointment--all from a single screen. You can save time, too, by selecting from standard text snippets, rather than jotting new notes each time. There's an automatic call timer, too.

Sharkware has a solid set of scheduling features. You can add recurring activities, define holidays, see conflicts, drag and drop appointments and set uncompleted to-do items to roll to the next day.

You can search quickly on one of six fields--including last name and company name--or perform detailed searches on any field using Boolean operators. Searches are powerful and easy to set up, save and reuse. You even can tag records from the search and apply batch updates to the contact histories of all tagged records.

While many things are easier in this version, other areas still need improvement. Moving to the next and previous record was slow using a 1,400-name test database, as was creating a new group of 400 names. When I switched the test from a 33MHz 486 to a 100MHz machine with a fast hard disk, group creation time was shortened, but navigation was still slow. The program also gobbles up precious hard disk space, requiring 12MB.

If you change an appointment's start time, the alarm won't automatically adjust to the new time. Setting up multiple databases is awkward because each must be in its own directory. You can use a shortcut to add two records for the same company, but you can't duplicate records.

The screen isn't customizable, though its layout is one of the best among PIMs. There is no print preview or custom report writer per se. If one of the 60 predefined reports isn't what you want, you can use the Search feature and print out the results.

The bottom line is that Sharkware is easy to learn and use. If Harvey Mackay's philos-ophy interests you, you can use it as a guide. Otherwise, you can skip it. CogniTech will continue to market Sharkware 1.0 as a low-end PIM. Skip the basic Sharkware and go with the Pro version.

Sharkware Professional 1.0

Price: $199.95

In Brief: This is an easy-to-use PIM that now is faster and has an improved user interface.

Disk Space Required: 12MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB, 8MB recommended

CogniTech Corp.

800-947-5075, 404-518-4577

SILENT SYSTEMS FE4-THE STRONG SILENT TYPE

By: DAVID METHVIN

Not a creature was stirring, not even a-486DX2/66?

The Silent Systems FE4's soothingly silent operation is unique. Most PCs still have one very user-hostile feature: noise. Ergonomically designed mice, keyboards and monitors help unbend your body and ease your eyes, but the FE4 gives an overlooked set of organs--your ears--a break.

A look at the FE4's case is the first clue this isn't just a clone. The black case is about as sleek and Spartan as it can get. Two small LEDs--a green one for power and a red one for disk access--and the opening for the 3.5-inch floppy disk drive are located on the front. Air vent openings at the left side and the top right side of the case are the only other interruptions in the glossy-smooth black plastic. The top of the case opens with just a light tug on the back. There's a spring-loaded catch, so you won't need tools and you'll never lose any cover screws.

The FE4's interior layout is one of the secrets to its noise-free operation. Cool air enters through the left side air vents near the expansion slots, is blown across the CPU heat sink by two small fans, and exits through the top rear vents above the power supply.

Just as important to noise reduction, though, is the FE4's way of reducing the hard disk whine. When the disk isn't being accessed, the most you'll hear is the very faint white-noise sound of the disk spin-ning, if you put your ear close enough to it. When you're accessing the disk, you'll hear the disk clunk and click as the head moves, but it's muffled. The FE4 encases the entire disk in its own "soundproof booth'' that also has an external heat sink to keep the internal temperature down.

Beneath the unique and innovative mechanical design, the components are reassuringly familiar name brands. My evaluation unit had a 420MB Western Digital Caviar hard disk. The Micronics-made system board includes two 16550 (buffered) serial ports, a parallel port and a PS/2-style mouse port. The board's 256KB of secondary cache can be configured in write-through or write-back mode. Local-bus video is also on-board, provided by ATI's Mach32 chip set. The Phoenix BIOS offers "green'' energy-saving options, and is stored in flash EPROM so that it's software upgradable.

In other respects, upgradability is a mixed bag. On the good side, put away your screwdriver. You can easily get to the expansion slots, memory SIMMs and CPU by loosening one thumbscrew and sliding the chassis out of the case. There is room in the case for an inch-high CD-ROM or 5.25-inch diskette drive, although Silent Systems doesn't offer either option yet. Right now, you'll have to use an external or parallel-port unit. Considering all the functions built into the system board, the half-length ISA slots--two 16-bit and one 8-bit--should be enough.

Performance was very good once the FE4 was adequately tuned. The PC was shipped with PC DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 preinstalled. However, Windows was using a temporary swap file and did not have 32-bit disk and file access enabled. In addition, the BIOS setup had the CPU running in slow mode.

Once the configuration problems were fixed, the system turned in times near the top of the DX2/66 class. WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune test clocked the CPU at 36 MIPS and 7.2 MFLOPS. The disk test, propelled by 32-bit disk and file access, registered a data-transfer rate of 8.2MB per second. ATI's Mach32 video delivered a score of 4.5 million pixels per second on the video test.

Thanks to the quiet demeanor of this PC, the ergonomics--and especially the eargonomics--are very good. The small-footprint system unit doesn't hog the desk, and it's low enough that the monitor is at the right height when perched on top. The keyboard has a good feel, and it doesn't click too loudly, which is good considering there isn't any other noise to drown out the clicks.

With all the features already built into this system, I can think of only one other thing anyone could ask for: more speed. The Micronics system board can accommodate a 100MHz DX4 CPU, and Silent Systems is considering offering it as an option.

It's easy to get any PC to be just as quiet as the Silent Systems FE4--just turn it off. But if you actually want to use a high-performance PC without the racket, then the FE4 is just the kind of PC you want--the strong silent type.

Silent Systems FE4

Price: Base, $1,995; as tested, $2,585

In Brief: By eliminating the noise from a fan and hard disk, the FE4 gives your ears a soothing break.

Silent Systems Inc.

800-SILENT-9, 617-273-3200

AGFA STUDIOSCAN II-SCANNER HAS QUALITY IMAGE

By: SERDAR YEGULALP

The Agfa StudioScan II, a new flatbed desktop scanner, comes close to outshining all the competitors in its price/performance class. It offers the kind of high-quality specifications--10 bits per channel and 2400 dots per inch--that typically translate into a price tag far higher than its anticipated street price of $1,200.

The StudioScan conforms to the two primary standards related to scanners: TWAIN and SCSI-2. Getting the hardware hooked up involves little more than plugging it in and turning it on. Before loading and using the software, though, you have to make a decision based largely on the type of work you do and your level of scanning expertise. Agfa provides software suitable for both novices and experienced users, so you'll want to be sure to set up appropriately.

Two kinds of TWAIN drivers and scanning software are provided with the StudioScan. FotoSnap is the "easy'' variety of driver and program, designed to let you quickly place an image of up to 8.5 by 14 inches on the scanning bed, push one button and get a great-looking TIFF file. Just as easily, you can get other file formats using any TWAIN-compliant application, such as Adobe Photoshop.

FotoLook, on the other hand, is for more advanced users. The program provides precise controls for everything from the descreening resolution (for eliminating distortion or artifacts when scanning offset-printed pictures) to gamma correction and the adjusting of an image's black-and-white intensities.

Another professional touch is a choice between RGB and CMYK data provid-ed directly from the TWAIN driver. But it's still possible to get good-looking scans with-out going to a lot of trouble. If you leave the settings on automatic, the StudioScan still produces detailed, well-defined scans for almost any kind of image.

ToneCurve, another part of the driver, lets you define how the scanner responds to different color (or gray) levels in an image. You can create these profiles with the mouse or by typing in numeric values, which is useful when precalculated corrections have to be applied to an image.

A full-page, full-color scan at 100 dpi takes about 30 seconds. In the event a scan requires more time, for 400-dpi scans, for instance, the TWAIN software can multitask alongside whatever else is running on your machine.

Scanning an image can be biased toward speed or quality. The difference in the quality of the scan is minimal. For the most part, the differences that do creep in show up only in very high-resolution scans (such as scans of 300 dpi or above on detailed material), but that can mean a lot to discriminating pros. There is, however, a very big difference in the time it takes to scan: A quality-biased scan can take 10 times as long.

For the descreening function, you can specify exactly how many lines per inch there are in the source document by selecting from a list of about 15 choices. Alternatively, you can type in a number from 50 to 400. With descreening, offset images look like they were scanned as slides and reduced to fit. The only drawback is that edges of objects are softened slightly, but this can be compensated for by switching on the built-in sharpness filter.

Agfa also offers an optional transparency attachment that will sell for about $550. Adding the transparency attach-ment takes some minor surgery. The StudioScan's plastic document lid has to be unscrewed and removed, and then the transparency hood is screwed into place and connected with a signal cable. It's a five-minute job, and nothing that should throw a reasonably experienced user off-course.

A few other items are bundled with the StudioScan: FotoTune Light, Agfa's own color-matching software; Adobe Photoshop 2.5.1 Limited Edition; and Caere's OmniPage Direct OCR software. The OmniPage software includes a number of other Agfa scanners in its setup, but it works best when set to generic TWAIN.

Agfa has always been a major player in the high-end digitizing market, with products such as $15,000 drum scanners that many publications use to digitize artwork. The StudioScan II shows off a lot of that slick-ness and power, but at a more down-to-earth price.

Agfa StudioScan II

Price: $1,200 (estimated street price)

In Brief: The StudioScan is a great value for both novice and experienced users.

Agfa Graphic Systems

800-685-4271, 508-658-5600

DOC-TO-HELP 1.6-HELP IS ON THE WAY FOR HELP

By: PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR.

Doc-To-Help, a Word for Windows add-on that works with either version 2.0 or 6.0 of the word processor, lets you have your Windows help files and print them, too.

This help-file authoring tool not only helps you build hypertext documents with jumps, pop-ups and secondary windows, but also lets you use the same source file for printed documentation.

The program is a very well-behaved Windows application. It installs all of its files in its own directory using a graphical, completely user-controllable install program. It also has an uninstall routine and documents all of its files in the slim, well-organized install manual. Unlike some of its competitors, it includes the required Microsoft help compilers.

Like most other help authoring systems, Doc-To-Help creates Rich Text Format (RTF) files that are compiled into .HLP files readable by WINHELP.EXE, the reader included with Windows.

Doc-To-Help 1.6 is easier to use than its earlier versions. When you start it up, the first thing you should do is activate its toolbar. The tools displayed change, depending on whether you are looking at the source document (the Word .DOC file), or the .RTF file used as the input for the help compiler.

The fundamental split in authoring tools design, with Doc-To-Help on one side and all the other tools on the other side, is over whether you can--or should--create a single source document for both printed and electronic documentation. Because Doc-To-Help is a single-source system, compiles take much longer: The .DOC file must be checked and converted to an .RTF file, and the coding required by the WINHELP compiler must be added.

The process that Doc-To-Help goes through can be a plus, because it makes it almost impossible to accidentally destroy a hidden code in the source document. The other help-authoring tools work best if you are building help topic by topic. Doc-To-Help works best if you think of your help file as a hierarchical document. And, unlike the other tools, Doc-To-Help allows you to view your help file in the outline view, expanding and collapsing topics and moving them around much more easily.

New to this version is support of 256-color bitmaps, which is achieved using an add-in DLL, because WINHELP itself only supports 16 colors. Doc-To-Help also has added a remapping utility that facilitates changing context string mappings (useful when a help file is called by a C or Visual Basic program) and support for embedded .AVI files.

Doc-To-Help's Watermarks feature lets you place graphics behind text in both the top (nonscrolling) and bottom (scrolling) areas of each help screen and secondary Window. Creating context-sensitive help for Visual Basic and links to segmented hypergraphics (graphics with mult-iple hotspots) is a drag-and-drop operation. You just drag a topic from the Navigator to the Visual Basic form or field, or the rectangle on the hypergraphic, and the link is established.

The Navigator, automatically installed along with Doc-To-Help, is worth a review of its own. It is an expandable and contractible outline of the entire help file. The Navigator helps overcome one of the biggest problems with WINHELP--getting lost. You can instantly jump to any help screen by clicking on the topic name. With Navigator, you also can print multiple topics.

According to WexTech Systems, Doc-To-Help 1.6 soon will include a screen-shot reducing utility and another utility to convert compiled help files into documents. The screen shot utility resizes screen captures, and renders them clearly and legibly on-screen. Registered owners will receive both as a free upgrade.

Doc-To-Help is probably more appropriate for an experienced help file builder, rather than a dabbling amateur. There are easier-to-use help-authoring tools--faster ones, too--but none richer or more flexible.

Doc-To-Help 1.6

Price: $295

In Brief: This Windows help-file authoring environment is still the only way to handle both print and help files with a single source document.

Disk Space Required: 8MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 350KB

WexTech Systems

800-WEX-TECH, 212-949-9595 ext. 1


First Impressions: Layers Appeal to Graphic Artists

By: Lynn Ginsburg

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Adobe just isn't content to leave well enough alone. With Photoshop 3.0, Adobe's will to improve its application has resulted in an evolutionary new product that pushes the envelope when it comes to combining power with ease of use.

Adobe has rebuilt Photoshop's interface in version 3.0, based on how people actually work with the program. The result--apparent even in the beta version I tested--is a more flexible and customizable interface that better reflects what people actually do with Photoshop. Adobe also has greatly enhanced the creative versatility of the program with its new multilayer support, another rethinking of a traditional process. Rather than adding a laundry list of new features, Adobe has refined the core elements of the prod-uct and introduced new toolsets, making it easier than ever to harness Photoshop's power.

If you're familiar with Photoshop 2.5, you will be most delighted by Adobe's new multiple image layers capability. The basic concept of layers is derived from the traditional artist's mechanical, where an image is built by overlaying multiple transparencies. Each transparency contains a different graphical element, the sum of which produces a unified four-color image. In Photoshop 2.5, you were confined to working on one composite layer, which limited the manipulation of multiple elements in the image. For instance, if you were working on an image that contained type and background art, once you placed type on the background, you were committed to that placement. If you moved it, it left a hole in your image where the type had been. This problem is common to raster-based programs in general, as opposed to the enhanced capabilities of an object-based vector program.

Photoshop 3.0 has redefined raster-image manipulation by providing a digital adaptation of the traditional artist's mechanical. When you initially create a document in 3.0, it is composed of only a background layer. Any subsequent layers added to the image are fully editable as separate elements, and can be moved and manipulated without disturbing the contents of other layers. Photoshop 3.0 also emulates the mechanicals process with its use of channels, which are analogous to the four-color plates in the printing process. Channels can also be used for storing selected elements of an image. Each layer also contains its own separate channel information, which can be copied between layers and between documents. This dual multichannel, multilayer capability makes it far easier to create and edit complex images.

Layers can be assigned a variety of independent attributes, including filters, masks and opacity levels. You simply drag and drop to reorder the layer sequence, which determines the image elements that appear closest to the viewer. You can also select a portion of an image and turn it into a layer, so that you can then manipulate that selection as a separate entity. After you have completed editing these individual layers and are ready for the final output process, you can flatten the image to merge all of the layers into a single background layer. This can be especially useful when working with large files and when sending files to output, since individual layers can use up considerable disk space.

Although managing multiple layers adds a new level of complexity to the program, it is offset by Photoshop 3.0's innovative new interface, which streamlines computer-based image processing. The new interface metaphor for 3.0 is the tabbed notebook, which by itself is not terribly unique. What is unique is the flexibility with which 3.0 applies the metaphor, allowing you to take a page from any palette and drop it into another. For instance, 3.0 groups color-palette functions together. If you'd prefer to break out one of these functions, such as the picker palette, and group it with the layers palette, you can simply drag and drop it to change the grouping.

Photoshop 3.0 also groups logically combined palettes, such as layers combined in a palette with channels and paths. When the tab for a particular palette is highlighted, you can access only its options and controls. For instance, when the tab for the channels palette is highlighted, you then are presented with the channels associated with a specific layer and the various channel control options. By grouping associated operations, Photoshop 3.0 makes it easy to move between related tasks without ever referring to the menu bar. It also helps cut screen clutter by reducing the number of float-ing palettes. Yet it's still easy to switch between the grouped palettes simply by clicking on a tab.

Photoshop 3.0 also helps keep screens clean and uncluttered with fly-up menus. It offers an interesting new twist on the concept: Palettes can snap to one another, maintaining vertical and horizontal alignment. Palettes can also snap to the borders of the screen, leaving a clean and open workspace.

The program also offers a variety of file-preview capabilities. Within the layers and channels palettes, you can choose optional thumbnail previews for each of the elements. You have a choice between three different sizes of thumbnails, or you can opt for just an element name. Although the icons do provide a useful organizational function, they use up precious memory resources, but you can eliminate them to conserve memory. You can also preview filter functions before applying them. Rather than waiting for the filter to be applied to the entire image, you can get a quick feel for the results in a thumbnail preview. Some of the filters, such as diffuse, have a thumbnail that allows you to zoom up to a 16:1 ratio for a more detailed look at the filter's effect.

Version 3.0 includes another first for Photoshop: lighting effects. You can use these filters to apply multiple light sources to a layer. You can also control the light type, direction, intensity and texture to produce 3-D effects. Another new filter lets you remove dust and scratches from scanned images, and a clouds filter generates simulated clouds from a mix of foreground and background colors. The program also offers new production tools, including a CMYK preview of an RGB image. A gamut warning feature highlights the areas of an image that exceed the ranges of the CMYK gamut.

This version also offers binary cross-platform compatibility with Photoshop 3.0 for the Macintosh, an important feature for production professionals and graphic artists.

The biggest hitch to the program is its appetite for memory. The beta required 10MB of RAM, which in typical hardware configurations usually translates to 12MB. While this might seem exclusionary for people who consider 8MB of RAM to be adequate for most computing needs, it's not really a significant restriction for professionals who wish to make the most of Photoshop's power.

Photoshop 3.0 is not intended for casual use. And while graphic artists will welcome the program's increased ease of use, even those with experience in this field should expect a relatively steep learning curve before gaining comfort with the program's full feature set. But as a tool for designers and illustrators, Photoshop 3.0 strips away many of the barriers of digital media, while maximizing the benefits to the creative process. Adobe has improved on a product that was already a leader in its class, and in so doing has set a new standard for image processing.

Photoshop 3.0

Price: $895

In Brief: Photoshop 3.0 has redefined raster-image manipulation by providing a digital adaptation of the traditional artist's mechanical, giving its environment the benefits of object-based vector programs.

Adobe Systems

800-833-6687


First Impressions: Create Convincing Slide Shows

By: James Bell

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

After more than two years, Persuasion has received a much-needed update with version 3.0. The new release, which I looked at in beta, has a revamped interface, expanded charting and multimedia capabilities, and even a new company name--courtesy of Adobe Systems' recent acquisition of Aldus.

Persuasion maintains its simple slide-based approach to presentation design, while adding sophisticated design and output features.

The program has a tutorial and well-written help files, but you won't find automated presentation Wizards or design advisors. Instead of competing with products like Harvard Graphics, Lotus Freelance and Microsoft PowerPoint for new and occasional users, Adobe has focused on what it calls semiprofessional presenters--people who already have experience creating presentations.

Getting started with a new presentation is as easy as browsing through the AutoTemplates, which are predesigned slide layouts. Each AutoTemplate includes several design variations for title, text, charts and mixed text/chart slides. A preview window shows you what each template looks like before you make your selection. You can also design your own AutoTemplate from scratch or modify an existing one. For cases where presentations must adhere to certain standards--color, fonts or use of a corporate logo, for example--AutoTemplates can help ensure uniformity.

As with past versions, Persuasion 3.0 requires at the outset that you specify the intended output device--35mm slide, screen display, overhead transparency or printer--for the presentation, and for your notes or handouts. But, it's easier now to change AutoTemplates or output devices later on, because Persuasion 3.0 does a better job of adjusting the elements on each slide.

Persuasion does have a significant constraint: You can open only one presentation at a time. If you need to work with two simultaneously, you have to open the application twice.

Persuasion offers the standard four views of a presentation: slide, outline, slide sorter and notes. Icons along the right-hand side of the screen let you switch between views, and changes in one view are mirrored in all the others.

Users of other Aldus and Adobe products, such as PageMaker or FreeHand, will find Persuasion's workspace very familiar. All of these products share dictionaries and import/export filters, and Persuasion now uses the same pasteboard metaphor. The pasteboard arrangement lets you view the current slide surrounded by a work area onto which text, graphics and other elements can be laid aside temporarily. For precise element positioning, Persuasion provides adjustable rulers and as many as 40 guidelines that can be dragged onto the slide.

Menus and dialog boxes have been streamlined, and many options have been moved to four floating palettes that let you select text and drawing tools, and specify color options, line styles and text attributes. The text and color palettes can be expanded to display more options by clicking on a button in the upper-right corner. A couple of areas could still be improved. Menus that pop up with a click of the right mouse button are not available consistently. There are popups for text and most graphics operations, but not when linking to multimedia elements and charts. It would be nice, too, if descriptions appeared when the cursor is moved over icons.

You can add text to a slide by typing directly into the AutoTemplate place holders, or you can import it into an outline from a word processor. A text palette lets you format text quickly.

Persuasion's built-in drawing tools can be used to create lines, rectangles, ovals, polygons and freehand, vector-based shapes. You can also import a large variety of bitmap and vector graphics files, including .EPS, .WMF, .ADI, .CGM, .PCX, TIFF, .DXF, .XLC, .XLS, .PLT, .PIC, .PNT, .PCD, .BMP and .WPG. The program comes with 500 pieces of color clip art, but there is no preview facility. Imported vector graphics are automatically converted to a metafile format, and they can be ungrouped and rotated, flipped, aligned and colored.

Persuasion's color controls are capable. Each AutoTemplate includes a working set of pre-defined colors. You can easily change these to other "custom colors'' or build your own colors using RGB or HLS color specifications. A handy preview box in the color palette lets you see in advance what different color and pattern combinations for backgrounds, foregrounds, line, text and shadows will look like.

Persuasion 3.0 lacks support for CMYK or HSV color selections and for Pantone or other spot-color libraries used by PageMaker and FreeHand.

Persuasion does an excellent job converting color presentations to gray scale. A preview button lets you see how the black-and-white version will appear, and an Edit Grayscale table lets you change how colors map to gray scale without affecting the original color presentation.

It's easy to add graphs and tables to your presentation slides using Persuasion's expanded OLE applets, and because they're OLE-based, you can access them from any other OLE-compatible applications.

Persuasion's chart utility supports 84 different chart types, ranging from the basics, such as line, bar, area and pie charts, to more esoteric selections, such as histogram, bubble, radar and surface charts. Many charts offer both 2-D and 3-D variations, and you have almost unlimited control over the chart displays, including custom fills and textures. Data can be typed directly into the chart worksheet or imported from spreadsheets.

Persuasion lets you liven up your presentations with sound or video. The program supports .WAV and MIDI sound files, and Microsoft Video for Windows and Apple's QuickTime for Windows video files. QuickTime is bundled with the program.

You now can put more elements on your Persuasion slides. Each slide can contain up to 32 layers, including sound effects and video. Elements on any layer can be animated to move at various speeds and in different directions. You can set up transition effects between layers and slides, using the 15 included visual effects--such as wipe, glitter and fade--and can set timed delays and sound effects.

Another powerful control tool is autojump, which lets you jump from one slide to another, to a different presentation file or even to another application. You can use autojump to create branching slide shows that have a main sequence and several side shows. The Persuasion tutorial is a good example of this feature.

The Persuasion Player utility lets you distribute standalone slide shows.

Experienced users will like Persuasion's strong design, multimedia, navigation and output controls. New users may need more hand holding before they can tap its power.

INFO FILE

Persuasion 3.0

Price: $495; upgrades, $150

In Brief: Aimed at experienced users, Persuasion 3.0 extends the reach of business presentation packages with cross-platform compatibility, an improved interface, and powerful new charting and multimedia tools.

Adobe Systems Inc.

800-628-2320, 206-622-5500


First Impressions: Hot off the Presses: DTP Update

By: James Bell

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Corel's new Ventura 5.0 marks the first real overhaul of this venerable desktop publishing package in several years.

Ventura 5.0 was originally slated to ship earlier this year as part of the new CorelDRAW bundle, but it was delayed. A lot has gone on since then. The late beta version of Ventura that I looked at for this review was considerably different from earlier beta releases. Almost half of the original application code has been rewritten.

Despite the major rewrite, current Ventura users should have few surprises when they start up version 5.0. Ventura is still the same frame- and tag-based desktop publishing system, and it continues to use the same design logic as in previous releases. Instead of a total paradigm shift, Corel has concentrated on improving Ventura's interface, providing more integration with other applications, making publication management easier and slipping in a few evolutionary design changes.

Laying out pages in Ventura 5.0 remains a process of defining frames on each page, linking text and graphics files to the frames, and applying stylesheets and formatting tags. Ventura does not import files, but simply maintains links to the original files wherever they reside. Ventura keeps track of the list of linked files in a chapter file; you can combine a number of chapter files into a publication file. In addition, the program maintains separate files that track any special formatting that has been applied to elements in each chapter file. Corel has incorporated a Publication Manager that helps to identify which files belong to a project, and provides ``smart'' moves, copies and deletes so that all files associated with a particular publication or chapter are adjusted appropriately.

This distributed approach--which can involve dozens or hundreds of linked files for a single publication--seems confusing at first. But it offers several advantages: Ventura now wastes less space on duplicated data; chapter files always display the most recent data; and by simply reassigning format stylesheets, the layout of a chapter can automatically be altered.

However, you may also find that you'll have to be more careful managing your files--changing or deleting a data file can have a disastrous effect on chapters that use that file. Also, modifying a linked text file in Ventura actually changes the original data file. For example, shortening a newsletter article in Ventura will also permanently shorten the original document file. Lastly, applying formatting tags to a linked text file in Ventura replaces the original formatting in the data file with Ventura formatting codes. The solution is simple: Make duplicates of the files you don't want changed.

With each new release, Ventura's interface improves. The program is shedding the last remnants of its GEM operating system origin, and now closely follows Windows' standards. Corel has also done an excellent job simplifying the confusing number of menus, dialog boxes and buttons of past versions. Ventura 5.0 is very similar to CorelDRAW, with a less cluttered button bar, floating roll-up tool palettes and tabbed dialog boxes.

Ventura 5.0 has also expanded the number of text and graphics files it can work with. It can now accept text files from WordPerfect 6.0, Microsoft Word 6.0, Rich Text Format and the SGML mark-up language (using an included Tagwrite utility). Ventura 5.0 can use graphics files in AI, .EPS and CorelDRAW's .CDR (only if saved with the CMX option checked) formats. The program fully supports object linking and embedding, and comes bundled with a copy of Corel Mosaic, an OLE 2.0-based clip-art management utility.

Positioning on-screen elements is much easier in this version, thanks to adjustable rulers, a visible and customizable grid, an Align command, and a floating placement palette. Other enhancements include a built-in story editor, simpler paragraph formatting tools with the ability to override paragraph tags using the Freeform text tool, an expanded Manage Tags dialog box, support for the full ANSI character set and a Type Assist feature that automatically corrects common typos.

One of Ventura's strong points has always been its outstanding typographic and frame controls. Not only does it cover the basics of character, paragraph and page formatting, but it does a good job with other formatting, such as drop caps and vertical rules between text columns. Repeating headers and footers, tables of contents, indices and multichapter formatting are also strengths.

Version 5.0 adds the ability to rotate both text and graphics in .01 degree increments. You can also crop graphics to predefined or custom shapes, and can automatically wrap text around rectangular and irregularly shaped graphics.

When Ventura 5.0 opens a file that requires an unavailable font, it now automatically uses Panose font matching to identify the closest substitute. Corel has also effectively eliminated the need for font width tables. This may not come as good news to Ventura veterans who can no longer use their customized width tables and will have to rely on close-but-not-necessarily-exact Panose font mappings.

Many of the changes in Ventura 5.0 take advantage of code that is common to all Corel applications. For example, Ventura now uses the same line, box and color palettes as CorelDRAW. They also share the same print engine for printing and producing color separations.

Ventura documents can be distributed electronically using Adobe's Acrobat Distiller, which must be purchased separately. As part of the Acrobat .PDF file creation, Ventura includes information that converts tables of contents and indices into bookmarks, and cross-references into hypertext links. A copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader, used to view documents prepared with Distiller, is included.

Ventura 5.0 ships with more than a dozen other Corel applications. These include Corel PhotoPaint, an image editor, and CorelQuery and DBEditor, a combination that lets you create and maintain Paradox databases and extract data to produce tables in Ventura 5.0. Other utilities include MathType Equation Editor, CorelKern (for kerning Adobe PostScript Type 1 fonts) and a limited version of Ares FontMinder. A CD-ROM with 650 Type 1 and TrueType fonts, 17,000 pieces of clip art, and 100 bitmapped images is also included.

There are still some features missing in Ventura 5.0. Some of its most conspicuous omissions include its inability to open multiple documents and to handle layouts that spread across two pages (you can only preview two pages at the same time). Other features that would be welcomed include direct scanning support (without having to load PhotoPaint); a true pasteboard; and raising the limits for characters per paragraph (8,000), frames per chapter (128), and chapters per publication (128).

While there may be room for improvement, the good news is that the enhancements in Ventura 5.0 address long-standing concerns for current Ventura users and make Ventura a much more viable choice for new users.

INFO FILE

Ventura 5.0

Price: CD-ROM, $495; diskette, $595; upgrades, $199 (CD-ROM), $249 (diskette); also bundled with CorelDRAW 5.0

In Brief: Ventura has undergone a major rewrite and now includes a generous bundle of applications.

Corel Corp.

613-728-8200, 800-772-6735


First Impressions: Notebook Takes the Plunge into Mainstream

By: Rich Castagna

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

In the world of PCs, there's no time for nostalgia. Long before a product gently drifts into the ether of fond memory, it's likely to rocket into cold, hard obsolescence. The OmniBook, Hewlett-Packard's PDA/subnotebook hybrid, was big news when it first appeared. A second-generation version renewed interest. But with the recent onslaught of PCs that fit palms, pockets and laps without forfeiting power or usability, the original OmniBook's armor began to show its chinks.

But Hewlett-Packard--like a knight in armor itself--has charged into the breach to breathe new life into the OmniBook line. The OmniBook 600 sustains the spirit of its forebears, but it also builds on its heritage with a list of features that rivals any subnotebook on the market.

The old OmniBook's signature traits are still there: instant on, the pop-out mouse and the unblinking ruby eye in the rear--designed for infrared communications. Some other familiar features have been updated. The ROM-based applications that were available at the touch of a key are gone, replaced by software that you need to provide, but that is still launchable by pressing a function key.

Some of the most significant changes are the ones you'll notice right away. The OmniBook has grown  up and has put on a little weight in the process. The 600C is about an eighth of an inch taller and three-quarters of an inch deeper. The added fractional inches conceal an additional 0.9 pounds of heft.

When you flip open the new OmniBook, you'll see the principal reason for its new stature--the brand new color display. If you used one of the older models, your biggest gripe was probably with the screen. It was little better than a calculator readout, with the color of a faded putting green and no illumination from either the back or sides. Working on a plane with one of those unlit OmniBooks required precise focusing of your reading lamp--and maybe your neighbor's, too--to keep the characters from fading into liquid-crystal oblivion.

The 600C's screen displays up to 256 colors at a resolution of 640x480. The colors are richly hued, and characters and lines are sharply defined. The 8.5-inch display has backlighting, of course, so you can work comfortably in low-light conditions and let your neighbor snooze through the in-flight movie.

An accelerated local-bus graphics controller with 1MB of video RAM speeds images to the screen. Two small buttons above the keyboard provide a wide range of brightness control and a similar latitude for contrast adjustment when used with the Fn key.

The keyboard on the 600C is essentially the same as its predecessors', but with a somewhat firmer feel. The only other real difference up on top is in the space between the row of function keys and the hinge below the screen. The space is larger, for one, and the painted-on icons have gone the same way as the ROM-based applications that they represented. In their place, there's now a row of white boxes corresponding to each of the 12 function keys.

On its exterior, the 600C has four gently curved arcs sculpted into its case. It gives the portable a little flair, and also makes getting a grip on the 600C comfortable.

Even without the applications permanently seared into memory, you can still get fast access to your favorite software. HP includes a utility to associate applications with individual function keys so that a quick push will launch the program. And the white boxes above the keys are actually clear windows on a sleeve into which you can slip a strip of paper to identify the programs assigned to each key. You won't have to sharpen your Crayolas to draw tiny icons on the paper strip--HP will do that for you with a special print utility that prints the applications' icons on the insert.

The 600C also has a serious CPU inside. It's available with a 50MHz Intel 486DX2 or the 75MHz DX4. The preproduction copy that I tested had the 75MHz processor, which performed as expected on the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests. It was clocked at 33.76 MIPS and turned in a score of 7.58 MFLOPS on the floating-point test--both around the norms for this processor.

The graphics subsystem, which is based on the Chips & Technologies 65545 chip set, performed well on the Wintune tests, too, with a rated speed of 1.88 million pixels per second.

The hard disk performance was especially impressive--that is, after tweaking the SMARTDrive settings in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The data transfer on the test unit's 170MB Type III PCMCIA hard disk was clocked at an extremely fast 6.6MB per second. A 260MB hard disk is also available.

On the older OmniBooks, the connectivity options were Spartan at best. The 600C has a full complement of connectors. The serial and parallel ports are still there, of course, but now veteran OmniBook-ies will no longer bemoan the lack of an external monitor connection and a floppy disk drive. The external monitor link will support resolutions up to 1024x768 pixels with 256 colors. The external floppy disk drive is a low-profile affair that's included in the basic package.

A new port replicator hookup is further evidence that the OmniBook has entered the mainstream of portable computing. The port replicator includes a SCSI port and an optional HP Ethertwist LAN card slot. And yes, the 600C is enough computer to serve you well both on the road and when you're comfortably parked at your desk.

You can still eschew cables and remain connected by using the infrared eye to swap files with another OmniBook, an HP LX-series palmtop or a desktop PC that also has an infrared device.

On the opposite side of the OmniBook 600C's C drive PCMCIA port, there's another PCMCIA slot that can accommodate two Type II cards or a single Type III device. If the currently available 260MB hard disk falls short of your storage needs, you can slide another disk card into the open PCMCIA bay. In fact, the relatively low capacity of the 600C's hard disk is one of the few shortcomings of this portable. In sticking with the PCMCIA bus, HP has chosen to pass up on the higher capacity miniature disk drives that most other subnotebook manufacturers are offering in favor of the convenience of the easy-to-swap, standard PCMCIA design. It is expected, however, that a number of PCMCIA disk vendors, including those that supply HP, will introduce disk drives with capacities of 300MB and more over the coming months.

While the 600C fills some of the holes in the old OmniBook feature set, it has done so at a cost. The 600C's battery, pumping juice to a zippier CPU and a backlit display, doesn't last as long as the earlier model's, although HP says the new battery is twice as powerful as the old one. In a rundown test, with all power savings features disabled, the 600C's battery lasted about 1.5 hours. With power conservation turned on, and under more realistic work conditions, the battery lasted an average of 3.5 hours.

With the 600C, HP's OmniBook line moves into the mainstream of portable computing. It's no longer a niche machine--a PDA for big paws or a sub-subnotebook. OmniBook users who jumped on the bandwagon with the OmniBook 300 knew a good thing when they saw it. It just took the rest of us--and HP--a little while to catch up.

INFO FILE

HP OmniBook 600C

Price: As reviewed, $3,199 (estimated street price)

In Brief: The OmniBook enters the world of mainstream subnotebook computers but retains the key features that distinguished past OmniBooks.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-443-1254, 503-715-2004


Cleaning Your Communications Windows

Communications

Info Files

Report Card

Communications Software Table

UART or Bust

V.34 and Counting?


Communications

By: Rich Santalesa and David A. Harvey-Part 1

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

IN THIS COMPARISON

CommWorks 1.0A

CrossTalk 2.2 with CrossFax

DynaComm

HyperAccess 1.02

ProComm Plus 2.0

Qmodem Pro 1.10

Relay/PC 6.0

Smartcom 1.0c

Telix 1.0a

WinComm Pro 1.0

Everybody's always yapping about killer apps. Forget everything you've heard: Communications is the killer app. Take a good look at everything you do on your computer, from word processing, to spreadsheets, to multimedia--it's all geared toward communicating with others effectively. Communications software, which at first was slow and unwieldy under Windows, has improved markedly. The latest generation of comm programs and suites provides enough flexibility and performance to suit high-speed data-communications junkies, and at near-bargain-basement prices.

Quite a few comm programs, including CrossTalk, DynaComm, Procomm, and Smartcom, have upgraded features and performance, while several others, including Microphone, WinComm Pro, HyperAccess and Qlink Gold, were in the midst of upgrading at press time. Two programs, MediaPoint's promising Zipcomm 3.1 and Phoenix Technologies' Ultimate Communications Suite, arrived too late for testing, and the makers of Qlink bowed out of this roundup.

The comm programs we tested included features that make linking to commercial on-line services convenient, such as account and password storing or on-screen button or control panels. Nowadays, though, the proliferation of dedicated pure-Windows interfaces for commercial bulletin board systems (BBSs) has made these features less important to everyone but forum sysops (system operators). In addition, the packages all handle the terminal emulation standards--TTY, American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and DEC VT-100 and VT-220 terminals--with some extending emulation into the realm of esoterica.

Modem support straight out the box has become nothing less than outstanding. Each program lists multitudes of modems, with Procomm 2.0 offering more than 700. In a nod to the new age of communications, these programs also take PCMCIA modems, ISDN adapters, Internet connections and Novell's NASI into account as well.

And for added comm capabilities, RIPscrip graphics--the hottest thing to hit BBSs since the autodial answer modem--is rapidly becoming a BBS must-have. If your favorite BBS supports RIPscrip graphics, don't buy a comm program without it. RIPscrip transforms the BBS experience from an exercise in character-and-line frustration into a fully graphical point-and-click pleasure.

Scripting offers automation that can range from taking care of your password and log-on to a full-featured scripting language that can run an entire on-line session or create customized front ends, complete with your own dialog boxes, an item of particular interest in the corporate world. Scripting languages can weigh in at several hundred functions and commands, but they give you the ability to call other programs, and also offer C syntax compatibility and a full range of programming structures. Scripting capabilities vary widely from HyperAccess and WinComm Pro's support of C to the heavy-duty ASPECT language in Procomm Plus. These packages can all record and edit your actions for transformation into a script/macro.

Every program shares a common set of features including: scrollback capture buffers that vary greatly from a small 399 lines to virtually unlimited size, dialing directories that store session parameters for each number, and either an integrated text editor or the ability to define your favorite editor or word processor as the text tool of choice.

COMMWORKS 1.0A

CommWorks, actually a bundle of communications programs, offers a tremendous value, but the times have caught up with it. Much of its LapLink Remote Access functionality can now be had at no charge by running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (WFWG) and adding RAS (Remote Access Services) with WFWG's Point-to-Point server add-on, a freebie that was released quite recently. (See Networking Windows in the September issue.) Windows 95 will eliminate the need for more functions of this program.

Outside of LapLink V--a DOS program now eclipsed by Traveling Software's excellent LapLink 6 for Windows, and TS Fax (a licensed version of Phoenix's very fast Eclipse Fax)--the bundle's communication component (TS Online, a licensed version of Terminal Plus by Future Soft) is outgunned and underpowered for serious on-liners. It does have an excellent dialer, though (the same as DynaComm's).

What CommWorks does, it does well. LapLink Remote, for example, is still outstanding technically. But CommWorks' discrete modular nature means components don't integrate as well as they should. For example, you might expect the programs in CommWorks to share a comm port without the aid of a utility such as KingCom (UART or Bust). No such luck. Other than LapLink Remote and LapLink V, which do play well off each other, the first program you start grabs control of the comm ports.

Installation is easy, and ours went without a hitch. But CommWorks doesn't perform its various tricks without a whole slew of TSRs--some of which load from AUTOEXEC.BAT, others when Windows starts. Depending on which remote-communications feature you're using, you don't need all the TSRs.

Once state of the art, CommWorks now is a candidate for a LapLink for Windows transplant and 10cc of HyperAccess or Procomm if it's going to match the big guns byte for byte. Still, for anyone who has basic communications needs ranging from remote access to local file transfer and data communications, CommWorks still remains a good, though no longer sterling, value.

CROSSTALK 2.2 WITH CROSSFAX

The big news with CrossTalk 2.2 is the addition of Crossfax, a send-and-receive-capable fax program that includes most of the functins packed into top-of-the-line fax programs (for example, OCR, scan and fax, cover sheets and logos and adaptive answering). Despite the added fax capability, though, tools for annotating faxes are missing, so you can't fill out faxed documents in your fax program and send them back. CrossTalk itself, a point upgrade, doesn't bring many significant changes to the communications buffet outside faxing. It also falls short on usability: Its interface has remained essentially unchanged, and the functionality of the terminal window is similarly unenhanced.

Installation allows you to choose which modules you want installed, sets up network support for both data and fax modules, and runs a script allowing you to configure the program to work with your PC and modem. For Class 1 and 2 fax users, Crossfax installs a call to a background-operation TSR in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, and it puts an icon for Crossfax Scheduler in your Windows StartUp group. We were initially puzzled when Crossfax refused to function in either send or receive mode on the Micron DX4/100 test system. A quick trip to the readme file revealed that Crossfax does not work with Hayes ESP boards. Since the Micron is fitted with 16550 UARTs, we simply ditched our ESP board and proceeded without any further difficulty.

Starting up CrossTalk can be frustrating. The first thing you see is the open-file dialog, with a scrollable list of icons indicating your preconfigured scripts. Most popular services are listed, including an Internet script that requires a shell connection to a host running UNIX. If you want to dial a service not explicitly configured, you use the script labeled, "dial.xwp Dial out using local modem.'' Unconfigured scripts are labeled "Set up''; once you've run them and configured the connection, they change, simply listing the particular information service or session title.

CrossTalk doesn't let you enter commands directly into the terminal window. The only place you can do that is in the modem initialization settings and the phone number dialog box, so those who like to play with their AT registers will be disappointed.

This program is eminently customizable. It includes editors for its QuickPads (windows containing command buttons), the CASL scripting language, and keyboard-mapping files. Both the QuickPad and keyboard map editors are graphical, and the keyboard editor stands out as one of the best we've seen. CrossTalk's scripting language is not as functional as DynaComm's, but it does have a host of sophisticated features, including the ability to call user-written DLLs.

Using Crosstalk is easy at some times, frustrating at others, and it's beginning to show signs of age.

DYNACOMM 3.2

DynaComm packs a mighty wallop when it comes to managing and maintaining a dizzying array of connections. The DynaComm program group contains icons for FutureSoft's Comm Center, which consists of program-launching buttons with a set of modem status lights beneath, an icon for the improved dialog-box editor, and icons for DynaComm and for each of its three dialing directories (business, information and pleasure). In addition, there are icons for Setup, Host Mode and DynaComm script demos (for DDE with Excel), multimedia and the popular game Yahtzee.

The program has two personalities: dialer and terminal mode. The latter, whose Spartan interface belies the program's comm power, is instantly familiar to anyone who's used the FutureSoft-designed Terminal application. What's nice about the terminal mode is that you can enter commands directly into your modem directly from the terminal-mode screen (other packages require you to use their dial feature). If you're a serious modem-jock, such direct interaction with your modem is a must. Terminal mode also supports drag-and-drop for file-transfer tasks, allowing you to transfer text or binary files easily to remote systems. Be aware, however, that for services that require you to enter a filename for the file from your computer (CompuServe mail, for instance), you cannot use the drag-and-drop method.

DynaComm's solid network features, including support for NASI, a TCP/IP stack and EICON X.25, as well as hooks for Visual Basic programs, make it an excellent program for a networked corporate environment. When combined with DynaComm's sophisticated scripting language and the program's native DDE abilities, the terminal becomes the engine that drives customized mini-applications and is well suited to those who need to deliver turnkey communications solutions.

DynaComm's cutting edge has begun to dull, however, and is now overshadowed in almost every area. For example, a large screen-capture buffer is ever important with scorching 28.8Kbps modem speeds, but DynaComm's maximum screen buffer is a scant 399 lines, which will hold hardly more than a minute's worth of data transmitted at that high speed. And, although DynaComm does sport a bottom-of-the-screen, user-programmable toolbar, it doesn't go very far in integrating it with popular on-line services or including rudimentary commands.

The dialer, however, remains the best of those we saw in this review. It comes programmed with a host of popular on-line services and BBSs and is, essentially, an electronic form. Setting up a new entry merely requires that you tab between entries on the form and enter your information, including username, password (encrypted), terminal type, default file-transfer protocol and more. The best thing about the FutureSoft method is that all the settings are visible on one centralized screen.

DynaComm is still a powerhouse in the communications world. For those who need to develop custom applications, it's also still the best (despite the lack of 3270 emulation). But power alone is no longer sufficient. The other comm programs out there are quickly equaling DynaComm's power and jumping far ahead on the interface.

HYPERACCESS 1.02 AND WINCOMM PRO 1.0

HyperAccess and WinComm Pro come very close to being case studies in what to do right in software: Make it fast, make it easy and make it work. Beneath the skin, the programs are identical. WinComm Pro adds different toolbar icons as part of a slightly tweaked interface, and renames and shortens HyperAccess's View menu as its Layout menu. Beyond that you'd need a microscope to distinguish between them. Delrina knows enough not to mess with a winner. One item Delrina does add is its own high-speed comm driver, WFXCOMM.DRV, which makes better use of a 16550 UART and allows WinFax PRO to share a comm port with WinComm Pro. Neat.

After a painless and uneventful install, during which your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI files are not touched, a quick double-click has you viewing the phone book listing, predefined settings for eight commercial services, Delrina or Hilgraeve's BBS, a generic BBS icon, a host-mode icon, a direct-connect icon, and a new settings default whose modifiable comm settings serve as a template basis when creating new entries. Creating a new entry is so simple it barely requires any explanation: Click on the new button, select an icon, enter a name and type in a number. The connect settings (speed, parity and so on) are copied from values in your new sessions default.

From there, double-click on the icon and you're off and dialing. Connecting to a commercial account is just as easy: Double-click on the icon (BIX, for example), and you'll see prompts for an ID and password followed by a dialog box where you enter the phone number. These can all be saved, making future connections a simple , one-step procedure.

The word proprietary generally gives us hives, but transfers performed with HyperProtocol were substantially faster than Zmodem transfers--even over noisy lines. Using a variety of uncompressed text files, HyperProtocol outperformed Zmodem by more than two to one. If your main communications chore entails long distance uploading or downloading from various corporate offices, seriously consider HyperAccess or WinComm Pro, especially since the Host mode, a mini BBS, is the best of all the programs tested. It includes a callback ability, complete passwording and security, and allows dial-ins to access any network drives the host can see (with appropriate permission). The one fly in the digital ointment is that restricted user access is limited to only a single directory; the user has either one directory only (and its subdirectories) on tap, or is open to the entire system. If the latter is the case, though, you can lock out file management capabilities, such as delete, independently.

Beyond pure smoothness of operation, HyperAccess and WinComm Pro include power enough to spare: drag-and-drop file sending, a small disk and memory footprint (making the duo a wise choice for resource-hampered notebooks), automatic virus detection during download, a 220-function C-syntax scripting language and real-time response during even the highest-speed transfers. The one omission is a lack of RIPscrip support.

In the value department, WinComm Pro edges HyperAccess out with a $20 lower price. And for another $50, Delrina's Communications Suite for Windows adds WinFax PRO 4.0 into the pot. The last bit of good news is both packages were nearing updates during the preparation of this article, with WinComm adding a slew of Internet facilities. If the past presages the future, HyperAccess and WinComm will soon be even better.

PROCOMM PLUS 2.0

Although functional, version 1.0 of Procomm Plus was definitely nothing to dial home about. But with Procomm version 2.0, Datastorm, its publisher, has given us a stunningly capable standard-setting communications package that others will scramble to match.

From the intelligent agent on-line scripts that manage messaging and files for MCI, CompuServe and other information services to the bare-bones fax send-and-receive module, Procomm is the one package that truly does it all. With Procomm on your PC, you can even toss out dedicated MCI and CompuServe front-end programs, and rely instead on Datastorm's agents to send, receive and store messages and files. One major gaffe with the CompuServe agent was that it downloaded and deleted all the CIS mail messages in our in-basket, but was unable to display them. Had we looked at the readme, which warned that feature was broken, we wouldn't have lost a day's mail. A fix will soon be available, but Datastorm probably shouldn't have shipped the mail manager for CIS.

Installing Procomm is as hassle-free as it gets. The program automatically detects your COM port and modem, setting them up for maximum speed and efficiency. Adaptive answering allows the program to switch instantly from data to fax and back, while the do-anything host mode lets you answer incoming calls, set up a faxback server or receive a fax.

Getting up and running with Procomm is a snap. You create directory entries either by running the Login script, which generates automatic log-in scripts for a host of services, or via the phone book by simply creating a new entry. The phone book's new-entry form lets you enter all the settings on one page, like DynaComm's. But unlike DynaComm, once the entry is finished, Procomm won't let you see all the settings from the phone book view. You have to click on the buttons in the lower right that correspond to the type of settings you want to view.

The IND$FILE transfer protocol and 3270 emulation give you mainframe connectivity. Network support comes in the form of NASI, INT 14 and even MAPI hooks for forwarding messages to your network mail. The program has editors for everything from the action bars to ASPECT scripts, including a super keyboard editor.

So many features, so few words. Bottom line: Procomm Plus 2.0 is the one killer app to emerge out of this round of communications programs. The one feature that is somewhat lacking is the fax send and receive. While it handles the rudiments of sending and receiving with panache, it doesn't offer up OCR, scanning or annotation--features that have become de rigueur for state-of-the-art faxing. But for personal communications, you need look no further than this program.

QMODEMPRO 1.10

With roots in the shareware world and a low price, you might think Qmodem is merely yet another shareware comm program turned commercial. You'd be wrong. QmodemPro, with all its capabilities, is really a poor man's Procomm Plus. With a clean interface, support for RIPscrip, an install that searches for a modem on your COM ports, a wide variety of terminal emulations and protocols, an on-screen toolbar and macro buttons, the ability to tag events with .WAV files, drag-and-drop file sending, comprehensive documentation and integrated send-and-receive fax capability, Qmodem is certainly no lightweight wannabe comm package.

For all its communications savvy and BBS connections, Qmodem Pro includes all of one entry in its default dialer--to connect to Mustang's own BBS, where you can download a Qmodem phone book of several thousand BBSs and connections in addition to drivers, Qmodem patches and updates. Since no predefined listings or scripts exist to connect to commercial services, you'll soon become familiar with Qmodem's Quicklearn script feature to rectify this shortcoming. Even then, however, you need to create an entry in the dialer and then attach your pre-recorded log-in script. On the flip side, Qmodem's SLIQ scripting language is easy to learn and use, and it has built-in debugging features that are nothing short of spectacular.

Qmodem's dialer, like that of HyperAccess, offers listings as either text or icons. It has the unique ability to support groups that can be continuously dialed or stepped through one after each other. For example, we created one group called e-mail that contained connection info and scripts for MCI, CompuServe and the Internet. One of the dialer's weak points is handling mobile users. There's no easy way to define your current area code and have the dialer take notice of your peregrinations.

And while its fax prowess doesn't match the strength of WinFax PRO and others, it could be all you need for basic faxing. However, it can't schedule faxes to be sent at a later date, nor does it maintain a send log, which is a serious omission. The receive log allows you to view faxes at a variety of sizes and print them. Still, since the fax driver is available to other programs and shares Qmodem's phone book, it's a particularly nice way of gaining fax ability at virtually no extra cost.

RELAY/PC 6.0

If you were weaned on mainframes, you'll take to Relay/PC like a fish to water. But beyond its noted specialty of connecting with big-iron mainframe and mid-range systems, this general communicator has little to recommend it. Sure, you can add the separately available Relay/Transfers to your mainframe host (available for VM, TSO, CICS, MVS/VTAM and OS/400). And connecting to the corporate continuum is a simple matter thanks to Relay/PC's host of 3270, 5250 and other terminal emulations and a unique transfer protocol that allows simultaneous file transfers in both directions. But neither modem junkies nor comm beginners will find Relay/PC an intuitive trek into the on-line wilderness.

For instance, it's curious that Relay/PC doesn't support RIPscrip graphics, yet it's the only one of these 10 programs to include a list of 3,000 BBSs in Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States. Getting to them isn't easy; nor is handling other common chores. To get to the BBS numbers, you must create your own phone book entry, access one of the five commercial on-line service scripts, or modify the local area code or prefix globally. Then you need to run a standalone Operator program, which you cannot launch from within Relay/PC. Despite having defined the local area code, when we entered a 1 in Operator as the dialing prefix and selected a local BBS, Relay/PC blindly went ahead and used the 1 to dial. That was not exactly smart. Operator further reminded us of Lily Tomlin's operator, Ernestine, by demanding the proper COM port and speed each time a new dialing entry was created, even though we had defined a default COM port and speed within Relay/PC.

Relay/PC does offer some interesting and unique features, such as the ability to remap the keyboard easily, a useful rotatable floating tool cube, simultaneous-session ability and a bundled standalone copy of FaxWork 3.0. But Relay/PC's define-here, dial-there split personality is grating. When you match it against the competition, Relay/PC 6.0 appears to be of interest only to those who are primarily involved in corporate communications and nevertheless occasionally dabble in the BBS world.

SMARTCOM 1.0C

What do you call a terrific $79 comm program with state-of-the-art performance? Smartcom. With a recent price cut, Smartcom becomes the out-and-out price leader, while adding a host of useful features. Value aside, though, Smartcom, like Crosstalk and DynaComm, suffers from first-generationitis: The user interface needs serious enhancements before it catches up with the leading edge.

The install program automatically handles Smartcom's multifaceted ANSI text editor. Designed for use creating SCOPE scripts, the text editor blows Notepad out of the water and allows those who do heavy ANSI BBSing the ability to post messages with color, symbols and other ANSI attributes.

Like Crosstalk, Smartcom starts up with an open-file dialog box with a text list of what Hayes calls Smartcom Documents. Unlike Crosstalk, Smartcom does not come ready to exchange carrier signals with popular information services. Not even the ubiquitous CompuServe script is included. But the readme file directs you to log onto the Hayes BBS and download the CompuServe document. The settings that are included reflect Smartcom's multilingual approach. During setup and at start-up, you can choose to run Smartcom (including help files) in English, French, Spanish, Italian or German. Similarly, a default document is included for France's Minitel serve, along with popular international terminal emulations.

What's missing from Smartcom is RIPscrip graphics, the ability to enter commands directly into the terminal window and 3270 emulation. While most common emulations are included, Smartcom doesn't do a lot for mainframe connectivity. According to Hayes, version 1.1, which should be shipping now, has added RIPscrip and Windows Socket Support along with other network-friendly enhancements.

Smartcom has plenty of smarts, however, even if it is a tad unfriendly. Its peruse (scrollback) buffer can handle well over 1MB, and when you exit a Smartcom session you can save your peruse buffer for your next log-on. The autotype text transfer feature is perfect for uploading long text files to a message. Not only can you autotype text files from disk, you can also autotype the contents of either Clipboard or the Smartcom editor. This makes off-line composition of lengthy messages a snap.

Making connections is Smartcom's strong suit. For starters, a dialog box shows which stage of connection is in progress, and a banner message flashed across the screen details the time, type and speed of your connection. Smartcom consistently connected across noisy phone lines and was able to maintain superb throughput speeds under all conditions.

The SCOPE scripting language is not at the level of CrossTalk's or DynaComm's, but Smartcom is adequate and easy to use for basic connections, defining action buttons and performing day-to-day telecomm chores.

Smartcom still ranks as a contender. With its attractive pricing and the upgraded version 1.1 in the stores for the same reasonable price, this program is well worth a look.

TELIX 1.0A

First Windows efforts are usually the stuff of nightmares. Early experience with Procomm 1.0, the predecessor of our recommended product in this review, bears this out. But we found this is not the case for Telix. Long a shareware DOS favorite, this Procomm clone makes the Windows transition surprisingly well.

This is a bare-bones program designed for down-and-dirty telecommunications, not for serious power scripter/custom applet builders. In fact, Telix is a study for what it doesn't do. Telix doesn't do mainframes, FTP or network support. This is actually refreshing. One reason we were inordinately fond of the DOS Telix, using it well into the advent of Windows 3.1, was its singleness of purpose. When other comm programs balked at strange connections, we could always turn to Telix to solve the problem.

DOS Telix users will be happy to know that much of Windows Telix retains those same virtues. You can easily import DOS phone books, most of the control keys are the same, and the program retains its characteristic look and feel despite its new Windows dressing.

Telix does resemble Procomm, but where it shows its own unique character, it does so with several look-and-feel enhancements and a straight-ahead approach to connection. For example, you can customize the background with a number of bitmap patterns. If you have the right multimedia setup, Telix will keep you posted with a set of information .WAV files. Telix's dialing directory is the cleanest this side of DynaComm, but adding directory entries is tricky. To do so, you first click on the Add button to add a blank line to the phone book. That done, you click on the Edit button and enter the essential parameters. An Expert button allows you to fine-tune settings like data, stop and parity bits.

If you need quick access to the phone lines, and if you are content without having mainframe, CompuServe or other file-transfer protocols, Telix is a solid and economical choice. If you want the bells and whistles of today's state of the art, though, look elsewhere.

AND

No communications software will work without a modem. See our review, "Hot Shot Modems,'' in this month's Product Comparisons.

Rich Santalesa and David Harvey are freelance computer journalists. Contact them care of the editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Info Files

CommWorks 1.0a

Price: $199.95

In Brief: For those needing fax, data comm, remote access and LapLink's unique file synching and transfer ability, CommWorks is a solid solution at a reasonable price.

Disk Space Required: 6.5MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 500KB

Traveling Software Inc.

800-343-8080, 206-483-8088

CrossTalk 2.2 with Crossfax

Price: $195; without fax, $179; upgrade for version 1.x users, $49

In Brief: This product's fax support is the best of all we reviewed, and it will connect you to almost anything with a modem.

Disk Space Required: 4.5MB

System Resources: 8 to 19%

RAM: 442KB

DCA

800-348-DCA1, 404-442-4000

DynaComm 3.2

Price: $249

In Brief: Although its interface and operation are Spartan, DynaComm is still a perennial favorite. For custom programming and integration, it can't be beat.

Disk Space Required: 7MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM: 488KB

FutureSoft Engineering Inc.

800-989-8908, 713-496-9400

HyperAccess 1.02

Price: $199

In Brief: This likable, full-featured comm program's easy-to-use interface coupled with enough power for the most demanding tasks make for a delightful comm experience.

Disk Space Required: 2.5MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 275KB

Hilgraeve Inc.

800-826-2760, 313-243-0576

WinComm Pro 1.0

Price: $129

In Brief: A terrific comm package whose roots stem from HyperAccess, this is a comm package that bears serious consideration.

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 7%

RAM: 386KB

Delrina Corp.

800-268-6082, 408-363-2345

Procomm Plus 2.0

Price: $179

In Brief: The seamless fax integration, stunning ease of use, on-screen hints and comprehensive capabilities set the new standard for every other comm package.

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 709KB

Datastorm Technologies Inc.

314-443-3282, fax 314-875-0595

QmodemPro 1.10

Price: $99

In Brief: Its solid scripting and script debugging, plus communications features and integrated fax capability, add up to an excellent value.

Disk Space Required: 5.2MB

System Resources: 4%

RAM:4MB

Mustang Software Inc.

800-999-9619, 805-873-2500

Relay/PC 6.0

Price: $99

In Brief: Relay works best for those who eschew BBS and commercial information systems and deal primarily with mainframes.

Disk Space Required: 4.2MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 682KB

Relay Technology Inc.

800-795-8674, 703-506-0500

Smartcom 1.0c

Price: $79 (now selling version 1.1)

In Brief: The program's intelligent but not-so-flexible operation offers users a mixed bag, but its price and tutorial are standouts.

Disk Space Required: 3.6MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 418KB

Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.

404-441-1617, fax 404-441-1238

Telix 1.0a

Price: $99

In Brief: To get on-line down and dirty, this program delivers the basics, including RIPscrip.

Disk Space Required: 6MB

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 636KB

Deltacomm Development Inc.

800-TLX-8000, 919-460-4556


Communications Software Table

Please Note:

If you have Excel or some other spreadsheet that reads Excel .XLS files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .XLS)

Click Here

and load this table into your spreadsheet for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC3.XLS

(if you know you have Excel or a compatible spreadsheet and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .XLS)


Report Card

REPORT CARD

		Interface	Ease of use	Features	Scripting
	CommWorks 1.0a	B	C	A	B
	CrossTalk 2.2 with Crossfax	C	C	A	A
	DynaComm 3.2	B	B	B	B
	HyperAccess 1.02	A	A	B	A
W	Procomm Plus 2.0	A	A	A	A
	QmodemPro 1.10	B	B	A	A
	Relay/PC 6.0	C	C	B	B
	Smartcom 1.0c	B	A	B	B
	Telix 1.0a	B	B	C	B
	WinComm Pro 1.0	A	A	B	A
•	Interface: Does the interface present all the program's features in an intuitive manner? Is the interface attractive? Are menus logically arranged? Are toolbars included? Can you customize it?

•	Ease of use: Can you use the product for common communications tasks easily? Do you need to go to documentation for any feature out of the ordinary? Is the help file comprehensive?

•	Features: Does the program include common features? Are they easy to invoke? Does it support common modems, transfer protocols?

•	Scripting: Does the scripting language allow you to customize communications applications? Is it powerful? Is it easy to use? Is it well documented?

RECOMMENDATIONS. . .

PROCOMM HAS TAKEN A CLEAR lead among the communications programs we tested. While its fax features are on the anemic side, on the whole, Procomm 2.0 is a technical tour de force that brings new levels of usability to the desktop.

•	Close behind Procomm are HyperAccess and WinComm Pro, which also deliver new levels of connectivity to the desktop-computer user. Still lurking in the background is DynaComm. More than any other package, DynaComm has the power and the tools, especially with its Visual Basic hooks, to deliver the raw power that MIS and system integrators need.

Please Note:

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Click Here

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1994\TABLES\DEC4.DOC

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)


UART or Bust

By: Rich Santalesa and David A. Harvey

Faster ports enable today's higher speeds

Go beyond 9600 bits per second on a standard PC with an 8250 or 16450 UART (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter) and you're asking for trouble in the form of dropped characters, lost connections and general communications failure.

Your modem sends the data it receives to your PC through a serial port; but before it can get the information there, it needs to generate an interrupt. When a communications program is running in the background while other apps are cranking, the CPU may not get to the interrupt request quickly enough, and the next bit of data spills over the previous one still waiting to enter your system.

The faster your modem, the more interrupts it generates and the faster your PC must respond. Luckily the solutions are pretty simple. First, if you have a parallel-port based modem, such as Microcom's DeskPorte Fast, you're already in the clear. The DeskPorte hooks to your computer via the parallel port and bypasses serial-port bottlenecks completely.

For those of you without a DeskPorte, all is not lost. The solution lies in the 16550 UART, which some enlightened PCs now include as standard. If your system already has one (run Windows' MSD.EXE program to find out), you'll be okay. With a bit of tweaking your system should handle high-speed modem communications without incident. The main reason the 16550 blows older UARTs into the weeds is its 16-byte FIFO buffer (the older, 16450s had a single-byte buffer). This buffer gives Windows enough breathing time to catch up to incoming data before trouble starts. Every quality internal modem already includes its own 16550-compatible UART.

For non-550 equipped systems, getting the most from a high-speed external modem requires a replacement serial board containing either a 16550 or a serial board designed specifically for high-speed communications. Some wise choices are Hayes ESP Communications Accelerators (404-441-1617, fax 404-441-1238); DigiBoard's series of DigiBoard replacements (800-344-4273, 612-943-9020) that use their own microprocessor backed by 8KB buffers; or Pacific CommWare's 16550-buffered serial boards (800-856-3818, 503-482-2744).

Even with a 16550-equipped system, the best $30 you can spend so you can enjoy a sound night's sleep while data streams into your system is Pacific CommWare's TurboCom/2 drivers. TurboCom/2 banishes Windows' COMM.DRV in favor of its own optimized driver that takes better advantage of interrupts and the 16550. TurboCom/2 can handle 115.2Kbps without worries, and even on older and slower, or non-16550, systems it eases communications. We were skeptical, but after using TurboCom/2, we walked away believers. There's even good news for those still hanging onto DOS comm programs--TurboCom/2 provides DOS programs under Windows with 16550 access. Windows' COMM.DRV doesn't.

Another program we rely on is OTC Corp.'s KingCom 2.0 ($49; 800-769-6344, 714-832-4833) which also replaces Windows' COMM.DRV. If you've ever run into Windows' annoying "port not available'' message when running a dial-capable PIM, a comm program, and an on-line service program simultaneously--which we do constantly--KingCom is the answer. In addition to giving you up to nine virtual comm ports, it supports the 16550. Its one minor problem is that it can't virtualize your ports so that programs using DOS TSRs, such as some fax programs, can share them.

For efficient communications in the background with Windows' standard COMM.DRV, check the values of the COMBoostTime and COMxBuffer values in the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file, if they're present at all (if they're not there, you should add them).

If characters you type on the keyboard during a comm session fail to appear on-screen, increase the value of the COMBoostTime parameter. If you're still losing data, set the COM buffer to a larger size:

COMxBuffer=sizewhere x is the Port number. The default size is 128, but try 256 for more reliability.

As always, make backups of your WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI before modifying anything, since inadvertant changes to these files can cause Windows not to start.


V.34 and Counting?

By: Rich Santalesa and David A. Harvey

Looking beyond the next standard

Don't look now, but a V.34 modem may be the last analog phone modem you'll ever buy. Over the past 10 years we've moved from transmission rates of 300bps in the Bell 103 standard to the uncompressed 28.8Kbps defined by the latest ITU V.34 standard, which rockets to 115.2Kbps with compression. These stunning speed increases haven't come easily. Behind the scenes, modem engineers have moved from simple Frequency Shift Keying (FSK; 1200bps and below) to Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK; in 1200 and 2400bps modems), and, most recently, to Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM; 9600bps) coding.

The problem is that a given bandwidth can carry only so much information. For analog phone lines, which typically use a bandwidth spanning approximately 300Hz to 2700Hz, we're approaching fundamental limits that won't yield to further data encoding tricks.

For V.34, tongue-twisting techniques--precoding, multidimensional coding, constellation shaping, nonlinear coding, line probing, reduced complexity decoding and higher resolution sigma-delta converters, just to name a few--are backed by enough on-modem computing power to rival 486 CPUs.

In 1948, Claude Shannon's ground-breaking paper "Mathematical Theory of Communication" (Bell Systems Technical Journal, July and October) proved that the information-carrying capacity of a channel C of a given bandwidth is equal to Wlog2(1 + S/N), where W is the bandwidth, S is the signal power, and N is the power of present white noise. For an unpredictable bit series, which includes most modem communications, Shannon's Law and its proof fundamentally state that there is no way of exceeding the info speed limit unless the bandwidth increases or the signal-to-noise ratio improves. One way V.34 achieves its 28.8Kbps speed is by stretching the bandwidth of your phone line from 2,400Hz (used by all other V. standards) to 3,429Hz--a tricky technique with marginal phone lines that has, nonetheless, been achieved.

What this means is that, like it or not, your next modem might not be a standard analog phone-line modem at all, but could either be a coax cable modem (available now from Zenith and others) hooked to your local cable company or an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) digital connection, depending on when your local RBOC (Regional Bell Operating Company) decides to bring ISDN to your neck of the woods. ISDN requires the phone company to install new computers and other hardware. In turn, your communications program will need to support ISDN or other devices in the future. Some already do.

MODEM STANDARDS

Standard-What It Means

V.32bis-Allows raw data transfers of up to 14.4Kbps.

V.42-Provides real-time error detection.

V.42bis-Data compression that can push V.32bis to 57.6Kbps.

V.32terbo-AT&T's standard to push V.32bis beyond its ITU (International Telecommunications Union) limits.

V.32FC-Developed by Rockwell International as a precursor to V.34 (which was bogged in committee for many months). Similar to V.34, but uses a modified handshaking protocol.

V.34-28.8Kbps without compression. V.34 can top out at 115.2Kbps with compression.


Networks Come Together

Networks Come Together

Novell Groupwise 4.1-Got the message?

DEC LinkWorks-Objective Groupware

Think teamwork

Microsoft Exchange-More than Mere Mail


Networks Come Together

By: :James E. Powell, Northwest Bureau Editor, and John D. Ruley, Editor-at-Large

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Part 3 of our 4 Part Netwoking Series

October-Networking Basics

November-E-Mail and Remote Access

DECEMBER-GROUPWARE

January-Netwok Databases

The notion of people working in groups is certainly nothing new, but the needs of workgroups as we know them today are becoming more specialized. Work- groups must make fast-changing information accessible to all members of the group, no matter where they're located, and they need the tools necessary to manage work flow efficiently. That's where groupware comes in. Software developers are creating specialized applications, loosely classed as groupware, that go beyond traditional network file sharing. In this third part of our four-part networking series, we explore the world of groupware and illustrate how workgroups can take advantage of these team-oriented applications.

What is groupware? Ask 10 people and you'll probably get 10 different answers. New as it is, groupware is still a fairly fuzzy concept that means different things to different people. In the simplest sense, an application that offers message sending and receiving qualifies as groupware. At the other extreme are programs like Lotus Notes, which provides far more varied and sophisticated tools.

A common thread runs through this highly diverse category: Without exception, groupware programs run on a network. Because workgroups come in all sizes, groupware applications exist for networks from the smallest of LANs (local area networks) to WANs (wide area networks) that span the globe.

Many groupware applications allow individual workstations to access centralized databases. Versions of the same database residing on different servers are periodically updated, providing even those in remote sites with current information. Groupware applications often provide document sharing and project management. Document sharing applications range from the most basic file sharing and e-mail programs to vertical applications, such as elaborate medical imaging and desktop publishing systems. Project management tools enable teams to save and track each version of a project, schedule meetings, hold ongoing discussions and monitor progress.

Another goal of many groupware applications is the automation of day-to-day business processes. Some automatically route forms and documents through each stage. A few actually act as a big brother, monitoring day-to-day events, generally by using sophisticated macros. If a standard process deviates from the norm, these applications take some type of action to get the business process back to running normally.

Workgroups require communication, and most groupware applications address this need in some way. E-mail and on-line discussion areas figure prominently among the features designed to facilitate group communications. Some applications integrate with third-party e-mail systems, and some support send-and-receive faxing through shared, server-based fax boards. Applications designed specifically for communication also fall into the groupware category. For example, videoconferencing software and electronic whiteboards enable people to participate in meetings held across the country or around the world.

These are the features most commonly associated with groupware. Now let's look at four applications that offer most, or all, of the features mentioned above: Lotus Notes, Digital Equipment Corp.'s LinkWorks, Novell's GroupWise and Microsoft Exchange.

LOTUS NOTES

What exactly is Lotus Notes, and how does it help workgroups do their jobs? Here's an overview and some examples of how a company can take advantage of its workgroup capabilities.

The Basics

In its simplest form, Notes lets workgroups (including members at remote sites) organize, access, track and share various types of data, such as customer sales and product inventory information. Built around both shared and personal databases, Notes allows different data types to be stored in the same database record, or document. For example, a single Notes document may contain text, charts and video all relating to one subject.

Through data synchronization and version management, Notes provides you with up-to-date information, and makes it easy to track projects and processes. Templates, macros and design tools allow developers to create applications that automate specific business processes. For example, standard forms like sales invoices could be automatically routed from department to department. Once the order is taken, it might be automatically routed to the billing department. When the person in the billing department has finished with the invoice, Notes can automatically send it to the folks down in the warehouse.

Notes is a client/server application. One or more PCs acting as servers are dedicated to storing information. Individual workstations on the network, called clients, access databases stored on the servers. Notes, which has a single consistent user interface across all platforms, supports Windows, Macintosh, OS/2 and UNIX clients, and Windows, Windows NT Server, NLM, UNIX and OS/2 servers. Because Notes is an open system, clients running one platform can access servers on a different platform. For example, a Windows client can access data on an OS/2 server. Notes can run on small to enterprisewide networks. It supports multiple network operating systems and transport protocols between platforms, and provides high-level security.

Replication and Version Control

At Notes' core are databases, each containing related information about a subject. For example, one database may contain customer information (such as company name, phone number and address), while another keeps track of product information (such as ID number, units in stock and price). Databases are typically stored on servers, but Notes also lets you keep databases on your workstation. For example, you might keep both a copy of a database that resides on the server and a personal database on your workstation.

Through a process called replication, Notes keeps the data on different servers in sync. At set times, copies of the same database are updated on each server. This provides all users with identical information, but not instantaneously. For example, if you work in the Chicago office and you make changes to the Sales database that resides in the server down the hall, Notes will update the Seattle office's Sales database with those changes (and any other made since the last update) at a certain time. However, if users in the Seattle office look at the Sales database (stored on the server in Seattle) before replication takes place, they will not have access to the most current data. Companies can inform users of the exact times of the day database replication will occur to avoid confusion.

Replication also takes place between databases stored on local workstations and servers. Notes resolves differences between databases across all versions, including updates made to the same database residing on different workstations. Employees on the road can also take advantage of data synchronization by dialing into the network via modem to update copies of databases stored on notebook computers.

Notes provides a number of replication options. For example, the network administrator can set Notes to remove attachments from documents during replication. Another option, selective replication, flags specific documents for Notes to replicate, while others are ignored.

Notes keeps track of all the changes using a technique called version control. This method also protects original documents. For example, if a form is set for automatic versioning, the revised document is saved as a separate document any time an edit is made, or as a notation in response to the original. Version control is customizable in Notes, and workgroups can select options that best suit the project or process at hand.

What's on Your Desktop?

Notes provides each user with six tabbed desktops, which are similar to program groups in Windows' Program Manager. To access a desktop, you simply click on its tab. Each desktop contains icons that let you open particular databases. Ideally, each desktop is set up to provide access to all databases that relate to a particular subject. While the desktop is user-customizable, day-to-day processes are streamlined by some type of standard companywide organization. For example, everyone in the Human Resources department might have a desktop called Benefits, from which they can open the server-based Medical Coverage database. Everyone in the company may have a desktop named Company News, where they can access the server-based Press Release database.

When you click on a database icon from the desktop, Notes displays a view. A view lists key information about each document in a database. A view of the Customer database might list company names and the last order date for each. You can sort and filter documents to see the data you want. Views are hierarchical, and you can expand and collapse items to expose or hide the different levels. For example, you can view basic customer information only, or you can expand the view to show call reports for each customer.

When you double-click on any item in a view, Notes opens a form, which provides detailed information about the document. Think of a form as a layout for a particular document type. A form in Notes is much like a form in any other database program. It displays editable data and can be used to create a new form. It can also be modified by a user who has permission to do so.

Forms designers can incorporate radio buttons and keyword lists to limit user choices. Forms can also store rich text formats (.RTF) in a field, so a document can include images, voice messages or other data types. You can have multiple forms for any database, allowing you to view customer name and address information on one form and only order information on another.

Mother, May I?

Of course, not everyone can access every database, and not everyone can read or edit every form, document or field. A set of security features allows administrators to maintain confidentiality and control. For example, administrators can give a user permission to read and edit a document, but can set an option that denies the same user permission to modify forms.

Data confidentiality is also provided through encrypted documents, which allow only those people with a key to unlock and read encrypted fields. In addition, electronic signatures can verify the authenticity of specific data objects.

Can We Talk?

Communication is key to any fine-tuned workgroup. But most managers will tell you that team communication isn't as easy as it should be. For instance, meeting organizers often run into schedule conflicts. Or, while a topic may deserve discussion, it may not be so critical as to warrant interrupting everyone's day with a meeting. Notes addresses the need for teams to communicate effectively and efficiently through discussion databases and e-mail.

Notes ships with a number of database templates that can be customized or used as is. One such template, called a discussion database, uses a bulletin board metaphor. Group members can post a message that everyone can read and reply to. Using a view, you can see the "threads'' of a discussion--messages are grouped by topic, so you can follow a reply, then see the replies to that reply, and so on. You can set the view of a discussion database to indicate which documents you've read already, and you can easily create a view showing only unread messages. Using discussion databases, workgroups can hold ongoing discussions regarding particular topics, and individual responses can be traced back if need be.

NotesMail, Notes' e-mail database, allows you to quickly send or forward messages to another Notes user or group of users. You can attach a file, such as an entire Notes database, to your message. As with most Notes databases, you can categorize any document (or, in this case, message), then create a view that displays documents for a specific category. For example, you can categorize messages with the project name they refer to, then display a view of just the Payroll Project correspondence. Developers and users can enhance the functionality of NotesMail by using design tools and macros.

If you would like to use an e-mail program other than NotesMail, Notes provides support for VIM-compliant mail systems, such as cc:Mail. Notes does not support MAPI-compliant mail systems, such as Microsoft Mail. An MHS (Message Handling Service) gateway is available, allowing workgroups using NotesMail to correspond with users of other MHS-compatible e-mail systems.

Database Templates, Macros and Agents

Notes offers a number of features that allow workgroups to develop customized work-flow systems. The program ships with more than 25 database templates. These are predesigned applications for specific work-flow systems, such as forms-based approval and status reporting. (The terms "database'' and "application'' are used interchangeably in Notes.) A template can be used as is, or customized with design tools. The Customer Service application is one of the most robust of the sample databases. Integrating four Notes databases, this application logs calls, accepts and processes information input by customers via telephone, and automates the sending of customer inquiries to the proper customer service representative. In adddition, macros can be assigned to a button on a form or an icon in the toolbar.

Work-flow agents are macros that run in the background, using a set of rules and conditions to monitor work-flow processes. When a process deviates from the norm, the work-flow agent takes some type of action, such as sending out an alert.

Notes/FX

Notes/FX (Field Exchange) lets you pass data between a document in a Notes database and another application that supports Notes/FX, much like an OLE connection. For example, if you define a Notes database to track budget information, each budget document in that database can be associated with a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Change numbers in your Notes document and the spreadsheet is updated, and vice versa.

Now that you have an idea of what groupware is all about, you can gather your cohorts and start working together like a real team.


Novell Groupwise 4.1-Got the message?

By: Jonathan Karl Matzkin

Novell's GroupWise 4.1 arms workgroups with an arsenal of tools, including electronic mail, personal calendaring, group scheduling, task management and work-flow management. The network-based system, which boasts multithreaded, 32-bit server technology, also provides rules-based message management, and allows users to send and receive faxes. GroupWise 4.1 is the upgrade to WordPerfect Office 4.0 (the program was rechristened after the recent Novell/WordPerfect merger), and is compatible with WordPerfect Office 4.0a, according to Novell.

E-mail features include an inbox that lets users access the same messages from both the desktop and remote components of GroupWise. The e-mail outbox tracks the status of sent messages and provides the rules-based filtering of information. Sequential routing allows messages and documents to be automatically guided through predetermined routes.

According to Novell, the Windows client integrates with any e-mail program that supports Simple MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface), a subset of the MAPI e-mail specifications.

The Windows client also boasts macro support and enhanced support for custom command development by VARs. The latter allows the extension of electronic messaging capabilities to other applications, which are registered in the GroupWise system and appear in a user's inbox with a unique message-type icon. Support for WordPerfect Corp.'s PerfectFit technology promises enhanced interoperability with other WordPerfect Windows products.

Like Lotus Notes, GroupWise keeps remote users in close contact with the home office. Mobile users can access the system through remote PCs as well as pagers, wireless networks or any standard touch-tone telephone.

GroupWise offers identical functionality on a total of 12 client platforms, including Windows, DOS, the Macintosh (and PowerMac), seven types of UNIX Motif, and one character-based version of SunOS. Novell says the 12 clients are built around the same software engine, so all of them have identical feature sets.

The GroupWise server software runs on OS/2, NLM, UNIX and DOS systems. The package also supports 23 gateways. GroupWise offers connectivity and interoperability between leading network and host-based systems, Novell says, including the Internet (SMPT), X.400 and SNADS, as well as e-mail systems such as IBM PROFS, DEC's All-in-1 and Lotus's cc:Mail.


DEC LinkWorks-Objective Groupware

By: Jonathan Karl Matzkin

LinkWorks is Digital Equipment's object-oriented vision of groupware. DEC's network-based, client/server approach to collaborative productivity offers document sharing, version and access control, electronic mail and work-flow automation.

The LinkWorks client runs on a variety of platforms in addition to Windows, and presents users with a virtual "desk'' in a windowing, graphical environment. Documents, filing cabinets and tools (like Windows' Clock or Calculator applets, to name just two examples) are defined as objects on the desk. Digital emphasizes that many popular personal productivity tools, such as Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect and various Windows applets, can be integrated into the LinkWorks environment. Once an application has been brought into LinkWorks, each application file then becomes a LinkWorks object.

Since all information about a user's desk is maintained in a relational database on the server, users can access their desks from any client, subject to the administrator's restrictions. Users may also have multiple virtual desks, with different items on each, but with shared e-mail inboxes and outboxes.

All for One

Workgroups can share documents via e-mail or file containers that can be accessed by everyone. All users sharing an object see it represented on their individual desks as an icon or line of text. Record-locking prevents simultaneous editing, while preserving read-only access for all users sharing the document. LinkWorks' version control features are automatically activated for shared documents.

Documents and filing containers can also be routed through a sequence of stages, with deadlines set for each stage. When a user finishes work on a routed object, she simply drops the object onto the mail outbox on her desk. The document or other object automatically proceeds to its next destination. A work flow can branch into parallel strands, automatically making an object a shared object.

Client software is available for Windows, the Macintosh, OS/2, NT and several UNIX workstations running OSF/Motif. Supported servers include Intel systems running SCO UNIX, with Windows NT Server support planned for Intel and Alpha AXP systems. The server also runs on VAX systems with Open VMS, and a variety of other platforms.

Supported network protocols include IPX, TCP/IP and DECnet. Among the relational databases supported (on appropriate hardware) are Informix, Oracle and DEC Rdb, with support for Sybase planned.


Think teamwork

This listing includes some of the vendors that currently offer software and hardware meant to unify workgroups, as well as store and safeguard shared data.

GROUPWARE

AT&T Global Business Communications Systems

908-953-2510, fax 908-953-4364

CE Software (formerly Powercore)

800-523-7638, 515-221-1801

Crosswise Corp.

800-747-9060, 408-459-9060

DCA Inc.

800-348-DCA1, 404-442-4000

Digital Equipment Corp.

800-DIGITAL, 508-493-5111

Enable Software Inc.

800-888-0684, 518-877-8600

First Floor

800-639-6387, 415-968-1101

ForeFront Group Inc.

713-961-1101, fax 713-961-1149

Forum Enterprises Inc.

CompuServe e-mail, 72133,2476; Internet, 72133@compuserve.com

Futurus Corp.

800-327-8296, 404-392-7979

GlobalStream Corp.

206-858-7858, fax 206-858-7862

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-322-4772 (US),800-387-3867 (Can)

Intellect Corp.

800-856-6338, 214-484-7401

LAN-ACES Inc.

800-LAN-ACES, 713-890-9787

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Reach Software Corp.

800-MAILFLO, 408-733-8685

TechKnowlogy Acquisition Inc.

801-261-8850, fax 801-261-8842

Trax Softworks Inc.

800-FOR-TRAX, 310-649-5800

Ventana Corp.

800-368-6338, 602-325-8228

NETWORK BACKUP

Arcada Software

800-327-2232, 407-262-8000

Box Hill Systems

800-727-3863, 212-989-4455

Central Point Software Inc.

800-964-6896, 503-690-8088

Cheyenne Software Inc.

800-243-9462, 516-484-5110

Colorado Memory Systems

800-845-7905, 303-669-6500

Computer Associates International Inc.

800-225-5224, 516-225-5224

Conner Peripherals Inc.

800-6-CONNER, 714-641-1230

Exabyte Corp. (formerlyTallgrass Technologies)

800-825-4727, 913-492-6002

Impulse Technologies Inc.,  Alloy Div.

800-800-2556, 508-486-0001

InterCon Systems Corp.

800-468-7266, 703-709-5500

Legato Systems Inc.

415-812-6017, fax 415-812-6032

Mountain Network Solutions Inc.

800-458-0300, 408-438-6650

Palindrome Corp.

708-505-3300, fax 708-505-7917

Performance Technology Inc.

800-327-8526, 210-979-2000

Qstar Technologies Inc.

800-568-2578, 301-762-9800

Rexon (formerlyTecmar)

800-624-8560, 216-349-0600

Spectra Logic

800-833-1132, 303-449-7759

Systems Enhancement Corp.

314-532-2855, fax 314-532-2037

Sytron

800-877-0016, 508-898-0100

OPTICAL STORAGE

Conner Peripherals Inc.

800-6-CONNER, 714-641-1230

Eastman Kodak Co.

800-243-8811, fax 716-726-6158

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900, 415-857-1501

Hitachi America Ltd.

415-244-7639, 415-583-4209

IBM Corp.

800-426-2255

Iomega Corp.

800-777-6654, 801-778-1000

Maxoptix

408-954-9700, fax 408-954-9711

Maxtor Corp.

800-4-MAXTOR, 408-432-1700

Micro Design International

407-677-8333, fax 407-677-8365

Panasonic Communications and Systems Co.

800-742-8086, 201-348-5200

Pinnacle Micro Inc.

800-553-7070, 714-727-3300

Plasmon Data Systems

800-445-9400, 408-956-9400

Ricoh Corp.

800-955-3453, 408-432-8800

Sharp Electronics Corp.

800-BE-SHARP, 201-529-9593

Sony Electronics Inc.

800-352-7669, 408-432-0190

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLIES

Acme Electric Corp.

800-325-5848, 716-968-2400

Alpha Technologies

206-647-2360, fax 206-671-4936

American Power Conversion

800-800-4APC, 401-789-5735

Best Power Technology Inc.

800-356-5794, 608-565-7200

Cabletron Systems Inc.

603-332-9400, fax 603-337-2211

Clary Corp.

800-442-5279, 818-359-4486

Computer Power Inc.

800-526-5088, 908-638-8000

Deltec Electronics Corp.

800-854-2658, 619-291-4211

Exide Electronics Corp.

800-554-3448, 919-872-3020

Intellipower

714-587-0155, fax 714-587-0230

Leibert Corp.

800-877-9222, 614-888-0246

Meirick Inc.

800-735-5069, 417-466-3941

Minuteman UPS

800-238-7272, 214-446-7363

Morton Management Inc.

301-622-5600, fax 301-622-5438

Network Security Systems Inc.

800-755-7078, 619-587-7950

Oneac Corp.

800-327-8801, 708-816-6000

Sola Power Electronics

800-289-7652, 708-439-2800

South Hills Datacomm

800-245-6215, 412-921-9000

Tripp Lite

312-329-1601, fax 312-329-9251

Upsonic

800-877-6642, 714-258-0808

VIDEO- CONFERENCING

ABL Canada

514-344-5432, fax 514-344-5439

AT&T Global Information Solutions

800-225-5627, 513-445-5000

Creative Labs Inc.

800-998-LABS, 408-428-6600

Crosswise Corp.

800-747-9060, 408-459-9060

Dolch Computer Systems

800-538-7506, 408-957-6575

Fujitsu Network Industries

800-446-4736, 203-326-2700

Future Labs

800-933-8887, 415-254-9000

IBM Corp.

800-426-9402 ext. 2, 404-238-1282

InSoft Inc.

717-730-9501, info@insoft.com

Intel Corp.

800-538-3373, 503-629-7354

InVision Systems Corp.

703-506-0094, fax 703-506-0098

LiveWorks (a Xerox company)

800-200-1167, 408-324-2200

Mentec Inc.

800-338-2585, 508-970-3600

Northern Telecom

800-NORTHERN, 214-684-1000

PictureTel Corp.

800-716-6000, 508-762-5000

Smart Technologies Inc.

403-245-0333, fax 403-245-0366

Sony Electronics Inc.

see local dealer

Target Technologies

800-666-2496, 910-395-6100

Toshiba America Multimedia Systems Group

800-253-5429 ext. 212, 708-541-9400

Trax Softworks

800-367-8729, 310-649-5800, info@traxsoft.com

Video Conferencing Communications

800-2-VIDEO-4, 714-452-0800

Workstation Technologies

714-250-8983, fax 714-250-8969

WorldLink/Vis-A-Vis

800-263-9673, 416-350-1880


Microsoft Exchange-More than Mere Mail

by Jonathan Karl Matzkin

Enhanced messaging and group scheduling are only the beginning for Microsoft's forthcoming Exchange. The client/server environment combines messaging and information sharing in a network-based client/server architecture.

Exchange will include upgrades to Microsoft Mail and Schedule+, but Microsoft's overall Information Exchange vision will unify e-mail, information sharing, time management, forms and application development, project collaboration and work-flow automation. Windows and DOS client software is expected to ship in the first half of 1995. According to Microsoft, Mac and UNIX versions will be available soon after. Support for remote users is also planned.

Exchange's client software offers users a single, integrated mailbox that handles several different communications types, including e-mail, fax, voice mail and access to information services. Exchange's e-mail will also support the automatic routing of messages based on user-defined rules.

Building a Unified Front

Public folders, maintained on the Exchange server, will enable teams to share documents, data, graphics and scheduling information across the entire enterprise. Folder replication synchronizes the data stored in copies of folders on multiple servers. In addition, OLE 2.0 support allows users to link data between Exchange folders and data in other applications, such as an Excel spreadsheet, for example. When data is updated in an Exchange document, the spreadsheet is also updated.

Microsoft provides both end-user and developer's tools for developing forms and applications to automate work flow. At the user level, templates and a Forms Wizard will generate custom forms while shielding users from the nuts and bolts of programming. Advanced users will be able to bring the power of Visual Basic and Access to customizing forms and applications. Independent developers will be able to use C++ and MAPI to develop products for the Exchange environment.

An enhanced version of Schedule+ will handle group scheduling, personal calendaring and task management. It will also tightly integrate with other Exchange client components, Microsoft says. Users will still be able to exchange meeting requests and manage time with Mail 3.x users.

Microsoft says Microsoft Mail users will be able to add Exchange-based servers and inboxes to existing MS-Mail-based environments in the process of migrating to the new system.


Explore the brave new world beyond desktop Windows.

Beyond Desktop Windows

Microsoft's Other 32-Bit Operating System

OS/2-Ready When You Are

Macintosh System 7.5:Tops In Some Niches

Windows 95: Inside The New Windows

Is Your System Up To Snuff

Upgrading Your Apps

While You're Waiting: Optimize Windows 3.X


Beyond Desktop Windows

With Windows 95 tantalizingly near, many of us are chafing at the limitations of 16-bit operating systems like Windows 3.x. The promise of 32-bit platforms is irresistible to users hungry for more speed, power and capability.

It's likely to be several months, at best, before Windows 95 finally arrives. Can you afford to wait for its arrival? Should you? What does this new version of Windows have to offer? Are there other 32-bit options--such as Windows NT, OS/2 or the Macintosh System 7.5--that might be better for your needs?

In this special report, WINDOWS Magazine experts examine these critical issues to help you determine the answers.


Microsoft's Other 32-Bit Operating System

Windows NT

Windows NT: Beyond the Desktop


Windows NT

By: JOHN D. RULEY, EDITOR-AT-LARGE

With all the hype about Windows 95 these days, it's easy to forget that Microsoft already has a 32-bit operating system--Windows NT. Originally released as version 3.1, NT was recently upgraded to version 3.5 (code-named Daytona during the beta period) and is now an extremely powerful operating system by anyone's estimation. Moreover, like OS/2 and unlike Windows 95, Windows NT is available today. Microsoft has also repeatedly called NT its "strategic'' operating system, on which the company will layer distributed OLE, advanced security and the object-oriented features of the Windows Cairo project. At some point, the core code in NT will become the core for the low-end operating system as well.

NT does have a lot to offer. NT was designed from the start with big-system features like scalability to symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs) and portability to RISC architectures. It also has a sophisticated multiuser security system built-in. In short, it's one of the most advanced operating systems available today.

If you've run out of time and patience with today's 16-bit Windows, NT could make sense as your next operating system.

Mixed Signals

Beginning with version 3.5, Microsoft began repositioning Windows NT as a workstation and server operating system, rather than as a general-use advanced desktop system. (For more information on NT, see the Windows NT: Beyond the Desktop) Still, all the features that make NT suitable for use in demanding, mission-critical applications are available to the desktop end user.

Microsoft has given distinctly mixed messages on this topic over the past year. On the one hand, the company says, "NT isn't for everyone.'' On the other hand, a task force working directly for Bill Gates has recommended NT as the solution to user problems such as limited system resources. The issue is also bound up with the release of Windows 95, which Microsoft has clearly defined as the direct successor to Windows and Windows for Workgroups 3.x.

Does NT have a role on the regular (nonworkstation) PC desktop? My answer is a qualified yes. It can serve well on the desktop, and offers real advantages--if you can tolerate some fairly serious limitations.

First, let's take a look at the advantages. Aside from all the features mentioned so far, Windows NT offers five tremendous benefits to Windows users:

•	NT has the familiar Windows 3.x-style user interface, so you don't have to worry about a steep learning curve.

•	It has no arbitrary resource limits.

•	With NT, you can preemptively multitask applications in their own memory spaces.

•	NT's networking is much more reliable than that offered by Windows 3.x.

•	It allows you to run all applications, including Windows applications, from the command line.

The elimination of resource limits is probably of greatest interest to many users. Windows 3.x has three 64KB resource heaps that must be shared by all applications in the system. When those three heaps are exhausted, bad things start to happen.

In Windows NT there are no such limits, and system reliability is improved as a direct result. It's possible to open a ridiculously large number of Excel spreadsheets, for example, or to run every component of MS Office simultaneously--all without any "out of system resources'' errors. That alone is a significant benefit to many Windows users.

Preemptively tasking each application in its own address space is a new feature in Windows NT 3.5, but it's one that has been familiar to OS/2 users for some time. DOS applications, of course, can be preemptively tasked even in Windows 3.x, but all Windows applications have shared a single address space. That's a plus, in one respect. The applications were designed to run that way, and certain applications depend on having access to systemwide memory.

For many users, however, the problems of a single shared address space have come to outweigh the benefits. A single rogue application can crash the entire system by attempting to address memory that doesn't belong to it, and an application that hogs the CPU can lock the system into a mode where other applications won't run. Windows 3.x also has a single message queue for all applications, so if an application locks up while it has the queue, it effectively locks up the system itself. Other applications may be running, but you can't communicate with them.

Windows NT 3.5 takes care of these problems by offering a separate address space option. When you start an application, you can give it its own memory to play in, isolating it from all others in the system. This provides a degree of reliability that isn't obtainable with any other form of Windows. It also takes care of the CPU "hogs,'' such as Microsoft Mail Remote, which lock up the system so that other applications get no CPU time. Since each session is preemptively tasked against other sessions, no single application can lock up the system. Finally, Windows NT provides separate message queues for each application, so if an application does crash, it can't take the mouse and keyboard with it.

Beyond all this, of course, Windows NT is a platform for 32-bit Windows applications. To date, those applications have been few and far between. However, Microsoft's recent announcement of a native 32-bit version of Microsoft Office for Windows NT, among others, gives us reason to hope that the "applications gap'' will be closing soon. And 32-bit applications inherit all of NT's advantages--better speed, more reliability, no resource limits and tight integration with NT's security subsystem. For users who have really demanding applications (in the finance and banking industries, for example), this alone can make NT very desirable indeed.

Add these features up, and NT starts to sound like a user's (or administrator's) dream, totally reliable and lacking any arbitrary resource limitations. Sadly, things aren't quite so simple.

Why Not NT?

Now we come to the nitty-gritty. If NT offers a laundry list of state-of-the-art features, why isn't it right for everyone's desk?

First, there are the resource requirements mentioned above. Not everyone can afford 12MB of RAM, or a hard disk large enough to dedicate 70MB or more to the operating system before any applications are even loaded. There are also problems with hardware that Windows NT doesn't support. (Check the latest version of the Windows NT Supported Hardware List, which is available in the WINNT forum on CompuServe or from ftp.microsoft.com.)

There are also several software problems with NT that can be more difficult to overcome, including the 32-bit application gap mentioned earlier. Users won't see the full benefit of NT's performance until 32-bit applications are widely available.

Most 16-bit applications run on NT without a hitch, and many gain immediate benefit from NT's features. However, some 16-bit applications may not provide their best performance, and others may not run at all. Applications that interact directly with the hardware often tend to be troublesome. As a secure operating system, Windows NT doesn't allow direct interaction with the hardware by applications, so things like backup programs, disk utilities and fax applications tend not to work at all.

In some cases, NT can get around the problem with "virtual'' hardware access. This allows most communications applications to run. But virtualization incurs a performance penalty--sometimes a severe one. It's often possible to solve these problems by substituting an equivalent Windows NT application for the nonworking 16-bit program. There are excellent NT fax applications for instance. And you shouldn't get the idea that these problems are overwhelming. Many 16-bit communications applications, for example, run just fine under NT.

Still a Hog

The bad news about Windows NT is that it can still be accurately described as a resource hog, even though version 3.5 has more reasonable memory requirements than version 3.1. When run on Intel 386/486/Pentium hardware, Windows NT Workstation requires 12MB of RAM. (It runs in 8MB and even gives reasonable performance for certain applications, but Microsoft recommends 12MB to cover all the bases.) On RISC hardware, it demands 16MB. Windows NT Server requires 16MB (and in nondedicated applications benefits from more). Both versions require in excess of 70MB of hard disk space for the operating system itself, not counting applications. Both versions are sensitive to memory performance and benefit from a large secondary CPU cache. Neither version delivers acceptable performance on 386SX hardware. Candidly, it's plain silly to run either version on anything less than a fast 486.

To put it bluntly, when Microsoft says that Windows NT isn't for everyone, the company is dead serious.

What Lies Ahead?

Will these problems get better? Yes and no. Windows NT 3.5 is a vast improvement over 3.1 in legacy application support, and there's no reason to expect Microsoft to stop there. Moreover, as more vendors see NT as a viable market, there will be more native NT applications. Finally, Windows NT users expect a big side benefit from the development efforts many vendors now have under way for Windows 95, which, like NT, is a 32-bit operating system that runs 32-bit Windows applications. Surely 32-bit Windows applications developed for Windows 95 will run on Windows NT, right? Not necessarily!

Windows 95 differs from NT in many respects. It has a different (in many ways better) user interface, with which many applications interact. It uses a different--and incompatible--approach to internationalization.

Perhaps most seriously, Windows 95 uses a different model for device drivers than NT. As a result, while most Windows 95 applications will probably run on NT without modification, we can't expect them all to do so. (The same principle applies in reverse, particularly for server-side products such as Microsoft Back Office, which won't run on Windows 95.)

If this seems unreasonable, you'd better check in with Microsoft. Demonstrations of its most recent e-mail client, for example, have included two totally different 32-bit versions: one specifically for Windows 95 and another tailored for Windows NT.

Is It Worth the Price?

Microsoft recently announced new pricing for both Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT Server. Even with the new pricing scheme, Windows NT remains more expensive than other versions of Windows. Windows NT Workstation 3.5 costs approximately $319 per desktop, and NT Server 3.5 costs approximately $699 per server. Client licenses to allow DOS, Windows and Macintosh clients to access any number of servers are also available and start at $35 per client. In addition, discounted site licenses are available as part of Microsoft's Select program for corporate customers.

The upshot is this: Windows NT offers many advantages. It is a currently shipping 32-bit operating system with "big system'' features, and it is clearly the form of Windows that is best suited for use in applications that go beyond the desktop, such as engineering workstations and servers.

On the other hand, Windows NT requires significantly more RAM and hard disk space than today's desktop versions of Windows, and it has its share of compatibility problems. Moreover, these problems will not necessarily go away with the introduction of Windows 95.

If you're considering NT, spend a little extra time researching the product. For starters, Microsoft has an excellent evaluation diskette that addresses many of these concerns. Call 800-426-9400, or you can download it from CompuServe's WINNT forum or ftp.microsoft.com. Make sure your hardware is compatible and your key applications are supported.

When NT does work, it works beautifully. It stays up for weeks at a time, and rarely goes down unless you choose to turn it off. There's something to be said for that.


Windows NT: Beyond the Desktop

By: John D. Ruley

Microsoft's introduction of Windows NT 3.5 included a major repositioning of the product, which is reflected in its name changes: Windows NT Workstation 3.5 replaces Windows NT 3.1, and Windows NT Server 3.5 replaces Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1. The rechristening indicates a drastic shift in Microsoft's thinking, and raises some interesting issues: Is Windows NT 3.5 a viable workstation operating system? And can the server version compete in a market dominated by NetWare?

Windows NT As a Workstation

According to Microsoft, anyone who uses a classic UNIX graphics or engineering workstation should look at Windows NT 3.5. Why? In today's engineering/CAD/design environments, it's common to see two computers on each engineer's or designer's desk: a UNIX workstation for engineering applications and a PC for conventional productivity applications like word processing and spreadsheets. Although it is possible to run PC applications on a workstation using emulator software, the resulting performance is usually substandard.

Windows NT Workstation 3.5 breaks this mold, offering workstation-class capabilities while delivering native performance on DOS and Windows legacy applications (at least on Intel hardware). The ability to scale workstation power by exploiting symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) assures that workstation vendors like Intergraph Corp. can compete effectively with UNIX vendors in performance while providing a much better capability to integrate conventional PC applications into the workstation environment.

Windows NT Workstation 3.5 also includes support for OpenGL graphics. OpenGL is a standard for graphics on high-end workstations that allows three-dimensional shapes to be modeled efficiently. Windows NT's support for OpenGL gives it a real claim to compete with UNIX as a true workstation operating system.

Moreover, as a workstation platform, Windows NT is downright cheap. The memory and disk requirements are almost absurdly low by UNIX standards. The hardware it requires (high-end Pentium or RISC-based systems) and the operating system itself are priced well below UNIX equivalents. Anyone looking for a workstation operating system really ought to consider Windows NT.

However, NT does have some problems as a workstation environment. The most serious is that not all workstation application vendors support NT, so it's vital to make sure that your applications are available in a Windows NT version. It's also important to check which of the NT hardware platforms are supported. Virtually all Windows NT applications are available for the Intel x86 processor family, but when it comes to RISC processors, coverage can be spotty. There are some applications available for x86 and MIPS but not for DEC's Alpha, and others that are available for the latter and x86 but not for MIPS.

Workstation users also need to remember the simple fact that NT isn't UNIX (no matter how often Bill Gates claims otherwise). It doesn't come with common UNIX utilities like EMACS, it lacks built-in support for X Windows and NFS (although both are available as third-party add-ons), it doesn't come with a compiler, and, perhaps most importantly, it doesn't come with source code. You can't modify NT at will as you can many forms of UNIX.

Windows NT As a Server

Windows NT Server offers conventional file-and-printer sharing services, multiserver domainwide administration, fault tolerant disk storage, directory replication, the ability to act as a gateway to Novell NetWare, dynamic IP address allocation (DHCP/WINS), multiuser remote access, and file and printer sharing for Macintosh computers--all included in the box. NT Server also supports big-system disk storage options, including disk mirroring, drive duplexing and Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID).

In contrast to Windows NT 3.1, which provided low-level multiprotocol plumbing but little support for actual networks (other than Microsoft's NT, LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups), Windows NT 3.5 includes substantial NetWare and TCP/IP support in the box. NT Workstation has a NetWare client package that provides seamless access to NetWare servers; NT Server expands this with a NetWare gateway that allows other NT users to access directories and printers on NetWare servers that have been reshared over the NT network. Both versions include low-level TCP/IP support and simple character-mode Internet applications support (Telnet, FTP). Moreover, NT is state of the art in its ability to assign IP addresses and network names dynamically using Domain Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Windows Internet Services (WINS).

As a file and print server, NT competes most directly with Novell NetWare. A comparison of the two systems is, for the most part, favorable to NT, according to Microsoft. Performance-wise, on systems that have adequate RAM (16MB or more), Windows NT Server can deliver equal or better throughput on equal hardware. Under certain conditions (especially when using WFWG 3.11 clients) NT can actually outperform NetWare. The multiserver administration features in NT Server are generally comparable to those in NetWare 4.x. And while NT Server doesn't offer full SFT-III fault tolerance, it's possible to get comparable reliability from its built-in directory replication features. All of this--and NT Server is available at a fraction of NetWare's price!

Where NetWare has an advantage, of course, is in its infrastructure. NetWare is supported by a huge array of vendors, VARs and specialists who can (for a price) solve virtually any problem that may arise. Microsoft is working to build a similar range of capabilities for NT Server, but quite frankly isn't in the same league--yet. NetWare also has a practical advantage, for the moment, in terms of support for server-based applications like databases and backup. Much of this is implemented as NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs) that are run on a NetWare server. The NT equivalent to an NLM is called a service. There are advantages to NT's approach. As a protected-mode, multithreaded operating system, NT has no problem supporting multiple services. Novell recommends running each NLM on its own server to reduce the possibility of crashes.

At least three classes of network administrators should look at NT Server today.Those with Microsoft LAN Manager really have little choice, as NT Server is the replacement for their network operating system. Fortunately, NT Server is fully compatible with LAN Manager, and Microsoft has provided excellent tools for migrating from LAN Manager. (It's also worth noting that NT Server 3.5, unlike 3.1, provides quite reasonable dedicated file-and-printer sharing performance in a 16MB configuration. This is significant because 16MB was the maximum RAM supported in most LAN Manager servers.) Administrators running large WFWG networks can use NT Server as a natural "big brother'' in applications that need a true server to augment WFWG's peer networking. Finally, there's a large number of NetWare 3.x sites that have yet to upgrade to NetWare 4.x. NT Server 3.5 offers many of the same features as NetWare 4.x at a lower price. Microsoft is now actively courting those sites by providing NetWare migration tools (along with the NetWare Gateway Service) in the Windows NT Server 3.5 box.


OS/2-Ready When You Are

By: WAYNE RASH JR.

IBM's newly revamped 32-bit operating system now has more to offer Windows users.

If it hasn't happened to you yet, it's probably a matter of time. You've finally got your multimedia drivers loaded and running perfectly, and you're connected to the NetWare server down the hall. Everything looks good--until you discover that you need to add that new tape drive, and while you're at it, you want to use Windows for Workgroups to share files with a few coworkers. Suddenly, there's just not enough memory...no matter how much you have. You're hamstrung by those old DOS limits. To make everything work, you'll need a real 32-bit operating system.

Unfortunately, if you plan to stick with Windows, you're stuck--at least until Windows 95 arrives sometime next year. Can you afford to wait until then to solve the memory problems you have today?

If memory were the only problem, maybe you could hold out, but there's more. Windows can handle multitasking, but it's not a multithreaded operating system. It's really switching between tasks. This works fine for many applications, but for some--especially tasks with large background operations such as communications--data can be lost if Windows doesn't get back to a task soon enough, a buffer overflows or a server processes a time out.

The desire to end memory problems once and for all and to achieve true multitasking may prompt you to look beyond Windows. OS/2 is one possibility.

Is OS/2 for You?

OS/2 was designed to avoid some of the most serious limitations of DOS, specifically the risks to data integrity of the FAT-based file system and the 640KB barrier. From an operating system viewpoint, OS/2 isn't affected by requirements of DOS and Windows that certain device drivers, for example, live in the first 640KB of available memory. Instead, OS/2 can load network adapter drivers, multimedia interfaces, CD-ROM software or video drivers--or anything else needed--into memory as required.

Likewise, IBM designed OS/2 to get around another pesky limitation of MS-DOS, the eight-character name limit it inherited from CP/M. IBM's High Performance File System (HPFS) solves that problem, as well as other limits such as disk size.

While OS/2 will work very nicely with the same FAT file system used by DOS, HPFS has a number of benefits. It's significantly faster, it allows long filenames--up to 254 characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters and some special characters--and it supports disk drives as large as 256 gigabytes. On the other hand, HPFS requires more system memory. More importantly, HPFS partitions are not visible to MS-DOS, so if you need to boot from a floppy disk, HPFS could be an inconvenience.

Most users will probably stay with the DOS FAT file system. IBM's latest version, OS/2 Warp,  installs over your current version of Windows or Windows for Workgroups. However, it disables Windows for Workgroups' networking capabilities when installed.

You also get some features for your DOS and Windows software that aren't available on most Windows machines. The amount of conventional DOS memory available in each session can be as much as 743KB, which provides more room for all those device drivers. In addition, each DOS and Windows session runs separately. That means each has its own memory allocation, and each is protected from the other. A badly behaved Windows application in one session won't affect other sessions, for example.

For every user who has ever had a network connection refuse to function because of memory constraints within Windows, OS/2 is like finding the promised LAN. First, because OS/2 software is written for a 32-bit world, the memory constraints of DOS and Windows don't exist. Instead, the necessary device drivers can occupy whatever portion of memory they need to occupy. There's no portion of the software that has to reside in the conventional memory area, as there is with DOS and Windows.

The result, for users in enterprise networking environments, is that a workstation can support a number of LAN or enterprise networking protocols at any time. Need to have 3270 access to the IBM mainframe, TCP/IP connectivity and a NetWare session active at the same time as well? You can do it if you're running OS/2.

Trying It on for Size

You don't have to abandon DOS and Windows to try out OS/2. OS/2 offers a feature called dual boot that enables you to boot up in either DOS or OS/2. You can ease into the 32-bit world, sampling the changes as you need them, while keeping a foot in the world you're used to. Not only do you get the best of both worlds, you actually get both worlds.

As a Windows platform, OS/2 provides two options. The first is to use Windows directly. You can access the Program Manager from either the Windows Programs icon in the OS/2 desktop or from a Windows icon in the Command Prompts folder. In addition, you can move a Windows icon to your OS/2 desktop, allowing it to be launched directly or from within a folder, without first running Program Manager.

Compared to Windows, OS/2 folders are more like the folders on the Macintosh and on some Unix GUIs in that they're hierarchical. Folders can contain other folders, which allows you much greater flexibility in organizing your desktop. However, if you get too many layers of folders within folders, it can get tough to find things. Of course, the Windows that's in OS/2 is just like the Windows you're used to, so there's only one level of folder in Program Manager.

The Broken Promise of OS/2

For all its benefits, a move to OS/2 isn't without risks and problems. The OS/Workplace Shell is similar to Windows, but it's not identical, and it may take you a while to adjust to some of the differences. In addition, there are DOS applications that don't work with OS/2. Finally, OS/2 isn't exactly the most friendly environment when problems crop up.

Despite promises from IBM that OS/2 would be crash-proof, it isn't. Some program crashes can be contained within their session, but others require you to reboot. OS/2 contains a feature that takes you back to wherever you were when you rebooted, so you can find yourself forever being returned to whatever crashed. A graceful recovery from such a crash is difficult. Sometimes you have to force a clean boot, which then erases much of what you've installed on your desktop. Getting it back can require added effort.

If everything worked just right, IBM might never have created the dual-boot feature that lets you choose to boot OS/2 or DOS. While virtually any Windows program works fine under OS/2, a few DOS packages, primarily those using VCPI (such as early versions of AutoCAD) do have some trouble. The only solution for these packages is to boot DOS normally and run them.

The ability to work well with Windows programs means OS/2 can run vast collections of device drivers without difficulty, but unfortunately few such drivers exist. You can easily find yourself using standard VGA on your monitor under OS/2, for example, because no Super VGA drivers for your video card exist for OS/2. DOS and Windows programs run so well that there's little incentive for developers to create OS/2-specific versions of software, so an "applications gap'' has developed.

The Challenge of Moving

As is always the case in computing, the added capabilities of OS/2 don't come free. OS/2 requires more memory than Windows (although not as much as Windows NT), and it requires more disk space. However, neither the disk requirements nor the memory requirements are sufficiently great that they're likely to exceed the amount available for users already stretching the limits of Windows.

OS/2 will run in 4MB of RAM, although an 8MB system is necessary for reasonable performance. It requires about 30MB of disk space. OS/2 Warp, scheduled for release in the 4th quarter of 1994, is supposed to require less space. IBM says Warp will function reasonably well in 4MB of memory, as long as you don't try to run anything really ambitious. Picture Windows in 2MB and you'll get the idea.

There's another serious concern: your hardware environment. The range of peripherals supported within OS/2 isn't as great as that for Windows. This problem frequently shows up with CD-ROM drives and video cards, and it pays to check for support before switching. With CD-ROM drives, the best way to ensure support is to use a SCSI-based drive. OS/2 includes native support for most SCSI controllers, including the CD-ROM drives attached to them. When Warp ships, the range of supported hardware will be much greater, although it will still lag behind Windows. In nearly every case, you can move your existing applications over to OS/2 and the programs and data won't notice the difference.

Determining support for video cards and other items such as tape drives and sound cards may require a call to the vendor's support staff. In any case, these products should continue to work within the OS/2 Windows support, so if most of what you plan to use involves Windows, you probably don't have any reason to worry.

Networking support is easier to manage for most users. OS/2 solidly supports Novell NetWare, TCP/IP and NetBEUI (for Advanced Server and LAN Server). Most popular network interface cards are supported. IBM says that the new version will include the NetWare, NetBEUI and TCP/IP clients, and that the TCP/IP client will even include a collection of Internet utilities.

Making the Choice

Whether OS/2 makes sense as an alternative to Windows depends on what you need to do. If you're a power user with significant connectivity requirements and a need to support other complex operations, such as multimedia, CD-ROMs, mainframe links and esoterica such as voice recognition or imaging, OS/2 might be the best, if not the only, answer. It's available now, doesn't cost much--IBM is currently saying that OS/2 Warp will cost less than $100 when it's released--and is relatively undemanding in terms of system requirements. As a result, you'll run a comparatively low risk if you decide to try it out.

If you're finding your work interrupted by your system's refusal to  perform certain functions--like attaching to several network protocols at the same time--or if you need to run multiple sessions quickly and easily, OS/2 is worth trying.

If OS/2 makes sense, you have the knowledge that this operating system is stable and well-supported by its manufacturer. More importantly, vendors are beginning to take another look at OS/2 as Microsoft continues to delay Windows 95. OS/2, after all, is available now, and it offers most of what Microsoft claims will be in Windows 95, and a number of features beyond that. For many users, OS/2 makes a great deal of sense indeed.

Freelance writer Wayne Rash Jr. is a Washington-based contributing editor for Communications Week, another CMP publication. Contact him care of editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Macintosh System 7.5:Tops In Some Niches

By: ROBERT LAURISTON

If you use your PC for serious desktop publishing, graphics or multimedia production, the Apple Macintosh is worth considering.

Before getting down to these specific cases, let's take a quick overall look at how a Mac running System 7.5 stacks up against a PC running Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I've kept a Mac next to my PC for years--currently I've got a Quadra 840av--and regularly write about Mac software for other magazines, so I'm familiar with the two platforms' relative strengths and weaknesses.

For most people, the main attraction of the Mac is ease of use. The menus, dialog boxes and keyboard shortcuts are considerably more consistent from one app to another than they are in Windows. The long filenames, integrated program and file management, desktop icons and shortcuts promised for Windows 95 are old news to Mac users.

So is Plug and Play: Installing a board in a Mac seldom demands more than plugging it into a slot, dragging its driver icon into the System Folder, and rebooting. Even better, since Macs have built-in sound, SCSI and now Ethernet, you're not very likely to need to install a board. Built-in sound and standard video drivers mean that getting multimedia CD-ROMs to work is seldom a hassle. While installing regular apps is no easier than under Windows, removing one is much easier. Every file has a "creator'' attribute that lets you know what application it belongs to. Drag the unwanted application's folder to the trash can, use Find File to track down and trash any other files it created, and chances are good you've completely undone the install. In other words, the Mac solves Windows' problem of accumulating useless files in system directories.

The Mac has a lot of other ease-of-use advantages, but if you've already mastered the complexities of PCs and Windows, they may not be as compelling as they would be to a novice. Unless you can come up with some other reason to switch, it's easier and cheaper to stick with the devil you know. Whether there are other reasons depends entirely on what kind of work you do and what apps you use to do it.

Mainstream Apps: More Alike Than Not

Just a few years ago, Macs and PCs were about as different as two computers could be. Since the introduction of Windows 3.0, the gap has gotten ever narrower. Platform-specific apps have migrated in both directions: Windows has given PCs a more Mac-like interface, and Apple has migrated more of the Mac's hardware toward PC standards.

Today, at least for standard business tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail and telecommunications, Macs and PCs are far more alike than they are different. Most cross-platform apps, notably those from Microsoft and Apple (its applications division uses the Claris brand name) have nearly identical interfaces and a common file format, and many even share a single manual. Both platforms let you use drag-and-drop for most common operations. Both include WYSIWYG display of TrueType fonts, and both depend on Adobe Type Manager for PostScript WYSIWYG. Most current Windows apps now use the system's common dialog boxes and Mac-style keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+C for copy, and so on). Windows for Workgroups one-upped the Mac's built-in networking by adding a group scheduler, and System 7.5 has gotten the jump on Windows 95 with an Info Center-style common inbox for multiple mail sources.

If you're looking for alternatives to Windows because you want better multitasking or fewer crashes, the Mac is not the perfect solution. System 7.5's cooperative multitasking is similar to Windows 3.1's, but its weaker memory protection means that an application crash or hang usually brings down the whole system, forcing you to reboot. Cooperative multitasking also means that, just as in Windows, some of the tasks you'd most like to run in the background (such as formatting a disk) hog the foreground, and tasks running in the background sometimes affect foreground performance (for instance, jerky, sluggish response when background-printing a complex document). Multitasking is further complicated by the Mac's relatively weak memory management. You have to specify how much memory the system should provide each application, and memory can get fragmented as you close and open apps, eventually forcing you to reboot. System 7 has virtual memory, but quite a few Mac apps won't run when it's turned on.

The most significant differences between the two platforms when running mainstream business apps involve exchanging and sharing data between programs. Under Windows there are often contending standards for various kinds of data. Text files may use standard ASCII, extended ASCII, or ANSI character sets; bitmaps may be .BMP, .DIM, .PCX, TIFF, or any one of a dozen other formats. On the Mac, there's a well-established standard format for each data type. Text files use the standard Mac character set, bitmaps use TIFF, and so on. The practical effect of this standardization is that on the Mac you can cut and paste more kinds of data between more programs with fewer problems. You can retain formatting when copying text, copy complex drawings without losing the ability to edit the separate objects of which they're composed, and copy bitmaps without the colors going awry due to palette differences.

On the other hand, in moving to the Mac you'd give up most of Windows' tricks for sharing data between apps. OpenDoc, Apple's answer to OLE 2.0, is still in the developer's-kit stage. Microsoft's latest Mac apps use OLE 2.0, but so far only among themselves. Currently, the only alternative for other Mac apps is Publish and Subscribe, a relatively crude process in which you "publish'' a file or selection in the first app (this creates an "edition'' file on disk), then "subscribe'' to the edition in the second app (which creates a link to the edition file). The link is only updated when you save the original, and since you end up with three copies of the linked data (the original, the edition, and the copy embedded in the second app's document) it takes twice the disk space it would using OLE.

Let's look at specific applications and explore the possibilities more closely.

Publishing: Mac Rules

Obviously it's not impossible or even difficult to do desktop publishing (DTP) in Windows (I know many of you do it every day), but it's a simple fact that the Mac is the standard computer in the publishing industry.

That's largely because the Mac has better apps. HSC's Live Picture, which is the state of the art for photo editing and compositing, is available only for the Mac, and the dominant professional drawing program, Adobe Illustrator, is at version 5.5 on the Mac, but still back at 4.0 under Windows. Windows is gradually narrowing the gap--QuarkXPress 3.3, Photoshop 3.0, FreeHand 4.0, and Fractal Design Painter 3.0 all have binary-compatible Windows twins--but it still can't duplicate the Mac's DTP toolbox, since there are no Windows counterparts for many of the utilities and add-ons graphics pros depend on. As discussed above, the Mac's clipboard is also better at moving data between these programs.

The Mac's video architecture gives it some advantages that will be hard for Microsoft to match. It's easy to add multiple monitors to a Mac--you just plug in another video board and hook up another monitor. (Some models support two monitors right out of the box.) It's common for users to have a gray-scale portrait or 20- or 21-inch monitor for looking at whole pages, and a 14- to 16-inch color monitor for zooming in on details. Moreover, 24-bit color support and color matching are built into the operating system; they're not dependent on the vagaries of video drivers and applications.

It's too early to judge how much of a graphics performance advantage, if any, the PowerPC may give the Mac. So far, the results of tests comparing PowerMacs and similarly configured Pentium PCs have been mixed, with the PCs generally doing well on standard business apps but the Macs burning virtual rubber on complex graphic tasks. The real test will come when we can pit native PowerMac apps against Win32 counterparts running on NT 3.5.

Multimedia: Better Toolkit

Apple got its users into multimedia long before Microsoft did, and the Mac is probably a couple of years ahead. Windows versions of key apps like Macromedia Director 4.0 and Adobe Premiere 4.0 have been released only in the last few months, and Mac users have a choice of mature tools in categories like video special effects, in which Windows choices are few and unproven. The bottom line is the same as in publishing: The PC can't duplicate the Mac's toolkit, and Windows multimedia apps don't work together as smoothly as their Mac counterparts.

Given the wide variety of work gathered under the nebulous multimedia umbrella, it's tough to translate those facts into precise guidelines for determining exactly when Windows is and isn't appropriate. As a general rule, if you can find a single Windows program that fills the bill and you need to run the end product only on Windows, you'll be fine. If the features you need are spread out over half a dozen apps, it's a safe bet you'll be happier and more efficient using a Mac. If you want to run your creations on both platforms, you'll want to work on the Mac, but you'll still need your PC for porting and checking the final product.

Music: Cool Software, What Hardware?

The third niche in which Apple reigns supreme is music. The Mac had little trouble establishing itself as the musician's choice in the early days of MIDI software, when the PC alternatives were arcane character-mode DOS apps. Since most recording studios had Macs, that was the platform on which Digidesign based its Pro Tools hard disk recording system. With Pro Tools currently a recording industry standard, the Mac's dominance is for the moment assured.

The latest generation of Mac music apps combine MIDI sequencing (for controlling samplers, synthesizers, mixers and tape decks) with CD-quality virtual multitrack recording, providing a completely integrated, automated environment. The Mac also offers a number of unique digital-audio utilities, like Disk to Disk, which converts audio CDs into digital audio files; Turbo Synth, which (to simplify a bit) emulates a sophisticated synthesizer in software; and DATa, which lets you back up your hard disk to an audio DAT deck. With the right peripherals (a few gigabytes of fast hard disk, a pro DAT deck, some microphones and so on) you can handle every phase of producing an audio CD, film soundtrack or radio show right on your Mac desktop.

Unfortunately, this is a tough time for musicians to shop for Macs. The desirable three-slot 68040-based Quadras have all been discontinued, and various incompatibilities and timing glitches with the current PowerMacs cause problems for music apps. Until the PowerMac's problems are resolved, which probably won't be before mid-1995, the best bet is a used Quadra 650, 660av, 800, 840av or 950. If you're not aiming for professional-quality results or don't plan to combine MIDI and direct-to-disk recording, you might be wise to stick with Windows. There are several good MIDI sequencers, and at least one high-quality eight-track recorder (Digidesign's Session 8), with more on the way.

Hardware Matters

For DTP or multimedia use, go for a PowerMac. By the time you read this, all the important apps should be out in native PowerPC versions, so you'll get a lot more performance for your money.

The appeal of the entry-level 60MHz 6100 is blunted by its anemic configuration. It has only one NuBus slot (which can't take full-length boards) and the built-in video won't do 24-bit color or go beyond 832x624 resolution. You can add a better video board, but that leaves you with no free slots at all--though for desktop publishing that might not matter.

The midrange 66MHz 7100 and high-end 8100 are more flexible. Both have three full-length NuBus slots and two monitor jacks (the second uses system RAM). The 7100 comes with 1MB or 2MB of VRAM. The 8100 has 2MB or 4MB, allowing resolutions and color depth similar to Super VGA boards with the same memory configurations. The 8100 has a lot more drive options. It can hold up to five drives, three externally accessible, and has a second internal bus to support Fast SCSI. The 6100 and 7100 have one extra bay (unless you order the optional CD-ROM drive, which fills it) and no Fast SCSI.

The base configuration of all three has only 8MB of RAM, which isn't really enough. A more practical minimum is 16MB. Only the 8100's base configuration includes a secondary (L2) cache. Running without one means a big performance hit, so a cache is a must-have option for the 6100 and 7100.

How much you'll have to spend to get one of these babies depends on how many components and peripherals you can move over from your PC. As we go to press, prices for base configurations (including hard disk and mouse but not keyboard, monitor or CD-ROM drive) are around $1,700, $2,800 and $3,900. Mac keyboards are more expensive than their PC counterparts at  $80 to $150 on the street. Apple's cache card costs around $275, but you can get clones for less.

The first Mac clones are expected sometime next year, but I'm holding off upgrading to a PowerMac until I can get a mini-tower (better yet, a full tower) with at least three PCI slots for about the same price as an identically configured Pentium of similar clock speed.

Software: You Can't Take It with You

The good news, which you may have heard from Apple, is that Macs can run DOS and Windows apps. The bad news is that you won't care, because Macs can't run all DOS and Windows apps, and those they can handle run really slowly.

To run Windows on a PowerMac, you need a copy of Insignia's SoftWindows (bundled with some PowerMacs, around $300 separately, 16MB of RAM required). Its performance is roughly equivalent to a 486 with 8MB of RAM running at 10MHz to 20MHz. Currently, it can't run anything that requires a 386 or 386 Enhanced mode (Insignia's working on a 486-compatible update that will support such applications), and there's no sound or other multimedia support (so most games won't work). While this is a great utility for a Mac user who needs to run an occasional DOS or Windows app, it's hardly the sort of thing that justifies spending $3,000 or more on a new computer.

In other words, to get the most out of your new Mac, you're going to need all new software. If Mac versions of your apps are available, check with your vendors to see if you can transfer your license. If you're switching to different apps, see if you can use your Windows apps to qualify for a Mac competitive upgrade. Note that Mac programs are on average about 30 percent more expensive than their Windows counterparts.

There are a couple of ways you can transfer your data from your PC to your new Mac. Diskettes are painless in System 7.5. Insert a DOS disk, its icon appears on the desktop, and you can drag its files onto the Mac's hard disk. (If the Mac thinks the disk is blank, make sure PC Exchange is in the Control Panel and is switched on.) If you've got too many files or they're too big to fit on diskettes, you can use DataViz's MacLink Plus PC Connect, a serial port file-transfer utility (list price $199, 203-268-0300) with special cable included.

Once you've got the files across, you can use PC Exchange to map their DOS extensions to the apps that you want to open them in. Or you can just double-click on a file and pick the app you want to open it in from a menu. (If you don't get the menu, make sure Macintosh Easy Open is in the Control Panel and "automatic translation'' is turned on.) If your apps' built-in translators don't do a good enough job, find the MacLink Plus Installer file on the System 7.5 installation diskettes and run it to add some more.

The rockiest part of converting from PC to Mac is dealing with files from apps that can't be read by any Mac application or translator. Such apps include Paradox, Microsoft Access and many PIMs.

Worth the Trouble?

Much as I like my Mac, I can't really recommend that you go to all the trouble and expense of switching over once you've invested a lot of time and money in Windows.

However, there are some really compelling reasons to use a Mac in the DTP, multimedia and music niches where Apple rules. Windows may well catch up--maybe in two years, in my opinion--but if you've got that kind of work to do in the meantime, I'd suggest you check out the competition.

Robert Lauriston is a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine and coauthor of The PC Bible,  from Peachpit Press. Contact him care of editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Windows 95: Inside The New Windows

By: MARTIN HELLER

At first glance, Windows 95 may look much like its predecessor, but it differs significantly beneath the surface

Most Windows users are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Windows 95, or Chicago, as we've been calling it until very recently. Exactly what will we see when it finally hits the market, reportedly around March?

Windows 95 differs from its predecessors in numerous ways. On the surface, its new 3-D interface is the most obvious change from Windows 3.x, but there are more significant differences below the surface.

This next-generation Windows is mostly, but not entirely, a 32-bit system. There are 16-bit components that are included primarily for compatibility with Windows 3.x. The newer 32-bit components provide greater functionality and better performance, since 32-bit code can take better advantage of 80386 and later Intel processors than can 16-bit code.

Windows 95 does not need a separate DOS. What we think of as DOS services (file storage and so on) are integrated into it. Consequently, a Windows 95 system runs in protected mode more of the time than a Windows 3.x system. When properly set up, it can run entirely in protected mode. This is important for two reasons: speed and safety. Switching a processor to real mode and back to protected mode uses a significant number of CPU cycles. With Windows 95, your system no longer needs to switch modes every time you want to read or write a disk sector, which speeds disk access. In addition, the processor can trap program errors as they happen, with almost no overhead in protected mode. That keeps program bugs from making the whole system crash.

In addition, Windows 95 offers compatibility with existing Windows and DOS programs through its Win16 system, greatly improved DOS boxes and a new "single MS-DOS application'' mode. This last feature allows ill-behaved DOS programs, such as arcade games, to run by themselves with access to 100 percent of the system's resources without requiring you to boot a separate version of DOS.

Windows 95 also offers compatibility with existing Windows and DOS device drivers, although many such drivers should be unneccessary. For instance, you can run your existing real-mode network stacks--but you'll get better performance and use less memory if you let Windows 95 supply its own network stacks. And why run MSCDEX when Windows 95 supports CD-ROM drives with a fast 32-bit CD-ROM file system driver? In fact, many Windows 95 systems, even systems with network and multimedia components, will not need to have AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files at all.

Designed for desktop and mobile users, Windows 95 works standalone and networked. Support for Windows for Workgroups, Novell and UNIX-style networks is built in, but not required. The UNIX-style support even extends to the components you need to connect to the Internet.

On a network, Windows 95 systems will mostly be clients, with limited peer sharing of printers and disk directories. This new version of Windows can be used as a server, up to a point--but Windows NT is preferable in that role, for a number of reasons. NT has better security than Windows 95 and better performance as a disk server. NT has support for network services useful to applications like client/server database engines, support which Windows 95 lacks. On the other hand, Windows 95 is likely to perform better than NT as a desktop system, especially when running older 16-bit Windows applications. See Windows NT: Microsoft's 'Other' 32-Bit Operating System )

What will Windows 95 do for you compared with your existing Windows? It will be easier to learn and use, it will give you better performance, and it will have more capacity. It will crash less. It will integrate applications better, and connect to the world better. Of course, all this comes at a price--which we'll discuss in a moment.

Easier to Learn and Use

What you see on the Windows 95 screen is its striking new shell. This shell sports a new user interface as well, which carries through into applications written for Windows 95. Although user interfaces are never perfect, this one at least has the advantage of a considerable amount of design, testing and refinement. You'll find it takes some getting used to if you already know how to work with Windows 3.x, but new users will take to it with less training and in a shorter time.

Windows 95 supports a combined hardware/software system called Plug and Play. If you have a Windows 95 system with a Plug-and-Play BIOS and Plug-and-Play peripherals, you won't have to set any jumpers or switches when you install new hardware. Nor will you have to configure IRQs, memory addresses or DMA channels in software. Instead, the system and the cards negotiate all these things at power-on time. The result: The computer becomes more of an appliance and requires less black art on your part.

The new Windows also helps you out by displaying long filenames and hiding file extensions. After years of working with DOS and Windows, most of us can guess that SALE0894.DOC is probably a Microsoft Word report on the sales figures for August 1994. But filenames aren't always so easily deciphered, and some naming conventions defy logic. That's not the only problem with DOS-based filenames: Figuring out the file format is often a guessing game as well. Our sample filename might be from any version of Word or could even be an ASCII file. Windows 95 eliminates the uncertainty. Isn't it easier to recognize "Acme Fireworks Sales Breakdown, August 1994'' of type "Microsoft Word 6.0 Document''?

Better Performance, More Capacity

I've rarely heard anyone complain that a computer was too fast. In the few cases it has happened, the culprits have been arcade games designed for much slower systems.

What does Windows 95 do to make programs run faster? First of all, Windows 95's native 32-bit Windows application programming interface (Win32) enables applications to be more responsive, have larger document capacities, and handle CPU-intensive tasks more quickly. Don't think, though, that your old applications will automatically become faster on Windows 95. That isn't the way it works. Application vendors have to rewrite their programs to take advantage of Win32 capabilities before you'll see any significant benefit--and they will undoubtedly ask you to pay for the upgraded versions.

The cost and time to upgrade applications will be two of the drawbacks involved in moving to Windows 95. But you don't have to upgrade your apps if you move to Windows 95. You can continue using your existing Win16 applications if you don't think you'll benefit from the Win32 versions.

One benefit of Windows 95 you can enjoy even if you don't upgrade applications is faster file access. Windows 95 doesn't need to use DOS or drop into real mode to access disks. The result is significantly better performance in databases and other disk-intensive programs, and shorter times for tasks like loading and saving documents. If you run Windows for Workgroups 3.11, you already know what I'm talking about, since its 32-bit disk and file access are basically early releases of Windows 95 technology. Windows 95 takes the 32-bit disk caching of WFWG a little further, though--you don't have to explicitly turn on 32-bit file access or set the cache size yourself. (See Is Your System Up to Snuff?)

Much has been made of Windows 3.x's lack of preemptive multitasking. Actually, Windows 3.x has preemptive multitasking, but only among DOS boxes--Windows tasks had to cooperate to share the machine. Preemptive multitasking means that one Windows application can get control of the CPU without the knowledge of another Windows app. Cooperative multitasking means that an application can assume it has full control until it yields to other apps.

For most purposes, cooperative multitasking is actually just fine. But if you want to do several things simultaneously--like running several applications, downloading files with a high-speed modem and using network services--you'll find that preemptive multitasking, as implemented in Windows NT, OS/2 and Windows 95, offers you smoother operation and better data rates.

Actually, operations are scheduled in these systems on a thread-by-thread basis, not on a task-by-task basis. What's the difference? Well, a thread of execution is "lighter'' than a task. A thread owns a stack and register set, while a task owns a whole address space, along with its threads. A task (or program, if you like) can generate many threads, each thread handling a specific task in a specific context. For instance, a word processor could have one thread handling keystrokes and mouse movements, another handling screen updates, a third handling document formatting and a fourth handling printing. A database engine could have one thread per client connection handling communications, and one thread per active query handling file access.

Remember what we said before about vendors' needing to rewrite applications to take full advantage of Windows 95? Well, one of the most important things they need to do is to restructure their programs to use threads. Using threads won't make programs faster per se; it will simply make them more responsive. A threaded word processor will let you type at full speed even if it is reformatting and printing. A threaded database will let one query start before another has finished.

Preemptive multitasking makes running several applications smoother and makes the system more responsive. Threads let an application multitask within itself and make the application more responsive. But in Windows 3.x, you often face still another problem. When you try to run several programs you may run out of system resources.

System resources actually refer to three memory heaps, one used by Windows' graphics system, GDI (Graphics Device Interface), and one used by Windows' windowing system, USER. In Windows 3.1x, these system heaps were limited to 64KB of RAM because of the size of 16-bit segments. In Windows NT, these heaps have no practical limit since they exist in 32-bit memory, which has a theoretical maximum size of 4 gigabytes. In Windows 95, the 64KB limits still exist for some kinds of objects for compatibility reasons, but all the big objects have been moved into 32-bit memory space. Thus you can run many more applications simultaneously in Windows 95 and do more with them than you could in Windows 3.x.

Improved Stability

When Windows NT was being introduced, one of Microsoft's favorite demonstrations was to run an ill-behaved application (BadApp) on Windows 3.x, OS/2 and Windows NT. On Windows 3.x and OS/2, this application, which was basically just spinning its wheels, would hang the whole system. You'd see an hourglass cursor everywhere. On Windows NT, you'd see the hourglass cursor only when your mouse was over BadApp. The rest of the system was unaffected, and you could easily kill the offending task.

What BadApp was doing was stopping the message queue. Windows and its brethren operate by sending messages to application and system tasks, telling windows they need to paint themselves, telling applications they've received a mouse click, and so on. In Windows 3.x and OS/2, all messages go through a single synchronized system message queue, so any application that does not return control from a message can hang the whole system. In Windows NT and Windows 95, each Win32 application has its own message queue, which is not synchronized with any other application's message queue. While this can make developers' lives more difficult, it also keeps an uncooperative task from killing the whole system.

In addition to supporting multiple message queues, Windows 95 does more checking of system calls and cleans up more carefully after a program ends than Windows 3.x. Some of this checking is available only to developers (to help them fix program errors before shipping the programs to you), but some of it will be built into the retail version of Windows 95. You might notice that some old applications suddenly start causing errors on Windows 95. This shows the system is now protecting itself from buggy programs more aggressively. The errors were always there, but were not detected by Windows 3.x.

Another improvement in Windows 95 is the increased isolation of each program. Each Win32 program runs in its own address space, just as in Windows NT. This means Win32 applications cannot inadvertently overwrite each other's data. DOS programs can be similarly isolated. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for 16-bit Windows programs, which all share a single address space.

Some of the most egregious problems in Windows 3.x have come from buggy video drivers produced by board vendors. Frankly, writing device drivers for Windows has been too difficult for most programmers. To compensate for this, Microsoft has changed the video driver model for Windows 95. All the hard work is done in a common DIB driver engine.

Better Integration and Connectivity

Windows 95 build's 32-bit object linking and embedding (OLE) into the system. The performance should be much more acceptable, and programs should no longer bomb when you try to use OLE.

OLE has to work in Windows 95, because the Windows 95 shell depends heavily on OLE. For example, applications and the shell can drag and drop things to each other using OLE. For another example, take quick viewers. Windows 95 comes with a number of file-viewing .DLLs. Each file viewer is actually an OLE component object implemented inside an OLE in-process server .DLL. If that confuses you, never mind: Essentially, it means that Windows 95's file viewing is implemented using OLE. Applications can add quick viewers for their own file formats to the system, using the same OLE mechanisms used by the system. The advantage is that the OLE interface is open and public, and therefore extensible.

As long as your network card is supported by Windows 95, you can expect to have great support on any kind of network right out of the box. The best part is that networking with Windows 95 is easy. Most things you need to do are point-and-click operations using the Windows 95 shell.

Windows 95's connectivity improvements also extend beyond the LAN to dial-up access. Support for multiple network protocols on remote access helps a great deal; so do Windows 95's new modem control extensions.

Connectivity means more than wires. It also means languages. Windows always came in many national language versions, and Windows 95 continues and expands this tradition. It allows multiple language fonts, character sets and keyboard layouts to be supported on one machine. It also allows the user to switch among them with a single keystroke, making multilingual documents easy to create and maintain.

What Are the Drawbacks?

Still, nothing is perfect. For instance, despite the internationalization improvements we just discussed, Windows 95 doesn't really support Unicode, the unified international character set. Windows NT does support Unicode. Perhaps a future version of Windows 95 will as well.

Nor is Windows 95 as secure as Windows NT. You have to make some trade-offs: NT sacrifices some performance in order to be an inherently secure system, while Windows 95 gives up some security in order to be as fast as Windows 3.x and compatible with almost all Windows 3.x apps.

Compatibility can never be perfect, either. Some Windows and DOS utility applications assumed they could write absolute disk sectors, which is not something you can do safely in a multitasking environment. And there are programs that did other system-dependent things. You have to draw the line somewhere. Some programs will have to be rewritten to run on Windows 95, and some will fade away. (See Upgrading Your Apps)

The very same compatibility goals in Windows 95 keep it from reaching its full potential. Windows 95 still has limits from 16-bit components retained for backward compatibility with 16-bit applications. You won't, for instance, find Windows 95 useful for phototypesetting, which requires 32-bit graphical coordinates to describe full high-resolution pages. But most such areas are out of the mainstream of desktop computing.

What Should You Do?

It's clear that Windows 95 will be a major and worthwhile upgrade from Windows 3.x for most users. But you should upgrade with your eyes open to the costs as well as the benefits. You will have to spend some time learning Windows 95's new and improved user interface. You'll certainly want to upgrade your applications over the next year to 32-bit versions that support OLE and can interact directly with Windows 95's shell. Those are not insignificant costs--but they should be offset by Windows 95's not insignificant benefits.

Martin Heller is a consultant and the Programming Windows columnist for WINDOWS Magazine. Contact him care of editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Is Your System Up To Snuff

By: FRED LANGA, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Facing a move to a major new operating system is always cause for mixed emotions. On the positive side, it's a chance to learn new tools and techniques that can help you work better, faster and smarter. It's a chance to shed old system limitations and personal habits that used to slow you down. It's a great opportunity to reorganize your entire computer working style and clean up your system's files and operations. It's even a way to advance your career by keeping yourself, your department and your company competitive. And--come on, admit it--exploring a new OS is just plain fun.

But then you get that first throbbing pain in the wallet: Oh, no! My hardware! Am I going to have to upgrade? How much? How soon?

Fortunately, Windows 95 is pretty forgiving of hardware. If your current system runs 16-bit Windows 3.x, chances are it will run 32-bit Windows 95 about the same way and at about the same speed. Microsoft has placed great emphasis on backward compatibility, so most people won't have to upgrade their hardware.

This backward compatibility is fine and will get you started with Windows 95. But to get the most out of Windows 95 and to let it work as it was designed to, you need to move your entire system into the 32-bit world. If parts of your system are stuck in the DOS-based 16-bit past, then you're stuck in the past right along with it.

There are several items that can help you determine whether your system will be able to make the most of Windows 95. A key example: Windows 95's full 32-bit disk-access subsystem. Let's take a close look.

If your PC can run today's Windows for Workgroups 3.11, including its 32-bit disk and file access, you're probably in good shape for Windows 95. Be aware that Windows for Workgroups 3.11 is different from Windows 3.11, and that WFWG's disk and file access is different from standard Windows 32-bit disk access (FastDisk). Yes, it can be confusing, but the distinctions are critical.

You see, WFWG 3.11's disk and file access system (let's abbreviate this as 32bdfa from now on) is actually early 32-bit code borrowed when Windows 95 was still in prototype and called Chicago. What's more, WFWG 3.11 also comes with an intelligent 32-bit cache that leaves DOS-based caches (including SMARTDrive) in the dust. These improvements combine to speed your hard disk reads and writes tremendously. In my case, a system that formerly offered a peak disk performance of around 2 megabytes per second (MBps) now can pump data at over 8MBps. That's really moving.

The catch is that 32bdfa needs to talk directly to your hard disk controller. Microsoft decided to use a set of widely emulated Western Digital hard disk controller commands and addressing for WFWG's disk system. That made some sense: Western Digital is to hard disk controllers what Centronics is to parallel ports, or Hayes is to modems. Just as even non-Hayes modems recognize many of the Hayes-originated AT modem commands, many brands of hard disk controllers accept basic WD-standard commands. The upshot: Most systems work just fine with WFWG's 32bdfa.

Most, but not all. Most SCSI systems won't work with it, for instance. Nor will some advanced caching controllers, along with some no-name or otherwise nonstandard units. Some laptops and power-conserving units also can give 32bdfa access the fits, because letting a hard disk enter "sleep mode'' can cause information loss.

Eventually, there'll be 32bdfa drivers available for SCSI and just about all other common hard disk types, but "eventually'' is vague. If you want to be sure your system will be able to use Windows 95's hard disk subsystem to maximum potential from day one, then make sure it can make use of WFWG 3.11's 32bdfa today. Otherwise, you may be wasting some of the most important performance benefits of Windows 95's 32-bit technology.

Card and Driver

There are similar issues with all the other subsystems and peripherals in your PC: So to make the most of Windows 95, you'll eventually need new 32-bit software drivers for all your peripherals and components.

The good news is that the driver update woes we all went through with Windows 3.0 should not recur with Windows 95. For one thing, your current 16-bit Windows drivers should work just fine in the interim, so you can use Windows 95 right away. For another, Microsoft has absorbed some of the grunt work in writing driver software and placed core driver functions right in the operating system. This means that hardware vendors need only write smaller, simpler 32-bit "minidrivers'' to let their hardware work with Windows 95.

But even if these new drivers are simpler and easier to write, someone still has to write them. If you bought a generic system at the local PC-O-Rama, you may be out of luck getting driver upgrades for Windows 95. On the other hand, if you have a system from a major vendor, or at least a system built from name-brand components and subsystems, chances are good that you'll be able to get new, Windows 95-specific drivers in short order after the new operating system ships.

Where drivers aren't an issue (say, with RAM), there still can be differences between simply being able to run Windows 95 and being able to run it optimally. For example, Microsoft says Windows 95 (like current Windows 3.x) will run in as little as 4MB of RAM. The company also says that Windows 95's performance will be approximately the same as that of Windows 3.x on any given system. Let's face it: You can run Windows 3.x in 4MB of RAM, but no serious user wants to.

Here at WINDOWS Magazine, we consider 6MB of RAM an absolute, rock-bottom, life-support minimum for a current Windows 3.x system. We expect that to stay the same with Windows 95. We also expect our current RAM recommendations for systems in general business use and heavy-duty use to stay the same with Windows 95: 8MB or 12MB of RAM for the former, and at least 16MB for any system in heavy use. This does not mean that Windows 95 is a pig: NT, OS/2 or any modern 32-bit operating system won't be at its best until you get into the mid-teens or higher with RAM. No operating system is a magic bullet: If your PC is RAM-starved and slow today, it'll be RAM-starved and slow tomorrow. Don't expect Windows 95 to cure your current system's fundamental ills, such as a RAM shortfall.

Windows 95 probably will require about 30MB of available disk space to be comfortable, and less if it's being installed over an existing version of Windows (because some of the space can be recycled from one version to the next). The WINDOWS Magazine labs regard a 200MB hard disk as a decent base size for any Windows system, with 400MB preferred, and anything over half a gigabyte as optimal. As with RAM, a modest extra investment here can pay off in long-term satisfaction with your PC and with Windows.

An Option for Masochists

As for CPUs, Windows 95 will run on a 386DX-based machine, but only masochists would enjoy the experience. A 486/25 is a more realistic rock-bottom minimum. With prices dropping so fast on what used to be high-end systems, a 486/66 is a good middle-of-the-road standard for new business system purchases today, with 90MHz Pentiums a good choice for power users.

Whatever the system, make sure it has at least a 128KB (256KB preferred) secondary RAM cache on the motherboard. (This is sometimes called a Level Two or L2 cache.) L2 caches were once exotic options, but with preemptive, multithreaded, 32-bit systems (such as Windows 95, NT and OS/2), a secondary cache gives the CPU a little more breathing room and can make a huge difference in how your system will multitask applications in the real world. (Some older machines that were sold without an L2 cache can be upgraded; call your vendor.)

Windows 95 will make good use of at least a double-speed CD-ROM drive, a decent sound card and speakers, and the fastest modem you can find. These aren't frills: More and more business software now comes on CD and includes multimedia features and capabilities. Faster modems let you exploit Windows 95's built-in on-line connectivity, possibly including automatic enrollment in a new CompuServe-like on-line service that Microsoft is said to be building.

Because Windows 95 makes multitasking easier than Windows 3.x does, you may find yourself running more applications on-screen, so you'll find good use for a little extra vitreous elbow room. The old standard 14-inch Super VGA monitor is okay, but only just; a 15-inch or larger screen is a more reasonable starting point now, with 17-inch preferred.

Pass on any monitor with a dot pitch greater than 0.28 millimeters; your text and images will never look crisp, no matter what video card you use. A dot pitch of 0.28 is fine for all but high-precision graphics work, which can benefit from a finer 0.26 dot pitch.

To drive your monitor, look for a speedy VESA local-bus or PCI-based video accelerator with at least 2MB of on-board video RAM to support flicker-free, fast screen redraws and smooth color at higher resolutions.

And in all cases, look for name-brand peripheral components to help minimize or avoid driver-update headaches next year.

The Bolivian Way

Depending on what hardware you now have and how happy you are with it, the cost of upgrading your hardware to Windows 95 may range anywhere from negligible to something resembling the Bolivian national debt. The important thing to realize is that, if your system runs Windows 3.x now, it probably will run Windows 95 at least as well, so you probably don't have to upgrade anything.

But if you're like me, you'll want to upgrade in order to take fuller advantage of the new capabilities that Windows 95 will offer.

Bolivia, here I come


Upgrading Your Apps

By: ROBERT LAURISTON

How backward compatible will Windows 95 be with DOS and 16-bit Windows applications? That's a major consideration for most prospective upgraders. It's impossible to draw any general conclusions until the operating system actually ships, but my experience in using an early beta has been quite good so far. Although this is months away from a shipping version-- which could change considerably--it still gives some early indication of what we can expect from the final product.

After upgrading my Windows 3.1 installation using the Windows 95 Beta 1 CD-ROM, I was still able to run all my regular productivity apps, including everything from old DOS stuff like Procomm 1.1B and WordPerfect 5.1 to the latest versions of Word, Excel and Photoshop. The Windows 95 beta even handled my SatisFAXion 400 and its fax software, perennial sticking points for OS/2 and NT. The one thing I couldn't get working was my backup software (more on that later).

However, some apps actually work better under Windows 95. I was able to open all of CorelDRAW 5.0's floating tool palettes under Windows 95. Under Windows 3.1, opening only half of them eats up system resources (producing a deceptive out-of-memory error message). In-place OLE 2.0 editing works faster and much more smoothly under Windows 95. As a torture test, I tried running the popular shoot-'em-up DOS game DOOM, which hangs under Windows 3.1 or NT. After a little fiddling around with the Video tab of the program's Properties dialog box (Windows 95's replacement for PIFs), I managed to get it running fine, too.

Windows 95's new Single DOS Application Mode should in theory make it more compatible with DOS apps than Windows 3.1 is. When you start a DOS app set to run in SDAM, Windows 95 will display a prompt warning that it will close all your other apps. If you choose to proceed, Windows 95 will close all apps, unload itself from memory, then launch DOS, loading device drivers, TSRs and so on from the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT of your choice. When you quit the SDAM app, Windows 95 reloads. Having to close all your applications isn't very convenient, but it's better than having to completely reboot your system.

The Future for Utilities

The outlook for utilities is going to change radically with the introduction of Windows 95. Some utilities will be obsolete, and most of the rest will have to be upgraded.

Memory managers head the list of those that will be obsolete. Microsoft has already significantly reduced the market for these utilities by bundling a passable one with DOS 6.x. However, there are still lots of people who use QEMM or Netroom with Windows 3.1 because they need to load an unusually large stack of drivers and memory-resident software and/or run memory-hogging DOS apps. Windows 95 resolves the problem once and for all, using 32-bit protected-mode device drivers (VxDs) to move drivers completely out of DOS and into their own virtual machines.

To put it less technically, when I run Windows 3.1, I have to load 36KB worth of drivers and TSRs for my sound board, 24KB for my mouse, 58KB for my CD-ROM drive, and 33KB for DOS's SmartDrive disk cache. Under Windows 95, I load none of these--yet all my DOS apps still have sound and mouse support, they can still access CD-ROMs, and the files they read and write are still cached. Windows 95 will let you load DOS-level drivers or TSRs for compatibility, if necessary. However, if you have lots of real-mode drivers (for networks, CD-ROM drives and so on) that still need to be loaded into a VM, you may need memory management. So the problem won't go away completely if you need to use old drivers.

Windows 95 will include a basic tape backup applet that will support popular QIC-80 drives, as well as the new QIC-3010 and -3020 drives. Microsoft is reportedly working hard to get Windows 95 to run current tape utilities, but you'll still want to upgrade to a new version that supports long filenames. Colorado Memory Systems (which is writing the bundled applet) plans to ship an upgrade to Colorado Backup concurrently with Windows 95.

Many current disk utilities will work with Windows 95, though they may trash long filenames or report them as errors. As with backup, Microsoft will probably provide some command-line utilities that will work around such problems. Symantec says it will ship a compatible version of the Norton Utilities when Windows 95 ships. My guess is Symantec will offer that product as an upgrade for the disk-utility side of PC Tools as well.

Alternative desktops like Norton Desktop and PC Tools won't work in Windows 95. However, most of the things you want from such a utility (integrated file and program management, file viewers, drag-and-drop everywhere, and so on) are built into the new interface, so you probably won't miss them. Though Symantec may well sell Windows 95 upgrades to those products, they'll be radically different, enhancing rather than replacing the existing shell. Given the greater extensibility of the Windows 95 shell thanks to OLE automation, you can expect more shareware and freeware system enhancements than ever.

Antivirus utilities will still be necessary with Windows 95, which is just as vulnerable as DOS to many existing viruses. Though most current utilities run under Windows 95, they may not be able to detect new virus strains that infect new system components, such as Windows 95's 32-bit system resource heaps. So far, Microsoft hasn't said whether it will bundle antivirus software with Windows 95. Expect all the major antivirus vendors to have Windows 95-specific upgrades around the time the new OS is released.

Although Microsoft is building fax capabilities into the operating system, the market for fax utilities is likely to be stronger than ever. You'll still need third-party software if you want to use OCR to convert faxes to text, mark up received faxes, use database or PIM files as an address book, or embed OLE objects in cover pages. Expect lots of new fax capabilities in Windows 95. For example, Delrina says its Windows 95 upgrade to WinFax, which will run either standalone or as an Info Center add-on, will detect whether or not a laptop is in its docking station and automatically convert e-mail messages to faxes or vice versa, depending on what delivery method is currently available.

How Will It Perform?

Improved memory management, fast 32-bit video and disk drivers, and various other under-the-hood changes mean Windows 95 is potentially faster than Windows 3.1. It's impossible to predict the new OS's performance by testing the beta, but so far things look pretty good.

I didn't notice any performance difference when running 16-bit applications, except when printing. Windows 95 spools documents to print in a flash, though (at least in the beta) it sometimes takes longer for the first page to come out of the printer than it would under 3.1.

Thirty-two-bit apps should run significantly faster under Windows 95 than under 3.1. There are numerous reasons for this, most notably that the Win32s subsystem in 3.1 imposes a performance hit, Windows 95's memory management is much more efficient, and Windows 3.1 doesn't support multithreading. Unfortunately I had only one 32-bit app to test, the shareware Astronomy Lab NT, which got a noticeable speed boost from Windows 95. From what developers say, it's likely that properly tuned code will get even more of a boost.

New multithreaded apps will completely eliminate some performance bottlenecks by moving tasks to the background, like Windows 95's zippy print spooler. For instance, the Win32 version of CorelDRAW won't make you wait until it finishes redrawing the results of one command before it lets you enter the next.

Exactly what Windows 95 will offer is still a question. But the outlook is encouraging, based on what I've seen to date.


While You're Waiting: Optimize Windows 3.X

By: JOHN WORAM

Wanted: Pioneer willing to move to Chicago. Must have adventurous spirit. Must be able to survive  incompatibilities of a new neighborhood.

If that describes you, then you know what to do. Pack up the old Windows 3.x right now and get ready for the all-new Chicago, officially dubbed Windows 95. But before you pull out your credit card in anticipation of making the big move, you might want to pause a minute for a look back at good old Windows 3.x. For, as an early TWAIN technologist might have put it, reports of its impending death are slightly exaggerated.

Rumors out of Beta Junction (an outpost on the Chicago Trail) have it that the first people to reach the new territory often come down with a malady known as UCS, or Unlearning-Curve Syndrome. It's rarely fatal, but most people need a significant recovery period in order to forget old habits and acquire new ones. Many experience slight pain, but it usually passes. Most settlers eventually get to like the new territory, although some wish the move had not been so abrupt.

While waiting to make your own move, you might consider sprucing up the old Windows. Who knows, you might even decide to stay put for a while longer--at least till you're assured that the early settlers are getting on okay. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you breath a little life, and even some color, into your old friend. You can always kill him later.

Hard Disk Clean Up Time. When was the last time you erased those .BAK and .TMP files, ran CHKDSK or SCANDISK, defragmented your hard disk--all that housekeeping stuff that you're supposed to do every once in a while? If you can't remember when you did it last, then do it now. If you notice a significant performance improvement, then next time don't wait so long to clean house.

Font Flushing. Open your word processor and count the list of available fonts. Now, without touching anything, describe Lucida Calligraphy and Baskerville Old Face (or whatever your own list turns up). If you don't even know what these fonts look like, then why on earth are they taking up space between Arial and Times New Roman? Get rid of them. You can always reinstall them later on if you need to write a letter in the style of a ransom note.

Get Some Help. One of the best-known unknown Windows applets is the Windows Help engine. It even has its own icon, a big yellow question mark. Of course, you can get help in any applet or application once it's open. But you may want to browse through several help files without opening each application for access. If so, create a new program item in the Accessories group (or elsewhere) and call it Help! or something. Just enter WINHELP.EXE as the command line and you're done. Then click on its File menu and you can go browsing over the entire hard disk looking for .HLP files.

A Windows Makeover Session. Is your Windows desktop still decorated in that blue and gray color scheme that was in vogue during the Civil War? It makes the desktop about as appealing as a Motor Vehicles Bureau office, but it's a lot easier to make changes here. Just open Control Panel, double-click on the Color icon and use your imagination. You can always recover the Windows Default colors if you get carried away.

Put your own name at the top of the desktop. By now you shouldn't need the constant reminder that you're gazing at Program Manager. Just open the StartUp group and put a new program item in it, whose filename is PROGMAN.EXE. Then write your own name (or anything else suitable for public viewing) in the description box. Double-click on the icon and the new name will appear in Program Manager's Title bar. And it will reappear there every time you reopen Windows.

Cut icon titles down to size. Some software suppliers write mini-essays under each application icon. Remember, this is supposed to be a graphical (as opposed to text) interface, which means you shouldn't need any title at all. Well, perhaps a word or two. While you're at it, why not change a few icons? For example, the Read Me applet in the Main group window comes with a Write Me icon in the default setup--the same one used for the Write applet. Click on the applet's Change Icon box and browse through the icon collection in PROGMAN.EXE. You'll find a nice little icon of a newspaper--which, unlike a pen, conveys the true meaning of the applet.

Start Windows' Clock. Double-click on the Clock icon in the Accessories group. Then resize it small, select Always on Top, and put a check mark next to the No Title option on the Settings menu. Now move the clock up near the top of the desktop where it won't be in the way. If you do need to peek under it from time to time, move the mouse pointer over it and press the secondary mouse button. The clock will disappear until you release the button.

Copy Control Panel icons. As you already know only too well, you can't drag an icon out of Control Panel. However, you can copy it into an open group window. Using the MIDI Mapper as an example, here's how. Select a group window, then open the File menu, choose the New option and then Program Item.

Type MIDI Mapper in the description box and CONTROL MIDI as the command line. If Control Panel itself appears briefly in the background when the applet opens, then enter CONTROL MAIN.CPL followed by the name of the applet.

Now browse around for a suitable icon. Control Panel's own MIDI Mapper icon hides out in the MIDIMAP.DRV file in the SYSTEM directory. Many of the others will be found in MAIN.CPL itself.

Move Your Office Manager. This last tip is just for Microsoft Office users. The Office Manager applet places a row of buttons near the upper-right-hand corner of the desktop. You can move those buttons to the left by editing the following line in the MSOFFICE.INI file:

[Options]

RightPos=xxx

The xxx is the number of pixels from the right-hand screen edge at which the right-most button appears. Experiment with different values until you find the one that best suits your desktop configuration.

Enjoy Your New Windows. None of these suggestions will turn your old Windows into a new Chicago. Far from it, for the new place is going to have a very different look and feel to it. But for the next little while, you may as well clean up your Windows and enjoy everything that it has to offer.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook and Optimizing Windows columnist for WINDOWS Magazine. Reach him care of editor in the Letters to the Editor folder in the WinMag message exchange on America Online.


Win.INI: That sound you hear is me eating my words.

By: Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

They don't taste bad. In fact, I'm glad to be eating them. You see, the early prototype of Windows 95 had some elements that were downright wrong for WINDOWS Magazine readers--people who tend to push Windows to its limits.

The problem was that the first beta of Windows 95 had some pretty severe resource constraints. This was distressingly similar to the way that today's Windows 3.x operates: If you open too many large applications all at once, you'll crash your system or generate a bogus ``out of memory'' message. The problem isn't memory: It's that Microsoft made certain internal ``scratch pads'' (the GDI heap, for instance) much too small and inflexible. No matter how much physical RAM you have on your system, and no matter how much virtual RAM or disk space you have, it's all too easy to run these system resources down close to zero. And when that happens, your system will either start acting strangely or it'll die a spectacular and messy death by forced reboot.

When we found we could crash the first beta of Windows 95 by simultaneously opening and then heavily using three or four major apps, we complained long and loud to Microsoft. And we shared our concerns with you in these pages. Artificially limited system resources is the number-one problem advanced users have with Windows today, and if Windows 95 were to retain similar limitations, it would be unsuitable for people like you and me. New operating system or not, we'd be plain out of luck.

Well, I'm happily eating my words because a brand new interim beta of Windows 95 just arrived. And now that Microsoft has had a bit more time to ``cook'' the product and to address the concerns we raised, Window 95 is showing a remarkable improvement in its use of system resources.

Here's a real-life example of the change: I do a lot of public speaking, and often find myself trying to cobble together a PowerPoint presentation using materials from Word and Excel. Just opening all three apps will strain most Windows 3.x systems, regardless of how much RAM or disk space they have. Using Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on a networked system, by the time I've launched Word 6.0, Excel 5.0 and PowerPoint 4.0, and then opened OLE 2.0-based applets inside each to produce charts and graphs, I've driven my system resources down into the single digits and am right on the edge of a system crash.

But the new beta is a whole new animal. Once I had it installed, one of the first things I did was try stress loading. After launching Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and opening the OLE 2.0-based graphing tool inside each, the new beta of Windows 95 showed fully 55 percent resources still free. Yow!

It gets better: In Win95, each new instance of an application or tool takes a much smaller bite of system resources than does the initial instance. At one point, I had a total of five heavy-duty apps and five resource-intensive OLE 2.0-based applets all running and filled with live data, and still 50 percent of my resources remained free.

Mind you, all this is with a relatively untuned beta, so it's likely that things will only improve from here. Yes, we're still just peeking in the oven at an unfinished product, but at least on this score, I'm getting ready to tip my virtual hat to Microsoft for apparently (and finally!) correcting the number-one architectural flaw in desktop Windows.

The rest of the pie

The improved handling of system resources is just one slice--albeit a substantial one--of what the interim beta has to offer. There are other new features--and all the usual beta caveats apply: Any of this can change between now and the time Win95 ships. Still, let me give you the highlights.

Win95 now comes with a decent assortment of built-in disk maintenance tools, including ScanDisk, Defrag and Backup. What's different about the Win95 versions is that they now work from within Windows (no more popping out to DOS for maintenance). All these tools are available from Explorer by right-clicking on any drive in your system, selecting Properties, and then selecting the Tools tab. The system appears to be set up to track when you last used the tools.

My guess is that Microsoft is moving toward having the system automatically remind you when it's time to run ScanDisk or Defrag, make backups or whatever. Because you can run these tools as either foreground or background tasks without leaving Windows, system maintenance should be easier than ever before.

Compressed disks now are fully supported. Microsoft has announced plans to support all the major disk compression formats, and in this beta, DoubleSpace and DriveSpace are supported. You can create, mount, unmount, resize and otherwise do whatever you want to manage your compressed volumes, all from within Windows.

The reason you can now perform low-level maintenance from inside Windows is because Win95 is a complete operating system that can manage everything going on in your system. Windows no longer has to hand off to DOS or bypass DOS or work with DOS or do anything with DOS--because there is no DOS.

In addition to making system maintenance easier, Win95 delivers other benefits. For example, it can use any disk partition--including compressed drives--for the page file. (The page file is roughly analogous to the swap file in Windows 3.x). This also means that a permanent Win95 page file can be dynamic, growing and shrinking as needed. With Win95 handling everything via 32-bit internal systems, this also implies that even on a compressed drive, a Win95 page file ought to be about as fast as--or faster than--an old-style 16-bit Windows swap file on an uncompressed drive.

Disk compression is now (at last) fully integrated into the operating system, and should carry no major performance penalties. This should be of interest to anyone who's sworn off disk compression technology in the past.

There's a lot more to discuss. Although this beta is only an incremental step, it shows that good things are cooking for advanced users of Windows 95. We'll keep an eye on the oven for you.


Windows at Work: So Santa Boss said...

By: Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

buy the company some shiny new techno-toys.

Think of me as his little helper sent from the north to make sure you spend those use-it-or-lose-it leftover budget dollars wisely.

After examining the options for spending my own year-end money, I decided to focus on two areas: repaving the company's access ramp to the information superhighway (read: new-generation modems) and creating better business communications (read: multimedia).

These two technology goals go together well. We all want our office PCs to have as much impact and power as possible. And multimedia, when used for business communications and training materials, provides plenty of impact.

As for power, the new-generation modems offer far better speed for exchanging files. And if you start using multimedia, you'll need that speed because multimedia files are mammoth. A compressed 20-second video-and-sound clip can easily exceed 2MB. Without high-speed communications gear, you'll spend hours transferring files from here to there. Whether you're working with video, sound clips or the latest research on a given topic, you won't want to putter onto the highway from the slow lane.

Maximizing multimedia

If you haven't started experimenting with producing your own multimedia programs, you owe it to yourself and your company to give it a try. You can use multimedia for serious business applications, such as sales presentations and training. Voice annotations, music and video clips will really enhance your demos.

What's more, you can set up your multimedia presentations to be interactive and context switchable. Unlike video presentations, which require the audience to watch from beginning to end, multimedia shows allow viewers to skip around. So, you don't have to bore your audience with things they already know.

It doesn't cost a fortune to outfit the office with multimedia gear, either. For example, for less than $600 and the price of a video camera, you can start creating your own business videos with Intel's Smart Video Recorder Pro ($570; 800-538-3373, 503-629-7354). The kit comes with enough hardware and software to get you started--and hooked on the concept.

For a desktop camera, check out my favorite, the sleek FlexCam Pro by VideoLabs ($795; 612-988-0055, fax 612-988-0066). It looks more like a little gooseneck lamp than a camera with a microphone. But its picture quality is great, and when you're not filming your latest epoch business presentation, you can plug it into a videoconferencing system.

When you're ready to create your own multimedia presentations, take a look at the Asymetrix line (800-448-6543, 206-637-1500). This software is so easy to use that creating an animated presentation with music in the background is no more challenging than cutting and pasting.

Next, spice up your multimedia creations with video clips. You don't have to start your own video production studio to do this--you can buy professionally shot and selected clips from moon landings to movie soundtracks. I recently reviewed Media-Pedia's library of videos ($149; for a limited time, $49; 617-235-5617, fax 617-237-3340) and Access Softek's Video Toys SoundTrack ($49.95; 510-848-0606, fax 510-848-0608). Both come on CD-ROMs and let you add the clips they contain to your home-grown productions.

Road warriors who need to add sound capabilities to their notebook computers will delight in New Media Corp.'s WAVjammer ($399; 800-453-0550, 714-453-0100). Pop in this PCMCIA 16-bit stereo sound card, and you can plug in headphones, a microphone and speakers. It makes for a great portable presentation.

Finally, to show off your multimedia creations, hook up a TV. Check out the low-cost options from Consumer Technology Northwest ($349 to $429, 800-356-3983, 503-643-1662). This company's Presenter Plus lets you use a TV as a super-sized monitor. It's ideal for making presentations to small groups.

Rev up your desktop

If all my talk about the virtues of multimedia gear have you concerned that your desktop computer can't handle it, you're probably right. That leaves you with two choices: Buy a new computer, or upgrade the one you have. Because many organizations require new purchases to go through a capital expense process--which could keep you waiting until this time next year--you might be better off taking the upgrade path.

Normally I'm not a fan of upgrading office computers. I figure that many upgrades aren't worth the pain, especially when you (or, worse, a $200-per-hour PC technician) spend several hours cracking open the case and fiddling with interrupt and DMA settings.

But two recent developments have changed my mind: lower prices and (nearly) plug-and-play peripherals. Memory and hard disk prices have hit the floor in recent months. I've seen hard disks selling for close to 50 cents per megabyte, and RAM for less than $45 per megabyte. Also, thanks to innovative marketers, upgrades have become easier to install.

Southern California-based Reveal (800-669-3559, 818-704-6300) markets a whole line of good-quality add-on and upgrade gear. The company's real value, however, is what it adds. Reveal provides excellent, well-written instruction manuals and (if you're totally clueless) will even ship a video training tape with some products. If you get stumped, there's a 24-hour support hotline, which is handy for people who insist on struggling into the wee hours before calling for help.

Also from California, Creative Labs (800-998-LABS; 408-428-6600), maker of the popular Sound Blaster cards, has created some innovative packaging just for people trying to upgrade plain computers into multimedia machines. The company sells a single box that contains a CD-ROM drive, a sound board and even some software. It's a lot easier to install upgrades this way than to try mixing and matching gear from several manufacturers.

Life in the V.Fast lane

Just in time for the multimedia file-transfer craze, modem manufacturers are beefing up features and reducing prices on supersonic 28.8-kilobit-per-second modems. The ones with built-in compression are capable of transmitting as fast as 300Kbps. That translates to moving a 1MB file in less than a minute, rather than the seven to eight minutes you can expect from a 14.4Kbps modem.

But buyer beware: Mileage may vary. There are a few speed traps out on the I-Way--for instance, those low-octane standard serial ports. In the early days of PCs, serial ports were designed to go only about 9600bps. Windows, too, has an interrupt latency, which makes it hard to respond if characters arrive too fast.

Although a certain amount of techno-witchery, like buffering, can rev up serial connection speeds, it doesn't solve the problem. To make a fast modem really go fast, you'll have to bypass the standard serial ports. You can use an internal modem, a PCMCIA modem, or one that tricks the parallel port into thinking it's a serial connection.

In my office, we recently tested several brands of fast modems and saw incredible results when everything was set up just right. Among the stellar performers were Microcom's TravelCard FAST and DeskPorte 28.8 modems. These use something called advanced parallel technology (APT) to overcome the Windows bottleneck. With a little tinkering and a reasonably clean line, you can probably get a speeding ticket.

I did run into some speed bumps, though, when I tried to mix and match several brands of fast modems. The connections worked, but files transmitted at much slower speeds, like 19.2Kbps. Also, not all the on-line services can communicate at the faster speeds yet. Still, if you have the money, it's a good idea to begin investing in the new-generation modems. (For more information, take a look at our modem review in this issue.)

Happy shopping!

Cheryl Currid is president of Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. Reach Cheryl care of the Letters to the Editor folder of the WinMag message exchange on AOL.


Visual Guide

Software Products

Fine-Tune Your Windows Environment

Hardware Products

Make Your Windows Hardware Hum


Software Products

Alternative Desktops/Utilities

Accounting/Financial software

Asynchronous Communications

Contact Management

Presentation Graphics

Databases

DTP

E-Mail

Forms

Fax Solutions

Desktop Conferencing

Illustration

Image Editing and Utilities

Spreadsheets

Word Processing


Hardware Products

Systems

Printers

Notebooks

Modems

Monitors

Scanners

Sound Cards

Video Cards


Alternative Desktops/Utilities

ALKI SEEK 3.0

Alki Software

800-669-9673, 206-286-2600

Alki Seek is a file finder that can

search a disk or index. It can list all files that have a specific content, location, modification date, type, size or attribute. Seek can perform Boolean and pattern-matching (GREP) searches and find text that is similar in spelling or sound to the described text. A banter box responds with a plain-English description of what you requested.

$69.95

DASHBOARD 2.0

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-554-1305, 408-345-8931

Dashboard 2.0 gives users access

to all Windows features and functions from one utility panel. It has up to nine virtual screens, a Run window in which you can execute DOS commands without leaving Windows, snap-off toolbars and a Quick Launch Panel

with Quick Launch buttons. A Resource Bar Gauge shows you system resources as a fuel gauge meter, and Disk

Drive Watch shows free disk space information.

Reviewed: April 1993

$99; upgrade, $29

DESKMINDER 2.0

TechSoft Systems Inc.

800-825-8386, 513-825-8386

deskMinder uses a desk metaphor to help you organize your Windows software. You click on desktop items to access the calendar or cardfile, click on the bookshelf to launch major applications and click on the desk drawers to access previously saved files. The program provides password protection and reports availability of system resources. It includes 17 screen-saver modules, security features, system information and a wastebasket.

$99

DISKTOP 1.0

CE Software Inc.

800-523-7638, 515-221-1801

DiskTop is a file management

utility that can find, launch, copy, move, delete and rename files on drives and volumes. It can locate files using partial names or attributes such as size or date modified. Able to replace both Program Manager and File Manager, DiskTop also includes DiskTop Extras, which adds a menu bar and enhanced functionality to Open and Save dialog boxes.

$59

EASYDESKTOP 5.0

MicroSeconds International Inc.

800-889-3279, 619-756-0765

Designed to replace Program Manager, EasyDesktop includes a program launcher, virtual desktops, a complete file manager and a host of utilities.

It uses text-based menus that can hold up to 640 applications or documents on multiple screens. Menus are custom-configurable and each menu item can have an 80-character

The program includes a FindFile utility with viewing capabilities for text files and 13 image file formats, file compression, a task manager for fast switches, disk space statistics and more.

$59.95

ECLIPSE FIND 1.0

Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

800-452-0120, 617-551-4000

Eclipse Find is designed to locate any document in a few seconds. The program automatically indexes your files on the basis of their contents, allowing you to find documents by typing in any word that appears in the document or by multiple search criteria. This network-ready program includes file compression and viewers for more than 40 document and graphics file formats. Its Hard Drive Sweep identifies files for deletion, compression or offloading to diskette.

Reviewed: August 1993

$89

FILE COMMANDER 2.0

Wilson Windoware

800-762-8383, 206-938-1740

File Commander is a File Manager enhancement available for Windows and Windows NT. It includes WIL, a batch language with over 300 functions. The program automates applications, networks, files, directories, multimedia events and data exchange. Automation scripts are added to File Manager's menus.

Reviewed: Buyers Guide 1993

$49.95

GOLDEN RETRIEVER 2.1

Above Software Inc.

800-344-0116, 714-851-2283

Designed like a file cabinet with drawers and file folders, Golden Retriever helps you create, store, track and fetch letters, reports, presentations, spreadsheets and any other files.

The program allows you to maintain the files generated by any application all in one place, organized by project, subject or any other system. Filenames can be up to 256 characters long and can be listed in several folders, under the same or different names.

$99

GU 2.0

Zeus MicroSystems Inc.

800-727-2703, 415-491-1737

GU (pronounced goo), formerly known as Guardian, features several utilities. The Desktop Extender provides up to 16 times the space of the standard monitor, showing only a portion of the desktop at a time. Moving the mouse to the edge of the screen reveals hidden areas of the desktop. A screen-saver utility displays a user-selectable animation module, and a notes utility lets you leave time-stamped notes from within applications.

$19.95

HOTWIN 3.5

TMA Software

800-497-3617, 619-792-1481

Working in the background while you perform other tasks, Hotwin is an application manager with an integrated set of utilities. Its drag-and-drop task manager enables you to navigate between open applications, launch files and applications, and exit Windows. Menu options can be removed from the menu bar to create a column of buttons, and applications, files and commands can be assigned to the Title Bar button for push-button access.

$79.95

METZ FILE F/X 1.0

Metz Software Inc.

800-447-1712, 206-641-4525

METZ File F/X is a suite of five utilities. Its task manager is a Windows shell that includes a Tools menu and screen saver. F/X File Undelete recovers deleted files and F/X File Manager is an enhanced file management utility that can launch files and applications. F/X File Find lets you define your own search criteria, including a combination of wildcards, search paths and data criteria. F/X Text Search locates key phrases or important figures in any application.

$49.95

METZ TASK MANAGER 2.03

Metz Software Inc.

800-447-1712, 206-641-4525

METZ Task Manager is designed to keep your desktop from becoming cluttered with icons; it provides basic launching, scheduling and file management features so that larger programs do not have to be kept open. It features a Launch Pad

for nine applications of your choice, a Run List that remembers the last 10 commands you gave it and Quick Utilities, which provide file management, file find, text search and system status information.

Reviewed: April 1993

$49.95

NEWWAVE 4.1

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-554-1305, 408-345-8931

NewWave enables you to use 32-character filenames that word-wrap for a neater desktop. Its file folders allow you to organize documents as you please, and the File Drawer has a Fast-Finder for seldom-used files and folders. Powerful Agent macros can schedule, record and automate tasks, while Quick Install automatically installs DOS and Windows applications onto the desktop. There's also everyone's favorite, the wastebasket for deleting files.

Reviewed: April 1993

$195

NORTON DESKTOP 3.0

Symantec Corp.

800-441-7234, fax 503-334-7400

Packed with more than 30 utilities

and productivity tools, Norton Desktop is designed to safeguard data, enhance productivity and maximize system performance. You can optimize your hard disk with Speed Disk, and use FileAssist to manage files without leaving an application. The collection of troubleshooting tools includes AntiVirus, BackUp, UnErase and Disk Doctor. More than 100 file viewers enable you to view files even if you don't have the application on your system, and a Day Planner offers scheduling, a to-do list and contact management.

$149

NORTON UTILITIES 8.0

Symantec Corp.

800-441-7234, fax 503-334-7400

The Norton Utilities is designed to provide everything you need to keep your PC up and running. Its data recovery and diagnostics capabilities now include background data recovery and disk optimization, as well as configuration utilities for Windows-specific problems: INI Tracker, INI Tuner, INI Editor, INI Advisor, File Compare and Windows System Watch, which not only monitors resources, but also recommends repair or maintenance. Disk Doctor diagnoses and repairs in the background to ensure data integrity.

$179

PC TOOLS 2.0

Central Point Software

800-964-6896, 503-690-8090

Designed to enhance system performance and security, PC Tools from Central Point Software offers data protection utilities such as Central Point Anti-Virus, DiskFix and Backup. CrashGuard monitors system resources to prevent crashes; System Consultant recommends and implements configuration changes to increase speed. The program's INIConsultant helps users understand and edit cryptic system files, while the AutoSync Folders feature automatically updates a folder's contents as files are created or deleted from the hard disk.

Reviewed: May 1993

$179.95

PLUG-IN FOR PROGRAM MANAGER 1.31

Plannet Crafters Inc.

800-651-1000, 404-740-9821

Plug-In for Program Manager enhances, rather than replaces, ProgMan.  For example, ProgMan's Run command is enhanced with a history list of the last 25 commands entered. The program also provides detailed system information, custom cursors, a QuickRun menu to access frequently used commands, a Save Settings Now command and a single command for installing any new applications.

Reviewed: April 1993

$20

POWER LAUNCHER 2.0

hDC Computer Corp.

800-321-4606, 206-885-5550

Power Launcher, the toolbar for Windows, allows users access to commands, file management and more. The virtual desktop increases screen space up to 64 times the physical screen. Using the three Power Apps included, you can customize your keyboard, mouse and a floating toolbox on a global or per-application basis. A built-in macro recorder enables you to create editable macros and run them from menu items, hotkeys or at specified times. The program supports DDE, OLE, drag-and-drop and sound.

Reviewed: April 1993

$99.95

PROKEY 1.5

CE Software Inc.

800-523-7638, 515-221-1801

A macro and scripting tool, ProKey enables you to handle repetitive tasks with a mouse click or a keystroke. You can record and play back intelligent scripts for shortcuts and standardize keyboard equivalents across applications. The icon-based macro editor simplifies the editing of scripts you have created. To trigger shortcuts, you can use keystrokes, pop-up menus or choose from a list of scripts.

$79

ROOMS 1.0

Xsoft, a division of Xerox Corp.

800-428-2995, 415-424-0111

Rooms uses a rooms metaphor, in which each room functions like a separate monitor or virtual desktop devoted to a specific task, client or project. A Suite Overview enables you to scan all projects at a glance. The program automatically opens all files, windows, icons and applications the way they were left the last time the computer was used.

Reviewed: April 1993

$59

SEARCHER PRO 2.0

Cognitronix

800-217-0932, 619-549-8955

With Searcher Pro, you can manage files and find text, even in ZIP compressed files, across multiple disks and directories based on multiple specifications for the filename, directory, text contents and attributes. Searcher Pro Editor enables you to copy, move, delete, ZIP, unZIP, launch and view files.

Reviewed: April 1993

$59.95

TABWORKS

Xsoft, a division of Xerox Corp.

800-428-2995, 415-424-0111

TabWorks is a Program Manager enhancement that looks like a three-ring binder, using tabs, pages and a table of contents to manage icons. The program lets you organize the system by project, function, client or any other way you choose. TabWorks is sold exclusively by Compaq and will be bundled with new Compaq PCs.

$69

THIRD DIMENSION 1.1

Lucid Corp.

800-925-8243, 214-994-8100

This desktop manager integrates the capabilities of Program Manager and File Manager. It uses an object-oriented, desktop design metaphor that can be completely customized. Third Dimension supports filenames of up to 128 characters and features a drag-and-drop interface. The program also includes Disk Manager for managing files, along with utilities such as backup and restore, task scheduling and an object locator for finding files or text.

$89.95

TOOLBOX 1.0

PC-Kwik Corp.

800-284-5945, 503-520-4299

Utilizing only 3 percent of Windows' system resources, this program and application launcher can replace Program Manager or work alongside it. Each Toolbox can hold up to 50 buttons, and you can create as many Toolboxes as you want. Built-in text bars eliminate the need to guess what each icon stands for. Toolboxes can be locked, so managers can control what others have access to.

Reviewed: January 1993

$31.45

WINDOWS EXPRESS 4.0

hDC Computer Corp.

800-321-4606, 206-885-5550

As a fully networkable program, Windows Express makes it easy to administer a standard interface to shared applications and documents. Folders provide a familiar way to organize programs and can be nested to any depth. Express Editor gives you an overview of the entire menu system and allows you to edit menus. You can launch multiple applications at once, and run any of 75 included scripts or any macros you've recorded.

$99.95

WINMASTER 1.5

PC-Kwik Corp.

800-284-5945, 503-520-4299

WinMaster is a toolkit of utilities that doesn't take up a lot of disk space or system resources. The program includes Toolbox, which launches Windows and DOS applications with one mouse click; KwikFind, which finds missing files; KwikVault, a compression and archiving utility that compresses infrequently used files and directories; PowerScope, a hard-disk viewer; PowerDisk, which defragments and reorganizes hard disks; and Super PC-Kwik, which is disk-caching software.

Reviewed: June 1993

$129.95

XTREE 2.0

Central Point Software

800-964-6896, 503-690-8090

XTree combines file management, file viewing and integrated ZIP 2.0 archiving with program launching and management. You can create a custom desktop environment using XTree Command Center to execute programs and run macros. The program also includes XTreeLink, allowing you to share and manage files between two computers.

Reviewed: February 1993

$99


Accounting/Financial software

CA-SIMPLY ACCOUNTING 2.0

Computer Associates International Inc.

800-CALL-CAI, 516-DIAL-CAI

CA-Simply Accounting (formerly

called ACCPAC Simply Accounting), an entry-level, graphical accounting system for small businesses, offers automatic transaction posting, accrual and cash basis accounting and simplified closing routines. Utilizing DDE, it can transfer data to other Windows programs. You can enter cash purchases or cash sales as singular transactions, rather than through multiple journals, and choose from multiple form sizes for invoices, checks and statements. Payments and cash receipts can be reversed easily and negative amounts can be entered.

Reviewed: April 1993

$89

DACEASY INSTANT ACCOUNTING 2.0

DacEasy Inc.

800-DAC-EASY, 214-248-0205/0305

DacEasy Instant Accounting features an invoice screen for billing customers, a check screen for bill paying, a register screen for tracking any bank account transaction, custom reporting capabilities for instant access to information and a variety of predefined reports. It also tracks customer purchase activity and maintains detailed information on customers and vendors. Additional features include autodialing, mail merge and fax capabilities. The program can be integrated with DacEasy Instant Payroll and DacEasy Instant Rolodex.

$49.95

DYNAMICS 2.0

Great Plains Software

800-456-0025, 701-281-0550

This LAN-ready-graphical accounting system has 15 modules, including invoicing, inventory control and general ledger. The system supports OLE, DDE and ODBC and is inherently cross-platform and multiuser, so users can share data across platforms on the same network. You can modify every field, entry screen, navigation path and security clearance, right down to matching the responsibilities and preferences of each user on a system.

From $1,000 to $2,500

IN THE BLACK

Microrim Inc.

800-628-6990, 206-649-9500

With In The Black, you can manage small business accounts and personal finance, switching between accounting terminology and plain English. It includes a double-entry, general ledger accounting system with preset charts of accounts, full accounts payable and receivable, invoicing, budgeting, financial analysis with several types of reports, income statements, balance sheets, graphing, and unlimited accounts and sets of books. Features such as credit-card and bank account management, budgets and net-worth analysis are geared to home users.

$89.95

MANAGING YOUR MONEY 1.0

MECA Software Inc.

203-255-1441, fax 203-944-6322

With Managing Your Money, you can

do all your banking from one screen that looks just like a bank checkbook: write and print checks, record deposits, switch and reconcile accounts, transfer funds, and split payments and deposits among several categories. The program also includes instant SmartHelp, report and graph galleries and the .DBF file format.

$79.95

MICROSOFT MONEY 3.0

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

With Microsoft Money, you can handle banking transactions, pay bills, and update stock and mutual fund portfolios from your home PC. Version 3.0 also includes Financial Planning Wizards, which can calculate retirement needs, loan payments and more, as well as investment tracking and management capabilities.

$69.95

MICROSOFT PROFIT 1.0

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Microsoft Profit is a fully integrated accounting and business management solution. The program uses the metaphor of a file cabinet, which appears when the program is launched. Just click the mouse on the drawer in which you wish to conduct business. Drawers include Transactions, Cardfile, Reports, Profit Signs, Wizards and Accounting. Templates are provided for accounting reports and business management reports.

Reviewed: April 1993

$199

MONEYCOUNTS 1.0

Parsons Technology

800-223-6925, 319-395-9626

MoneyCounts uses checkbook entry screens to manage cash, checking, credit cards and savings. Able to track costs, record expenses and plan budgets, it automatically handles repetitive chores, such as paying monthly bills, and has a FastFind feature for locating specific transactions by various criteria. The program can organize an almost unlimited number of transactions for daily finances and the fast preparation of tax documents. It supplies predefined charts of accounts, and can create and modify more than 4,000 accounts.

$49

M.Y.O.B. 4.0

Best!Ware Inc.

800-322-6962, 201-586-2200

M.Y.O.B. includes general ledger, checkbook, item or service invoicing, cash-flow forecasting, accounts receivable and payable, over 80 management reports and an interactive to-do list. You can zoom back to original transactions, project future cash flow and customize business forms. The payroll module has a smart tax engine that automatically calculates payroll taxes. The program will automatically process recurring sales and purchases for frequently produced invoices and purchase orders.$199.95; without payroll module, $99.95

PEACHTREE

ACCOUNTING 2.0

Peachtree Software inc.

800-247-3224, 404-564-5700

To demystify the accounting process, Peachtree Accounting uses everyday terms instead of accounting jargon, pictorial explanations of various processes, graphical guides and flowcharts, and input screens that resemble standard business forms. The program integrates general ledger, accounts receivable and payable, invoicing, payroll, inventory, job tracking, bank reconciliation, a financial report writer and a custom forms designer. It supports cash basis or accrual accounting as well as batch or real-time posting. This multiuser program is fully networkable at no additional cost.

$169

Reviewed: september 1993

PERSONAL TAX EDGE

Parsons Technology

800-223-6925, 319-395-9626

Including 41 of the most frequently used federal tax forms and schedules, Personal Tax Edge has modules for every state that has an income tax (except Hawaii), 42 in all. Its 12 worksheets automatically compute deductions, and on-line help answers most common questions.

Reviewed: March 1994

$19

QUICKBOOKS 2.0

Intuit Inc.

800-624-8742, 415-322-0573

Designed for business users rather than accountants, QuickBooks handles accounting in the background as you fill out familiar checks, invoices and forms. It tracks your customers, vendors, products and services, and prices, and allows you to manage budgets, job costs and projects. Customers are automatically billed for reimbursable expense reports. Its QuickFill feature automatically completes often-used names, addresses and other information when you type the first few letters. The program tracks and bills reimbursable expenses and produces more than 50 preset reports. QuickInsight Graphs provide instant graphical views of financial results. Qcards provide learn-as-you-go instructions.

Reviewed: October 1993

$159.95

QUICKEN 3.0

Intuit Inc.

800-624-8742, 415-322-0573

Quicken looks and works just like your paper checkbook. Its financial calendar interface provides drag-and-drop transaction scheduling and eliminates most data entry. You can create financial reports such as profit and loss statements and balance sheets. Investment Portfolio View with QuickZoom provides insight into investments and numerous financial planning tools help you plan your financial future. Quicken will track accounts payable and receivable, projects, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow and more. The program prints checks, pays bills, updates your register and reconciles your bank account.

$69.95

SQL ACCOUNTING 2.0

SPFC

800-676-7732, 201-765-0791

Written in Gupta Corp.'s SQLWindows 4.0, SQL Accounting is a client server solution designed for Windows and LAN SQL databases. SQL Accounting includes general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, order entry and billing, inventory and purchasing. Users can perform flexible QBE searches as well as query or report on transaction details for months after the transaction. Additional features include report filters, drill down capabilities and Multiple Document Interface support. It works with third-party report writers to create additional reports and queries. The program supports SQL Server and Gupta's SQLBase. Source code and documentation is available to those interested in customizing SQL Accounting 2.0.

Runtime, $1,500 per module; source per network, $3,500 per module

TAXCUT

MECA Software Inc.

800-820-7461, 203-256-5000

Designed for personal tax preparation, TaxCut offers about 60 federal tax forms and schedules, and includes state tax forms for 23 states. The program has graphing capabilities and an in-depth tax interview that helps compute your annual tax liability. MECA promises to pay any tax penalties resulting from computation errors made by the software.

Reviewed: March 1994

For federal returns, $79.95;

for state returns, $24.95

TURBOTAX

ChipSoft Inc.

800-964-1040, 602-295-3110

TurboTax comes with approximately

50 federal tax forms and schedules, along with tax forms for 20 states. ChipSoft will refund your purchase price if TurboTax is unable to prepare your complete federal tax return. The program has an Easy Step interview and a Tax Savings Guide for identifying deductions. Its Tax Planner helps plot tax strategies up to five years into the future. ChipSoft offers 24-hour, toll-free technical support, the only tax software publisher to do so.

Reviewed: March 1994

For federal returns, $69.95;

for state returns (available for 20 states), $39.95

WIN LINE ACC/1 5.3

Mesonic USA Inc.

800-444-6376, 412-833-3312

Win Line Acc/1 5.3's general ledger allows for multi-company charts of accounts designed to your specifications. The program's Accounts Payable function suggests optimal payment schedules based on available discounts. The Accounts Receivable module handles statements and reminders with payment terms and specified finance charges. You can perform trial balances and balance sheets, as well as graphics outlines. Account sheets and journals are also provided with the program. Win Line Acc/1 5.3's other features include simultaneous posting to all accounting periods and bullet-proof audit trails of adjusting entries, along with password protection. In addition, Win Line Acc/1 5.3 can export data to other programs.

Single user, $695;

multiuser, $1,295


Asynchronous Communications

COMMWORKS 1.0

Traveling Software Inc.

800-343-8080, 206-483-8088

CommWorks includes five communications tools: TS FAX, a full fax management program; TS OnLine, for dialing into popular on-line services, mail and BBSs; LapLink Remote Access; LapLink Alert, notification when a file, message or fax arrives at your PC; and LapLink V, for file transfer. The program supports Hayes-compatible modems and Class I, II or CAS-compatible fax modems, as well as ANSI, TTY and DEC terminal emulations.

Reviewed: January 1994

$199.95

CROSSTALK 2.1

Digital Communications Associates Inc.

800-348-DCA1, 404-442-4000

Crosstalk for Windows comes with its own scripting language to assist you in automating communications tasks. It supports DDE and over 20 terminal emulations. You can configure up to four serial ports as well as share modems across a LAN. For network communications, it handles INT 14 and NetWare Asynchronous Services Interface (NASI), which are both compatible with most asynchronous communications servers. It also supports concurrent multiple sessions using MDI.

Reviewed: October 1993

$179

DYNACOMM 3.1

FutureSoft Engineering Inc.

800-989-8908, 713-496-9400

This program provides 19 network connectors, 10 file-transfer protocols and 16 terminal emulations. It has a full-featured script language with over 300 commands and functions and supports DDE and DLLs. DynaComm also supports MDI, and its text editor can handle up to eight open documents at once. File transfers can run in the background, and graphics files, such as .GIF and .RLE files, can be opened and viewed, even during downloading. DynaComm also supports the enhanced capabilities of the Windows 3.1 communications driver, allowing you to set the baud rate at up to 115,200.

Reviewed: October 1993

$249

HYPERACCESS 1.02

Hilgraeve Inc.

800-826-2760, 313-243-0576

With HyperACCESS, you can send files by using a file browser, or select and send files from File Manager using drag and drop. The asynchronous software provides detection of and protection from hundreds of known viruses during file transfers. It supports more than 250 modems and communications devices and has extensive terminal emulation support. The Session Window enables you to connect to one or more systems at a time, each through a different modem, and cut and paste information between sessions. The Backscroll buffer allows you to view information that has scrolled off the screen.

REVIEWED: October 1993

$199

MICROPHONE II 2.0

Software Ventures Inc.

510-644-3232, fax 510-848-0885

MicroPhone II provides custom front ends for popular on-line services and has a graphical script editor with point-and-click access for task automation. It supports DDE and MDI as well as network communications. It also features support for simultaneous multiple sessions and modem speeds from 50 to 115,200 bits per second, as well as six file-transfer protocols and terminal emulations.

$74.95

SMARTCOM 1.0D

Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.

404-441-1617, fax 404-449-0087

Smartcom is a full-featured asynchronous communications program that supports nine terminal emulations and five file transfer protocols. It also supports DDE. Smartcom's Smart Buttons feature enables you to make scripts of the communications tasks you use most often, and access them with the click of a button. Informative call in progress and file transfer status reports keep you updated. The software works with any Hayes-compatible modem.

$149

MIRROR 1.2

SoftKlone Distributing Inc.

800-634-8670, 904-878-8564

Mirror is a LAN- and modem-based asynchronous terminal emulation and file transfer package that supports direct serial port connections or INT-14, NASI, NCSI and NETCI network interfaces. It also supports Telnet, LAT and TES network protocols for accessing gateways, and can access other computer systems, on-line information services, BBSs, data centers and store-and-forward systems like MCI Mail. The program provides graphical ability with its Tektronix and DEC ReGIS terminal emulations and supports ANSI, DEC VT100, 220, 320 and TTY. Features include a macro language, DDE support, DLL manipulation, numerous file-transfer protocols and more.

$195

POWERLINE 1.2

Enable Software Inc.

800-888-0684, 518-877-8600

PowerLine is a communications environment that provides simultaneous, two-way file transfer and keyboard chatting, as well as the ability to send and receive messages. It has drag-and-drop capabilities for setting up phone books and dialing directories and gives users the ability to access each other's directories. PowerLine uploads and downloads files while running in the background. Other features include password security and an extensive scripting language. PowerLine supports speeds up to 115,600 bps, Hayes-compatible modems, provides support for BIDS interrupt 14 and has 16550A UART sensitivity.

$149; until 6/31/94

PROCOMM PLUS 1.02

Datastorm Technologies Inc.

314-443-3282, fax 314-875-0595

Procomm Plus supports DDE and 34 popular terminal emulations as well as 10 error-correcting file-transfer protocols, including Zmodem. Other features include a scripting language, a clipboard function, keyboard remapping and a utility for viewing .GIF files as you download them.

Reviewed: October 1993

$179

QMODEM PRO 1.0

Mustang Software Inc.

800-999-9619, 805-873-2500

This software provides both data and fax communications in one package. Faxes can be sent or received using any Class 1 or Class 2 fax modem, and it includes a fax viewer that provides thumbnail sketches, zooming, copying and printing. Many file-transfer protocols are supported, as well as more than 170 popular modems.

$139, upgrade from DOS available

QUICKLINK GOLD 1.2

Smith Micro Software Inc.

714-362-2345, fax 714-362-2300

This fax and communications package comes with an integrated OCR function for converting faxes into editable text. It includes a modem monitor, which emulates status lights and allows sending and receiving in the background. It provides support for five terminal emulations, nine transfer protocols and has a full-featured scripting language. In addition to its faxing features, it provides access for remote computers and popular on-line services. A data host feature allows authorized callers to log onto your computer and upload and download files transparently.

$99.95

TERMINAL PLUS 3.1

FutureSoft Engineering Inc.

800-989-8908, 713-496-9400

Terminal Plus supports a wide range of binary transfer protocols, popular terminal emulations and preconfigured settings for most modems. It allows storage and recall of communications parameters and provides a programmable 32-button toolbar. Each toolbar button can access a menu item, run a script or send frequently used strings, such as a password and log-in sequence. With Terminal Plus' multimedia support and your sound board, you can attach sound files to events. It offers access to other Windows applications via DDE and a script language.

$99

WINCOMM PRO 1.0

Delrina Corp.

800-268-6082, 408-363-2345

WinComm PRO is general-purpose data communications software for accessing on-line services and BBSs.  The software supports many standard terminal emulations and more than 350 popular modems. It also features Hyperguard, which scans for over 300 viruses during downloads.

$129


Contact Management

ABOVE & BEYOND 3.0

1soft Corp.

800-326-4391, 707-987-0256

Above & Beyond plans, manages and tracks both your business and personal schedules. The program uses a pop-up calendar that allows you to view a week or month at a glance. To-do items are integrated into daily schedules and recurring activities need be entered only once. Above & Beyond 3.0 supports drag-and-drop editing; the program also includes auto-launch, a contact database, attachable notes and alarms.

$99

ACT! 1.1

Symantec Corp.

800-441-7234, 408-253-9600

ACT's graphical scheduler can keep track of an unlimited number of events, which can be easily rescheduled using drag-and-drop. It offers calendar views by day, week or month and rolls over any unfinished tasks. The database has 70 preprogrammed fields and produces automatic contact histories. Offering links to many popular word processing programs as well as fax software WinFax PRO, the program also includes an integrated word processor that has mail-merge capability and a report generator.

reviewed: august 1993

$399

ASCEND 4.0

Franklin Quest Co.

800-877-1814, 801-975-9992

Ascend features a prioritized, daily task list, an appointment schedule, daily event records, and an address and phone directory. You can view your schedules by day, week or month and share data with other users working on a network. When integrated with the Franklin Daily Planner system, the program can print data on Planner pages for viewing away from the office. Ascend features OLE and drag-and-drop editing. Its contact manager includes an auto-dialer and enables you to link data to create an activity log for each of your accounts.

reviewed: july 1993

$199

CALENDAR CREATOR PLUS 2.0

Spinnaker Software Corp.

800-828-0706, 617-494-1200

Create your own calendar in a variety of formats. You can display appointments with graphics and create daily, weekly, monthly, multiweek, multimonth and annual calendars, complete with appointments. The program enables you to enter recurring appointments, set reminders and list tasks by event, name, style or priority.

$49.95

COMMENCE 2.1

Jensen-Jones Inc.

800-688-7080, 908-530-4666

In addition to offering full PIM functions for calendaring and contact and task management, Commence supports electronic mail and handles up to 20 open windows for multitasking. Agents provide task automation. The program's multimedia alarms will play back sound or video clips to remind you of appointments, and its fuzzy, global search feature can track down information even if you're unsure of the correct spelling. The program is designed to share data over a network.

$395

CONTACT BREEM! 1.0

Breem Software

214-519-0576, fax  214-519-0672

Contact Breem! (formerly Contact Success!) lets you keep an unlimited history of every contact and provides three notepads for each: to-do, last contact and general notes. In addition to providing traditional contact manager functions, it offers an integrated word processor, one-step mail merge, phone list generation and usercustomizable reports. You can also conduct quick searches and autodial phone numbers, print mailing labels and use codes to categorize contacts.

$64.95

CONTACT-PRO 1.0

DSI Software Systems

612-633-0730, fax 612-633-8678

This networkable contact manager features password security, group scheduling, scripting and e-mail capabilities, as well as DDE and OLE support. You can enter an unlimited number of dated, history entries per contact and attach an optional memo to each. The program furnishes five phone number fields for each contact and allows you to add up to 99 fields that can be defined for various attributes. It imports data in ASCII delimited or dBASE format and has many scheduling features.

Single users, $395; per workstation, $495

DACEASY INSTANT ROLODEX 1.0

DacEasy Inc.

800-DAC-EASY, 214-248-0205

DacEasy Instant Rolodex stores thousands of contact names, addresses and phone numbers, as well as alternate addresses and multiple phone and fax numbers. You can customize field labels to fit your business needs and use the memo pad for conversation notes. It also has a scheduling calendar, to-do list manager and communications capabilities; it will print envelopes, Rolodex filing cards and mailing labels. The program integrates with DacEasy Instant Accounting.

reviewed: june 1993

$49.95

DESKTOP SET PROFESSIONAL 4.0C

Okna Corp.

201-909-8600, fax  201-909-0688

This personal information manager includes an address book, calendar, dialer, phone log and message pad. The address book has almost 80 fields (32 of them custom) and allows you to log calls, take notes, attach files, take messages and dial phone numbers. The calendar features four viewing modes, day, week, month or year, and can be configured to float unfinished events from day to day.

$99

DYNODEX 1.02

Portfolio Software Inc.

800-729-3966, 802-454-4000

Dynodex is an address book manager that features customizable data-entry options. The entry screen has 22 user-definable fields and a notes field that holds up to two pages of text. Features such as automatic initial caps and shorthand keys speed data entry. The program's import and export capabilities support text, tab or comma-delimited fields. Database functions include search, sort and file merge. The program prints any size address page, mailing label or rotary card and can print to many paper-based organizers.

$59.95

ECCO PROFESSIONAL 2.0

Arabesque Software Inc.

800-457-4243, 206-869-9600

Ecco Professional helps you organize all of your daily planning, notes and contacts in outline format. It can provide many views of personal information, and lets you reschedule appointments by dragging them around the screen. Compatible with most popular LANs, Ecco Professional provides group scheduling and allows for shared files and phone books. It supports VIM and MAPI systems and integrates with Microsoft Schedule+. A reduced-function, single-user version, called Ecco Simplicity, is also available.

Ecco Professional, $279;

Ecco Simplicity, $99

THE FAR SIDE DAILY PLANNER AND CALENDAR PUBLISHER 3.0

Delrina Corp.

800-268-6082, 206-820-7007

The perpetual appointment calendar, scheduling features, and list and address book organization tools in this daily planner are enlivened by 366 Far Side cartoons and 17 animated sequences with sound effects. The program offers search and sort capabilities to manage lists and can exchange data, including ASCII and dBASE files, with other applications. It can print templates, format lists, contacts and calendars to fit some of the popular paper organizers. DDE links with WinFax Pro will automatically add contacts from the Far Side to your WinFax phone book.

$59.95

INFO SELECT

Micro Logic Corp.

800-342-5930 201-342-6158

Combining the functions of a PIM, contact manager and free-form database, Info Select manages random information such as notes, appointments, things to do, addresses, phone numbers, prices, lists and more. It includes multiple search capabilities and generates forms, including 23 ready-to-use forms. The program automatically fills in forms such as labels or fax cover sheets. Access to Windows' Calculator and Calendar is also provided.

$149

IN HIS TIME 1.5

Colonnade Technologies

800-848-5480, 206-822-2977

Packed with daily Bible verses, inspirational thoughts and cartoons, this Christian PIM uses a daily planner interface to manage to-do lists, appointments and addresses. It includes an alarm and the ability to roll unfinished items to the next day. You can keep personal information in the journal, prayer diary and Bible reading planner.

$79.95

LOTUS ORGANIZER 1.1

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-253-9150

Lotus Organizer's interface has the familiar look of paper-based organizers, including sections for a calendar, to-do list, yearly planner, notepad, addresses and phone numbers. You can link related information in different sections and create DDE links from the notepad to other applications. Organizer has search, sort and filter features for analyzing data and the ability to import and export various file formats. The program has a group scheduling capability and runs on all VIM-compliant e-mail systems. It can print to numerous page formats, including popular organizer systems and labels.

$149

MAXIMIZER 1.2

Modatech

800-804-MAXX, 604-736-4996

Supporting up to nine open windows at a time, this contact manager can be used as a standalone product or across a network. It uses Novell's Btrieve database technology and enables you to set up an unlimited number of databases with any number of records and fields. The calendar features drag-and-drop, group scheduling and conflict checking. Maximizer comes with an integrated word processor. It also includes support for WinFax PRO and Eclipse Fax.

$249

POLARIS ADVANTAGE 1.0

Polaris Software Inc.

800-338-5943, 619-592-7400

Advantage is a personal planner that manages your phone book, schedules and to-do lists. It has a Special Events Manager that reminds you in advance of birthdays, anniversaries and other special days. The program also stores, tracks and launches other application files, and integrates with popular word processors and fax programs. Features include drag-and-drop editing, automatic phone dialing, DDE and the ability to import and export numerous file formats.

$149

POLARIS PACKRAT 5.0.11

Polaris Software Inc.

800-338-5943, 619-592-7400

In addition to handling tasks such as appointment scheduling and contact management, PackRat manages your financial data, projects and documents. It tracks time for billing and prints custom reports and financial journals. The program allows for multiple address books and calendars, and features drag-and-drop editing, OLE, DDE and import/export filters for numerous file formats. PackRat integrates with word processors such as Word, WordPerfect and Ami Pro.

$395

PERSONAL DAILY PLANIT

Media Vision

800-348-7116, fax 510-623-5749

This multimedia PIM is available in three editions designed around hundreds of thematically related, color photographs, sounds and full-motion videos. The three editions, PlanIt Earth, Swimwear Illustrated and PlanIt Adrenaline, all include a complete address and phone directory, to-do list and appointment scheduler. When combined with a microphone and sound card, the program's voice annotation capabilities allow you to annotate lists with spoken comments, while voice recognition enables you to issue simple commands verbally. Drag-and-drop editing and rollover of unfinished to-do items are standard features.

CD-ROM version, $59.95;

disk version, $49.95

SHARKWARE 1.0

Cognitech Corp.

800-285-4750, 404-518-4577

This PIM incorporates contact and activity management with quotes and tips from business author Harvey Mackay. It accommodates an unlimited number of contacts, addresses, user-definable fields and notes. Features include Boolean search capabilities, grouping of contacts, DDE support and the automatic notification of scheduling conflicts.

$129.95


Presentation Graphics

ABC FLOWCHARTER 3.0

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-994-6413

A tool for visualizing work flow, ABC FlowCharter 3.0 features shape palettes, which provide graphics for business processes and organizational charts. An automatic alignment tool lets users place graphics exactly where they want them within flowcharts. The software acts as an OLE container application, allowing users to integrate information from other pro grams.

reviewed: May 1993

$495

ASTOUND 1.5

Gold Disk Inc.

800-982-9888, 408-982-0200

Featuring more than 30 transitions for slides and slide elements, such as graphics, video and sound files, Astound 1.5 imports Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 charts, and PowerPoint files. The program lets you animate 3-D graphs and other presentation elements. It supports .WAV, MIDI and CD audio files, plus the playback of .AVI and Quicktime  files. Astound 1.5 ships with more than 50 slide templates, 20 drawing tools, a slide outliner and sorter.

$399

BRAVO!

Alpha Software Corp.

800-799-6877, 617-229-2924

Slides, overheads, interactive on-screen demonstrations and multimedia presentations are all in a day's work for Bravo! The program features more than 65 graph styles, up to 16 million colors and clip-art images that automatically expand as you enter text inside them. Tools to manipulate type, produce special effects and create drawings are included. Users can add sound, video and animation to presentations.

$119

CHARISMA 4.0

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-994-6413

Charisma's master styles make it easy for you to place video, sound and animation elements directly into presentations. Charting and graphing tools and a 3-D rendering engine simplify the visual presentation of data in various formats. Illustration tools enable you to create 3-D extrusions of text and graphics, fill bitmap images with textures, and warp text and objects. A CD-ROM of multimedia clips is included.

reviewed: december 1993

$495

COMPEL 1.0a

Asymetrix Corp.

800-448-6543, 206-462-0501

Asymetrix's presentation package, Compel 1.0a, supports all media types, including .WAV and MIDI audio files, animation and .AVI files; it imports graphics in a number of formats. Slide transitions include fades, zooms, wipes, spirals and dissolves; you can work with line, area, bar and pie (with exploded slices) charts. Charts can incorporate legends and labels, optional grids and 3-D effects.You can also create printouts of slides.

$295

CURTAIN CALL 2.0

Zuma Group Inc.

800-332-3492, 602-246-4238

Supporting the playback of .AVI video files and .FLI and .FLC animations, Curtain Call multimedia video titling and presentation software offers a full-featured paint program, a title and background generator, and a multimedia slide-show editor and player. Users can add synchronized sound to presentations. Stylistic effects, such as shadows, outlines and glints of light, can be applied to text and images. The application supports TrueType and other Windows-compatible fonts.

$199.95

DELTAGRAPH PRO 2.04

DeltaPoint Inc.

800-446-6955, 408-648-4000

DeltaGraph Pro's gallery of charts includes bar, pie, organizational, spider, ternary, bubble, surface, radar, time-line, 3-D and scatter plots. Formatting controls allow curve fitting, error bars, depth and 3-D rotation. The graphing program also provides slide-show capabilities, scientific and technical features and preformatted chart templates. A Chart Advisor helps you select the best chart type for your data.

reviewed: february 1993

$195

FREELANCE GRAPHICS 2.01

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

Key features of Freelance Graphics 2.01 include an animated on-line tutorial and 65 SmartMaster presentation styles, which facilitate a fill-in-the-blanks approach to creating a presentation. Visual galleries display your options when selecting presentation elements. The package incorporates 108 ready-made chart styles, and allows for animated transitions, sound effects and full-motion video. It supports Lotus Notes through Notes/FX technology, enabling coworkers to store, share, customize and distribute presentations.

reviewed: february 1993

$495

HARVARD GRAPHICS 2.0

Software Publishing

800-234-2500, 408-986-8000

Among Harvard Graphics 2.0's features are an on-line, interactive tutorial; a customizable icon bar; design tips; and 31 presentation styles that specify the charting options, color palette, background design, and type font and size. As you enter data, the Quick Looks feature displays thumbnail previews of how a chart will appear and offers tips on how to improve a chart. Harvard Graphics 2.0 lets you display your presentation on as many as 64 computers at the same time.

reviewed: november 1993

$395; upgrade, $89

METADESIGN 4.0

Meta Software Corp.

800-227-4106, 617-576-6920

MetaDesign 4.0 is a modeling tool that produces diagrams and flowcharts. Using hierarchical structuring, the package defines relationships between objects or groups of objects, and creates hierarchies between objects and text. Connected shapes stay connected when moved, and all associated text, connectors and subordinate objects automatically adjust to their new positions.

$199

MULTIMEDIA WORKS 1.5

Lenel Systems

International Inc.

716-248-9720, fax 716-248-9185

MultiMedia Works is a presentation builder that includes a universal player for previewing virtually any multimedia file type and a Show Builder for creating multimedia presentations, including video, graphics and animation objects with synchronized audio. The program supports more than 40 multimedia file formats, including Photo CD, and ships with a CD-ROM with more than 350MB of video, music, sound effects and animations. The program acts as an OLE 2.0 server, enabling you to embed multimedia files into other applications.

$99

ORIGIN 3.0

Microcal Software Inc.

800-969-7720, 413-586-2013

Origin provides technical graphics and data analysis capabilities designed for scientific and engineering applications. Features include DDE and OLE support, along with built-in and user-defined statistical, mathematical and curve-fitting functions. A layering system lets you arrange and link more than 20 graphs on one page, and the open-ended architecture allows for numerous add-on modules with 3-D and contour graphing, flexible user-interface and data acquisition support.

$495

PERSUASION 2.1

Aldus Corp.

206-628-4515, 206-622-5500

An integrated outline processor, along with automated layouts and templates, help you create professional presentations using Persuasion. Charting, graphing and drawing tools, as well as transition effects, are included. DDE support provides links to data in spreadsheets, word processors and other DDE-supported applications. A runtime application lets you run the presentation on PCs that do not have the program installed.

$495

POWERPOINT 4.0

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

PowerPoint automates much of the presentation process through features such as AutoLayout, which automatically creates 21 different types of slides. AutoContent Wizards suggest content and structure for common presentation subjects, while Cue Cards provide step-by-step instructions. The program offers full OLE 2.0 support and is linked with other Microsoft applications. More than 100 graph types and 1,100 clip-art images are included.

$495

Q/MEDIA 2.0

Q/Media Software Corp.

800-444-9356, 604-879-1190

Q/Media lets you create hyperlinks that allow you to interactively navigate through a presentation. An integrated outliner with built-in text outline view is featured. Other features include predefined styles for headings and body text and a mode in which background scenes can be defined and saved as templates. The program acts as an OLE 2.0 client. A CD-ROM version with 500MB of multimedia clips is also available.

$169; CD-ROM version, $199

SNAPGRAFX 1.0

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-994-6413

Designed to simplify business graphics, SnapGrafx offers graphics shapes and lines, templates and seamless integration with word processors and spreadsheets. Graphics can be easily sized, moved and edited through a point-and-click approach. A template gallery displays a selection of chart types, including time line, organizational, comparison, Venn and pyramid. Grids allow for precise placement of diagram elements.

$99

SOFTCRAFT PRESENTER 2.0

SoftCraft Inc.

800-351-0500, 608-257-3300

Using SoftCraft Presenter multimedia software, you can choose from a selection of templates in a variety of coordinated color schemes. The package provides for the creation of animation, animated graphs and the unlimited customization of all presentation components. Features include a set of drawing tools with Bezier curve and DDE support, as well as clip art.

reviewed: march 1993

$595

SST 1.1

AskMe Multimedia Inc.

612-531-0603, fax 612-531-0645

Allowing you to create interactive multimedia presentations in a free-form environment, SST 1.1 supports a wide variety of popular graphics, animation, sound and digital video formats. Presentations developed with SST incorporate VCR-like control buttons. Features include a slide sorter, thumbnail previews of slides, time-based synchronization and the ability to switch among six different media editors from one screen.

$149

STANFORD GRAPHICS 2.1

Visual Numerics

800-222-4675, 713-954-6424

Designed for the technical user, Stanford Graphics 2.1 lets you choose from among 167 predefined graph types to display data. The program lets you create links to spreadsheet data via DDE and OLE 1.0. Additional features include drawing tools, multiple arrow styles, 24-bit color support, and gradient and pattern fills. Presentation features include master slides and templates, a thumbnail slide sorter and customizable color schemes.

reviewed: february 1993

$495

WORDPERFECT PRESENTATIONS 2.0

WordPerfect Corp.

800-451-5151

Featuring presentation, paint, drawing, charting and text-handling tools, WordPerfect Presentations 2.0 ships with more than 1,000 clip-art images, 64 master backgrounds and more than 100 MIDI sound clips. A split-screen chart editor lets you edit information in spreadsheet format and watch as the chart changes. Support for TWAIN means you can scan in images, which can be touched up or altered. The program also supports OLE 1.0 as both client and server.

reviewed: august 1993

$495


Databases

Access 1.1

Microsoft Corp.

800-227-4679, 206-882-8080

Microsoft's relational database, Access 1.1, supports ODBC and provides connectivity to Oracle, Sybase SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server databases, among others. Direct connectivity to FoxPro (versions 2.0 and 2.5) data and indices is also provided. Flexible fixed-width and variable-length text importing is featured. Named ranges can be imported from Microsoft's Excel, and a special option allows you to export data to Word for mail merges. The program is network-aware, as well as multiuser capable. It supports DDE and OLE 1.0 as a client.

Reviewed: June 1993

$495

Approach 2.1

Lotus Development Corp.

800-553-4270, 415-306-7890

Fully compatible with the ODBC standard, Approach 2.1 employs a technology that directly accesses Oracle 6 and Oracle 7 tables. Version 2.1 of the relational database allows you to hide macros and to execute a find on memo fields, enabling you to search through large blocks of textual information. The network-aware database supports .GIF and .TGA graphics files. Additional features include a report writer and a WYSIWYG screen generator. Approach 2.1 supports an unlimited number of records, fields per record and indices.

Reviewed: March 1993

$395

buttonFile 1.0

buttonWare Inc.

800-528-8866, 206-454-0479

buttonFile is a personal, flat-file database that holds up to 200,000 records with up to 40 fields per record. Predesigned templates help speed database creation; template categories include business and personal contacts and home inventory, among others. buttonFile lets you print mailing and shipping labels, 3x5 cards and envelopes. Password protection and data encryption safeguard important information. You can view data in either a Rolodex card or a spreadsheet format. A network version of buttonFile is available.

$89.95

DataEase Express 1.1

DataEase International Inc.

800-243-5123, 203-374-8000

A nonprogrammable, relational data manager and database front end, DataEase Express provides transparent access to dBASE, Paradox, Sybase SQL Server and Oracle Server, among other data sources. To give you a head start designing your databases, the program's object-oriented forms designer offers a variety of form and record templates. DataEase Express' Query By Form function enables on-line data filtering and sorting, and Query By Model helps you create multifile reports from a graphical data model.

Reviewed: March 1993

$395

DataManager 3.1

TimeWorks Inc.

708-559-1310, fax 708-559-1360

With DataManager 3.1, you can link separate databases via one-to-one and/or one-to-many relationships; no programming is needed. DataManager supports up to 50 million records, an unlimited number of fields per record and up to 200 indices. A report generator allows you to insert graphic images from the database into reports, forms and labels. DataManager supports a wide variety of field types, including character, numeric, notes, image, date and time.

Reviewed: March 1993

$59.95

FileMaker Pro 2.1

Claris Corp.

800-735-7393, 408-987-7000

Windows and Macintosh users can share database files with FileMaker Pro 2.1, Claris' LAN-aware, multiuser database that has a WYSIWYG screen generator, a report writer and its own scripting language. The database includes features such as cross-file searching capabilities and allows you to add full-motion video, animation and digital sound files to records. FileMaker Pro supports DDE. A CD-ROM version of the database is also available.

Reviewed: March 1993

Through spring, $129; after spring, $399

FoxPro 2.6

Microsoft Corp.

800-227-4679, 206-882-8080

FoxPro 2.6 features the FoxPro Catalog Manager, an interface for managing tables, queries, screens, labels and reports. Wizards help to simplify tasks, such as table creation and mail merges with Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. The relational database supports any ODBC-compatible data source and features AutoMigrate, which converts dBASE tables, reports, screens and catalogs to FoxPro format. The database is LAN-aware and multiuser capable. It supports DDE and OLE 1.0 as a client and server.

Reviewed: June 1993

$495

MpcOrganizer 3.0

Lenel Systems International

716-248-9720, fax 716-248-9185~

Designed to assist you in managing your multimedia files, MpcOrganizer 3.0 can retrieve and play back more than 40 file formats, including video, animation and audio files. The program provides an OLE server to add multimedia elements to Windows applications, including Word, Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Access, Paradox, Powerpoint and others. A group of files can be cataloged as one object. Thumbnail galleries can be browsed to find just the right multimedia file. MpcOrganizer saves hard disk space by providing JPEG file compression. A CD-ROM version of the database includes more than 350MB of multimedia files.

$149

Paradox 4.5

Borland International Inc.

800-UPGRADE, 408-431-1000

Paradox 4.5 is a relational database that offers IDAPI connectivity and support for Interbase, Microsoft SQL, Oracle and Sybase databases. QuickObject buttons ease creation of forms, reports, graphs and cross tabulations. Built-in drawing and layout tools include lines, buttons, graphs and crosstabs. Style sheets are also offered to simplify your report designing. A right-click on any database object calls up the Object Inspector, which provides all the editing options for the object. Paradox 4.5 also offers a graphical query-by-example feature. Workgroup and development editions are available, as well as versions on CD-ROM.

Reviewed: June 1993

49.95

Q&A 4.0

Symantec Corp.

800-441-7234, 408-253-9600

Featuring a fully integrated version of Q&A Write, Symantec's word processor, Q&A 4.0, simplifies the task of creating merged form letters, envelopes and labels. The flat-file database offers a smart assistant that enables you to perform queries and sorts, and to create reports and scripts. All you have to do is point and click. Additional features include a WYSIWYG screen generator and a report writer.

$249.95

Superbase 2.0

Software Publishing Corp.

800-234-2500, 408-986-8000

Software Publishing's relational database, Superbase 2.0, supports multimedia file types and includes a video player for incorporating and manipulating motion video in Superbase applications. The program provides an environment that allows you to create menus, icon bars, dialog boxes, forms and reports using point-and-click and drag-and-drop. For extending applications, there's an event-driven, Visual-Basic-like language. Connectivity to dBASE, Paradox and seven major SQL back-end servers is provided.

Reviewed: June 1993

$495; competitive upgrade, $99

Wyndfields 2.0

Wyndware

800-475-1628, 608-755-1628

Wyndfields 2.0 is a relational database that can link up to 20 databases together. Linked databases are opened and closed simultaneously so that the integrity of the links is always maintained. Searches, updates and reports may be based on conditions from several linked databases at once. You can view and edit data in form or table format and perform detailed searches based on information in any field. A flexible report generator enables the creation of detailed tabular and custom reports, mailing labels and form letters. Wyndfields imports and exports fixed-length, ASCII and dBASE formats.

$99


DTP

Corel Ventura 4.2

Corel Systems Corp.

800-836-DRAW, 613-728-8200

Suitable for projects of any size, the latest version of Corel Ventura features faster font loading than previous versions. It supports RGB, CMYK and Pantone color models. Version 4.2 ships with Ventura Separator, a color prepress system. Dozens of templates, more than 600 fonts and over 10,000 clip-art images are included. Corel Ventura uses master pages and style sheets, and can automatically wrap type and create drop caps.

Reviewed: September 1993

$249

FrameMaker 4.0

Frame Technology

800-U-4-FRAME, 408-433-3311

FrameMaker 4.0 integrates high-end word processing and desktop publishing tools to help you produce business and technical documents, such as manuals, books and procedural guides. Long document processing tools automate a number of tasks; the program automatically numbers headings, steps and other items; maintains cross-references within and between files; generates indexes and tables of contents; and creates hypertext links throughout documents.

Reviewed: September 1993

$895

PageMaker 5.0

Aldus Corp.

800-627-8880, 206-628-2320

Aldus' desktop publishing program is appropriate for long and short documents. PageMaker 5.0 handles color separation and font matching and substitution.The program ships with macros for task automation, such as drop-cap creation and column balancing, and a scripting language that enables you to create your own macros. Version 5.0 includes import and export filters for Kodak Photo CD.

Reviewed: September 1993

$895

PagePlus

Serif Inc.

800-697-3743; 603-889-8650

Perform almost any short-document layout task you can think of with PagePlus. The program supports process-color separations, and is capable of accomplishing many prepress functions. Sixty templates are included in the package. Other features include text wrapping and style-sheet support.

$59.95

Reviewed: September 1994

PFS: Publisher 1.1

Spinnaker Software

800-323-8088, 617-494-1200

Spinnaker's general-purpose desktop publisher offers page layout tools, word processing capabilities and image galleries through which you can browse. The program includes master pages and can automatically wrap type and generate drop caps. PFS: Publisher imports a variety of word processor and image formats.

Reviewed: September 1993

$149

Publisher 2.0

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Designed for people with little or no experience in graphic design, Publisher's 17 interactive design assistants, called PageWizards, and 35 professionally designed templates help you get up and publishing. Additional help is provided by Publisher's Cue Cards, Quick Demos, Design Tips, Layout Checker and Print Troubleshooter features. Also included is WordArt, an applet that helps you create innovative text special effects. Publisher offers a gallery of clip art and a table editor, and supports master pages and style sheets.

Reviewed: August 1993

$139

Publish It! 4.0

TimeWorks Inc.

800-323-7744, 708-559-1300

Best suited for the creation of manuscripts, newsletters, brochures and flyers, Publish It! 4.0 lets you apply color to text, frame borders and drawn objects. Eight drawing tools allow you to create your own graphic objects, which you can also group and align. The program includes a spell checker and thesaurus. Page layout capabilities include automatic type wrapping and drop-cap creation. The software supports master pages and style sheets.

Reviewed: September 1993

$149.95

QuarkXPress 3.3

Quark Inc.

800-788-7835, 303-894-8888

QuarkXPress offers an intuitive frame-based environment for page layout. Floating tool palettes are featured, and the document management palette allows you to copy, delete and save master pages. QuarkXPress supports color separation and provides options for traps and spreads, which allow you to compensate for press registration and irregularities. Version 3.3 supports a number of color models, such as Pantone, Toyo and DIC. The program is available for the Macintosh, and files are compatible between Windows and Mac platforms.

Reviewed: February 1994

$895


E-Mail

a la mail Pro 2.0

A la Mode Workgroup Systems Inc.

800-252-6633, 405-359-3346

This program runs in shared drive space on a file server, with individual PCs handling message sending. Among a la mail's capabilities are direct faxing and message routing, searching, sorting and browsing. Message templates can be saved for later use. Password protection and data encryption are also provided. The program can run on any Windows 3.1-compatible network.

Per network, $595 (unlimited users) $95 per node on peer network

BeyondMail MHS 2.0

Beyond Inc.

800-845-8511, 617-229-0006

With support for NetWare Global MHS, BeyondMail 2.0 allows NetWare sites to implement e-mail in a scalable fashion. You can create rules for routing messages, and the program includes a sample routing slip to get you up and running. BeyondMail 2.0 features the GUI Administration tool for public directory and user account maintenance. Version 2.0 also allows you to attach images, and offers integration with database formats, including dBASE, Paradox

and FoxPro.

Ten users, $695

cc:Mail 2.0

Lotus Development Corp.

800-448-2500, 415-335-6400

Automate message handling with cc:Mail 2.0, Lotus' e-mail application. You can create rules that instruct the mail system to perform tasks, such as forwarding messages that contain certain key words to a specific person. The program also includes an advanced search function and a spell checker. Cross-platform support is offered for DOS, Windows, Macintosh, OS/2's Workplace Shell and UNIX environments.

Platform Pack, $495

da Vinci eMAIL 2.5

da Vinci Systems Corp.

800-DAVINCI, 919-881-4320

da Vinci eMAIL's Administrative GUI feature offers comprehensive e-mail management from a single screen. The e-mail package supports Novell NetWare 4.0 and Novell's NetWare Global Messaging Handling Service (GMHS). User features include shared mailboxes, global folder searching, built-in attachment viewers and a multiuser bulletin board system. Password protection and message encryption are also provided. da Vinci eMAIL supports DOS, Windows, OS/2 and Macintosh environments.

Ten-user DOS and Windows starter pack, $799

E-Mail Connection

Connect Software

800-234-9497, 206-881-8251

E-Mail Connection is a unified interface for MCI Mail, CompuServe (public mail only), and MHS and MAPI systems. It offers individual and group addresses and message routing rules. Messages are stored in a hierarchical filing system. The software can routinely dial MCI or CompuServe or poll MHS or MAPI systems to collect messages.

$99.95; direct $79.95

Reviewed: December 1993

eNote 2.0

e Ware

800-743-8645; 212-564-7791

Instead of delivering messages to an inbox, eNote instantly pops up messages directly on the recipient's screen. All of the messaging software's functions can be performed from a slim, floating toolbar. Features include drag-and-drop, folders, a spell checker, context searching and support for MHS and DDE. A remote version of ENOTE 2.0 is available, as well as a version that acts as a front end to Lotus's cc:Mail.

Five users, $239;

20 users, $599;

50 users, $1,199

FreeMail

Saroff Design

406-542-3867

FreeMail allows standalone PCs to exchange e-mail using regular telephone lines and standard modems. Only one copy of the program need be purchased; you can distribute unlimited copies of the program to the people to whom you wish to send e-mail. To save on phone charges, FreeMail can automatically send and receive messages and file transfers at particular times of the day.

$74.95

MailPlus

Computer Mail Services Inc.

800-883-2674, 313-352-6700

A front end to MCI Mail, MailPlus provides an easy-to-read log of mail activity. The software saves incoming and outgoing messages for any length of time you specify, in any number of file cabinets. Messages can be searched by subject, sender or recipient. The program automatically creates an address database from incoming message IDs.

$99.95

Reviewed: October 1993

MailRoom for MCI

Mail 1.3

Sierra Solutions

310-478-2531, MCI Mail ID 545-0183

MailRoom for MCI Mail provides users of the on-line service with windows to view and compose messages, and lets users set up folders for message storing. The program can transmit messages and search folders in the background, and most functions can be performed off-line. An address book stores frequently used addresses. MailRoom for MCI Mail supports all MCI message

sending features.

$85

Microsoft Mail

for PC Networks 3.2

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Microsoft Mail enables you to create folders and subfolders for storing and organizing your personal messages, and supports shared folders so you can share information with others in your post office. Functional attachment and OLE support are included.

$695

M-Mail 3.0

InterActive Inc.

800-292-2112, 605-363-5117

M-Mail 3.0 lets you create, send and receive messages combining voice, text, pictures and graphics. The e-mail program allows you to annotate a received message and forward it to another person. M-Mail notifies you of incoming messages, and the message status pull-down menu tells you when your multimedia message was sent, received and played.

Five users, $295; 10 users, $395; 100 users, $29.75 each

QuickMail MHS 2.0

CE Software

800-523-7638, 515-224-1995

An e-mail program for NetWare-based Windows and Macintosh computers, QuickMail MHS 2.0 lets you attach up to 64 files to a single message. If the receiver doesn't have the attachment creator application, the document will be opened in its raw format by the application you designate.

One user, $99; 10 users $599;

25 users, $1,399; 100 users, $4,499

Software Grove Messages for Networks

Software Grove Corp.

800-793-0040, 206-823-0833

Software Grove Messages for Networks offers an electronic version of the pink message pad. Messages are stamped with the time and date, and the program automatically creates a database of callers to speed data entry. All messages are stored in a master database. The program has additional features that include search capabilities for previous messages and an auto dialer for return calls.

Reviewed: October 1993

Five-user pack at $50 per node, $249; 20-user pack, $599


Forms

FormFlow 1.0

Delrina Technology Inc.

800-268-6082, 408-363-2345

By taking advantage of existing e-mail systems and databases, FormFlow allows you to create sophisticated conditional routing solutions for electronic forms. FormFlow integrates with Delrina's fax software, WinFaxPRO. You can create customized forms applications with the program's development language and macro set. TWAIN support enables direct scanner input.

Designer/Filler, $279; Filler, $139

JetForm 4.0

JetForm Corp.

800-JET-FORM, 617-647-7700

JetForm's Designer module includes ODBC drivers for many database formats. As you design your form, you can specify which portions of a form each user will see. JetForm Filler lets you query specific form. While entering data, you can attach notes anywhere on a form.

Designer, $495; Filler, $179

Microsoft Electronic Forms Designer

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Microsoft Electronic Forms Designer simplifies the task of developing electronic forms that users can then fill out, send and receive across The company's e-mail program, Microsoft Mail. Forms can be routed serially to a list of users. Customizable templates give form developers a head start. Visual Basic 2.0 is required for the creation of forms.

$395

Paper Keyboard EZ 2.2

Datacap Inc.

914-332-7515, fax 914-332-7516

Appropriate for inventory tracking and survey applications, Paper Keyboard automates data entry from completed surveys, response cards and other common types of paper forms. When combined with a desktop scanner, Paper Keyboard EZ can accurately read hundreds of check boxes per second, according to a company representative.

$495

Smart!Forms 2.0

Enterprise Technology

800-889-FORMS, 508-685-8858

Smart!Forms gets you up and running quickly with 100 predesigned templates. Controls let you rotate, move and scale objects to within 1/1000 of an inch. Additional features include multilevel undo. The program imports image formats, such as TIFF, .PCX, .BMP and .EPS.

$99

Teleform 2.0

Cardiff Software Inc.

800-659-8755, 619-259-6430

Teleform 2.0 allows you to design and print forms, and then to distribute and collect them by fax. Teleform recognizes incoming forms and automatically enters data into most popular spreadsheets and databases. It can recognize hand-printed and typed characters, as well as shaded and checked circles. Recognition capabilities enable the program to adjust for skewed, stretched and upside-down faxes.

Reviewed: April 1993

One user, $1,495; two users, $2,990; five users, $7,475

WindFORM 2.0

Graphics Development International Inc.

800-989-4434, 415-382-6600

Design your own forms or select from a library of 150 predesigned forms. You can enter data using three different data-entry modes. The program imports a variety of image and forms software formats.

$99.95

WordPerfect

InForms 1.0

WordPerfect Corp.

800-861-2507, 801-228-5000

WordPerfect InForms Designer offers a robust floating tool palette for creating form objects. You can write to many popular database software packages, and search and edit data from within InForms. Support for VIM API and MAPI lets you send completed forms via e-mail. InForms includes 120 templates.

Reviewed: April 1993

Designer/Filler, $495; Filler, $199


Fax Solutions

BITFAX PROFESSIONAL 3.0

Bit Software Inc.

510-490-2928, fax 510-490-9490

With BitFax Professional, a voice/fax modem and a single telephone line, you're set to send and receive phone calls, fax messages and voice mail messages. You can send faxes directly from within Windows applications, and macros are included for Word, Excel and Ami Pro. Using BitFax's Voice Manager and a voice modem (with a Rockwell or Sierra voice chip), you can create voice mail boxes, record greeting messages and play your own messages. The program will call your pager when you receive faxes or voice messages; you can also forward faxes to another fax number via telephone.

$129, upgrade $49 from any Bit.

DataFax+ 4.0

Trio Information Systems Inc.

800-880-4990, 919-846-4990

Trio's send-and-receive fax software, DataFax+, ships with FaxConverter, a pocket-sized device that instantly converts any fax machine into a scanner or local printer. FaxConverter doubles as a telephone-line simulator, allowing users to demonstrate telecommunications products from their PCs. DataFax+ lets you fax selected data from within any Windows application. The program also automatically handles the OCR processing of faxes on receipt, after which they can be exported to 12 different formats.

$129

ECLIPSE FAX OCR 1.21

Phoenix Technologies

800-452-0120, 617-551-4000

Eclipse FAX with OCR brings a myriad of fax send-and-receive capabilities to your desktop. The program can match fax resolution to computer-display resolution for easier viewing. To save money, you can program Eclipse to send your faxes automatically when phone rates are at their lowest. In addition, Eclipse's OCR lets you select specific sections of a fax for conversion to editable text. Additional features include annotation and thumbnail document arrangement.

Reviewed: August 1993

$129

EZ-FAX 4.0

Calculus Inc.

305-481-2334, fax 305-481-1866

Engineered specifically for NetWare networks, EZ-Fax 4.0 allows users to send unique cover sheets to each recipient of a broadcast fax. Up to 10 Post-it notes can be added to any received fax page; you can choose to omit any annotations you make on the page from any further transmissions. Incoming faxes are automatically archived and can be tagged with user-specified key words. EZ-Fax offers password security and the routing administrator can be restricted from viewing more than the first page. Users can create multiple phone books and groups with an unlimited number of names.

Eight-station system, $1,999

FACTSLINE 1.2

Ibex Technologies Inc.

800-289-9998, 916-621-4342

This enhanced fax software package provides both fax-on-demand (FOD) and fax broadcast capabilities. The FOD feature lets you store documents for 24-hour automatic retrieval by people who call in from their touch-tone phones. Interactive Forms bring OCR benefits to FactsLine by enabling it to recognize handwritten and hand-marked forms. The program reads and stores the information entered on the forms and automatically acknowledges the entered data via a return fax. FactsLine's fax broadcasting features handle high-volume fax transmissions and let you create custom cover pages. You can simultaneously run fax broadcasting and fax-on-demand operations.

Engine $4,790; each port $670

FAXWORKS PRO 3.0

SofNet Inc.

800-FAX-WORKS, 404-984-8088

FaxWorks Pro simplifies the sending and receiving of faxes with its OCR capabilities, TWAIN support and an integrated fax management system that helps you store important faxes. You can view an unlimited number of thumbnail images from a multiple-page fax (depending on screen resolution) and manipulate the pages before sending or after receiving a fax. In addition, you can swap, insert and delete pages, zoom in to view a single page and edit faxes with drawing tools. A file management system features capabilities such as searchable send-and-receive logs, and displays thumbnail images of single- and multiple-page faxes.

Reviewed: November 1993

$129

JETFAX/WINDOWS 2.0

JetFax Inc.

800-7JETFAX, 415-324-0600

Designed for groups working on a network, JetFax 2.0 works with JetFax products, including the JetFax II laser-fax interface. It's a full-featured solution, offering features such as zoom capability, automatic cover generation, editing and drawing tools, and annotation. JetFax also lets you fax text, graphics, images and spreadsheet data from multiple Windows applications. You can transfer data from other applications to create a fax number directory. A thumbnail preview mode lets you simultaneously view multiple pages of your fax. JetFax supports Novell NetWare 286 and 386, NetWare Lite, IBM PC LAN, Artisoft's LANtastic and Banyan's VINES.

$49.95

NET SATISFAXTION for NetWare 2.5

Intel Corp.

800-538-3373, 408-765-8080

Designed specifically for networked DOS and Windows-based PCs, this enhanced version of Intel's fax software supports Microsoft LAN Manager, IBM LAN Server and Novell NetWare. When paired with the EXACOM DID-200 interface module, the program supports direct inward dialing to ensure timely, confidential routing to user workstations. NetSatisFAXtion supports bindery importing, phone book import and the automatic remote configuration of user workstations. It supports Intel's SatisFAXtion Classic fax board, SatisFAXtion Modem/350 and SatisFAXtion Modem/400.

20 users, $995;

1,000 users, $1,995

ULTRAFAX 1.10

ZSoft Corp.

800-227-5609, 404-428-0008

UltraFax's support for Multiple Document Interface allows you to have inbox, outbox, phone book, cover page and document storage windows open simultaneously. Drag-and-drop lets you move documents between windows for storage or sending. An abundance of cleanup tools and an anti-aliasing feature improve fax quality. UltraFax lets you draw on and annotate faxes, and move or copy specific portions of a fax. Data files and faxes can be sent to other UltraFax users either from the application in which they were created or straight from UltraFax.

Reviewed: August 1993

$119

WINFAX PRO 3.0

Delrina Technology Inc.

800-268-6082, 408-363-2345

Send, receive and manage all your fax activities while working in any Windows application with WinFax PRO. The program offers an advanced phone book as well as annotation, OCR, image enhancement, scanner-support and document management features. You can compress multiple faxes into a single archive file, then search the archives by key word or subject. The program supports more than 350 popular fax modems that are Class 1, Class 2, CAS or Sendfax compatible. It also supports the TWAIN interface standard.

Reviewed: February 1993

$129


Desktop Conferencing

DeskTop Conferencing 1.4

Fujitsu Networks Industry

800-446-4736, 203-326-2700

Fujitsu's DeskTop Conferencing software enables users on NetWare LANs to hold real-time, interactive conferences and share on-screen information directly between PCs. Documents, spreadsheets, charts and images from any Windows or MS-DOS application can be simultaneously viewed by all participants. Up to two users can access the actual application at the same time. Each participant has on-screen pointer and pen tools, and each member's tools and movements are visible on every participant's screen. The software also provides integration with Lotus Notes.

Starter kit (three users), $99


Illustration

1ST DESIGN

GST Software

800-236-1062, 703-560-2354

Geared toward the beginner, 1st Design is a drawing program that allows you to add visual effects to newsletters, invitations and other documents. Using simplified drawing, text and color tools, you can create original artwork or modify one of 600 included clip-art images. You can draw freehand; create and edit straight lines, Bezier curves, rectangles and other shapes; and add color to objects and text.

$69.95

CA-CRICKET PAINT 1.2

Computer Associates International

800-CALL-CA1, 516-DIAL-CA1

With CA-Cricket Paint, tools can be used with any combination of shapes, paint sources and settings. Dialog boxes can stay open for quick interactive adjustments to paint settings. Tool characteristics and jagged edges can be eliminated with anti-aliasing. The program supports 24-bit color or 8-bit gray scale and a Wacom pressure-sensitive stylus. .WMF line art and drawings created in other applications can be imported for use as backdrops, guides for painting or masks.

$92

CANVAS 3.5

Deneba Software

800-6-CANVAS, 305-596-5644

Offering 1/65000th-inch precision, a variety of drawing tools and a Smart Mouse that snaps lines into position, Canvas' open architecture design also enables you to drag in newly released tools. Word-processor-like text handling permits the conversion of PostScript and TrueType fonts to BŽzier curves. Design graphics features include the ability to create and edit in preview mode, custom gradient color fills, Pantone color support, and object extrusions and enveloping.

$399

COLOR WHEEL 1.1 RELEASE 2

Pacific Gold Coast Corp.

800-732-3002, 516-759-3011

An object-based graphics software program with painting, image processing and video editing capabilities, Color Wheel allows you to create special effects such as blurring, fading, pattern projection, mosaics, ghosts, fog, mist, lightening, grain, texture, embossing, blending, multiple exposure and softening. You can also create and edit text as objects in 24-bit color or import text from word processors. The program also brings graphics to video image processing, enabling you to apply the editing of a single frame to all or selected frames.

Reviewed: December 1993

$249

CORELDRAW! 4

Corel Corp.

800-836-DRAW (3729), 613-728-8200

Combining illustration, charting, photo-editing and presentation modules, CorelDRAW! 4 enables you to create actors or choose from hundreds of predrawn actors and backgrounds, then animate them on-screen with sound support. The program has more than 750 fonts and 18,000 clip-art images and symbols, and more than 40 fractal textures, which imitate natural phenomena such as water and marble, and allow for virtually thousands of different effects. You can also draw with a variety of customizable shapes, including tear drops and wedges. Styles for drawings and documents can be applied to graphics and saved as templates.

Reviewed: November 1993

On disk, $595; on CD-ROM, $395

DABBLER 1.0

Fractal Design Corp.

800-297-COOL, 408-688-8800

A teaching program, Dabbler ships with instructions from Walter Foster Publishing, publisher of how-to-draw-and-paint art books. Fully compatible with Photo CD, Dabbler provides 54 drawing tools, which are each assigned a specific sound, 20 paper textures and such photo-retouching tools as soften, sharpen and equalize. Offering 16-bit color, the package has the ability to open and write to 24-bit image files using dithering. Dabbler can generate CMYK separations.

$99

DESIGNER 4.0

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-994-6413

Designed for technical illustrators, graphic artists and professional designers, Designer 4.0 offers an interactive tool ribbon and context-sensitive pop-up menus. Transformed text (warped, skewed) is fully editable, text containers can be linked and text can flow in and around irregular shapes. In addition to 29 drawing tools, there is a bitmap editor with more than 30 special effects, a slide-show utility and a CD-ROM with more than 13,000 clip-art images.

Reviewed: November 1993

$695

DESIGNWORKS 2.0

GST Software Inc.

800-236-1062, 703-560-2354

A drawing and illustration program, Designworks supports OLE 2.0, CMYK, RGB, HLS and Pantone color models, process- and spot-color separations, 24-bit color and up to 200 layers. You can use simplified drawing, color and text tools to create original designs or edit one of 1,200 clip-art images. The program offers 84 TrueType fonts and support for all ATM fonts. Other features include a clip-art browser, templates, Autotrace, custom line styles, custom and pattern fills, a customizable user interface and 50 levels of undo.

Reviewed: August 1993

$179.95

FAUVE MATISSE 1.2

Fauve Software Inc.

800-898-ARTS, 919-380-9933

Fauve Matisse includes paintbrush tools that vary in size and color with pressure. There are also nonrepeating textures including leaves and grass, a mode that allows lighting effect, and preset palettes for gradient fills and image colorization. You can tab between selected objects and move objects with cursor keys. There is also a ribbon that gives you quick access to frequently used commands. The program supports the Photo CD format.

$99

FREEHAND 3.1

Aldus Corp.

206-628-2320, fax 206-343-4240

Featuring a pasteboard-style work environment that includes floating palettes, Aldus Freehand 3.1 offers a pressure-sensitive freehand drawing tool and supports TrueType fonts. The program includes arbitrary magnification for filling the screen with an enlarged view of any selected region of a drawing, and the ability to create and export color libraries. For commercial printing applications, a density-control bar and color-control strip can be printed on color separations.

Reviewed: November 1993

$595

ILLUSTRATOR 4.0

Adobe Systems Inc.

800-833-6687, 415-961-3769

With Adobe Illustrator 4.0's drawing tools you can create original artwork with the pen or freehand tool, create transparent holes in objects, and add or subtract curves from a drawing. Among the editing features are a previewing mode, and the selection and duplication of objects. You can produce color blends for airbrush effects and automatically blend different shapes. The package supports Pantone, Trumatch, Focoltone and Toyo color matching and ships with software for producing color separations.

Reviewed: November 1993

$695

PAINTER 2.0

Fractal Design Corp.

800-297-COOL, 408-688-8800

Designed to emulate the natural tools found in traditional painting, Painter 2.0 features such tools as chalk, charcoal, felt pens, calligraphy pens, airbrush, glass distortion, liquid media, oil and watercolor brushes, textured glass, illuminated spotlights and other lighting effects. There are also photo-design features like resize, sharpen, soften, motion blur, scale, distort, flip, and dodge-and-burn. The program supports .RIF, TIFF, .BMP, .PCX, .EPS and .TGA formats, as well as the TWAIN standard for direct scanner input.

$399

PAINTER X2

Fractal Design Corp.

800-297-COOL, 408-688-8800

An extension to Painter 2.0, Painter X2 allows you to cut out any part of an image and retain it as a separate visual item. The item can be painted into, around and under; scaled, rotated and distorted; and visual effects may be added using either Painter's Effects menu or third-party plug-in filters. By clicking and dragging, items can be repositioned and adjusted up or down.

$149


Image Editing and Utilities

CA-CRICKET IMAGE 1.2

Computer Associates International Inc.

800-CALL-CAI, 516-DIAL-CAI

CA-Cricket Image is a raster-based, image processing system designed to translate and compress images, maximizing image quality and adapting images to their intended output technology. Scan images directly using any TWAIN-supported scanner and perform transformation functions like cropping, rotating, resizing and generation of CMYK and RGB color separations.

Reviewed: July 1993

$92

GALLERY EFFECTS

VOLS. 1, 2 AND 3

Aldus Corp.

800-627-8880, 206-628-2320

Aldus offers a series of image editing filters for use with programs that support Photoshop or PhotoStyler plug-ins, or with the accompanying Gallery Effects application. Each Gallery Effects volume provides you with 16 different image editing tools.

Volume 1, $199; Volume 2, $99;

volume 3, $199

GRAPHICS TOOLS! 1.03

DeltaPoint Inc.

800-446-6955, 408-648-4000

A suite of utilities for organizing, browsing, manipulating, converting and capturing graphics and mixed media, Graphics Tools! supports graphics, text, sound, animation and video files. JPEG, LZW and Packbits compression formats are supported, and clip art and photographic images are included.

$169.95

HALO DESKTOP

IMAGER 2.0

Media Cybernetics Inc.

800-992-4256, 301-495-3305

Supporting TWAIN as well as Kodak Photo CD, TrueType fonts and JPEG compression, Halo Desktop Imager is a package of image processing, file conversion and printing utilities. The program provides printer test strip capabilities, which allow you to preview enhancements.

$169

HIJAAK PRO 2.0

Inset Inc.

800-374-6738, 203-740-2400

With HiJaak PRO 2.0, you can view, convert, capture, enhance and print graphics images. The utility supports more than 70 graphics formats. The program's Browser automatically creates thumbnail-size representations of images and the utility can be launched by double-clicking on the desired image.

Reviewed: October 1993

$169

IMAGE-IN POWER PACK 3.2

CPI Inc.

800-345-3540, 415-961-6556

Consisting of image editing, OCR and raster-to-vector conversion applications, Image-In Power Pack 3.2 allows you to correct colors, improve the quality of scanned text and convert formats. The program supports more than 60 scanner models, video cards and electronic cameras and a variety of file formats. Included is Agfa's FotoTune LE Color Management System software.

$495

IMAGEPALS 2

U lead Systems Inc.

800-858-5323, 310-523-9393

Designed to assist you in managing your image, animation, video and sound files, ImagePals 2 lets you catalog files in visual, thumbnail albums and search for them by filename, description, key words, and/or subject. Image editing is possible with the inclusion of special-effects filters and image editing tools such as paint, clone and airbrush.

$129

JAG 3.1

Ray Dream Inc.

800-846-0111, 415-960-0765

JAG was designed to remove the jagged edges from 8- and 24-bit color images. Using anti-aliasing, JAG works on completed images, filling in color variations to blend the edges with the background. If you are outputting to video, the program converts files to NTSC legal color. Smoothing can be restricted to a portion of the image, which can be rotated, cropped and flipped. The program converts between several file formats, including .GIF, TIFF, .PCX, .BMP and .TGA.

$99.95

KAI'S POWER TOOLS 1.0

HSC Software

310-392-8441, fax 310-392-6015

Kai's Power Tools is a collection of 33 extensions for Adobe Photoshop, Fractal Design Painter and programs that support plug-ins. Among the extensions are the Texture Explorer, which allows users to generate a selection of textures, backgrounds and materials. Gradient Designer offers a palette of gradient designs; Gradients on Path wraps any blend around a free-form user path.

$199

LEADVIEW 3.0

Lead Technologies Inc.

800-637-4699, 704-549-5532

Incorporating nine image-related functions, Leadview 3.0 allows you to edit, compress, store and send images. The image management application offers LEAD CMP proprietary or JPEG compression, a thumbnail directory of images and conversion between more than 100 file formats. There are 12 image enhancement effects and 18 paint features.

$99

OFOTO version 2

Light Source Computer

Images Inc.

800-231-7226, 415-925-4200

Ofoto Version 2 color image scanning and printing software performs three basic functions: scanning, adjusting and preparing images for the printing process, with an automatic and manual mode for each function. Autoscan rotates, crops, resizes and calibrates images for instant printing.

reviewed: february 1993

$295

PHOTOFINISH 3.0

SoftKey International

800-377-6567/ext. 585, 617-494-1200

PhotoFinish 3.0 allows you to edit, enhance and incorporate photos into multimedia presentations and other desktop-published documents. The program's features include scan, crop, straighten, sharpen, enhance and stitch for multiple-pass scans. There are 87 paint tools and a library of 200 images.

reviewed: July 1993

$149.95

PHOTOSHOP 2.5

Adobe Systems Inc.

800-833-6687, 415-961-4400

With Photoshop you can manipulate any combination of continuous-tone, bitmapped, gray-scale or color images, either scanned in or computer-generated. Any portion of an image may be edited and repositioned and a variety of graphics formats can be imported and exported, including .EPS and Adobe Illustrator. The program provides a variety of special-effects filters and 24-bit color support. Features include pressure-sensitive Wacom tablet support for simulating real brushes.

Reviewed: July 1993

$895

PHOTOSTYLER 2.0

Aldus Corp.

800-627-8880, 206-628-2320

A color, digital imaging application for acquiring, editing, retouching and printing color, gray-scale and black-and-white images, PhotoStyler fully integrates the Kodak Precision Color Management System. The application offers multiple ways to preview the results of an action.

Reviewed: January 1994

$795

PICTURE PUBLISHER 4.0

Micrografx Inc.

800-676-3110, 214-994-6413

Picture Publisher's key features include Object Layers, which allows you to manipulate bitmap objects in layers, and FastBits, which allows you to select and manipulate only a section of an image. Text can be entered, sized and edited on-screen, instead of in a dialog box. A color correction option allows you to correct color balance, contrast and brightness.

Reviewed: September 1993

$595

TURBO BROWSER 3.11

Pacific Gold Coast Corp.

800-732-3002, 516-759-3011

Preview, convert and manage your image, video, animation and sound files with Turbo Browser. Files can be linked to their associated editors, which you can open directly from within Turbo Browser. File management capabilities include copy, save, delete and print commands.

$69


Spreadsheets

1-2-3 Release 4

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

Designed for both individuals and workgroups, 1-2-3 Release 4 delivers a context-sensitive interface that simplifies finding, learning and using the program's features. The Version Manager allows workgroups to create, manage and share multiple versions of spreadsheet data. Lotus 1-2-3 allows you to edit directly within a cell.

Reviewed: April 1994

$495

Corporate Vision 1.0

IntelligenceWare Inc.

310-216-6177, fax 310-417-8897

Corporate Vision is a multidimensional spreadsheet and data-modeling tool that provides direct access to databases and lets you view and manipulate your data through a series of graphs, tables and spreadsheets. You can customize a spreadsheet by creating your own dialog boxes and hypertext notes, which can be linked to cells or graph elements.

$690

Excel 5.0

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-635-7070

Excel 5.0 features the intuitive TipWizard, which keeps tabs on how you work and offers tips on how to get the same results faster. Chart creation is automated, you can save preferred chart formats in a gallery for later use, and drag new data and drop it onto a chart for instant updates. A special toolbar button allows you to generate subtotals automatically.

Reviewed: April 1994

$495

Improv 2.1

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

Improv 2.1, Lotus's data-modeling and analysis tool, provides multidimensional, dynamic views of your data and allows you to use English-language formulas. It offers more than 20 different chart types and provides a macro language for automating tasks. The program includes Pioneer Software's Q+E Extend, which provides external access to data from many popular databases, such as Paradox and dBASE.

Reviewed: April 1994

$495

Lucid 3-D 1.15

Lucid Corp.

800-967-5550, 214-994-8100

Intended for home office and small-office use, Lucid 3-D lets you organize your spreadsheet projects into separate folders and then access them through folder tabs. The program includes a macro language and has more than 140 functions for financial, statistical and mathematical operations. Lucid 3-D features more than eight chart and graph types.

Reviewed: April 1994

$109.95

Quattro Pro 5.0, Standard Edition

Borland International Inc.

800-331-0877, 408-461-9000

Quattro Pro 5.0, Standard Edition, offers many features designed to get you up and running quickly. A click of the mouse provides information about any on-screen object, and interactive tutors offer step-by-step instructions based on live data. Experts automate functions you request, such as creating graphs and scenario management.

Reviewed: April 1994

$49.95

Quattro Pro 5.0, Workgroup Edition

Borland International Inc.

800-331-0877, 408-461-9000

Quattro Pro 5.0, Workgroup Edition, improves on Borland's Standard Edition by adding features that address the specific needs of workgroups. The program's Workgroup Desktop allows users to share information via LANs or through e-mail. This edition supports VIM (Vendor Independent Messaging) and MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) specifications, and MCI and MHS gateways. The program acts as a front end to SQL Sybase, InterBase and Oracle database formats.

Reviewed: April 1994

$99.95


Word Processing

Ami Pro 3.01

Lotus Development Corp.

800-831-9679, 404-399-5505

Ami Pro's Fast Format feature enables you to copy the format of a text or paragraph style and repeat those attributes throughout the document with just a single click of your mouse. Additional features and capabilities of Lotus' word processor include outlining, table creation, drawing, charting, equations, revision marking and a macro language.

Reviewed: March 1994

$495

DeScribe 4.0

DeScribe Inc.

800-448-8088, 916-646-1111

Automate repetitive word processing tasks with the macro language included in DeScribe 4.0. The program supports unlimited undo, allowing for experimentation without commitment during document creation. A special feature allows you to manage the index, table of contents and page numbering across multiple files.

Reviewed: March 1994

$495

Lotus Write 2.0

Lotus Development Corp.

800-831-9679, 404-399-5505

Colorful SmartIcons and customizable toolbars give you convenient one-click access to Lotus Write's functions. The program also provides interactive dialog boxes that will help guide you through document creation, and you can automate tasks by creating macros to suit your own specific needs with the program's macro language.

Price: $149

PFS:Write 2.0

Spinnaker Software Corp.

800-323-8088, 617-494-1200

PFS:Write allows you to customize its menus and toolbars. Support for drag-and-drop editing speeds document creation. Page-layout capabilities include support for parallel columns. The program searches for formatting codes.

$49.95

Professional Write Plus 1.01

Software Publishing Corp.

800-234-2500, 408-986-8000

Professional Write Plus lets you customize its icon bar and templates. You can attach electronic Post-it notes anywhere in a document, choose from several page-preview modes and take advantage of auto-hyphenation.

$249

Q&A Write 3.0

Symantec Corp.

800-441-7234, 408-253-9600

Q&A Write takes up just 4MB of hard disk space, making it an ideal word processor for portables. It supports drag-and-drop editing and lets you create documents with multiple columns, headers, footers and end notes. Q&A Write performs mail merges and supports Q&A, dBASE and Paradox.

Reviewed: March 1994

$69.95

Word 6.0

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Version 6.0 of Microsoft's word processor facilitates document creation with features that enable you to automate tasks. One feature formats a document, while another fixes typing mistakes. Additional features include a macro language, customizable toolbars and 39 templates. The product also supports 100 levels of undo and redo.

Reviewed: March 1994

$495

WordPerfect 6.0

WordPerfect Corp.

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000

WordPerfect 6.0 doesn't do just word processing, it offers drawing, charting and spreadsheet features as well. The program lets you import database and spreadsheet information directly into your documents. The QuickFinder feature helps you index and retrieve any file on your hard disk or network in speedy style.

Reviewed: March 1994

$69.95


Fine-Tune Your Windows Environment

Jonathan Blackwood, Technical Editor

Organize your file cabinet, clean up your hard disk and increase your storage space, all by tweaking Windows. Once you do, you'll find you have more of everything, more speed, more convenience and more power.

Windows can run on your system like a perfectly tuned BMWÉ or it can clank along like a '63 Corvair in need of a new timing chain. If Windows is running well enough on your system to suit you, turn the page and be on your way. But if you want to coax a little more out of Windows, a little more power, a little more performance or a little more pizzazz, keep reading. We'll look at how to get the most out of the Windows interface, your hard disk, memory and video subsystem. Hopefully, we'll hit on an issue that will turn your whining clunker into a purring pussycat, and we'll try to do it without spending any of your money.


The Windows Interface

Whether you love or hate the Windows interface, the reality is that some of the best software being written today is for the Windows platform. If the interface drives you crazy, or even if it doesn't, there are ways to fiddle with Windows to make it work better. Here's how to fine-tune Program Manager and File Manager quickly.


Program Manager

It's tempting to embellish your screen with movie scenes, bitmaps of the countryside or other wallpaper, but if you want to get maximum performance out of Windows, don't play interior decorator.

Program groups should be minimized unless they're in use. Keep to a minimum the number of groups you create in the first place. Every open window, every icon and every iteration of an image for wallpaper consumes resources.

If you spend a few minutes deciding how best to organize your program groups to match the way you work, you'll save yourself time and resources. If you can, keep things simple. Use the bare minimum number of Program Manager groups, Main, Accessories, StartUp, Programs and Projects, for example.

A particularly efficient way to set up your program groups is by project. Choose File/New/Program Group and enter the name Projects. Next, launch File Manager and resize it so that you can see both its contents and the empty program group in Program Manager. Navigate through File Manager until you find a file associated with a current project. Drag the file's icon from File Manager and drop it in the empty program group window. An icon for the program that created the file will appear with the name of the file underneath. Place any other files associated with the project in the same window. To get started in the morning, boot Windows and double-click on the icon of the file you want to work on. It will open both the associated program and the file.

If there's a single file you use every day, you can save even more time by dragging the icon for that file from File Manager and dropping it into Program Manager's StartUp group. When you boot up Windows in the morning, it will go directly to both the program and the file you need without additional intervention from you.

While you're doing all this work refining Program Manager, keep this in mind: Thanks to the way Program Manager saves its configuration, it can take the hard-won fruits of your valiant efforts at organization and scramble them in no time. If the Save Settings on Exit menu choice under Options is checked, then any fooling around you do (and forget to undo) will become more or less permanent, until you do some more fooling around, that is. The best way to handle this is to arrange things the way you want them and turn off the Save Settings on Exit check box. Then press Ctrl+Shift, and choose File/Exit from the menu. Program Manager will save your configuration without exiting.

If you've tried all of these suggestions and still can't stand the sight of Program Manager, don't sweat it. Buy a third-party shell. Shells can be on the large side, with more functionality, like Hewlett-Packard's New Wave, Central Point's PC Tools and The Norton Desktop; or they can be smaller replacements that count on the use of a better metaphor to help you get organized. Hewlett-Packard's Dashboard and PC-Kwik's WinMaster take this lean yet functional approach.


File Manager

To get the most out of the Windows interface, get to know File Manager, the Windows applet that can free you from the tyranny of DOS. It's graphical, easy to use and relatively intuitive. You don't need to suffer the slings and arrows of the DOS command line any longer.

You might even want to make File Manager your Windows shell in place of Program Manager. This will seem particularly logical to those making the switch to Windows from the Macintosh. To do so, you'll need to edit your SYSTEM.INI file. Be sure to save this file under another name or in another directory before you edit it.

Find the file SYSEDIT.EXE in File Manager and drag it to any Program Manager group. Double-click on the resulting icon to open SysEdit, an applet that enables you to edit your SYSTEM.INI, WIN.INI, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Choose the SYSTEM.INI window by clicking on it. Look for the line that says SHELL=PROGMAN.EXE. Highlight the PROGMAN.EXE portion of that line and type in WINFILE.EXE. Save the file and exit Windows. Restart Windows, and you'll launch directly into File Manager.


Hard Disks

Even though hard disks have dropped dramatically in price, it makes good sense to try to get the most out of what you have before you add a new disk or replace your existing one. There are a number of ways you can both add space to your hard disk and increase its speed.

First of all, upgrade to the latest incarnation of DOS, version 6.2 if you're using MS-DOS, to make disk maintenance easier. DOS 6.2 makes better use of memory than the previous versions, includes disk compression, and provides several useful utilities for virus protection and disk defragmentation. Although there are better products on the market for all of these functions, including PC Tools, The Norton Desktop and McAfee Anti-Virus, the utilities built into DOS 6.2 work well and come free with the operating system.

Defragmenting (or optimizing) your disk regularly will speed up operations. Disk optimization is necessary because of the way DOS stores files on the hard disk. On a new disk, files tend to be neatly organized, with all portions of a file in contiguous sectors on the disk. As you use the disk and erase, create or add to files, they become fragmented as a result, meaning that portions of the files are located in various places scattered around the disk. This fragmentation slows down file access, since the disk drive heads must search for the next portion of data at another location.

Defragmentation software rewrites all the data on a disk so that files are located in contiguous sectors. DOS's built-in defragmenter works efficiently and can work well with drives compressed with DOS's own DoubleSpace. To access the defragmenter, you must Exit Windows and go to the DOS prompt, it cannot be run from a Windows DOS session. At the C:\ prompt, type DEFRAG, press the Enter key and follow the on-screen instructions. If you use other brands of compression software, however, be sure to use the defragmentation utility that ships with the product you use.

A good disk cache utility will also speed up disk operations. A disk cache reads ahead of the specific sectors on a disk that DOS asks it to access, storing that information in RAM. The information requested next will probably come from those sectors, and it can be accessed more quickly from RAM.

Windows and later versions of DOS ship with Microsoft's SMARTDrive disk-caching utility. The newest version, which ships with DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11, allows you to turn off its write-behind cache to reduce the chances of data loss. A write-behind cache holds data in a memory buffer before writing it to disk to avoid slowing down operations. When it senses a period of inactivity, at least five seconds' worth, it will flush its buffer and write any data it was holding to the disk. That's why you should wait five seconds after leaving Windows before turning off your computer.

Being too quick to turn it off may result in the contents of this RAM buffer being unceremoniously dumped. The new SMARTDrive will also cache CD-ROM drives, which can dramatically speed performance for these traditionally slow peripherals.

There are several ways to increase the space available on your hard disk. One method is to use a file compression utility to compress infrequently accessed files to a fraction of their normal size. Using a Windows front end such as WinZip from Nico Mak (which can be downloaded from CompuServe as WINZIP.ZIP in CIS:IBMSYS Forum Library 6, or from America Online's Software Center), it's a simple matter to shrink entire directories of data or even whole applications to a single zipped file. For serious stuffing, archive your older data onto diskettes or backup tape and delete the hard disk versions.

If you're still facing an overstuffed disk, it's probably time for some judicious slicing. Back up completely before you proceed, so you can restore things to their previous functionality if you need to. For starters, you can probably safely dump Windows' games (SOL.EXE, SOL.HLP, SOL.INI and WINMINE.EXE and WINMINE.HLP in the Windows directory). If you're confident in your knowledge of the programs you use most, you can probably get rid of their help, tutorial and sample files. This is no small change, Excel 5.0's sample, tutorial and help files total more than 8MB, and Word 6.0's eat up more than 6MB if you include document templates.

The easiest way to prune your help and tutorial files is to go through File Manager. Select the directory you want to clean up, then choose File/Select Files and type in *.HLP to purge your help files. Choose Select and Close, press Delete and follow the instructions in the dialog boxes that ensue. If you want to kill the tutorial in a Microsoft application, you'll most likely find it in a subdirectory named with the program name plus CBT, such as WORDCBT or EXCELCBT. The CBT marker can also appear as a three-letter file extension, depending on the version of Windows you're running. Subdirectories with the telltale name Tutorial can probably also be safely deleted.


Disk Compression

Microsoft ships DoubleSpace, a disk compression utility, with MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.2. Compression products such as Stac Electronics' Stacker and AddStor's SuperStor also work with DOS 6.0 and 6.2. In fact, they work better than with previous versions of DOS because DOS now deals with the third-party drivers in the same way it deals with DoubleSpace. The disk compression driver is loaded before anything else, including your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, so if a new entry in one of those files conflicts with other drivers, you should still be able to access the stacked drive. (These compression programs also work with Novell DOS and IBM PC-DOS.)

Is disk compression safe? Absolutely. The newer utilities programs include features that can check and correct compression errors. With The Norton Utilities 7.0, for example, you simply add a reference to the Disk Doctor routine, such as C:\NU\NDD C: /Q, to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and you get a level of protection that's virtually bulletproof. Still, you should back up, and back up often.

Most disk compression products won't let you place Windows' permanent swap file on a compressed disk. So remember to set up your permanent swap file before you install disk compression.

Though many vendors claim their disk compression programs will double your hard disk, keep in mind that your mileage may vary. Some files lend themselves to dramatic compression, others do not. Typically, a compressed drive yields one-and-a-half to two times the space on your uncompressed drive, though the new Stacker 4.0 claims better than two-to-one compression.

Once you've compressed your drive and filled it past the normal capacity of the underlying hard disk, you can't unstack it. Before you proceed, you have to archive files or erase entire directories until the compressed drive no longer contains more information than the uncompressed drive is able to hold.

You can also compress data stored on diskettes, which means you can place 5.76MB on a single diskette if you are using one of the new 2.88MB floppy disk drives. This can be enormously useful if you regularly produce and use large graphics files. SuperStor, for example, performs this task transparently by putting a small driver on the diskette that enables it to be read and used on a system with a competitive compression product or without disk compression installed.


Memory

Windows likes memory, and lots of it. You can easily upgrade your system by installing SIMMs (single in-line memory modules), but you can also adjust the way Windows works to get the most out of the memory you already have.

When you open more than one application on a system that has 4MB of RAM or less, you'll notice a sharp degradation of performance as Windows swaps information to disk to move the active application to RAM. The best solution to this performance slowdown is to add RAM to your system. Virtually every system sold in the past three years makes use of SIMM chips, which come in two basic varieties: 72-pin and 30-pin. Check your user's manual or call your system manufacturer's technical support to determine the exact type of RAM you need. SIMMs can cost between $50 and $70 per megabyte, but prices have been quite volatile in the past year. Plan to upgrade your system to at least 8MB of RAM to improve performance markedly. If a RAM upgrade is beyond your reach, avoid running more than one major Windows application at a time.

Setting up a permanent swap file instead of using the default temporary file will also get Windows to run faster. That's because a permanent swap file uses a large, immovable file comprised of contiguous sectors on the disk. As a result, Windows knows precisely where to look for information stashed in the swap file. A temporary swap file, on the other hand, varies in size according to Windows' needs at the moment. In addition, its contents may be scattered all over the disk, and since Windows must use DOS's file allocation tables to access the data, it is noticeably slower than a permanent swap file.

Before you set up a permanent swap file, go into DOS and defragment your hard disk, as explained earlier. Once all of your files are neatly organized into one contiguous area on the hard disk, all of the empty space on the disk will also be located in one place and easily accessible by Windows for a permanent swap file.

The next step is to launch Windows, open Control Panel and choose 386 Enhanced/Virtual Memory. Select Change, then Permanent under the Type setting. Windows will indicate the space available on the disk and the maximum space available for a permanent swap file (that portion of the total available space that is defragmented). It will also recommend an amount to allocate to the swap file. This recommended amount is controversial. You'll want to assign it a value somewhere between the amount of your installed RAM and twice that amount. I err on the lower side of this equation. The point is that you don't want Windows to stash more information than it can quickly access in the swap file.

Unless you're using a notebook computer (because of power management features) or certain SCSI controllers, you should be able to use 32-Bit Disk Access. Try it. If Windows believes your disk controller is incompatible with this feature, this selection box will be grayed out. And if you're using Windows for Workgroups 3.11, you also have an option to use 32-Bit File Access. Give that a try as well. It should speed up your entire system noticeably.

Even after you've installed 8MB of RAM and a permanent swap file, don't be surprised if you still get Out of Memory errors while running Windows. The error is most likely being caused by low system resources. Windows has three small 64KB heaps devoted to system resources, which are used for things like fonts, icons and system functions such as printing and saving. The easiest way to free up system resources is to uninstall fonts by using the Fonts icon in Control Panel and to keep Program Manager groups minimized when they're not needed.

You can open up your memory a little more if you're not using DOS programs that require expanded memory. The combination of DOS and Windows makes use of four types of memory: conventional memory, or the first 640KB; high memory, which consists of the 384KB area between 640KB and 1024KB; extended memory, or all the memory (RAM or virtual) located above 1024KB; and expanded memory, which is memory allocated in 64KB frame buffers for use by rapidly aging DOS programs.

Microsoft's EMM386, a memory manager that ships with both MS-DOS and Windows, creates expanded memory for use by DOS programs that need it. If you're not using any DOS programs, you can take out any reference to EMM386.SYS. If you occasionally run DOS games that want all the conventional memory (first 640KB) you can muster, you'll want to keep EMM386, but prevent it from creating expanded memory. The reason for this procedure is that EMM386 creates access for DOS to those upper memory blocks that let you tuck device drivers and your DOS kernel into high memory, freeing up space in the first 640KB.

EMM386 is found both in the DOS and Windows directories. You can use SYSEDIT.EXE to edit your CONFIG.SYS file (after copying the file to a diskette or another directory for safekeeping). You'll want to be sure your CONFIG.SYS file contains the line DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS. This line should appear immediately after the line that calls HIMEM.SYS. It permits use of those upper memory blocks, but prevents the memory manager from siphoning off extended memory to be used as expanded memory. Similar procedures are possible with third-party memory managers. If you use one, check your manual for details.

MS-DOS 6.2 includes an improved version of MemMaker that can quickly and easily maximize the amount of conventional memory available to DOS or DOS sessions running under Windows, by making the most efficient possible use of upper memory. This is especially important if you're loading a lot of device drivers, such as those required for CD-ROMs, sound cards and disk compression utilities. Third-party memory managers have utilities to accomplish this function as well, but DOS 6.2 has the added benefit of an improved version of HIMEM.SYS.


Video

Unless you're working on a Pentium machine with PCI local-bus graphics, or using a 486DX2/66 system with VESA local-bus and the latest video adapters, Windows may sometimes seem a bit slow. Short of purchasing an OverDrive chip or adding RAM, the best way to improve Windows performance is to improve video performance.

If you're stuck with an older machine that doesn't have a local bus, get yourself a new video adapter with a graphics accelerator chip. It should support, at the very least, noninterlaced 1024x768 resolution with a VESA-compliant 72Hz vertical refresh rate. It should also support 24-bit true color, which means it can produce more than 16.7 million colors.

Note, though, that unless you spend a small fortune, $2,000 or more for a high-quality 20-inch or larger monitor and $500 or more for a graphics adapter fast enough to push all those pixels around, you probably won't be using the highest resolution or highest color depth modes regularly. A resolution of more than 640x480 (standard VGA) on a 14-inch monitor results in icons and text that are too tiny to be useful. You'll need at least a 15-inch monitor before you graduate to 800x600 (Super VGA) resolution, and a 17-inch monitor before you go to 1024x768. Even then, you'll probably most often be running in 8-bit (256-color) mode, it's simply faster.

Also of vital importance to video performance in Windows is to make sure your video drivers are tailored to your video adapter. Check this by running Windows' Setup. If the Display line in the dialog box reads VGA, Windows is running under the generic driver that ships with it.

To find out exactly which model of adapter you have, consult the manuals that came with your system or write down the information that flashes across the top left of your monitor when you turn it on. Then, run Windows' Setup again and choose Options/Change System Settings. Scroll through the Display list box until you find a driver listed from your manufacturer. If your manufacturer is not listed, look through your system diskettes for the one labeled with the name of the video adapter manufacturer or with words like video drivers for Windows. In the list box in Windows' Setup, choose Other display and insert the diskette into your floppy disk drive. Follow the prompts in the ensuing dialog boxes.

If you still can't find the appropriate driver, go directly to the manufacturer of the video card. If you're a member of CompuServe or America Online, look for a vendor forum from which you can download the driver you need. Either way, you'll soon be enjoying faster performance in Windows.


Systems

Product listings highlight one product (or product line) per vendor. Many of the vendors included in the listings offer a number of other product lines.

Acer America Corp.

800-SEE-ACER, 408-432-6200

The ACERPower 9000T minitower line features a 60MHz Pentium processor, 8MB of RAM (expandable to 96MB), a 540MB IDE hard disk, 256KB second-level cache and a PCI local-bus video card with 1MB of VRAM. Expansion slots include four ISA slots, two PCI slots and one shared PCI/ISA slot. It has 3.5-inch, 1.44MB and 5.25-inch, 1.2MB floppy disk drives.

From $2,495

Acma Computers Inc.

800-786-6888, 510-623-1212

Featuring a tower case design, eight half-height drive bays and a 210MB IDE hard disk, Acma's Pentium/CPI-ISA-60 features three PCI slots, five ISA bus slots and a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket for processor upgrades. It has 8MB of RAM (expandable to 192MB); a PCI local-bus video card; a 15-inch SVGA monitor; an internal fax modem; and a PCMCIA Type IV slot.

$2,895

Advanced Logic Research Inc.

800-444-4257, 714-581-6770

Operating on either an i486 SX, DX or DX2 processor, the Evolution IV features a 32-bit VESA local-bus design and supports processor upgrades including OverDrive and Pentium. Six storage bays and a total of six expansion slots allow you to add to the system. The system comes standard with 4MB of RAM (expandable to 52MB), and hard disk sizes range from 210MB to 540MB.

Reviewed: August 1993

From $995

AMBRA Computer Corp.

800-25-AMBRA, 602-858-2600

Providing an upgrade path from VESA to PCI technology, AMBRA's D466I/VL features an i486DX2/66MHz processor, integrated 32-bit local-bus graphics, an integrated VL/IDE controller, four 16-bit ISA slots and one 32-bit VESA local-bus slot. Pentium OverDrive-ready, the system offers 8MB of RAM (expandable to 64MB), a 440MB hard disk, a 3.5-inch, 1.44MB floppy disk drive and a 15-inch FST color monitor.

$2,219

Ares Microdevelopment inc.

800-322-3200, 810-473-0808

The Ares Ascension series of 486-66DX2 VL-Bus desktop systems come with 4MB of RAM, which is expandable to 64MB. The system features a 256KB cache, a 210MB hard disk and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. A 14-inch monitor comes standard with the system.

$1,799

Ariel Design Inc.

800-55-ARIEL, 617-982-8800

Featuring the NDI Volante S3-805 Warp 10LB VESA local-bus video accelerator card, the Ariel 486DX2-66VLB mid-tower offers six 16-bit ISA slots as well as two VESA local-bus slots. The system comes with 8MB of RAM, expandable to 64MB, an Intel 486DX2 66MHz processor, two 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, a 125MB hard disk and a 15-inch ViewSonic monitor.

Reviewed: May 1993

$2,495

AT&T Global Information Solutions

800-225-5627, 513-445-5000

Designed for small- or medium-sized businesses and home offices, AT&T's 3230 Local Bus offers a choice of five i486 processor configurations from 25 to 66MHz and a ZIF socket for upgradability to Intel's OverDrive and Pentium technology. The system offers 1MB of VRAM, a VESA local-bus video system, 4MB of RAM expandable to 32MB and support for two hard disks ranging in size from 80MB to 520MB. Preloaded with DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1, the system includes two serial ports, one parallel port and a 15-inch VGA monitor.

From $1,215

AST Research Inc.

800-876-4278, 714-727-4141

A minitower system, AST's Bravo MT allows for expansion through four 5.25-inch external drive bays, two 3.5-inch internal drive bays and six 16-bit ISA expansion slots. The CPU is upgradable to Intel's Pentium OverDrive processor. The Bravo MT features a 32-bit accelerated local-bus design, and supports up to 2MB of VRAM. Hard disk sizes range from 170MB to 340MB, and standard memory is 8MB.

From $1,399

ATronics International Inc.

800-876-4278, 510-454-1357

Featuring standby and power shut-down modes, ATronics' PCI Emerald system tackles graphics-intensive tasks with a motherboard that uses PCI local-bus technology. Intel or Amdek 486 processors are available, and options range from SX/33MHz to DX2/66MHz. IDE and SCSI hard disk sizes range from 120MB to 1.2GB. The system supports 1MB to 128MB of memory using 72-pin high-density SIMM sockets. Expansion is possible through four 16-bit ISA I/O slots and three PCI bus slots. The system has a ZIF socket, making it Pentium OverDrive-ready, and ships with DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1.

$2,395

Austin Direct

800-752-1577, 512-339-3500

Pentium OverDrive-ready and offered with a range of i486 processors, Austin's MediaMagic system ships in two versions. The low-end version offers a 16-bit sound card with a Sony AT-bus CD-ROM drive, a 20-voice FM synthesis chip, local-bus graphics, a 212MB hard disk and a 14-inch monitor. Shipped with a Toshiba SCSI CD-ROM drive and a wave-table synthesis sound card, the top-of-the-line model features a VESA local-bus design and a 15-inch monitor. Austin Direct ships both MediaMagic models with four CD-ROM titles and Labtec speakers.

From $1,699

Carrera Computers Inc.

800-576-RISC, fax 714-707-5051

Carrera's Cobra LCA (Low-Cost Alpha) system houses the AXP 166MHz CPU and ships with Windows NT. The Cobra LCA features a 250MB SCSI hard disk, 16MB of RAM, 128KB secondary cache memory, a 32-bit I/O bus, two 32-bit PCI slots and three 16-bit ISA slots. Integrated SCSI-2 and Ethernet controllers are also featured. The system can be upgraded to the AXP 200MHz processor.

$3,995

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-888-1518, 713-378-8820

Compaq's Deskpro XE features a local-bus graphics design with 1MB of VRAM (upgradable to 2MB). The system is available with a range of processors (486SX/33, 486DX2/50, 486DX2/66 and Pentium) and hard disk sizes from 170MB to 525MB. Pentium models offer 8MB of RAM standard, expandable to 136MB. All models come with Compaq's Enhanced Business Audio system.

Reviewed: December 1993

From $1,499

CompuAdd Corp.

800-627-1967, 512-250-1489

CompuAdd's 466D system features a 486DX2/66 processor, local-bus graphics with 1MB of VRAM, 8MB of RAM, a 128KB cache and a 425MB hard disk. The system ships

with a noninterlaced monitor. Expansion slots include seven ISA

and two VESA, and the 466D offers a 3.5-inch floppy drive.

$2,295

Cornell Computer Systems

800-886-7200, 909-594-5848

Featuring a Toshiba double-speed SCSI CD-ROM drive, a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, a 17-inch monitor and a 540MB hard disk, the Cornell Pentium 600 PCI offers a 60MHz Pentium processor. There are three PCI slots, one containing a Diamond Viper video adapter with 2MB of RAM, another an NCR SCSI-2 disk controller, and the third is a shared PCI/ISA slot. The system offers 16MB of RAM, expandable to 192MB.

Reviewed: March 1994

$4,195

Dell Computer Corp.

800-289-3355, 512-338-4400

Providing full Intel 486 and Pentium OverDrive upgradability, the OptiPlex 486DX features an accelerated localbus design and a removable card cage with five ISA and two VESA expansion slots. Processor speeds range from 25MHz to 66MHz, available hard disk sizes range from 270MB to 1GB and maximum RAM is 64MB.

From $1,399

Digital Equipment Corp.

800-DIGITAL, 508-493-5111

Offering a choice of i486DX 33MHz, i486DX2 66MHz or Pentium 60MHz processors, the DECpc XL series provides upgradability to future i486, Pentium or Alpha AXP processor technology. The system has three ISA, one ISA/PCI and two PCI slots. Standard memory is 8MB, and is expandable to 128MB with the i486 chip and 192MB with the Pentium chip. Choose from a 340MB or 525MB hard disk.

From $2,599

Epson Direct

800-374-7300, 310-782-5478

Powered by an Intel 486DX2/66 microprocessor, the Endeavor VL 4DX2/66 offers upgradability to Pentium OverDrive and includes dual floppy disk drives, a 340MB hard disk and a Type I, II or III PCMCIA slot. Standard memory is 8MB, expandable to 36MB. The system also features VESA local-bus video acceleration and 1MB of RAM, expandable to 2MB.

$2,600

Everex Systems Inc.

800-821-0806, 510-498-1111

Based on Intel's 486 processor and boasting processor upgradability,

the Everex STEP Plus features a local-bus video design. Processor type

and speeds range from SX/33 to DX2/66. Additional features include Ethernet connectivity and a SCSI-2 interface.

From $1,579

First Computer Systems Inc.

800-325-1911, 404-441-1911

The tower-design FCS Green Pentium system comes with a 60MHz or 66MHz Pentium processor, 256KB cache and 8MB of RAM. It also features a 525MB IDE hard disk, a 32-bit local-bus card with 2MB of VRAM and a 32-bit Fast IDE local-bus controller with two serial ports and one parallel port.

From $2,799

Gateway 2000

800-846-2000, 605-232-2000

Featuring an Intel 66MHz Pentium microprocessor, a CPU cache size of 256KB and 16MB of memory (expandable to 128MB), the P5-66 comes with a 540MB hard disk and a 17-inch color monitor. The system offers PCI local-bus graphics acceleration, 2MB of DRAM, a 16-bit sound card with speakers, four 16-bit ISA slots, two PCI slots and one PCI/ISA slot.

$3,995

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900, 503-757-2000

The HP Vectra VL2 systems offer a variety of processors and speeds from the 486SX/25 to the 486DX2/66, and a selection of hard disks ranging from 106MB to 340MB. Bundled with DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11, the systems offer a maximum RAM of 64MB, four ISA slots and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.

From $1,029 to $2,249

Hyundai Electronics America

800-289-4986, 408-473-9200

Offering  a range of processors from 486SX/33 to 486DX2/66, Hyundai's Digital Entertainment Multimedia AVantage System features the company's AVantage+ add-on which provides Sound Blaster-compatible 16-bit CD-quality sound and playback of full-motion video in a scalable window. Hard disk size ranges from 170MB to 540MB, and maximum memory is 32MB. The system ships with Microsoft Video for Windows and Picture Prowler with built-in JPEG compression.

From $1,345 to $3,599

IBM Corp.

800-IBM-2-YOU, 800-772-2227

Featuring a 60MHz Pentium chip, IBM's ValuePoint P60/D has a 424MB hard disk. Included in the system is a 17-inch SVGA color monitor, an ATI mach32AX video controller and a CD-ROM drive. There are four expansion slots free: two ISA and two PCI, and RAM is expandable from 16MB to 128MB.

Reviewed: March 1994

$5,279 from PC Direct

Insight Direct Inc.

800-927-7848, 602-350-1176

Configured with your choice of processor (486DX2/60MHZ, 486DX2/50MHz and 486DX/33MHz), Insight's 486 VESA local-bus systems feature ZIF sockets. Standard RAM is 8MB, expandable to 128MB. Seven drive bays and eight slots allow for system expansion. The base model features a 340MB IDE hard disk, a 15-inch SVGA monitor, a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups.

$1,699 (486 DX/33, 4MB of RAM, 340MB hard disk)

Intergraph Corp.

800-345-4856, 205-730-2000

Offering PCI-accelerated graphics and a choice of 17- or 20-inch monitors, the TD-2 is powered by a 66MHz Pentium CPU with 8KB of internal cache memory and 512KB of external cache. The system includes 16MB or 32MB of main memory, expandable to 192MB, and a choice of a 540MB or 1GB SCSI disk drive. The TD-2 is bundled with Windows/DOS or Windows NT. Other features include two SCSI-2 internal and external channels, two PCI expansion slots, two serial ports and one parallel port.

From $7,600

Leading Edge Products Inc.

800-874-3340, 508-836-4800

The WinTower is available in four different 486 processor types: SX/33MHz, DX/33MHz, DX2/50MHz and DX2/

66MHz. The WinTower 486 is Pentium OverDrive-ready through a ZIF socket and offers a VESA local-bus video system. Each model comes with 4MB of RAM, expandable to 64MB. Hard disks range from 170MB to 345MB. There are two VESA slots, four 16-bit ISA slots and dual floppy disk drives.

From $1,359

Micro Express

800-989-9900, 714-852-1400

With a 60MHz Pentium chip, a 500MB IDE hard disk, 8MB of RAM (expandable to 128MB) with 256KB cache, a 14-inch monitor, and both 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch high-density floppy disk

drives, the MicroFLEX-PCI/Pentium ships with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 software. The motherboard has eight expansion slots, including five 16-bit slots and either three ISA or three PCI slots. Hard disk sizes as large as 2.4GB are available.

$2,895

Microniche Information Systems

800-733-9188, 408-730-9188

Microniche Information Systems' Pentium 60 incorporates a ZIF socket and is configured with an Intel 60MHz Pentium processor. The Pentium 60 has 8MB of RAM expandable to 128MB, a 270MB hard disk and a 1.44MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. PCI local-bus acceleration and 2MB of VRAM make for speedy graphics. The system also ships with a 14-inch monitor and a mouse. The system offers three PCI slots and five ISA slots, one parallel port and two serial ports.

$2,795

Microtech Computer Corp.

800-342-6508, 404-345-6508

Powered by an Intel Pentium 60MHz processor, the Ultima MP5/60 fea-

tures a ZIF socket, four 16-bit ISA and two 32-bit PCI expansion slots and

one shared PCI/ISA expansion slot. Along with a 452.4MB hard disk, 8MB of RAM (expandable to 128MB) and an SVGA monitor, the system offers 1MB flash EPROM BIOS and a VESA local-bus IDE controller with two serial ports and one parallel port.

$3,495

Mitsuba Corp.

800-648-7822, 909-392-2000

Features of Mitsuba's 486DX2-66MHz system include 16MB of RAM expandable to 32MB, a 15-inch SVGA monitor and a 32-bit local-bus SVGA adapter with 1MB of VRAM. Available hard disks range in size from 200MB to 2GB, and the system ships with DOS 6.0, Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. There are seven expansion slots, including two VESA and five ISA slots, two Type II PCMCIA slots and both 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch floppy disk drives.

$2,600

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-NEC-INFO, 508-264-8000

The Image 486es Series is available with either an Intel 486 DX2/50 or a DX2/66 processor and offers a ZIF socket for upgradability to Intel's Pentium OverDrive technology. The

system ships with 4MB of RAM expandable to 128MB, a 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy disk drive and either a 210MB or 420MB hard disk. Bundled with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, the system has a total of four slots,

two 32-bit VESA local-bus/ISA and

two 8/16-bit ISA, and offers SCSI 2 interfaces.

From $1,564

Polywell Computers Inc.

800-999-1278, 415-583-7222

Based on Intel's DX4 100MHz processor, the Polywell 486-100VP is a mid-sized tower that allows for expansion through three VESA slots, four PCI slots and one ISA slot. A 64-bit PCI engine provides graphics acceleration, and the system features a VL IDE I/O controller with a 1MB cache. Standard RAM is 8MB (upgradable to 128MB), and hard disk sizes range from 420MB to 65GB. The system ships with a 15-inch monitor. Software bundled with the Polywell systems includes DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1, Novell NetWare, OS/2, memory manager QEMM and various CD-ROM applications.

$2,674

Swan Technologies

800-446-2499, 814-238-1820

The Swan Performance Desktop 486DX2/66 offers three VESA local-bus slots. Each model has a VESA local-bus card with 1MB of VRAM. The desktop system also has four available 16-bit ISA slots and a 450MB hard disk. The Performance Desktop 486DX2/66 ships with a 14-inch monitor and 8MB of RAM expandable to 64MB. Some systems feature internal CD-ROM drives.

From $2,199

Tri-Star Computer Corp.

800-800-2690, 602-961-3401

Designed for those who work with 3-D graphics, the TriCAD P-5 Workstation features an Intel 60MHz Pentium processor and an OverDrive socket for future Pentium processor upgrades. Graphics acceleration is achieved by the P5's PCI local-bus design. Shipped with DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, and a 17-inch high-resolution monitor, the system has an integrated PCI IDE controller, three 32-bit PCI local-bus slots and four 16-bit ISA slots.

From $3,795

Wearnes Technology Corp.

408-456-8838, fax 408-456-8846

The Beethoven MPC-2 from Wearnes Technology is a multimedia system that features a Sound Blaster-compatible 16-bit sound card, a double-speed CD-ROM drive and external stereo speakers. The Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM drive has an access time of 380ms and a transfer rate of 307Kbps. DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 software are bundled with the system, along with several multimedia utilities, including Voyetra's MIDI Sequencer and Wearnes Technology's Beethoven's Mixer.

Reviewed: February 1994

From $1,499

Wyse Technology Inc.

800-GET-WYSE, 408-473-1200

Wyse Technology's Forte GSV can easily be upgraded from a 486 processor to a Pentium chip through its ZIF socket. A range of processors and hard disk sizes are available for the systems, and maximum RAM is 96MB. The Forte GSV features a VESA local-bus video subsystem that supports up to 2MB of VRAM. In addition, an integrated Ethernet controller that supports 10BaseT and 10Base2 media makes the Forte GSV network-ready. Most Forte models meet the EPA Energy Star requirements for energy conservation.

486SX 33MHz with 4MB RAM, $1,325

Zenith Data Systems

800-553-0331, 708-808-5000

Boasting a PCI local-bus video and IDE hard disks, Zenith's Z-Station 500 workstations offer integrated connectivity, power management capabilities and support for Intel's Pentium OverDrive processors. Pre-installed network software, including Novell Universal client, LAN Manager, Banyan VINES and Windows for Workgroups 3.11, complements an Ethernet 10Base-T and AUI connector, which is located on the system board. Available i486 processor speeds for the systems range from 33SX to 66DX/2, and hard disk sizes range from 245MB to 510MB.

From $1,829 to $2,969

ZEOS International Ltd.

800-828-0413, 612-623-9614

ZEOS' line of 486 desktop systems come with processors that range from a 486SX 25MHz to a 486DX4 100MHz. Processors can be upgraded to the Pentium OverDrive. The amount of RAM ranges from 2MB to 16MB, expandable to 64MB. Each 486 system comes standard with a VESA local-bus video card with 1MB of VRAM and a 14-inch SVGA monitor. Expansion slots include two VESA local-bus slots, five 16-bit slots and one 8-bit slot. All ZEOS 486 systems ship with MS-DOS 6.2, and a number of models ship with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 as well.

Reviewed: December 1993

From $1,195


Printers

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL INC.

800-536-2212, 408-942-1780

ATI's LC-6850/001 laser printer has a 25MHz processor and 8MB of memory, upgradable to 48MB. Standard ports include parallel and serial, with Ethernet and token-ring interfaces available as options. The 50-page-per-minute (ppm) printer provides a resolution of 300 dpi, and supports 11 printer emulations, including HP LaserJet Plus and HPGL. PostScript and PCL 5 emulations are optional.

$112,500

APPLE COMPUTER INC.

800-SOS-APPL, 408-996-1010

Designed for workgroups, the Apple LaserWriter Pro 810 features print resolutions ranging from 300 to 800 dpi. Ports include serial, LocalTalk, Ethernet and an external SCSI. Memory is expandable from 8MB to 32MB. Providing automatic emulation switching, the 20ppm printer supports PostScript Level 2 and PCL 4+ languages and offers 64 TrueType fonts, 35 PostScript Type 1 fonts and 32 fonts in PCL mode.

$4,899

BGL TECHNOLOGY CORP.

805-987-7305, fax 805-987-7346

With support for multinetwork and multihost environments, BGL Technology's LaserLeader Mark 9320-2 supports 14 standard emulations. This 20ppm 800-dpi laser printer has a 66MHz processor, 16MB of standard memory, expandable to 32MB, and seven ports, including serial, parallel, Ethernet, SCSI, LocalTalk, Token Ring and LANtastic. It supports PCL, PostScript, and 12 other languages.

$5,375

CALCOMP

800-932-1212, 714-821-2000

Producing full-bleed and two-sided color output on paper, film or heat transfer material at a resolution of 300 dpi, the CalComp ColorMaster Plus XF Model 6613XF thermal transfer printer has a 33MHz processor, 16MB of memory expandable to 64MB, and serial, parallel, Ethernet, SCSI and LocalTalk ports. The printer supports PostScript, features automatic emulation switching and includes 39 typefaces. It supports Pantone and screen color matching.

$8,995

CANON COMPUTER SYSTEMS

800-833-7652, 714-438-3000

Appropriate for home and small office consumers, Canon's BJC-600 Bubble Jet color printer offers a print resolution of 360 dpi. The unit is compatible with a variety of software programs from third-party vendors, such as Zenographics' ZScript, which interprets PostScript output for any platform. It has a host-based 60KB input buffer and a parallel port.

$649

DATAPRODUCTS CORP.

800-X-800-DPI, 818-887-8000

Dataproducts' LZR 2080 laser printer offers user-selectable resolution ranging from 300 to 800 dpi. The 20ppm Adobe PostScript Level 2 printer can have up to 64 unique and customizable printer configurations. It has serial, parallel, Ethernet, SCSI and LocalTalk ports, a 75MHz processor and 4MB of memory, expandable to 32MB; it supports PCL and PostScript languages.

$4,995 to $5,495

(depending on configuration)

EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

800-344-0006, 716-724-6888

Designed for the mainstream business user, the Kodak ColorEase PS is a desktop Adobe PostScript Level 2 printer that uses thermal dye transfer technology. The ColorEase PS employs a single-pass ribbon containing 100 sets of three dyes: cyan, yellow and magenta. Images can be printed on transparencies at a cost of $2.50 per page, or on paper at a cost of $2. The unit has a 40MHz processor, its own 120MB hard disk and 16MB of memory.

Reviewed: August 1993

$7,999

EPSON AMERICA INC.

800-BUY-EPSON, 310-728-0770

Epson's Action Laser 1500 features a 16.67MHz processor, 1MB of memory, expandable to 5MB, and both serial and parallel ports (a LocalTalk port

is optional). PCL 5 printer language is standard, with PostScript available as an option. Shipped with 14 resident fonts, the 300-dpi printer can

accommodate 8.5- by 14-inch and A4 paper sizes, as well as envelopes,

labels and overhead projection film.

$849

GENICOM

800-4-GENICOM, 703-949-1000

Positioned as an affordable choice for popular color applications, such as overhead presentations and business graphics, the Genicom 7025 is a thermal wax transfer printer that relies on a Windows driver. The unit has a Centronics parallel port and a print resolution of 203 dpi.

A continuous-tone, dye sublimation option is available.

$995

HEWLETT-PACKARD CO.

800-752-0900, 208-323-2551

Hewlett-Packard's HP LaserJet 4P 400-dpi printer has a 16MHz processor and 2MB of memory, expandable to 26MB. The 4ppm printer is designed for business and home-office users and ships with 35 Intellifont and 10 TrueType fonts. It supports PCL 5 and has an optional Adobe PostScript SIMM, which enables automatic emulation switching.

$1,249

KYOCERA ELECTRONICS INC.

800-232-6797, 908-560-3400

Kyocera's ECOSYS a-Si FS-3500 is an LED printer that provides a resolution of 300 dpi. Among the languages it supports are PCL 5 and HPGL. The ECOSYS a-Si FS-3500 has a standard memory of 2MB, which can be upgraded to 18MB through user-installable SIMM modules. It has 87 resident bitmapped fonts and 59 scalable fonts.

$3,895

LASERMASTER CORP.

800-365-4646 , 612-944-9330

The host-based LaserMaster WinPrinter 800 has a high-speed video interface card that fits into a 16-bit bus slot in your PC. The 4ppm laser printer provides 800-dpi resolution in PostScript mode and 400 dpi using the included Windows driver. The printer supports PCL and PostScript languages, and includes 50 TrueType fonts.

$1,095

LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL

800-358-5835, 606-232-2000

Designed specifically to meet the needs of Windows users, Lexmark's WinWriter 600 laser printer is Microsoft At Work-ready. The 600-dpi 8ppm printer has a 16.7MHz processor; 2MB of memory, expandable to 8MB; and a high-speed parallel port. Shipped with 6 PCL and 44 TrueType fonts, the unit dynamically switches between WPS and PCL 4.

$1,399

NEWGEN SYSTEMS CORP.

800-756-0556, 714-641-8600

The TurboPS/660 B 600-dpi laser printer offers NewGen Systems Corp.'s proprietary Automatic Recognition Technology (ART) for switching between printer emulations. The network-ready printer features a 25MHz processor, has serial, parallel, Ethernet, SCSI and LocalTalk ports, and supports PCL, PostScript, HP LaserJet II and HPGL languages. Standard memory is 12MB, expandable to 96MB.

$3,995

OKIDATA

800-OKIDATA, 609-321-1375

The Okidata Doc-It 4000 400-dpi LED printer features a 20MHz processor and 7MB of memory. It has two parallel ports, supports PCL 5 and PostScript languages, and automatically switches between the two. Paper sizes supported include envelopes, A3 and A4.

$3,799

PANASONIC COMMUNICATIONS & SYSTEMS CO.

800-742-8086, 201-348-7000

Designed for word processing, desktop publishing, CAD/CAM and complex graphics, Panasonic's KX-P4455 Laser Partner features 300-dpi resolution and 2MB of RAM, expandable to

4MB. In PostScript mode, the 11ppm printer offers 39 resident fonts, and in HP mode it has 26 internal fonts. Standard interfaces are Centronics parallel, RS-232-C/422A serial and AppleTalk. The printer supports HP LaserJet Series II emulation.

$2,249

PRINTWARE

800-456-1616, 612-456-1400

Printware's Pro-III 1200-dpi laser printer has a 25MHz processor and 12MB of memory, expandable to 32MB. It supports PostScript and Autologic ICL languages. Serial, parallel and AppleTalk ports are standard. Thirty-five resident fonts and an operating system are stored on the printer's ZipRip hard disk to enable easy upgrades.

$10,990

QMS INC.

800-523-2696, 205-633-4300

You can print both color and monochrome text on the same page with the QMS ColorScript Laser 1000. The printer, which is equipped with a 60MB internal hard disk and LocalTalk, serial and parallel ports, offers 12MB of RAM, expandable to 32MB. It is shipped with 65 scalable fonts for PostScript language printing and offers automatic emulation switching.

$9,999

RT&C SYSTEMS

510-814-7373, fax 510-814-7302

RT&C's WinPage 1000 features TSR -based PCL 5 emulation to let you print from any Windows or DOS application. This host-based printer's 512KB memory can accommodate up to five pages of text and two pages of graphics, and offers a resolution of 300 dpi. Optional features of the WinPage 1000 include PostScript Level II, which comes with 35 Type I fonts.

$599

SHARP ELECTRONICS CORP.

800-BE-SHARP, 201-529-9593

Designed to meet the needs of desktop publishers and home- and small-office users, Sharp's JX-9460PS laser printer is PCL 5 and PostScript compatible. Offering 600-dpi resolution, the printer has a 16MHz processor and ships with 2MB of RAM, expandable to 9MB. The 6ppm unit offers 35 PostScript and 27 PCL 5 fonts and features automatic emulation switching.

$1,199

SONY CORP.

800-352-7669, 408-423-0190

Designed for photorealistic imaging, Sony's UP-D7000 Digital Color Printer reproduces color and black-and-white continuous-tone images on letter-sized paper and transparency material using dye sublimation. The printer connects directly to a number of computers via the SCSI interface, which is also offered through output for cascade connection of up to seven printers.

$8,995

STAR MICRONICS

800-447-4700, 212-986-6770

Star Micronics' SJ-144 color printer uses thermal transfer/heat fusion technology; it offers 360-dpi resolution, 8 bitmapped fonts and 15 scalable TrueType fonts. The unit has parallel and serial ports, and supports three industry-standard emulations plus automatic emulation switching. Cost per page is 94 cents; it supports color matching and calibration.

$599

TEKTRONIX INC.

800-835-6100, 503-682-7377

Designed for business documents, presentations, reports and color text, the Tektronix Phaser 220e is a 600 x 300-dpi color thermal transfer printer that enables printing on most laser papers, at a cost of 56 cents per page. It has a 16MHz processor, 8MB of RAM, and serial and parallel ports. It supports PostScript Level 2, HPGL and PLC 5 languages.

$3,995

TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC IMAGING DIVISION

800-468-6744, 714-583-3000

Toshiba's PageLaser GX200 laser

printer has serial and Centronics parallel ports. Providing 300-dpi resolution, the printer ships with 1MB of standard memory, which can be upgraded to 5MB with memory modules. The 8ppm printer is compatible with HP LaserJet III, IBM Proprinter XL24 and Epson FX-850 printers, and has slots for two HP LaserJet-compatible font cartridges.

Reviewed: September 1993

$1,799

XANTE CORP.

800-926-8839, 205-476-8189

Xante's Accel-A-Writer 8100 laser printer has a 20MHz processor and 12MB of memory, expandable to 24MB. It offers a standard resolution of 600 dpi, with 800-, 960- and 1200-dpi available as options. Standard ports include RS-232 and Centronics parallel, AppleTalk, and SCSI, with Ethernet an available option. The Accel-A-Writer 8100 supports PCL and PostScript languages, offers 35 PostScript fonts.

600 DPI $3,395;  800 DPI, $4,595;

960 DPI, $5,495; 1200 DPI, $6,695.


Notebooks

Acer America Corp.

800-368-2237, 408-432-6200

Featuring a 9.5-inch TFT active-matrix display, the AcerNote 750c has a 486SL 25MHz processor, 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB) and a 120MB hard disk. One Type III PCMCIA slot allows for expansion. The 7.87-pound AcerNote 750c has a built-in trackball and ships with DOS 6.0, Windows 3.1 and Works. Its NiMH battery provides 3 hours of use and has an average recharge time of 2.5 hours.

Reviewed: January 1994

$4,287

Altima Systems Inc.

800-356-9990, 510-356-5600

Altima Systems' 433c notebook has an 8.5-inch TFT active-matrix display, a 200MB hard disk and 4MB RAM (expandable to 20MB). Shipped with DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1, the Altima 433c weighs 7.0 pounds. The notebook supports an external monitor at a resolution of 1024x768.

Reviewed: January 1994

$3,599

Ambra Computer Corp.

800-25-AMBRA, 919-713-1550

Each of Ambra Computer's six notebook models comes with at least 4MB of RAM, an 86-key keyboard with an integrated 16mm trackball, MS-DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1. Processors range from 486SX/25 to 486DX/50. The 4-pound, SN series models each have a Type II PCMCIA slot, a removable hard disk of 80MB or 170MB, and an 8.2-inch LCD or 7.8-inch color display. The 6.6-pound, N series models include a Type III PCMCIA slot, a 120MB to 200MB hard disk and a 9.5-inch dual-scan or active-matrix color display.

$1,299 to $3,899

Aspen Computer Inc.

800-472-3273, 716-626-0315

The Aspen Universa notebook series features a VESA local bus with enhanced graphics performance, an IDE hard disk and one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots. The 7-pound computer comes with DOS 6.2, has a 10-inch active-matrix display (also available in monochrome, passive- or dual-scan) and a built-in 10mm trackball. The standard 4MB of RAM is expandable to 20MB, and the 120MB hard disk is expandable to 240MB or 340MB. Processors range from 486SX/25 to 486DX/66. A built-in wrist rest eases strain.

$1,750 to $5,255

AMS Inc.

800-886-2671, 818-814-8851

Available with a 486SX/25, 486SX/33 or 486DX/33 processor, the 3.9-pound AMS SoundWave features VESA local-bus acceleration, serial and parallel ports, and one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots. The machine comes with a removable 120MB hard disk (expandable to 540MB), a built-in 19mm trackball and an external 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.

From $1,795

AST Research Inc.

800-876-4278, 714-727-4141

The upgradable AST PowerExec 4/33SL accommodates either one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots. It has a 9.5-inch diagonal display (available in TFT color or monochrome). The 6.9-pound notebook includes 4MB of RAM (expandable to 32MB), a 200MB or optional 240MB hard disk, a 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy disk drive and AST's SmartPoint cableless trackball. The nickel metal hydride battery provides up to six hours of computing time on a single charge.

Reviewed: January 1994

$2,700 to $4,400

AT&T Global Information Solutions

800-637-2600, 513-445-5000

Running on an Intel 25MHz 486SX processor, AT&T's Safari 3150 features 4MB of RAM, upgradable to 20MB. You can choose from three 9.5-inch displays: monochrome, dual-scan passive (STN) color or an active-matrix (TFT) screen. The 6-pound notebook comes standard with a Type II PCMCIA card slot, local-bus video, serial and parallel interfaces, and a removable 80MB, 120MB or 170MB hard disk. DOS 6.0, Windows 3.1 and other applications are included.

$1,923 to $4,647

Austin Computer Systems Inc.

800-752-1577, 512-339-3500

The Austin 466-340 notebook boasts a 486DX2/66MHz processor. It ships with 8MB of RAM (expandable to 32MB) and a 340MB hard disk. Additional features of the 7.3-pound notebook are local bus graphics, one Type III PCMCIA slot, a built-in trackball, DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1. Austin will configure the system with hard disk sizes ranging from 130MB to 340MB.

Reviewed: January 1994

$4,299

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, 713-370-0670

You can use either a keyboard or pen interface with the 6.5-pound Compaq Concerto. Available with a 486SL/25 or 486SL/33 processor, the notebook comes preinstalled with DOS 6.0, Windows for Pen Computing, InkWare NoteTaker and SLATE PenPower for Microsoft. The standard model features a 9.5-inch monochrome display, one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots, a 250MB hard disk, up to 20MB of RAM and local-bus graphics.

From $2,499

CompuAdd Computer Corp.

800-627-1961, 512-250-2930

The LCD of CompuAdd's 450 Colorpro displays 256 colors at a resolution of 640x480 and is driven by a local-bus controller. The 6.5-pound notebook features a 486DX2/50 processor, 4MB of RAM (expandable to 8MB or 20MB), a 340MB IDE hard disk, one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. DOS 6.2, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Close-Up 4.0, the CompuServe Starter Kit and AMIDiag Lite are included.

$3,995

Dell Computer Corp.

800-289-3355, 512-338-4400

Dell offers the Latitude family of notebooks in five models, each based on an i486SX SL-enhanced 33MHz processor. Display types include monochrome, dual-scan STN and TFT active-matrix. All Latitude notebooks offer integrated pointing devices, local bus graphics, up to 260MB disk storage, PCMCIA slots, NiMH batteries and power management capabilities. Each Latitude system comes standard with Dell's CommCentral communications software suite. Dell offers several packaged solutions designed to address business and mobile computing needs.

From $1,699

Digital Equipment Corp.

800-DIGITAL, 603-884-5111

Shipping with DOS 6.2, Lotus Organizer and Windows 3.1, the DECpc 425 SE features a 25MHz 486SX processor, a 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy disk drive, a Type III PCMCIA slot, a built-in trackball, 4MB of RAM, expandable to 20MB, and a choice of a 120MB or 170MB hard disk. The notebook is available with either a monochrome or dual-scan passive-matrix 9.5-inch color screen, weighing 5.5 pounds and 6.2 pounds, respectively.

From $1,899

Epson America Inc.

800-289-3776, 310-782-0770

The Epson ActionNote 700 series notebooks weigh less than 5 pounds each. Three display models are available: monochrome LCD, dual-scan passive-matrix and TFT active-matrix color. Each model runs on an Intel 486DX/33 processor, comes with 4MB to 20MB of RAM, one Type II PCMCIA slot and a built-in 9600/2400-bps fax modem. The removable hard disk ranges in size from 80MB to 210MB; preinstalled software titles include DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1.

$1,995 to $3,395

Gateway 2000 International

800-523-2000, 605-232-2000

The ColorBook is a 5.7-pound, dual-scan STN color notebook, with your choice of 4MB to 20MB of RAM and a hard disk size ranging from 120MB to 250MB. It comes configured with either an Intel 486SX/33, 486DX/33 or 486DX2/50 processor, and with DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. PCMCIA slots allow expandability, and an optional fax modem is available. The machine also contains a pop-out pointing device and a floppy disk drive.

Reviewed: January 1994

From $1,975

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-443-1254, 503-757-2004

The 2.9-pound HP OmniBook comes fully loaded with DOS 5.0, Windows 3.1, Word 2.0, Excel 4.0, LapLink Remote Access and a handy set of utilities from HP. You can get the subnotebook with either a 386/20 or 486/25 processor. Other features include 2MB of RAM (expandable to 6MB), two Type II PCMCIA slots, a 9-inch monochrome display, a pop-out mouse and instant on. The machine lacks a floppy disk drive, but provides other ways to exchange data.

Reviewed: July 1993

$1,199 to $2,095

Hyundai Electronics America

800-627-7978, 408-473-9200

Hyundai's Neuron 400 notebook features an Intel 486SX processor, upgradable to a DX or DX2/66. The 170MB or 210MB hard disk is removable, and you can expand the 4MB of RAM to 20MB. Monochrome and dual-scan backlit color displays are available; both models weigh 5.5 pounds. The Neuron 400 notebook also comes equipped with one Type II PCMCIA slot and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.

Mono $1,513; color $2,435

IBM Corp.

800-772-2227, fax 919-517-2050

Featuring the TrackPoint pointing device in the middle of the keyboard, the IBM ThinkPad 750 series comes in a variety of configurations. An Intel 486SL/33 processor drives the 5.5-pound notebook, which ships with 4MB to 20MB of RAM. Displays are available in either monochrome, dual-scan passive-matrix color or active-matrix color, with pen technology as an option on some models. Two Type II PCMCIA slots are standard. In addition, a docking station with integrated speakers and sound capabilities is optional.

Reviewed: January 1994

From $3,199

Inex Technologies

800-783-4639, 408-986-9941

At 5.8 pounds, the Inex 4500 combines cellular communications capabilities with an Intel 486DX2/50 processor. The notebook includes a fax modem that supports voice mail and allows a direct connection to a hand-held cellular phone. The system also has a built-in business audio sound chip for multimedia presentations and two Type II PCMCIA slots. It comes with 4MB of RAM, expandable to 20MB, and a range of hard disks from 200MB to 300MB. Display options include passive-matrix and active-matrix color.

$2,695 to $3,995

Micro Express

800-989-9900, 714-852-1400

Featuring a 66MHz 486DX2 processor, the NB8266 from Micro Express comes with a range of hard disks from 200MB to 340MB and a choice of  Type I or Type II PCMCIA slots. The 7.2-pound notebook, which features a 10-inch TFT active-matrix LCD, a trackball and a 3.5-inch 1.44MB floppy disk drive.

$4,499

MidWest Micro

800-682-7256, 513-368-2309

Boasting Intel's 75MHz DX4 SL-enhanced processor and integrated audio features, the 6.9-pound Elite DX4 SoundBook offers an upgradable hard disk from 260MB to 520MB, a PCMCIA slot, a 1.44MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and a built-in trackball. Shipped with audio accessories software for DOS and Windows, the notebook provides local-bus video acceleration, 1MB of VRAM, support for 24-bit color and a 10.3-inch screen. Additional features include a built-in microphone and a carrying case.

From $2,499

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-632-4636, 708-860-9500

The UltraLite Versa E notebooks from NEC incorporate an Intel 486DX2 processor operating at either 40MHz or 50MHz. Novel features include a display that you can flip around for presentations and a floppy disk drive you can remove and replace with a second battery. Available with monochrome and TFT active-matrix displays, the notebook is upgradable to include a direct connection to a cellular phone or to add pen capabilities to the display.

Reviewed: March 1994

$2,899 to $6,029

Olivetti North America

800-633-9909, 509-927-5600

Olivetti's Philos 44 notebooks come in two versions: a 6.2-pound model with an active-matrix color display and a 5.3-pound monochrome. Both use a 25MHz 486SL processor and come equipped with 4MB of RAM that's expandable to 32MB. They include a PCMCIA slot and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. The active-matrix model ships with a removable 120MB or 240MB hard disk.

From $2,453

Polywell Computers

800-999-1278, 415-583-7222

The Poly 486D series of notebooks use a range of processors: SX/33, DX/33 or DX2/66. Display options include monochrome passive supertwist and TFT active-matrix color. The notebook features 4MB to 20MB of RAM, a 120MB to 240MB hard disk and a PCMCIA slot.

$1,500 to $3,500

Sharp Electronics Corp.

800-237-4277, 201-529-9593

Sharp's PC-8650 features the Intel 486DX/33 processor and an 8.4-inch active-matrix color screen. The 6.4-pound notebook also offers a PCMCIA Type II slot, a 200MB hard disk and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. It uses an external trackball for a pointing device, and comes standard with 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB). Options include a port replicator and an internal fax modem. A monochrome model is also available.

$3,249 to $3,299

Texas Instruments

800-527-3500, 512-794-5970

The TravelMate 4000E WinDX/75 uses the Intel DX4 clock-tripled processor to achieve a CPU speed of 75MHz. The display is active-matrix color, and RAM is expandable to 20MB. The 6.3-pound notebook is available with either a 340MB or a 455MB hard disk.

Reviewed: January 1994

$1,699 to $4,999

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.

800-334-3445, 714-587-9476

Boasting a 7.8-inch TFT active-matrix color display, the Toshiba PortŽgŽ subnotebook weighs 4.4 pounds and has an Intel 486SX/33 processor. Video is controlled via a local-bus graphics accelerator; a lithium ion battery powers the subnotebook for up to six hours. The machine also features a 120MB hard disk, 4MB of RAM (expandable to 20MB) and a Type II PCMCIA slot. Also available is a 4.1-pound monochrome version and an external floppy disk drive.

Reviewed: January 1994

$2,599 to $3,999

WinBook Computer Corp.

800-486-2162; fax 800-444-0308

Micro Center's WinBook is available in both a 5.4-pound, monochrome model and a 5.9-pound, dual-scan STN color model. Both come with 4MB of RAM, expandable to 32MB. Upgrade with a range of SL-enhanced 486 processors, from an SX/25 to a DX2/50. Other features include two PCMCIA Type II slots, a 9600/2400 fax modem and a 200MB or 340MB hard disk.

$1,399 to $2,999

Zenith Data Systems

800-553-0331, 708-808-5000

Zenith's Z-LITE 425L subnotebook offers an Intel 486SL/25 processor inside a 3.9-pound machine. The base configuration includes 4MB of RAM, two Type II PCMCIA slots and an 85MB hard disk. You can upgrade the monochrome subnotebook with 8MB of RAM, a 170MB hard disk and an external floppy disk drive. The pointing device is detachable; the AC adapter can be combined with the external floppy disk drive into one unit.

$1,899 to $2,499

Zeos International

800-423-5891, 612-623-9614

A unique tilt-and-swivel display complements the Zeos Freestyle notebook, available with an Intel 386SL/25, 486SL/25 or 486SL/33 processor. The 5.6-pound notebook comes with a 60MB to 260MB hard disk, 4MB to 20MB of RAM, and a 9.4-inch backlit monochrome LCD. Available as options are a fax modem, an Ethernet adapter and a variety of software.

$995 to $2,395


Modems

ADTECH MICRO SYSTEMS INC.

800-783-3366, 510-659-0756

Using standard RS-232 interfacing, the Comm-panion 14/14 Pocket FaxModem from Adtech offers a maximum speed of 14,400 bps for both data and fax transmission. The unit, which ships with BitFax software for DOS and Windows, offers Class 1 and 2 fax send/receive capabilities and V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP5 and V.42bis data compression and error correction.

$299

ARCH TEK AMERICA CORP.

818-912-9800, fax 818-912-9700

Arch Tek's 1914BAT external modem transmits faxes at 14,400 bps and data at 19,200 bps. The modem ships with Archcom for DOS and Archfax for Windows software. It offers Class 1 and 2 fax send/receive capabilities and has a serial port. The unit supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42, V.42bis and V.terbo.

$229

ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC.

905-882-2600, fax 905-882-2620

ATI'S 14400 ETC-Express PCMCIA fax modem connects to portable computers containing a PCMCIA Type II slot. The credit-card-sized unit transmits data and faxes at 14,400 bps and can send data at up to 57,600 bps using V.42bis/MNP5 data compression. It supports industry standards for fax (EIA Class 1 and CCITT Group 3) and data transmissions, as well as V.22, V.32, V.32bis, V.42 and MNP2-4. Fax and modem software are included.

$349

BAY CONNECTION

800-4-PKT-FAX, 408-270-8070

The 5.4-ounce, pocket-sized Spectra-Com P192mx from Bay Connection, which supports a serial port, can operate without batteries or an AC adapter. The unit transmits data at 19,200 bps without compression and 76,200 with compression. As a Class 2-compatible fax modem, it transmits at 14,400 bps. It supports V.32ter, V.32bis, V.42bis and MNP5. COMit fax and COMit communications software are included.

$249

BEST DATA PRODUCTS INC.

800-632-2387, 818-773-9600

Best Data Products' Smart One 1442F fax modem transmits faxes and data at speeds of 14,400 bps without compression and sends data at 57,600 bps with compression. Supporting V.22, V.32, V.32bis, V.42, V.42bis and MNP2-5, the unit ships with Quick Link II fax and data software and COMit data communications software.

$189

BOCA RESEARCH INC.

407-997-6227, fax 407-997-0918

The 28.8Kbps V.fast Class BocaModem can transmit uncompressed data at 28,800 bps. It is fully Hayes-compatible and is backward-compatible with slower-speed modems. The unit comes in both internal and external configurations and includes Faxworks fax and COMit data communications software. It provides V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42, V.42bis and V.fast Class error correction and data compression.

Internal, $395; external, $495

CALCULUS INC.

305-481-2334, fax 305-481-1866

The IntelliModem 144 external fax modem from Calculus transmits both data and faxes at 14,400 bps and achieves a maximum data throughput of 57,600 bps with compression. It ships with WinFax Lite software and has a serial port connection. The unit supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$299

CALPAK CORP.

310-539-8366, fax 310-530-8311

Shipping with ZCOM and ZFAX software, Calpak's MX-14.414b (internal) and MXE-14.414b (external) fax modems transmit fax and data at 14,400 bps and can send data at 57,600 bps with compression. Both are compatible with Class 1 and 2, and support V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42, V.42bis and V.fast. The external model has a serial port connection.

Internal, $199; external, $219

CAMBRIDGE TELECOM INC.

408-980-0885, fax 408-980-0880

Cambridge Telecom's DataSystem 1414XA external fax modem provides data throughput at 57,600 bps with data compression on both dial-up and privately leased lines. Fully CCITT V.17- Group 3,-EIA Class 2-compatible, the 14,400-bps unit supports a serial port and ships with BitFax and Bitcom software for Windows. It offers V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP2-5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$130

CARDINAL TECHNOLOGIES INC.

717-293-3000; fax 717-293-3055

Shipped with Faxworks and COMit software, the MVP192I internal fax modem from Cardinal transmits data at speeds of 19,200 bps without compression and 76,800 bps with compression. Faxes are transmitted at 14,400 bps. The unit has Class 1 and 2 fax send and receive capabilities and supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$269

CETTLAN CORP.

714-559-4016, fax 714-262-0708

Featuring 64-user support, the SecureModem 2057e from Cettlan offers V.17 14,400-bps Group 3, Class 1 and 2 send/receive fax capabilities. This external modem has a serial port connection and maximum data transmission speed of 19,200 bps while providing V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4-5, V.42 and V.42bis error correction and data compression.

$895

CHOICE TECHNOLOGY GROUP LTD.

619-487-5640; fax 619-487-5640

The UltraDeskFAX 14400LE fax modem from Choice Technology Group offers a fax and data transmission speed of 14,400 bps. The unit is CCITT Group 3 compatible.

$345

COMPUTER PERIPHERALS INC.

800-854-7600, 805-499-5751

Computer Peripherals Inc.'s ViVa 14.4/FAX internal fax modem features a 14,400-bps transmission rate for data and fax, with a maximum data throughput of 57,600 bps using data compression. Shipped with Quick Link II Fax and WinFax Lite software, it is compatible with Hayes modems and Class 2 faxes. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP2-4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$159

CXR TELECOM CORP.

408-435-8520, fax 408-435-1276

As a data modem, the 1945-FXD1 from CXR offers V.32terbo, V.32, V.32bis, V.42, V.42bis, and MNP4 and 5 error correction and data compression. It transmits data at 19,200 bps. As a fax modem, the external unit features 9,600-bps transmission and Group 3 compatibility.

$895

DTRONIX

800-995-1711, 408-982-9667

The PC192 PCMCIA modem card from DTronix plugs into any portable computer that supports the PCMCIA II standard. It has an internal data-access arrangement, enabling it to connect directly to the RJ-11 phone outlet, and can be upgraded for a direct cellular connect. It sends data at 19,200 bps, faxes at 14,400 bps and has maximum data throughput of 76,800 using data compression. The Class 1- and 2-compatible unit supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42, V.42bis and V.fast. It ships with Quick Link II fax software.

$349

E-TECH RESEARCH INC.

800-328-5538, 408-730-1388

Offering maximum data throughput of 57,600 bps using data compression, E-Tech's PC1414MX internal fax modem supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP2-4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis. The unit transmits faxes and data at 14,400 bps and is compatible with Class 1 and 2. It ships with Quick Link II software and offers distinctive ring and caller ID features.

$199

GVC TECHNOLOGIES INC.

800-289-4821, 201-579-3630

GVC's FM288/144V V.fast Class external fax modem features  28,800-bps data transmission and 14,400 bps faxing. Maximum throughput is 115,200 bps with data compression. The Class 1- and 2-compatible unit has a serial port and ships with WinFax Lite fax software as well as an on-line service package, including Prodigy Starter Kit software. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42, V.42bis and V.fast Class.

Internal, $369; external, $399

HAYES MICROCOMPUTER PRODUCTS INC.

800-964-2937, 404-441-1617

Standard data transmission speed for the Hayes Optima 288V.FC+FAX is 28,800 bps. With compression, the external modem transmits data at up to 230,000 bps. Faxes are sent and received at up to 14,400 bps. Shipping with Smartcom for Windows LE and Windows fax software, the unit has a serial port and Class 1 send/receive fax capabilities. The modem supports V.32, V.32bis, MNP5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$579

INTEL CORP.

800-538-3373, 408-765-8080

The Intel Faxmodem (PCMCIA) Version 14.4/14.4 is a credit-card-sized fax modem that fits PCMCIA Type II and III slots. Bundled software includes Intel FAXability Plus, HyperACCESS/5 Lite and Intel Card Manager software. With a standard data and fax transmission speed of 14,400 bps and a maximum throughput of 57,600 bps, the unit has Class 1 and 2 send/receive fax capabilities. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42 and V.42bis.

$349

MEGAHERTZ CORP.

800-527-8677, 801-272-6000

The Megahertz Gold 14,400/14,400-bps PCMCIA fax modem features flash ROM to permit field upgrades and an internal, but extendible, RJ-11 jack on the card, which eliminates the need for annoying phone-connection dongles. Fax and data transmission speed without data compression is 14,400 bps; maximum data throughput with compression is 57,600 bps. Standards supported include V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42 and V.42bis. It is compatible with Class 1 and 2 faxes.

$399

MICROCOM INC.

800-882-8224, fax 617-551-1021

The Microcom DeskPorte FAST external fax modem transmits faxes at 14,400 bps, sends data at 28,800 bps and achieves top throughput rates of 115,200 bps using data compression. The unit is shipped with SofNet Faxworks software. It supports Class 1 faxes, and both serial and parallel ports and it can communicate with non-V.fast modems. The DeskPorte Fast supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP2-4, 5 and 10, V.42, V.42bis and V.fast Class 28.8.

$499

MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS INC.

800-328-9717, 612-785-3500

The MultiModemZDX model MT1932ZDX offers V.32terbo data rates of 19,200 bps and up to 76,800 bps maximum data throughput with compression. Compatible with CCITT's V.17 or Group 3 standard, the unit offers a fax speed of 14,400 bps. The external modem supports a serial port and comes with MultiExpress comm software and MultiExpressFax software. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42, V.42bis and V.32terbo.

$299

NEW MEDIA CORP.

800-453-0550, 714-453-0100

New Media's 14.4/14.4 PCMCIA fax modem was designed for portable computing applications. As a data modem, the card operates at speeds up to 14,400 bps, with maximum throughput of up to 57,600 bps using data compression. As a fax modem, the card operates at 14,400 bps and supports T30 protocol and Class 1 and 2 faxes. It ships with Delrina WinFax and COMit fax and modem software. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42 and V.42bis.

$349

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS INC.

800-442-4774, 805-497-4774

A desktop modem featuring a three-line LCD that displays time of day and status messages, Practical Peripherals' PM288LCD transmits data at 28,800 bps, with a top throughput rate of 115,200 bps with compression. Maximum fax transmission speed on this Class 1- and 2-compatible model is 14,400 bps. It is compatible with other manufacturers' modems supporting V.fast Class technology down to 14,400 bps. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

Price to be Announced

PROMETHEUS PRODUCTS

800-477-3473, 503-692-9600

The Home Office 144i internal fax/data/voice modem from Prometheus incorporates 14,400-bps data transmissions and fax transmissions with a voice messaging system. Maximum data throughput, using data compression, is 57,600 bps. It offers Class 2 fax compatibility and supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$169

RACAL-DATACOM

800-722-2555, 305-846-1601

The Racal-Datacom ALM 3226 V.32bis pocket-sized, cellular fax modem plugs directly into the 9-pin terminal connector on your laptop computer. Sending data and faxes at 14,400 bps, it has a maximum throughput of 57,600 bps using data compression. The unit complies with Group 3, Class 1 and 2 standards, connects with serial ports and ships with Quick Link II software. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42 and V.42bis.

$499

SIIG INC.

510-657-8688, fax 510-657-5962

With a standard speed of 14,400 bps for both fax and data transmission and a maximum data transmission throughput of 56,000 bps with compression, the SI-1414 internal modem from Siig ships with Quick Link II software and CompuServe on-line service. It offers Class 2 fax compatibility and supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$149

SUPRA CORP.

800-727-8772, 503-967-2410

The SupraFAXModem 288 (external) and 288i (internal) fax modems transmit data at 28,800 bps with a throughput of 115,200 bps using data compression. In fax mode, the units are Class 1- and 2-compatible and operate at 14,400 bps. They ship with fax and communications software as well as CompuServe Information Manager. The external version connects via a serial port, and both offer V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42, V.42bis and V.fast support.

Internal, $349; external, $399

TELEBIT CORP.

800-989-8888, 508-441-2181

With a standard speed of 28,800 bps for data and 9,600 bps for fax transmission, the WorldBlazer external fax modem from Telebit offers a maximum throughput of 115,200 bps with data compression. The unit has a serial port connection and offers Class 2 fax compatibility. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$1,099

US ROBOTICS INC.

800-342-5877, 708-982-5010

The WorldPort 14,400 Fax PCMCIA modem from US Robotics slides into any portable computer equipped with a PCMCIA Type II slot. With a detachable, reversible data-access arrangement, it can connect to any phone with an RJ-11 connection. Offering minimum speeds of 14,400 bps and maximum data throughput of 57,600 bps for both fax and data transmission, the unit supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$339

WESTERN DATACOM CO. INC.

800-262-3311, 216-835-1510

The WorldCom V.32bis pocket-sized modem offers both fax and cellular capabilities. By using the Motorola 68302 microprocessor for its V.42bis implementation, it achieves an asynchronous data throughput of 115,200 bps. It provides Group 3 send/receive fax transmission at 14,400 bps with Class 1 and 2 compatibility. It has a serial port connection and ships with Quick Link II software. It supports V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4, 5 and 10, V.42 and V.42bis.

$695

ZOOM TELEPHONICS INC.

617-423-1072, 800-666-6191

The Zoom FaxModem VPF 28.8 is a V.32bis internal modem with an uncompressed data transmission speed of 28,800 bps and 90,000 bps throughput with compressed data. The Class 1- and 2-compatible model handles faxes at speeds up to 14,400 bps. Software shipped with the modem includes WinFax Lite and DOSfax.

$279

ZYXEL USA

800-255-4101, 714-693-0808

The U-1496E PlusFax from ZyXEL can operate at data speeds up to 19,200 bps, fax speeds of 14,400 bps and has a maximum data throughput up to 76,800 bps using compression. The unit conforms with ITU-T standards, including V.22, V.32, V.32bis, MNP4 and 5, V.42 and V.42bis.

$499


Monitors

ADI Systems Inc.

800-228-0530, 408-944-0100

Designed with a front-mounted microprocessor-based digital control panel, the 15-inch MicroScan 4GP monitor has a resolution of up to 1280x1024 noninterlaced at a refresh rate of 60Hz and 1024x768 at 76Hz. It has a dot pitch of 0.28mm, horizontal scanning frequencies of 30kHz to 64kHz and vertical scanning frequencies of 50Hz to 100Hz. The monitor complies with the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star and Sweden's NUTEK/TCO requirements for energy efficiency, and conforms to the MPRII specifications for low emissions.

Low radiation model,$490; regular radiation, $475

Amdek Corp.

800-72AMDEK, 408-473-1200

Featuring digital, front-mounted controls, Amdek's 17-inch AM/817E color monitor offers a flat-square display with a nonglare screen and a dot pitch of 0.26mm. The display has a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 noninterlaced with a refresh rate of 60Hz, and a 1280x1024 resolution noninterlaced with a refresh rate of 76Hz. The AM/817E includes controls for pin-cushion, rotation and color gain adjustments and complies with both the EPA specifications for energy consumption and Swedish MPRII standards.

Reviewed: June 1993

$839

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, 713-370-0670

Compaq's QVision 200 has a 20-inch screen. The monitor provides a dot pitch of 0.30mm, a vertical refresh rate of 72Hz at 1024x768, and a refresh rate of 76Hz at 1280x1024. A user-defined color temperature setting allows you to adjust the relative amounts of red, green and blue.

Reviewed: November 1993

$2,399

CTX International Inc.

800-289-2189, 909-595-6146

Offering a dot pitch of 0.26mm, the CTX-1785GM 17-inch flat-square CRT has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 with a 75Hz refresh rate. The monitor meets both EPA Energy Star and MPRII standards.

$1,399

Dyna Micro Inc.

800-336-DYNA, 408-944-0393

The Fora Addonics C172A/LR 17-inch color monitor supports a maximum  resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced at a 60Hz refresh rate. It features a 0.28mm dot pitch, nonglare, antistatic flat-square screen and comes with a microprocessor to automatically lock in the display controls at various preset resolutions and scanning frequencies. The display adjustments, including pin cushion, barrel and trapezoidal effects, are digitally controlled and can be regulated separately. The monitor conforms to MPRII specifications for low emissions.

$995

Hitachi America Ltd.

800-225-1370, 201-573-0774

The Accuvue PS-21AM auto-scanning monitor has a 21-inch screen with a maximum resolution of 1600x1280 noninterlaced, at a vertical refresh rate of 60Hz and a horizontal scanning frequency of 79.3kHz. With a dot pitch of 0.31mm, the monitor offers 20 programmable scanning frequencies, including seven factory presets. Front-access controls include power on/off, brightness, contrast and degauss. The monitor is MPRII compliant.

Reviewed: November 1993

$2,995

IBM Corp.

800-IBM-2-YOU, 800-772-2227

Equipped with a Sony Trinitron screen, the 17P 17-inch color monitor from IBM offers a maximum resolution of 1360x1024 at a refresh rate of 77Hz, noninterlaced. The monitor has 16 user-definable scanning frequencies and 14 factory presets. Other features include convergence controls and tint adjustments. It meets Energy Star and MPRII requirements.

$1,199

Idek Iiyama North America Inc.

800-394-4335, 215-957-6543

The VisionMaster MF-8617 17-inch FST color monitor offers a 0.26mm dot pitch and a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 at a refresh rate of 80Hz. There are 21 automatically saved user memory locations, with eight factory presets included. The unit, which automatically reverts to stand

By: mode after a user-definable period of from five to 60 minutes, complies with MPRII requirements for low emissions.

$779

Image Systems Corp.

612-935-1171, fax 612-935-1386

Image Systems' M21P2KMAX 21-inch portrait gray-scale monitor is designed for medical applications and other uses requiring up to 5 million pixels of resolution and 100 foot lamberts nominal brightness. It has a resolution of 2048x2560, a horizontal scan rate of 100kHz to 200kHz and a vertical scan rate of 55Hz to 80Hz.

$3,000

KFC USA Inc.

800-253-2872, 714-546-0336

A 15-inch, nonglare, etched flat screen and a dot pitch of 0.28mm are standard on the CA 1507. Maximum resolution is 1280x1024 noninterlaced, and there are nine factory preset memory channels and 27 user-programmable memory channels. Front-panel controls include brightness, contrast, H-size, H-phase, V-size, V-center and degauss. The monitor has a horizontal frequency of 30kHz to 65kHz and a vertical frequency of 50 to 90Hz. An MPRII-compliant version is available.

$495

Leading Edge Products Inc.

800-874-3340, 508-836-4800

The MPRII-compliant CMON 1528V multiscanning monitor from Leading Edge features a 15-inch flat-square screen with a dot pitch of 0.28mm and a maximum resolution of 1024x768. The vertical frequency is 47Hz to 100Hz and the horizontal frequency is 31.5kHz to 58kHz. Controls for power, contrast, brightness and more are situated on the front panel.

$549

Mag Innovision Inc.

800-827-3998, 714-751-2008

Featuring flat-square technology, the multifrequency DX17F color monitor complies with both Energy Star and MPRII specs. The 17-inch monitor offers a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced at a refresh rate of 60Hz, and a dot pitch of 0.26mm. Digital controls govern power, brightness, contrast and more. A manual degaussing switch allows on-the-fly degaussing.

$849

MiTAC Corp.

800-777-1688, 510-656-3333

MiTAC's M1564PD is a 15-inch flat-square XGA monitor with on-screen digital controls and a dot pitch of 0.28mm. At a resolution of 1024x768, the refresh rate is 76Hz. The unit supports a noninterlaced resolution of 1280x1024. It meets Energy Star standards.

$499

Mitsubishi Electronics America

800-843-2515, 714-236-6352

A graphical interface on the Diamond Pro 21T 21-inch monitor allows you to adjust display setup controls using an icon-based, on-screen control panel. Front-panel microprocessor-based display setup controls store up to 17 sets of user and factory presets. The unit has a flat-square, high-contrast, antistatic, antiglare screen. Resolution is 1600x1200 noninterlaced at 66Hz, 1280x1024 at 78Hz. It conforms to Energy Star and MPRII standards.

$3,199

Nanao USA Corp.

800-800-5202, 310-325-5202

With 30Hz to 82kHz horizontal and 55Hz to 90Hz vertical scanning frequencies, Nanao's Flexscan F560iW 17-inch monitor offers a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced at a 76Hz refresh rate. Dot pitch is 0.26mm. The unit has a flat-square, antireflective screen. A microprocessor automatically adjusts the image. The monitor meets Energy Star and MPRII standards.

Reviewed: November 1993

$1,599

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500

NEC's 21-inch MultiSync 6FGp monitor has a dot pitch of 0.28mm and a maximum refresh rate of 76Hz at a resolution of 1024x768. At a resolution of 1280x1024, the monitor provides a refresh rate of 74Hz. The AccuColor feature allows you to compare and match individual colors with output.

$2,130

Nokia Display Products Inc.

800-BUY-NOKIA, 415-331-0322

Built around an antiglare-coated Trinitron tube with a dot pitch of 0.26mm, the 17-inch Multigraph 447X delivers a recommended resolution of 1280x1024 at a 75Hz refresh rate and a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 at 60Hz. MPRII and Energy Star compliant, the monitor can also be purchased with optional TCO compliance. A FullScreen feature eliminates the black border, expanding the viewable area by 10 percent. An on-screen menu lists controls such as brightness, contrast, preset recall and color temperature.

$1,250

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.

800-742-8086, 201-348-7000

Two full pages of color images can be displayed at a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 on the 20-inch PanaSync C1991, which features a dot pitch of 0.31mm. It has 14 preset autosize/centering modes and a user programming feature that allows you to program the vertical and horizontal image sizing and centering. Front-panel controls include power, brightness, H-size, H-center, V-size, V-center and contrast.

$2,695

Portrait Display Labs

510-249-0444, fax 510-249-0445

A 15-inch color multifrequency monitor, the Portrait/15 Plus has a flat-square tube design with antiglare and antistatic coatings. It is optimized for displaying Windows applications in 256 colors at 800x600 or 1024x768 resolution at noninterlaced refresh rates of 72Hz, in either landscape or portrait views. The monitor features a dot pitch of 0.28mm and meets MPRII standards.

$999

Presenta Technologies Corp.

818-960-0420, fax 818-960-0430

The DM-2930 is a 29-inch color monitor with a dot pitch of 0.79mm and maximum resolution of 800x600 noninterlaced and 1024x768 interlaced. Up-front controls include power on/off, a power on/off LED indicator, H-size, V-size, phase, contrast and brightness. The monitor is capable of accepting horizontal scan rates of 31.5/35.2/35.5kHz and vertical scan rates of 50Hz to 90Hz through a standard 15-pin D-sub connector.

$2,495

Proton Corp.

310-404-2222, fax 310-404-2322

Designed for multimedia applications, the FM-1561A 15-inch monitor features built-in, side-mounted stereo speakers powered by a two-channel amplifier. With a dot pitch of 0.28mm, the monitor offers a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced, with a vertical refresh rate of 60Hz. There are 10 standard factory preset modes that automatically adjust image parameters and nine user-adjustable presets.

$699

Rasterops Corp.

800-SAY-COLOR, 408-562-4200

Featuring a Sony Trinitron tube, the RasterOps/20T Multiscan Color Display monitor has a 20 ' inch diagonal display, a dot pitch of 0.31mm and an antiglare screen. The MPRII ' compliant monitor offers eight factory preset and 15 user ' definable preset scanning frequencies, and a resolution range of 640x480 to 1280x1024 noninterlaced. Horizontal refresh rates range from 28kHz to 85kHz and vertical refresh rates range from 60Hz to 160Hz.

$2869

Sampo Corp. of America

404 ' 449 ' 6220, 404 ' 447 ' 1109

The KDM ' 1777 AlphaScan 17e features a flat ' square 17 ' inch antistatic, nonglare screen and a dot pitch of 0.28mm. The monitor offers a maximum resolution of 1600x1280 noninterlaced at 60Hz. A microprocessor control system offers 20 programmable settings, with 10 preset and 10 user modes. The unit complies with MPRII and VESA specs.

Reviewed: June 1993

$995

Samsung Electronics America

800 ' 726 ' 7864, 201 ' 229 ' 4000

Designed for graphics ' intensive applications, the flat ' screen, 17 ' inch SyncMaster 17 GLs offers a 0.26mm dot pitch and a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced at 76Hz. Digital adjustments made on the front panel are displayed on ' screen and can be stored for future use. The monitor conforms to MPRII and VESA guidelines and the EPA's Energy Star program.

$1,199

Samtron Displays Inc.

310 ' 802 ' 8425, 310 ' 802 ' 8820

Designed to meet VESA, MPRII and Energy Star requirements, the SC ' 428UXL 14 ' inch color monitor offers multiscanning capabilities and refresh rates up to 75Hz. The monitor supports resolutions up to 1024x768 noninterlaced and a dot pitch of 0.28mm. The screen has a horizontal scanning frequency of 30kHz to 62kHz and a vertical scanning frequency of 50 to 76Hz.

$499

Sceptre Technologies Inc.

800 ' 788 ' 2878, 714 ' 993 ' 9193

A microprocessor ' based, digitally controlled unit, the CL ' 617GL offers a 17 ' inch flat ' screen and a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced at 60Hz. Front ' panel controls include pincushion, degaussing and tilt controls, and there are 14 factory preset and 17 user ' adjustable graphics modes. The monitor complies with MPRII, VESA and Energy Star standards.

$895

Sigma Designs Imaging Systems

800 ' 437 ' 4624, 510 ' 770 ' 0100

Sigma Designs' ErgoView 20 ' inch display operates at resolutions of up to 1600x1200 pixels and supports refresh rates as high as 120Hz. Horizontal scan rates range from 28kHz to 85kHz. User ' selectable color temperature controls allow for color ' balance correction. The ErgoView 20 has an antistatic, anti '

reflective coating.

$2,999

Sony Electronics Inc.

800 ' 352 ' 7669, 408 ' 423 ' 7669

Designed for imaging, engineering, design and desktop publishing applications, Sony's Multiscan 17se (GDM ' 17SE1) 17 ' inch monitor features a Trinitron tube and microprocessor ' based continuous scan capability. Offering a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 at 60Hz, the monitor features a digital geometry control system, and nine preset video settings and 11 custom settings based on frequently used modes and front ' panel controls. The monitor complies with MPRII, Energy Star and VESA guidelines.

$1,499.95

Tatung Co. of America Inc.

800 ' 827 ' 2850, 310 ' 637 ' 2105

Tatung's CM ' 15VDE 15 ' inch monitor features a nonglare, tinted flat screen with resolution up to 1024x768 noninterlaced at a 70Hz refresh rate and a dot pitch of 0.28mm. User controls include zoom, function select, horizontal and vertical size and position. The monitor meets EPA Energy Star and MPRII guidelines.

$569

TTX Computer Products Inc.

407 ' 826 ' 0186, 407 ' 826 ' 0267

Featuring a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced at 60Hz, the TTX3501 offers a 15 ' inch flat screen with a dot pitch of 0.28mm and automatic scanning from 31kHz to 66kHz. Front screen controls include power on/off, brightness, contrast, and horizontal and vertical size and center.

$529

Viewsonic Corp.

800 ' 888 ' 8583, 909 ' 869 ' 7976

Conforming to VESA, Energy Star and MPRII standards, ViewSonic's 17G 17 ' inch color monitor features a flat ' square screen with an antireflective, antiglare coating. On ' screen programming allows you to adjust 13 controls, including contrast, pincushioning, brightness and horizontal and vertical positioning. The monitor offers a dot pitch of 0.28mm and a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 noninterlaced. At 1024x768, the refresh rate is 76Hz.

$999

Wen Technology Corp.

914 ' 347 ' 4100, fax 914 ' 347 ' 4128

Offering a maximum resolution of 1024x768 noninterlaced and a dot pitch of 0.28mm, the JK1468 14 ' inch color monitor from Wen offers a horizontal frequency range of 29.5kHz to 58.5kHz and a vertical frequency range of 48Hz to 90Hz. User controls include brightness, contrast V ' size, H ' phase, V ' center and H ' width.

$495

Zenith Data Systems

800 ' 553 ' 0331, 708 ' 808 ' 5000

Designed for high ' resolution graphics applications such as CAD/CAM and multimedia, the ZCM ' 1790 17 ' inch multiscanning color monitor features a flat face plate coated to reduce glare and reflections. The monitor has eight preprogrammed modes, and you can select six other modes to accommodate special video adapters. Conforming to MPRII standards, the monitor offers a dot pitch of 0.26mm. Vertical refresh rate ranges from 59.95Hz to 86.96Hz.

$999


Scanners

Agfa Corp.

800 ' 685 ' 4271, 508 ' 658 ' 5600

Agfa's StudioScan flatbed color scanner offers 24 ' bit color and 8 ' bit gray scale, with a legal ' sized scan area. The TWAIN ' compliant unit provides an optical resolution of 300x600 dpi and a software ' interpolated resolution of 2400 dpi. Bundled with FotoSnap, FotoLook, FotoTune LE and Photoshop LE software, the scanner supports a SCSI interface.

$1,100

Digital Equipment Corp.

800 ' DIGITAL, 508 ' 493 ' 5111

The MD30C flatbed color scanner from Digital offers 16.4 million color shades or up to 256 shades of gray. Software lets you specify the location and size of the area to be scanned, such as a portion of a chart, reducing scan time and disk storage. The unit supports a SCSI ' 2 port, and an optional SCSI adapter is available for PCs without the port. Optical resolution is 300 dpi and the size of the scan area is 8.5 by 14 inches. The MD30C ships with Image ' In Color, as well as Perceive OCR software.

$1,349

Epson Corp.

800 ' 289 ' 3776, 310 ' 782 ' 0770

Epson's 24 ' bit ES ' 800C ' Pro PC flatbed color scanner offers a scan area of 8.5 by 11.7 inches and supports color, gray ' scale and black ' and ' white formats. The TWAIN ' compliant unit offers resolutions of 400 dpi (optical) to 800 dpi (software ' interpolated). Bundled with Micrografx Picture Publisher 4.0, the unit supports a SCSI interface card and cable as well as a bidirectional parallel

port. Built ' in image processing allows you to adjust color, brightness and sharpness in either preview or final scan mode.

$1,499

Hewlett ' Packard Co.

800 ' 752 ' 0900, 503 ' 757 ' 2000

With an interpolated resolution of 1,600 dpi and an optical resolution of 400 dpi, the HP ScanJet IIcx flatbed scanner handles documents up to 8.5 by 14 inches. It supports TWAIN and connects to a SCSI port with a switchless adapter that automatically seeks an available address on the computer. Offering 16.7 million colors and 256 gray ' scale levels, the unit is bundled with HP DeskScan II Version 2.0 scanning software and Aldus PhotoStyler Special Edition image ' editing software. An optional ' adapter accepts transparencies up to 8.5 by 11.7 inches. An optional automatic document feeder provides unattended scanning for 50 pages.

$1,179

Logitech Inc.

510 ' 795 ' 8500, fax 510 ' 792 ' 8901

A compact, boardless, 256 ' gray ' scale, full ' page scanner featuring motorized control and sheet ' fed or hand ' held scanning options, the ScanMan PowerPage communicates with the computer by means of a parallel port and requires no interface card. The unit, which is TWAIN and Microsoft OLE compliant, ships with Logitech's Fototouch Color image ' editing software, Caere's OmniPage Direct AnyFont OCR software for Logitech, Delrina's WinFax Lite faxing software and a copy utility that produces gray ' scale copies using a printer. The scanning width is 8.5 inches; optical resolution is 400 dpi. Thresholding and dithering features automatically adjust contrast for text and images.

$799

Microtek Lab Inc.

310 ' 297 ' 5000, fax 310 ' 297 ' 5050

The ScanMaker IISP single ' pass scanner features Microtek's Dynamic Color Rendition (DCR) color calibration/correction system, with an IT8 reflective color target and calibration/correction software. The 24 ' bit flatbed color scanner scans at 300x600 dpi optical and a 1,200 ' dpi software ' interpolated resolution. The ScanMaker IISP also scans black ' and ' white images in 8 ' bit gray ' scale mode, text and graphics in 4 ' bit mode, and black ' and ' white applications and line art in single ' bit mode. Bundled with Adobe Photoshop 2.5 LE and Caere's Personal Page Keeper Portfolio, the unit is TWAIN compliant, has an ASPI ' compatible SCSI driver and offers an 8.5 '  by 11 ' inch scan area. It can scan into any application supporting TWAIN.

$900 (average street price)

Mustek Inc.

714 ' 453 ' 3824, fax 714 ' 453 ' 1010

Capable of legal ' size scans, the TWAIN ' compliant Mustek Paragon 1200 flatbed scanner captures documents through a proprietary SCSI interface, in 24 ' bit true color. In addition, the unit offers 256 shades of gray as well as 1 ' bit ' per ' pixel halftone and line ' art scanning modes. Optical resolution is 600x1200 dpi, with a maximum interpolated resolution of 2400 dpi. The unit is bundled with Adobe Photoshop 2.5.1 and Ocron Wordlinx OCR software.

$1,995

Recognita Corp.

Of America

800 ' 255 ' GOCR, 408 ' 241 ' 5772

Measuring 11.5 by 4 by 4 inches, the RollandRead Professional is a true gray ' scale scanner that recognizes text in point sizes from 6 to 24 in 80 languages. The feed ' through unit displays images in up to 256 shades of gray and accepts documents up to 8.5 inches wide. The RollandRead Professional ships with Recognita Plus 1.2 OCR and IMS Folder imaging software. The unit is TWAIN compliant and supports an 8 ' bit proprietary interface. Optical resolution is 300 dpi. It reads approximately six pages per minute.

$695

Relisys

800 ' 945 ' 0900, 408 ' 783 ' 2333

Capable of scanning 16.7 million colors and 256 levels of gray scale into an 8.5 '  by 14 ' inch area, the RELI 2400DPI flatbed scanner uses cold cathode lamps that extend scanning usage up to 35,000 hours. Bundled with Alacrity's E ' quip fax software and a full version of Adobe Photoshop, the unit is driven by Art ' Scan 3.0 scanning software. It supports a SCSI ' 2 interface, and a TWAIN ' compliant driver is included, as is a transparency adapter. The unit offers 1200 ' dpi optical and a 2400 ' dpi software ' interpolated resolution.

$1,499

Sharp Electronics Corp.

201 ' 529 ' 9593, fax 201 ' 529 ' 9637

Sharp's JX ' 325 full ' color flatbed scanner features 24 ' bit color, single ' pass scanning, 300x600 ' dpi resolution and full compliance with the SCSI ' 2 standard. The TWAIN ' compatible unit  handles originals up to 8.5 by 11 inches and is capable of  producing color, 256 ' level gray ' scale and black ' and ' white images. Features include resolution setting, scan speed and scan ' range settings, lightness and edge emphasis. Sharp's ScanJX software is bundled with a full version of Adobe Photoshop. Optional CCD ' based transparency units can scan 35mm slides, 4 by 5 chromes and 8 by 10 transparencies.

Without software, $649;

with Windows driver, $699;

with Photoshop, $999

Tamarack Technologies Inc.

800 ' 643 ' 0666, 408 ' 956 ' 0144

The 12000C flatbed color scanner from Tamarack offers an optical resolution of 600x1200 dpi, a software ' interpolated resolution of 2400 dpi and a scan area of 8.5 by 11.75 inches. The TWAIN ' compatible unit supports 16.7 million colors and a 256 ' level gray scale. Bundled with Photoshop 2.5 and a full version of PhotoStyler, the scanner supports a SCSI interface.

$1,395

Umax Technologies

800 ' 562 ' 0311, 510 ' 651 ' 8883

With a built ' in transparency adapter for reflective or transmissive color scanning, the PowerLook PL2400SX flatbed color scanner features an optical resolution of 1200x600 dpi, a hardware resolution of 1200x1200 dpi and a maximum resolution of 2400x2400 dpi through Umax's Ultra View Technology software interpolation. The single ' pass unit has a 30 ' bit architecture with a single ' lamp, trilinear color charge ' coupled device (CCD) that captures and puts out 10 bits of data for each color. This translates to one billion colors, or 1,024 shades of gray. Bundled with Adobe Photoshop, the unit is TWAIN compliant, offers an 8.3 '  by 11.7 ' inch scan area and supports a SCSI ' 2 interface. It features cold lamp technology, which reduces power consumption and operating temperature and increases lamp life.

$3,495


Sound Cards

Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd.

800 ' 663 ' 8558, 604 ' 431 ' 5020

Advanced Gravis' UltraSound MAX features a RAM ' based, 5.6MB General MIDI patch set that you can edit. It supports up to 32 voices and can reproduce 16 ' bit sound at rates up to 48kHz. The CD ' ROM interface supports Sony and Mitsumi drives. The card is compatible with Sound Blaster and Roland MT ' 32 standards.

$299

AITech International

800 ' 882 ' 8184, 510 ' 226 ' 8960

The audioSHOW sound card from AITech combines audio and video so you can send VGA and 16 ' bit audio to a television set. The audio portion of the card uses the Yamaha OPL3 chip, providing 20 voices with FM synthesis. The audioSHOW supports most major sound standards. A SCSI interface controls all standard CD ' ROM drives.

$449

ATI Technologies Inc.

905 ' 882 ' 2600, fax 905 ' 882 ' 2620

ATI's Stereo F/X ' CD supports sampling rates up to 44.1kHz and uses FM synthesis to reproduce instrument sounds (a MIDI box connector is optional). Audio standards supported are Sound Blaster, Ad Lib and MPC. The sound card's CD ' ROM interface supports Mitsumi and compatible CD ' ROM

drives, and the on ' board amplifier

drives speakers at 4 watts per channel.

$149

Aztech Labs Inc.

800 ' 886 ' 8859, 510 ' 623 ' 8988

The Sound Galaxy PRO 16 Extra is a 16 ' bit sound card that comes bundled with voice recognition software. Supporting the Sound Blaster Pro, the Microsoft Windows Sound System and MPU 401 standards, the board can be upgraded to provide wave table synthesis. It also supports Panasonic, Mitsumi and Sony CD ' ROM interfaces.

$279

Cardinal

Technologies Inc.

717 ' 293 ' 3000, fax 717 ' 293 ' 3055

Cardinal's Digital Sound Pro 16 Plus is compatible with all major sound standards and delivers 16 ' bit sound at sampling rates of up to 48kHz. The SCSI CD ' ROM interface uses an Adaptec chip set and is compatible with industry standards. In addition, Cardinal offers a wave table hardware and software upgrade.

$229

Computer Peripherals Inc.

800 ' 854 ' 7600, 805 ' 499 ' 5751

The ViVa Maestro 16 is a 16 ' bit sound card compatible with Sound Blaster and Ad Lib standards. It uses 32 stereo voices to produce sounds with wave table synthesis. It can control a CD ' ROM drvie through a SCSI port.

$169

Creative Labs Inc.

800 ' 998 ' LABS, 408 ' 428 ' 6600

The Sound Blaster AWE32 uses sound samples from E ' mu Systems to provide wave table synthesis with 32 voices. The card is General MIDI and Sound Blaster compatible, and supports Sony, Mitsumi and Creative Labs' CD ' ROM drives. It samples up to 44.1kHz in 16 ' bit audio, and uses a programmable DSP chip to produce QSound, reverb and chorus sound effects. Pitch and volume oscillation is provided for each voice.

$399

Diamond Computer systems

408 ' 736 ' 2000, fax 408 ' 730 ' 5750

Diamond's SonicSound uses a wave table for MIDI synthesis and is based on a software ' upgradable DSP. It is Sound Blaster and Ad Lib compatible, with an MPU ' 401 compatible MIDI interface. Its CD ' ROM interface is compatible with the CD ' XA standard.

Reviewed: November 1993

$299

Genoa Systems Corp.

800 ' 934 ' 3662, 408 ' 432 ' 9090

Genoa's AudioBlitz Stereo 16+ uses the Yamaha OPL3 20 ' voice FM synthesizer, but is upgradable to the OPL4 (and wave table synthesis) with a daughter card. It supports Ad Lib, Sound Blaster Pro and Microsoft Windows Sound System standards, and is MPU ' 401 MIDI compatible. Its CD ' ROM interface supports Sony, Mitsumi and Panasonic CD ' ROM drives.

$199

Logitech Inc.

800 ' 231 ' 7717, 510 ' 795 ' 8500

Incorporating Yamaha's OPL4 chip for FM and wave table synthesis, the SoundMan Wave delivers 44 voices in 16 ' bit stereo. The card uses hardware ' based audio compression and decompression to save disk space; it is Sound Blaster and Ad Lib compatible. A SCSI CD ' ROM interface is included.

Reviewed: September 1993

$299

Media Vision Inc.

800 ' 845 ' 5870, 510 ' 770 ' 8600

The Pro AudioStudio 16, an enhanced version of Media Vision's Pro AudioSpectrum 16, features 16 ' bit recording and playback to 44.1kHz, FM synthesis and a SCSI CD ' ROM interface. Enhancements include selectable input gains and 4 ' watt speaker audio output. The Sound Blaster '  and Ad Lib ' compatible card comes with a microphone and voice recognition software.

$349

Microsoft Corp.

800 ' 227 ' 4679, 206 ' 635 ' 7040

The Microsoft Windows Sound System 2.0 comprises a 16 ' bit audio card, a microphone and headphones, and Microsoft's Windows Sound System software with voice recognition. The latest version incorporates audio compression capabilities. The card uses the Yamaha OPL3 chip, can sample up to 48kHz, and provides Sound Blaster emulation under MS ' DOS.

Reviewed: january 1994

$219

Multiwave Innovation

408 ' 379 ' 2900, fax 408 ' 379 ' 3292

The AudioWave Platinum 16 incorporates the 4 ' operator Yamaha OPL3 chip to provide 20 ' voice stereo with FM synthesis. The card may be upgraded to a wave table synthesizer that is compatible with Roland SCC ' 1 and MT ' 32, as well as General MIDI. The AudioWave Platinum samples up to 48kHz and supports popular sound standards. It also interfaces with Panasonic, Sony and Mitsumi CD ' ROM drives.

$299

Orchid Technology

800 ' 767 ' 2443, 510 ' 683 ' 0300

Orchid's DSP ' based SoundWave 32 offers a 16 ' bit sample depth and sample rates of up to 48kHz. The card provides a wave table for MIDI instruments, and supports all major sound formats, including Roland MPU ' 401 MIDI and MT ' 32. The CD ' ROM interface operates Sony, Mitsumi and Orchid

drives, and the price includes speakers, a microphone and software.

$249

Reveal Computer Products

800 ' 326 ' 2222

Reveal's SoundFX WAVE 32 is a 16 ' bit sound card with 32 ' voice polyphony. The 317 sounds in the SoundFX WAVE 32's wave table chip set are provided by Ensoniq, a music keyboard manufacturer. The card is compatible with all major sound and MIDI standards, and offers a CD ' ROM interface that accepts AT drives from Sony, Panasonic and Mitsumi.

$299

Roland Corp. US

213 ' 685 ' 5141, fax 213 ' 721 ' 4875

The Roland Audio Production Card (RAP ' 10/AT) uses the same synthesizer chip found in high ' end Roland synthesizers. It provides 26 voices and a wave table with 128 instruments plus 6 different drum kits. A custom DSP handles both digital and synthesized audio, and can add reverb and chorus effects to either.

$599

Sigma Designs Inc.

800 ' 845 ' 8086, 510 ' 770 ' 0100

Sigma Designs' WinSound 16 delivers 16 ' bit stereo sound with 20 voices and FM ' synthesized MIDI. Its CD ' ROM interface supports SCSI and Sony Light

drives, and the card is compatible with most popular sound standards.

$229

Toptek Technology Inc.

800 ' 416 ' 8889, 818 ' 960 ' 9211

For 16 ' bit stereo sound and wave table synthesis, you might want to try the Golden Sound Pro16 Plus. This card uses Yamaha's OPL4 FM synthesizer chip and is compatible with Sony, Panasonic, Mitsumi and Philips CD ' ROM drives. SCSI is optional.

$299

Turtle Beach

Systems inc.

800 ' 645 ' 5640, 717 ' 767 ' 0200

Not only does the MultiSound Monterey provide wave table synthesis for MIDI files, but it can store any standard .WAV file as a MIDI instrument. It also provides 32 voices and real ' time, software ' upgradable, special effects, such as reverb and echo. The wave table is also upgradable to 4MB.

$399

Wearnes

Technology Corp.

800 ' 822 ' 8884, 408 ' 456 ' 8838

The DSP ' based, 16 ' bit Beethoven ADSP ' 16 provides sampling rates up to 48kHz and an MPU ' 401 compatible MIDI port. It provides Ad Lib, Sound Blaster and Microsoft Windows Sound System compatibility. Sony, Wearnes and other compatible CD ' ROM drives will work with the card.

$189

CD ' ROM

CHINON AMERICA INC.

800 ' 441 ' 0222, 310 ' 533 ' 0274

Both the internal (CDS ' 535) and the external (CDX ' 535) double ' speed CD ' ROM drives from Chinon are MPC 2 '  and QuickTime ' compatible and offer full multisession Photo CD and CD ' ROM XA compatibility. Both versions include a SCSI ' 2 interface kit and have an access time of 220ms, a data ' transfer rate of 300Kbps and a 256KB buffer.

Reviewed: April 1994

Internal, $645; external, $795

CMS ENHANCEMENTS INC.

714 ' 222 ' 6000, fax 714 ' 549 ' 4004

With two transfer rates of 150Kbps and 300Kbps, as well as an average seek time of 280ms, the double ' speed CD ' ROM drive from CMS is available in internal (model H ' CD ' ROM) and external (model E ' CD ' ROM) configurations with a 256KB cache. Both are multisession Photo CD '  and XA ' compatible, comply with MPC 2 specifications and have SCSI ' 2 interfaces.

Internal, $559; external, $679

HITACHI HOME

ELECTRONICS AMERICA

800 ' HITACHI, 404 ' 279 ' 5600

Hitachi's CDR ' 6750 internal double ' speed CD ' ROM drive offers a data ' transfer speed of 300Kbps, access time of 235ms and a 256KB buffer. It is MPC ' compliant and supports a SCSI interface. The drive is XA '  and multisession Photo CD ' compatible.

$795

MICRO SOLUTIONS INC.

800 ' 890 ' 7227 ext. 200,

815 ' 756 ' 3411 ext. 200

Supporting a parallel port, Micro '

solutions' external double ' speed CD ' ROM drive is MPC 2 ' compliant and supports CD ' XA and Kodak multisession Photo CD formats. The data buffer size is 32KB, access time is 250ms and maximum data ' transfer rate is 350Kbps.

$499

MITSUMI ELECTRONICS CORP.

call local dealer

The CRMC ' FX001D internal double ' speed CD ' ROM drive uses Mitsumi's proprietary interface and supports CD ' XA, and multisession Photo CD formats. This MPC 2 ' compliant drive offers an access time of 250ms, a maximum data ' transfer speed of 300Kbps and a 32KB data buffer.

$189

NEC TECHNOLOGIES INC.

800 ' NEC ' INFO, 708 ' 860 ' 9500

With a data ' transfer rate of 600Kbps, the MultiSpin 4X Pro external quadruple ' speed CD ' ROM reader from NEC has an average access time of 180ms and a 256KB cache. It complies with MPC 2, Quicktime, XA and Kodak

multisession Photo CD standards. A switchable dual SCSI ' 2/SCSI ' 1 interfaceport and enhanced parallel ' to ' SCSI interface are included.

$995

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

800 ' 767 ' 2443, 510 ' 683 ' 0300

The CDS ' 3110 internal double ' speed CD ' ROM drive from Orchid Technology features a 350ms access time and sustained 300Kbps transfer rates, making it compatible with MPC 2 specifications. The drive, which has a 64KB data buffer, supports both the Sony and Mitsumi driver interface formats. The CDS ' 3110 supports CD ' I, Audio CD ' DA, CD ' XA and Kodak multisession Photo CD standards.

$349

PHILIPS L M S

800 ' 777 ' LMSI, 719 ' 593 ' 4361

Available in both internal (CM206) and external (CM226) configurations, Philips' double ' speed CD ' ROM drive is MPC 2 ' compliant and supports CD ' XA and multisession Photo CD formats. The units offer access times of 325ms and a maximum data ' transfer rate of 352.8Kbps. The external version supports a 16 ' bit PC/AT bus.

Internal, $499; external, $649

PLEXTOR

800 ' 886 ' 3935, 408 ' 980 ' 1838

Plextor's DM ' 3028 (internal) and DM ' 5028 (external) double ' speed CD ' ROM drives feature a sustained data ' transfer rate of 335Kbps, an average access speed of 240ms and a 64KB buffer. Both comply with MPC 2 and SCSI ' 2 standards and support Kodak multisession Photo CD and CD ' XA.

Internal, $329; external, $439

PROCOM TECHNOLOGY

800 ' 800 ' 8600, 714 ' 852 ' 1000

Procom's SiCDN ' 3X (internal) and MCDN ' 3X (external) triple ' speed CD ' ROM drives offer access times of 195ms, maximum data transfer speeds of 450Kbps and a 256KB data buffer. Both are MPC 2 compliant and support CD ' XA and multisession Photo CD formats, as well as a SCSI interface.

SiCDN ' 3X, $565; MCDN ' 3X, $685

SONY ELECTRONICS INC.

800 ' 352 ' 7669, 408 ' 432 ' 0190

Sony's CDU ' 33A internal double ' speed CD ' ROM drive offers MPC 2 compliance and multisession Photo CD and CD ' XA compatibility. It has a 320ms access time and a 64KB buffer, and uses Sony's proprietary interface. Maximum data ' transfer speed is 300Kbps.

$199.95 (interface kit optional)

TOSHIBA AMERICA INFORMATION SYSTEMS

800 ' 457 ' 0777, 714 ' 583 ' 3000

Providing a 330Kbps data ' transfer rate and 200ms random access time, Toshiba's XM ' 3401 Series double ' speed CD ' ROM drives feature a 256KB buffer. The units are Kodak multisession Photo CD compatible and comply with MPC 2 specifications. A SCSI ' 2 interface is standard on the series, which includes an internal, external, laptop and four ' drive unit.

Internal, $510; external, $640;

laptop, $725; four drive, $2,650

WEARNES TECHNOLOGY CORP.

800 ' 822 ' 8884, 408 ' 456 ' 8838

Wearnes' internal double ' speed CDD ' 110 MPC 2 complies with MPC 2 specs and supports Kodak multisession Photo CD, Audio CD ' DA, CD ' XA, CD ' I and High Sierra (ISO 9660) formats. It has a 64KB data buffer, a 380ms access time and a maximum data ' transfer rate of 307.2Kbps.

$299


Video Cards

Actix Systems Inc.

800 ' 927 ' 5557, 408 ' 986 ' 1625

Based on a 64 ' bit, PCI local ' bus architecture, GraphicsENGINE 64 ships with 1MB, 2MB or 4MB of DRAM. The card supports 256 colors at a maximum resolution of 1600x1200. You can get 24 ' bit color at resolutions of 640x480 and 800x600.

$229 to $465 (depends on configuration)

Artist Graphics

800 ' 627 ' 8478, 612 ' 631 ' 7800

Designed specifically for document imaging applications, WinSprint 1000i VL supports resolutions ranging from 640x480 to 1600x1200. The VESA local ' bus card delivers a maximum refresh rate of 76Hz and displays 256 colors at all supported resolutions.

$1,595

ATI Technologies

905 ' 882 ' 2600, fax 905 ' 882 ' 2620

Available in both VESA and PCI local ' bus versions, ATI's Graphics Ultra Pro card supports 24 ' bit color at resolutions of 640x480 and 800x600, providing a refresh rate of 100Hz at both resolutions. The card has 2MB of VRAM.

Reviewed: July 1993

$499 to $549 (depends on configuration)

Boca Research Inc.

407 ' 997 ' 6227, fax 407 ' 997 ' 0918

Featuring support for 24 ' bit color, Boca Research's Vortek accelerators ship in VESA local ' bus and ISA bus versions. Supported resolutions range from 640x480 to 1600x1200. The card comes with 1MB or 2MB of video RAM.

$295 to $445 (depends on configuration)

Cardinal Technologies Inc.

800 ' 722 ' 0094, 717 ' 293 ' 3000

When configured with 2MB of video RAM, Cardinal's WARPspeed VL 90 accelerator can display 24 ' bit color at up to 800x600 and 256 colors at up to 1280x1024. Cardinal ships the card in VESA and ISA versions, with 1MB or 2MB of VRAM.

$449 to $599 (depends on configuration)

Reviewed: June 1993

Diamond Computer Systems

408 ' 736 ' 2000, fax 408 ' 730 ' 5750

Diamond offers the Stealth 32 accelerator in VESA and PCI bus versions. The card has 2MB of DRAM and supports 24 ' bit color at 640x480 with a refresh rate of 90Hz, and at 800x600 with a refresh rate of 75Hz.

$349

Focus Information Systems

800 ' 925 ' 2378, 510 ' 657 ' 2845

Focus Information Systems' TrueSpeed W32P delivers 24 ' bit color and a refresh rate of 72Hz at 640x480; it supports a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. The W32P is the PCI local ' bus version, but it is also available in VESA local ' bus and ISA versions. The W32P can be upgraded to 2MB.

$329, PCI 1MB version

Genoa Systems Corp.

800 ' 93 ' GENOA, 408 ' 432 ' 9090

Offering 24 ' bit color and a refresh rate of 70Hz at 640x480, Genoa Systems' Windows VGA 24 Turbo series of VESA local ' bus accelerators each have 1MB of DRAM, which can be upgraded to 2MB. The cards support resolutions up to 1280x1024.

ISA version, $179;

VL ' Bus version, $199

Hercules Computer Technology

800 ' 532 ' 0600, 510 ' 623 ' 6030

Supporting 24 ' bit color, resolutions up to 1280x1024 and refresh rates up to 90Hz, Hercules' Dynamite Pro comes with 1MB or 2MB of DRAM. Hercules offers VESA local ' bus, PCI local ' bus and ISA versions.

$249 to $299 (depends on configuration)

Video Logic

800 ' 578 ' 5644, 617 ' 494 ' 0530

Video Logic's HiPerVideo 928 Movie card supports 24 ' bit color at 640x480. It provides a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, and a refresh rate of 72Hz at all supported resolutions. In addition, the 928 Movie supports full ' motion video in any size window, at up to 30 frames per second.

$349

Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd.

800 ' 361 ' 1408, 514 ' 685 ' 2630

The MGA Ultima, an ISA card based on Matrox's MGA 64 ' bit graphics chip, offers 24 ' bit color at a resolution of 640x480 and supports up to 1152x882. Matrox ships VESA and PCI local ' bus configurations.

2MB ISA version, $699

National Design Inc.

800 ' 253 ' 8831, 512 ' 329 ' 5055

The Volante Warp24LB supports a refresh rate of 60Hz at a resolution of 1600x1200. One version of the VESA local ' bus card has 2MB of video RAM and supports 24 ' bit color at 640x480 and 800x600; another version has a 170MHz bandwidth.

$499 to $699 (depends on configuration)

Nth Graphics Ltd.

800 ' 624 ' 7552, 512 ' 832 ' 1944

Available in ISA bus and Micro Channel configurations, the Double Edge Series of accelerators support 16 ' bit color and resolutions ranging from 640x480 to 1280x1024. One Double Edge card can drive two monitors at once.

$1,495 to $1,895 (depends on configuration)

Number Nine Computer Corp.

800 ' GET ' NINE, 617 ' 674 ' 0009

Number Nine offers the GXE64 in PCI and VESA local ' bus versions. The card has a 64 ' bit graphics engine and ships with 1MB or 2MB of DRAM. At a resolution of 640x480, the GXE64 supports 24 ' bit color and provides a refresh rate of 130Hz.

$249 to $349 (depends on configuration)

Orchid Technology

800 ' 767 ' 2443, 510 ' 683 ' 0300

Featuring 64 ' bit architecture and 1MB of DRAM, Orchid's Kelvin 64 card is offered in VESA local ' bus, PCI local ' bus and ISA versions. The Kelvin 64 supports 24 ' bit color and has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. A maximum refresh rate of 75Hz is supported at resolutions of 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768.

$250

Pixelworks Inc.

800 ' 247 ' 2476, 603 ' 880 ' 1322

The ImageXact 1600 ' 76 provides 256 colors or gray scale at a resolution of 1600x1200 and a refresh rate of 76Hz. Pixelworks' ISA card has a standard 4MB of video RAM.

$3,495

STB Systems Inc.

800 ' 234 ' 4334, 214 ' 234 ' 8750

STB Systems' accelerator card drives two monitors simultaneously. The MVP ' 2X can provide one virtual screen across two monitors, or permit two different applications to run at the same time, one on each monitor. The ISA ' compatible card supports 24 ' bit color at a resolution of 640x480, with a refresh rate of 60 to 72Hz. Other resolutions supported include 1024x768  and 1280x1024.

$1,099

SuperMac Technology

800 ' 334 ' 3005, 408 ' 541 ' 6100

SuperMac's Spectrum/24 provides 24 ' bit color and a refresh rate of 75Hz at resolutions of 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024. The card has 3MB of VRAM standard. VESA ' local, PCI, ISA and EISA versions of the Spectrum/24 are available.

$999

VidTech Microsystems Inc.

800 ' 752 ' 8033, 612 ' 780 ' 8033

VidTech's GraphMax P12 has 1MB of video RAM; it supports 24 ' bit color at 640x480, 16 ' bit color at 800x600, 256 colors at 1024x768 and 16 colors at 1280x1024. When upgraded to 2MB, the PCI card supports 24 ' bit color at 800x600 and 16 colors at 1600x1200. The GraphMax P12 achieves a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz.

$399

Western Digital Corp.

800 ' 832 ' 4778, 714 ' 932 ' 4952

The Paradise Accelerator/Ports O' Call from Western Digital is a VESA local ' bus card that supports 24 ' bit color and a refresh rate of 60Hz at 640x480 resolution. A refresh rate of 72Hz is provided at resolutions of 800x600 and 1024x768. The graphics accelerator ships with 1MB of DRAM, which can be upgraded to 2MB. With 2MB of DRAM, the card offers a refresh rate of 86Hz at 1280x1024.

$349


Make Your Windows Hardware Hum

By Ben Myers

If you think configuring your system board and adding sound and video cards are tasks better left to a rocket scientist, think again. We'll show you how to get your system tuned to perfection.

Windows seems to soak up all the hardware power you give it, and then some. However, a little fine ' tuning will take you a long way; and if you make the right purchase and configuration decisions in the first place, you'll get more out of your system and spend less time waiting for it to respond.

Maybe the thought of setting up your system board has about as much appeal as a root canal, but it's not so bad. We've outlined the setup options for system boards, disk controllers and add ' on cards to make it easy for you to configure your own system. So roll up your sleeves and get to work, you'll soon have a system that can meet the challenges Windows sends its way.

Ben Myers is vice president of engineering at Spirit of Performance Inc., a Harvard, Mass., firm specializing in hardware and software evaluation and system performance monitoring software.


System boards

It usually costs more to replace an entire system than it does to avoid obsolescence in the first place. When you buy a system, get more than you think you need, or at least make sure the system is upgradable. For starters, the system board's memory capacity should be far greater than you anticipate needing in the near term. System boards socketed for 64MB or 128MB are not uncommon.

Get at least 8MB of system memory; 16MB is even better. GUI environments thrive on a lot of memory. The more applications you run at once, the more memory you need to run them responsively and securely.

A system runs faster with more external cache memory, so get a system board with at least a 128KB RAM cache; 256KB is better. Cache sizes larger than 256KB offer diminishing returns today, but may yield benefits in future operating environments, such as Windows 4.0.

Some system boards come with features already built in. A system board may have connectors for an IDE hard disk, floppy disk drive, parallel ports or serial ports. Make sure that any or all of these features can be disabled should you decide to replace one of them with a more advanced card later on.

The PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus and the VL ' Bus (Video Electronics Standards Association local ' bus) are much faster than the EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture) bus, which is faster than the ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus. Get a system board with a faster bus, and take advantage of it for graphics and your hard disk. Some system boards combine EISA and VL ' Bus slots or EISA and PCI slots. These offer you more flexibility than system boards that combine a fast bus with the older ISA, or AT, bus.

System boards in the baby AT form factor have slots for seven or eight add ' in boards. Don't accept fewer slots if you expect to expand your system in the future. If a system board has built ' in features, you can get by for the long term with only seven slots.

Of any single component inside your computer, the system board probably offers the largest number of setup options. Unless you consider these choices carefully, however, you may end up with hardware problems.

Many system boards use a BIOS (Basic Input/ Output System) setup to configure their built ' in features, such as disk controllers. You should be able to make many of the adjustments listed here, although different system boards offer different options. In order to configure these features, you'll need the reference diskettes, setup utilities and configuration files for your system.


Bios Relocation.

The software that makes up the system BIOS is stored on one or more ROM (read ' only memory) chips on the system board. BIOS relocation (sometimes known as BIOS shadowing) uses system board hardware to map ROM BIOS code into faster system RAM (random access memory). This makes the software stored in the ROM BIOS run twice as quickly, since system memory cycles at 60 to 70 nanoseconds and typical ROM BIOS takes from 120 to 150ns. This may sound like a good option, but you don't need it if you're using Windows. Windows' drivers bypass the BIOS to communicate directly with the keyboard, serial and pzrinter ports. If you spend most of your day in Windows, there is no reason to relocate the system BIOS, leave this feature disabled.


Enable/disable 486 or Pentium cache

A 486 processor has 1KB, 8KB or 16KB of very fast internal cache memory built into the chip. The size of the cache depends on the model of the processor. An Intel Pentium chip, for example, has 16KB of cache memory. The processor keeps the most recently and frequently used information in its internal cache, so it can re ' access the data with essentially no time delay. You can disable the cache memory inside your system's processor chip, but  you would probably want to do this only while debugging hardware or software problems.


Enable/disable external cache (or secondary cache)

Nearly all 486 and Pentium systems, and many 386 ' based systems, are equipped with an external cache of SRAM (static RAM). The system processor accesses information in SRAM more slowly than data in its own cache memory, but three to five times faster than data stored in RAM. Enable external cache memory on your PC.


Select write-back or write-through cache

The external cache on a computer is either a write ' back cache or a write ' through cache. As a rule, a write ' back cache, also called a write ' behind cache, holds data in SRAM before writing it to main RAM to avoid slowing down operations. A write ' through cache simultaneously stores a copy of data in its own memory and in system memory, and the computer must wait until the contents of system memory agree with the cache memory. A write ' back cache is faster than a write ' through cache, if your computer offers you the  choice, you'll be better off with the faster write ' back cache. Write ' through is usually needed for multiprocessor or bus ' mastering applications.


Rom shadowing

Add ' in cards, including graphics adapters, SCSI host adapters, caching IDE adapters and network cards, may also have ROM that contains software to control basic functions. Since many add ' in cards compete for space in the same memory range, their ROMs can be configured to use a unique memory region. Some BIOS can shadow various areas of ROM with RAM, similar to the BIOS shadowing described earlier.

If you work mostly in Windows, you may not need ROM shadowing at all. For example, you don't need it for graphics adapters, because all Windows device drivers access the graphics hardware directly, making BIOS calls only when Windows starts up, exits and runs a full ' screen DOS box. If your disk controller has a 32 ' bit Windows driver, you don't need to shadow its ROM BIOS. If you have a SCSI host adapter or other disk controller for which there is no 32 ' bit Windows device driver, however, you should shadow its ROM area to improve disk access times. Most other devices that have a ROM BIOS also have Windows drivers that operate at the hardware level and don't require shadowing for better performance.


Performance Rich IDE (PRIDE).

Performance Rich IDE is an extension of the original IDE specification, meant to improve the performance of this type of hard disk. Newer IDE hard disks conform to PRIDE. A system BIOS that has a PRIDE setup option is also capable of detecting when PRIDE a drive is present and automatically configures itself to use it.


IDE block-mode transfer

The original BIOS in the IBM PC/AT served as the model for the functions built into other systems that are in use today. To read or write data on these older drives, the BIOS would access one 512 ' byte sector of data at a time. The disk controller would inform the BIOS, via a hardware interrupt signal, that a sector had been handled. Upon receipt of this signal, the BIOS requested access to the next sector of data. Especially within the Windows environment, this frequent handshaking between BIOS and disk controller is very time ' consuming.

Contemporary IDE hard disks can read or write more than one sector at a time via the IDE block ' mode transfer hardware feature. If you enable this feature, the number of hardware interrupt handshakes between disk BIOS and the controller is reduced to one per data transfer, no matter how many sectors are processed at once.

However, IDE hard disks have support for 32 ' bit disk access built right into Windows, and you should enable this option by double ' clicking on the Enhanced icon in Control Panel and checking 32 ' Bit Disk Access, if this check box is not grayed out. Once you have checked 32 ' Bit Disk Access, you will probably find that the enabling of IDE block ' mode transfer makes little difference in the way your system performs, although it is beneficial for non ' Windows use.


DRAM performance mode (or DRAM refresh)

The dynamic RAM in your computer must be refreshed frequently to maintain the electronic charge for all those zeroes and ones inside. Without periodic refresh, the strength of the charge deteriorates until the DRAM begins losing track of its zeroes and ones, with potentially catastrophic results. The time interval between memory refresh cycles is governed by a number stored in the system timer chip. Every refresh cycle steals time from the system processor, forcing the processor to stop dead in its tracks until DRAM has been refreshed.

Some BIOS offer Standard and Enhanced choices for setting the DRAM performance mode; Standard is the default setting. The Enhanced DRAM performance mode refreshes memory less frequently, running your system a bit closer to the edge; it can reduce program running times by up to 10 percent. However, you should not change the DRAM performance mode setting from Standard unless you know exactly what you are doing and are prepared to bear the consequences of lost or corrupted data. It takes just one piece of memory not holding its electronic charge long enough to cause your system to behave unpredictably.


Configuring Other Components

Once your system board is set up, everything else seems easier to configure. Here are some tips on adding video, disk controller, sound and multipurpose cards to your system.


Video cards

Graphics have long been a bottleneck for Windows applications, but both PCI and VESA local ' buses provide a high ' speed pipeline from the system processor to its graphics chip.

Video cards contain memory for storing the graphic images displayed on your monitor. The amount of memory you need for your video card depends on the maximum number of colors displayed on ' screen and the highest resolution at which you will use your monitor. Today, 1MB is the lowest common denominator for graphics memory. Before running Windows' Setup to select a graphics driver with a given resolution, make sure that your monitor is capable of displaying that resolution.

Your video card may be equipped with some switches that set it up for various monitor refresh rates at resolutions above 640x480. These refresh rates must be less than or equal to those at which your monitor is capable of operating. Check the documentation for your monitor very closely. Video cards sold by some companies including ATI, Diamond and Number Nine, use software, rather than jumpers, to calibrate and visually verify that your monitor is operating at a proper refresh rate.


Disk controller

When you select a disk controller, you have to decide whether you want an IDE or SCSI controller. A so ' called Fast SCSI hard disk can sustain a data ' transfer rate in excess of 4MB per second compared with a maximum of 2MB for IDE disks. The standard for the IDE interface is currently under revision and faster IDE drives are likely to be available within the next few months. Fast SCSI is definitely faster right now, but it is also more expensive. The SCSI standard currently allows up to seven devices to be connected to a single SCSI host adapter, while IDE is currently limited to two hard disks. The setup process for SCSI hardware and software is definitely more complex than that for IDE.

You also have to decide whether or not you want a caching controller. A caching disk controller saves frequently used data from disk in its memory, then provides the computer with its copy of the data rather than reading the data from disk again. There are a number of other options available: the Microsoft SMARTDrive disk ' caching software now included with all versions of DOS and Windows; third ' party disk ' cache software, such as Super PC ' Kwik and SpeedCache Plus; and the 32 ' bit virtual cache that is an optional feature in Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

You need to take a caching disk controller's bus into account. An ISA ' bus caching controller is throttled by bus speed in its ability to deliver data quickly. A caching controller designed for the EISA bus is somewhat less limited by the speed and bus bandwidth of the 32 ' bit EISA bus. A caching controller designed for VL ' Bus and PCI ' bus systems can potentially deliver data almost as quickly as system RAM.

A caching disk controller also needs its own fast processor and memory so it does not impose its bottlenecks on the speed of data access. For example, the IBM Micro Channel caching SCSI host adapter, based on a 16 ' bit Intel 80186 processor and memory with a 150ns cycle time, is too slow to serve a 33MHz or 50MHz PS/2 Model 95 adequately. In contrast, an EISA or VL ' Bus caching adapter using 60 or 70ns memory and an Intel 80386 processor clocking at 20MHz can respond at lightning speed to requests for disk data.

The memory on a caching disk controller is less flexible than the same amount of memory added onto a system board. Once installed and set up, the memory on a caching controller can be used for disk caching only. Though VL ' Bus and PCI ' bus caching controllers likely offer the best performance of all caching adapters, but results may vary when compared with a like amount of system memory used for caching.

Disk controllers, especially IDE controllers, are easy to set up. As with any add ' in card, you need to choose IRQ (interrupt request) , I/O port and DMA (direct memory access) settings that do not conflict with those used by other cards in your system.

Setup for SCSI host adapters, is a more painstaking process. Some will allow you to configure the maximum SCSI bus speed that can be sustained by the adapter installed in its host system. EISA, VL ' Bus and PCI ' bus SCSI host adapters are all capable of handling the maximum 10MB per second mandated by the SCSI ' 2 standard. An ISA ' bus adapter may be able to handle 10MB, or something less, depending on its design and the speed of the computer in which it's installed. To use an ISA ' bus SCSI host adapter reliably at the maximum speed, you should shadow its ROM BIOS with system RAM. This step may not be necessary with SCSI host adapters for other bus types.


Sound card

The sound card you buy should be compatible with industry standards, such as the Sound Blaster and Ad Lib cards, so you can use the software developed to those standards. If it is a card that uses 16 ' bit sampling, it will likely provide better fidelity and performance than one with 8 ' bit sampling. You should look for a sound card with a CD ' ROM connector so you can use a CD ' ROM reader without adding another card to your system.

To set up a sound card, make sure the IRQ, DMA channel and port settings do not conflict with other cards in your system. You also have to connect input and output sound jacks, and possibly a CD ' ROM reader.


Multipurpose card

A multipurpose card combines the functions previously found only in individual cards. These cards have become popular recently as a result of the availability of the low ' cost SMC Super ' Chip, which controls an EPP, National Semiconductor 16550 serial port, a game port and an IDE connector. A multipurpose card offers the maximum benefit when installed on a PC with a system board that lacks the features described in the system board section earlier.

A multipurpose card shares a single bus slot among several discrete functions and costs less than single ' purpose cards. However, one or more of its features may quickly face obsolescence in the rapidly evolving computer industry. It is not a bargain unless you use all or most of its features.

Setting up a multipurpose card is almost like setting up each of the single cards it replaces. The card should also have jumpers to disable individual features that may duplicate those already installed in your system.

Once you've got your hardware tuned up, turn to Fine Tune Your Windows Environment to get your Windows software running just the way you want it.


January 1995

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Jan. 95 WIN.INI: I'm A Webaholic

Jan. 95 Windows At Work: New Year's Resolutions

Jan. 95 Dialog Box: Your Domain Name Is Your Anchor

Jan. 95 The Explorer: When Windows 95 Ships...

Jan. 95 Exit Windows


Letters

Jan. 95 Letters


News

Bug Derails OS/2 Warp Launch

New Pentium PCs Not Optimized For Win95

Gridlock On The Information Highway

Marvel To Compete With AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy

Microsoft's Merger With Intuit Raises Questions

Unhappy Returns For Electronic Tax Cheats

New Chips To Make Windows NT Fly

Faster Memory In The Works

Jan. 95 News Bits

Sage Study Shows Speech Technology Soaring

Apple Does DOS, Windows With DX2 Card

Publisher Presents Presentation Practices

Mobile Multimedia Stuck In Hardware And Software Bottleneck

Cheaper, Faster Photo-Realistic Printing On Horizon


New Products

Compiled By Hailey Lynne McKeefry

Jan 95 New Products: Accessories

Jan 95 New Products: Add-In Boards

Jan 95 New Products: Application Development

Jan 95 New Products: E-Mail

Jan 95 New Products: Financial

Jan 95 New Products: Graphics Boards

Jan 95 New Products: Image Enhancement

Jan 95 New Products: Information Management

Jan 95 New Products: Input Devices

Jan 95 New Products: Management

Jan 95 New Products: Mathematics

Jan 95 New Products: Monitors

Jan 95 New Products: Misc.

Jan 95 New Products: Pentium Notebooks

Jan 95 New Products: Pentium PCs

Jan 95 New Products: Personal Information Managers

Jan 95 New Products: Printers

Jan 95 New Products: Programming

Jan 95 New Products: Scanners

Jan 95 New Products: Storage

Jan 95 New Products: Utilities


First Impressions

Jan 95 FI: ABCSnapgraphics 2.0

Jan 95 FI: AcerPower Pentium Minitower

Jan 95 FI: Addressmate

Jan 95 FI: Adobe Premiere 4.0

Jan 95 FI: Alaris Nx586 P80-586

Jan 95 FI: Alps Electric Glidepoint

Jan 95 FI: Apple Laserwriter 16/600 Ps

Jan 95 FI: Canon IX-3010

Jan 95 FI: Cleansweep

Jan 95 FI: Compaq Presario 520

Jan 95 FI: Envisions Solutions Personal PageVacuum

Jan 95 FI: Epson ActionLaser 1100

Jan 95 FI: eXceed 4.0

Jan 95 FI: Expresso Calendar And Address Book

Jan 95 FI: Fractal Design 3.0

Jan 95 FI: Great Plains Profit 2.0

Jan 95 FI: HP Deskjet 320

Jan 95 FI: Internet In A Box

Jan 95 FI: Lotus Organizer

Jan 95 FI: MediaStudio 1.0

Jan 95 FI: Micron P90 Home MPC

Jan 95 FI: NEC Multisync XE15

Jan 95 FI: Page Magic 1.10a

Jan 95 FI: Perfectoffice

Jan 95 FI: Printmaster Gold CD Bonus Pack

Jan 95 FI: SCM Microsystems Swapbox

Jan 95 FI: Sharp QA-1500 LCD Projection Panel

Jan 95 FI: Softmagic PowerControl

Jan 95 FI: SpinWizard

Jan 95 FI: Superhighway Access

Jan 95 FI: Tatung Audio 15

Jan 95 FI: TI microLaser PowerPro

Jan 95 FI: Toshiba T4900ct

Jan 95 FI: Zenith CruiseLan

Jan 95 FI: Zenith Z-Lite

Jan 95 FI: Zenith Z-Player

Jan 95 FI: Zenith Z-Star


Features

Technology Forecast

Data Access For Everyone--And Make It Fast!

Pull In For A Free Tune-Up


Reviews

Desktop Publishing: Windows Meets The Press

Blazing Windows Notebooks

NT 3.5: Smaller, Faster, Better


How-To

Jan. 95 Superior Shareware

Jan. 95 R&R:Resources and Recreation

Jan. 95 Pullout: How To Buy A Modem

Jan 95 Networking Windows: Make A Smooth Move To Windows 3.11

Jan 95 Programming Windows: Patiently Awaiting Windows 95

Jan 95 eNTerprise Windows: Bargain Shopping For NT Upgrades

Jan 95 Power Windows: Stop Greedy Apps From Depleting Resources

Jan. 95 Getting Started: Do-It-Yourself Drive Installation

Jan 95 Optimizing Windows: Register Your Apps With Windows


Jan. 95 Pullout: How To Buy A Modem

Data transmission through phone lines is a serious matter. You need a modem that performs fast and flawlessly. Learn the jargon and get ready to go modem shopping.

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

First Choices

1. The Need For Speed

Whether you transmit and receive large amounts of data or small amounts over long distances, a speedy modem is essential. Today's fastest modems operate at 28.8 kilobits per second.

But beware--not all telephone lines can establish 28.8Kbps connections. Most phone lines--especially long-distance lines--allow for 24Kbps.

Connections are only as fast as the slowest modem in the chain. So if your speedy 28.8Kbps modem connects to a 14.4Kbps modem, your model's extra speed won' t make a difference.

2. Standards

Two modems must speak the same language to talk to each other. That's why there are official (and unofficial) standards for modem communications.

V.34, the latest official standard, allows modems to exchange data at 28.8Kbps. It includes error-correction, error-detection and data-compression methods. The standard also incorporates the V.32bis, V.32, V.42bis, V.42 and V.22bis standards.

V.FC (also called V.Fast or V.FastClass) and v.32terbo are two unofficial standards that allowed high-speed (28.8Kbps and 19.2Kbps, respectively) communications. Both have now been superseded by the official V.34 standard. The v.32terbo standard never became very popular and is not supported by most newer modems.

The V.FC standard was more successful, and almost all modems built to the V.34 standard include V.FC compatibility as well. Due to its lower price, a modem built to V.FC standards might still be a good choice, if speed on a budget is imperative.

3. Upgradability

V.34 may be the latest and greatest standard, but it's not perfect. Approved October 1994, the V.34 is already a candidate for clarification and possible revision. That's why, when buying a modem, you should consider upgradability.

It can be more convenient to upgrade a modem yourself, rather than send the device into the factory. Your best bet is a modem with flash ROM (read-only memory), which allows you to upgrade by dialing into the manufacturer's bulletin board system and downloading the appropriate software. Other modems enable you to upgrade to the latest technology by replacing a programmable ROM chip.

Some modems require you to return them to the factory in order to be brought up to date, and a few may have no upgrade path at all!

Terms To Know

•	BAUD:  The number of bits passing through your modem each second. One thousand baud corresponds to 1,000 bits each second. This measure does not take into account any data compression that may occur.

•	BIS:  A French word meaning "encore'' or "alternate.'' It is used to indicate a revised and expanded standard, such as V.22bis, V.32bis and V.42bis.

•	Bit:  A binary digit and the smallest amount of information that can be transmitted. When transmitted via modem, a single character requires approximately 10 bits.

•	BPS (BITS PER SECOND):  The number of data bits passing through a modem each second, taking into account any compression that may have occurred. In a sense, bps is a measure of your modem's effective speed. Actual bps ratings depend on the type of data being transmitted, and the compression algorithm used. Currently, technology limits modems operating on dial-up lines to approximately 115,200bps (data compressed four to one transmitted at 28.8Kbps).

•	ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network):  International telecommunications network for transmitting voice, video and data over a digital line.

•	ITU:  International Telecommunications Union. An international organization that establishes official standards for telecommunications devices.

•	V.FC:  Also called V.FastClass or V.Fast. All refer to the same unofficial standard for 28.8Kbps communication. This standard has been superseded by the official V.34 standard.

•	V.32:  Official ITU standard for 9600bps communication. It also incorporates the V.42bis, V.42 and V.22bis standards.

•	V.32BIS:  Official ITU standard for 14.4Kbps communication. This standard also incorporates the V.32, V.42bis, V.42 and V.22bis standards.

•	VOICE MAIL:  With the help of software, some modems provide voice mail features, and can answer a call, play an announcement, wait for touch-tone buttons to be pressed and take messages. The technology suffers from a lack of standards and a lack of good software support.


Jan 95 FI: Fractal Design 3.0

Everything But A Smock & Beret

By:  Lynn Ginsburg

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Van Gogh never had so many choices; all he had were brushes, paints and canvas. Painter 3.0 gives you the digital versions of those tools and more. Lots more.

Fractal Design pioneered digital simulation of natural artistic media with the introduction of the first version of Fractal Design Painter. In version 3.0, which I looked at in beta, the program advances the concept with tools to create effects that would be difficult to achieve using traditional materials.

The program has put on a new interface and has added layering capabilities, an animation module and loads of new artistic effects. What you give up in the pleasure of smearing paint on a canvas, you gain in Painter's selection of special effects and the ability to easily edit and manipulate an image.

Painter 3.0 has a sleek new look, with textured and modeled surfaces that reflect an innovative and stylish program. In version 3.0,

the company introduces the concept of drawers, where palettes are collapsed and tucked away until you expand them to reveal their contents. The drawers help to organize the program's vast array of palettes and save valuable screen real estate as well. When a drawer is closed, you see only its front, which shows five items from the palette. A click on the pushbar opens the drawer and you can see all the available tools.

When you select a drawer's tool, the tool is displayed at the front of the drawer--bumping the least used of the five tools that were previously displayed there. When an item is displaced from the drawer front, it always returns to the same place in the palette, making it easier to find later. If you want to display the same items consistently, you can lock your favorite tools in place for constant door-front display by simply clicking and holding on the icon until a green light appears.

A major modification to Painter's handling of images is the incorporation of floaters, a feature previously found in Fractal Design Painter's X2 Extension, a professional upgrade available for an additional cost. Floaters are defined selections that act as layers. They can be saved and manipulated independently of each other and the background image. For example, in an image that contains multiple graphical elements including type, saving the individual elements as separate floaters makes it easier to move things around without affecting the other elements.

You also can process floaters separately, controlling attributes such as opacity and feathering for each floater. Any image or portion of an image can be saved as a floater, and each floater supports an individual 8-bit channel for masking. You can select and arrange floaters using the floater list palette, where the first name in the list corresponds to the front-most floater. A floater can be painted on or manipulated just like any other Painter image, and you also have the power to execute compositing special effects specific to floaters. The available effects include gel, colorize, reverse-out and shadow map. Floaters can also be grouped, but you can still edit individual elements within the group. When you' ve locked in your design and are ready to commit to a composition, you can merge the image and incorporate the floaters as part of the background.

In a program known for its gee-whiz special effects and tools, this version won' t disappoint you with its latest cool tool, the Image Hose.

The Image Hose is loaded with a selected image, in the same manner that you would load a bristle brush with oil paint. The images are loaded as a Nozzle File, and are composed of several floaters. You then use the Image Hose to spray the images onto a surface. The process is similar to rubber stamping but with characteristics associated with a brush stroke. You can control the application of the image from the Image Hose just as you would control a regular brush and the way it applies paint. With the Image Hose controls, you can adjust brush behavior such as direction, velocity and tilt.

Painter 3.0 also adds an arts materials palette from which you can access color sets, gradations, paper, weaves and color controls. You now can create custom gradients that simulate lighting effects on various surfaces. You can create linear, radial or circular gradations, and specify your own custom gradients by capturing a portion of an image and using it as a gradient. The rotation ring lets you easily control the angle of rotation. A red ball on the ring indicates the angle of rotation, and you change the angle simply by repositioning the ball.

Version 3.0 has a new animation tool. Within the same interface, you can create cell animation and edit digital videos. The program uses frame stacks, which are sets of images that can be individually edited and manipulated using Painter's toolset. Frame stacks can be played back as animations in Painter, or exported as Quick-Time files. Frame stacks can also be separated as a series of sequential files. The program supports five-layer onion skin, which lets you simultaneously view before and after frames.

Painter's sessions recorder, a feature available in the previous version, can now be integrated with the animation module. Once the sessions recorder is turned on, it records everything you do in the program until you turn it off. When played back, it recreates everything you did--ending up with the same final image. For high-quality output you are able to play back the session at a higher resolution than that at which it was recorded. Previously, sessions could only be played back in Painter, but with version 3.0 you can save sessions as QuickTime movies and use any program that supports that format to play back a session.

To add to the extensive brush controls previously available in Painter, version 3.0 features a new bristle-brush control. Using the control, you can dictate the bristle's thickness, clumpiness and density, which makes an already capable digital brush almost as good as the real thing. A graphics tablet provides the best tool for taking advantage of Painter's brush control and other artistic nuances. The program is designed to react to the tablet's pressure sensitivity to provide tactile feedback. Although a tablet is a big help, the program also provides mouse controls to simulate pressure sensitivity.

Using Painter is not as simple as picking up a loaded brush and laying it on canvas. But with its emulation of natural media, Painter 3.0 refines the potential of the digital media and provides a set of unique tools for a new way of creating art.

INFO FILE

Fractal Design Painter 3.0

Price:  $499

In Brief:  By combining new computerized special effects and tools with the program's natural media painting capabilities, this latest version of Painter offers a new way of creating digital art.

Fractal Design

800-297-COOL, 408-688-5300


Jan 95 FI: Perfectoffice

App Suite Has Perfect Pitch

By:  James E. Powell

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

WordPerfect refers to PerfectOffice, its new software suite, as "The Perfect Place to Work.'' After testing a beta version, I don' t think that's an exaggeration. While expanding on the features of other suites, PerfectOffice adds some innovative concepts, and excellent cross-application performance and data sharing. As Borland Office, the suite had the look and feel of applications thrown together for discount pricing. PerfectOffice, however, is a truly unified set of applications.

I tested the Standard edition, which includes the WordPerfect word processor, Quattro Pro, Presentations, the InfoCentral PIM, GroupWise for e-mail and scheduling, and Envoy, an electronic document publishing program. The Professional edition adds Paradox and Visual AppBuilder, a Novell product for point-and-click development of applications using graphical objects. A third option, PerfectOffice Select, lets you choose the components you want and then installs PerfectLinks, which makes programs from other vendors act as if they were PerfectOffice suite members.

Many of these applications have been reviewed separately in previous issues of WINDOWS Magazine, so I won' t dwell on the individual features. But some features merit attention. For example, PerfectSense provides intelligent search and replace. It is able to find a word and replace it with the appropriate form of the new word. Other new features are more pedestrian, such as the updates to InfoCentral and Envoy, which enable the apps to share basic features--such as a common toolbar--with the other applications.

Besides the look-alike toolbars, the suite applications share similar menu structures, uniform bubble help, right-mouse-button help anywhere on-screen and a single installation program. The programs all use the same excellent file management dialog boxes, such as the File Open box, letting you create directories, find or view files and use English names instead of directory names. QuickCorrect, which corrects typing errors on the fly, is available in WordPerfect, Presentations and GroupWise.

PerfectOffice can be controlled by the Desktop Application Director--DAD for short. DAD is a floating or dockable toolbar with launch buttons for the applications. You can hide DAD so that it only appears when the mouse moves over the area where DAD is positioned. You can add your own icons to DAD for programs, macros or keyboard scripts.

DAD also has a button for QuickOpen that lists the last four files opened in each application--even if you' re using Excel or Lotus 1-2-3. There's another button to launch a command that you type in and another for QuickFiles, which is essentially the File Open dialog box found in the applications.

I installed all of the applications with all features enabled during the 32-disk installation. The beta software took about 98MB of hard-disk real estate, but WordPerfect expects the final version to take fewer megabytes. Considering that PerfectOffice has just about everything you' ll need, 95MB isn' t such a big hit on a hard disk.

PerfectOffice applications actually share some of the same code for features such as the spell checker, thesaurus, drawing tools and the TextArt text-manipulation feature. This software sharing eases the squeeze on system resources. For example, I launched Quattro Pro, WordPerfect and Presentations, and together all three applications used only 43 percent of system resources. In contrast, Microsoft Office brought my system to a crawl when I launched Word, Excel and PowerPoint. With PerfectOffice, there was still plenty of horsepower left to launch and work with Envoy and InfoCentral.

QuickTasks, accessible from DAD, help you get your work done no matter what application is needed. Lotus SmartSuite has a similar feature, but it assumes that you already know which applications you need to use. PerfectOffice makes no such assumption. You can select from one of 60 predefined QuickTasks, such as creating an invoice or an expense report, faxing a document, creating a budget, calculating the amortization of a loan or merging Paradox data into a WordPerfect document. You just indicate what you want to do, and the appropriate applications launch.

You can also create and add your own QuickTask. For example, if you have to collect data in a spreadsheet, create a chart and update a report, you can define a task to accomplish this. You can record all the steps as you do them and a script will be created using the PerfectScript language. If things change later, you can edit the script.

All the applications now support OLE 2.0. You can drag a Quattro Pro chart into a WordPerfect document, for example, then click on the chart for in-place editing. OLE 2.0 also lets you embed a Paradox table into a WordPerfect document, and when you click on the table you can add, edit or delete table entries.

PerfectOffice supports OLE automation through Quattro Pro (as a controller), but such support isn' t emphasized by WordPerfect. Instead, the company has wisely stuck to cross-application macros, predefined QuickTasks and support for Visual AppBuilder. A software developer's kit to tie into PerfectOffice's shared code will be available. Visual Basic for Applications is a powerful tool in Excel, part of Microsoft's Office, but it's for power users. QuickTasks are for everyone--and there's always Visual AppBuilder in reserve.

For network administrators, PerfectOffice takes advantage of Novell NetWare Navigator for centralized program installation, configuration and monitoring. The suite includes two network installation models to control custom settings (printers, toolbars, templates and so on). GroupWise lets workgroups share scheduling information, and Object Exchange technology (from Borland) lets you link and automatically update data that you "subscribe'' to, such as documents or spreadsheets. There's plenty of support for files and applications across a network, ranging from the Network button on the File Open dialog box to the ability of QuickTasks to access data and applications (including server-based applications) across an entire network.

While the applications look and behave similarly, there are still some rough edges--mostly in Quattro Pro. Many of the dialog boxes still show their Borland roots, but it's not a big deal. Quattro Pro also needs some of the other common features, such as QuickCorrect.

WordPerfect provides toll-free technical support for six months, and the package comes with excellent coaches and on-line documentation. QuickTours give you an overview of each application, and highlight changes since the last (pre-PerfectOffice) version.

If you already are using one of the WordPerfect products and are looking for complementary tools in a suite, you' ll like PerfectOffice. Quattro Pro users also will appreciate the revised look of that program, although there are still remnants of Borland's code in the version we tested. If you' re using a competing suite, PerfectOffice's features are cause for envy.

The perfect place to work? Just about. With the changes in DAD, and common dialog boxes, shared code and PerfectSense technology throughout, WordPerfect has raised the bar on what you should expect in a business applications suite.

INFO FILE

PerfectOffice Standard Edition

Price:  $659; upgrade (from any product in the suite or NetWare), $259; competitive upgrade, $299

In Brief:  This collection of top-notch applications, unified with QuickTasks, provides excellent cross-application automation.

WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000


Jan 95 FI: Toshiba T4900ct

Hot Portable--But Cool Performer

By:  Rich Castagna, First Impressions Editor; Jim Forbes, Silicon Valley Bureau Editor

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

It was almost like sneaking into GM's research center, throwing back the covers from next year's Corvette and then hitting the bricks with the engine roaring.

Only we didn' t have to sneak in--Toshiba held the door wide open and let us take a preproduction model of its new Pentium-based T4900CT notebook out for a few laps around the WinLab test track.

The T4900CT is based on Intel's newest Pentium processor. The 3.3-volt 75MHz CPU is Intel's fifth Pentium model and, designed with portable computing in mind, it's often referred to as the "mobile'' Pentium. Intel delivers the chip to systems builders in a tape carrier package (TCP) that eliminates the heavy ceramic surrounding other Pentium processors. The TCP package makes this Pentium small, light and easy to mount. Heat from the chip is dissipated through the board, rather than from the top using a heat sink.

Though the mobile Pentium keeps its cool, the 6.9-pound T4900CT is one hot machine. It has the familiar solid feel of a Toshiba notebook with the usual excellent keyboard. Like the Portege andatellite T2400 notebooks, the T4900CT has an integrated AccuPoint, rather than a clip-on BallPoint. It works fine, but it does take time to get used to the buttons, which are mounted on the front of the palmrest-less unit.

The display system features a 10.4-inch TFT active-matrix screen, driven by a VL-Bus accelerated graphics controller. The display looked slightly dark and somewhat bluish, and it didn' t have a very wide range of brightness control. Still, the images were extremely sharp and had well-saturated colors.

Toshiba complements the 75MHz processor with 8MB of system memory (expandable to 40MB), a healthy 810MB hard disk and a built-in front-access floppy drive.

Assuming that such a powerful machine will be able to handle a lot of work, Toshiba has put two separate PCMCIA slots on the T4900CT. One slot accepts a Type II card, and the other handles two Type II cards or one Type III.

In addition to its serial, parallel, external monitor and PS/2-style ports, the T4900CT has a 150-pin connector for a docking station. Positioned as a platform for mobile multimedia presentations, the T4900CT also has 16-bit sound with microphone and speaker jacks, as well as built-in versions of each.

There's an LCD panel mounted on the top of the case, near the display that shows the status of several system components. It provides very accurate power information, either as a percentage indicating the status of the battery charge when the AC adapter is plugged in or as remaining time when the T4900CT is cruising on battery power. A graphic of a faucet with different amounts of water spritzing out its nozzle indicates the level of power conservation currently selected.

While the exterior accouterments of the T4900CT are impressive, the big story is what's packed inside. With a 75MHz CPU, you' d expect performance, and that's what we found when we tested the T4900CT using WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmarks. In the CPU tests, the T4900CT clocked a very rapid 80.0 MIPS--only about 17 percent slower than an average 90MHz Pentium desktop PC and roughly twice the speed of a 75MHz DX4-based notebook. Its numbers in the floating point tests--16.1 MFLOPS--compared similarly.

Toshiba complements the CPU's performance with subsystems that keep pace with the peppy processor. The graphics system was rated at 4.8 million pixels per second, putting it near the top of the heap among notebooks. And with a data transfer rate of 9.53MB per second, it even nudges out a speedy 100MHz DX4 Zeos Meridian.

Battery life was more than acceptable for a high-power portable. In our rundown tests, where we shut down all power conservation features, the T4900CT kept pumping for nearly two hours. Under more realistic conditions with conservation enabled and doing real work, the battery lasted about 2.5 hours.

The standard software array includes DOS 6.2, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Intel's Indeo Video 3.2 and RunTime Video for Windows 1.1, and Windows Sound System 2.0.

Toshiba tosses in a few neat software bonuses, too. There's a hardware configure utility with a tabbed dialog box that makes it easy to configure comm and parallel ports, adjust the display settings, enable/disable caching, toggle sound system power on/off, and control other hardware components.

MaxTime Manager is also part of the software suite. This power monitor provides an easy way to set the T4900CT's power conservation options. It will also display a floating gauge that shows remaining battery life in time, as a percentage or on a bar graph--or all three at once.

Another program, Fn-esse,lets you customize the function keys.

And good news for mobile businesspeople who wouldn' t even consider cramming a manual in an overpacked briefcase:  The T4900CT's user manual is loaded on its disk.

Travelers will also appreciate the lightweight AC power unit and its thin wire with a standard two-prong plug at its end.

Toshiba's first Pentium notebook--and one of the first to use the cool-running 75MHz chip--is a power-portable user's dream. The T4900CT should be available by the time you read this, so you won' t have to sneak around to take a test drive of your own.

INFO FILE

Toshiba T4900CT

Price:  $7,499

In Brief:  Toshiba complements the 75MHz, Pentium-based T4900CT processor with 8MB of RAM, a healthy 810MB hard disk, two PCMCIA slots and a built-in front-access floppy drive.

Toshiba America Information Systems

800-334-3445, 714-583-3000


Jan. 95 Dialog Box: Your Domain Name Is Your Anchor

By:  Joshua Quittner

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

In the virtual world of the Net, your domain name is your anchor.

You better hold on tight before someone tries to take it away.

In case you' re not fluent in Internet geek-speak, domain names are to the Net what addresses are to the physical world. They' re what you use to find someone--or something--when you' re in cyberspace.

Most people who want to send me e-mail, for instance, send it to me at quit@newsday.com. Newsday.com is our newspaper's domain name. Even though there's enough room to the left of the @to give every Newsday employee a mailbox at that domain, so far I' m the only person you can reach here. I registered the name for our newspaper about three years ago, thinking it would be a cool address to have. I never realized it would have some kind of value.

As it turns out, domain names do have value--lots of it--because they' re more than mere addresses. Domain names are like advertisements and business cards all rolled into one. Say you get e-mail from someone whose address is larry234@aol.com. Do you hurry to open it? Uh-uh. But I bet e-mail from billg@microsoft.com wouldn' t sit in your in-box long.

Another thing that adds to the value of a domain name is scarcity:  There can be only one newsday.com. You might be able to get away with registering the name newsday1.com, but what would be the point? The only intuitive place to reach Newsday would be newsday.com.

A quasi-federal agency known as the InterNIC, in Virginia, assigns domain names, takes care of registrations and writes the rules. During the past year, it's seen a tenfold increase in monthly requests for names, from around 20 a month to 2,000. Also, the rules have had to be rewritten a few times, mainly because of jerks like me who' ve exploited certain, uh, loopholes in the system. (We' ll get to that in a minute.)

Now, before you gopher over to rs.internic.net and get your domain-name registration form, let me point out that unless you have two Internet host computers that can be assigned your registered name, you can' t get a domain name. That means if you' re on Prodigy or America Online or any of the other big commercial providers, you' re probably out of luck. When I registered newsday.com, I did it through Performance Systems International, a large Internet provider that, among other things, sells a relatively cheap dial-up Internet mailbox service. When you request the service, you can register a domain name.

Until recently, the primary rule of registering a domain name was first come, first served. If, say, CNN had gone out three-and-a-half years ago and registered the name of its daytime news broadcast--which also happens to be Newsday--I would have been in for a surprise when I tried to register newsday.com. Never mind that Newsday, the newspaper, has been around for 50 years and is known to millions of people in the metropolitan area as Newsday. Tough eggs, Charlie. I would have had to try nday.com or nd.com or, heaven forbid, nusday.com.

See why domain names are getting gobbled up like salted peanuts?

One cause of the domain-name-registration boom, in my considered opinion, is that you can register a domain name absolutely free. That's right:  You can sit back at your Internet-connected computer, log into the InterNIC, pick up an electronic registration, fill it out, e-mail it in and a few days later--ka-ching!--you' re the proud owner of a domain name. You never had to speak to another human or pay a cent during this transaction. Neat, huh? This is particularly attractive to Joe College, who typically has free Internet access, plenty of time on his hands and a fierce hankering to own generalmotors.com, just to show his Old Man that he has already Amounted To Something.

Another part of the problem is, until recently, the InterNIC made no effort to check whether trademarked names were being registered by legitimate parties. And rightly so:  It had neither the manpower nor the inclination to check.

But we' re starting to see cyberspace challenge the laws of physical space. The domain-name issue first surfaced last year when former MTV videojockey, Adam Curry, registered the name mtv.com. He used that computer site as a repository for various kinds of information he collected about the rock ' n'  roll industry. When Curry quit MTV, the company wanted its name back. Curry said no way. He argued that the site, mtv.com, had come to be synonymous with Adam Curry, not MTV, and that it was he who had made the domain name valuable. MTV, of course, sued his pants off. The matter has yet to be resolved, though Curry has agreed to keep the name off the Net for awhile. Sources close to the Curry camp say he's considering selling the name to MTV.

Then there was the case of Princeton Review, a company that helps prepare great young minds for college by teaching them the tricks of standardized test taking. Princeton's main competitor is Stanley Kaplan Educational Centers, a place that Princeton decided to honor by registering the name kaplan.com on the Internet. For months, anyone who logged into kaplan.com was treated to a Q&A comparing the services offered by Princeton to those offered by Kaplan. Kaplan, predictably, was not amused when it got wind of the matter. The company sued. In this case, both parties agreed to arbitration, which resulted in the domain name kaplan.com being turned over to Kaplan.

I guess this is as good a place as any to point out that I, too, have sinned. I "own" mcdonalds.com. When I was researching the whole domain-name question for an article I was writing, the first name I looked up was one that I think is synonymous with Big Business in America:  McDonald's. Unclaimed. I called the company and spoke with the media liaison, who couldn' t find anyone there who knew what the heck I was talking about when I asked whether the company intended to register its name on the Internet. So I registered it myself.

Now any e-mail sent to ronald@mcdonalds.com comes to me. (But please don' t send me any. I' ve already been flooded with messages, most of which begin, "Can I have fries with that?" Yuk, yuk.)

After I pulled my little stunt, the InterNIC changed its rules. Now when you request a domain name, you have to certify that, to the best of your knowledge, the name does not conflict with someone else's trademark. Also, in response to the frenzy of domain-name requests that began around the time the Curry and Princeton affairs hit the papers, the InterNIC passed the Only-One-Name-Per-Customer Rule. Some people were actually registering the names of every company they could think of, hoping such speculation would make them rich. (Imagine that!) Hardcore Internet settlers did the same thing, but retired the names (by keeping them off the Net) in the misguided belief that doing so would somehow keep Big Business at bay.

So where is all this headed? 1995 promises to be the year of Mosaic--that is, Netscape, as the popular Internet front end has been renamed by Mosaic Communications. What does that mean? Well, if you think the Internet has grown wildly during the past 18 months, just watch what happens next. Every on-line service plans to offer some kind of Netscape-based browser. This will make it much easier to get around the Net, and cause a genuine mass market to develop. At the same time, we' re seeing embryonic digicash schemes evolving, which means Internet commerce is about to take wing.

Business names on the Net will be as important as they are in the telephone book. Domain names will be what consumers look for when they' re trying to find a business in cyberspace. Sure, there will be other ways to do this. But your domain name is your anchor in the virtual world. And if you don' t want to sink, you better sign up.

Joshua Quittner writes about the on-line world for Newsday and New York Newsday. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those held by WINDOWS Magazine. Have an opinion--or a gripe--about Windows computing? Send it to Mike Elgan. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Info Files: Windows Meets The Press

FrameMaker 4.0

Price:  $895

In Brief:  The champ when it comes to long, complex technical or book-length documents, it also has UNIX and Macintosh versions that make it ideal for companies with mixed platforms.

Disk Space Required:  19MB

System Resources:  8%

RAM:  8MB

Frame Technology Corp.

800-U-4-FRAME, 415-975-6000

Microsoft Publisher 2.0

Price:  $99.95 (estimated street price)

In Brief:  Publisher's PageWizards and Cue Cards guide you through the process of producing professional-looking newsletters, brochures or mailers. It's perfect for occasional users or people with modest DTP requirements.

Disk Space Required:  13MB

System Resources:  10%

RAM:  4MB

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

PageMaker 5.0a

Price:  $895

In Brief:  While perhaps not the best at any one thing, PageMaker is good at many things. Its versatility and ease of learning earn it a WINDOWS Magazine Recommended seal.

Disk Space Required:  13MB

System Resources:  21%

RAM:  4MB

Adobe Systems

800-628-2320, 206-622-5500

PagePlus 3.0

Price:  $199.95;

direct for a limited time, $99.95

In Brief:  PagePlus packs enormous functionality and after-the-sale support into an economical package. Its redesigned interface provides three levels of power and difficulty, along with familiar Microsoft-style icons and tool tips. It's 90 percent of PageMaker for 20 percent of the price.

Disk Space Required:  4MB minimum, 34MB maximum (including DrawPlus, TablePlus, TypePlus, PhotoPlus, FontPacks and ArtPacks)

System Resources:  17%

RAM:  4MB

Serif

800-697-3743, 603-889-8650

QuarkXPress 3.31

Price:  $895

In Brief:  QuarkXPress provides the best tools for highly designed, four-color prepress work. Its built-in XTension language allows add-ons to extend the functionality of the program. For example, EfiColor matches on-screen color to printed output.

Disk Space Required:  7MB

System Resources:  13%

RAM:  4MB

Quark

800-788-7835, 303-894-8888

Ventura 5.0

Price:  CD-ROM, $495; diskettes plus CD-ROM, $595

In Brief:  This version of the DTP pioneer offers new features and a fresh interface. When used with CorelDRAW, it can handle almost any graphics task.

Disk Space Required:  26MB to 35MB

System Resources:  10%

RAM:  8MB minimum, 16MB recommended

Corel Corp.

800-772-6735, 613-728-8200


Report Card: Windows Meets The Press

	Flexibility	Color Support	Typography	Precision	Short Document Tools	Long Document Tools	Ease of Learning
Corel Ventura	B	A	A	A	B	A	B
FrameMaker	B	B	B	A	B	A	C
Microsoft Publisher	B	C	B	C	B	C	A
PageMaker	A	A	A	A	A	B	A
PagePlus	A	B	B	A	A	C	A
QuarkXPress	B	A	A	A	A	C	A
Click Here to access a .DOC or .BMP version of this report card

•	Flexibility:  How versatile are the package's tools? Can it handle long documents, short pieces and prepress work with aplomb?

•	Color support:  Is the software suitable for four-color prepress work? Does it support a variety of color matching systems? How well implemented is its spot-color support? Can users trap to or from any color?

•	Typography:  Does the package have the sort of complex typographic tools necessary for professional publications? Does it allow horizontal and vertical text scaling, editable tracking and kerning tables, automatic drop caps and more?

•	Precision:  How precisely can text and graphic elements be positioned? What is the precision of rotation?

•	Short-document tools:  Would the package be a good choice for a print advertisement, a small brochure or a greeting card? Does the user have complete creative freedom to achieve almost any desired effect?

•	Long-document tools:  Does the program support grouping documents or chapters into larger books? Does it provide automatic tables of contents, indexing, and page numbering?

•	Ease of learning:  How steep is the learning curve? How quickly can a new user pick up the program?

Recommendations

PageMaker 5.0a wins out by a narrow margin over second place finishers QuarkXPress 3.31 and Ventura 5.0, because it is the most versatile of all the products reviewed. PageMaker does a good job at everything from prepress work to book-length documents. Each of these packages is worthy of consideration, however. If your work consists almost entirely of long, technical documents, you really ought to take a long, hard look at FrameMaker 4.0 or Ventura. FrameMaker gets the nod if cross-platform support is important to you; and Ventura, when packaged with CorelDRAW, is one of the most complete graphics packages you' ll find on the market. Ventura is also one of the most improved software packages we' ve seen recently.

If your work consists entirely of highly designed four-color prepress work, then QuarkXPress is the software you need. PagePlus 3.0 is one of the best bargains on the market, and its new interface is excellent. It provides about 90 percent of the functionality of a PageMaker or a QuarkXPress for about 20 percent of the price.

Finally, if you need a desktop publishing package for occasional use, consider Microsoft Publisher 2.0. It's adept at handling newsletters and monochrome pieces, and its Wizards make learning a snap.


9501 Desktop Publishing Related
Windows Meets The Press

Info Files: Windows Meets The Press

Report Card: Windows Meets The Press


Desktop Publishing: Windows Meets The Press

Windows Desktop Publishing Programs Invade The Old Mac Club

By:  : Jonathan Blackwood

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved

In This Comparison:

FRAMEMAKER 4.0

MICROSOFT PUBLISHER 2.0

PAGEMAKER 5.0A

PAGEPLUS 3.0

QUARKXPRESS 3.31

VENTURA 5.0

It's been a long time since desktop publishing was a Macintosh-only phenomenon, yet most professional graphic artists, advertising agencies and magazines still rely primarily on the Mac platform. In many parts of the country, just finding a service bureau for your Windows-based desktop publishing files is difficult.

Well, move over, Mac. That was then, and this is now. PageMaker has existed on the Windows platform since at least 1987, and the Windows version is functionally identical to its Macintosh sibling. Like Microsoft, Aldus (now owned by Adobe) has supplied, for some time, a single set of manuals for both platforms. QuarkXPress, the choice of many professionals because of its superior prepress features, stumbled badly in its initial Windows offerings because of faulty font handling. The release of the latest version (3.31) cured these problems.

Desktop publishing software generally falls into three broad categories. PageMaker, QuarkXPress and PagePlus use a pasteboard metaphor originally intended for shorter documents with a high level of design, such as posters and print advertising. Ventura and FrameMaker emphasize typesetting features and style tags, making them particularly well suited for long documents such as books and technical manuals. Then there are programs that stress ease of use at the expense of functionality, such as Easy Working Desktop Publisher, PublishIT and Microsoft Publisher.

At present, only a tiny minority of desktop publishing software users actually produce four-color, prepress output. Most users create proposals, newsletters, mailings, and technical documents and manuals. The high-end programs are certainly capable of producing high-quality output for each of these tasks. The latest heavyweight word processors can provide much of the same functionality, however, and generally have a more gradual learning curve. But for those who require the precise placement of graphics and superior typesetting features, a desktop publishing package proves its worth.

In this review, we look at the latest versions of PageMaker, Ventura, FrameMaker, Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXPress and PagePlus. We also examine DTP hardware considerations.

One final note:  We tested these packages on a Micron 90MHz Pentium system with a 500MB hard disk and 16MB of RAM. As you might expect, all of these software packages worked well on equipment this fast, but performance was also quite acceptable on a nonlocal-bus, 33MHz 486DX with a 340MB hard disk and 12MB of RAM. The key to acceptable performance is to have 12MB or more of RAM in your system.

FRAMEMAKER 4.0

If your work consists mainly of creating long, structured documents such as books, technical manuals or academic studies, your best choices among the programs in this review are Ventura or FrameMaker. If you need a cross-platform package, however, FrameMaker is the only choice. Besides Windows, FrameMaker is available in several UNIX flavors (there are X Windows versions for Sun Sparc, HP-9000, IBM RS/6000 and Silicon Graphics workstations) and has versions for both the Macintosh and native-mode Power Macintosh. Files are binary compatible among the different platforms, meaning documents created on any one platform can be opened and edited on any other.

Although its strength lies in producing long documents, FrameMaker's approach differs from Ventura's. FrameMaker is intended to be an "integrated authoring tool,'' meaning that an author of a report, for example, would actually compose the text within FrameMaker. The program has acceptable word processing tools and speed in its layout mode. Its long-document tools are rich and varied:  conditional text (which in practice is similar to hidden text in Word, except that you can have multiple conditions); the automatic placement of side and run-in heads; and the automatic numbering and renumbering for headings, sections, steps, illustrations, footnotes and tables. FrameMaker automatically generates tables of contents and indexes, too. You can have up to 100 master pages, and you can mix landscape and portrait pages within the same document.

FrameMaker supports CMYK, RGB, HLS and Pantone color models, and will print color separations. There's also an excellent table editor, an equation editor and the ability to rotate both text and graphics arbitrarily. FrameMaker supports MDI (Multiple Document Interface), although you can' t drag and drop text or graphics among document windows. The printed documents look great, and FrameMaker ships with 20 templates to help get you started. These include one for a newsletter, another for business cards and so on. However, don' t expect the same level of variety and design assistance you' d get from Microsoft Publisher.

One problem is that the interface doesn' t seem right. True, it is a Windows program, but the arrangement of menus and the location of different tool icons--and the absence of tool tips to explain what the tool icons actually do--give me the distinct impression that the program's UNIX roots are showing through. The interface doesn' t seem to have the spit and polish of the current state of the art in Windows applications. The dialog boxes often don' t have a Windows look and feel, either. For example, when you' re making choices in a dialog box, there is no preview function to show you what you' re going to get before you commit to it. You don' t realize what a time-saver such a function is until you don' t have it any more.

While competitors like QuarkXPress or Ventura make you open a frame to hold a text or graphical object, you don' t have to do this in FrameMaker, despite its name. Creating a new document will give you a blank page with a text cursor blinking in the upper-left-hand corner of the area within the margins. You can simply start typing, or you can import text or a graphic without opening a frame at all. For more precise placement, you can set up frames, and you can also use anchored frames, which anchor a graphic to some surrounding text.

As you might expect from a program intended to combine the efforts of multiple authors across multiple platforms, FrameMaker has a FrameViewer companion product that enables the electronic distribution of documents for viewing purposes only. Readers need only the FrameViewer program to view the on-line document, but they can' t edit the document. FrameViewer also supports hypertext links for jumping to related topics within the on-line document.

FrameMaker has an installed base of 500,000 users, but only one-fifth of those are Windows users. FrameMaker is not the product to use for display ads, although you might find it agreeable for a newsletter, provided the design is not too demanding. If you' re involved in systems documentation for a large company or agency, or perhaps in documentation for a research laboratory, FrameMaker would be an excellent choice.

MICROSOFT PUBLISHER 2.0

In most software categories, Microsoft is represented by heavyweight Products:  -Word in word processing, Excel in spreadsheets, and Access and FoxPro in databases, for example. In the page layout arena, however, Microsoft Publisher makes no attempt to compete against the heavyweight packages such as PageMaker, QuarkXPress or Ventura. Don' t get me wrong. You can produce some fine output with Publisher, and with a lot less fuss or muss than any of the other programs in this roundup. As is often the case, this ease of learning and use comes at the price of flexibility and power.

What is gained through this gambit is a layout package well suited for occasional use. Its low price means this is an ideal package for corporations to standardize on for their middle managers who need to produce some nice reports or proposals from time to time, but who don' t require color separations or spot color.

As we' ve come to expect from Microsoft applications, Publisher is chock full of Wizards and Cue Cards. There are 17 PageWizard Design Assistants and 35 templates. The PageWizards range from Business Cards and Stationery to Greeting Card to Newsletter to Origami. I kid you not. Each gives you a choice of at least three design styles, such as Classic, Modern or Jazzy. Some, such as Newsletter, offer additional design choices. The PageWizard walks you through the process, and then creates a rough draft of the piece you' re creating. You can further customize the piece by clicking on the graphic or text elements you wish to change and editing your selection. It's easy, and the results look great.

Like QuarkXPress or Ventura, to import text or graphics into Publisher you must first create a frame, which you can then fill with text or a graphic, depending on the type of frame you' ve created. There are a number of nice typographic effects available, but Word is better for accuracy. Publisher measures leading not in points, for example, but in line spaces. There's no control palette where you can enter precise measurements for positioning purposes, either, although the status line does give you a report (accurate to hundredths of an inch) of the precise location and size of the element currently selected.

Some of the really nice (and easy) things you can do make use of WordArt, which is also available to you in Word. The Logo Creator Plus PageWizard, for example, uses WordArt to achieve its letter stretching and rotating, and its fancy fills. There are also more than 100 border designs to choose from. An integrated Table feature--even QuarkXPress doesn' t have one of those!--lets you create tables quickly and easily, and offers many of the same automated formatting options you find in Excel. Publisher will also automatically wrap text around an irregular shape, but if you don' t like the shape it has formed around an irregular graphic, you' re stuck. Publisher provides no tools for editing the outline of an object. You can, however, wrap text around other text, which is a capability not found in PageMaker. This is especially useful for pullouts in feature articles in a newsletter.

Publisher won' t do four-color prepress work. And this is not the program to use if you want to publish a long technical manual or other book-length document. The tools to accomplish either of these tasks don' t exist in the Publisher universe. Word is a better choice for long documents. For more mundane tasks, for the occasional user, or for the aesthetically challenged person who needs the design guidance Publisher offers, it's a terrific program--and a great value.

PAGEMAKER 5.0A

It's hard to imagine a type of desktop publishing that couldn' t be done in PageMaker. Its four-color prepress capability is surpassed (on the PC platform) only by QuarkXPress, yet its pasteboard metaphor is easy to grasp for beginners.

PageMaker was the first Windows-based desktop publishing package, and even beat Word to the Windows platform. The early versions of the program left a lot to be desired, but so did the early versions of Windows.

This is a robust package, and if it has a weakness, it is that it has grown by accretion. Rather than substantially redesigning the interface--at the risk of alienating existing users--Aldus chose to tack new functionality on the existing package. The advantage to this approach is clear:  The intuitive pasteboard metaphor remains intact, and a user can easily upgrade from, say, version 3.0 to version 5.0 without missing a beat. The downside is that many of the most useful additions are, well, additions. If you want drop caps, expert kerning or page sorting, or if you want to scan in an image, you' ll find these tools a couple of layers deep in the menus, under Utilities/Aldus Additions. Once you find these additions, though, they work very well. With their inclusion, Aldus has provided the means for third-party developers to tie into the program to provide expanded functionality. There is also a scripting language, enabling users to automate more routine tasks.

You bring both text and graphics into the program through its Place command. The program ships with 58 import filters, including the most recent ones, such as Word 6.0 and WordPerfect 6.0. Once the text or graphic has been imported, the cursor changes shape to indicate the presence of either graphics or text to be placed. Unlike most competing programs, you do not have to open a frame to contain the text or the graphic. For text placement, there is an autoflow command that will add as many pages as necessary to hold the imported text . Unlike Quark, which forces you to do your text editing in layout mode, PageMaker has a built-in story editor, which also provides search-and-replace functionality. This obviates the need to return to your word processor to make extensive changes in the underlying text and then reimport the file. The program supports multiple open documents, and allows you to freely drag and drop text or graphics from one file to another. Oddly, you cannot drag and drop text from one page to another in the same document.

PageMaker uses templates similar to those in Word. A template is a tailored new document that uses a predetermined page setup, styles, fonts and master page. You' ll find this approach is especially useful to assure compliance with corporate graphics or publication standards. PageMaker also allows you to establish libraries of frequently used graphics or text elements, which serve as facilitators to productivity and standardization.

Previous versions of PageMaker lagged behind Quark in the precision of placement of graphics and text. This was a significant disadvantage, since the precise placement of design elements is the primary distinction between a desktop publishing program and a word processor. Version 5.0 closed this gap, and currently the program's precision is measured in thousandths of an inch. There is a new control palette, which imitates a control box that first made its appearance in Quark. It allows you to see the precise position of selected elements. If you want to make an adjustment in the placement or rotation of the object, you can edit the control palette values, causing a corresponding change in the object.

PageMaker excels in typographic effects and allows you to make custom changes in type width, kerning, tracking, alignment, rotation and more. It also has a good variety of text wrap features, such as wrapping text around an irregularly shaped object. What it will not do, however, is wrap text around text (such as a callout) without a lot of fiddling, or wrap text inside an irregularly shaped object (without resorting to special and complex tricks).

PageMaker's greatest strength is its versatility. The program is adept at producing both highly designed short pieces and book-length publications, although QuarkXPress provides better tools for the former, and FrameMaker or Ventura for the latter. With its large installed user base (789,900 Windows users, another 575,000 users on the Mac), finding personnel who know the program and service bureaus able to produce film output should be no problem. Its intuitive interface makes the program easy to learn for new users, and its cross-platform support for mixed Mac and Windows shops can be an important consideration as well.

Taken together, these strengths add up to the one package for all seasons among this group.

PAGEPLUS 3.0

Think of it as paying for tuna fish and getting caviar. Serif's $199.95 program ($99.95 in a special promotional price direct from the company) gives you about 90 percent of the feature set of PageMaker for about 20 percent of the price. And the company has a serious interest in customer satisfaction, providing an unconditional 60-day money-back guarantee and unlimited free technical support (via a toll call or CompuServe).

That's not all. PagePlus ships with separate program modules for image editing (PhotoPlus), drawing (DrawPlus), table editing (TablePlus) and typeface manipulation (TypePlus), along with a collection of 120 fonts and 500 clip-art images. The program also comes with a PageMaker-like text editor (WritePlus) that allows you to edit your copy outside of page layout mode. It actually lets you do quite a bit more:  It has a search-and-replace function, a spell checker, a thesaurus and a word counter, and it lets you apply formatting styles. Needless to say, I was impressed.

PagePlus 3.0 began shipping in July ' 94, and sports a spiffy new interface that looks a lot like a Microsoft application. It has the familiar tool tips, so when you hesitate over an icon button a tag pops up to tell you what the button does. You can create templates to standardize your publications. PagePlus also has an annotation system:  Its PageHints lets you attach "sticky notes'' to your publication as reminders or comments for others reviewing your work.

There are three levels of interface complexity available at the touch of a button:  Intro, Publisher and Professional. As you might expect, these give you increasingly less help as you move from Intro to Professional, while your menu choices increase as you make this progression. The documentation is quite good. Combine that with a good tutorial and an easy-to-grasp interface, and the program's learning curve should be quite gentle.

Other interface niceties include ToolBox, which contains rudimentary drawing tools for frames, text, rotation and cropping, and an import tool. Then there's the ChangeBar, with a set of tools that changes depending on the context of your actions at a given moment. And there's the Status Editor, which is a bit like PageMaker's Control Palette. You can change the absolute position of a selected element by entering specific x and y coordinates, with precision measured in one one-thousandths of an inch, or one one-hundredths of a point.

These features are all well implemented, but the nice thing is how PagePlus is full of surprises. It will wrap text around the inside of irregularly shaped objects, and will wrap text around text frames--neither of which PageMaker can do without a workaround. You might think you wouldn' t often wrap text around the inside of an irregularly shaped object, and you' re probably right. But anyone who publishes a newsletter will occasionally want to use pullouts to emphasize certain information, and this feature is not usually found in a page layout program that costs less than $200.

Another pleasant surprise is the fact that PagePlus can produce full-color separations, although it doesn' t give you the control over every nuance of the process that QuarkXPress does. The color separations are handled through the Print command, and the only trapping control available is automated. PagePlus supports the Pantone Color Matching system for both process and spot colors.

This is not the package you' d want to use to produce an annual report, but it is quite serviceable for most users, or for occasional use. The PagePlus documentation explains how to obtain film output from a service bureau-

By:  using a Windows PostScript printer driver and printing to a file. If you' ve ever gotten service bureau output using QuarkXPress or PageMaker, you know that this seemingly simple process is never quite as easy as it ought to be. Serif says--correctly, at least in theory--that your service bureau doesn' t need PagePlus to produce professional-quality output. But this process often requires adjustments once the file has made its way to the bureau. If you plan to produce a lot of typesetting or color separations, you' ll want your service bureau to have the application on hand. Although its low price might mean your bureau will be willing to accommodate your needs by procuring a copy, you' ll probably be happier with the results if you stick with PageMaker or QuarkXPress for this purpose.

QUARKXPRESS 3.31

Although QuarkXPress documents can be up to 2,000 pages, long documents are not the program's forte. Instead, its strength lies in its unmatched ability to control any element on the page. If you can imagine it, you can put it on the page with QuarkXPress. This is the primary reason so many graphic designers, magazines and advertising agencies use the program.

Quark stumbled in its initial Windows release more than two years ago, with awkward font handling and weak printer support. The new version addresses those concerns and is functionally identical to its Mac counterpart. Files are binary compatible between the two versions, an important consideration in mixed-platform offices. What's more, the large installed user base of 500,000 (Windows and Mac combined) concentrated among designers and prepress operations means that finding a service bureau for film output should be relatively easy. A good temp agency should likewise be able to provide temps who know the program without too much trouble.

QuarkXPress uses a pasteboard metaphor, as does PageMaker, but it differs in that a user must first create a frame, or container, to hold an object, whether that object is text or a graphic. Different frames are used for graphics or text, and the graphics frames can be formed into an irregular polygon. Text can be wrapped inside an irregularly shaped graphic, and Quark will "trace'' the outline of such a graphic for you (you can edit the outline if you wish). You can easily develop libraries of frequently used text and graphics, and you can drag and drop elements between open documents.

Quark has long included XTensions technology, which allows third-party developers to provide added functionality directly through the QuarkXPress interface. This extendibility is an important reason for Quark's success:  There are extensions that allow the program to be customized for numerous specialized or vertical market applications. The program ships with one such add-on, the EfiColor color management system. EfiColor matches colors across monitors, printers, scanners and printing presses. It also steers you away from choosing colors that cannot be produced using the output device (or printing process) you have specified. For EfiColor to work properly, however, you must either own one of the two monitors supported by the default installation--a SuperMatch 21 or the Apple 13-inch RGB model--or call EFI (Electronics for Imaging, 800-285-4565, 415-286-8600) for monitor profile information for your monitor.

One reason for QuarkXPress's popularity among publishing professionals is its superior color handling. The program supports CMYK, DIC, Focoltone, Pantone, RGB, Toyo and Trumatch color matching systems. Importing an .EPS graphic adds the colors contained therein to the Color Palette. And QuarkXPress has the best color separation and trapping-control features available.

What QuarkXPress lacks is a separate story editor, which means you have to spend a lot of time waiting for screen redraws when editing text. The only alternative is to edit the underlying text document in the word processor in which it was created and reimport the text with the changes. Also lacking is the ability to create books from a series of smaller publications, or a function to automatically generate tables of contents or indexes. An extension for generating tables of contents or indexes is available.

QuarkXPress allows you to create up to 127 master pages, which can be applied by dragging and dropping the master page onto the page you wish it to govern in the Document Layout window. Its text importing features are relatively clumsy--there is no filter for Word 6.0 or WordPerfect 6.0, for example. Although there is an easy workaround, using the RTF (Rich Text Format) filter or saving the word processing document in an earlier file format, this is an aggravating omission in a program that has no built-in text editor. The good news is that if you use Word 2.0 or WordPerfect 5.x, QuarkXPress will import your styles along with the text. Importing graphics presents no problem, since the package provides a wide range of filters for graphics images.

As for the precision placement of elements, QuarkXPress has no equal. Kerning and text tracking is accurate to five one-millionths of an em dash, text or graphics rotation to one one-thousandth of a degree, and location to one one-thousandth of a point. Typographic controls are superb, providing almost every typographic effect imaginable. These include a few effects, such as drop shadow and outline styles, that are normally available only on the Macintosh. In fact, version 3.31 goes a long way toward curing any latent Mac envy permanently.

The verdict? If your work consists mainly of lengthy, mostly text documents such as technical manuals or book-length manuscripts, you' d be happier with FrameMaker or Ventura. If versatility is the name of your game, consider PageMaker; but for complex design or prepress work, QuarkXPress has no equal. Now if it only had a table editor.

VENTURA 5.0

My introduction to desktop publishing came in the form of Ventura Publisher 1.2 running on a 10MHz 286 clone in 1987. At that time, Ventura ran not in Windows, but rather in the GEM graphical environment. Despite its terrific output, the program's learning curve resembled more of a steep cliff than a gentle slope, and our secretary was never able to get a full grasp of the program. It simply was too complicated.

I' m happy to report that Ventura has flourished under Corel's nurturing, and the ugly duckling is a swan at last. Not only does it obey the standard Windows keystrokes, but it enjoys liberal use of Corel's ingenious "roll-ups.'' These on-screen tool palettes keep all the important controls a mouse click away, yet roll up out of the way when you don' t need them. The new interface also includes tabbed dialog boxes to keep everything organized and visible.

Beyond that, there's support for OLE 2.0 as both a client and a server, which allows you to drag and drop text and graphics into the program from other OLE 2.0-compliant programs, including CorelDRAW 5.0, Corel PhotoPaint, Word and Excel.

Ventura 5.0 now supports the major color models for publishing, such as RGB, CMYK, HSB, Pantone, Trumatch and Focoltone. And as part of the CorelDRAW 5.0 package, it provides access to an incredible array of illustration and image-editing tools. Users have been able to produce color separations or to directly scan images into Ventura for some time. Now, with the close integration of Ventura and PhotoPaint, you can do more sophisticated image editing.

One way Ventura has always differed from both PageMaker and FrameMaker was that rather than storing all the information for a document in one file, it stored pointers in a Chapter file (.CHP) that remembered where the original text, graphics, document and stylesheet files were kept. If you wanted to edit text, you typically went back to the word processor that originated the text document and made your edits there. The next time you opened the Chapter file, it reflected your changes. Graphics files were handled in the same manner.

Ventura now has a built-in story editor, allowing you to quickly and easily edit text without leaving the program. This is a more efficient way to work and much faster than any other process. What's more, the program sports a built-in spell checker and thesaurus. It even has a TypeAssist function similar to Word's AutoCorrect, which catches common mistakes as you type. Also new in version 5.0 is support for text wrapping around irregularly shaped objects. Ventura does this automatically and instantly, avoiding the aggravating and time-consuming multistep process some programs require. Furthermore, you now have access to Corel Mosaic, which puts libraries of images at your fingertips.

These new features and the better interface have taken away nothing at all from Ventura's strengths at producing long documents. There are superb features for automatically generating tables of contents, indexes and cross-referencing, for automatic page and section renumbering, and for running headers and footers. You can still create huge publications (as many as 1,279,872 pages) by combining chapters (up to 128).

Corel has done some fine work in improving and recasting Ventura into a robust page layout program with impressive capabilities. Although the program is available by itself on CD-ROM for $495, you should spring for the CorelDRAW 5.0 CD-ROM for $595. It includes Ventura, CorelChart, CorelShow, PhotoPaint, Corel Capture, CorelMove, CorelKern, Corel Database Editor, CorelTrace, Corel Mosaic and Corel Query. There may be some graphics manipulation task you couldn' t do with one of these tools, but I' m not sure exactly what that might be, and what you can do is awesome.


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Seven Notebooks Undergo Intensive Winlab Performance Trials

By:  John J. Yacono, Technical Editor, Philip Albinus, Assistant Reviews Editor, Rich Castagna, First Impressions Editor, Ian Etra, Lab Assistant, And Serdar Yegulalp, Assistant Technical Editor

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

IN THIS COMPARISON:

AST ASCENTA 900N

COMPAQ LTE ELITE 4/75CX MODEL 340

DELL LATITUDE XP 475C

IBM THINKPAD 755C

NEC VERSA M/75C

TOSHIBA T4800CT

WINBOOK XP

Laptop computers are assuming a major role in the new "you-can-take-it-with-you'' world. It wasn' t that long ago that buying a laptop instead of a desktop system meant sacrificing performance. Well, the processor-power gap between deskops and laptops has all but disappeared. Now, for the same money or a little more, you can get laptop performance that equals--or in some cases surpasses--your current desktop unit.

Although they may cost a bit more than comparable desktops, laptops may ultimately be a better value for the growing ranks of home-office users. It's usually more economical to buy one powerful laptop than to buy two desktop PCs--one each for home and office. Then there's the added functionality:  For users who shuttle between home, office and airport, laptops serve as a portable electronic desk. And there's no need to transfer data from one machine to another.

In this review, we focused on 75MHz DX4 laptops with 8MB of RAM, a minimum of 340MB of hard-disk space, color display, a pointing device and two PCMCIA slots. Although the criteria seem restrictive, the systems we looked at spanned a wide range of price, performance and construction quality. Our hands-on test results analyze overall disk, video and CPU performance, video quality, battery life and ergonomics. In addition, we created a special testbed (see How We Tested), so we could put features found only in laptops through their paces.

AST ASCENTIA 900N 4/75 CS10

You might as well leave that new spy thriller at home on your next business trip. If you pack the Ascentia 900N for a little in-flight information processing, you may never even get through chapter one. The 900N is so stingy with its battery power that it could keep you hard at work from the time you buckle up till you pull up to the gate.

The 900N easily outdistanced the rest of the pack in our battery tests. It managed to pump power for nearly three hours and 20 minutes under the most rigorous use--almost 25 minutes longer than the Dell, its closest competitor. As a testament to its battery life, the Ascentia beat all the others in the simulated-use test, even with the power-

management feature disabled (since its parameters cannot be altered to match the other units). The Ascentia's numbers in the video and disk tests were more average than astronomical, but it's clear that you won' t have to make any serious performance sacrifices to benefit from a battery that simply doesn' t know when to quit.

AST's packaging is impressive, too. The 900N is packed in a durable case, with enough amenities to make mobile computing a pleasure. The keyboard is nearly full-sized and has good, positive feedback. There are a couple of keyboard quirks, such as a PgUp key half the size of its PgDn counterpart. The Home and End keys are small, too, and a little out of reach on the top row. The pointing device on the 900N is called the SmartPoint. It's an eraser-like button nestled among the G, H and B keys. It takes a little getting used to, but it can propel the cursor across the screen faster and more easily than most trackballs we' ve seen.

The dual-scan STN LCD displayed crisp characters and graphics with sharp edges and well-saturated colors. Whites tended to have a bluish tint, and the contrast could have been better with some color combinations.

The AST came bundled with a desktop shell called AST Works 2.00 and with Windows 3.1, rather than the Windows for Workgroups 3.11 we' ve come to expect and prefer. Of debatable value were about 100MB of .AVI, .BMP and .WAV files that were factory-installed on the hard disk. There's also a 34MB partition for a power-management feature called Z-disk, which backs up work in progress to the hard disk so you can resume right where you left off. The partition is explained in the manual. The extra files can be deleted easily, but the disk-hungry partition is another story.

With its 75MHz CPU and ample disk, the 900N could serve as ably on a desk as it does on a lap. A few design changes here and there, such as a little rearranging of the keyboard layout and more visible status lights, and the 900N will be a nearly perfect travel companion--unless you really wanted to read that novel.

COMPAQ LTE ELITE 4/75CX MODEL 340

The Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX is a sturdy notebook with excellent design features in some areas and frustrating shortcomings in others. The LTE Elite is solidly built, with clean lines and an excellent display. It stands out visually among the other machines we looked at, with a "retro'' look--putty-colored case and khaki function keys--that hearkens back to the days of the first 386 laptops. But the Compaq's old look masks a powerful machine.

The LTE Elite's display is crisp, with little ghosting or pixel scintillation. The keypad is a joy. With the feel of a full-sized keypad, the keys have a solid, firm touch, but operate quietly. If you type notes during meetings, the Compaq will not generate dirty looks from your neighbors.

Compaq clearly designed this notebook with the business traveler in mind:  The LTE Elite operates on a standard power cord, foregoing the brick-like power supply that adds a pound or two to a traveler's burdens. Even with this insightful feature, the Compaq weighed roughly the same as the others.

The pointing device, however, might confound some users. The LTE Elite's trackball is located on the lower right-hand side of the display, and the mouse buttons are found opposite the trackball on the lid of the notebook, a very long reach away. Other notebooks (such as the Dell Latitude or the IBM Thinkpad) appear to have been designed with typists in mind. On those machines, the pointing device and mouse buttons are within easy reach of a typist's fingers.

The unit ships with MS-DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1. It also comes with TabWorks from XSoft, a Windows shell, as well as a series of Compaq tools. If you need the networking features of Windows for Workgroups 3.11, you' ll have to install it yourself. Overall, the documentation was sparse.

On initial start-up, the LTE Elite spent more than 20 minutes setting up applications. That's something that could really have been done at the factory, but you might enjoy seeing the automation involved. We had no trouble enabling 32-bit file access, but 32-bit disk access conflicted with the power-management facilities.

What the Elite lacked in ergonomics and out-of-the-box appeal, it almost made up for in raw performance. It took first place in our low-level performance runs, especially for hard-disk speed. It had the second-fastest video performance, too. In real-world applications testing it came in second. It placed third for its battery life, although only slightly above average in that respect.

DELL LATITUDE XP 475C

The Latitude turned out to be one of the most ergonomically pleasing of the laptops. Its keys had a noticeable detent guaranteed to satisfy even an old-school typist. The main keys are large, and even the function and direction keys are a good size for a laptop. The arrow keys are placed in the standard T configuration for easy adoption by new users. The trackball (definitely not a track "pea,'' even one on steroids) is well placed and easy to use. There is no track stick, and we didn' t wish for one.

The unit has "garage door'' panels that flip up and into the main body for all connectors. That's preferable to removable panels (which can be lost) and hinged latches (which can easily be broken). However, the PCMCIA port is protected from dust by two PCMCIA "placeholder'' cards, which can be lost. It's a shame there aren' t garage doors all around. The only other shortcoming in the physical design is that you need fingernails to remove the battery pack; otherwise you have to hold the unit edge up and slap it down into your hand to dislodge the pack.

The case has little flip-down feet to tilt the keyboard for better keycap visibility. Unlike the other laptops, the feet can be operated without flipping the system over. We also liked the LED indicators, most of which are visible even when the lid is closed. Those not visible pertain to the NumLock, CapsLock and ScrollLock functions, which a user needs to see only while typing.

The display proved less pleasing, with halo and ghosting regardless of contrast or brightness settings. Unfortunately, the 75MHz model can be purchased only with a dual-scan display; only the 100MHz model is available with active-matrix technology. The cursor "submarines'' (seems to submerge under a pane of water) when moved even at moderate speeds. Its external VGA output scintillates at 1024x768, but is quite usable at lower resolutions.

Although the Dell scored about average in low-level benchmark tests, it was the poorest performer in real-world applications, especially our Word 6.0 macro. On the plus side, its battery-life performance was outstanding, bested only by the incredible longevity of the AST.

One peculiarity was that it did worse in our simulated-use tests with power management than the disk-intensive run-down test without power management. At first we attributed this phenomenon to excessive battery drain during disk spin-up and spin-down. We disabled the power-management feature that puts the disk to sleep only to find poorer performance, which led us to conclude that the video and/or memory subsystems require significantly more power than the hard disk. In other words, we partially attribute the extended battery life to the extremely efficient hard disk.

IBM THINKPAD 755CS

Smart design ideas are all but bursting out of the ThinkPad's matte black shell. Even the power plug is neat:  Instead of using a separate cable, the charging "brick'' comes with its own flip-out three-prong plug.

The keyboard (designed and manufactured by IBM's former subsidiary, Lexmark) is better than most full-sized keyboards, and every bit as comfortable to type on. The arrow keys are in a compressed-diamond formation at the lower right with the Home/End/PgUp/PgDn cluster at the upper right.

Getting at the guts of this machine was never simpler. Pull back the lid latches a little farther than you normally would to open the computer, and the keyboard lifts up to reveal (from left to right) the floppy disk drive, the battery and the hard disk. All are modular and can be popped out and replaced quickly. The sockets for memory cards and chips are located underneath the floppy disk drive; sandwiching them between components keeps them extra-secure.

Speaking of security, the ThinkPad can be outfitted with power-on and hard-disk spin-up passwords (the HD password stays with the disk, even if removed and placed in another machine). The system can also be locked down, making it physically impossible to open the keyboard or remove PCMCIA cards without removing the lock (sold separately).

If there is one shortcoming in the system's design, it's the PCMCIA socket. The coverplate that conceals the socket is difficult to remove, requiring a ballpoint pen and about five minutes of effort. A jointed cover would make more sense and be impossible to lose, and a garage-door style cover would be even better. The provided PCMCIA card and socket-services software allow you to survey the contents of the socket in DOS or Windows, and specific cards can be configured to launch given applications when they' re inserted.

As received, the laptop came with Windows 3.1 and PC-DOS 6.3. Windows was not configured properly to use Advanced Power Management. To correct the situation, you must use Windows'  DOS-based setup program and set the Computer option to MS-DOS with APM. Enabling 32-bit file access was possible, but 32-bit disk access was not compatible.

The ThinkPad scored at the bottom in the low-level tests and average for the applications tests--somewhat disappointing numbers for an otherwise excellent machine. Its battery life rated average among the machines reviewed. There are some interesting power-conservation features, though. You can set the system to automatically enter suspend mode upon reaching a critically low battery level. The notebook automatically writes memory to a reserved file on the hard disk and powers down completely after spending an hour suspended. (This "hibernation'' option is available on demand from the keyboard, as well.) The system can also be configured to wake up if it receives an incoming call--a useful touch for those cellular-modem road warriors receiving faxes on the fly. The unit can also come to life at a preset date and time.

NEC VERSA M/75C

NEC's crisp display is the highlight of this machine. It can handle 16 million colors, a big plus for presentations. But it produced noticeable flicker on an external display at even 640x480, 64,000 colors. Also consider the fact that it can' t accept an external keyboard and mouse simultaneously, and it becomes an unlikely candidate for two-location (for example, office and home office) use.

The LCD panel could be easily wiggled from its rest position, making it a tad difficult to use should you find yourself on a bumpy plane, train or highway. The display featured only a brightness control, but, in all fairness, no contrast adjustment seemed necessary. On the positive side, when the lid was closed, the unit automatically turned off the display to conserve battery power. However, that feature failed to work from time to time. When closed, the lid covers the LCD status panel, which features the only indicator for battery status.

There is a garage door for the replicator-port connector (which allows you to attach to a docking station or other peripherals), but the covers for the other ports and the PCMCIA slots were the kind that jut out during use, waiting to be snapped off and broken. One of the most innovative features of the NEC is its removable LCD. It comes out by just swiveling two corner-located panels and gently tugging the display up. It can be swiveled to turn its screen away from the keyboard for presentations.

The NEC did surprisingly well during our real-world application tests, moving even faster than a 100MHz Zeos unit, let alone the other 75MHz units. That seems to come at the price of battery longevity; the NEC scored lowest for battery life.

The unit comes with Windows 3.1. The Power feature under Control Panel has been augmented by NEC to allow you to configure the power-management features from that icon. Also featured is the Windows Sound System. One perk is the OAG Flight Disk, included to help you plan connecting-flight or nonstop plane trips, including ground-transportation information. It also provides e-mail support, so you can send your route to others. A teaser package, Mind Path software, will facilitate a remote control to guide your mouse during presentations. However, the required hardware is not included; it sells separately for $149.95.

TOSHIBA T4800CT

Toshiba was one of the very first companies to enter the color notebook market with an impressive, almost groundbreaking model in 1992. But its notebooks haven' t changed much since then, so the company has lost valuable ground to companies selling more cost-effective and updated models, such as the IBM Thinkpad.

Toshiba's T4800CT consistently scored near the bottom against the competition. It had run-of-the-mill VGA external support. In BIOS, the LCD display-colors option was set to 180,000 colors, despite the manual stating the default as 256,000 colors. While operating at 256,000 colors, the Toshiba display had profound scintillation (a wavering of pixels like stars twinkling). Also, at 1024x768 resolution with 256,000 colors, the external VGA had scintillation as well.

In terms of other performance tests, the Toshiba scored near the back of the pack in the CPU, FPU and application tests. Although battery life was impressive,that would stand out in a notebook that isn' t performing optimally.

We gave the Toshiba T4800CT high marks for its pointing device, a Microsoft BallPoint that attaches to the side of the notebook. Unlike its competitors, which all have integrated pointing devices, the Toshiba notebook remains married to the BallPoint. This is unlike Toshiba's sub-notebook, the Port$$g$$, which sports a trackpoint device. The Ballpoint is an accurate pointing device, but a bit more awkward to set up and carry around than a built-in solution.

The Toshiba also had a few design idiosyncrasies. The external SCSI door detaches from the unit and could easily get lost. The LCD status panel can' t be seen when the lid is closed and the unit beeps when you' re closing the lid. The Toshiba keypad feels chintzy, and occasionally the keys do not respond at faster speeds. Also, certain keys, such as the Ctrl, Alt and Caps Lock keys, are oddly positioned.

All in all, the Toshiba T4800CT was a lackluster contender from an impressive company. With more attention paid to performance and some design features, the Toshiba may be champ again one day.

WINBOOK XP

In its design and overall look and feel, as well as in its name, the WinBook XP has been clearly modeled after a laptop legend of a very different order:  the Mac PowerBook. But, as the name makes plain, it's geared to Windows users.

The keyboard is a close cousin to the Lexmark model used in the IBM Thinkpad. The keys feel right and are well placed, even if the function keys along the top are a little too small to hit properly while typing rapidly. Since the keyboard is placed almost flush against the hinge for the screen, there's plenty of room nearer the user for a wrist rest and a trackball, which can replace the button panel for the track-stick pointing device. Using the trackball causes the mouse to "blink'' across the screen rather than sweep, but the integrated keyboard pointer moves the mouse more briskly.

The power switch is located in an interesting place:  on the right-hand hinge of the display panel. Between both hinges is a small LCD that holds various icons for different system functions:  hard disks and diskettes, the Num/Scroll/Caps keys, and power consumption. A running faucet is used to illustrate battery power (there's also a small battery icon with four levels in it, from empty to full), and a gas pump comes up when the machine's plugged into wall current.

The laptop features a volume control. That could be a good feature, or a bad one, depending on how you set it. Should you accidentally turn the volume down too low, you risk losing your work when the battery runs down.

During testing, the unit went dead and could not be revived easily. The cure was to disengage and re-seat its memory card, which we can only assume was misaligned. It proved easy to open the underside panel to fix the problem.

On a positive note, the WinBook's manual is written in plain, readable English. It's also organized and designed coherently, and spares no pains to make complex things simple. The WinBook came with Windows 3.1. We enabled 32-bit disk and file access, and installed Windows for Workgroups 3.11. The raw CPU score ranked average, but the overall low-level benchmark was near the top. The real-world application benchmarking found it near the bottom, however.

The WinBook did have a decent battery life--comparable to that of most of the other machines in the group. This longevity was probably attributable to a number of battery-preservation features. The WinBook also had the ability to reawaken the system upon receiving an incoming modem call, or at a predesignated time.


Info Files: Blazing Windows Notebooks

AST Ascentia

900N 4/75 CS10

Price:  $3,259 (as tested)

In Brief:  Long battery life is the 900N's greatest asset, and solid performance complements the notebook's excellent power management.

AST Research

800-876-4278, 714-727-4141

Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX Model 340

Price:  $5,999 (estimated street price, as configured)

In Brief:  A solid-performing notebook with an outstanding keypad and crisp display is marred by a "retro'' look, awkward trackball/button configuration situated next to the display.

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, fax 713-378-1442

Dell Latitude XP 475C

Price:  $3,399

In Brief:  The 75MHz Latitude offers extra-long battery life, is lightweight, and provides good ergonomics at a very low price. Consider it if a dual-scan display is good enough for your needs.

Dell Computer Corp.

800-613-3355, 512-338-4400

IBM ThinkPad 755Cs

Price:  $4,949; as configured, $6,049

In Brief:  Good performance coupled with one of the best-made laptops around make the ThinkPad a true top-shelf choice. The keyboard and display alone are worth the price of admission.

IBM Corp.

800-772-2227, 914-765-1900

NEC Versa M/75C

Price:  $5,399

In Brief:  An active-matrix display, the second-highest performance in the group and the Windows Sound System are the highlights of this unit.

NEC Technologies

800-NEC-VERSA, 508-264-8000

Toshiba T4800CT

Price:  $5,699

In Brief:  The Toshiba's easy-to-control trackball and fair keyboard make it ergonomically pleasing. If that's more important to you than raw throughput, you might consider this machine.

Toshiba America Information Systems

800-334-3445, 714-583-3000

WinBook XP

Price:  $1,995; as configured, $4,079

In Brief:  Options like a choice of built-in pointing devices and plenty of upgradability make the WinBook an affordable way to get a good 75MHz machine.

WinBook Computer Corp.

800-468-7502, 614-481-7460


How We Tested: Blazing Windows Notebooks

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

How We Tested--Testing Battery Rundown In Comparable Real-World Tests Was Key

By:  John J. Yacono

Before running any tests, we tried to level the playing field by configuring the systems and software to the same settings. This reduced the likelihood that any performance disparities could be the result of software differences. If necessary, we upgraded the unit to MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. We set the Windows video resolution to 640x480 with 256 colors, and then disabled wallpaper, screen savers, power management, PCMCIA software and special color schemes. Next, we checked to make sure the BIOS settings were set up for optimal system performance (for example, we made sure that the internal cache was enabled). We also checked and adjusted the SmartDrive settings, and disabled the StartUp group and the Load and Run lines in WIN.INI. Whenever these changes significantly enhanced performance, we noted them in the product's write-up so you could make the same adjustments.

Once the hardware and operating system were configured, we loaded applications (Wintune, Word 6.0a, Excel 5.0 and PowerPoint 4.0) and our WinLabs test software (more on that later) into the test units. Then we set the Windows virtual-memory swap file to zero, scanned and defragmented the hard disk, and reset the swap file size to 4096KB. If possible, we enabled 32-bit disk and file access (sometimes it interferes with a laptop's power management capability, but we noted such exceptions in the individual reviews).

We ran Wintune on all the PCs to determine the effectiveness of their CPUs, floating-point units, and video and disk subsystems. We also ran macros for Word, Excel and PowerPoint to determine the system's application worthiness.

Once we were sure a unit was fully charged, we unplugged it and subjected it to continuous disk access (to drain its battery pack in the shortest time possible). We recorded the duration of each system's charge life and repeated the process. This battery-run-down test--which quickly drains the battery without benefit of power management--typically paints a worst-case picture. The information we get is useful because it should show us the lower limit of battery life, but it's hardly representative of how the unit will behave when it's sitting in your lap.

In order to provide more realistic data, we constructed our own special testbed, designed to simulate the way a human would actually use the laptop. It consisted of four main components:  a PC, a custom interface (called the WINterface), a modified keyboard and an AutoBoot Commander from Cybex (205-430-4000, fax 205-430-4030). The Cybex let us tie multiple PCs to a single keyboard and monitor. We programmed the host PC to operate the WINterface, which in turn used the keyboard to simulate user input. The Cybex sent the simulated keystrokes to all the laptops through their external-keyboard connectors simultaneously. In that way all units were kept in sync, performing the same task at the same time.

Not only did this arrangement allow us to test power management capabilities, it also enabled us to simulate a laptop session that was repeatable and shared across all laptops at the same time. A session consisted of entering Windows, typing a letter in Word, pausing (as though you' d left your desk to get something), opening Excel to run a lengthy spreadsheet macro with graphics, importing the spreadsheet data into Word, and finishing the letter. During the session, the letter was saved a couple of times, too. Then the host allowed the unit to go completely to sleep, just as it would if you left your desk for awhile, in order to test the sleep-mode efficiency of each machine. As the final step, we woke up each machine, exited Windows and continued to repeat the whole process until the battery of each unit was completely depleted. The "time of death'' was automatically recorded for each laptop.

We performed the entire test three times and averaged the results for statistical accuracy. In effect, this test showed us the battery life of the laptops when moving through the three main phases of use:  foreground processing (with all subsystems active), background use (in which the screen is inactive with a macro running and/or the disk still spinning), and sleep mode (in which all subsystems except memory and most ports are inactive).

The Cybex unit also let us test each laptop's external VGA output on a single reference monitor. The video performance will be important to those who wish to set up a full-screen docking area for a laptop, or who use the video output to drive a projector for presentations.


Report Card: Blazing Windows Notebooks

Product	Display	Pointing device	Keyboard	External VGA support	Exceptional extras
(W)AST Ascentia 900N 4/75 CS10 Notebook	B	A	B	A	A
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CX Model 340	B	C	A	B	B
Dell Latitude XP 475C	C	A	A	C	C
(W)IBM ThinkPad 755Cs, DX4	A	A	A	B	A
NEC Versa M/75C	A	C	B	C	B
Toshiba T4800CT	B	A	B	C	B
WinBook XP	A	B	B	B	B

Click Here to access a .DOC or .BMP version of this report card

•	Display:  Is the display clear? How broad is its viewing angle? Does it provide sufficient contrast and color reproduction? Does the cursor submarine (disappear briefly under rapid movement)? Are the controls integrated or discrete? Is the monitor large enough?

•	Pointing device:  Does the pointing device have reasonable sensitivity and acceleration? How is its button feel? Do your hands have to leave the home position to use it?

•	Keyboard:  Does the keyboard provide good tactile feedback? Does it feel firm? Are the keys loose? Is the layout logical? Is there audible feedback?

•	External VGA support:  What is the quality of the image? How high is the resolution limit?

•	Exceptional extras:  Is there documentation, charging hardware, warranty, built-in sound and so on?

Recommendations

The AST Ascentia 900N captured our attention with its solid construction and ample amenities, and then it won our hearts with a battery that just didn' t seem to know when to quit. We don' t know how the engineers at AST managed to squeeze every ounce of juice from the 900N's battery, but we know they didn' t cut corners or sacrifice performance to do so. We give the AST 900N a collective thumbs-up.

We' re awarding the IBM ThinkPad a WINDOWS Recommended seal, simply because this is one of the best laptops to open up and use, period. The keyboard ranks with some of the best full-sized keyboards out there; the display is as bright and crisp as it gets, and the level of hardware and software support provided with it (and available in general) is nothing short of superb. The integrated pointer (the TrackPoint II) has been imitated widely by other manufacturers, but none of them has the level of response and smoothness that IBM's own product has.

While it ranked lower than the AST and the IBM, the Dell Latitude deserves honorable mention for its ergonomics, battery life and economy. Getting very solid marks for both the keyboard and pointing device, it merits consideration from the many consumers that care about usability and cost more than speed.


LCD Technology: A Look Behind The Screens

By:  Serdar Yegulalp

Two years ago, color notebook computers were something of a rarity. Now they' re the rule rather than the exception. And it's not just because color is more eye-catching. The official word appears to be that color is easier on the eyes.

We have liquid crystal technology to thank for the colorization of laptop computing. Modern liquid crystals are the product of a technology called supertwist nematic, or STN. The molecules in a liquid crystal are normally shaped like long, flat ribbons that have a twist to them along their length. (The word nematic, by the way, is used by chemists to describe a substance that has both crystalline and liquid properties, like a liquid crystal.) They normally don' t allow light to pass through, but when you apply a microscopic amount of current to them--no more than a few millionths of an amp--the ribbon straightens out and the liquid crystal allows light to pass through. The term supertwist is used to mean that the crystal twists through a 90-degree arc. Earlier varieties of liquid crystals didn' t twist as far and as a result couldn' t be viewed from a broad angle.

Color LCDs use roughly the same layout design as the black-and-white variety, but require three times the horizontal resolution (to provide for the three-color elements). Each element in the triad sends light through an appropriately colored filter, and the composite of the three produces the visible color blends. Take a close look at a color laptop display and what you' ll see strongly resembles a close up of a conventional color CRT.

The two basic varieties of color laptop displays are passive and active matrix. Passive-matrix displays have two rows of transistors along the horizontal and vertical edges of the panel. Each drives a row or column of pixels. The firing of the transistors works something like the way a cathode ray excites phosphors on a conventional CRT:  from the top to the bottom, with each row fired from left to right.

Since pixels in a passive-matrix display don' t shut off instantly when they' re no longer being fired, the tradeoff is in the display quality. The contrast ratio for a passive display is something like 10 to 1; an active-matrix display yields more like 50 to 1. (For comparison, a CRT display yields around 100 to 1, and 35mm film is about 1,000 to 1.)

The updates on passive displays are also only about one-tenth as fast as those on active models, meaning that images come up and leave the display slowly. Games become difficult to follow, a mouse cursor leaves a phosphorescent trail, and the flickering from the display can give more than a few users king-sized headaches. It's like a throwback to the old "green screen'' monochrome displays, although not quite as bad. The good news is that it requires less power to backlight a passive matrix than an active matrix. So, as far as economy goes, it makes sense to opt for passive when the issue is cash, not quality.

Active-matrix displays work by supplying each element with its own transistor. This is many times more expensive, of course, since that comes to something like over a million separate transistors in a single display. The advantage is in speed and addressability:  The video hardware doesn' t have to refresh the whole display at once to get to a single pixel and, as a result, can update the screen many times faster. The persistence of the crystals can also be much shorter. The downside is price and power consumption. It's not just the backlighting; supplying power to drive each separate transistor is a sure-fire battery-burner.

Most displays still use light sources mounted to the left and right of the screen. For the most part they no longer have that "lit-from-the-wings'' look--two bright patches at opposite ends of the picture, with everything else looking pretty dim--that used to plague such a scheme. The same basic idea still holds:  using a single light source behind the image or two on either side. But manufacturers now use better light-scattering and reflecting materials, derived from fiber-optic technologies, to scatter the light more evenly and thoroughly across the display. On that note, Sharp has developed a new variety of LCD that makes maximum use of ambient reflected light, and reduces or eliminates the need for a backlit display. This technology will also mean no more squinting when you take your laptop out into the sun.

The way light reflects and transmits through the screen is also important. In laptops, the most basic form of lighting is a cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (also called a CCFL), and it's susceptible to many influences that can degrade its performance. Laptop makers greatly value high electrical efficiency, for instance, but that doesn' t always translate into high optical efficiency when using CCFLs. CCFLs also require high voltage (compared with other elements in a laptop), and that will remain a problem until someone comes up with a lighting system that draws less voltage but has comparable candlepower. As it has been for most LCD issues, that is only a matter of time.


Jan. 95 R&R:Resources and Recreation

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

HOT PICKS

Reach Out and Touch Someone

FIND ANY OF 91 MILLION listed phones in the United States by name, number, address or business SIC number with PhoneDisc PowerFinder. This set of five regional telephone directory CD-ROMs comes with some fairly powerful search software. PhoneDisc will dial the number for you, and you can also find neighbors and people with similar phone numbers. Lots of the listings aren' t what you expect, so be prepared to try several variations. --Martin Heller

$249; Digital Directory Assistance, 800-284-8353, 617-639-2900.

LIFE Magazine Comes to Life

PICK ANY DATE between 1936 and 1972, and let The Face of LIFE take you on a trip down memory lane. View an authentic newsreel of one of the week's big events, listen to a clip from the top 10 songs, wax nostalgic with some old advertisements or flip through one of the photo essays that have made LIFE magazine famous. The CD-ROM tests your knowledge of the times with a trivia game and provides images of more than 1,800 LIFE covers. Access lists of world events, and the top movies, books and plays. The interface consists of an editor's desk that lets you jump with one click from radio to text to video. The lack of full text for the articles was the one disappointment. --Donna Tapellini

$29.99 (street price); Creative Multimedia, 800-262-7668, 503-241-4351.

Hit the Slopes

THE SKIER's ENCYCLOPEDIA won' t take the place of a private lesson with a live ski instructor, but it is surprisingly informative. Using video, graphics and text, the CD-ROM provides mini-lessons on stance, pole use, steering, weighting and more. When you' re ready to face the real world, check the listings of ski resorts throughout North America, along with trail maps and information like phone numbers, mountain heights, season length and snowmaking. Go to the ``Best of'' section to find the highest mountains, longest runs, most snowmaking and best night life. When you' re ready to buy, the section on equipment gives shopping tips. Now all you need is a mountain and some snow. Happy trails.--Donna Tapellini

$49.95; RomBoy, 800-SKI-5008, 818-752-5916.

AT YOUR LEISURE

H.G. Wells Revisited

THE JOURNEYMAN PROJECT has been re-released in a new souped-up version for Windows. In Journeyman Project Turbo, you' re an agent who monitors and preserves the flow of history in an age when time travel is possible. But when history is radically altered, you must travel back in time to discover the source of the rift. Whether meandering down the hallways of a Martian colony or dodging the steely grip of a renegade robot, you' ll lose all track of time in this intriguing adventure game. --Ian Etra

$49.95; Sanctuary Woods, 415-286-6000, fax 415-286-6020.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Ahead of Its Time

WINDOWS 95 may not be ready yet, but you can learn all about it in former Microsoftie Adrian King's Inside Windows 95. Although the book shipped before the product, Win95's basic design isn' t likely to change. The book is very technical, explaining the design and function of key Win95 elements, including multitasking and device support. You may get more detail than you need, but Inside Windows 95 provides a great overview of the operating system. --David W. Methvin

$24.95; Microsoft Press, 800-677-7377, 615-793-5090.


9501 Win NT Review Related
How We Tested: NT 3.5

MS Office For Windows NT


NT 3.5: Smaller, Faster, Better

Microsoft Gets Serious With High-End Windows

By:  John D. Ruley And Will Gee

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Almost exactly one year after Windows NT 3.1's initial release, Microsoft finds itself in a dilemma. On the one hand, NT has been well received in the client/server community, and it seems to be something of a hit as a database server. Its "mindshare'' among users is disproportionate to the number of copies actually shipped--less than half a million as this is written.

On the other hand, NT 3.1 made little impact as a high-end desktop system. That's really no great surprise. It was a demanding operating system that provided a questionable return on an excessive resource investment.

Windows NT 3.1 required a minimum of 12MB of RAM to run at all, and 16MB to provide reasonable performance. It also required 70MB of disk space for the operating system alone. Yet its application performance was relatively poor:  Shipping Windows applications were considerably slower under NT 3.1 than under Windows for Workgroups 3.11. And NT 3.1 was supported by very few mainstream 32-bit desktop applications on the market.

When the NT developers set out to write NT's first major upgrade, their primary goal was to reduce hardware requirements and improve speed. With NT 3.5, they' ve clearly succeeded. Our tests show that Windows NT Workstation 3.5, when run in 12MB or more of RAM, provides performance that's equal to or better than--sometimes much better than--that of WFWG 3.11. Add to that some significant new features, and it looks like Microsoft's high-end operating system may finally be ready for prime time.

(Editor's note:  Microsoft has changed the name of its low-end product to Windows NT Workstation and the high-end product to Windows NT Server. Throughout this review, where we refer to Windows NT without mentioning Workstation or Server, we' re referring to features common to both versions. For more information on the name change and related changes in product positioning, see this month's eNTerprise Windows column.)

This month, we examine NT 3.5 Workstation, looking at it primarily as a desktop platform. Next month, we' ll cover NT 3.5 Server.

System Requirements

At first glance, Microsoft doesn' t appear to have made much progress in reducing resource requirements:  NT Workstation 3.5 still officially requires 12MB of RAM, just as NT 3.1 did. What's changed is that it now delivers good performance in 12MB. With a high-performance 32-bit video driver,  NT Workstation runs 16-bit Windows applications faster in 12MB than WFWG 3.11 does in 16MB.

That may seem like an absurd claim. Starting with a standard (for WFWG 3.11) 8MB memory configuration, NT 3.5 is about 10 percent slower running the applications than WFWG 3.11. Increasing memory to 12MB puts NT ahead of WFWG, and its lead widens when you increase memory to 16MB.

That couldn' t happen with NT 3.1. No matter how much RAM you throw at it, NT 3.1 couldn' t outperform WFWG 3.11 running on a standard desktop system.

It's equally striking to compare NT 3.5's performance with that of 3.1:  NT 3.5 running in 8MB outperforms NT 3.1 in 12MB of RAM. Clearly, Microsoft's 12MB minimum requirement for NT 3.1 was somewhat optimistic. By contrast, 12MB appears to be a completely acceptable desktop configuration for NT 3.5. Indeed, its performance in 8MB isn' t bad, and it may be acceptable for users who don' t require 16-bit application support or NT's sophisticated networking features.

Unfortunately, there is no comparable improvement where disk space is concerned. Windows NT 3.5 still requires 75MB of hard disk space (90MB on RISC systems). There are rumors of a compressed file system for NT that was pulled from the 3.5 release because of legal issues, but it isn' t currently available. As a result, practical minimum hardware configurations for NT 3.5 Workstation will require at least 200MB of disk space to store the operating system, applications and data. Server requirements are higher still.

One final bit of good news on system requirements:  The range of hardware supported by NT 3.5 is much greater than that supported by NT 3.1. The operating system now ships with support for more than 2,300 systems, more than 100 video cards (including generic drivers for most of the common video chip sets), and 72 CD-ROMs (including low-end proprietary CDs). There's also support for more than 100 network interface cards, dozens of mice and other pointing devices, and hundreds of printers. While it's still good practice to check the current Windows NT hardware compatibility list, our experience is that most standard desktop hardware with a 486SX or better CPU can be expected to run Windows NT quite well. The compatibility list is available for download from CompuServe's WINNT forum, or by ftp from ftp.microsoft.com, or in the Windows NT Workstation Evaluation Kit, which is available from Microsoft for the cost of postage and handling.

Setup/Upgrade

If you have a compatible system, it's quite simple to install Windows NT 3.5. On Intel-based systems, the Workstation version comes on 29 diskettes--or just three diskettes and a CD. The Server version comes only on CD--again, with three installation diskettes (it's three diskettes rather than one because of the court order to cease using compression technology that came out of the Stac lawsuit). A slick over-the-network installation, which creates the necessary diskettes on the fly, also is available. It comes in both 16-bit and 32-bit versions; the latter is multithreaded--it copies files from the CD while formatting and building the three diskettes for you. On RISC systems, only the CD is required.

In any case, the installation will detect a previous version of Windows NT, if any, and offer you the option to upgrade it or to install a completely separate version. Installing a separate version requires 70+ MB of free disk space. On systems that have a version of Windows installed, the NT files are placed in WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. On systems that have no version of Windows, the root directory will be WINNT. The installation also creates a fail-safe Emergency Repair Disk, which can be used to recover a Windows NT system that's been rendered unbootable (typically because of a bad driver). And, in an improvement over NT 3.1, the NT 3.5 installation creates two start-up boot options--one for NT 3.5 in whatever video mode your video card supports, and another for NT 3.5 in VGA mode. This insures that you will be able to boot up, even if you install the wrong video drivers. As with NT 3.1, the NT 3.5 installation attempts to auto-detect your video board, network card, hard disk and CD-ROM. Despite the large number of devices the system supports, it usually succeeds. We had no trouble installing Windows NT 3.5 on any of our test systems.

New Features

With the installation complete and NT 3.5 booted, you' re presented with the familiar message to press Ctrl+Alt+Del to log in. Doing so gets you to the log-in dialog managed by NT's built-in C2-compatible security subsystem. When you boot in, you' ll find a user interface that appears to be little changed from NT 3.1. There are no radical Windows 95-style changes.

Selecting File/Run in Program Manager gets a familiar Run dialog, but with one very significant change:  a Separate Session check box that allows you to start a separate virtual DOS machine (VDM) for your application to run in. This feature affects only 16-bit Windows applications, creating a completely separate address space and system context for the application. (By contrast, 16-bit DOS applications and 32-bit applications are always multitasked in their own address space.)

Separate sessions aren' t enabled by default because launching a 16-bit Windows session requires about one megabyte of RAM over and above that needed by the application itself. Why would you want to burn up that extra memory? First, because each separate session is multitasked preemptively so a single application can' t hog the system, preventing other applications from running. Second, if the application you' re running in a separate session crashes, it won' t crash any other applications in the system. Third, if you' re lucky enough to be running NT on a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system, running in separate sessions allows several applications to switch between the processors. All applications will run faster, provided you have at least as many processors as applications.

NT 3.5 also provides full OLE 2.0 support for both 16- and 32-bit applications--in the case of 16-bit apps, irrespective of whether the application is running in a separate session. This contrasts with OS/2 2.x, which provides separate sessions for 16-bit applications, but supports OLE only between applications in a single session.

Both NT 3.5 Workstation and Server support OpenGL graphics, which should make them attractive for applications like CAD, CAE, architectural design and scientific visualization--the traditional workstation field. OpenGL stands for Open Graphics Library. It's a form of

3-D graphics in which the operating system, rather than the application, assumes responsibility for things like shading, surface texture and perspective. We didn' t have any OpenGL applications available for testing, but we' re told that Intergraph's OpenGL-based MicroStation CAD package for NT runs more than 10 times faster with NT 3.5's built-in OpenGL support than on NT 3.1--without special hardware.

Adding an OpenGL-compatible GLI accelerator card can improve total speed by another order of magnitude. (We plan to follow up on this topic in future articles.) Applicability of NT in the workstation world is further augmented by improved interoperability with UNIX-based systems, including NT Server's support for UNIX host printing and the inclusion of drivers for a variety of pen plotters. All in all, our first major test of NT 3.5 has to be considered a success, and we congratulate the NT team.

Hands On:  What We Found

Aside from the fact that NT 3.5 finally delivers better-than-WFWG 3.11 performance in 12MB, we found a number of other interesting things in our tests. To begin with, in many cases NT 3.5 has faster video and disk performance than NT 3.1 or even Windows for Workgroups. Fast video is probably responsible for much of the improvement in performance that's shown in Figure 1.

We tested 32-bit low-level performance using native versions of our 32-bit NT-Hellstone benchmark in Intel, Mips and Alpha versions. As expected, the RISC systems show very high performance, as do the Pentium systems. The Intergraph and NEC machines are both running dual processors, further increasing performance (NT-Hellstone is multithreaded, so it exploits both CPUs in dual-processor machines).

How does this low-level performance translate in a real application? We compared Micrografx Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT. All tests were run on a scanned high-resolution black-and-white photograph that had been converted into a 10MB TIFF file. Picture Publisher multithreads some, but not all, low-level functions. In our case the Gaussian Blur test was multithreaded, while image rotation was not. Not surprisingly , the dual-processor machines, and particularly Intergraph's very fast TD-4, performed better on the former. The NEC machine didn' t do as well--probably in part because Picture Publisher 4.0 was built last year, before advanced optimization became available in the Mips compilers. This machine also uses an EISA bus and probably suffers by comparison with the local-bus machines in I/O performance.

Our year-old NCR 3333 looks pretty slow by comparison with the workstation-class systems. The other Intel-based systems all had less than 32MB of RAM and were even slower than the NCR. Their results are not shown.

Clearly, NT's promise of scalability holds for advanced systems incorporating either or both SMP and RISC processor architectures.

To see how NT 3.5 holds up running 16-bit software, see Figures 4 and 5. Figure 4 presents 16-bit low-level results using our Wintune 1.0 benchmark--and here, the RISC-based machines don' t look anywhere near as impressive. This is due to the overhead in the custom version of Insignia Systems Soft-PC that RISC versions of NT use to provide compatibility with 16-bit applications.

Figure 5 shows how this translates in real-world application tests. A couple of points on this chart bear explanation:  First, the emulation subsystem in NT 3.5 is single-threaded, so the Intergraph and NEC machines each use only one of its processors in these tests. Second, while the performance of the RISC-based systems on these tests isn' t terribly impressive, it isn' t all that bad when you consider that under NT 3.1, typical results from 16-bit applications on RISC systems looked like those from 386 machines.

Overall, it looks like NT 3.5 really does unlock the performance potential of Windows NT on a wide variety of hardware. On standard Intel-based single-CPU systems with 12MB or more of RAM it can deliver performance equal to or better than that of WFWG 3.11. On RISC and SMP systems it can deliver dramatically improved performance if applications have been designed to exploit these new architectures. Even in a worst-case situation, running 16-bit Intel executable code on a RISC system now gives performance comparable to a 486.

Conclusions

Like NT 3.1, NT 3.5 has no system resource limits on either 16- or 32-bit applications. Combine that fact with its outstanding performance running Windows applications, and it's now safe to say that Windows NT has graduated to being the best possible platform for running Windows applications. This is true whether they' re 16- or 32-bit--provided they' re compatible with NT.

That can be the rub. NT has problems with certain classes of applications, including any application that requires low-level access to the hardware (fax applications, for example). Another negative is NT's hardware requirements--12MB of RAM and 90MB of precious hard disk real estate is a lot to allocate to an operating system.

But if you have the memory and disk space, NT is now an outstanding choice, from both a features and performance perspective! Look for an increasing migration of heavyweight apps to NT.

INFO FILE

Windows NT Workstation

Price:  $319 (estimated street price)

In Brief:  A dramatic advance over NT 3.1, NT 3.5 Workstation now outperforms WFWG 3.11 when running 16-bit Windows applications.

Minimum Configuration:  386DX

Disk Space Required:  75MB

System Resources:  NA (32-bit Operating System)

RAM:  12MB

Microsoft Inc.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080


How We Tested: NT 3.5

Benchmarking NT Required Many Platforms

By:  John Ruley And Will Gee

To get the clearest possible picture of Windows NT 3.5's performance, we tested it on a broad range of platforms, ranging from an NCR 3333 486DX-33 system that predates the AT&T-NCR buyout, to dual-processor NEC RISCstation 2000 RISC-based and Intergraph TD-4 RISC-based workstations. We tested the Server version on a Compaq ProSignia 486-based server and on an Alpha-based Digital AlphaServer 1000 .

Since both the Workstation and Server versions support running Windows applications on the system console, we ran low-level and desktop application tests on all systems. These included our 16-bit Wintune 1.0 low-level tests, 32-bit Hellstone low-level tests, and our standard application macros using shipping 16-bit versions of Microsoft Word 6.0a and Excel 5.0. For 32-bit applications, we used Micrografx Picture Publisher 4.0 for Windows NT, and, with special cooperation from Microsoft's Office business unit, beta versions of Word and Excel for Windows NT (see MS Office for Windows NT). We were not able to put together a benchmark that would evaluate OpenGL performance in time for this review.

On the server systems, we augmented this testing with database tests using SQL Server for Windows NT and the Microsoft TPC benchmarking kit (available on the CompuServe MSSQL forum and on Microsoft's TechNet CD-ROM).

For comparison purposes, we repeated some tests on systems that had Windows NT 3.1 installed--before and after upgrading to NT 3.5. We repeated the 16-bit app tests under WFWG 3.11 on some systems that we set up to dual-boot.  --JR and WG


MS Office For Windows NT

The 32-Bit Versions Of Word And Excel Finally Arive

By:  John Ruley

A serious lack of 32-bit desktop applications has made it difficult to evaluate Windows NT on desktop systems. Among other things, it's been hard to assess the benefits of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), RISC processors, C2 security and long filenames on single-threaded Intel-only applications. This is now changing.

In conjunction with the Windows NT 3.5 introduction, Microsoft announced that Office 1.0 for NT would be available in the last quarter of 1994. It includes 32-bit versions of Excel 5.0 and Word 6.0, packaged with 16-bit PowerPoint. The 32-bit applications are basically the same as 16-bit versions from the end user's point of view, but a lot of work has been done internally to optimize these apps for NT. Aside from completely rewriting the applications to compile natively for NT, Microsoft's applications division has added support for long filenames, NT security and multithreaded background printing (Word only). Internal changes to exploit the benefits of a 32-bit architecture give both applications substantially improved capacity. For instance, the 16-bit version of Excel has a 64KB cache limit on recalculations; the NT version has no limit. In the 16-bit version of Word, there can be dozens of subdocuments in a master document; in the 32-bit version, there can be hundreds.

NT has no notion of Windows 3.x-style system resource limits, regardless of whether 16- or 32-bit applications are being run. The entire Office 1.0 for NT suite benefits from this. It will be possible to open extremely large spreadsheets, build complex documents, and fully exploit the benefits of OLE 2.0 without hitting any arbitrary limits. File dialogs in both Word and Excel have been expanded to allow users to view and use long filenames. What's more, per-user settings for preferences, lists of recently used files and the like are tracked in the Windows NT registry

rather than in .INI files. NT security is exploited both implicitly--on NTFS disks you cannot open a file unless you have the necessary permission--and explicitly. For instance, Word for NT tracks permissions of subdocuments in its master documents.

Preliminary results from running our standard Word and Excel macros with the new versions are presented in the figure on this page. This chart shows the relative performance of the NT versions running our standard benchmark macros. We had to modify the Word macro slightly, because the 16-bit Windows API we use for automatic timing apparently isn' t available to the 32-bit version of Word. Furthermore, no Excel results are shown for the NEC machine because Microsoft didn' t have a version ready yet for the Mips RISC-processor family at press time. The most significant point of the chart is that the applications clearly are able to exploit the performance of RISC-based processors. The Pentium is no longer the fastest chip for business tasks like word processing.

Microsoft asked us to make clear that these results are provisional, because final tuning of the applications for best performance hasn' t been completed as of this writing. For that reason, we' ve illustrated the Office applications only by comparing them with one another. We can say that performance is at least equal to that of the shipping 16-bit versions, and in many cases is considerably better. Look for a full comparative performance analysis in WINDOWS Magazine after Office for NT ships.

The only negative aspect of Office for NT is that Microsoft isn' t supporting multiprocessors by threading these applications (with the exception of a background printing thread in Word). This means that SMP machines like the NEC RISCstation 2000 and Intergraph TD-4 will not reach their full speed when running a single Office for NT application in the foreground. Of course, if a user runs two or more applications (and possibly some of the OLE objects as well), it's likely that there will be some benefit from the additional processing power.

The Digital AlphaServer 1000--hardly the fastest machine in our low-level benchmarks--was the best performer in our preliminary tests. We suspect that its high performance in the Office tests may be due to the additional memory in the system (64MB), by far the most of any NT system we tested. This suggests that in addition to offering basic performance and capacity enhancements, 32-bit applications may be able to utilize more memory than common configurations. We will examine this issue in more detail at another time.

In the meantime, we consider our first chance to test 32-bit desktop business applications for NT a considerable success--and very good news for the NT community.


Jan 95 New Products: Utilities

LET ORDER BE THE KING OF YOUR PC

A cluttered electronic desktop is the sign of a cluttered mind. TmDesktop 2.0 can help you marshal your applications and files into order so that organization reigns supreme.

The program utilizes folders called cabinets to organize applications and files. All actions performed within the Applications Cabinet and the File Cabinet are recorded, so you can view your last 50 application launches from the Top Application window or access a list of the last 50 files used in the Top Files window. The Top Files feature also records the host application used to open the file.

TmDesktop's Access Bar, which resides in the title bar of your current application, lets you immediately access the TmDesktop main window, Top Applications window or Top Files window. Additional features include Explorer, Notes, folder windows, list customization and window positioning.

TmDesktop 2.0

Price:  $39.95; limited time, $29.95.

Contact:  TmJohnson, 800-865-6467, 508-562-6349.

MORE TOOLS THAN THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE

ToolPAL lets you create tool palettes for your Windows tasks. The customized toolbars can vary in size and are sorted in automatic file folders for easy switching.

The ToolPAL palettes can handle a variety of tasks, from launching a Windows or DOS application and controlling how it is launched to storing and retrieving Clipboard items, recording and playing macros, and monitoring resources. Tool palettes can be locked and password protected.

Individual buttons can be configured to execute any command in any Windows application. You can associate any combination of icons, text and bitmaps with the buttons.

ToolPAL

Price:  $34.95.

Contact:  Digital Artistry, voice and fax, 214-618-1266.

PUT PEP IN CD-ROM RESPONSE

You can make your CD-ROM applications run as fast as your hard disk with a CD-ROM accelerator. D-Time10 1.1 decreases access times of a quad-speed drive from 200ms to 10ms, while data-transfer rates improve eightfold.

D-Time10 uses technology that copies data from the CD-ROM to the hard disk as you need it and records where the data is stored on the CD-ROM to speed subsequent access. It supports IDE hard disks, Novell DOS 7 and 4DOS

.

d-Time10 1.1

Price:  $69.95.

Contact:  Ballard Synergy Corp., 800-692-0492,  206-656-8070.


Jan 95 New Products: Storage

The Bernoulli 230 PC drive provides plug-and-play access through the parallel port of your PC or laptop. The drive has a maximum transfer rate of 2.67MB per second and includes a built-in 256KB read/write cache. It can read from and save to earlier Bernoulli 150MB, 105MB, 90MB, 65MB and 35MB cartridges. It can also read 44MB cartridges. $695; 230MB cartridge, $119; Iomega Corp., 800-777-6654, 801-778-1000.

The TapeStor 420, QIC-80-compatible minicartridge tape backup system supports quarter-inch and QIC-Wide media and can boost compressed capacity from 250MB to 420MB. It writes up to 9.5MB per minute and can transfer data at 500Kbps or 1Mbps depending upon the floppy disk drive controller. The system, which is available in internal floppy disk drive interface and external parallel-port versions, includes a 1-inch-high, 3.5-inch form-factor tape drive, Conner Backup Exec software, a QIC-Wide tape cartridge from Sony and installation hardware.

The internal version also provides a third-drive select floppy disk drive interface cable and mounting kit for 5.25-inch drive bays. Internal, $199; external, $369; Conner Peripherals, 800-6-CONNER, 714-641-1230.


Jan 95 New Products: E-Mail

Process That E-Mail Pronto!

Pronto Remote 1.5, a Windows front end to UNIX e-mail, provides off-line mail processing and synchronizes mail and folders between the PC and host during a communications session. Using a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME), you can attach text and binary files to your messages. The MAPI feature lets you use the Microsoft at Work message protocol without any modifications.

Pronto lets desktop and laptop users remotely upload and download mail, read and respond to messages off-line, and organize mail in windowed folders, without leaving the Windows GUI. After connection to the UNIX host via modem, Pronto downloads mail with the touch of a button. You can choose to remain logged on so you can interact with the host, while mail is processed off-line.

Pronto Remote 1.5

Price:  $99.

Contact:  CommTouch Software, 800-63-TOUCH, 415-578-8580.

Off-Line Saves Plenty Of Time--And Money

Esperanto-- it's not just a language anymore. But it's still a way to improve your ability to communicate. This e-mail management program provides a cross-platform graphical front end to DEC's All-in-1 and VMS Mail systems to allow network, remote and wireless access. Working with a variety of host-based systems, it allows you to manage almost all your mail functions off-line.

A connection is needed only for exchanging, retrieving and returning mail. You can create and read mail without being attached to the host and store messages off-line. You can also schedule unattended mail exchanges with the host system.

Esperanto

Price:  From $47 to $210 per user.

Contact:  Square One, 908-602-9100, fax 908-636-8886.

Let Important Mail Page You

Mail2Page, a Microsoft Mail gateway, lets you send messages from Mail and other mail-enabled applications to any pageable device that supports Motorola's IXO transfer protocol. The gateway breaks up large messages into multiple pages and is limited only to the receiving device's abilities. Mail2Page supports MAPI, allowing any commercial mail-enabled applications to go wireless as well. Included are utilities allowing users to forward mail messages and Schedule+ meeting notifications to their wireless paging devices.

Mail2Page

Price:  Gateway, $495; each MS Mail post office, $99.

Contact:  CTRG, 503-391-4468, fax 503-391-6272.


Jan 95 New Products: Input Devices

The Kensington Thinking Mouse, a four-button mouse, comes with software to customize its button functions, so you can adjust acceleration, double-click with a single click, click to print and more. The two front buttons are for normal mouse usage; the two back ones can be assigned any additional tasks. The sides are covered with rubberized material for added comfort and better gripping. $89 to $119 (street price); Kensington, 800-535-4242, 415-572-2700.

You can make your keyboard the signature of your system with a Signature Series keyboard. The Focus Model FK-6200S has a sculptured profile, an oversized U-shaped spacebar and an enlarged backspace key. The Focus Model FK-7200S adds a trackball in the center of the standard model. A plastic cover slides over the hole where the trackball sits, making the keyboard the standard model again. The Focus Model FK-9200S adds the built-in trackball with a built-in calculator and 12 programmable function keys. From $29 to $79.95; Focus Electronic Corp., 800-826-6880, 909-468-5533.

The Mustek Plug-and-Scan 256 lets you add color-scanning capabilities to any notebook computer with a PCMCIA slot. The kit comes with the scanner, a Type II PCMCIA PC card interface, Photo Plus image-processing software and Perceive Personal OCR software. The TWAIN-compliant scanner scans up to 400 dpi in 256 gray-scale and text/line art. It draws only 5 volts of current instead of the traditional 12. $249; Mustek, 800-468-7835, 714-250-8855.


Jan 95 New Products: Application Development

You' ve Gotta Clean Up Your App

Make sure your user interface is as clean as a whistle by running it through the more than 45 checkpoints offered by AppPolish. The program can find errors in executable (.EXE), library (.DLL) or resource (.RES) files, as well as in Visual Basic (.VBX) or OLE (.OCX) controls.

The program creates an error listing that can be used with a variety of resource editors. The 100,000-word dictionaries of U.S. and U.K. English find spelling errors in menus, dialog boxes and string tables.

You can also check for punctuation, balanced quotes, correct ellipsis usage, overlapping or crowded dialog items, missing or duplicate mnemonics, missing help buttons, and missing menu shortcuts in accelerator tables.

The program checks that dialogs will fit on a specified screen size. Your application is also checked against the Microsoft User Interface Guidelines. AppPolish supports Borland's custom dialog controls.

AppPolish

Price:  $129.

Contact:  Encore Development, 904-398-0013, fax 904-398-0078.

Let Your Application Speak For Itself

You can add continuous, speaker-independent speech recognition to your application with the Phonetic Engine 500 Speech Recognition System Development Kit (SDK). The system includes an ISA/EISA-compatible interactive speech card that performs real-time recognition using an analog-to-digital interface. The interface connects to the noise-canceling headset microphone and the digital signal processor.

Also included are tools for developing speech-aware applications. You can choose from low-level routines for C and C++ programmers; Visual Basic, Access, Borland Paradox and C/C++ DLLs; and SPOT/VBX, a custom control for Visual Basic and Visual C++. The kit includes a runtime system that is required for each system running a PE500 application. You also receive 90 days of free technical support.

Phonetic Engine 500 Speech Recognition System Development Kit

Price:  $995.

Contact:  Speech Systems, 303-938-1110, fax 303-938-1874.

Pass The Visual Basic Test

With VB-Cert as a tutor, you' ll pass Microsoft's Visual Basic Certified Professional test--or Transcender Corp. will refund your money. The program provides timed, simulated examinations, then analyzes your answers in each of the test areas. VB-Cert explains the reasoning behind each correct answer to help you master Visual Basic. The program includes a user guide, registration instructions and a study outline, and can be used as an interactive refresher course before your next Visual Basic development project.

VB-Cert

Price:  $129.

Contact:  Transcender Corp., 615-327-1858, fax 615-320-6594.


Jan 95 New Products: Programming

Add visually dazzling effects to images or .AVI files with Visual FX. The program, which includes 100 special effects (such as slide, palette fade and explode), comes with a special-effects bitblt function, and special functions to load and display .DIB or .WMF files from the disk. $199; Strata, 800-6-STRATA, 801-628-5218.

Nu-Mega Technologies has introduced Win32s and Windows NT versions of its debugging tool, Bounds-Checker. The programs detect common API bugs, including compliance errors, parameter validation errors and failures. Both pop up when they detect invalid memory access (including uninitialized pointers and overwrites past the end of a structure), and memory and resource leaks (resources allocated but not freed). The NT version can also detect multithreading bugs. $249; Nu-Mega Technologies, 603-889-2386, fax 603-889-1135.

Make your program sing with MIDI support from the MIDI Programmer's ToolKit. The kit helps you develop music programs without learning complex callback functions, timer events or long message buffers. The single .DLL lets you read and write files in standard MIDI format, and receive and transmit MIDI events from/to MIDI instruments and sound cards. $99.95; Music Quest,  800-876-1376, 214-881-7408.


Jan 95 New Products: Mathematics

Clarify Your Fuzzy Calculations

FuziCalc 1.5 can help you forecast, estimate and plan projects when you are dealing with uncertain numbers. A fuzzy number modeling tool, FuziCalc can provide an accurate representation of events that are hard to model if you' re using statistics or ordinary spreadsheets.

The program provides a spreadsheet user interface, and you can import its output into Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 or Quattro Pro as .SLK or .TXT files, or through DDE. The FuziCalc spreadsheet omits traditional spreadsheet features not directly related to forecasting and estimating, so you must turn to your ordinary spreadsheets for features such as macros and database management.

Mathematical, engineering, financial and logical functions are among the new features in version 1.5. FuziWare has also added 3-D color graphics tools that allow you to see fuzzy outputs of your models and compare variables on a single graph. FuziCalc requires a math coprocessor.

FuziCalc 1.5

Price:  $199.

Contact:  FuziWare, 800-472-6183, 615-588-4144.

Maximize Number Power

Maybe you' ve been dreaming of a math program that will let you be a matrix master and a doyen of differential equations. Well, Macsyma has enhanced Macsyma 2.0 with the Matpack module to handle numerical linear algebra. The module allows you to specify matrix operations using over 300 commands and new language features.

Macsyma 2.0 and its companion product PDEase provide a toolkit of symbolic and numerical methods for solving partial differential equations (PDEs). Macsyma finds symbolic symmetries and solutions of systems, while PDEase solves PDEs numerically.

Version 2.0 also provides animated object-oriented graphics.

Macsyma 2.0

Price:  $349; until Dec. 31, $299; with PDEase, $749.

Contact:  Macsyma, 800-MACSYMA, 617-646-4550.

Matlab Adds Utilities

MathWorks has introduced MatLab 4.2c, an update of its math program that features a notebook interface and three new utilities. The Notebook provides a front end for MatLab through a dynamic link with Microsoft Word 6.0. You can incorporate MatLab graphics and commands directly into reports through the word processing application interface. Also new is the  Matrix Editor, the Workspace Browser and Path Manager.

MatLab 4.2c

Price:  $1,695; update, $195.

Contact:  MathWorks, 508-653-1415, fax 508-653-2997.


Jan 95 New Products: Printers

Even if you don' t want color printing all the time, you can leave your options open. The HP DeskJet 540 monochrome printer can print color with a $49 upgrade kit, which includes a snap-in color cartridge and a storage container. The ink jet printer prints 4 ppm at 600x300 dpi and supports 256 levels of gray scale. The color option offers 1.5 ppm at 300x300 dpi. $365; Hewlett-Packard Co., 800-752-0900; Canada 800-387-3867.

Finally you can fit your printer on your desk--that is, if it's the new Mitsubishi G2700-10U. The printer measures 14.1 by 10 by 5 inches without a paper tray. The 300-dpi wax thermal printer can produce a full-color page in 60 seconds, and prints on plain paper, coated letter and legal-size papers, and transparency film. $1,195; Mitsubishi Imaging Products,  908-563-9889, fax 908-563-0713.

The Citizen PN60 lets you print laser-quality documents even with a notebook:  The unit measures 10 by 1.85 by 2 inches and weighs 1.5 pounds. It is powered by either an AC adapter or batteries, and prints 2 ppm at 360 dpi. It prints black ink and spot color. The PN60 supports all TrueType and Adobe Type 1 fonts, and ships with self-contained parallel, Apple RS422 and serial connectors. $429; Citizen America Corp., 800-4-PRINTERS, 310-453-0614.


Jan 95 New Products: Misc.

Keep Track Of Grants And Gifts

Gifts helps you track and administer all aspects of grants and other philanthropic programs, including reviewing and classifying incoming requests, creating personalized letters, scheduling and monitoring activities, and maintaining a complete organizational history. The program, which can handle multifund and multipurpose grants, also tracks contacts, payments, contingencies and reports due from grantees.

Gifts creates a single file of all individuals and organizations associated with a grantee, and stores information on geographic region, population group, source of funds and type of support. It also lets you define your own fields, and tracks an unlimited number of contacts, such as primary contact, reviewer, sponsor and consultant.

The program includes 50 standard report and graph templates. You can create your own reports, and generate bar, pie, line and trend charts. The program also interfaces with other applications using OLE 2.0 to let you organize and manage grant-related documents created in a word processor.

Gifts

Price:  $10,000.

Contact:  MicroEdge, 800-899-0890, 212-421-9293.

These Programs Tell You Where To Go

Dream about relocating, retiring or retreating to the perfect city with Places Rated Almanac. Based on the popular book of the same name, the program ranks and evaluates 343 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Find out how your home town compares with your travel destination by examining the rankings of a city's restaurants, cost of living, health care and job growth. You can select states, regions or areas of a particular population size, and you can compare two or more cities in any of 10 categories. The CD-ROM also contains the phone numbers for chambers of commerce, visitors bureaus, preferred realtors and moving companies.

If you' re ready to make your move, check out Smart Moves, a database with comprehensive information on the housing market, crime and educational standards in over 1,000 communities in 154 American cities. Each neighborhood is represented in a full-color map. The program provides statistics on crime trends, housing market conditions, and public and private school systems, incorporating data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI and Quality Educational Data.

Places Rated Almanac and Smart Moves

Price:  Each, $39.95.

Contact:  PHH Technology Services, 913-661-0808, fax 913-661-9755.

Briefs

Draw up more than 70 frequently used business contracts and agreements with LegalPoint. The program provides business guidelines and suggestions on when to use each form, what each form is used for, and how to complete it. Documents can be prepared for review by your attorney in categories including financial, sales and marketing, personnel and employment, sales and purchase of goods, real estate and asset protection. $99.95; Teneron Corp., 913-451-3663, fax 913-451-0030.

You can purchase eight new Adobe typeface packages at a special price for a limited time. New to the library are four new multiple masters:  Penumbra (an all-capital typeface); Nueva; ITC Motter Corpus (an extra bold, nearly sans serif display face); and ITC Garamond. Other new fonts include ITC Cerigo, Hadriano, Romic and an ITC Handtooled collection that includes Century, Cheltenham and Garamond. Until Jan. 31, $69; Adobe Systems, 800-833-6687, 415-961-4400.

Add floating or dockable toolbars to your C++ code with Advanced Toolbar Control. The library supports user-configurable toolbars. You can also add brief descriptions (containing graphics or text) that appear when the mouse is stationed over a button. Buttons can be grouped for easy selection. 16-bit version, $195; 32-bit version, $295; library and source code, $495; Alien Technologies, 919-851-9622.


Jan 95 New Products: Pentium PCs

Pentium Performance At A Popular Price

Buying a Pentium PC will break the bank, right? Not necessarily. You won' t have to clean out your account to get these systems, which are priced from $1,799 to $3,054.

Two 60MHz systems, the Micro Express MicroFLEX-VL/P60 and the Intelesys P560M, are configured with 8MB of RAM and a 15-inch monitor. The MicroFLEX-VL/P60, which features a mini-tower case, has a 340MB hard disk. The Intelesys P560M's 720MB hard disk comes preloaded with a variety of software, including Microsoft's Money, Works, Publisher and Encarta. It features telephony features such as voice mail, remote paging and an answering machine. It has a 14.4Kbps fax modem, a double-speed photo CD-ROM, speakers and a microphone, and a 16-bit sound/MIDI synthesizer.

The Advanced Logic Evolution X/90 and the AT&T Globalyst 600 are based on the 90MHz Pentium. Both have 8MB of RAM and are PCI bus compatible. The Evolution can be configured with a 420MB, 540MB, 730MB or 1GB IDE hard disk, and either a 15-inch or 17-inch monitor. The Globalyst features 2MB of video RAM and hard disks from 270MB to 1GB. You can choose to have Ethernet, Token Ring or WaveLAN adapters preinstalled.

Micro Express MicroFLEX-VL/P60

Price:  $1,799.

Contact:  Micro Express, 800-989-9900, 714-852-1400.

Intelesys P560M

Price:  $2,299.

Contact:  Intelesys, 510-226-6300, fax 510-226-9363.

Advanced Logic Evolution X/90

Price:  From $2,995.

Contact:  Advanced Logic Research, 800-444-4-ALR, 714-581-6770.

AT&T Globalyst 600

Price:  From $3,054.

Contact:  AT&T Global Information Solutions, 800-225-5627, 513-445-5000.


Jan 95 New Products: Pentium Notebooks

The Dolch-PAC ruggedized notebook comes with the choice of a 486 or a Pentium processor.  You can also choose between an active-matrix color or monochrome TFT display. The unit, which weighs 15 pounds, has four or five full-length/full-height ISA or EISA bus slots and one Type III or two Type II PCMCIA slots. From $4,500; Dolch Computer Systems, 800-538-7506, 408-957-6575.


Jan 95 New Products: Image Enhancement

Increase Your OCR Accuracy

Scanned documents tend to look a little bit sloppy, but KIPP Image Enhancement can help you develop a document processing application that avoids this pitfall. The program, which can be added royalty-free to your application, controls skewed documents and cleans up scanned ones. KIPP Image Enhancement operates in the KIPP environment and is compatible with any application written using the KIPP Advanced Developers Toolkit.

OCR accuracy can be improved by as much as 100 percent when documents scanned off-center are electronically straightened. The program also removes incidental marks that frequently appear on images to reduce storage requirements by 10 to 30 percent.

You can choose from a variety of features, including Deskew, which detects and corrects skews of up to 16 degrees; Despeckle, which removes any black marks produced by carbon or dust; Black Border Removal, which eliminates extraneous lines caused by misalignment; and Streak Removal, which eliminates vertical lines produced during the scanning process.

KIPP Image Enhancement

Price:  $1,995.

Contact:  Kofax Image Products, 714-727-1733, fax 714-727-3144.

Put A Photographic Edge On Your Art

The frame around a picture affects the way you see the image itself. Edges dissolving into the background create a sense of dreamy romanticism, while a black rectangular frame may remind you of a photograph.

Don' t spend time trying to create these effects yourself. The Photo/Graphic Edges CD-ROM supplies you with more than 650 different edge effects for gray-scale or color Windows images. Edge styles vary from traditional darkroom looks to artistic effects. They are indexed for searching, previewing and retrieval through Kudo Image Browser catalogs. A Kudo Read Only version of the Browser is included on the CD-ROM.

The edges are saved as 400-dpi TIFF files (as well as .PCX files for quick viewing) and vary in size from 3 by 3 inches to 8 by 10 inches. You can color or resize the edges, or reshape them by as much as 200 percent.

There are three different types of images in the package:  composite, underlay and overlay. Composites are for use in Photoshop and have special alpha channel masks built into the files. Photos are pasted into the masks to create different effects within a composite file. Underlay edges can be used with page layout programs such as PageMaker or QuarkXPress. Overlay edges are placed over a photo or block of text and are designed with transparent bitmaps, so that objects show through their white fields. A number of Photographic Textures, which add grains and textures to an image, are also included.

Photo/Graphic Edges

Price:  $199.

Contact:  Digimation Corp., 800-839-2008, 603-436-7940.


Jan 95 New Products: Monitors

Searching far and wide for the right-size monitor at an affordable price? The 4000TC 17-inch, Trinitron color monitor costs $849. It features 1280x1024-pixel resolution, color-matching controls, a noninterlaced refresh rate of 60Hz and a maximum of 76Hz, and a 0.25mm stripe pitch. $849 (street price); Optiquest, 800-THE-OPTI, 909-468-3750.

The ClearTek 2000, an analog-capacitive touch screen, provides 8ms to 15ms touchdown speed. The 2000-series controllers include advanced firmware that allows correction values derived from a multipoint factory touch-screen calibration procedure to be stored on a nonvolatile memory chip in the controller. This provides accurate touch coordinates to the host system, with a margin of error of less than one percent. From $495; MicroTouch Systems, 800-MicroTouch, 508-659-9000.

Here's a big-screen monitor that could be as easy on your budget as it is on your eyes. The 20-inch CM20MKR gives you a 350mm by 262mm display area, a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and a maximum resolution of 1600x1280 pixels at 60Hz. The monitor also features an LED window that provides instant information on horizontal frequency and image position. $1,799; touch-screen model, $2,499; Tatung Co. of America, 800-829-2850, 310-637-2105.


Jan 95 New Products: Scanners

Scanner Gives You True Color

The Artec A6000C ViewStation offers 300x600-dpi resolution, which can be increased up to 2400x2400 through software interpolation. The 24-bit true-color flatbed scanner scans an A4-size color image in 70 seconds and scans an A4-size gray-scale or black-and-white image in 14 seconds.

The unit's intelligent LCD panel not only shows the scanner's mode, but also informs you of how to deal with errors that might arise.

The scanner's cold cathode fluorescent lamp can last up to 10,000 hours. Optional accessories include an automatic document feeder, a transparency kit and a document holder.

The scanner comes with several software packages, including CorelDRAW 4.0 for integrating multimedia files, Photoshop LE for image processing, PhotoStacker Pro for image management, MediaHouse for multimedia file organization and OCR Recognita Plus for text recognition. The ViewStation supports the TWAIN standard.

Artec A6000C ViewStation

Price:  $599.

Contact:  Ultima International, 510-659-1580, fax 510-440-1217.

Panasonic Promises Two Machines In One

Panasonic's KV-SP500 combines a printer and a scanner in a single case. The device measures 17 by 15 inches and can process up to 40 pages per minute. It is available with a choice of one (simplex) or two (duplex) scanning heads. The system has operator-selectable scanning resolutions of 150 to 350 dots per inch. To improve performance, scanned information is stored on the KV-SP500's self-contained image processing board.

The printer can print with densities as great as 300 dpi at 4 ppm. The unit consumes less than 4.2 amps maximum, for Energy Star compliance.

KV-SP500

Price:  Simplex, $5,499; duplex, $6,499.

Contact:  Panasonic Communications & Systems Co., 800-742-8086, 201-348-7000.

A Scanner With A Future

The Pro Imager 4000 single-pass color flatbed scanner is an upgradable entry-level system. It has a maximum resolution of 600x2400 dpi and 10-bit-per-channel color.

The unit uses cold CRT technology and supports built-in transparency scanning. You can scan documents as large as 8.3 by 11.7 inches and transparencies up to 8 by 10 inches. The unit ships with QuickScan prepress image acquisition and ColorAccess color production software.

Pro Imager 4000

Price:  $2,995.

Contact:  PixelCraft, 800-933-0330, 510-562-2480.


Jan 95 New Products: Graphics Boards

You don' t have to sell your soul to speed up your graphics. The 3Demon graphics accelerator for the PCI local bus incorporates a Glint 300SX processor, 4MB VRAM frame buffer and a 4MB DRAM local buffer for Gouraud shading, depth buffering, anti-aliasing and alpha bending. The card provides resolutions of up to 1600x1200 for 8- and 16-bit acceleration, and 1152x900 for 24-bit acceleration. $1,500;  Omnicomp Graphics Corp., 713-464-2990, fax 713-827-7540.

The Pixelock 16-bit expansion card allows you to mix 24-bit VGA graphics with information from a video source and then output the resulting data to a TV or video recorder. The card can be used to overlay graphics on video images. The PixelMaker 32-bit VGA adapter includes a VESA Advanced Feature Connector cable that connects the display adapter to Pixelock. It includes a graphics accelerator that drives displays at resolutions of up to 1280x1024 pixels. Pixelock, $499; PixelMaker, $299; PowerPixel Technologies, 408-748-0246, fax 408-748-6974.

The 1500i graphics controller is designed for the PCI bus. This controller has a 76Hz refresh rate at resolutions of 1600x1280 pixels and ships with 2MB of DRAM. The Command View display driver lets you scroll across virtual desktops as big as 2048x2048 pixels. $695; Artist Graphics, 800-627-8478, 612-631-7800.


Jan 95 New Products: Management

Focus On The Project, Not The Plan

SureTrak Project Manager follows the progress of your projects to let you concentrate on the projects themselves. The program ships with the analytical tools, graphics functions and reports necessary to keep you on time and on budget from the initial planning to completion.

SureTrak updates and displays the progress of the project, helps improve the analysis of delays and variances, and quickens the identification of changing resource allocations. It helps you create a basic outline, a work breakdown structure with up to 20 levels, and customizable activity coding.

You can view, compare and contrast alternatives, and display resource and cost information. SureTrak ships with 20 standard reports and graphics. The Spotlight highlights all the tasks that should have been completed in the past week or month. Ten sample macros and a full implementation of BASIC to program your own are also included.

SureTrak Project Manager

Price:  $695; limited time, $299.

Contact:  Primavera Systems, 800-872-5457, 801-973-1300.

Build A Business Template

When you' re dealing with the complexities of setting up a new business or business venture, BizPlanBuilder 5.0 can help smooth the way. The program provides templates for a variety of business documents. BizPlanBuilder's templates help you produce an operating plan and budget for a new company, division or business expansion; a marketing strategy for a new product or service introduction; and a financial presentation for a business venture, a loan or refinancing.

BizPlanBuilder 5.0 includes enhanced integration with spreadsheets, including a non-calendar fiscal year; seasonal or specific sales volume projections; COGS components by product line and fixed accounts receivable; inventory and accounts payable; and automatically calculated depreciation based on fixed asset balances. Other spreadsheet enhancements include GAAP Statement of Changes of Financial Positions, an Income Statement for Year One, a Balance Sheet for Year One and a Break Even Analysis section based on the income statement produced by all projection assumptions.

BizPlanBuilder 5.0

Price:  $129.

Contact:  JIAN Tools for Sales, 800-346-5426, 415-254-5600.

Schedule On The Network

You can make sure all of your employees are working under the same schedule with Timepoint Employee Scheduler. The program lets you administer 99 network installations so that different users may access the same schedule and data. The program lets you schedule 24-hour and rotating shifts, and  offers manual or automatic schedule creation. TimePoint also lets you check cost and conflict problems.

Timepoint Employee Scheduler

Price:  $1,495.

Contact:  Timepoint Corp., 800-875-6617, 415-952-6617.


Jan 95 New Products: Add-In Boards

Don' t creep onto the information highway. Accelerate full speed with the CyberSpace Internet Card, an ISDN-compatible card that connects you to the Internet. The card, which uses TCP/IP software that supports Mosaic, Gopher and other applications, offers digital connections to the Internet or a UNIX host. It can be used for high-speed data transfers directly between ISDN users or sites that have HDLC and synchronous PPP hardware and software. $395; ISDNtek, 415-712-3000, fax 415-712-3003.

The Intel Smart Video Recorder Pro lets you create full-motion video clips that can be played back on any 486- or Pentium-based PC. The card features one-step recording and compression of quarter-screen (320x240 pixel resolution), full-motion (30 frames per second) video in the Indeo video format.  The add-in board includes a video editor, clip art and animation software. $570; Intel Corp., 800-538-3373, 503-629-7354.

The Thunder/24, a 24-bit accelerated graphics card with 3MB of VRAM, supports 16.7 million colors at display resolutions up to 1152x910 pixels. The card supports refresh rates of 75Hz and drawing speeds up to 3,400 percent faster than unaccelerated VGA, according to Radius. $1,999; Radius, 800-227-2795, 408-541-5700.


Jan 95 New Products: Financial

It's Not Too Early For A Tax Plan

You can get a head start on figuring out what you owe Uncle Sam (or vice versa). Intuit, Meca Software and 4Home Productions are now shipping early release versions of their personal income tax planning and preparation software.

Intuit's TurboTax Multimedia is a CD-ROM containing the TurboTax software, plus tax advice videos featuring Marshall Loeb, editor-at-large of Fortune Magazine, and Mary L. Sprouse, author of The Money Income Tax Handbook. The disc includes the complete text of Sprouse's book, as well as more than 60 IRS publications. TurboTax's Tax Advisor pops up automatically with advice or alerts about overlooked deductions, while its SmartAudit scans the return for errors, omissions and audit triggers.

TaxCut from Meca gives you an Interview/Q&A feature that asks you questions and then fills in the tax forms. The ShoeBox lets you enter financial information in any order and then enters it on the forms. The Auditor points out missing data, inconsistencies and audit flags. The program includes over 95 IRS forms, worksheets and schedules, and free telephone tax help and audit assistance from H&R Block.

Simply Tax from 4Home Productions gives you tax tips from Wiley's Ernst & Young Tax-Saving Strategies Guide. The Intelligent Interview guides you through the process of adding information. The Pathfinder tool lets you access and enter your tax information through the FormFinder, History, ShoeBox, TopicFinder, Bookmark and Active Forms portions of the program. The Audit Alert warns you when you have exceeded national averages for expense items.

TurboTax Multimedia

Price:   $40 (street price).

Contact:  Intuit, 800-964-1040, 602-295-3110.

TaxCut

Price:  $39.95; limited edition, $10.

Contact:  Meca Software, 800-288-MECA, 203-255-1441.

Simply Tax

Price:  $39.95 (street price).

Contact:  4Home Productions, 800-773-5445, 516-342-2000.

You Can Get A Grip On Your Investments

Money Maker 2.0 can answer the perennial question "Where does all my money go?'' if it's going into investments. The Portfolio assembles and tracks stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds and futures. The Charting module puts price histories, volumes, and moving averages and indicators (such as the Stochastic Index or the Commodity Index) into chart form. The Analyzer performs a variety of financial analyses. New to version 2.0 is the ability to automatically download security prices and price histories from CompuServe or to access Prodigy's Quote Track for updates on securities prices.

Money Maker 2.0

Price:  $99; until March 11, $59.95.

Contact:  Q-West Associates, 619-484-6648, fax 619-484-8606.


Jan 95 New Products: Accessories

The ErgoPAD mousepad and ErgoREST keyboard wrist support are designed to minimize repetitive motion injuries. The ErgoPAD curves to support your wrist while you' re using a mouse or trackball. The ErgoREST is designed to keep your wrists in proper position while you' re using your keyboard. Color choices include navy blue, burgundy, red, emerald green, turquoise, rose, royal blue and gray. $19.99 each; Belkin Components,  800-2-BELKIN, 310-898-1100.

The Mouse Rink combines a rolling foam palm support and a mousepad. The base is rubberized to keep it firmly planted on the desktop. The mouse tracking area measures 8 by 7 inches. $9.99; Forminco, 800-663-6764, 514-444-9488.

When you need to do a presentation while traveling, be prepared to use whatever equipment is available. The Grand Vision Pro lets you connect your notebook or PC to any ordinary or projection TV. The adapter transmits NTSC or PAL VGA signals to a TV or RGB projection system or sends video and audio to a VCR to be captured on tape. The unit includes a TSR program for picture positioning and a copy of Super Show & Tell 1.1 from AskMe Multimedia. $349; Dobbs-Stanford Corp., 214-350-4222, fax 214-358-0180.


Jan 95 New Products: Personal Information Managers

Keep Data At Your Fingertips

Manage those bits and pieces of information with Info Select Express. This low-cost program helps you manage random free-form information, such as notes, ideas, plans, lists and reminders.

The search engine can look through 700,000 characters per second and up to 5,000 characters per window to find the information you need. You can view selected windows or the entire information stack. Info Select comes with ready-to-use forms, including fax cover sheets, phone messages, quick memos and to-do lists. You can also create your own templates, change text color and fonts, and add date and time stamps. Info Select lets you store information in individual windows, then print any or all of them.

Info Select Express

Price:  $29.95.

Contact:  Micro Logic Corp., 800-342-5930, 201-342-6518.

Centralize Address And Telephone Info

Most offices have too many card files. Wouldn' t it be easier to have all that information on one PC? METZ Phones 5.5 is the simple and sensible way to centralize your address and telephone information.

Version 5.5 adds Microsoft Office compatibility. Other new features include additional user-definable fields, support for multiple concurrent users and the ability to share phone books on the network.

Changes in the dialer let you dial a telephone number when Delrina WinFax PRO and Lite are set to auto-answer mode. Version 5.5 also includes an on-line help system and guided tour. The program can maintain two addresses and up to 10 telephone numbers, and includes an autodialer. You can also maintain freeform text in one of two note fields. The Phones feature includes a time stamp.

METZ Phones 5.5

Price:  $89; until Dec. 31, $49.

Contact:  METZ Software, 800-447-1712, 206-641-4525.

Get An Information Assist

Day-to-Day Contacts 3.5, an upgrade to the Dynodex address book, features the Assist instant access tool. Assist allows you to find and use contact information with a single keystroke without launching the Contacts program. It includes a phonetic search capability to find sound-alike entries.

Once a contact is found, you can copy address labels to Windows'  Clipboard or dial a phone number. The mail-merge capability lets you select a group of contacts and perform a merge from Word 6.0, WordPerfect 6.0 or Ami Pro 3.0. The program's customizable interface lets you choose names for each of the 22 fields on the entry screen. It includes data-entry shortcuts, such as automatic phone number formatting.

Day-to-Day Contacts 3.5

Price:  $49.95 (street price); upgrade from Dynodex, $29.95.

Contact:  Portfolio Software, 800-DAY-TO-DAY, 802-434-6400.


Jan 95 New Products: Information Management

ELAN Software has updated its GoldMine PIM to include automated processes. This software agent technology provides a dialog-driven tracking method consisting of actions and triggers to let you automate routine business tasks. By assigning individuals or groups to "task tracks,'' the conditions trigger GoldMine 2.5a to print or fax letters, create calendar entries, or update specific fields. Single user, $295; five users, $895; ELAN Software Corp., 800-654-3526, 310-454-6800.

Save disk space, clean up your system, secure data and manage your files better with FileManager+. The tools are added via a toolbar to Windows'  File Manager. Icons let you type DOS commands, zip or unzip selected files or directories, and encrypt and decrypt files.

The Clean-It command frees up disk space by eliminating duplicate and unwanted files. $49.95; until April 30, $29.95; WinWear, 800-803-9358, 206-635-0856.

Timeframe Pro includes traditional PIM features, such as appointment scheduling, contact management and to-do list management, plus a custom word processor and a financial calculator. Information is linked between all areas. Expense-tracking, budget and check-writing modules are also available. $49; Apex Computing Technologies, 301-916-2759, fax 301-916-7047.


Jan 95 FI: Lotus Organizer

By:  James E. Powell

I never hesitated to recommend Lotus Organizer 1.0 as a simple vehicle for maintaining name and address files and personal appointments. While that version didn' t go much beyond the basics, the new edition of Organizer does, eliminating many of the original program's shortcomings.

With Organizer 2.0--which I tested in a late beta verion--you can have multiple address listings for an individual, track past and future telephone call activities, and categorize your entries in more ways. You now can create conflicting or overlapping appointments in case you want to note that you have to be in two places at the same time. These are just a few of Organizer 2.0's many new features--all of which are welcome additions that don' t add complexity to an already easy-to-use program.

Organizer still has its tabbed notebook layout, with separate sections for your appointments, to-do items, address book, calls, anniversary dates, and a project planner and notepad. The interface is still clean, simple and intuitive. You can double-click on the address book to add an entry, and there's now room for both business and home address information. Organizer 2.0 has more fields, and you can change field labels. However, you still can' t add custom fields.

You can create links just by moving the mouse. Drag a name to another address-book entry and you establish a link with a small link symbol appearing in the entry. When you click on the link symbol, you see a list of linked items.

The new Calls section helps you keep track of incoming and outgoing telephone calls. Notes in this section can include the name, company and address of the other party, as well as status (left message, will call back and so forth). When you receive a call, a drop-down menu helps you find the caller's name, and Organizer will fill in the company and phone number for setting up a follow-up phone call.

The calendar has daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly views. You can use the new Find Time option to locate available slots in your schedule to make new appointments.

Organizer's Notepad tab provides an area for free-form text. An entry can have a title, which can be used to create a table of contents.

The to-do manager lets you add repeating tasks. It also allows you to change or delete all repeating tasks, those in the past and future tasks. The to-do manager can also keep a task hidden until a specified future date. In addition, you can add alarms and codes--such as a customer ID or cost code--to tasks.

The Anniversary section is still a great place to add reminders of yearly events. It now has alarms, and you can display anniversaries by month, category or, for the astrologically inclined,the zodiac sign associated with the anniversary date.

Organizer can be customized to suit personal tastes, too. For example, you can determine which items you want on your calendar, such as calls, anniversary dates and so forth. You also can create subsets of entries with filters that you define. The app maintains its lead among PIMs when it comes to  its flexible import and export facility.

Lotus has added network awareness to Organizer with new integration facilities for its cc: Mail and Notes communications products. With the cc: Mail link, Organizer becomes a group scheduling tool. You can view other people's free time and book meetings with them accordingly.

For all its improvements, there are still some omissions in this release. You can search for text, but the matching text isn' t highlighted in the found record so it's hard to spot immediately. There is no custom report writer, although some of the print options are flexible. The lack of a print preview is also disappointing.

Organizer 2.0 looks good and is easy to use. The features added in this version complement the old without making compromises.

Info File

Lotus Organizer 2.0

Price:  $99 (estimated street price); $49 upgrade

In Brief:  This easy-to-learn, easy-to-use PIM with a bright interface and an excellent mix of features is designed to help manage contacts and appointments.

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500


Jan 95 FI: Alaris Nx586 P80-586

New Pentium Work-Alike

By:  Jim Forbes And David Methvin

Until recently, if someone casually were to say his computer was powered by a "586,'' you could safely assume that what he really meant was it had an Intel Pentium processor. But not anymore. If the computer is Alaris's new Nx586, it's powered by NexGen's Nx586, a high performance 64-bit processor that runs Windows programs at near-Pentium speed.

The Nx586 is a technological marvel, if only because it takes such a radically different approach to running the x86 instruction set. It executes Intel instructions by first translating them into a more RISC-like instruction set--NexGen calls it RISC86. As with Intel's Pentium processors, the Nx586 has a superscalar architecture. Multiple execution pipelines let the Nx586 complete more than one instruction in the same clock cycle. But unlike the Pentium, the NexGen Nx586 does not include an on-board floating-point processor. If you run CAD or engineering applications, first-generation Nx586-equipped machines are probably not for you, given those applications'  math-intensive operations.

The Nx586 CPU is designed to address the problem of getting data in and out of the chip. The CPU has double the internal cache of the Pentium, with two 16KB caches--one for code and another for data. In addition, the Nx586 has its level-2 cache controller on the CPU chip; only the actual cache RAM chips are outside the CPU on the system board, and they connect to the CPU with their own bus. This lets the Nx586 simultaneously access both its external cache and the system bus on the same clock cycle, something the Pentium cannot do.

From a software perspective, the Nx586 implements only the 386 instruction set. The 486 instruction set added only a few instructions that are typically used by operating-system designers, so applications should still work fine. Our own testing of a half-dozen Windows applications discovered no obvious incompatibilities.

Because the Nx586 chip is so different from the Pentium, it requires a different CPU socket and system support logic. In addition to the CPU, NexGen provides a glue-logic chip to system board makers so that they can interface the CPU to a standard VESA local bus. (NexGen plans to have a PCI bus interface chip by early next year.)

Running WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmarks, we found the Alaris Nx586's 75MHz Nx586 CPU clocked about 55 MIPS and 1.0 MFLOPS in the floating-point test. It also scored 7.4 million pixels per second on the video test and a 13.8MB-per-second transfer rate on the disk test. For comparison, a 90MHz Pentium typically does about 95 MIPS and 18 MFLOPS. Beware, though:  MIPS and MFLOPS numbers make the Nx586 seem slower than it actually is. The Alaris Nx586 zipped through our Excel macro in 20 seconds and took 36 seconds on our Word macro test; a good 90MHz Pentium scores about 15 and 25 seconds, respectively, on those tests.

Alaris has chosen a balanced set of components to complete this system's configuration. It comes with 16MB of system memory, a VL-Bus IDE controller, a Diamond Viper 64 video card with 2MB of video memory and a 350MB hard disk. Both DOS 6.2 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 are preinstalled.

A year ago, a price-performance combination that the Alaris Nx586 represents would have sent your jaw dropping. But the price of Pentium systems is also dropping--precipitously--and NexGen's CPU is so new that it hasn' t gotten the real-world field testing that might discover software incompatibilities or other problem areas. If you do decide to go with the Nx586 instead of a Pentium or a high-end 486, be sure the price you pay justifies the risk.

Info File

Alaris Nx586 P80

Price:  $2,588 (as tested)

In Brief:  The Nx586-based Alaris system comes close to matching the performance of a Pentium-based PC.

Alaris

800-317-2348, 510-770-5700


Jan 95 FI: Adobe Premiere 4.0

Video Thrills For Digital DeMilles

By:  Ranjit S. Sahai

Video, film and multimedia professionals--and budding DeMilles--will find Adobe Premiere 4.0 a low-cost entry into the world of high-quality video and multimedia production. Premiere brings powerful video-and audio-editing tools to the desktop.

I tested a late beta version of the Premiere 4.0 software. The program lets you arrange digitized video clips and sound to create a movie, similar to the way you might use a desktop publishing program to lay out text and graphics. A video clip is a sequence of frames that, when displayed rapidly, appear to create a sense of motion. To get the most out of Premiere, you' ll need a video-capture board to capture and digitize video sequences. Premiere also includes a variety of import filters (.AVI, .FLI, .FLM, .MOV, .PCX, .BMP, TIFF, .WMF, .TGA, .AIF, .WAV and others) so that you can work with image, movie and sound files from a variety of other sources.

When you start up Premiere, you' re presented with five windows:  The Project window for importing image and sound clips, a Construction window for arranging clips in a desired sequence, the Info window for detailed information about clips, a Transitions window for assigning special effects and transitions between clips, and the Preview window for displaying the movie at any time during its construction.

The first step in creating a movie is to import the clips to the Project window by using the Import File option on the File menu. Next you arrange the clips into the desired sequence in the Construction window. Premiere's support for drag-and-drop operations simplifies this task:  You can simply drag a clip from your stockpile in the Project window and drop it onto the preferred location in the Construction window. There's a time scale, representing the movie's elapsed time, along the top edge of the Construction window.

Once your collection of clips is suitably arranged, you can preview any part of the movie by dragging the cursor along the movie's time scale. The speed with which you drag the cursor determines the speed at which the movie is displayed in the Preview window. You can trim the size of a clip by double-clicking on the clip and marking the start and end frames in the pop-up Clip window. Any changes you make are automatically reflected in the Construction window.

To add a little flair to your production, you can use transition effects such as dissolve, displace and doors. Premiere offers 75 special effects. Another powerful tool feature is the Filter Factory, where you can color correct clips with filters or create custom filter settings. The filters help you to add visual interest to existing video footage, a task that previously required the use of separate image-editing software.

The files involved in producing movies that display 30 frames per second are big. To help alleviate their appetite for disk space, Premiere incorporates compression technology. Still, if you plan on doing serious video-editing work, you' ll need plenty of storage.

Other new features in Premiere include unlimited transition and filter effects, batch capture and processing for unattended transfers of videotape scenes to digital format, titling to create and reshape special effects in text, motion control to animate and distort clips along a path you specify, frame-accurate device control to manipulate professional and consumer video equipment accurately to a single frame, support for up to 99 video and audio tracks, and support for the industry standard Edit Decision Lists (EDLs).

Premiere comes bundled with a CD-ROM that has a limited-edition version of Adobe PhotoShop, Acrobat Reader, Adobe Type On Call, multimedia tutorials, video clips, and still images and electronic documentation.

If you' re a professional looking to cut video-editing costs by moving operations to a desktop PC, or if you just want to learn more about the art of creating multimedia movies, Adobe Premiere deserves a serious look.

Info File

Adobe Premiere 4.0

Price:  $695; through Feb. 15, $495; upgrades, $179 ($129 until Feb. 15)

In Brief:  This digital video-editing tool is powerful, yet easy to learn.

Adobe Systems

800-833-6687, 415-961-4400


Jan 95 FI: NEC Multisync XE15

A Well-Adjusted Monitor

By:  Jonathan Blackwood

Nobody ever complained about the image on an NEC monitor. That would be like complaining about Pavarotti's rendition of Nessun Dorma.

No, any grumbles from users concerned the controls. The new XE15 should silence those murmurs.

NEC's controls were digital for all but the lowest price models, but you had to go through gyrations to make adjustments for problems like pincushioning. For instance, you had to push two buttons and hold them for three seconds until a light came on. The multifunction buttons didn' t have labels for certain functions--in fact, they were plainly labeled for other duties. And if you lost your manual, you were out of luck. To make matters worse, the color matching capabilities were, well, primitive. The XE15 puts these issues to rest.

The XE15 that I evaluated was peculiar (for an NEC) in that the image was slightly fuzzy toward the center, while sharp as a tack around the edges. From long experience with NEC monitors, I believe this to be an anomaly, probably caused by damage in shipping. Still, the image was better than the vast majority of the monitors I see.

The new XE and XP lines come equipped to satisfy most everyone's wish list:  nonglare screens, flat-square picture tubes, Energy Star and Nutek (the new energy standard for the European Union) compliance, MPR II compliance to ensure low levels of electromagnetic radiation and a smart new cabinet. In addition to these niceties, it has controls that are reasonably complete, effective and easy to use.

The XE series comes with an On Screen Manager (OSM). You press a clearly marked button--Proceed--on the front of the bezel and OSM's menu appears. Its major headings are Position, Size, AccuColor, Basic Geometry, Advanced Geometry, OSM Location, OSM Turn Off Time, Display Mode, Language Select, Vertical Linearity and Factory Preset. You choose the menu heading you want by pressing a simple up or down button, also plainly marked.

The most interesting new controls are the AccuColor and the Basic and Advanced Geometry adjustments. The AccuColor control offers a choice of five preset color temperatures (9,300K, 7,500K, 6,500K, 5,000K and 3,900K). It also lets you manipulate the color gain for red, green and blue.

With the Basic Geometry adjustment you can adjust pincushioning and barrel distortion, left or right pincushion balance, and sides tilt (parallelogram) or sides align (trapezoidal) distortion. The Advanced Geometry controls let you adjust upper corner distortion, upper-corner distortion balance, lower corner distortion, and lower-corner distortion balance. Another new feature is the Display Mode, which reports on the resolution, horizontal scanning rate and vertical current resolution.

The more expensive XP series, which I did not see, comes with additional niceties such as ACCESS.bus, a connector that allows two-way communication between the operating system and the monitor. It also features MonitorManager software, which carries the OSM a few steps further to a GUI interface, and Colorific color matching software to help you match screen colors to scanned, printed or prepress color.

All the new NEC monitors are Plug-and-Play compliant. This means you' ll be able to control their operation through Windows 95 controls; it's a nice touch.

You can save personalized color-management profiles for Kodak's Color Management System and a custom image profile for the Image Manager software, which also comes with the XP line. The XP model runs about $120 more than the 15-inch XE unit.

The XE15 has a maximum recommended resolution of 1024x768 pixels at a 76Hz vertical refresh rate. Its maximum vertical refresh rate is 120Hz. The nominal 15-inch diagonal-measure screen has an active display area of 13.8 inches and dot pitch of 0.28mm. Like all NEC monitors, the CRT uses an invar shadow mask.

The XE15 is one terrific monitor with excellent controls and a reasonable price.

Info File

NEC MultiSync XE15

Price:  $575 (estimated street price)

In Brief:  The XE15 is another great monitor from NEC, offering excellent controls at a moderate price.

NEC Technologies

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500


Jan 95 FI: Internet In A Box

Everything You Need To Net

By:  Arthur H. Germain III

Internet In A Box puts you at the crest of the information wave, where you can netsurf to your heart's delight. It puts newsgroups, e-mail and all other major Internet applications within easy reach.

Installation is straightforward. I chose my modem from a list, selected an Internet provider from a roster of vendors located in my area, entered my credit card number and dialed into Spry's setup service. The service handles setting up your account, and provides you with an e-mail address and password.

SPRY has a relationship with SprintLink so you can gain access from anywhere in the country using an 800 number. The service is pricey--$8.95 per hour--but might be worthwhile for frequent travelers.

The tools--comprising AIR Mosaic, AIR Mail, AIR News, AIR Gopher, AIR Telnet, Network File Manager and Dialer--come bundled in Internet In A Box and rival those that you find on network installations. This suite provides everything you' ll need to connect, send or retrieve information. Two other tools, ImageViewer and UUCode, help you work with that information.

Rounding out the package is a custom version of The Whole Internet Guide from O' Reilly and Associates. The Guide provides a comprehensive overview of Internet resources and describes how to use Spry's tools.

To start, you can either dial directly into Spry's server or access the dialer utility by launching one of the applications. If you already have connected to Spry's server, the applications will automatically launch sessions based on the known connection. The process occurs in the background, so you can concentrate on your application, mail or searches.

The tools are truly excellent, offering a well-designed platform for most standard Internet tasks. I was able to launch AIR Mosaic, Spry's viewer/browser for the World Wide Web (WWW). Then I was able to attach to the White House WWW server (ht.//www.whitehouse.gov/) and load a .GIF to view using the ImageViewer utility. Unfortunately, Mosaic is a graphic-intensive application, and at 9600 bps, it took longer than expected to make the connection.

AIR News handles newsgroup reading in a customizable format. It lets you page back and forth between postings and create your own collections of newsgroups for easy access. After your initial list of newsgroups is built--from the thousands available on the Internet--double-clicking a topic downloads the headers for that newsgroup to your system. You can then follow topic threads and download each message in turn. Binary files, encrypted into ASCII format for travel over the Internet, can be decoded using the UUCode utility.

The dialer can automatically disconnect after a definable period of inactivity to save on connect charges. After a disconnection, I was able to hook up again just by clicking on a newsgroup, an application or a WWW hypertext link.

AIR Gopher is a well-designed Gopher client that lets you search for files and display the found items in a File Manager-like display. These files, directories or launchable items can then be accessed with a double-click.

AIR Telnet is a Telnet client that lets you save sessions and create text-screen captures of your session. I was able to locate a multiuser dimension (MUD) using Gopher and then seamlessly connect to it with AIR Telnet.

Network File Manager is an FTP (file-transfer protocol) utility that also uses a File Manager-like directory browser to display available files when you' re connected to FTP sites. You can drag and drop files between Network File Manager and Windows File Manager.

Internet In A Box is a comprehensive set of tools for easy exploration of the Internet.

Info File

Internet In A Box

Price:  $99 (estimated street price)

In Brief:  A complete set of Internet applications that you can use from home or on the road.

Disk Space Required:  6MB

System Resources:  10%

RAM:  4MB

SPRY

800-557-9614 x26, 206-447-0300


Jan 95 FI: Zenith Z-Lite

Travel Light With Stylish Sub

By:  Rich Castagna

The Z-Lite is zee new portable from Zenith. At 4.3 pounds, it is indeed light, but it could have been called the Z-Little as well. Smaller than a sheet of paper at only 1.7 by 9.9 by 7.6 inches, its size plants it firmly in the neighborhood populated by a half dozen or so other subnotebook-sized PCs.

When you opt to carry a sub around rather than a full-sized portable, you have to expect to make some sacrifices for the inches and ounces you shed from your travel kit. Zenith, though, has done its best to minimize those sacrifices and, with one notable exception, you probably won' t feel that you' re giving up much at all.

The exception is the keyboard. Space has been usurped from the basic set of keys in an attempt to maintain several conventions, such as the inverted-T arrangement of the cursor keys, and dedicated Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys. With the pared down key caps, my average-sized hands felt too big and awfully clumsy. The size takes some getting used to, as does the keys'  short, silent travel distance.

The integrated pointing device on this diminutive machine is called a J-Mouse. You use the J key to maneuver the cursor and the spacebar as the left mouse button. You also can use a number of other keys as mouse buttons, such as the G for a left button double-click. The J-Mouse is tricky at first and takes practice to master, but it's convenient because your hands never have to leave the keyboard.

The Z-Lite has a Cyrix 33MHz Cx486DLC processor with a 1KB internal cache. Basic RAM is configured at 4MB, but it can be expanded to 12MB. The 200MB hard disk provides plenty of room for your files to roam, and an external floppy drive is a $99 option. The floppy drive connects to the unit's parallel port

I liked the sharp 7.8-inch STN screen. Colors were vivid, and characters and graphics were well defined and distinct. Its image quality--and even its size--rivals displays on many not-so-sub portables. Two sliding adjusters just to the right of the screen provide a good range of contrast and brightness control.

A flip-down door in the back covers the serial, parallel, external monitor and PS/2 ports. The two Type II PCMCIA ports are concealed by spring-loaded doors that push out of the way when you insert a card and snap back into place when the card is removed. It's a great design. You' ll never lose a snap-off door and it looks sleek. In fact, the whole machine looks good. It has a tapered design so that the keyboard sits at a comfortable typing angle. The wedge shape also makes it easier to hold in your hand when it's folded shut.

The Z-Lite has a NiMH battery that lasted a few minutes shy of two hours on a rundown test that constantly accessed the hard disk and display. In actual use, I could squeeze about three hours of juice out of the battery.

Tested with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmarks, the Z-Lite's performance results were less than stunning. Its CPU cranked at 9.68 MIPS, while the video test showed that the Z-Lite could put pixels on the screen at the rate of 0.84 million per second. The Z-Lite's hard disk performance had a transfer rate of 1.2MB per second.

The performance marks should be considered in perspective, however. This is a subnotebook, and you' re not likely to be in the market for a super-light, super-small PC to simulate wind tunnel tests or design space stations. But as a compact home for a word processor, spreadsheet, comm program and a few other business apps, it's ideal.

Info File

Zenith Z-Lite

Price:  $1,799; floppy disk drive, $99

In Brief:  The newest edition of Zenith's smallest notebook boasts an excellent color display and the J-Mouse pointing device.

Zenith Data Systems

800-533-0331, 708-808-5000


Jan 95 FI: Great Plains Profit 2.0

Easy Accounting Pays Off

By:  Ranjit K. Sahai

Great Plains is turning a Profit. That is, the company has turned its low-end accounting program, Profit, into a key component in its product line.

Originally written for Microsoft, Profit has been upgraded by Great Plains to compete in the crowded entry-level accounting field. Profit is easy to use, even for novices. It has a well-implemented help system, dialog boxes that unambiguously describe your options at every step and an intuitive file-cabinet interface. The accounting application also includes all the modules you' ll need to handle sales, purchases, job costing, inventory, general ledger transactions and bank account reconciliation. A payroll module is offered as an extra-cost option.

On starting Profit, you are presented with an icon bar that resembles a file cabinet with seven drawers:  Transactions, Cardfile, Reports, Profit Signs, Wizards, Accounting and Setup. Clicking on any drawer opens a tabbed dialog box for the category's specific functions. For instance, when you click on the Transactions drawer, you are presented with tabs for Sales, Purchases and Checkbook in the dialog box. Each tab then reveals a set of relevant operations for the function that you can execute. Thus, to create an invoice, you would choose the Sales tab, highlight the Sales (or Service) Invoice option and click on the Continue button.

Great Plains has skillfully managed to hide nearly all accounting jargon in Profit's menus and options. Instead of Accounts Receivable, you have the Sales tab; and instead of Accounts Payable, you have the Purchases tab in the Transactions drawer. However, when you need to access the general ledger and all other journals, such as sales, purchases and cash receipts, they are conveniently available in Profit's Accounting drawer.

The on-screen forms for recording transactions are virtually identical to the paper-based variety. If a particular form does not exactly fit your needs, you can modify it using the Forms Customization Wizard, which is new to this version. This Wizard, as well as others, is accessed by clicking on the Wizard's drawer.

Wizards are just part of Profit's help system, which also includes standard context-sensitive help for most of its applications. Each of Profit's Wizards comprises a sequence of interactive questions, designed to help you perform a specific task by stepping you through the process. There are a total of nine Wizards for tasks such as modifying billing statement criteria, and printing customer, vendor, employee and company mailing labels and envelopes. Wizards also provide help for budgeting statements, balancing bank accounts and processing end-of-period details.

The ease and flexibility with which Profit lets you monitor the health of your business is a cut above its competition. The Profit Signs drawer provides six graphical and easy-to-understand views of your business:  Business Summary, Cash Flow, Sales, Profit, Inventory and Project. You can also customize these views and display only information important for your business. Simply click on the Customize button under a Profit Sign and select from among hundreds of variables.

In contrast to accounting packages that post transactions in real time to all associated journals, Great Plains Profit 2.0 lets you select batch processing. This accumulates all transactions in a group that later can be easily edited prior to posting. You' ll find this especially handy when your transactions have to be reviewed and approved prior to posting. It saves time and helps you avoid having to make journal entries to correct transactions.

Some of the most significant enhancements to Version 2.0 include a bank reconciliation report, the ability to print packing slips, split transactions that can be spread across up to 10 different accounts and projects, and an improved look-up capability.

Great Plains Profit is a well-designed package with a broad array of features suitable for your small business needs, whether your operation is service or inventory based.

Info File

Great Plains Profit 2.0

Price:  With Payroll, $99 (estimated street price)

In Brief:  This small business accounting package has a polished and friendly interface that offers help every step of the way.

Great Plains Software Inc.

800-456-0025, 701-281-0550


Jan 95 FI: Expresso Calendar And Address Book

Make A Date With Cool Calendar

By:  Ron Bel Bruno

Expresso, a graphically hip calendar/phonebook/to-do list combo with an easy pen-and-paper-like interface, wants to take a stab at organizing your life.

While Lotus Organizer and Day-Timer are based on some form of a notebook or datebook, Expresso opts for the desk-blotter calendar.

Expresso's calendar can be set up in one of 20 styles, including the funky, but not always readable, Executive Marble and Techno formats. The calendar replaces your system's Windows wallpaper. To get to it, you simply click on its FlashBack icon, which appears in the title bar of the application you' re running.

The program succeeds in mimicking your relationship with pen and paper. To jot down an appointment, just click on the date, and Expresso's Edit Well pops up. Type in "1 lunch at 21 Club,'' and it will appear as a 1 p.m. lunch appointment. Expresso assumes that any number typed before an appointment entry is a business-day time.

If you need to rearrange your schedule, just drag and drop appointments around the calendar. You can use drag-and-drop to link address book entries to appointments or to-do list items. Expresso will relate names and numbers to appointments, and print them with your daily schedule.

You can type long descriptions of appointments, but only one line is displayed. A click on the magnifying glass icon, however, reveals the day's complete schedule. Another click on the bullet next to an appointment shows the full description, along with a control panel to set alarms, time spans and links.

Expresso's address book features a handy search box that lets you find virtually any piece of information in your database without leaving the main panel.

Expresso doesn' t provide as many print formats for paper-based scheduling systems as Organizer, Dynodex or Day-Timer. It does, however, fill a big gap in the PIM universe with a program you can start using immediately to make your day a little more organized.

Info File

Expresso Calendar and Address Book

Price:  $49

Hard Disk Space:  6.7MB

System Resources:  5%

RAM:  4MB

Berkeley Systems

800-344-5541, 510-540-5535


Jan 95 FI: SCM Microsystems Swapbox

Good Deal For PCMCIA Cards

By:  Ian Handel

The SwapBox builds a bridge between your portable and desktop PCs, enabling your PCMCIA peripherals to do double duty.

SCM's Classic X2 is an internal PCMCIA drive that installs in a desktop computer. It fits in any 5.25-inch drive bay that has front-panel access, and it connects to a proprietary 16-bit ISA interface card. The Classic X2 accepts one Type III card or two Type II devices.

Physical installation is about the same as that for a floppy disk drive. The kit includes screws but lacks a mounting track.

The software installed easily, with the necessary drivers--including those for PCMCIA hard disks and flash cards--loading automatically. I installed the Classic X2 in a system that had several other peripherals and did not encounter any hardware conflicts. The unit recognized cards immediately when tested from DOS. However, to get the SwapBox to work in Windows, I had to do some fiddling with CONFIG.SYS and give up about 70KB of precious memory.

The Classic X2 had no trouble recognizing several PCMCIA devices, including a Type II fax modem and a Type III 162MB hard disk. The software includes a configuration utility for network cards, and for reassigning IRQs and COM ports.

SCM also offers external and PCI-bus models of the SwapBox. A unit that combines a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive with the PCMCIA slot should be available soon.

Info File

SCM Microsystems SwapBox Classic X2

Price:  $199

SCM Microsystems

408-395-9292, fax 408-395-8782


Jan 95 FI: Cleansweep

Whisk Away Old Files

By:  Ron Bel Bruno

You can reclaim precious megabytes of hard disk space as Quarterdeck's CleanSweep leads you on a journey through directories and subdirectories you' ve never seen before--or at least haven' t visited in a while. CleanSweep helps you root out files from the hall of lonely display drivers, the duplicate text-file alley and other monuments to wasted bytes.

In one of my tests using a beta version of the program, CleanSweep discovered 20 duplicate files that occupied more than 500KB of space. But the next step of this purge--the system-file search--gets trickier. CleanSweep offers its system file options in a tabbed dialog with choices for Unused Fonts, Display Drivers, DOS Files and so forth. Select one of these, and CleanSweep gives you a comprehensive file list, including what each file does (or doesn' t do) for you, along with a general explanation of the category. The program even lets you view text files and icons, simplifying your save-or-kill decisions.

Although CleanSweep doesn' t make such decisions for you, it will guide you toward a good decision. In the case of system files, it offers conditional advice such as "If you plan to run Windows only in 386 Enhanced Mode...'' or "If you never want to run a DOS program again...' '

During deletions, you get the option to do a quick batch deletion or a more deliberate file-by-file purge (recommended). There's also a backup option, which puts deleted files in a single compressed file. If you ever need one of the files again, it's only a menu selection away from decompression.

You also can uninstall entire programs. CleanSweep doesn' t just uninstall program files and directories; it detects and deletes all related lines in the WIN.INI file. It can' t, however, get rid of WIN.INI entries left behind by previously deleted applications.

CleanSweep helps make the most of the disk space you already have. With CleanSweep, you may be able to put off a hard disk upgrade.

Info File

CleanSweep

Price:  $39-$49 (estimated street price)

Quarterdeck Office Systems

800-354-3222, 310-392-9851


Jan 95 FI: Zenith CruiseLan

Airborne LAN Links Without A Hitch

By:  Arthur H Germain III And Rich Castagna

You can cut the cord but stay connected with a CruiseLAN, Zenith's wireless LAN link.

CruiseLAN comprises two parts:  Access Point, which serves as a base station, and a network interface card--either an ISA or a PCMCIA.

We tested the PCMCIA version. The card fits in a Type II slot and has a foot-long cord with a transmitter at the end. The transmitter is about the size of a PCMCIA card and is half an inch thick, with a short, flexible antenna.

An installation program takes care of loading the drivers and you add the NetWare client files.

Setting up Access Point was simple. We hooked the unit to a network using its 10BaseT connector (there's also one for 10Base2) and then plugged in the power. The short antenna can be placed on top of the unit.

The remote was able to log onto the network. Of course, transmission speed is far slower than a direct link. We used WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune test to measure data transfer to a network drive. The rate was .023MB per second for airborne data transfers, compared with .298MB for a directly connected Ethernet PCMCIA card.

CruiseLAN's range of 500 feet will leave you free to roam but still keep in touch.

Info File

Zenith CruiseLAN

Price:  PCMCIA card, $695; Access Point, $1,895

Zenith Data Systems

800-533-0331, 708-808-5000


Jan 95 FI: Zenith Z-Star

Ex-Portable's Parts Are Upgradable

By:  Jim Forbes

Zenith, one of the pioneers of portable computing, knows notebooks. One of its newest offerings, the Z-StarEX, ably fills a niche in the popular midrange market.

Its basic configuration includes a Cyrix 50MHz 486DX2 processor, 4MB of RAM and VL-Bus graphics with 512KB of video memory. The test-unit display was a 9.5-inch color DSTN. Monochrome and active-matrix color versions are also available. You can increase the system memory of the Z-StarEX to a maximum of 20MB.

The test unit had a 340MB hard disk and 8MB of RAM; you can also get the notebook with a 200MB disk. The Z-StarEX has an internal 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and a PCMCIA slot that can accommodate two Type II cards or one Type III. Rounding out the Z-StarEX's hardware are serial, enhanced parallel, external monitor and PS/2-style ports, and a socket for either a modem or audio module.

The Z-StarEX's battery life was good, enabling me to work for about three hours. The NiMH battery needs two hours to recharge. Power conservation can be configured with Zenith's Premier System Management software. For extended AC-free operations, you can replace the floppy disk drive with a second battery. The AC adapter is considerably lighter than those that come with most other notebooks.

The Z-StarEX's keyboard is quite comfortable for extended use. It also has symbols for commonly used Ctrl-key editing functions stamped onto the appropriate keys. The built-in pointing device is a J-Mouse, which uses the "J'' key for cursor control. Like IBM's TrackPoint device, it takes a little getting used to but provides good hands-on control.

The Z-StarEX performed capably on the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests. The CPU scored 24.86 MIPS and 5.35 MFLOPS for floating-point operations--consistent with the scores of other 50MHz notebooks. Its video speed of 1.78 million pixels per second and a disk-transfer rate of 1.51MB per second are average. However, the Z-StarEX should be more than adequate for basic notebook computing.

Several of the Z-StarEX's components are upgradable, including the notebook's CPU, system memory, hard disk and display.

Its 5.7-pound weight, combined with its yeoman functionality and good power management, make the Z-StarEX not only a safe bet, but also a smart buy.

Info File

Zenith Z-StarEX

Price:  $2,699

Zenith Data Systems

800-533-0331, 708-808-5000


Jan 95 FI: Apple Laserwriter 16/600 Ps

Harvest 17ppm From Rapid Apple

By:  Hailey Lynne Mckeefry

The LaserWriter 16/600 PS could become the apple of your eye if high quality and speedy printing are your goals. The 16/600 PS, aided by its 25MHz AMD 290300 RISC processor, propels 17 pages per minute of 600-dot-per-inch output through its print engine. But its print utilities are lightweight compared with its printing capabilities.

The 16/600 PS is designed for multiplatform network printing and provides simultaneous bidirectional and auto-selecting connections to parallel, Ethernet and LocalTalk networks. It ships with 64 fonts, a 250-sheet paper tray and 8MB RAM (expandable to 32MB).

The software provides controls for basic print options, such as naming the printer, turning the start-up page on and off, downloading PostScript files, checking the counter for total pages printed, changing print density and choosing a paper tray. You can set the unit to go into its energy-saving mode after a specified idle period.

Print images were clear and smooth both for text and graphics. A FinePrint option is supposed to smooth out lines and curves and provide better definition for jagged images, but I saw little difference with FinePrint turned on or off.

The software provides information about printer operations, but it doesn' t provide remote alerts for paper jams or empty paper trays.

Although its software is somewhat unsophisticated, the Laserwriter is a fine network performer.

Info File

Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS

Price:  $2,429 (Apple price)

Apple Computer

800-776-2333, 408-996-1010


Jan 95 FI: MediaStudio 1.0

Complete Multimedia Kit

By:  James E. Powell

Multimedia moguls often end up collecting software to capture, edit, enhance or catalog image, video and sound files. MediaStudio puts everything you' ll need in a single CD-ROM, and it includes a Photo CD browser and 400MB of clips.

The Video Editor lets you capture video sequences (including sound tracks), compress files and transfer frames to the Image Editor. It also has a timeline that shows individual frames. You can use the zoom controls or refer to the window that shows available transition effects.

You can paint or retouch images with the Image Editor, as well as clone parts of images, adjust image properties (hue, brightness, contrast and so on) or apply special effects. You can add text, convert file formats and acquire images using a scanner that supports TWAIN.

MediaStudio's Audio Editor allows multiple file editing, including mono and stereo 8- or 16-bit files with sampling at up to 44.1kHz. You can edit audio files and enhance them by removing noise, for example, and adding effects such as echo.

The screen-capture utility lets you add drop shadows or borders, convert to different file formats, and omit or include the mouse pointer. The delay feature gives you time to compose screens before capturing.

The Morph Editor is adequate. You can place control points to map equivalent points in the beginning and ending images of a sequence. The editor also offers special effects and filters, and lets you enhance image colors.

MediaStudio Album is the cataloging program from ULead's ImagePals program. It lets you view thumbnails, assign and search for key words, and create slide shows.

The applications are well integrated. For example, you can save a morphing image as a video sequence or save individual frames of the morph as separate graphics files. Images can be dragged from the Album and dropped into the other components. OLE 1.0 linking and embedding is supported.

There are separate manuals for each program that are easy to use. The Introduction manual provides an overview of multimedia and includes a discussion of file formats involved and terminology.

MediaStudio is a well-integrated suite of multimedia tools.

Info File

MediaStudio 1.0

Price:  $349

Disk Space Required:  20MB (80MB recommended)

System Resources:  16%

RAM:  4MB minimum, 8MB recommended

ULead Systems

800-858-5323, 310-523-9393


Jan 95 FI: Alps Electric Glidepoint

Get A Fingertip Grip On Your Cursor

By:  Hailey Lynne Mckeefry

I had fingertip control of my PC--literally--with the GlidePoint. The mouse replacement, a 2.5- by 3-inch flat pad with three buttons, looks like a tiny Etch A Sketch.

You slide your finger over a 2- by 1.5-inch area and the cursor moves in the direction of your finger. You do a mouse click by either tapping the pad or pressing one of the two buttons at the bottom, which correspond to the right and left mouse buttons. The button at the top of the unit is programmable.

Clicking by tapping is an intuitive gesture, but it took time to learn to tap effectively so that the cursor would properly respond. With practice, my accuracy improved considerably.

The GlidePoint software lets you change the appearance of the cursor, assign the buttons, change the orientation of the unit and adjust the motion settings and controls.

The unit plugs into a PS/2 port and comes with a four-foot extension cable to add to the unit's two-foot cable.

The GlidePoint won' t let you motor around as you would with a mouse, but its compact size would make it a fine addition to a notebook computer.

Info File

Alps Electric GlidePoint

Price:  $96

Alps Electric (USA)

800-825-2577, 408-432-6000


Jan 95 FI: HP Deskjet 320

Portable Printer Pulls The Plug

By:  Jim Forbes

For those last-minute report revisions or presentation patches, you need a printer that's just as mobile as your notebook PC. The DeskJet 320 is Hewlett-Packard's newest entry into the small but growing portable printer market.

The DeskJet 320 is 2.6 by 12.2 by 5.8 inches and weighs 4.3 pounds--small and light enough to be tucked into a briefcase. Even when it's set up on its detachable stand with the optional 50-sheet (3.2-pound) feeder attached ($99), the printer still only requires a little bit of space.

The printer's controls and LEDs are on the top of the unit. Standard HP black- or color-ink cartridges load from the front, and the parallel cable connector is conveniently located on the right side of the printer. Paper is fed from the back and ejected at the front.

The DeskJet 320 will run on AC current or battery power. I was able to print nearly 100 pages of text on a single battery charge. HP uses a power management scheme that puts the idle printer into suspend mode to conserve battery life. The printer lived up to its rated speed, printing about 2 letter-quality pages per minute. Print speed is 330 characters per second (cps) in draft mode and 167 cps for letter quality.

The print quality is excellent, largely due to the DeskJet 320's 600 by 300 dot-per-inch resolution. It takes a little longer to print at this resolution and it uses more ink, but the high-quality results are worth it.

You can also print in color with the DeskJet 320. An optional color kit costs $49 and includes a color cartridge and case. Just replace the black-ink cartridge with the color one and print. The printer comes with HP's ColorSmart software for accurate output.

The DeskJet 320 is small and light enough to tote, produces terrific output and has the battery juice to squeeze up to 100 pages out of a single battery charge. And with the optional pop-in cartridge, it can be a colorful character, too.

Info File

HP DeskJet 320

Price:  $379

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900, Canada 800-387-3867


Jan 95 FI: Envisions Solutions Personal PageVacuum

Vacuum Picks Up Pages, Leaves Data Behind

By:  Philip Albinus

The Personal PageVacuum is a sheet-feed scanner that connects to a PC's parallel port. Bundled with Recollect 2.0 from MindWorks, a document imaging and management application, the PageVacuum is designed for quick document scanning.

The PageVacuum measures about 3 by 12 by 3 inches. You can stack up to 10 pages in its vertical slot, and it will scan as many as 4 pages per minute at resolutions up to 300 dpi.

Installation was a bit bumpy. The software installed quickly and easily, but there were no tests during the installation process to ensure that the PageVacuum could gain access to the host system's parallel port. In two tests, the software failed to detect that the scanner could not establish communications with the port.

Scanned documents are displayed by Recollect 2.0. Recollect also allows editing of the captured pages and has an OCR engine to convert scanned text to digital format. Recollect uses a file drawer metaphor for storing documents as three distinct elements:  the image, the OCR-produced text and an indexed form for searching Recollect's management system.

The pages were scanned by the PageVacuum smoothly and evenly, with only an occasional paper jam when sheets were inserted crookedly. Scanned images were well defined, and the OCR process was quite accurate.

The PageVacuum provides a quick and effective method of turning paper into digital documents.

Info File

Personal PageVacuum

Price:  $599

Envisions Solutions Technology

800-365-7226, 415-692-9061


Jan 95 FI: Addressmate

The Envelope, Please

By:  Rich Castagna

The postman never rings twice, so your mail had better be ready. AddressMate can help ease your correspondence crunch with a mailing list database and templates for printing envelopes, labels and rotary file cards.

AddressMate has two operating modes:  database and design. The database works like an electronic Rolodex. You can define fields and add records manually or import them from your PIM or contact manager.

On the right side of the database display, the current detailed record is shown in a format similar to that of most contact managers. The left side lists the name fields for 18 records, including the current one. You can search two ways:  Use a Quick search to scan each record's name field, or  search on all fields. A Quick search finds matching records as you type the search criteria. It's fast, but it seems to need a breather--or sense a keystroke or two--after an initial search.

AddressMate databases are in Paradox format. You can import files in dBASE, ASCII and .CSV formats, but can export only .CSV files. When you import data, you can easily map the fields to AddressMate's file structure.

You use the design mode of the program to specify the type of paper you' ll use. AddressMate comes with dozens of templates for envelopes, labels, card files, business cards and even leaflets. You can personalize the output by dropping graphics (.BMP, .PCX, TIFF, .GIF, .TGA, .WPG and .WMF formats) onto the template, drawing lines and borders, or adding postal codes. The graphics tools are rudimentary, but sufficient for spiffing up an envelope or two.

When you install the program, it gives you the option of integrating it with your word processor. It works with Ami Pro, Word and WordPerfect. I installed it in Word, where it added an "Amate'' drop-down to the menu bar. From within your word processor, you can type a name and then select the Retrieve Address option. AddressMate starts itself up, finds the address and plugs it into your document. It couldn' t be easier.

You can also set up merge mailings in your word processor. But if you just have to knock out a few quick envelopes, you can do it all in AddressMate without using your word processor at all.

AddressMate delivers.

Info File

AddressMate

Price:  $69.95

Disk Space Required:  2MB

System Resources:  5%

RAM:  4MB

CoStar Corp.

800-4-COSTAR, 203-661-9700


Jan 95 FI: Softmagic PowerControl

Remote Possibilities For Presentations

By:  Hailey Lynne Mckeefry

The PowerControl not only looks like a TV remote control, but also lets you scamper through presentations like a veteran channel surfer.

The cordless remote has a range of up to 30 feet, and its infrared receiver connects to your PC's serial port. Buttons on the unit control the cursor (arrow keys, left click, double click and toggle). There's also a 10-key pad for recalling macros and keys to move through slides. Its software works with many presentation packages, including Harvard Graphics, PowerPoint, Freelance and others.

The beta software let me move the cursor only in a straight line, rather than in the free-hand movements that a conventional mouse affords. SoftMagic reps said diagonal movement will be in the final version. The Toggle switch lets you underline parts of a slide, while the Blank button clears the screen entirely.

You can also program the remote's buttons for special effects. The effects include Pen, which lets you use the mouse to write on the screen, and Stickers, which lets you add check marks, arrows, dollar signs and other symbols.

There are similar products with greater range and more software options, but the PowerControl can do the job if your presentations have more substance than style.

Info File

PowerControl

Price:  $219.95

SoftMagic Corp.

617-899-9966, fax 617-899-1458


Jan 95 FI: Compaq Presario 520

Small Package Is Big Bundle

By:  Jim Forbes

The strong SOHO market is largely responsible for some of the most interesting developments in desktop PCs of late. Compaq is in the thick of this burgeoning market with its Presario line of PCs, which are widely available at retail outlets across the country.

I tested a Presario 520 CDS, which ships with nearly everything a SOHO user is likely to need. The 520 is powered by a 66MHz AMD AM486SX processor. It comes with 4MB of RAM, accelerated local-bus graphics with 512KB of video memory, a 420MB hard disk, a 3.5-inch floppy drive and a built-in double-speed CD-ROM drive. A 14.4 Kb-per-second modem is also included in the package, along with 16-bit sound built into the motherboard, which supports an integrated microphone and a pair of built-in speakers.

The monitor is built into the system case, an integrated design reminiscent of early Macs. The monitor's display measures 14 inches diagonally and, coupled with the graphics interface, supports a maximum noninterlaced resolution of 800x600 pixels and a maximum interlaced resolution of 1024x768.

Compaq installs 23 software titles on the hard disk, including TabWorks, a Windows navigation tool, and Windows 3.1 and DOS. The company also installs a large selection of entertainment, education and business software applications, such as Microsoft Works for Windows and Intuit's Quicken.

With a street price in the vicinity of $1,600 and a solid set of hardware components, the Presario offers good value. But, because this unit uses an SX processor, its performance is less impressive.

Tested with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmarks, the 520 CDS generated a very respectable 35 MIPS on the CPU test, but--lacking a math coprocessor--clocked only .64 MFLOPS on the floating point test. The floating-point performance indicates that this machine is not suited for computationally intensive tasks.

The 520 CDS's 14-inch monitor has a 0.28 millimeter dot pitch and produces crisp clear images. The controls for the monitor are on the right-hand side of the monitor, where they can be easily reached. The graphics accelerator is a Cirrus Logic CL5424. Its performance on the Wintune video tests were disappointing, due perhaps to its relatively small 512KB of video memory. It was clocked at 1.71 million pixels per second.

The disk scores for the 520 CDS were disappointing with a less than average transfer rate of 2.06MB per second.

All of the ports for connecting peripherals are on the back of the unit and are readily accessible. In addition to the usual array of serial and parallel ports, there are connectors for external speakers, a microphone and a headphone.

To get to the motherboard to install a new card or add memory, you won' t even need a screwdriver. Two screws located on the back of the case can easily be turned by hand to open the case and get right inside. There are two open 16-bit ISA expansion slots and, by adding SIMMs, you can expand system memory all the way up to 64MB.

One of this machine's most interesting features is the Personal Message Center. This application lets you use your computer to take telephone messages. It stores the messages in up to 10 individual and secure electronic mail boxes.

Another version of the 520 should interest serious CNN junkies. For $1,899 the 520 CDTV includes an integrated television tuner and is shipped "cable ready.' '

Although the Presario 520 CDS offers only average performance, the total hardware and software package makes it a solid value for an entry-level multimedia machine.

Info File

Compaq Presario 520

Price:  $1,699

In Brief:  The Presario 520's all-in-one design packs its 14-inch monitor in the same case as the rest of this multimedia system.

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, fax 713-378-1442


Jan 95 FI: Micron P90 Home MPC

Multimedia At Home--Or Office

By:  James E. Powell

Don' t let the name fool you. Micron's P90 Home MPC will be just as comfortable in your office as your home. The Home MPC is a low-cost, fully configured multimedia Pentium computer.

When you boot up, you' ll see Phoenix Technologies'  Home Office. This alternative to Windows'  standard Program Manager interface presents a picture of a desk in a home office. You can click on the telephone to run communications, a fax machine to run the fax program, a file drawer to run File Manager, or a PC screen to switch to Program Manager or another application. It's good for beginners, but experienced users will tire of it quickly.

At the heart of the Home MPC is a 90MHz Intel Pentium processor. The system has 8MB of RAM (expandable to 192MB); a 256KB write-back cache; and a 527MB IDE hard drive, which blazed through every application I tried. A built-in Mitsumi double-speed CD-ROM drive also is included in Micron's configuration.

The graphics system was just as impressive with its Diamond Stealth 64 PCI graphics accelerator card with 2MB DRAM. A handy set of display utilities pops up with a right-mouse click, and lets you change the color depth and resolution on the fly. You also can change the cursor size and color, and icon font, and adjust the screen image calibration to match your printer output.

Of the four 16-bit ISA slots, two are available. One 32-bit PCI slot is used by the video card, and there's also a single shared PCI/ISA slot. Three of the six drive bays are unoccupied. Other standard features include two serial ports, a parallel port and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. The test unit was housed in a mini-tower case. A desktop cabinet is available for the same price, and a full tower with 10 drive bays and a 300-watt power supply costs $100 more. The mini-tower has two fans and a 200-watt power supply.

The standard 14-inch MAG Innovision monitor has a crisp, clear image, but you' d be wise to spring $100 for the optional 15-inch monitor.

The Home MPC includes the Intel Plug-and-Play BIOS extensions, so it should be ready for Windows 95. It also offers a SoundBlaster 16 sound card and a pair of respectable Koss speakers. For input, there's a Kraft Thunderstick joystick, a Microsoft mouse and a decent 101-key keyboard. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and DOS 6.22 are also included.

Micron doesn' t skimp on the application software that it includes with the Home MPC. Microsoft Works Multimedia CD provides a good entry-level mix of word processing, spreadsheet and communications apps. Other programs in the bundle include Microsoft's Encarta CD encyclopedia, Quicken CD-ROM Deluxe Edition and a number of entertainment packages. You also get WinFax LitePro and preloaded sign-up software for Prodigy, CompuServe and America Online.

Some pieces are mysteries. The manual doesn' t even identify the manufacturer of the built-in 14.4Kb-per-second fax/data modem. And a copy of COMit, a communications program, was enclosed without documentation.

The Mitsumi 2X CD-ROM wasn' t up to the performance level of the other components. It was good at accessing CD-ROM reference works, but it was slow playing them back:  .AVI files consistently dropped frames. The latest release of Video for Windows wasn' t loaded on the system, a surprising omission for a multimedia PC.

Everything in the Home MPC configuration--the sound card, the CD-ROM drive and the modem--worked on the first try. And the system was properly configured to take advantage of 32-bit disk and file access to improve performance. The system comes with a one-year warranty and toll-free technical support.

The Home MPC is a strong performer with a surprisingly low price that will appeal to the budget conscious. It's a very good deal indeed.

Info File

Micron P90 Home MPC

Price:  $2,499

In Brief:  The Home MPC has everything you' d want in a multimedia PC, with a good selection of software to boot.

Micron Computer

800-243-7615, 208-463-3434


Jan 95 FI: Page Magic 1.10a

Easy DTP For Dazzling Docs

By:  James Bell

What's magic about Page Magic is how quickly you can produce professional-looking business documents with it. It's an entry-level DTP program that includes 100 ready-to-use templates for NEBS's own Company Colors line of paper forms.

The software and accompanying user guide focus on getting you up and running quickly. From the opening dialog box, you have the option to either start from scratch with a blank page or select from 14 groups of predefined template designs, including brochures, business cards, envelopes, flyers, mailing labels, letterhead, newsletters and post cards. Detailed descriptions and a thumbnail preview of each design help you select the correct template.

Like most DTP programs, Page Magic uses a frame-based approach. You fill rectangular frames on each page with text or graphics. The program supports up to 999 pages and 100 frames per page.

Page Magic's frame controls are easy to use. You can size and position frames precisely, and control frame borders and color fills with main menus or with a click of the right mouse button to open a quick menu. Rulers help you position elements on the page, but you can' t change the rulers'  zero points or bring guidelines onto the page to help in positioning. Also, I found myself wishing I could magnify the page more than 200 percent when trying to position small objects.

Bringing text into your Page Magic publication is straightforward--you can type directly in a frame or import word processing documents. The software supports several formats, including Windows Write, Microsoft Works, WordPerfect 5.x, WordStar 6.0 and 1st Word Plus. Although newer Windows word processors--like Word 6.0, WordPerfect 6.0 or Ami Pro--are not directly supported, you can save your files as ASCII or .RTF files, and then import them.

The program provides most of the text formatting controls you' re likely to need, although some of them--like leading and tab settings--can be applied only on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. I found Page Magic's paragraph styles easy to create and use, though I missed a Select All option that would allow me to quickly modify an entire story even if it ran across multiple frames and pages. Page Magic can automatically wrap text around graphics, and it gives you the option of manually creating irregularly shaped text wraps. But there's no easy way to create drop capitals.

The PowerText feature is for more striking effects. You can create rotated or skewed text, and run text along circular, arched or spiral paths.

The program supports .BMP, .WMF, .PCX, TIFF, .GIF, .CGM, .GEM, .IBM, .EPS, .SLD and Lotus .PIC graphics file formats. Bitmapped images can be cropped, and you can rotate .EPS files, but you don' t see the rotation on-screen. Also bundled with the program are 40 TrueType fonts, 300 pieces of .WMF clip art, a PhotoCD Browser and a Clipart Browser. The Clipart Browser is very easy to use and allows you to drag and drop graphics onto publication frames; but it works with only bundled images, not your own graphics.

Page Magic supports OLE 2.0, so you can also insert OLE objects from other programs. I had no problem inserting Microsoft Word drawings and Adobe PageMaker tables. You also can bring in screen captures using the included SnapShot option.

Color output is supported for any Windows-compatible printer, but Page Magic's color capabilities are limited. You cannot change the default 256-color palette, nor can you do any kind of spot or process print separations.

When you register your copy of Page Magic, NEBS will send you a sampler pack of its Company Colors paper line, 25 more TrueType fonts and 600 more pieces of clip art.

Page Magic--especially paired with the Company Colors paper line--makes it easy for a small business to spruce up its corporate image.

Info File

Page Magic 1.10a

Price:  $69.95

In Brief:  This simple desktop publishing package includes more than 100 templates for use with NEBS's line of preprinted papers.

Disk Space Required:  4MB minimum, 12MB full install

System Resources:  6%

RAM:  2MB minimum, 4MB recommended

NEBS

800-882-5254, 508-882-5254


Jan 95 FI: ABCSnapgraphics 2.0

Snappy Charts As Easy As A-B-C-

By Lynn Ginsburg

It's hard to improve on simplicity itself, but Micrografx has set out to make the latest version of ABC SnapGraphics even easier to use than its predecessor.

With version 1.0, you could create impressive informational graphics with little effort, which made it ideal for business users who were somewhat artistically challenged. The creation process is even easier with new take-you-by-the-hand info boxes and step-by-step instructions, and a refinement of the basic toolset. Business graphics basics, such as connector tools, drag-and-drop placement of objects, and shape palettes, have been reworked to improve usability. SnapGraphics 2.0 is not a power user's dream and it isn' t designed to be one. It's just a quick and easy program for creating business graphics.

SnapGraphics'  opening screen presents a limited set of options, including a number of predefined templates. Version 2.0 introduces new info boxes that explain each template in detail. For instance, if you highlight the flowchart template, the info box describes how a flowchart communicates and the kind of information it's typically used to illustrate. The first screen also offers the option of taking a tutorial or looking at sample diagrams.

After you' ve chosen a template, you enter the main SnapGraphics work area, which now resembles the Microsoft Office interface. The new program also can be placed as an icon on Microsoft Office application toolbars.

The central concept of the SnapGraphics interface, the snap-to grid, remains unchanged. It gives the program both its ease of use and its power. The concept is simple:  The grid is broken into compartments (or place holders) into which you plug a shape--one shape per compartment. Each diagram template comes with a workspace configured specifically for it. With these customized grids, you can drag and drop shapes or images directly into place, without worrying about alignment or spacing. If you want to create your own layout, you can adjust the vertical and horizontal margins to change place-holder size and spacing.

Each template also comes with a stylesheet-like group of task-specific attributes. Attributes include a default connector type, arrowhead styles, line weight, shape color and shape library. The shape libraries float on-screen as a palette, and have the shapes and symbols associated with each diagram type. You can scroll through the shape palettes to sample the available images. With version 2.0, now you can drag and drop shapes directly onto the screen, or rubberstamp them as in version 1.0. Some of the libraries, such as the network symbols, also have been expanded in version 2.0.

One of the most notable new features is SnapGraphics'  improved handling of connectors. The previous version used a cartoonish ship-to-anchor metaphor to symbolize the line's connection. Version 2.0 does away with the nautical theme and introduces instead the concept of "magnetic'' connect points. Each shape has five of these points, one on each side and one in the center. When a connector nears one of these highlighted points, it automatically snaps to it. This snap-to feature makes linking shapes quick and easy. Editing of connectors has also been improved, so it's easier to break and reestablish links.

And if you still need help, try SnapSteps, a step-by-step explanation of selected tasks. The program will walk you through each of a task's steps to completion. SnapSteps should make the program's toolset accessible to absolutely everyone, and it helps you learn more about SnapGraphics as you create your graphics.

New drawing tools, such as bezier curves, polygon, arc and polyline, expand on version 1.0's extremely basic toolset, but still offer only primitive illustration capabilities. Other new features include variable zoom, spell checker,  a slide show facility, and the ability to both snap text to a line and automatically fit a shape to text. The program is now an OLE 2.0 server with in-place activation.

SnapGraphics 2.0 provides ease of use without sacrificing features and functionality. It's an excellent choice for anyone who wants to create high-quality graphics in a hurry.

Info File

SnapGraphics 2.0

Price:  $99; through March 31, $49

In Brief:  Easy enough for just about anybody to use, SnapGraphics still provides the power to create professional-looking graphics.

Micrografx

800-676-3110, 214-994-5067


Jan 95 FI: TI microLaser PowerPro

Quick Laser Expedites Quality

By:  John Perry

Texas Instruments'  microLaser PowerPro provides the necessary printing power and operational speed to add up to an effective solution for low-cost, high-volume production printing.

The PowerPro's relatively low price and its estimated operating cost of under two cents per page complement its 12-page-per-minute, 600-dpi performance. The printer is intended for heavy use, where quality and speed are priorities.

The TISetup program makes installation easy. You can configure and install fonts, and set up font downloading. The installation program also lets you create font groups that you can download to the PowerPro for special print jobs. You can also choose from among a number of performance options, such as error handling.

The ease of software installation is impressive, but the PowerPro is a real head turner when it comes to print quality. Text printing was excellent, with well-defined characters that had crisp edges and dark, evenly distributed blacks. For graphics printing, however, there was a small drop in quality. When I printed some clip-art items from Word 6.0, I found that the shading lacked the same consistency and quality that text printing displayed.

The PowerPro, which comes packed with 6MB of memory, can accept up to 22MB with incremental upgrades of 1MB to 8MB. The ample standard memory and the printer's total RAM capacity are particularly significant, considering that the PowerPro is capable of rasterizing TrueType fonts for increased printing speed--a real boon if your host system has limited RAM.

The PowerPro gets its power from a 25MHz RISC processor. It also has a 16KB cache to help ensure that print jobs keep moving at a brisk pace. In my tests, I found that the PowerPro came very close to matching its rated throughput of 12 pages per minute.

You can make good use of an available slot in the PowerPro by installing a network interface card and then connecting the printer directly to your network. TI offers a card that will provide the necessary link to an Ethernet LAN for about $399. You can also attach a SCSI disk using TI's $149 SCSI interface adapter for downloading fonts. The PowerPro doesn' t provide slots for font cartridges.

There are a few nettlesome features on the PowerPro--most notably its pesky front loading tray. The printer pulls in a sheet of paper in preparation for the next print job, which seems to be the cause of many paper jams. The tray has a right-side paper feed, which seemed to confuse the printer, as I had to set the on-screen orientation to the left side in order to print an envelope. The envelope didn' t print, an error message was displayed, and the print job dropped out of the queue. Rather than having to feed envelopes singly, you can purchase an optional envelope tray for an additional $100.

The PowerPro really shows off its workhorse stamina and thoroughbred speed when it comes to text-printing applications, although it can certainly handle the occasional graphic job or documents that mix text and graphics. The dual paper trays hold around 500 sheets, ensuring that trips to refill the printer will be few and far between. There isn' t an external gauge or any way of checking the level of the paper supply without pulling out a tray, but with the capacity of the dual-tray system, you' ll get plenty of printing between refills.

With its 12-ppm print engine and abundant RAM, the PowerPro can easily handle the printing needs of a small office or workgroup. Its speed should give network users the kind of quick service that will make them feel like they' re hooked up to a personal printer. And the PowerPro's output is certainly of sufficient quality for most business documents.

Info File

TI microLaser PowerPro

Price:  $1,660

In Brief:  This new 600-dpi printer is designed for heavy use, and it accentuates quality and economy with an operating cost of only two cents per page.

Texas Instruments

800-TI-TEXAS, 512-794-5970


Jan 95 FI: Superhighway Access

Pedal To The Metal On Infobahn

By:  Paul E. Schindler Jr.

To access the  Internet, you can learn a whole new language, and become fluent in SLIP, CSLIP, PPP and CPPP. Or, you can get SuperHighway Access.

SuperHighway Access is an Internet front end that stands out among others because of its ease of use, integration of multiple Internet functions and preprogrammed content.

Unlike with CompuServe or America Online, you can' t just rev up any old communications package, dial into the Internet and sign up for an account. You need a service provider, but if you' re unfamiliar with the companies that provide Internet access, finding one can be difficult. SuperHighway Access recognizes this problem. During setup, it asks you if you have a provider. If you don' t, it brings up a hot-spot map of the United States and Canada. Click on your location, and the program offers you a list of Internet providers in your area. For this review, I signed up with NETCOM. There are more than 100 providers preconfigured in SuperHighway Access. The preconfigured setups are important because the instructions for setting up access for a particular provider can be extremely involved and time consuming. With SuperHighway Access, you just click on a listed name and away you go.

Actually, it isn' t quite that simple. You have to decide if you want SLIP, CSLIP, PPP or CPPP service. No one spends much time explaining these choices. SLIP has the fastest performance while PPP has the best reliability. Both are faster when compressed (that's what the C in front of them stands for). SuperHighway Access supports all four protocols. If you have multiple providers, you can keep a profile for each and switch easily among them.

The Internet might be a super highway, but you do a lot of waiting on the access ramps. You ask for some information, then you wait for your request to be processed. SuperHighway Access takes advantage of the inevitable delays by allowing you to have multiple sessions running simultaneously. The program's icons change to signal when the information has arrived. This way, you can do something else (or at least launch another search) while you' re waiting. In my tests, I ran five sessions simultaneously, but the documentation claims that SuperHighway Access can support up to 30 simultaneous sessions.

SuperHighway Access also makes it easy to use FTP, Internet's facility for downloading files from remote servers to your PC. The program makes the operation look like any File Manager process--click on the file a thousand miles away, drag it to your C:  drive and the transfer is initiated.

SuperHighway Access provides convenient file transfer options for the World Wide Web (WWW), with its complex of graphically ornate home pages and hypertext jumps. Even with compression and a 14.4Kb-per-second modem, bringing in a WWW page can take several minutes. SuperHighway Access lets you bring in a WWW page's text and hyperlinks without the graphics to save time. You just select Options/Preferences and click on the Window Configuration button. You can then click on the Display Images button to remove the graphics. Your downloads aren' t as pretty, but they' re much faster. SuperHighway Access also saves the graphics from the last few screens you have been on, so if you use the navigation buttons to switch back and forth, the program doesn' t have to reload the graphics--a real time saver.

SuperHighway Access comes preloaded with a number of interesting addresses for servers, FTP sites and WWW Home pages. When you find a new one, it's a snap to use SuperHighway Access'  bookmark feature to facilitate returning to the page in the future.

Like any good front end that hides complexity, SuperHighway Access makes it possible for you to stick your nose under the hood and make adjustments if you wish. But the nice thing is that you don' t have to do anything to get a full Internet experience.

Info File

SuperHighway Access

Price:  $149

In Brief:  You can get onto the Internet without having to know about FTP or Gopher by using this well-integrated Internet front end.

Hard Disk Space:  7.3MB

System Resources:  17%

RAM:  850KB

Frontier Technologies Corp.

800-929-3054, 414-241-4555


Jan 95 FI: eXceed 4.0

X Server With X-Cellent Tools

By:  Jeffrey Sloman

Hummingbird's eXceed 4.0 is a big product. Its 12 diskettes provide a feature set that is so impressive, it's almost overwhelming. You get everything you' d expect in a Windows-based X server product, but there are some unique capabilities too.

EXceed ships with the SuperTCP TCP/IP protocol stack from Frontier. But if you are using a stack from a different vendor, chances are it's on eXceed's list of nearly 30 supported connectivity products, including the straight WinSock API.

The SuperTCP stack ships with a virtual device driver (VxD)-based transport with a WinSock interface that can be used with utilities from other sources. Also included is the eXpress SLIP compression utility. This is a licensed version of Tektronix's proprietary protocol that can improve X performance over serial connections. This compression method requires that the host run the same protocol, which is also available from Hummingbird.

Installation of eXceed was pleasantly easy. You can install the supplied IP stack or specify one you already own. The program will automatically detect your display type, and the parameters that you must supply are clearly specified.

The basic X server component of eXceed presents a toolbar-based user interface to launch clients, perform clipboard functions and launch the configuration utility. It also includes the ability to start user-defined sessions using Xstart configuration files. The toolbar is a nice idea, but the array of icons can be confusing. Fortunately, Hummingbird includes support for Windows "tool tips,'' so if you leave the mouse pointer on a button long enough, a label will appear.

EXceed's X window functions performed as expected. In informal tests, performance with the supplied stack was acceptable on standard X apps. I tried my own copy of the Novell ODI (Open Data-link Interface) TCP/IP stack and found it to be faster. The Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 32-bit TCP/IP stack (available free from Microsoft) seemed to perform about the same as SuperTCP. EXceed offers extensive configurability and some performance tuning. The product ran any X client I tried and seemed to have excellent compatibility.

The real news about eXceed is not the standard X server features, but the unique additions. First, eXceed includes a compiled script language, eXceed BASIC, that can be used to automate many processes. It can use functions from the included X library, so it is able to interact directly with the X server. EXceed BASIC offers the ability to create sophisticated X clients quickly to solve problems peculiar to your enterprise--without resorting to a full-blown C development environment.

EXceed can go beyond what you' d expect from an X server product, especially when you combine the eXceed BASIC compiler with eXtend, a feature that allows peer-level access to the local drive of a machine running the product. EXtend lets a network administrator inspect and alter files stored on the local drive so that various management functions, such as software distribution or workstation configuration, can be performed from a central location.

The one downside to eXtend is its weak security. It does provide password protection, but at the share level--that is, it's assigned to a particular workstation and is not dependent upon the user who is connecting to that station. For some this is unacceptable, but if you can deal with the potential security problem, it can be very useful.

Hummingbird's eXceed is a good Windows X server, offering excellent transport support and good X performance. It offers some things that other X server packages don' t, and that may prove especially useful for customizing your installation.

Info File

eXceed 4.0

Price:  $545

In Brief:  Hummingbird provides a solid X server product and adds value with a number of useful additions.

Disk Space Required:  10MB

System Resources:  5%

RAM:  8MB

Hummingbird Communications

415-917-7300, Canada 905-470-1203


Jan 95 FI: Tatung Audio 15

Monitor Is A Sound Choice

By:  Donna Tapellini

Tatung's Audio 15 Multimedia Monitor goes beyond the basics, but not in the way you might expect. It's not a monitor for the control freak:  It has a fair complement of controls, but not as many as some of the other new monitors. Nor is it ideal for heavy-duty desktop publishing.

What sets the Tatung monitor apart from others is its built-in speakers. They far surpass the sound quality of speakers that are bundled with most multimedia upgrade kits. But they won' t make a true audiophile's heart skip a beat.

You adjust the Audio 15 using a row of push buttons in the control panel.

Even though it's easy to change settings, the number of controls is limited. You can adjust on-screen the width and height of the image as well as its position in relation to the monitor's top, bottom and sides. There are thumbwheel brightness and contrast controls, along with a zoom button.

On the model I tested, a distorted spot in one corner of the screen could not be adjusted. Overall, however, there were few display imperfections. Colors were generally crisp and bright, but not accurate enough for color matching.

The Audio 15 supports resolutions up to 1024x768 pixels, at 72Hz. At a resolution of 800x600, the refresh rate is as high as 90Hz. The monitor is Energy Star-compatible, using less than 30 watts in standby mode.

Info File

Tatung Audio 15

Price:  $499

Tatung Co. of America

800-829-2850, 310-637-2105


Jan 95 FI: AcerPower Pentium Minitower

Parsimonious Pentium

By:  Jim Forbes

A year ago, you would' ve been dreaming if you thought $2,600 would buy a 90MHz Pentium PC with 8MB of RAM, PCI accelerated graphics, a 14.4Kb-per-second modem, a 16-bit sound card, a dual-speed CD-ROM and speakers.

It's time to wake up. You can get it all--plus an 810MB hard disk--with the AcerPower. The only thing the low price tag doesn' t include is a monitor.

Tested with WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmarks, the AcerPower's impressive scores were 95.2 MIPS on the CPU test and 19.61 MFLOPS for floating-point operations. The graphics subsystem, based on the PCI-bus STB Nitro card, using version 1.1 of Cirrus Logic's GD5434 video driver, was clocked at only 6.27 million pixels per second. Its 810MB hard disk with an enhanced IDE controller turned in a less impressive transfer rate of 4.3MB per second.

The system comes with Windows 3.1, DOS 6.2, Microsoft Works for Windows, Intuit's Quicken Special Edition and several multimedia titles. Acer also includes Explorer, a Windows front end, to help new users.

The sound system--the Sound Blaster-compatible card and two external speakers--should be adequate for modest presentations.

Fully equipped and priced to sell, the AcerPower is a good choice.

Info File

AcerPower Pentium Minitower

Price:  $2,599

Acer America

800-368-2237, 408-432-6200


Jan 95 FI: Printmaster Gold CD Bonus Pack

Make It A Banner Day

By:  James E. Powell

You won' t put Hallmark out of business, but with PrintMaster Gold you can create your own greeting cards, calendars, certificates and banner signs.

PrintMaster has been around in DOS versions, but this newest incarnation is the first for Windows. It's still fun to use, and it takes advantage of its new graphical interface. It's great for creating display materials and business announcements, as well as more personal greetings.

The program steps you through the creation process for each of the different types of graphics materials. For example, you can select from a large collection of predefined layouts for greeting cards or create your own. PrintMaster then asks you to select a page on the card (front, back, inside left or right), either by pressing a button or by clicking on the page in preview mode. Then the program presents a set of buttons on the left of the screen that control the features (background, text font, adding pictures and so on). You can also directly click on any element to edit it. The buttons change as you work with the card, and it's almost impossible to get lost or stuck.

The CD-ROM includes 1,000 pieces of clip art, 145 fonts and 270 templates. The program can print .PCX, TIFF, .GIF, .CGM, .WMF and .BMP graphics, up to 6 feet tall in full 24-bit color.

PrintMaster also provides plenty of help. With its Audio Guide, you can click on a button, and audio instructions will help you through a task. If you don' t care for talking software, you can turn the sound off.

PrintMaster lacks some features, such as an Undo option. And if you want to print a banner, you' ll need a dot matrix printer--it doesn' t work with lasers. It also breaks some Windows conventions, such as changing the cursor to a circle rather than a double-headed arrow when resizing an object.

But those are minor gripes. PrintMaster is easy to use, fun--and practical, too.

Info File

PrintMaster Gold CD Bonus Pack

Price:  $79.95; upgrade from the diskette version, $29.95

Disk Space Required:  2.7MB minimum, 11.7MB recommended

System Resources:  22%

RAM:  4MB

MicroLogic Software

800-888-9078, 510-652-5464


Jan 95 FI: Sharp QA-1500 LCD Projection Panel

Panel Projects A Sharper Image

By:  Philip Albinus

Your presentation message won' t have impact unless your image is clear. The Sharp QA-1500 LCD projection panel offers a crisp display and a very practical remote controller.

The QA-1500 has an 8.4-inch LCD that can project an image 67.3 by 51 inches at VGA resolution (640x480). It attaches to a PC's monitor port and sits atop an overhead projector. It has a port to hook up a monitor for simultaneous display, a PS/2-style mouse port and a video-in jack. Audio-in and -out jacks are also included, and it has a built-in speaker.

You can use the QA-1500's Type III PCMCIA slot to load your presentation and leave your PC at home.

The QA-1500's rather large remote device lets you control image positioning, make audiovisual adjustments and select PCMCIA card options, among other functions. It has a TrackPoint-like pointing device to move the cursor around the display area. Sharp cleverly made the remote's buttons large, and it added backlighting to facilitate its use in a darkened room.

The QA-1500's projected display is, well, sharp. It's the best display of any LCD panel I' ve tested. It' ll add about 6 pounds to your traveling tools, but it's sure to add some punch to your presentations.

Info File

Sharp QA-1500 LCD Projection Panel

Price:  $5,795; with backlight, $5,995

Sharp Electronics Corp.

201-529-8731, fax 201-529-9636


Jan 95 FI: Zenith Z-Player

Mobile Multimedia Connection

By:  John Gartner

Turning a notebook into a multimedia presentation system doesn' t require a magician--or even a technician--with Zenith's Z-Player. The portable CD-ROM drive and PCMCIA sound card combination--with speakers built into the unit--transforms any PCMCIA-equipped notebook into a road-show machine.

The unit looks like a cross between a CD player and a subnotebook. It weighs a mere 2 pounds, including its integrated speakers. It works like an audio CD player:  Pop the top open with the press of a button, drop in a CD, and use the front-mounted buttons to play, fast forward, skip ahead or randomize your favorite tracks from Roxy Music or Rachmaninoff.

Two output connectors, an input connector and the volume control are within easy reach on the right side of the case. The power supply plug and on/off switch are less conveniently located on the back.

The Z-Player uses its Type II PCMCIA sound card and a short cable to connect to a notebook. Zenith includes a DOS install program to activate the sound card and Windows software, too. If you use Phoenix's card and socket services, you' ll need version 3.0. The software also installed and ran without any problems on a notebook that used SystemSoft's version of its PCMCIA card services.

The sound utilities aren' t elaborate, but they cover the basics. Controls for recording and playing back .WAV files are distributed unnecessarily among three applications. You can record simultaneously from a CD and the built-in microphone, which is effective for recording narration accompanied by music. The speakers'  sound quality isn' t high fidelity, but it should be adequate for intimate presentations.

The Z-Player supports Photo CD, and it can run on AC current, an optional NiCad battery pack or six standard AA batteries. In my tests the battery lasted 1.75 hours when the Z-Player was running continuously.

The price may seem steep for a CD-ROM drive, but when you consider that a PCMCIA sound card can cost $300, the Z-Player is a very reasonable solution for mobile multimedia.

Info File

Zenith Z-Player

Price:  $499

Zenith Data Systems

800-533-0331, 708-808-5000


Jan 95 FI: Epson ActionLaser 1100

Small Price + Small Size = Big Deal

By:  Jim Forbes

The ActionLaser 1100 isn' t greedy. It doesn' t gobble up your desktop space, and it won' t empty your wallet. Epson's laser printer is designed for anyone who doesn' t require PostScript or top print speed.

The ActionLaser 1100 has a miserly footprint at only 10.5 by 13 by 9.25 inches, and it weighs only 11 pounds. Its cartridge has an estimated life of about 4,000 pages.

This entry-level laser can emulate an HP LaserJet III and prints at a resolution of 300 dots per inch--more than adequate for text applications and simple graphics. It prints at 4 pages per minute, and it ships with 1MB of memory, which lets you print documents that include simple graphics. The 1100 can be upgraded to a total of 5MB of memory.

The ActionLaser 1100 takes only a few minutes to set up. The software drivers installed without a problem. I had no difficulty printing documents that mixed text and graphics, and I found that TrueType fonts were faithfully reproduced.

The top-loading sheet feeder will accept about 50 sheets of 20-pound paper. You can also feed single sheets. The printer accepts 16- to 24-pound paper stock, transparencies and envelopes. I was able to load and print a short stack of about 10 envelopes using the paper tray. Transparencies also printed without a hitch.

The ActionLaser 1100 is a big performer with a small footprint. It takes only a tiny nibble from your wallet to buy and run it.

Info File

Epson ActionLaser 1100

Price:  $649

Epson America Inc.

800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770


Jan 95 FI: Canon IX-3010

Many Grays For Little Green

By:  Christopher O' Malley

There are lots of good reasons to own a desktop scanner. You can convert paper documents into editable text or digitize photos for newsletters, for example. But Canon's new IX-3010 eliminates one good reason for not owning one:  cost.

The IX-3010 is a flatbed gray-scale scanner that goes a long way toward knocking down the price barrier. With a list price of $569, it's likely to sell for less than $500--a breakthrough for name-brand flatbed scanners. Not quite an impulse buy maybe, but a very practical purchase even for occasional scanning.

Price alone does not make value and, happily, Canon hasn' t skimped on the essentials. The IX-3010 is an 8-bit (256-level) gray-scale scanner that very ably digitizes black-and-white photographs and other complex images. It also faithfully reproduces line art in 300-dot-per-inch (horizontal) by 1200-dpi (vertical) resolution. Image capture takes only about 10 seconds.

The IX-3010 comes with Caere's OmniScan Plus software, which includes OCR, image editing and photocopying. Caere's PageKeeper Portfolio document manager is in the bundle as well. The TWAIN 2.0 driver ensures the IX-3010 will work with almost any application.

There's no "gotcha'' in connecting the IX-3010, either. Canon includes the SCSI card. The only option is an automatic sheet feeder ($349).

The one thing the IX-3010 can' t do is reproduce colors. For that, you' ll have to open your wallet a little wider. But for versatile scanning in shades of gray, the IX-3010 is a great value.

Info File

Canon IX-3010

Price:  $569

Canon Computer Systems

800-848-4123, 714-438-3000


Jan 95 FI: SpinWizard

Spin Doctor Cures Disorder

By:  Tom Lasusa

SpinWizard is a Program Manager replacement that organizes your applications on a 3-D rotating toolbar. Each of its eight rows has 12 colorful and customizable buttons.

When you install SpinWizard, it searches your disk for applications and adds them to its toolbar. You can manually add other applications, documents and macros by dragging and dropping them from File Manager or Program Manager onto a button.

When you click on a button, its menu opens. You can then change the color, the icon or its description.

You can delete items from the toolbar, as well as copy, cut and paste among button rows. Next to the icon on a button, an exclamation point or a column of three dots will also appear. The exclamation point indicates that the button is associated with an application, and the dots denote a recorded task.

SpinWizard includes a macro recorder, too. You can capture a task by selecting the Record option from a button's menu and then making the appropriate keystrokes to carry out the operation. There's little difference in functionality between SpinWizard's recorder and Windows'  macro facility, although SpinWizard's is a little more accessible and easier to use.

SpinWizard was a great help in organizing my messy desktop. I could find what I needed faster by spinning the wheel--and I had some fun in the process.

Info File

SpinWizard

Price:  $79.95

Disk Space Required:  509KB

System Resources:  5%

RAM:  4MB

Tanisys Technology

800-460-SPIN, 512-263-1700


Technology Forecast

Charting Your Course

Brace yourself--it's going to be a banner year for Windows! And you' ve got a lot to think about:  What will Windows 95 mean to you and your organization? How much will OLE 2.0 help you get your work done? Will Pentium be the new standard on the desktop? Just how prevalent will videoconferencing be in 1995?

Those are just a few of the questions you' ll face as the year progresses. So we went straight to the experts to

get you some answers. Jim Manzi of Lotus tells you how business will be conducted over the Internet and similar services. Microsoft's Brad Silverberg predicts a few of the unexpected ways in which Windows 95 will change the face of computing.

Our pros and pundits talk about tuples, multiprocessors, multimedia and VUIs. We' ll even gaze farther into the future of  Windows, when your desktop won' t look much like it does now.

So buckle up and get ready to do a bit of time travel with  WINDOWS Magazine. When the trip is over, you' ll have all the info you need to bring your business into 1995--and beyond.

HARDWARE: The Hardware Road Ahead

SOFTWARE: Automate, Automate

CONNECTIVITY: Connections are Everything

TOMMOROW-Beyond the Desktop


HARDWARE: The Hardware Road Ahead

Main Story: The Hardware Road Ahead

Forecast: HARDWARE: Multimedia Gets Easier And Easier

Forecast: HARDWARE: The VL-Bus Keeps On Running

Forecast: HARDWARE: PC Hard Disks Maintain Capacity For Growth

Forecast: HARDWARE: Other Expert Predictions:


SOFTWARE: Automate, Automate

Main Story: SOFTWARE: Automate Automate

Forecast: SOFTWARE: Flying Objects

Forecast: SOFTWARE: Windows 95: Trickle-Down Theory

Forecast: SOFTWARE: Show, Don't Tell

Forecast: SOFTWARE: Workgroups Of Tommorow

Forecast: SOFTWARE: 3D Environments


CONNECTIVITY: Connections are Everything

Main Story: Connections Are Everything In 1995

Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: Cruise Control For The Internet

Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: Untethered In 1995

Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: What's In The Wind For Isdn

Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: Infrared


TOMMOROW-Beyond the Desktop

Main Story: When Windows Moves Beyond The Desktop

Forecast: TOMORROW: Into The Tupleshpere

Forecast: TOMORROW: What's In Store For Home Shoppers

Forecast: TOMORROW: Other Expert Predictions:


Main Story: SOFTWARE: Automate Automate

By:  Jim Boyce

The future looks bright for the software industry. Executives predict great new products, solid upgrades, still more ease of use and strong industry support for Windows 95.

Ask a dozen or so key software executives to predict the hot trends for 1995, and you' ll get a dozen or so unique answers. Here's what the honchos of software have to say about 1995 and beyond.

General Business Applications

The big business applications (word processing, spreadsheets, databases and desktop publishing) are fairly mature--how many more ways can there be to slice and dice words in a word processor, for example? Actually, there are a lot, according to many software vendors, who say they plan to continue making business applications easier to use through a variety of methods.

More tasks will be automated with Wizards, Experts and Advisors. Programs will incorporate simplified and focused on-line help. Application interface designs will be more consistent, and tasks in general will continue to get easier.

Developers need to study the way their users work and adapt software accordingly, says Dave LeFevre, product marketing director of the Novell WordPerfect Applications Group. "We discovered, for example, that users spend a considerable amount of time fiddling with line spacing, fonts and margins, trying to get a document to fit on a certain number of pages,'' LeFevre says. "So we designed the Make It Fit Expert in WordPerfect 6.1. It lets users shrink or expand a document up to 50 percent more or less than the original  document size.' '

Microsoft is taking a three-pronged approach to making its software still more accessible. The company is focusing on "discoverability,'' ease of use, and intelligence, according to Michael Hebert, Word's group product manager. "Discoverability means making it easier to find the tools users need most,'' Hebert explains. "Ease of use means making these tools even easier to understand. And intelligence means making the software intelligent enough that common tasks are done automatically.' '

Over the next year, look for tighter integration among applications, as well as a greater ability to share documents and data. According to Jeffrey Anderholm, Lotus'  director of spreadsheet marketing, 1-2-3 will take greater advantage of a more stable and powerful OLE 2.0 in Windows 95. "We will do more 1-2-3 integration with Approach, making it much easier to access the functions of different applications without leaving the spreadsheet,'' Anderholm says. "We' ll also do more with features like SmartCenter, making it easier to move data from one application to another.' '

Automation will continue evolving in database applications as well, says Song Huang, senior product manager at Borland. "Features such as Experts and Wizards are first-generation intelligent solutions, and future products will offer even more complex intelligence,'' he says. Huang is also optimistic about the growth of the database market in the next year. "We' ll see database solutions employed more powerfully at the departmental level in corporations,'' he says. "Desktop databases will be linked to departmental level servers, which in turn will scale up to mainframe databases.' '

Suites And Integrated Applications

Just a few years ago, integrated applications--which provide a single application for word processing, spreadsheet and database functions--were declared dead. Naysayers claimed they would have to become too massive to be useful, but apparently they were wrong. Integrated applications have found a strong market with small office, home and educational users, and will continue to flourish in 1995.

Like their standalone counterparts, integrated applications will also see an increase in ease of use, automation and integration. "Works customers are typically occasional or novice computer users in small or home offices, people who do business-like work in the home, teachers or students in grades K through 12,'' says Linda Mitchell, product manager for Microsoft Works. "We will continue to focus on innovative ways to make tasks easier for these users by automating and simplifying. For instance, we will place a heavy emphasis on creating documents using Wizards.' '

The most interesting developments, however, will occur in the arena of application suites which, by the end of this year, will be more seamlessly integrated and increasingly document-centric. We might even see solutions from different vendors working together just as single-vendor application suites do now.

"Components will help users focus on tasks, not tools, just as a well-stocked kitchen lets you focus on preparing and enjoying great food and not on the brand of your ingredients,'' explains WordPerfect's LeFevre, whose target audience is moving beyond the desktop to larger networks. "The real battleground is in expanding the scope of suite applications from the desktop to the enterprise. Novell and WordPerfect are working to make networking solutions highly accessible to suite users.' '

Suites will ease in-house development of custom applications, according to Dennis Tevlin, group product manager for Microsoft Office. "You' ll begin to see a wider variety of programs that are interoperable with Microsoft Office, with [in-house development of] custom solutions that integrate Office with, for example, an accounting application,'' Tevlin says. "You can use Excel as the analysis tool, Access as the report writer, and Word for generating correspondence, integrating all of those directly with the accounting package because they all support OLE 2.0.' '

Tevlin also predicts that more developers will offer commercial applications that complement suites, leading to a much wider variety of niche-market applications that are considerably less expensive than custom applications, and that rely on proven technology with which the user is already familiar. In essence, the individual applications in a suite become objects that developers can use to cut application development time drastically, much as they use the objects in an object-oriented development tool.

Electronic forms processing will be a key technology in the new application integration market. Randy Busch, marketing manager for forms products at Delrina, says the company will try to fill that niche with its FormFlow product. "We will add a software development kit (SDK), support for OLE 2.0 and Microsoft Exchange to FormFlow,'' he says. The SDK will include a C and Visual Basic interface to complement FormFlow's existing Intelligent Forms Language, as well as a mail interface. "Most applications will be designed to exist both on their own as an application and as a component of a larger application. Users will be able to pick and choose the components that make sense for their organization and situation,'' Busch adds.

Workgroup Computing And Communications

Workgroup software has become a primary focus for many vendors. This category has expanded to include document sharing and desktop conferencing, as well as more established solutions like e-mail and scheduling. Desktop conferencing, which is still waiting for an adequate infrastructure to make it viable, could experience dramatic improvements in 1995 if the expectations of some of our experts are correct. Many predict that videoconferencing, document sharing and other aspects of workgroup computing will boom.

In addition, the growing awareness of the Internet, the increase of on-line services and the proliferation of e-mail are driving what could prove to be an explosive growth in communications software. The trend in communications is toward providing a common solution that integrates all of a user's e-mail, fax and other communications services. Windows 95's Info Center (which integrates Microsoft's new Exchange mail client) will play a key role by providing a single interface to those types of services. The Info Center will integrate local and remote e-mail, scheduling, faxing and access to on-line services such as CompuServe and the Internet.

Users can expect a new line of mail clients that provide a universal inbox to multiple information sources, such as the Internet and CompuServe, and integrated fax connections. "These new clients will also be more tightly integrated with the operating system,'' says John Fredericksen, a product manager for Microsoft's Business Systems Division. "Mail messages can be stored in the file system and documents can be stored in the mail store.' '

Fredericksen also predicts much better support on the back end for messaging. "On the server side, users can expect client/server messaging products to finally hit the market,'' he says. "These products will be more reliable and scalable, and will provide additional services like proactive monitoring of the mail system. By the middle of 1995, the message marketplace will be dramatically altered with the availability of the Windows 95 Exchange client, which will act as a true universal inbox for multiple mail systems.' '

Graphics

As with general business applications, ease of use, automation and increased performance will be the primary focus of graphics developers, although not as many fireworks are predicted here as elsewhere.

Corel Corp. is busy preparing for Windows 95, according to Eid Eid, director of graphics software. "We are in the process of designing exclusively for Windows 95 with full 32-bit native code, adapting to the new changes in the interface, and finding other ways to make the software easier to use,'' Eid says.

In the CAD (computer-aided design) arena, there will likely be continued movement from workstation platforms to NT and Windows 95, including growth in the RISC arena. Dave Melvin, a senior manager in the systems software division of Intergraph Computer Systems, predicts that Windows users will see much greater support for 3-D graphics. "OpenGL is becoming the industry standard API for 3-D graphics applications,'' explains Melvin. "With the inclusion of this API in Windows NT release 3.5, I believe we' re on the verge of seeing 3-D capabilities on high-end, PC-based workstations in many applications that used to be run only on hardware that cost in excess of $100,000.' '

Melvin also expects to see a convergence of systems around the Windows paradigm. "All system resources will be accessed through a common user interface,'' he explains. "Specifically, Windows NT and Windows 95 users will have transparent access to NetWare and UNIX systems by using native Windows services and add-on products such as NFS, Batch Services and PC X-servers. During the coming year, users can expect to see these products compiled on RISC processors, feature-enhanced, ported to Windows 95 and delivered complete with local language support.' '

Development Tools

Developers can look forward to a wealth of new tools for Windows 95 and Windows NT environments. "Developers are focused on the transition to 32-bit, OLE-based applications,'' according to Roger Heinen, senior vice president of Microsoft's developers division.

Development tools, like applications, are being broken down into components. Developing applications will become a matter of gluing together and integrating objects from various vendors, rather than actually writing lines of code.

Jim Boyce, a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine, is the author of Understanding Visual Basic, Keeping Your PC Alive and numerous other books. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Forecast: SOFTWARE: Flying Objects

By:  Karen Kenworthy

Here's an easy call--1995 is the year objects will really take off.

Most users are ready for features like compound documents, in-place editing and powerful scripting capabilities. All these and more are promised by technologies like OLE (object linking and embedding) 2.0 and OpenDoc 1.0.

But first, object technology must become faster and leaner. No one knows for sure about OpenDoc 1.0's performance, because it's still in beta. The current 16-bit implementation of OLE 2.0 is too slow. Both the loading of applications and the exchange of information between objects must be sped up. Will the problems be solved? My prediction is a definite yes. Windows NT 3.5 and Windows 95 will give 32-bit OLE 2.0 a chance to show if it's ready to fly. If not, expect a quick trip back to the hangar for modifications.

OpenDoc 1.0, OLE's principal competitor, will get a chance to test its wings too. But it will have to take off soon, and fly very well indeed, to compete with OLE for air supremacy.

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing). She is also a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine.


Forecast: SOFTWARE: Windows 95: Trickle-Down Theory

By:  Brad Silverberg

The release of Windows 95 will change more than your software. Here are a few predictions:

No PC will be an island. Windows 95's support for Plug and Play means you' ll get all the software you need to make setting up modems and network adapters almost automatic. That applies whether you' re connecting via a corporate network, the Internet or dial-up access to another type of service.

The cost of using PCs day to day will drop suddenly because of the connectivity and management features incorporated in Win95.

Notebooks will be more in demand than ever. Among the technologies supported by Windows 95 are docking and undocking, Plug and Play for PCMCIA devices, and synchronization between notebooks and desktop-based PCs or network-based files.

Brad Silverberg is vice president of personal operating systems, Microsoft Corp.


Forecast: SOFTWARE: Show, Don't Tell

By:  Alan Cooper

Future GUIs, which you could call visual user interfaces (VUIs), will be characterized by gizmos that are pictorial rather than textual. Think of this shift in computing culture as similar to what happened with the advent of the automobile. Technology brought us from the horse and carriage to the car. The car itself effected a major shift in how our culture works. It was the technology--memory-mapped video, bitblts and vector font technology--that brought us from the CUI to the GUI. A shift in our way of thinking will take us to the next level, VUI computing.

Alan Cooper is founder of Cooper Software and the inventor of Visual Basic.


Forecast: SOFTWARE: Workgroups Of Tommorow

By:  Jim Manzi

The Workgroup Technologies Being Deployed Today Are Laying The Groundwork For Technologies Of The future.  The fundamental evolution has already occurred. What we are putting in place now will likely be enhanced and extended, rather than overtaken by some totally new technology. We' ll see the computing paradigm continue to radiate outward as it has from the individual desktop to the LAN, to the interconnected LANs, across the enterprise, and even between and among enterprises.

Forums for commerce that use the World Wide Web and Internet illustrate capabilities inherent in such networks.  They will have a profound impact on business over the next few years.  For example, a garage band will no longer need a contract with Warner Brothers in order to be heard. By fielding a Web Server, the band will be able to make clips of its music--as well as information about the musicians and a virtal album cover--accessable to millions of people.  If you like the music, you' ll just order by downloading it to your digital tape desk. A Web-based version of Rolling Stone or Vibe will link you to these servers.  All this and more is already up for grabs.

Jim Manzi is president, CEO and chairman of the board of Lotus Development Corp.


Forecast: SOFTWARE: 3D Environments

Interfaces will stimulate 3D computer environments.  They' ll bring features of the real world inside the computer while bringing computing to the outside world. Xerox PARC's experiments with 3D visualization technologies show one direction that these next-generation interfaces are taking.--Carey Welsh, Xsoft division, XSoft/Xerox Corp., product marketing manager.


Main Story: Connections Are Everything In 1995

By:  Paul Korzeniowski

If you dialed in, connected, accessed, e-mailed or downloaded in 1994, you had plenty of company. More people did those things last year than ever before. And you' ll probably be doing them even faster in 1995.

Improved connectivity technologies are expected this year, resulting in more robust server hardware and software, high-speed networks, new types of client/server applications and simpler access to networks in the office and on the road.

Hardier Support For Heavy-Duty Apps

Advances in network hardware and software will better sustain the demands of client/server applications. In the past, most PCs encountered trouble when running client/server applications. Housekeeping chores and complex services such as distributed directories, remote procedure calls, replicated databases and security required by heavy-duty applications taxed less-powerful processors, as well as most network operating systems. In 1995, the availability and falling cost of more powerful processors, such as Intel's Pentium, and the introduction of the next generation of network operating systems, will spur the growth of client/server technology and high-bandwidth applications like videoconferencing.

Videoconferencing--Coming To A PC Near You

New and improved LAN operating systems, such as Windows NT Server and NetWare 4.1, will help move videoconferencing to the desktop. In 1995, Intel Corp. plans to introduce the Proshare Video System 2000, which transforms a PC into a desktop videoconferencing system. The company has licensed its Proshare technology to third parties, such as Compaq, and videoconferencing suppliers Compression Laboratories and VTEL. Both conferencing vendors should begin delivering their products this year.

Videoconferencing will also become more affordable in 1995. Last year, Intel lowered price points from $5,000 per PC to $2,000. You can anticipate an additional 50 percent price drop this year, according to Sarah Dickensen, an industry analyst at Personal Technology Research, a Waltham, Mass., market research firm. "Vendors understand that desktop videoconferencing will not become a major market as long as their systems cost more than PCs,'' she explains.

Several big-name companies, including Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, IBM, National Semiconductor Corp., Ascom Timeplex and Siemens AG, are promoting isochronous Ethernet. This technology is geared to video applications and sends two transmissions over one Ethernet line. One connection supports 10 megabit-per-second (Mbps) transmissions, and the second connection offers a 6Mbps line, which you can use for video transmission.

The competition in videoconferencing technology is also heating up. PictureTel Corp. of Danvers, Mass., is promoting its desktop videoconferencing system, PictureTel Live. Like Intel, PictureTel is courting third parties and has been working with AT&T and IBM. Both Intel and PictureTel are hoping to set videoconferencing standards, so expect a battle during 1995 as suppliers on both sides ship products.

Now We Really Need Speed

Corporate networks will be sure to buckle under the demands of sophisticated applications in 1995. Although standard Ethernet and token-ring networks are adequate for carrying simple text documents or files, they can' t support applications with high bandwidths. In answer to the need for speed, suppliers are promoting a bevy of high-speed networking options.

Look for corporations to turn to faster variations of Ethernet for more speed. Because many corporations already run on Ethernet, employers will not need to retrain network administrators. Also, Ethernet offers a simpler technology and lower cost (as little as $75 for a PC) than alternatives.

Leading wiring hub suppliers, such as Cabletron, Chipcom, Synoptics and 3Com, had success with Ethernet switching products in 1994. Switching provides users with access to a wiring hub backplane, which can operate at speeds as high as 4 gigabits per second (Gbps). Normally, Ethernet users share 10Mbps. The backplane provided by switching supports multiple Ethernet LANs, allowing each user to have his or her own dedicated Ethernet LAN for fast transmission of large amounts of data. Expect more products that use switching technology for Ethernet as well as token-ring networks in 1995.

Another high-speed technology, Fast Ethernet, boosts Ethernet's transmission rate of 10Mbps to 100Mbps. Fast Ethernet offers compatibility with current Ethernet products and costs significantly less than competing technologies. This year, Grand Junction, Synoptics and 3Com expect to ship Fast Ethernet products that conform to the 100Base-X standard. Hewlett-Packard and IBM are backing the 100VG-AnyLAN Fast Ethernet standard, which supports both Ethernet and token-ring networks.

FDDI (fiber distributed data interface) is the most mature of the technologies, but it's also expensive. FDDI desktop connections run between $1,000 and $2,500, and, even though prices may soon fall to the $700 range, the technology is losing momentum to alternatives like Fast Ethernet.

ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) is a rising contender in the world of high-speed connections. ATM operates on LANs and WANs, so corporations can simplify network management. Transmission speeds range from T1 to multiple Gbps, so there's no need to swap out networks to boost speed. Another benefit:   ATM is designed to work with data, voice and video.

The cost of ATM connections is still quite high at approximately $1,500 per connection, but prices are falling quickly. In 1994, ATM started at $4,000 per connection, fell to approximately $2,000 per connection during the spring, and was nearing $1,500 as the year ended. Analysts expect the rapid drop in prices to slow a bit, but anticipate price points near $750 by the end of 1995. However, most carriers have only begun testing ATM and are not ready to support nationwide ATM services.

So, even though ATM promises to make headway in 1995, don' t expect the technology to take hold until it's been thoroughly tested and all the kinks are worked out.

Manufacturers are rapidly fine-tuning impressive technologies and products, but not everything mentiond here will make the big time in 1995. Your can expect the more stable networking technologies, such as client/server, to take hold, and relatively new technologies, such as ATM, to mature. And, as Darwin discovered so many years ago about living beings, you' ll probably see some less-than-perfect technologies become obsolete.

Paul Korzeniowski is a freelance writer in Malden, Mass., who specializes in networking issues. Contact Paul care of the Mike Elgan. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: Cruise Control For The Internet

By:  Daniel P. Dern

Internet surfing will get easier this year with network and application-level software for Windows 95 and Windows NT. Windows 95 and NT will include TCP/IP, telnet and ftp clients, and a World Wide Web/Gopher browser at no extra cost. In theory, you' ll click on the Internet button, select a provider from an internal or on-line queried list, and away you' ll go! But be ready to add third-party software, shareware or freeware for better e-mail and Usenet News handling.

Watch for more Mosaic-licensed and Mosaic-like products, such as Mosaic Communications'  NetScape (free beta available from http: //mosaic.mcom.com), EInet's WinWeb, GWHIS from QuadRelay and QuarterDeck's Internet products. These will make browsing the World Wide Web (WWW), Gopher and other "net site types'' a more pleasant experience.

Also watch for SlipKnot, a shareware program that will support WWW browsing over an ASCII "shell'' account without requiring a PPP/SLIP connection. TIA (The Internet Adapter) does this now but needs a server at the shell host side. (Check in alt.dcom.slip-emulators periodically for updates.) Keep your eyes open for California Software's InterApp, based on CELLO (Cornell's Internet browser designed for Windows). It's supposed to have a painless install, along with  features like OLE and scripting.

Daniel P. Dern has been writing about the Internet and other technologies for more than a decade. His books include The Internet Guide for New Users (McGraw-Hill, 1994).


Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: Untethered In 1995

By:  Andrew Seybold

This year, more wireless modems will come to market, and their cost and size will shrink. We will see Type III and Type II PCMCIA cards for the RAM and Ardis networks, as well as for Metricom and Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) over analog cellular systems. Prices will range from about $500 to $1,500 by midyear, but will rapidly decrease.

CDPD is coming on-line in many cities. RAM and Ardis are adding capabilities and coverage with each passing month. Also, some of the new narrowband PCS nationwide systems, which provide two-way messaging, will begin to appear near the end of the year. These trends will continue to put pricing pressure on network providers, so expect monthly user fees to come down by 25 percent or so by the end of 1995.

Although data speeds will not significantly increase during 1995, users will realize that throughput speed is far less important on a packet-data network than it is over session-based wired services.

Andrew Seybold is the president of the Portable Computing and Communications Association, and heads up a consulting company.


Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: What's In The Wind For Isdn

By:  Scott Adams

I was asked to predict the future of ISDN because, as an applications engineer at Pacific Bell, I' m a pretty good cartoonist. Fortunately, I spend a lot of time around fellow applications engineer and team leader Anita Freeman, who gets her information about ISDN directly from God, makes any necessary corrections, then shares it with me. We came up with the following predictions for 1995:

Prediction No. 1

For $500, you' ll be able to buy an external ISDN terminal adapter that features:

•	Analog modem emulation up to 28.8Kbps

•	Analog port for voice, fax or answering machine

Support for simultaneous voice and data

•	N X 64 PPP TCP/IP support for connection to Internet access providers, and company LAN communications at speeds up to 128Kbps, plus data compression

•	V.120 rate adaption for async ISDN data compatibility up to 57.6Kbps

Prediction No. 2

The hottest application for ISDN in 1995 will be Internet access, especially to the much-talked-about World Wide Web. But alone, this will be too pricey, running well over $100 per month for access charges and network usage. Dark horse ISDN applications that will lessen Internet expenses are:

•	28.8Kbps analog modem emulation over digital lines. Think about it:  quick dialing, no line noise on your local loop and compatibility with the analog modem world.

•	Voice/data on one line. There' ll be no need to dig up the yard or drill holes in the wall for additional phone lines.

•	Telecommuting. Your company pays for the time you spend surfing the Internet.

Prediction No. 3

Several major on-line services will begin offering ISDN access. And bandwidth envy will spread to the masses, eventually leading to civil unrest and the unraveling of society as we know it.

Or maybe we' ll just be able to download graphics faster.

Scott Adams is an applications engineer at Bell Laboratories and the creator of the popular comic strip Dilbert.


Forecast: CONNECTIVITY: Infrared

Microsoft is working closely with the Infrared Data Association to ensure that Windows 95 supports communication over infrared links. At the time Windows 95 is released (or shortly thereafter) infrared drivers will be available.--John LaRoche, Infrared Data Association, executive director


Main Story: When Windows Moves Beyond The Desktop

By:  John D. Ruley

It used to be easy to tell where Windows began and ended:  Windows was something between a graphical shell and a full-blown operating system, and it ran only on PCs. Over time it's gotten to be less like a shell and more like an operating system, and what we call a PC today is a lot more powerful than what Windows 1.0 started on. Until recently, the model pretty much held. It no longer does.

Over the past two years, Microsoft has released versions of Windows that break the model at both the low and high ends. Windows now runs on everything from hand-held systems to multiprocessor servers. The low end of the range is pretty easy to understand. Today's hand-held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) has more memory and a faster processor than the desktop PC of just a few years ago, so running Windows on PDAs is something of a no-brainer. At the high end, though, what's going on is a bit of a surprise. In a nutshell, Windows systems are fast becoming major players in three high-end areas where they previously had no role:  as traditional file-and-print servers, as high-end workstations and as mainframe replacements.

Here's a snapshot of how each of these areas is changing--and what those changes mean to you.

Servers

Traditionally, LAN file-and-print servers have been essentially big PCs with oversized hard disks. They sit in a closet and are shared by users within a department. That traditional approach is starting to change, and Windows NT is playing a major role in the change. Enterprise networking, which views all the LANs within a company as a single integrated unit, is the driving force behind the shift. Traditional server operating systems, such as Novell NetWare 2.x and 3.x, treat each server as a separate administrative unit, which becomes a nightmare if your corporate network grows to include many servers. Advanced operating systems like NetWare 4.x and NT Server 3.5 get around this problem by providing domain-wide management, in which groups of servers (called domains) are administered as a single unit. An administrator needs only one account for the entire domain.

NT Server brings significant advantages to enterprise networks. It has advanced domain management and graphical administration tools. And it is designed to work well with standard protocols that are ideal for enterprisewide networking. Microsoft's recent moves to TCP/IP as a standard appear directed toward making it Internet-ready. If, as many people expect, the much-ballyhooed information superhighway actually turns out to be largely built on today's Internet, this positions NT as a major player in the next decade's information-rich virtual world.

Workstations

The notion of an engineering workstation was first commercialized 10 years ago by Intergraph Computer Systems. From the very first models, workstations have been characterized by fast RISC processors, advanced graphics displays, customized UNIX operating systems and high prices. Also notable is that despite the vast (and expensive) power such a machine brings to an engineer's desktop, most workstation users have two machines--a RISC workstation and a PC. That's because, although RISC systems are very fast when running software designed for them, they are spectacularly slow when running standard Windows applications. The emulation software used to translate PC-compatible Intel x86 instructions into code the RISC processor can execute typically has a five-to-one (or higher) overhead. In addition, X Windows (the de facto standard interface on UNIX systems) wasn' t designed to host Windows applications. You can see why a separate PC has been necessary.

Not anymore. The combination of a Windows-compatible workstation operating system (NT) and Intel's 90MHz Pentium CPU makes possible a single computer that provides workstation power, supports Windows-based productivity applications and costs much less than an equivalent RISC-based system. This approach is so attractive that Intergraph is now using it throughout its workstation product line.

The upshot is that NT Workstation 3.5 is a serious workstation operating system, and if Intergraph's move to market NT-based systems into that arena succeeds, it's likely that other vendors will follow its lead.

Mainframe Replacement

NT's impact in the mainframe market has been unexpected, showing just how far Windows is getting from its PC-based origins. In certain applications--especially database services--NT-based systems are now competing with, and replacing, mainframe computers. The most extreme examples of this may be found in Sequent Computer's WinServer line. These systems contain up to six Pentium processors running in parallel, and they can beat virtually any mainframe computer in database performance. That makes them ideally suited for use in applications like decision support systems (DSSs) and on-line transaction processing (OLTP).

It's not going to stop with six-Pentium systems. I recently visited Sequent, and was told that its next generation of NT-based servers will use larger per-CPU cache memory with additional and faster processors to get a multifold increase in performance. Beyond that, Sequent is working closely with Intel on using the next-generation "P6'' processor in exotic designs that will use Distributed Symmetric Multiprocessing (DSMP) with Windows NT. The performance of these machines will be measured in tens of thousands of transactions per second. Intergraph believes DSMP will be necessary to handle global electronic commerce in the next century (think OLTP over the Internet, and at much higher speeds than are common today).

There's another way to view "beyond desktop'' technology. As the cost of technology falls, some of these exotic systems will become cheap enough for personal use. One that's often predicted is the RISC-PC, which uses the CPU architecture of an engineering workstation to build a faster PC. It's an attractive idea, but I' m cynical about its chances. It's especially interesting that Intergraph and Sequent have chosen Intel CPUs, because I would have expected the RISC processors to do best in their exotic systems. Still, it's always possible that one of the RISC players will succeed in finally making a chip that's significantly faster than the Pentium at a cost low enough to offer a real competitive advantage. In the meantime, with companies like MIPS and DEC trying to put RISC performance in a PC while Intergraph builds true workstations using Pentiums, it certainly does seem that the distinction between PC and workstation is blurring.

How about a personal mainframe? The idea seems silly at first, but as the cost of technology falls, why shouldn' t mainframe power become available to individuals and small companies? Such a development is actually essential to keep electronic commerce from becoming the private playground of a few giant corporations.

The Cairo Project

Now, hold onto your hats--because as exotic, off-base and left field as a personal server may seem, you ain' t seen nothin'  yet! Microsoft has a development effort going on right now to produce the next major update to Windows NT. Cairo has three major features beyond those of the current NT:  a new, OLE-based user interface; support for Plug-and-Play hardware; and an object-oriented file system.

The OLE-based user interface and Plug-and-Play support seem obvious, at least for a Cairo-based workstation. But what does an object-oriented file system do for us? First, it adds an abstraction layer, hiding the physical location of the file. It also provides sophisticated search capabilities. For example, rather than seeing multiple volumes on multiple servers, Cairo can present you with a single view of all files, no matter where they' re located. In one sense, that's good, because you don' t have to remember where you put a particular file. In another sense, it's not so good, because the single view will have a lot of files. That's where the search capabilities come in. Instead of simply sorting a directory by filename or file type, you' ll be able to sort by the file creation and modification date, the file's owner, who accessed the file last and more.

Add to this distributed OLE--OLE objects that extend over the network--and you' ll begin to see Cairo's power, and the kind of power you' ll be working with in the future.


Forecast: TOMORROW: Into The Tupleshpere

By:  Ronald Rassner

It's 2005, and you' re investigating a viral outbreak off the coast of Tierra del Fuego. From your office PC at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, you pinpoint a specified area, monitor the region for air quality, temperature and pollutants, and bring the air samples back to your lab in an instant. Next, you enter the Argentinean lab that initially isolated the virus, capture a secured specimen, copy some preliminary results, download it and send it to your own lab.

These transactions occur in a software world. There is no physical exchange, but rather an exchange among software machines holding data on South America, the Tierra del Fuego air and the deadly virus.

A future scenario not unlike this is spelled out by David Gelernter in Mirror Worlds (Oxford University Press, 1991). Reality, Gelernter says, can be digitized and converted to an agent repository to be shared freely with other agents. His vision is of a software world populated by infomachines, or software machines comprised of modules and procedures that transform real-life information into digestible bytes. Infomachines exist within hardware constraints, but have the uncanny ability to search and seek data from other globally networked infomachines. Infomachines cast accumulated information into software space, creating a tuple. The tuple is either passive, awaiting information requests, or active, growing and creating more data-seeking infomachines on its own or at anybody's behest.

Technology that will lead us to the tuplesphere is already here--General Magic's Telescript programming language; information agents that retrieve data from multiple sources; and software agents that initiate communication, monitor events and perform tasks.

Ronald Rassner is a vice president at Creative Networks


Forecast: TOMORROW: What's In Store For Home Shoppers

By:  Dave Rodgers

RAM capacity doubles every 18 months. The number of transistors in a microprocessor increases by a factor of 10 every five years. And neither trend shows any sign of slowing. One result of this tremendous growth is electronic commerce--the use of the information superhighway for business purposes. By the year 2000, if not sooner, this trend will turn every home television into a computer terminal with access to products and services worldwide.

The implications of such a massive electronic network are enormous. Today, a large enterprise system is designed for 1,000 to 10,000 users who do normal business tasks. In a world of electronic commerce, systems will routinely be sized for 100,000 to 10 million users who want ' round-the-clock and ' round-the-globe access.

With computers viewed as appliances, ease of operation will be essential. The simplicity of its interface makes Windows well-suited to this task. And the demand for increased power will pressure vendors to build larger, more scalable and more robust solutions. Such solutions will depend on multiprocessors to deliver performance, scalability and fault tolerance--all features that advanced operating systems like Windows NT can exploit.

In the near term, I foresee a continuing shift from yesterday's proprietary networks and mainframes to open client/server networks. Decision support, on-line transaction processing and enterprise messaging will move from the mainframe to the network server (or, in really large installations, a multiprocessor server). Computer power will be increasingly distributed, from systems you hold in your hand all the way up to enterprise multiprocessors that handle electronic commerce on a global scale.

Dave Rodgers is vice president of corporate architecture and emerging technology for Sequent Computer Systems.


Forecast: TOMORROW: Other Expert Predictions:

By december, 420MB PCMCIA hard disks will be available. And the cost will be driven down from the current $2.90 per megabyte to less than $2.40 per megabyte.--Mark Warlick, Epson America, assistant marketing manager

In 1995, you' ll be able to buy a 150MHz Pentium system. You' ll also be able to buy P6-based systems. The P6 will execute 300 million instructions per second and be twice as fast as today's 100MHz Pentium processor.--Dave House, Intel Corp., senior vice president


Main Story: The Hardware Road Ahead

By:  Robert Lauriston

Boiled down to a single sentence, the PC hardware forecast is the same year after year. Everything will get faster; vendors will cram more of what you want--RAM, disk space, bps, dpi, battery life--into the familiar old package; and you' ll pay less, or at least get more for your money.

Of course, as soon as you start fleshing out that easy prediction with details, your chances of being right go way down. Luckily, most of the hardware pundits I interviewed didn' t let that stop them from making some pretty specific predictions about what's going to happen this year.

CPUs

According to Linley Gwennap, editor of Microprocessor Report, the industry bible on CPUs, 1995 is going to be the year of the Pentium. "The big story is going to be Pentium up and down the line. By the end of the year, well over 50 percent of new systems will be Pentiums. We' ll see 120MHz systems midyear, 150MHz by the end of the year. By that point the 60 and 66MHz systems will fade away, and the 90MHz chip will become the low-end Pentium. Intel will stop making 486s in 1996, though some other companies may continue for another year.'' Dean McCarron, a partner in Mercury Research, a Scottsdale, Ariz., firm that tracks PC chip developments, is a little more bullish on 486s. Although he expects 75MHz and 90MHz Pentiums to take the place of the 486DX2/66, he predicts that the latter will drop down a notch to replace the 486SX in entry-level PCs.

But what about the clones? "The Cyrix M1 and AMD K5 will probably exceed the performance of a P100,'' says Gwennap, "and that will have a serious impact on Pentium prices. I expect that Intel will continue to have the fastest chips through the end of ' 95, but not by much--they will be under real pressure at the high end. Currently, AMD has around 10 percent and Cyrix about 1 percent of the 486 market, and I expect similar percentages in the Pentium market.'' Atik Rausa, CEO of NexGen, which is already shipping its Pentium-compatible Nx586, says he expects clones to match the performance of a 150MHz Pentium by the middle of ' 95, with 100MHz "686-class'' chips starting to appear by the end of the year. They' ll deliver performance "comparable to RISC chips used in Sun and Hewlett-Packard systems,'' Rausa speculates.

And what about the much-touted PowerPC and other RISC CPUs? "There are a lot of exciting things happening on the RISC side,'' says Gwennap. "Most NT users are going to stick with Pentium, but in ' 95 the hot alternative is going to be DEC's Alpha. The 21164 chip should be shipping in systems in the first quarter. Since that chip should give two to three times the performance of a Pentium 90, a PC with one Alpha 21164 will probably give better performance than an SMP box with multiple Pentiums.' '

Memory

I know what you want to hear:  In 1995, SIMM prices will go into free fall the way hard disks and CPUs did in ' 94. Well, sorry, friends, but it looks like that's not gonna happen. DRAM industry analyst Sherry Garber of Scottsdale's In-Stat explains why:  "As long as demand remains high, there won' t be a surplus of the 16-megabit chips used in 8MB and 16MB SIMMs, and DRAM prices will stay pretty stable.'' Garber predicts that the next major change will come in 1996, when the new synchronous DRAM SIMMs hit the market. These fast, inexpensive chips will eliminate the need for secondary cache, and the result will be better overall performance.

Ports

Because they' re part of Windows 95's Plug-and-Play specification, expect serial ports with 16550A UARTs and bidirectional Enhanced Parallel Ports (IEEE 1284) to be standard equipment on new PCs. Don' t buy a new PC without them.

Another major I/O development due in ' 95 is the as-yet unnamed new serial bus being developed by Intel, Microsoft and Compaq. According to Carl Stork, director of Windows hardware programs at Microsoft, "The goals of this serial bus are to have adequate bandwidth to support moderately high-speed applications, such as telephony and digital audio.

"At the same time, it will retain a very low-cost basis for both the PC and the peripherals, so that it can also be suitable for inexpensive devices such as keyboards and mice. The bus should be fully Plug-and-Play compatible and should allow for hot insertion and removal of devices, and for daisy-chaining.' '

Jim Pappas, an Intel Architecture Labs engineer who's involved in the project, predicts that products using the new bus for things like integrated voice mail and e-mail will make their appearance in the second half of ' 95, with the bus becoming a widespread standard the following year. Pappas also notes that the 5-megabit-per-second capacity of the new bus could handle an ISDN or T1 connection and still have plenty of room left over for other devices.

Hard Disks, Eide And Scsi

Expect the exponential growth in hard- disk capacity and free fall in prices to continue in 1995. According to market analyst Jim Porter of Disk Trend, the highest volume production in ' 95 will be single-platter 3.5-inch hard disks in 340MB and 420MB capacities. In consumer terms, that means we can expect 210MB to 270MB hard disks to fade away, with 420MB likely becoming the standard for entry-level PCs by the year's end.

Robert Luhn, the editor-in-chief of Computer Currents, a Silicon Valley biweekly, says, "The average drive sold in 1995 will be 700MB. EIDE will still be a mess:  Drives will exceed the 528MB limit, but people will still be arguing about the other aspects. Fast SCSI will dominate the over-1GB range.'' (The "mess'' Luhn refers to results mostly from the use of vendor-specific commands in EIDE drives, which can make adding a second drive difficult or impossible--in other words, like regular IDE, only worse.)

CD-ROM Drives

Experts agree that quad-speed drives will take over from double-speeds--the only question is when. Porter expects triple- and quad-speed drive sales to ramp up slowly, accounting for only 13 percent of sales worldwide in ' 95, but then soaring to 47 percent in ' 96, and 84 percent in ' 97. "Sales will really take off when there are discs that require 4X for full-motion video,'' he adds. Industry analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies expects the change to come sooner:  "By October, the majority sold will be 4X, and they' ll cost under $200.'' Even that may be too conservative a guess, given that Compaq's desktop marketing vice president Kevin Bohren anticipates "a quick transition from 2X to 4X in the first half of ' 95.'' The other big CD-ROM news item for 1995 will be 4X drives that read conventional CD-ROMs as well as new discs that will hold more than 2GB of data. This technology is being driven by consumer electronics vendors like Philips, Sony and Matsushita, which are hammering out a standard for "Digital Video Disc'' players that will fit 135 minutes of laserdisc-quality compressed video on a single CD. Porter expects the "Golden Book'' CD-ROM spin-off to have four times the capacity of current discs. He's not sure such drives will actually ship in ' 95, though "there will be a lot of noise'' about them. In contrast, Bajarin thinks they' ll be here by October and will cost only $500 to $700.

Video

Given that 1994 saw 32-bit accelerated local-bus video take over the low end of the market, 64-bit accelerators with 2MB of VRAM enter the midrange, and 17-inch monitors drop under $1,000, it's likely that 1995 will be something of an anticlimax. Still, we can look forward to a few changes in this category.

According to Andrew Fischer, for many years the product manager for Hercules and now head of Understanding Services in San Francisco, there are three major trends to look for in 1995.

"First is 64-bit acceleration for 24-bit true color,'' says Fischer. "In ' 95, everything except under-$200 boards will run as well in 24-bit at all resolutions.' '

After true color, Fischer believes the next video-board-vendor battle will be over video scaling. "By using interpolation and color-space conversion,'' he says, "video-scaling chips can scale a 180x120 or 320x240 window up as high as you want, even up to 1280x960, with no decrease in performance, no dropped frames, and without the blocky, pixelated look you get from fat pixels. Everybody will have these chips in their systems by early ' 95.' '

The third trend Fischer foresees is hardware 3-D acceleration. He points out that Intel, Canon, Microsoft and VESA all have 3-D specs in the works. "Hardware vendors will support them all--or at least they' ll claim to,'' Fischer speculates. "Initially this technology will be used to produce more complex environments in 3-D games--but who knows where it will evolve?' '

McCarron, of Mercury Research, agrees, saying he expects that the first 3-D accelerators will arrive "very late in ' 95, aimed at the game market.' '

It's a safe bet that most video boards and monitors introduced in 1995 will support Plug and Play. This should make it a lot easier for you to get the most out of your hardware, because figuring out maximum resolutions and refresh rates will no longer be a matter of trial and error.

Portables

Andrew Seybold, editor-in-chief of Outlook on Mobile Computing, believes the HP OmniBook 600C will set the agenda for portable computing over the course of the year. "Everybody will be imitating it,'' he says, "particularly its instant-on ROM-based Windows and applications, and its use of function keys for fast switching between apps.'' As the year progresses, Seybold expects Pentium chips to make their way down into 4.5- to 6-pound midrange notebooks, and believes that at this fall's Comdex "it' ll be hard to find a midrange 486''--though he doesn' t expect to see Pentium subnotebooks this year.

Printers

Printer guru Charles LeCompte, editor and publisher of the Hard Copy Observer, predicts some major changes in 1995. "In laser printers, the big trend appears to be a move to still higher resolutions. Last year, Lexmark introduced the first affordable 1200-dpi laser. Expect competitors to match that this year, probably at their current 600-dpi prices. Also, for any given price you' re getting more speed. Expect to see 22 or 24 ppm for the price of today's 17-ppm models.' '

As for ink jet printers, LeCompte says, "That's where things are happening the fastest. Competition is heavy, and prices have been dropping through the floor. But there's only so far prices can drop, so they' ll probably be fairly stable in ' 95. You' ll just get more for your money:  color instead of monochrome, better print quality.' '

To put all these predictions into perspective, let me add two of my own. First, in the December 1995 issue of WINDOWS Magazine, at least one major-name mail-order vendor will be offering a 90MHz Pentium with 8MB of RAM, an 850MB or larger hard disk, 1MB 64-bit PCI video board, V.34 modem, 4X CD-ROM drive, 16-bit stereo sound, 15-inch monitor and speakers for less than $2,000. And second, at least two of those specs are going to seem absurdly conservative.

Robert Lauriston is a contributing editor to WINDOWS Magazine and coauthor of The PC Bible (Peachpit Press, 1994). Contact Robert care of the Mike Elgan. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Forecast: HARDWARE: Multimedia Gets Easier And Easier

By:  Richard Doherty

You might finally see an end to multimedia-induced frustration in 1995, when the technology becomes more affordable and trouble-free. Several factors will contribute to the improvement.

First, the average host PC processor will be powerful enough to perform many multimedia audio and software video functions without specialized chips or peripherals. In addition, new multimedia accelerator chips will make existing PCs as powerful as 1994's best multimedia workstations.

PCs that feature audio/video input and output signal ports will ship in 1995, making it easy to attach video cameras, VCRs, microphones, speakerphones and TVs. New features of Windows 95 and desktop video-editing packages will allow you to record Windows multimedia presentations on videotape.

Although quadruple-speed CD-ROM drives will be available in 1995, double-speed drives will rule. CD-ROM titles will approach a play/value time of less than $5 an hour. In addition, the Video for Windows runtime module that ships standard with Windows 95 will boost the number of CD-ROM entertainment and educational titles.

The Multimedia PC standard will suffer from incompatibility problems before starting to stabilize late in 1995.

Propelled by Windows 95, Plug and Play will increase its dominance, but it won' t help the users of 100-million-plus installed PCs. Meanwhile, all those incompatible multimedia add-in peripherals will struggle to coexist with the new hassle-free Plug-and-Play PCs.

Finally, standard Windows graphics acceleration just won' t cut it anymore. Specialized silicon--which smoothly and synchronously boosts on-screen video, graphics and text performance--will reign instead.

Electro-physicist and inventor Richard Doherty is director of The Envisioneering Group, a market-research consultancy based in Seaford, N.Y.


Forecast: HARDWARE: The VL-Bus Keeps On Running

By:  SCOTT VOURI

Contrary to the claims of pundits, the VESA local bus (VL-Bus) standard has not only held its own, it appears to be gaining market share. I expect this trend to persist through 1995.

Although PCI is becoming the standard system bus for the high-end desktop--PCI is being built into Compaq's Pentium-based systems, Motorola's Power PCs and Digital Equipment's Alpha desktops--the VL-Bus is still being built into a growing number of portable PCs and in PCs distributed through systems integrators and large retailers.

According to figures from Dataquest of San Jose, Calif., between five and six million PC portables shipped in 1994, and eight to 10 million are expected to ship in 1995. Randy Roscoe, marketing manager for imaging at Western Digital in Mountain View, Calif., estimates that about half the portables sold in 1994 have VL-Bus chip sets and the other half use ISA. Roscoe predicts that the VL-Bus will hold its 50 percent market share during 1995.

In addition, motherboards that support the VL-Bus are still less expensive than those that support PCI. As a result, units with VL-Bus interfaces continue to fill the demand for low-end desktop PCs.

Even so, the VL-Bus is not restricted to low-end microprocessors or to entry-level operating systems. Intel Pentium-based portables using the VL-Bus made their debut in the fourth quarter of 1994, when Toshiba introduced its T4900CT Pentium portable with a VL-Bus. PCI chip sets don' t support the 3.3-volt version of the Pentium yet, and that keeps VL-Bus in the high-powered portable market.

Given these facts and figures, 1995 should bring an increase--not a decrease--in the number of units shipped with a VL-Bus.

Scott Vouri is the president and founder of Binar Graphics, and chairman of the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA).


Forecast: HARDWARE: PC Hard Disks Maintain Capacity For Growth

By:  Alan Shugart

Hard disk technology has come a long way, with continuing improvements in both capacity and performance. But it's capacity that characterizes the value of a hard disk in the minds of most PC users. Even though capacity continues to grow at a steep 40 percent to 60 percent rate annually, the industry is still far from approaching the limits of what can be cost-effectively stored on a hard disk.

In 1995, the entry-level capacity point for mainstream desktop PCs will grow from 420MB to 540MB. By 1996, hard-disk capacity will be 1 gigabyte for entry-level desktops, and 2GB capacities will be common.

A number of PC market developments support that pace. First, PC microprocessors are growing more powerful with the likes of Pentium and PowerPC. Other elements of the PC, such as the local bus, peripheral host adapters, and video and graphics accelerators complement and enhance that processing power.

Second, the impending arrival of Windows 95 will spur demand for applications that take advantage of  gigabyte-level hard-disk capacities on the desktop. An example of such an app is a data-intensive multimedia program that manipulates combinations of video, audio, graphics and animation, as well as ASCII text.

Finally, the hard-disk industry is reaching a convergence of drive technologies that will enable us to maintain the capacity growth rate we' ve been experiencing over the last couple of years. The technologies include magneto-resistive heads, PRML (partial response, maximum likelihood) read channels and, to a lesser extent, glass-based media.

Alan F. Shugart is chairman and CEO of Seagate Technology.


Forecast: HARDWARE: Other Expert Predictions:

For 1995, I foresee an increased focus on "collaborative computing" functions, such as whiteboarding, full-motion video, video scaling and voice-over-data capabilities.--David Andonian, IBM Corp., vice president

Digital signal processing (DSP) technology will have a profound effect on computing in the coming year.  The DSP resources manager interface (RMI) in Windows 95 will enable the PC's main processor to delegate signal processing work to specialized DSP hardware.--Karl Guttag, Texas Instruments, TI fellow

This year, it will finally be practical to print the colors you see on the screen of your Windows PC.  A proliferation of network color laser printers will provide fast, high-volume and high-quality color printing at a low cost per page--Ormand Rankin, Hewlett-Packard, marketing manager


Data Access For Everyone--And Make It Fast!

Main Story: Data Access For Everyone--And Make It Fast

SQL Server For Windows NT--A GUI Back End, Finally

Client/Server Building Blocks


Main Story: Data Access For Everyone--And Make It Fast

By:  Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Part 4 In A 4 Part Series

October-Networking Basics

November-E-Mail and Remote Access

December-Groupware

Network Databases

Consider the alternatives:  You can run your database from a mainframe. That's great if you have many users accessing large amounts of data simultaneously. But what if you outgrow your application? You' ve got to rip apart your whole setup to add a new component.

You can run your database over a network of PCs. Your server stores the megabytes of information, and your local system does all the work. But one user sorting through a large number of records can bog down your network for hours.

You can run your database using client/server architecture. That just might do the trick. Desktop PCs and servers share the workload, while large numbers of users access data at the same time--without causing systemwide bottlenecks.

Despite its advantages, client/server architecture is not for everyone. This article, the last in our four-part series on networking, should help you figure out if client/server is the solution you need.

Client/Server In A Nutshell

In a classic division of labor, data processing is split between two or more computers in the client/server model. The front end, or client, presents and manipulates data on the desktop PC. The back end, or server, acts as a data warehouse to store, sort, retrieve, combine and protect data. Together, front and back ends give you Veg-O-Matic-style flexibility for looking at your data. You can virtually slice it, dice it, peel it and puree it.

These databases differ from their mainframe- and PC-based counterparts in three ways:  where data is stored, where data is processed, and how inputs, queries and results are handled.

In mainframe or host-terminal architecture, data is stored, processed and handled on the mainframe. The terminal on your desktop doesn' t use any logic to prepare or process data--it simply displays results. Developers have to fine-tune and tweak the host computer to make sure it can handle the multitude of tasks that are required.

PC databases running from a network (also called file-server databases) manipulate data in exactly the opposite way--everything is done locally. Even if the database and application code are stored on a network file server, the work--updating, storing, joining and every other database task--is performed on your desktop system. The file server merely acts as a remote hard disk for your database and application code.

If your database is relatively small, with tables of less than 25MB, and needs to be accessed by only a few local network users at a time, this approach works fine. Its performance crumbles, however, when files get large or when many users try to query the same database at the same time. The problem is amplified when the database must be carried across network bridges and routers on wide area networks (WANs) through several network segments.

What Will Client/Server Do For You?

Client/server databases could be the cure for the cost of mainframe processing or the pitfalls of PC databases. Its architecture makes the best use of everything--servers, clients and networks. By delegating some tasks to the server and others to the client, you can exploit the power of all your computers while taking advantage of central storage and wide-area access to data.

In addition, you are free to mix and match operating systems, databases and front ends. Older database tools force you to rewrite everything if you outgrow your application. Adding features, like new rules or more flexible reporting, is a tedious and time-consuming process. Client/server databases, on the other hand, let you choose from various vendors'  tools and from different platforms. This allows you to take advantage of the best technology available. If your database needs change, the modular structure of client/server means you don' t have to rip everything up and start all over again. You may only have to change the front end or move the back end to a more powerful server.

Say you built a client/server application with Windows-based PCs running Powersoft's PowerBuilder (a popular front end) to access data on an OS/2-based Oracle database server. However, you decided later that you would get better performance with a RISC server. You wouldn' t have to rewrite application code or change the operating system on your client PCs to get Oracle running on UNIX. If things changed again, you could take the same application code and run it on an Oracle database on a NetWare NLM server. Assuming the new database is supported by the front-end tool, you would be able to swap out the back-end database without altering application code.

With client/server, you also get extra flexibility in choosing the tools you' ll work with on your database. For example, if Visual Basic is your front-end development tool, you can use an entirely different tool for ad-hoc reporting. To build some what-if analysis from the data, you could use a tool like Q+E, which extracts data from the database into an Excel spreadsheet. You wouldn' t have to rewrite your core application code to do so.

While client/server offers great freedom of choice, you should beware. It also ushers in its share of complexity. Don' t be surprised if your infrastructure soon becomes much more technically intricate. You may end up with several operating systems to support--one for the network, one or more for the database server and one or more for the clients. Add to that the possibility that you may need middleware to connect your clients and servers, and you could find yourself with a real management and administration challenge.

Do You Need Client/Server?

Before you go trekking into client/server land, think about the type and size of your applications, and who needs to access the information.

There is no magic formula that tells you when to use client/server technology, but you can apply some guidelines to your decision. Consider client/server if your database tables are likely to exceed 25MB each. The larger the database, the less you' ll want to use a file-server database that has to pull all the data across your network.

Client/server technology is also appropriate when you need to provide access to people across a wide area network. Time is money over long distances, and you' ll want to keep the time down to a minimum. Sending lots of data over bridges and routers is bound to cause problems, so PC databases are often out of the question for WANs.

You should consider client/server if you are supporting a cadre of active users. If you have more than 20 or 30 users accessing the database at any given time, you' re probably seeing performance problems if you are using a file-server database.

If your needs are less than what we' ve outlined above, then spare yourself the complexity of client/server and stick with a PC database like Borland Paradox or Microsoft Access. These programs handle multiple users and can be stored on a server.

Brewing A Custom Blend

The first step in designing a client/server database system is to select the components. Client/server database components are interdependent, so it is wise to select all of the puzzle pieces at the same time. If you' re starting from scratch, select your back-end engine first, then design the infrastructure. Choose your client toolset last.

A word of warning:  Mixing and integrating client/server technology is not for the faint of heart. Stick with well-known products that are proven to work together. Avoid making your final purchase until you' re sure that all the pieces snap together. You wouldn' t want to buy a back-end database that didn' t support your favorite front-end programming tool, for example.

From The Back Forward

Most people have fairly basic needs for collecting and organizing data, and creating reports. If your data is simple and can be arranged into tables of rows and columns, then consider a back end that supports the standard structured query language (SQL). Many databases conform to SQL, and SQL statements use plain-English commands, making them easy to learn and use. For example, the command select cust_name cus_id from customer where city equals ' Atlanta'  pulls up the name and customer ID number from just about any SQL database with identical structures for table and field names.

If you can, choose a database back end with strong third-party support. This way you' ll have  greater flexibility when selecting front-end tools and designing an infrastructure. Also, make sure your database back end is scalable. It should run on hardware platforms of different sizes. Oracle Server, SQL Server, SQL Base, Progress and Informix have extensive third-party support and run on a variety of hardware platforms.

If you decide to hire a commercial applications developer to create your client/server database system, be aware that most will support only one back-end database. This may limit your options for front-end tools or other database components.

Building An Infrastructure

Think about the infrastructure requirements of your client/server database. For our purposes, infrastructure means server operating system, network protocols and server hardware. Here are a few general rules to follow when planning your infrastructure:

Keep network protocol stacks down to one or two at the most. Don' t introduce new operating systems unless absolutely necessary.

Don' t run file and print services on the same computer as your database application. Even though today's hardware makes it easy and economical to put everything on one computer, avoid the temptation. No operating system is crash-proof, and cramming too many services on a single server invites disaster.

For your back-end database, consider an operating system that you' re already familiar with. For example, if you are running Novell NetWare as your LAN and file-server operating system, you should consider a back-end database that is a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM). This way you won' t have to learn a new operating system.

Operating Systems

Debates rage about which is the best client/server database operating system. NetWare fans promote NLMs because they are easy to install, as well as fast and powerful. Opponents contend that NetWare lacks sophisticated support for databases and multiple processors. NetWare's newest release, version 4.1, should allay most of the critics'  complaints. According to Novell, NetWare 4.1 will support multiple processors and will allow a single database to reside on more than one server.

OS/2, UNIX and Windows NT frequently are preferred operating environments for database servers. Both UNIX and NT support multiple processing servers. Recent releases of OS/2 seem stable and robust but keep you hemmed into Intel platform hardware.

UNIX is the most mature of the operating systems. In addition, it supports multiprocessing and runs on the widest variety of hardware servers. For example, you can use an Intel-based server, or a RISC server, such as the RS-6000. The problem with UNIX is its complexity. You' ll probably find it difficult to maintain your server unless you either are a UNIX guru or hire one.

Windows NT offers some interesting options. The newest breed in the operating system corral supports multiple platforms and processors. NT's drawback is its lack of maturity. It is still relatively new compared with other operating systems, and there aren' t many installed sites.

Network Protocols.

Pay careful attention to the network protocol required by your database. While most client/server databases support common protocols, such as IPX or TCP/IP, sometimes they require their own drivers. If you have a Novell NetWare LAN, your best bet is to stick with a database that runs IPX. Otherwise, look for one that runs TCP/IP. Both are routable protocols, and are well supported and well behaved. Steer clear of NetBIOS, NetBEUI or proprietary protocols. These protocols consume too much client PC memory and do not route well across large networks.

Hardware

Look for a real server, not just a fast PC turned on its side, and get one that's loaded with extra RAM so that activity can be cached and buffered, and commands are executed in fast memory. The server you choose will hold the crown jewels--your organization's data. Its performance is critical, so be sure to carefully select your hardware (and your hardware vendors). In addition, since database backups can be tricky, consider designing a system that incorporates RAIDs (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks). Your data will be copied onto multiple drives for an extra measure of protection.

Front-End Tools

Front-end tools are available for professional developers as well as end users, and you' ll find a dizzying array of choices. Developer tools vary in form and function. There are programming languages, screen painters and computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools. Tools for end users usually offer features for data analysis, report writing and data extraction. Because each product offers different features, you' ll probably use a variety of front-end tools.

Perhaps the best-known Windows-based tools for building client/server applications are Powersoft's PowerBuilder, Microsoft's Visual Basic and Gupta's SQL Windows. Each offers excellent support from its maker and from third-party vendors. Both SQL Windows and PowerBuilder were built from the ground up as database development tools. SQL Windows has a robust and mature scripting language that allows you to create screens, reports and complex business rules without using a programming language like C or COBOL. PowerBuilder relies less on a procedural scripting language and offers a more object-oriented environment. Visual Basic, which began as a programming language, is object-oriented but still maintains a strong scripting capability.

End-user tools such as Gupta's Quest and Powersoft's PowerMaker allow users to create reports and special views from data. Data analysis tools such as Trinzic's Forest & Trees offer users the ability to access client/server database tables. Forest & Trees also enables users to combine the tabular data with data from other sources, such as spreadsheets and other databases. In addition, PC-based databases like Access and Paradox, as well as spreadsheets such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel, can be used to access client/server data.

Several industry vendors have been working on standard application programming interfaces (APIs) to make it easier for front-end tools to access back-end databases. Two standards have emerged:  ODBC and IDAPI. Microsoft shepherded the ODBC standard that has become the current de facto standard. Borland and others are working on the more extensive IDAPI.

The Choice Is Yours

Nearly every midsized to large business will have to decide whether to adopt client/server database technology. Technically, client/server architecture is a bit more complex than file-server databases. Its openness to multiple access tools makes it less controllable than minicomputer or mainframe databases. For the uninitiated, the sheer multitude of choices can be overwhelming.

If you find yourself more cautious or curious than committed to client/server database technology, you' re not alone. While client/server computing isn' t for everyone, it is a flexible way to make data available to people in your organization. Consider the alternatives carefully, follow our guidelines and use some common sense, and you' ll come up with the choice that's right for your organization.

Cheryl Currid, author of 10 books on business and information technology, is president of Houston-based technology advisory firm Currid & Company. Cheryl writes the Windows at Work column for WINDOWS Magazine. Her E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


SQL Server For Windows NT--A GUI Back End, Finally

By:  : John D. Ruley And William Gee

As the most Windows-oriented of today's high-end client/server databases, Microsoft's SQL Server for Windows NT merits a special look. In the past, network administrators as well as end users have had to make do with the character-mode user interfaces typically offered by client/server back ends. Breaking this mold, SQL Server for Windows NT provides both groups with a graphical user interface (GUI).

The back end also offers tight integration with its operating system. Error messages are logged in NT's systemwide Event Log, and NT's Performance Monitor application reveals valuable information about your SQL Server database system to help identify any bottlenecks.

Performance And Limitations

SQL Server for Windows NT performs remarkably well on the Transaction Processing Council (TPC)-B benchmark. The application can deliver close to 100 transactions per second on typical single-CPU 486 systems, and can deliver more than 200 transactions per second on multiprocessor systems. (For more information on the TPC benchmarks, contact TPC at 408-295-8894, fax 408-295-9768.)

One limitation of SQL Server for Windows NT is that it's available only on Windows NT. However, Windows NT Server runs on an extremely wide range of hardware, and SQL Server is supported on all platforms that NT supports, from single-CPU 486 servers up to Sequent's huge WinServers (which currently support a maximum of six Pentium CPUs, although these will soon be increased substantially).

The most common complaint about SQL Server for NT is that it doesn' t run on NetWare. However, it does support IPX, so you can add a SQL Server for NT system to an existing NetWare LAN. Users will see it in exactly the same way they would see a database NLM (NetWare Loadable Module).

Another drawback of the product is that it lacks per-user chargeback accounting (necessary when a central database is shared by several departments). Microsoft is apparently working with third parties to provide this capability, but it wasn' t available as of this writing. In addition, the back-end database has limited replication capabilities, which Microsoft plans to remedy with future versions.

Future Products Serve Up Integration, Ole

The future of server-based applications at Microsoft includes a bundle of products called Back Office, which is expected for release this winter. The package will include NT Server 3.5, SQL Server, SNA Server, Systems Management Server and Mail Server.  All Back Office applications are Windows-based, offer tight integration with Windows NT Server and are designed to work together.

SQL Server for Windows NT is slated for a major revision this year. The updated version will allow access to SQL and various server parameters through OLE objects. This means that administrators will be able to write scripts and control the server using Visual Basic or any other application that provides an OLE Automation interface. Combined with other new features, SQL ' 95 promises an even more advanced NT database in the not-too-distant future.


Client/Server Building Blocks

Back-End Databases

CA-OpenIngres

Computer Associates International

800-225-5224, 516-342-5224

Informix-SE for Windows NT

Informix Software

800-331-1763, 415-926-6300

InterBase

Borland International

800-245-7367, 408-431-1000

Oracle Workgroup Server

Oracle Corp.

800-633-0596, 415-506-5701

Pick Open Database

Pick Systems

800-FOR-PICK, 714-261-7425

Progress RDBMS

Progress Software Corp.

800-4-PROGRESS, 617-280-4000

SQL Base

Gupta Corp.

800-876-3267, 415-321-9500

SQL Server for Windows NT

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Watcom SQL

Watcom International Corp.

800-265-4555, 519-886-3700

Workgroups SQL Server 10

Sybase

800-8-SYBASE, 510-922-3500

XDB-Server for Windows NT

XDB Systems

800-488-4948, 301-317-6800

Front-End Tools

Accell/SQL

Unify Corp.

800-248-6439, 916-928-6400

Application Development Workbench (ADW)

KnowledgeWare

800-444-8575, 404-231-3510

Business Objects

Business Objects

408-973-9300, fax 408-973-1057

Concorde

Symantec Corp

800-441-7234, 408-253-9600

DataEase Express 1.1

DataEase International

800-243-5123, 203-374-8000

Ellipse

Bachman Information Systems

617-273-9003, fax 617-229-9904

Enterprise Workbench

Easel Corp.

800-OBJECTS, 617-221-3000

Forest & Trees

Trinzic Corp.

800-952-8779, 603-427-0444

Forte

Forte Software

510-869-3400, fax 510-834-1508

Informix-HyperScript Tools

Informix Software

800-331-1763, 415-926-6300

Intersolv Q+E 6.0

Intersolv

800-876-3101, 919-859-2220

KBMS

Trinzic Corp.

617-891-6500, fax 617-622-1544

KnowledgePro

Knowledge Garden

516-862-0600, fax 516-862-0644

Magic

Magic Software

800-345-6244, 714-250-1718

Microsoft SQL Server Programmer's Toolkit

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

ObjectView

KnowledgeWare

800-444-8575, 404-231-3510

Omnis 7 and Omnis 7 Plus

Blyth Software

800-346-6647, 415-571-0222

Oracle Card and Oracle Forms

Oracle Corp.

800-633-0583, 415-506-5701

Pace Application Builder

Wang Laboratories

800-639-9264, 508-459-5000

PowerBuilder Enterprise

Powersoft Corp.

800-395-3525, 508-287-1500

PowerClass

ServerLogic Corp.

206-803-0378, fax 206-803-0349

PowerTool

PowerCerv

813-226-2378, fax 813-222-0886

Progress

Progress Software Corp.

800-4-PROGRESS, 617-280-4000

SQLFile

Vinzant

800-355-3443, 219-942-9544

SQL Windows

Gupta Corp.

800-876-3267, 415-321-9500

Uniface Six

Uniface Corp.

800-365-3608, 510-748-6145

Unify Vision

Unify Corp.

800-248-6439, 916-928-6400

Visual Basic

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Operating Systems

NetWare

Novell

800-NETWARE, 801-429-7000

OS/2

IBM Corp.

800-3-IBM-OS2, 810-552-4200

UNIX

(offered by many vendors)

Windows NT

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Hardware Servers

NetServer

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900, 415-857-1501

PowerEdge

Dell Computer Corp.

800-613-3355, 512-338-4400

PowerFrame

Tricord Systems

800-TRICORD, 612-557-9005

ProLiant 4000R 5/100

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, fax 713-378-1442

PS/2 Model 95

IBM Corp.

800-426-3333, 914-765-1900

Revolution MP Pentium/100

Advanced Logic Research (ALR)

800-444-4ALR, 714-581-6770

Symmetry and WinServer

Sequent Computer Systems

800-854-0428, 503-626-5700


Pull In For A Free Tune-Up

Main Story: Pull In For A Free Tune-Up

What Makes Wintune?

Benchmark Calculations 101

Where's Wintune?


Main Story: Pull In For A Free Tune-Up

Wintune 2.0 Goes Beyond The Usual Diagnostics And Tells You How To Fix What Ails Your System. Take our guided tour to find out what Wintune can do for you.

By:  Paul E. Schindler Jr.

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

So you think your system is as fine-tuned as it can be? Don' t answer that, at least not until you run the WINDOWS Magazine Test and Tune-Up Kit. See how your system stacks up against other PCs, and how you can improve its performance. Wintune might even help you get things running at up to twice their former speed. What's more, Wintune is free.

It's been more than a year since we introduced the first version of Wintune. The new version goes beyond diagnostics and benchmarks. It acts like a personal consultant, giving you advice on how to fix the specific problems it finds while examining your system. Here's an introduction to Wintune 2.0, along with a guided tour of the most important aspects of the program. By the time the tour is over, you' ll have the tools you need to add a spark to your system's engine, kick to its fuel and air to its tires.

The Benchmarks

Most benchmarks simply tell you how well your system works, looking at performance in terms of raw machine power or DOS performance. Those are interesting numbers, but they bear little relevance to how your computer will work in the Windows environment. Your system's ability to do a good job is dependent on a complex series of interactions among Windows, its device drivers and your applications. Any benchmark that doesn' t use those drivers the way your applications do won' t tell you much about your system's performance under Windows.

Wintune uses the same system calls to Windows that word processors, spreadsheets and databases use when they request access to hardware via Windows. We time the execution of these calls to measure the performance of your CPU/floating-point unit (FPU), your video system (video card and monitor), your hard disk storage an+d your RAM.

If we stopped with these measurements, Wintune would be just another synthetic benchmark. A synthetic benchmark isolates and measures the performance of system components like the CPU and hard disk. But Wintune also performs applications benchmarks. We determined the proportions of various Windows system calls used in generic word processing and spreadsheet applications. Using those proportions, we adjust Wintune's raw system-call performance numbers then break down the results by system component.

This lets you focus attention on the parts of your system that are most responsible for slowing down your particular application. If your bottleneck is video, you don' t need to spend much time tuning your hard disk, and vice versa. Once you' ve addressed the problems that Wintune points out, you can use an application benchmark (or run your application) to verify that your tune-up had a positive effect.

Performance Improvement Tips

Once your tests have been run, it's time for you to play an active role in improving your system's performance.

Wintune 1.0 pointed you to a Windows help file full of information culled from WINDOWS Magazine and its contributors. You get even more help with Wintune 2.0. The help files have been simplified and reorganized to make them easier to navigate, investigate and understand. We replaced generic advice with specific, step-by-step tips on how to carry out an improvement and broke the help down into smaller subjects to reduce the amount of material you have to read through to find what you really want.

We also placed our frequently asked questions in a help file to make it easier for you to find the answers. But perhaps the most exciting addition to Wintune is a program called the Tip Advisor. Tightly linked with Wintune, the Tip Advisor takes the information Wintune gathers about your system and offers specific advice on how you can improve its performance.

With Wintune and the Tip Advisor, you' ll feel like there's a tune-up expert sitting right beside you, going over your system and telling you how to adjust it to make things run better. The Tip Advisor starts with the Wintune test results, then looks in various Windows and system files to determine the contents of your WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files.

Next, the Tip Advisor offers you specific advice, such as "Increase your cache size,'' "Use a custom video driver,'' or "Create a permanent swap file.'' It also provides rules of thumb for determining settings, offers some typical results, and outlines step-by-step advice on how to implement the tips.

In addition, each tip comes with "Before You Start'' information that suggests precautions you should take to reduce the chances of making disaster-producing changes.

Running Wintune

Before you start Wintune, close any applications that are running (except Program Manager). You need to do this because the memory and CPU power used to run background tasks can make Wintune's results less accurate. To make sure you are aware of any programs that may be running in the background, call up the Windows Task List by pressing Ctrl+Esc. Select each task and click on the End Task button to close it.

You may also want to run Wintune once while running any applications in your StartUp group or on the Load or Run lines in your WIN.INI file. If you see a big difference in Wintune results with the background applications running, they may be causing your system's sluggish behavior.

When you start Wintune, an animated arrow will point at the Start button in the lower left-hand corner. Clicking on this button will get the tests running. Few of Wintune's features are available until after you have done the tests.

By default, Wintune runs in Quick Test Mode, checking your CPU/FPU, video, hard disk and RAM. You can do more detailed tests on color and memory by choosing Full Test Mode. To do so, pull down the Edit menu, select Preferences, click on the Tests tab and select Full Test Mode.

Using Full Test Mode, Wintune will check the 24-bit color capabilities of your system. Generally, 24-bit color operation does not affect the performance of mainstream business applications, so this test is not run as a matter of course.

Full Test Mode will also check out your RAM and memory cache by moving 50MB of data into RAM instead of the 10MB used by the Quick Test. Although we do find that moving 10MB of data into RAM produces a sufficient estimate of memory performance, Full Test Mode provides more precise results. (The Full Test can, however, take five times longer than the Quick Test, adding up to several minutes to the tests on some systems.)

In both Quick and Full Test Mode, Wintune waits 10 seconds between each of the tests it performs. This eliminates interference from disk caches or virtual memory that might try to access the disk while a test is in progress. Wintune's results should generally be repeatable to within a few percentage points when you run it multiple times, as long as no other applications are running in the background. However, the disk test results may vary more, particularly on a heavily fragmented hard disk. Wintune results can also be affected by network activity if your PC is connected to a LAN.

Using Wintune Effectively

To get the most out of Wintune 2.0, try the following hints.

Go after the big fish. Click on the Performance tab on top of the home screen, then on the Application Performance tab on the left side of the performance screen. In the upper-right-hand corner is a drop-down box that allows you to select Generic Word Processor Performance or Generic Spreadsheet Performance. Select the application you use most often. Examine the bar marked Current, which is the system you just tested. After you are through either gloating about or bemoaning your relative performance, concentrate on the width of the bars for your machine. The widest bar is the system component that needs the most work--that is, the area where improvement would yield the greatest benefits in your most commonly used application. If the Tip Advisor did not offer you any tips on this area, select Help/Contents in Wintune and click on the Improving System Performance folder.

Don' t fret over small differences. If a coworker's PC gets 34.9 MIPS and yours gets 33.8, that's only a 3 percent difference. It's not significant at all. In fact, most people aren' t even going to notice performance improvements of less than about 20 percent without using a stopwatch.

Don' t think of tuning as a one-time proposition. Just as your car benefits from regular tune-ups, your Windows PC will perform better if you regularly run Wintune and try the tips it suggests. Also, if you save the results from each run (and name them something meaningful like DAVE's NOV23 RESULTS) you can see whether your system is becoming less speedy over time. For example, it is a good idea to defragment your disk and remove unneeded files periodically to keep disk performance at its best. Run Wintune afterward to see if your changes helped.

Save your results after every test. There is a WINTUNE.TRF file in your WT20 directory with detailed information about each test you have run, as well as some sample systems to which you can compare your system. You can add to this file using the File/Save Present Test Results in Database command, and you can save a private copy using File/Save Test Results Database As. The latter command also allows you to export the file in a Comma Separated Value (.CSV) format that can be read by spreadsheets and databases. Click on the Comparison tab on the home screen to compare various Wintune test runs.

Read the README.TXT file and the help files that come with Wintune. Wintune 2.0 comes with three fact-filled help files, but you should also check README.TXT, which contains late-breaking information that may not be in the help files.

WTFAQ.HLP is a Windows Help (WinHelp) file with frequently asked questions about installation, tuning and error messages. You can open this file from within Wintune Help by clicking on the button marked Frequently Asked Questions. It is also available as FAQ.TXT on America Online.

WTHELP.HLP is a WinHelp file with information about Wintune itself as well as detailed advice on how you should tune your system. This is the file you open if you select Help/Contents from Wintune.

WTTIP.HLP works with the Tip Advisor and should not be viewed separately, since the tips it contains apply only when certain conditions are detected on your system.


What Makes Wintune?

Here's A Detailed Listing Of The Pieces That Comprise Wintune, And Their Authors.

By:  Paul E. Schindler

•	HELL16.DLL--Low-level performance tests, implemented as a Windows dynamic link library. This module performs tests of your CPU, FPU, disk, video and memory performance using standardized low-level benchmarks. The tests are based on the public-domain Dhrystone and Whetstone benchmarks, combined with original code written by WINDOWS Magazine senior contributing editor Dr. Martin Heller and editor-at-large John D. Ruley.

•	GETINFO.DLL--A system information acquisition engine, implemented as a Windows dynamic link library. Called by the Visual Basic front end, this module acquires "static'' information about your system, such as how much memory is installed, whether your hard disk supports 32-bit disk access and so on. GETINFO was written by John Ruley and senior technical editor David W. Methvin of WINDOWS Magazine, with assistance from the other people mentioned here.

•	TIPADW16.DLL--A unique Tip Advisor engine, implemented as a Windows dynamic link library. This module takes information from HELL16.DLL and GETINFO.DLL, compares it with predefined norms, and emits a prioritized list of indexes into a specially written help file. It was created by David Methvin with assistance from the other people mentioned here.

•	The WINTUNE front end, written in Microsoft Visual Basic, ties together all the DLLs and help files, making Wintune 2.0 a completely integrated application. It was written by Enis Moran of Graphical Bytes, with assistance from all the other people mentioned here.

•	WINHELP--Several Windows help files, including WTFAQ.HLP, WTHELP.HLP and WTTIP.HLP. Wintune 2.0 makes extensive use of the Microsoft Windows Help engine to display information, including all output from the Wintune Tip Advisor and a file of frequently asked questions. The help files were generated by Paul E. Schindler Jr., northern California bureau editor of WINDOWS Magazine, with assistance from the other people mentioned here as well as the WINDOWS Magazine editorial staff.

•	WINTUNE.TRF--Information on several standard systems is provided in a file on your disk. This gives you a set of known standards you can compare with your own system's performance. You can either add to this file, or create new files with the results you measure yourself.


Benchmark Calculations 101

Here's An Inside Look At The Benchmark Calculations That Wintune Uses To Measure System Performance.

By:  Martin Heller

In its application performance comparisons, Wintune includes the following simple additive model for calculating the total time it takes for a Windows application to perform a particular set of tasks:

Ttotal = Tinteger + Tfloating point + Tdisk IO + Tvideo + Tmemory

We may be oversimplifying, but this model works well in practice. We can measure the aggregate speed of a given computer's integer arithmetic in MIPS, floating-point arithmetic in MFLOPS, disk I/O in megabytes per second, video output in pixels per second with our low-level benchmarks, and memory access in megabytes per second. Then the predicted speed of any given application can be written as follows:

Ttotal = C1/ MIPS +  C2/ MFLOPS + C3/ Disk MBYTES/s + C4Npixels/ MPIXELS/s +  C5/Memory MBYTES/s

The term Npixels is here to take care of different screen resolutions, and it is simply the total number of pixels on-screen. So, for 640x480 resolution, Npixels is 307200. Of course, you can predict the screen-writing speed only at the measured color depth. The variation in time with screen resolution is the reason WINDOWS Magazine's low-level benchmarks always do their video tests in a 640x480 window.

The trick for making this useful is computing the coefficients C1 through C5. That's where linear regression comes in.

If we set

X1 =  1/MIPS, X2=  1/MFLOPS, X3= 1/DiskMBYTES/s  , X4=  Npixels/MPIXELS/s , X5=  1/Memory MBYTES/s

then we can write

Ttotal = ·Ci-Xi = 1

which is clearly linear. The Xi are the low-level benchmark measurements on a given computer, Ttotal is the application benchmark time for the same computer, and the Ci are coefficients that relate the low-level terms to the high-level terms.

There is still a problem here. Disk speed and memory speed are not constants, because of the effects of caching. Memory cache speeds up memory access when the size of the memory being accessed is small (kilobytes), and disk cache speeds up disk access when the size of the file being accessed is small (hundreds of kilobytes). For each application that we want to characterize, we' ll need to determine an average disk access speed and an average memory access speed, which won' t necessarily be the same from application to application.

To determine the Ci, we made a lot of measurements of both the low-level and high-level performance numbers. Then we minimized the sums of the squares of the residuals, which are defined as the differences between the predicted and actual values of Ttotal. This is standard procedure that reduces to accumulating and inverting a matrix. You can read about it in virtually any statistics book. But it gets tricky because not all methods for inverting a matrix are unconditionally stable for this problem. That leads you away from easy, fast processes like Gaussian elimination to techniques like LU or singular value decomposition--the stuff of a graduate course in numerical methods.


Where's Wintune?

Pick Up A Free Copy Of Wintune From These Services.

By:  David W. Methvin

Wintune 2.0 is widely available on-line. You can pick it up in the WINDOWS Magazine Online area of America Online by selecting Keyword from the Go To menu (of the Windows version of AOL's software). Type WinMag, click on the Software Libraries button and double-click on Wintune & Support Files. You' ll find the Wintune file there.

You can also download Wintune from CompuServe (GO WINSHARE), BIX (WINDOWS listings area) and The Well (/home/p/e/pes/wintune.zip). Wintune is also available at our ftp site at ftp.std.com in our directory, /ftp/periodicals/winmag.

We field Wintune questions and suggestions on America Online. From the main WINDOWS Magazine Online screen, click on the Message Exchange button, then click on Browse Folders and select Wintune 2.0 from the list. You might want to read the existing messages before posing a question--there's a good chance it's been answered already!

If you have trouble locating Wintune, you can send us electronic mail at our main e-mail box, windowsmag@aol.com and we' ll do our best to help.


Jan. 95 Superior Shareware

Recommended Downloads

By:  Julie R. Blumenfeld

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

ANT_HTML 2.0

Build your own home pages on the WorldWide Web the easy way. This template lets you create HTML docs in Word 6.0. And it offers all functions in a toolbar, so you don' t need to know HTML code. For an extra $5, you also get ANT_PLUS, an HTML-to-Word 6.0 conversion utility.

$15

Jill Swift

ANTHTM.ZIP, 72,178 bytes

requires Word 6.0

CARDBOOK 1.0

Take Windows Cardfile on the road! This little app prints your Cardfile entries in a booklet the size of a folded dollar bill--a perfect fit for your wallet. Pages are numbered and printed on both sides so you can staple them at the center. The entries are small but they' re readable.

$9

Press F1 for Help!

Zeckendorf Towers

CARDBO.ZIP, 98,277 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

DIRMATCH 1.0

t's time to clean up FileMan. This utility lets you view directories side by side, and copy, compare, delete, launch, edit and print files. DirMatch also offers file display, sort order, and copy/delete confirmations, and lets you define a file mask. You can choose to view all files, or just different or similar files.

$12

Cliff Wong

DIRMAT.ZIP, 129,546 bytes

FILE MANAGER STEPUP 2.6

This File Manager add-on has a customizable Execute menu for easy access to the apps you use the most. A handy Quick menu offers frequently used commands and tracks execution history. Commands include Total Directory Size, Change Date/Time and Run Screen Saver.

$19.95

Andrei Belogortseff-ChaoSoft

FMSTEP.ZIP, 188,554 bytes

THE AMF DAILY PLANNER AND PIM 1.0

The functions of this WinFax Pro 4.0-compatible PIM appear in a 3-D push-button interface. Features include the ability to print labels and envelopes with U.S. barcodes, produce FiloFax database reports and set up to 1,440 alarms a day.

$21.95

Andrew M. Freeman

WPIM.ZIP, 219,412 bytes

VUEPRINT 3.2

You can do more than just view with VuePrint. This utility lets you display, manipulate, print and save graphics files (.GIF, .JPG, .PCX, .TGA, .DIB and .BMP formats), and play sound files (.WAV, .MID and .MCI formats). It also supports read/write uuencoded files and offers many viewing options.

$40

Ed Hamrick

VUEPRI.ZIP, 222,208 bytes

WAY TO GO 2.0

Breeze through your time on-line with this AOL add-on. Among its features are an off-line reader for

e-mail, message boards and newsgroups, time tracking and billing management, and a macro/script language. Way To Go also has a configurable floating toolbar with pop-up tool tips.

$25

Tim Hill-Prism Elite Software

WTG20.ZIP, 376,288 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL and WAOL 1.5 or higher

WINDISC 6.0

Choose what you want to hear and how you want to hear it with this audio CD configuration utility. Features include shuffle mode, repeat mode and programmable track setting. The CD Index lets you enter CD titles and tracks, then saves this information for the next time you use that CD.

$20

Greg Palmer-PDG Software

WDISC6.ZIP, 177,979 bytes

requires a CD-ROM drive

WINSPELL 3.05

Do you need your own copy editor? This spellcheck supervisor checks each word you type against its internal dictionaries. WinSpell also offers visual and audio notification and can look up single words. The program works with any Windows app and most commercial on-line services.

$29.95

R&TH

WINSP3.ZIP, 643,751 bytes

WIN TIMER 4.1

Don' t let your modem eat up your paycheck. With Win Timer you can track your on-line charges by the hour or the minute. You can also run the program as a stopwatch and timer. It provides a stay-on-top option and a 3-D interface, and lets you run an unlimited number of timers.

$10

G. L. Liadis & Associates

WTIMER.ZIP, 56,456 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL


Jan 95 Networking Windows: Make A Smooth Move To Windows 3.11

By:  Jeffrey Sloman

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Remote access, e-mail and shared scheduling are some of the major benefits of moving your network from Windows 3.1 to Windows for Workgroups (WFWG) 3.11. But before you forge ahead with the upgrade, you' ll need to know a thing or two about the way WFWG operates.

WFWG 3.11 differs from Windows 3.1 in a basic, but important, way:  It integrates network connectivity into its operating system. In Windows 3.1, the network drivers handle only file and printer sharing. The NICs (network interface cards) are handled outside Windows with real-mode drivers, which are loaded in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. WFWG 3.11 offers 32-bit protected-mode NIC drivers, and it can recognize and configure many NICs.

Here's how you can make a smooth transition to Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on three different types of networks:  NetWare only, combined NetWare and Windows, and Windows only.

Netware-Only Network

If you run a NetWare shop and have no intention of providing peer services using Windows, ignore the NIC drivers that come with Windows. Your configuration will continue to include real-mode NIC drivers (ODI) and a shell (VLMs). Notice that I didn' t mention IPX.COM and NETX.COM:  Updating these drivers is the first step toward making the transition to WFWG 3.11. Novell no longer supports IPX.COM (also called Monolithic IPX), so there will be no more updates of IPX.OBJ. The only reason to use the older IPX.COM instead of ODI is to support a NIC for which you just can' t get ODI drivers.

If you' re already using ODI, it's critical that you get the latest version of your NIC's MLID (Media Layer Interface Device), the driver component that understands the hardware. Windows uses features within the MLID that many older drivers lack. If your MLID is even six months old, it probably needs updating. As for NETX.COM, although this version of the NetWare shell will work, it lacks the new features that VLMs support--such as UNC (Universal Naming Convention)--that make Windows networking considerably easier. You can get these drivers and driver updates from various sources, but the best place to get them quickly is from your NetWare reseller.

After you upgrade your drivers, it's a good idea to wait at least a week before making the Windows upgrade so you can isolate problems that these new drivers might introduce. Once you' re confident that the new drivers are functional, you can move on to the next step.

There are a number of ways to perform the upgrade from Windows 3.1 to WFWG 3.11, but the easiest is to use the SETUP /H option. This technique allows you to provide a preconfigured set of options to Setup via a text file called a system settings file. (You' ll find a sample system settings file, which has an .SHH extension, in your shared Windows directory. Full documentation is in the Windows Resource Kit, available from Microsoft and many computer software stores.)

This method preserves user-defined settings and special .INI entries for each user. The .SHH file provides all the information needed to set up Windows, so you can perform the upgrade automatically from a batch file when Windows is launched. Be sure to test your .SHH file thoroughly before placing it in your production environment.

When you encounter the Networks dialog box during setup, you' ll need to choose to install Windows support for a Novell NetWare network only (taking care to select the appropriate shell version). This will prevent the peer sharing of files and printers. But thanks to a NetBIOS driver provided by Microsoft that's compatible with IPX/SPX (NetWare native transport), you' ll still be able to use WFWG's NetBIOS-based mail, schedule and NetDDE services.

What's In A Name?

In order to access these NetBIOS services, you' ll need to assign each machine a unique name. This name is used to identify each machine as a source or a target of network traffic (the way NetWare's IPX uses the Ethernet or other node address, such as Token Ring).

In past columns, I' ve advised you to name each computer to reflect its function in your enterprise. With few exceptions, this should not be the user's name. One exception is the scenario we' ve been discussing, a NetWare-only WFWG 3.11 installation. Because you' re not using the WFWG machines for file- and print-sharing services, but rather for services such as Chat and MS Mail notification, user names simplify things. Users will be prompted for a computer name the first time the new Windows is started. I recommend that you instruct each user to type in his or her NetWare login name and use it as the WFWG 3.11 machine name.

The only other accommodation you' ll need to make in a NetWare-only setup is to switch to UNC naming in path specifications. UNC is the standard notation for Windows networking and is also used by other systems, such as OS/2 networks. It looks like this:

\\server_name\share_name\file_spec

The share name is the name specified at the time a resource is shared. In contrast, NetWare naming looks like this:

server_name/volume: file_spec

Although you can use standard NetWare naming notation with Windows in some places--such as the WIN.INI file--you can' t use it directly to specify, say, the path to an executable file in the Properties dialog box of a Program Manager icon. Instead you must first map a drive, then use that mapped drive to specify the path. This is inefficient and confusing to the user, who will see drive letters in File Manager that may never be needed for any other reason.

With UNC, on the other hand, you can directly specify the path to a resource and create an implicit connection. This connection is used on the fly and will access the resource without the need for mapping drive letters. The connection disappears when the resource is no longer in use. Thanks to VLMs and WFWG 3.11, UNC can point to NetWare resources. In fact, you must use UNC with some applications or they' ll become confused.

Translating NetWare notation into UNC is easy. The main thing to remember is to use the volume as the share name. The volume is automatically assigned by NetWare and can' t be changed (unlike in Windows-only networking, where the user assigns the share name.) For example, if the NetWare path is this:

NW312/USR: APPS\WINWORD.600\WINWORD.EXE

then the UNC path is this:

\\NW312\USR\APPS\WINWORD.600\WINWORD.EXE

Use UNC whenever you specify a resource in a dialog box.

NETWARE-AND-WINDOWS NETWORK

Running a combined configuration is almost the same as running NetWare only. You still use NetWare's ODI drivers and VLMs, and you still choose to install the appropriate NetWare shell in the Networks dialog box or through the .SHH file. The main difference is that instead of choosing to install a NetWare network only, you choose to install a Microsoft Windows network and support for the additional NetWare network. Unlike the NetWare-only installation, this gives you peer file and printer sharing, which you can access via the combined Microsoft/NetWare dialog box.

Windows-Only Network

The third scenario involves running a Windows-only network. During the installation of WFWG 3.11--or within the .SHH file you create--you can choose to install a Microsoft Windows network and no additional network. This means you' ll run only the Microsoft-supplied networking drivers and protocols on your network, and you' ll connect only to servers and devices that support these protocols.

But just because you run only Microsoft network protocols doesn' t mean you have to give up NetWare file and print services. By adopting Windows NT Server 3.5 as well as WFWG 3.11, you can create a highly integrated Windows network environment without giving up NetWare.

I' m going to give some advice I don' t present lightly. If you' re deciding whether to upgrade your NetWare 3.11 server to NetWare 3.12 or 4.0, it's time to consider Windows NT Server 3.5. The latest version of NT Server is a real alternative to NetWare upgrades. For one thing, it costs less. NT is not licensed on a per-user basis; a server license buys a server for as many users as you can support on your hardware. A separate per-client license buys access to any number of servers. Windows NT 3.5 is also inherently integrated with the Windows operating system. I' m not suggesting that NetWare is a poor choice, but that NT may be a better choice if you' re upgrading or setting up a new server. (For more information, see "Smaller, Faster, Better--NT 3.5'' in this issue.)

Further sweetening the deal is NT Server's ability to act as a gateway to NetWare file and print services for your WFWG 3.11 clients. The big advantage to the user is that all networking will come through one interface--no more NetWare button in dialog boxes, no more networking drivers to load in AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. This means you can make a smooth transition over time from NetWare to NT Server, completely removing the need for the NetWare box. All these features can make the move nearly transparent and entirely painless for end users.

Using WFWG and NT exclusively (with or without the NetWare gateway feature) simplifies some things--but it introduces a new complication if you have a centralized Windows installation. You must be able to start enough of Windows'  networking features to get to the rest of the Windows files and load them. But if your Windows files provide network access, and Windows is on the file server, how can you start the network?

Some Workarounds

Fortunately, Microsoft has provided a solution for this problem. All you need to do is store a few of the Windows files on the local drive. Invoking Setup with its /N parameter (setup/N) will create a Windows user file set to accomplish this. This situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that if you configure Windows with NDIS 3.0 drivers--the best choice, because they' re 32-bit protected-mode drivers--you won' t be able to get to the server to install Windows in the first place.

There are at least two ways around this dilemma. First, if you' re making the transition from NetWare to WFWG and NT Server, you can use your NetWare server to do the initial installation. Simply perform an administrative setup (SETUP /A) on the NetWare file server, duplicate it on the NT server, and then perform the WFWG upgrade from the NetWare server. After installation, remove the NetWare drivers from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and you' re all set.

Alternatively, if you' re buying machines with WFWG already installed (the current norm), use the local version of WFWG to log onto the network and run the new centralized setup. Then remove the unused local WFWG version.

During setup, Windows will suggest a directory called C: \NET for the local Windows networking files. As a rule of thumb, I like to preserve the path names that installation programs suggest--or at least as much of them as possible. In the case of this directory, I would prefix an exclamation point (!). I do this to indicate to users that this is a hands-off directory. The C: \!NET directory contains these files:

EMM386.EXE NETH.MSG

HIMEM.SYS PROTOCOL.INI

IFSHLP.SYS RAMDRIVE.SYS

MSCDEX.EXE SMARTDRV.EXE

NET.EXE SYSTEM.INI

NET.MSG WFWSYS.CFG

These files, plus the driver for your NIC, must be present for Windows to access the server and load up. The SYSTEM.INI file in this directory is rather small--just 338 bytes--because it contains only the parameters that are needed to get the network started.

An important file that's new to WFWG 3.11 is WFWSYS.CFG, which is created by the ADMINCFG.EXE utility that comes with WFWG. It's an encrypted configuration file that determines which capabilities WFWG will have when it starts. For example, you can use it to turn off peer file sharing. In addition, you can require WFWSYS.CFG to be updated automatically from the network.

After you perform the administrative installation (SETUP /A), remember to remove the WFWSYS.CFG file from the shared Windows directory. Doing this will prevent users from accessing the file and changing the configuration you' ve created. WFWSYS.CFG must be present in the C: \!NET directory in order for WFWG to start.

To Upgrade Or Not To Upgrade?

If you have the resources to move to WFWG 3.11, NT Server or both, it's to your advantage to upgrade. The change will bring many improvements to your networked Windows configuration. Just be sure you have an understanding of the issues involved, and study your existing configuration with these issues in mind before embarking upon the upgrade path. As with any rollout, pilot the new stuff first! Make sure it works in a test environment before applying it to your production system.

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration, an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan 95 Programming Windows: Patiently Awaiting Windows 95

By:  Martin Heller

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

A new year. The second half of the ' 90s. And is Chicago--excuse me, Windows 95--shipping? Ha! Am I holding my breath? Let's put it this way:  I remember living through the two-year slip of Windows 1.0 and the one-year slip of Windows 3.0. Microsoft likes to do system rollouts at Comdex, but the company isn' t fussy about which Comdex. I' m now hoping we' ll see it at the spring show in Atlanta, but who knows? There's always the fall show in Las Vegas.

At least Daytona--Windows NT 3.5--is out and working. And it's a good thing, because Visual C++ 2.0 will not run on

Windows 3.x. That's right:  You need a Windows NT or Windows 95 installation to develop Win32 applications with Microsoft's C++ compiler. That isn' t true of Borland's, Symantec's or Watcom's offerings, by the way.

Do I mind? Not really. I like developing in the Windows NT environment, especially on a well-appointed machine like the dual-Pentium Intergraph TD-4 I' m using at the moment, and I like VC++ 2.0 a lot. I like the integration and organization of the development environment, and I have no problem with the quality of the compiled code and the build speed. I like the fact that Microsoft is offering VC++ 2.0 with an automatic update subscription for an extra $100 a year (for three updates), the fact that the 16-bit VC++ 1.51 compiler is included on the same CD-ROM, and the fact that essentially the same compiler, tools and classes will be available for Mips, Alpha and Mac development.

The Mac VC++ system is actually for cross-development from an Intel host; the others are native development systems. All should be shipping as you read this.

VC++ and MFC promise not only convenience but also portability, and from what I' ve seen, that promise is being kept. Here at WINDOWS Magazine we' ve been able to rebuild my NTHELL benchmarks for Mips and Alpha with a relatively small effort. And I' ve seen the same sort of portability demonstrated for the Mac, although I haven' t yet tried it myself.

But I like those other vendors'  compilers too, and this is a column, not a review. So let me tell you about something unique to VC++ 2.0:  the MFC Control Wizard.

Developing Ole Controls (OCX)

We' ve discussed OCX controls a bit before, but a brush-up is probably appropriate about now. You remember that VBX controls are 16-bit Visual Basic extensions, which take the form of dynamic link libraries (DLLs) with a few extra, special functions to provide a property interface to Visual Basic. Well, OCX controls are also DLLs, and they also have a few extra, special functions to provide an interface to Visual Basic (version 4.0 and later). But the control is implemented as an OLE 2.0 compound document object with visual editing support and some extra capabilities.

An OCX control has display properties like any control:  You control how it's drawn. It has property states, some of which may affect the drawing of the control. You can get and set property states by the container through an OLE Automation interface, or by the user through a property sheet you supply. The control has methods you can invoke through OLE Automation, as we did with our OLE encryption server (see "Programming Windows,'' July and August). And the OCX has events--basically messages--that you define. The OCX fires the events, which the container then sees. In other words, the container acts on the OCX by setting properties and invoking methods, and the OCX acts on the container by firing events.

The OLE control model is quite complicated, but Microsoft has made creating an OLE control fairly simple by encapsulating most of the functionality in MFC classes and by automating most of the donkey work of setting up the code for a control with Control Wizard. (I suppose some boring marketing wizard ruled out calling it Control Freak.)

The guts of the control go in a class derived from COleControl. Your property page class derives from CPropertyPageDialog, and your property page's DoDataExchange function lets you link property page values with properties in the control with DDP_ functions. These are similar to the DDX_ functions that are used with conventional MFC dialogs.

Running Control Wizard is a piece of cake. But adding code so you can actually do something with the control is another story. Basically, you pick the Control Wizard item from the Tools menu of VC++ 2.0 or VC++ 1.51, and then start working through the dialog boxes. The top-level dialog lets you set the control's project name and path. Secondary dialogs let you set the project options, control options, and class and filenames for the individual controls in the project and their property pages. A final dialog summarizes the options you' ve chosen and lets you decide whether or not to go ahead and generate code.

Once you' ve generated code, you can build the project as either a 16- or 32-bit OLE control. You can register your new control and test it in the provided container. If you search for TODO, you' ll find all the places where you have to write real code to make the control do something interesting. The generated skeleton just draws a box with an ellipse in it.

In the Control Options dialog, you have the option to subclass a Windows control or to use a VBX control as a template. Each is quite powerful. If you have the code for an existing VBX control, you can be in business with an OCX equivalent in a matter of hours. If you want to do something similar to an existing Windows control, you supply only the behavior specific to your control and rely on the original Windows control to supply all the other behavior.

Subclassing Windows controls is the sort of tricky technique I' ve been writing about for years. It's really good to see somebody automate the process.

Delphi 95

It's also good to see some real competition in the market for visual programming tools that don' t require you to be a professional C++ programmer. In my opinion, C++ is the Chinese cleaver of programming tools. What do I mean by that? With a Chinese cleaver in the right hands, you get meat ready to stir-fry in a matter of seconds. With the same cleaver in the hands of a novice, you get fingers and blood mixed with your diced chicken, if the chicken ever gets diced at all.

Look, visual design tools and wizards and assistants are all great--but there comes a time when you have to write some code. C++ code doesn' t come easy:  It took me a good six months to absorb the language to the point where I felt comfortable writing it, and I pick this stuff up quickly.

For better or worse, I don' t think C++ is for everybody. Up until now, I' ve been sending programming novices and refugees from mainframe RPG shops to Visual Basic. There just hasn' t been an alternative that I could wholeheartedly recommend. But I think that just changed:  Borland's new client/server programming product, code-named Delphi, looks like a real contender for VB's lightweight programming crown.

Interestingly, Borland doesn' t talk about VB in the same breath as Delphi. For the most part, the company compares Delphi with PowerBuilder. Perhaps it's because Delphi has such a strong database component.

But let's step back. VB was an unlikely but felicitous marriage between QuickBasic and a visual user-interface development tool (code-named Ruby) that had been developed for Windows 3.0 and shelved because of a dispute between Microsoft and then-OS/2-partner, IBM. You might want to think of Delphi as a manage e trois involving Borland Pascal, a visual interface builder, and a collection of components and objects.

Or you might not. If we try to extend the metaphor to the client/server edition of Delphi, which also includes ReportSmith, SQL-Links and a local InterBase server, the mind boggles at the interaction possibilities. Let's forget the metaphor and simply say that there's a lot of good stuff in here and it works.

A couple of things struck me between the eyes when first I beheld Delphi. The first is almost irrelevant to the product, but it's a great user interface idea:  tabbed toolbars. Instead of making you manage the 9,000 little icons you need to do visual development on a project-by-project basis, Delphi organizes them into toolbars on index tabs. This is the slickest way I' ve ever seen to simplify a wealth of complex choices (and helping to design interfaces for intricate programs has been a specialty of mine).

The other striking thing is that the link between Delphi's visual interface builder and its Brief-derived editor is bidirectional. Graphically place an edit control on Form1 and you see a corresponding program object created in the class for you automatically in Unit1.Pas:

type

TForm1 = class(TForm)Edit1:  TEdit;

private{Private declarations}

public{Public declarations}

end;

Double-click on the edit control in design mode and procedure Edit1Change(Sender:  Tobject) is automatically added to the class definition, you get an empty procedure body for Edit1Change, and your edit cursor goes into the procedure between begin and end. Slick. Very slick.

Did I mention that Delphi's compiles are almost instantaneous? And that the resulting programs are true, fast native code? You remember Turbo Pascal--well, this is the same in-memory compilation technology, only grown-up. I could learn to like Pascal again with tools like this.

I just hope it' ll run on Chicago.

Martin Heller writes for and trains Windows software developers. You can contact Martin at mheller@bix.com or care of Mike Elgan. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan 95 eNTerprise Windows: Bargain Shopping For NT Upgrades

Bargain Shopping For NT Upgrades

Cutting Costs At Corel

Twice The Licenses


Bargain Shopping For NT Upgrades

By:  John Ruley

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Decisions, decisions. If you purchased Windows NT last year, you had to choose between the base product (NT 3.1) and the Advanced Server (NTAS 3.1). This year, with NT 3.5 (code-named Daytona), the names have changed and so has the licensing policy. That leaves those of us who bought either version of NT 3.1 with some significant decisions to make before upgrading. Here I' ll talk about the differences in Daytona versions and help you hunt for a bargain.

The first big change is the name of the low-end product. Instead of Windows NT 3.5, it's called Windows NT Workstation 3.5. This name change indicates the introduction of real workstation features in NT, and makes a clearer distinction between workstation and server.

Until now, OpenGL and its competitors have made really high-end graphics the exclusive preserve of UNIX (and proprietary UNIX-like operating systems). Windows NT Workstation 3.5 has OpenGL support built in at the kernel level, which means that fast, 3-D graphics with shading, textures and light-source positioning are handled automatically. As a result, you can use this version of NT as an honest-to-goodness workstation. Moreover, as hardware accelerators for OpenGL appear (Intergraph Corp. already has ' em, and more are coming), you' re going to see Windows NT workstations that will outperform all but the most extreme of the UNIX systems--at a fraction of the price.

Of course, there's more to a workstation than just graphics (even fast, 3-D graphics!). One of the most significant things about a workstation is what it isn' t:  a server. That's not to say you can' t use a workstation as a server. But workstations are optimized for maximum performance when running interactive applications on the system console, and they' re designed for use by one person at a time. Servers, on the other hand, are optimized for maximum throughput, servicing multiple users over a network connection.

With Windows NT 3.1, the base product wasn' t clearly optimized as either a server or a workstation. As a server, NT 3.1 lacked unified single account log-on, domainwide accounting, Macintosh support and multiuser RAS. As a workstation, it was slow, hogged memory and lacked workstation graphics.

To get NT 3.5's memory size down and performance up, something had to be cut. In the workstation product, it was server functionality. NT Workstation 3.5 is limited to 10 inbound connections for file and printer sharing. That's fine for peer services on a workstation. But if what you want is a server, then you don' t want this product. This creates an issue for some of us--namely, those of us who used NT 3.1 as a server in small networks. In the past, I flatly recommended that people running a simple single-server LAN buy NT 3.1 rather than NTAS, because it was cheaper and easier to install. Are the folks who listened to me now out of luck?

No. For these people, Microsoft has provided a fork in the upgrade path. If you' re using NT mainly as a desktop environment, you can upgrade to NT Workstation 3.5 for $99. On the other hand, if you' re using NT as a server, you can upgrade to Windows NT Server 3.5 for $149. This gets you the server software as well as licenses for 20 client connections. (You can add more clients starting at $35 each.)

Windows Nt Server 3.5

Now let's examine the server side of the server/workstation equation. Just as you wouldn' t optimize a workstation for server performance, you wouldn' t put workstation features into a server product. The new server version of NT isn' t supposed to be used as a workstation, so it doesn' t have to make compromises.

For instance, it doesn' t automatically load DOS/Windows VDM support (like NT Workstation does to improve 16-bit application start-up). NT Server also has a different lazy-write algorithm on its disk cache, uses nonpageable memory for SERVER.SYS, allocates more threads to system services, and provides more tuning options. All of this improves its performance as a server. (You can still run applications on the NT Server console, but that's not what it's optimized for.)

Like NTAS 3.1, NT Server 3.5 offers domain management. But, unlike NTAS 3.1, you don' t have to declare an NT 3.5 Server as a domain controller or member, so you can drop it in as a direct replacement to regular NT 3.1 as a workgroup server. Even when used as a workgroup server, though, it gives you much better administrative options, including remote management, multiuser remote access, DHCP and WINS services. (See the review of Windows NT 3.5 for more details.)

In short, if you want to run NT as a server, you should get NT Server, not NT Workstation. But wouldn' t you know it:  There's a fork in the upgrade path for NT Server users too.

A Look At Licensing

I' ve always been bullish on NTAS because of its features--and its price. So you might expect me to have qualms if Microsoft changed its unique unlimited-user licensing. Well, Microsoft has changed the licensing, and I do have qualms, but they' re small ones. For most of us, the new pricing is still a good deal.

For the sake of comparison, let's review NTAS pricing:  NTAS 3.1 had a list price of $2,995 per server. But nobody ever paid that much, because Microsoft introduced the product at a "promotional price'' of $1,495--which never went up. Originally, you were supposed to pay extra for DOS/Windows client software, but as part of the promotion the client software was free:  You could download it from CompuServe or by ftp from Microsoft's gowinnt.microsoft.com site. That was a great deal, especially compared with NetWare, which is traditionally licensed to a certain number of users per server.

With NT Server 3.5, Microsoft is using an "information access'' license. The idea behind this is that there are really two things to license:  the server itself and client access to the server. For NT Server 3.5, the estimated retail prices are $700 per server and $35 per client. (Microsoft no longer gives out list prices.) But this concept isn' t new--DEC's been using it for years with its Pathworks network and IBM uses it with LAN Server 4.0. However, for now, Microsoft's prices are the lowest.

Now back to the fork in the road I mentioned. NTAS 3.1 users currently have two options for upgrading to NT Server 3.5:  a large option (250 clients) for $700, and a small option (20 clients) for $149.

If you run a huge network, the 250-client upgrade is a good deal. The cost per user, including the $1,495 originally paid for NTAS, is almost absurdly low--less than $10 per head. The problem is that not everyone needs 250 client licenses per server. For example, if you had nine servers and 200 users (see Cutting Costs at Corel), upgrading all nine servers this way would cost $6,300, and you' d get 2,250 client licenses--10 times more than you need.

Fortunately, Microsoft is offering a 20-client upgrade. Using the nine-server/200-user scenario, you could spend less than $1,400 to upgrade all the servers and wind up with 180 client licenses. Buying the remaining 20 at $35 each raises the total cost of the upgrade to only $2,100.

Microsoft's Greg Ewel, who is largely responsible for the new policy, assures me that Microsoft will work with larger clients to "do what's right.'' Microsoft doesn' t want to drive anyone away from NT, or to force you to buy more client licenses than you have employees.

A couple of fine points about the client licenses:  First, a client license is a piece of paper--not actual software. Microsoft is bundling DOS, Windows and even OS/2 client software on the NT Server 3.5 CD-ROM, so you can get the software over the network. Windows for Workgroups and NT Workstation have the software built in, but they still require a license to access an NT 3.5 server for file and print services.

Second, the license requirement is a legal and contractual requirement, not a software one. There isn' t a hard-coded limit anywhere in the system, and licensing is intended to be policed using system management software like Microsoft's SMS (Hermes). In fact, Microsoft doesn' t even require you to buy one client license per user. If you have a 200-user network but only 150 are ever logged into a server at one time, you need only 150 licenses. (However, if you have no way to monitor who's logged in when, it might be safer to go ahead and buy the other 50.)

A Suite Deal

In addition to NT Server, information access licensing will apply to all of Microsoft's server-based products:  SQL Server, SNA Server, SMS and Exchange (the next-generation MS Mail). And all will be bundled in Microsoft Back Office.

I' ve got mixed feelings about this suite for servers. I' m not a big fan of suites on the desktop, because I' ve always believed we' re best served by open competition. Suites and bundles interfere with that competition, so expanding the concept to server software doesn' t fill me with glee.

On the other hand, having a unified pricing model for server software makes a great deal of sense. Before the Back Office announcement, Microsoft had at least four different models in place for the client licensing of server-based software:  NTAS was licensed per server with unlimited clients, SQL Server had a NetWare-style per-client license, SNA Server was licensed per connection, and MS Mail (the currently shipping predecessor of Exchange) had separate per-server and per-client prices (rather like the new pricing for the others). This was something of a nightmare for Microsoft and us users--a network manager could go crazy trying to keep track of how many licenses each product requires.

Under the new policy, there's a much simpler approach:  If a client needs access to file and print services from NT Servers, you buy the appropriate license. If the same client needs SQL Server access, that's another license, and so on. These are per-client licenses, meaning they' re independent of which server (or how many servers) the client is accessing. And just as with NT Server, there's no hard-coded limit. When you add user number 201, you need to buy your two-hundred-first client kit--not a new box of server software.


Cutting Costs At Corel

This Real-World Example Shows How Nt's New Pricing Can  Be A Bargain

Windows NT users on CompuServe, America Online and the Internet have asked if the new information access license for Windows NT 3.5 doesn' t amount to a NetWare-style license. No, it's not the same. To see how different it is, let's consider a real network:  Corel's network at the company headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.

As of last year, Corel had nine NetWare 3.11 servers, 200 users and an administrative nightmare. Most users needed access to most servers, and because NetWare 3.11 lacks domainwide administration, Martin Pitson, Corel's LAN administrator, was spending an insane amount of time maintaining duplicate user accounts. Clearly something had to give.

NT Pricing Then

Martin is a NetWare-certified professional, so he looked first at NetWare 4.0, which has networkwide administration. Novell was pleased to quote him an upgrade for nine 200-user licenses. It came to a little over $200,000 (Canadian). Understandably, Martin's management balked.

With NTAS 3.1, on the other hand, what Martin needed was simple:  nine copies of NTAS 3.1, each of which supported an unlimited number of users. With Microsoft's promotional price of $1,495 per server, that totaled just under $13,500--less than a tenth of the NetWare price, and quite a bargain. In fact, Martin used the money he saved to buy all new hardware.

And Now

With today's information access licensing, Martin would need nine copies of NT Server 3.5, which has an estimated retail price (ERP) of $699 with no clients. He' d also need 200 client licenses, which have an ERP of $35 each. The total is just a little less than the NTAS 3.1 price (itself a promotional price--the list price nobody ever paid was twice that). In fact, because Microsoft is currently running a half-price promotion on the client licenses for people upgrading from NetWare or another network operating system, Corel would actually wind up paying just $10,000.

Of course, having nine servers and only 200 clients is a little atypical, and NT Server 3.5 can turn out to be more expensive if you have more clients to support, but the new pricing is still a good deal. On a large network, the ERP works out to a shade over $35 per user, independent of the number of servers. And Microsoft offers discounts for large sites, so it's possible to get even more for your money.


Twice The Licenses

Microsoft's Information Access Licensing Has Separate Prices For Client And Server

Here's a comparison of client and server license costs for the products in the Microsoft Back Office bundle (Windows NT Server, SQL Server, SNA Server and SMS). A server license supports an unlimited number of clients but includes no client licenses. A client license permits the client to access an unlimited number of servers of a given type.

PRODUCT	CLIENT LICENSE	SERVER LICENSE
Windows NT Server	$35	$700
SQL Server-	$190	$1,500
SNA Server	$60	$400
SMS	$50	$650
Back Office (includes all of the above, plus Microsoft Mail)- $300// $2,200

All prices are estimated retail prices. Source:  Microsoft

John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor at large and the author of Networking Windows NT (Wiley, 1994). His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan 95 Power Windows: Stop Greedy Apps From Depleting Resources

Stop Greedy Apps From Depleting Resources

Stay On Top Of The Heap


Stop Greedy Apps From Depleting Resources

By:  Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

It's a jungle in there. Sure, programmers try to reassure us with phrases like "cooperative multitasking'' and "shared resources.'' But the truth is, once a program is unleashed inside your computer, it's war. Programs generally take what they want, and to heck with everything else. They' re fighting for their share of a limited supply of resources.

This month we' ll examine three of those precious resources:  conventional memory, system resource heaps and application timers. I' ll explain what they are, how your applications use them and how you can prevent them from running out.

You might think conventional memory (at addresses below 640KB) has little to do with Windows. After all, conventional memory is the home of DOS apps, DOS-based drivers and DOS itself. What does this have to do with Windows?

The answer is:  quite a lot. Like Windows itself, many Windows programs and drivers require conventional memory. The amount of free conventional memory when you start Windows sets a limit on how much will be available while Windows is running. Windows satisfies all requests for conventional memory from that initial pool.

The amount of conventional memory needed may surprise you too. For example, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 needs approximately 390KB of conventional memory, before any drivers or applications are loaded. Normal drivers for things like your mouse, keyboard, video card, sound board and network card can easily consume an additional 100KB. So, even if you have, say, 500KB of free conventional memory when you load Windows, that figure drops to 100KB or less before you even load your first app.

Windows apps need conventional memory too. Word requires around 25KB, Excel 5.0 needs about 8KB, and even Windows'  Write and Notepad use 1KB each. (Surprisingly, a DOS box needs only 0.5KB of conventional memory. That's because the conventional memory in a DOS box is really extended memory--memory above 1MB--dressed up to look like conventional memory. Windows uses memory-addressing tricks of Intel 386 and later processors to do this.)

So, it's quite possible to run out of conventional memory while running Windows, although doing so was pretty rare until recently. In most cases, you' d run into other limits before reaching the conventional memory limit. But the popularity of networks and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 has altered the equation.

Networked systems often must load one or more drivers before Windows starts, which eats up conventional memory. While loading, Windows installs still more drivers. Even if these are protected-mode drivers, which load primarily in extended memory, most still consume some precious conventional memory.

Finally, unlike standalone Windows systems, networked Windows systems often continuously run Print Manager, an e-mail program and other network-related programs. Each of these places additional demands on memory below 640KB.

Unfortunately, many apps don' t take shortages of conventional memory gracefully. They simply fail to load. Others display error messages such as "insufficient memory,'' with no indication of what type of memory is in short supply.

If you suspect that your system is starved for conventional memory, there are a few things you can do. First, maximize the amount of conventional memory available when Windows starts by loading only the drivers and TSRs that are absolutely necessary. Second, load them into upper memory (the region between 640KB and 1MB). Third, use the WINDOWS Magazine Resource Probe utility to measure the available conventional memory while Windows is running (see Stay on Top of the Heap). This information will help you spot the apps that are hogging conventional memory.

No Room On The Heap

In addition to fighting for conventional memory, Windows programs vie for space in your system resource heaps--bothersome pools of memory that always seem to run dry before you' ve even begun to tap your PC's ocean of RAM. Windows maintains two resource heaps, each 64KB in size:  the GDI (Graphics Device Interface) heap and the user heap. When either is exhausted, Windows grinds to a halt.

The GDI heap holds information that Windows programs use when drawing information on screens and printed pages. Fonts, palettes, icons and other bitmap images all cause some data to be stored on the GDI heap. The user heap holds information about menus, shortcut keys and the appearance of a program's windows.

Before a Windows application uses an icon, bitmap, menu, font or palette, it registers it with Windows (by telling Windows where on disk to find the data). Windows loads this information into one of its two system resource heaps, and then gives the application a unique number that corresponds to the item just loaded. The number (called a handle) is the location in the heap where the data is stored. To make handles easy to store and use, they' re limited to 16 bits in length.

Therein lies the problem. Because the largest number you can store in 16 bits is 65,535 (64KB), all data in a heap must be stored within the heap's first 64KB. For this reason, system resource heap space is limited to 128KB of data (two heaps of 64KB each, when you run Windows 3.1).

The effect of exhausting a system resource heap is similar to that of exhausting conventional memory. You may not see an error message and your program may crash. Or your screen will behave strangely, with images appearing where they don' t belong or not appearing at all. Fortunately, diagnosing a shortage is fairly easy. Both Program Manager and File Manager display the status of the heaps when you select File/About. The number displayed corresponds to the heap with the least free space left. Another option is to monitor the heaps individually by using the Resource Probe utility.

Missed Wake-Up Calls

Conventional memory and resource heaps aren' t the only scarce Windows commodities. When an application needs to do a scheduled activity, such as perform an automatic backup or update its clock, rather than keep track of time itself, the app will ask Windows to schedule a wake-up call. Windows calls this an application timer. At the appointed time, Windows sends the application a reminder.

Windows is a pretty good desk clerk:  It can simultaneously keep track of up to 30 application timers. But that's the limit. If another request comes in while 30 requests are pending, the application will not get the wake-up call it's expecting.

Thirty application timers sounds like a lot. But now that features such as auto-backups, pop-up help text over button bars and status bar clocks are gaining popularity, timers are more in demand. Multitasking, too, is becoming more common. It's not unusual to have one or two major applications loaded, along with Print Manager, an e-mail program, an on-screen clock, a screen saver and maybe a toy or two. Most of these programs need timers.

As a result, it's possible for a busy system to run out of timers. When that happens, the result can be anything from an error message, to a program mysteriously failing to perform a scheduled event, to a program crash. In the absence of an error message, diagnosing timer shortages can be tricky. Once again, the Resource Probe utility can help.

NT And 95 Shrug Off Shortages

If fear of shortages is keeping you awake nights, try Windows NT. Along with the drivers that ship with it, NT requires no conventional memory. And neither do Win32 apps (those designed specifically for NT). As a result, the entire space below 640KB is reserved for whatever older 16-bit Windows apps you may be running. This means the amount of free conventional memory can exceed 400KB.

NT's designers have also greatly expanded the size of NT's system resource heaps. Instead of relying on 16-bit handles, limiting heaps to 64KB, NT assigns data a 32-bit handle. Consequently, NT's heaps can be as big as 4GB, assuming you have that much RAM and virtual memory. In fact, these heaps are so big, NT routinely reports that they' re only 50 percent free, to keep from confusing the programs that never expected to see reports of 100 percent free heap space (after rounding).

Finally, NT has removed the systemwide limit on application timers, instead imposing a limit of 15 timers per application. Few applications, if any, use all 15 timers.

If you don' t want to use NT, there's still good news on the horizon:  Windows 95 has also removed most limits. Like NT, Win95 requires no conventional memory, so you' ll have more than 400KB available after Win95 loads. Unlike NT, Win95 has a single, systemwide pool of timers. But the pool is so large that the supply of timers is effectively unlimited. As of this writing, the exact number hasn' t been finalized, but current beta versions provide as many as 2,500 timers. That should be enough to satisfy even the greediest app.

Finally, there's the sticky issue of system resource heaps. Although the final details are yet unknown, Win95 will make significant improvements here too, using several tricks rather than one elegant solution. One of those tricks involves moving some data out of the heaps and replacing it with pointers or links to data. The actual data can then be stored in regions of memory not bound by the 64KB heap size limit.


Stay On Top Of The Heap

The Resource Probe Utility Keeps You Informed About System Resource Levels

The more I learned about the fierce competition going on inside my computer, the more I wanted to be able to keep score of available resources (conventional memory, system resource heaps and application timers). So I wrote a program called the WINDOWS Magazine Resource Probe.

Resource Probe shows you the unused (available) levels of your Windows resources. Each time you click your mouse inside the program's window, it takes a snapshot of current levels and updates its display. If any resource is critically low, its level is displayed in red.

You can find the program in the FILES\01JAN95\POWERWIN directory of this CD-ROM.

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basic for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing). Her E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan. 95 Getting Started: Do-It-Yourself Drive Installation

By:  Jonathan Blackwood

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Maybe your computer is getting a little long in the tooth, but you' re not quite ready to junk it. So you' d like to upgrade it with a spiffy new CD-ROM drive instead. Or maybe you purchased a PC in the past year without a CD-ROM drive, and you now regret your decision.

Whether you want a multimedia machine or just a better way to store static data, a CD-ROM drive is fast becoming a must-have. Retrofitting your computer with one is not for the weak of spirit, but it isn' t so difficult that a professional has to do it for you. The key is to make smart decisions about what to buy.

Q:  So I want to add a CD-ROM drive to my computer. Where do I start?

A: First, make sure you' ve got an available ISA slot for the controller (the card that governs access to the CD-ROM device--often a SCSI card or a proprietary card). Then see if you' ve got an available 5.25-inch bay to accept a drive. The ISA slot is the more important of the two. You can always purchase an external CD-ROM drive if you don' t have a bay, but you must have an available ISA slot for the CD-ROM drive controller.

If you think you want to add the CD-ROM drive to a networked machine, think twice. You can do it, but it adds another layer of complexity to the mix, and chances are it will result in the consumption of so much conventional RAM (the first 640KB) that you won' t have enough left to run a good DOS utility package. What's more, with conventional memory being constrained, you may have problems with tasks Windows relies on DOS to perform, such as browsing networked drives in File Manager.

If you plan to use an internal CD-ROM drive, you' ll need to check under the hood to see whether there's another unused power connector available. Before you open your computer case, always remember to turn your computer's power off. Then ground yourself by touching the power supply or metal chassis before you touch anything else. Once inside, you' ll find a tangle of red, yellow and black wires spreading out from the power supply (the metal box at the rear of the chassis) and ending in a white cap with four sockets. One of these power connectors goes to the floppy disk drive and one to the hard disk.

Before you can actually install the drive, you' ll need to compile a list of the expansion cards you have in your computer and which IRQs (interrupt request lines) and DMA (direct memory access) channels they use. (If you don' t know what IRQs and DMA channels are, read Karen Kenworthy's Power Windows column in the December issue.)

Q: Wait a minute--how am I supposed to know which IRQs and DMA channels I can use?

A:  You can find out which IRQs are in use and which are available by using the MSD.EXE (Microsoft System Diagnostic) program, which you' ll find in both your DOS and WINDOWS directories. To run MSD, exit Windows completely, change to the DOS or WINDOWS directory (by typing CD\DOS or CD\WINDOWS at the prompt), then type MSD. Once you' re in MSD, pay particular attention to the IRQ Status selection. Any number marked Reserved in the Description column is available. Write down all the numbers that are available.

Finding out which DMA channels are in use is a little trickier, but not every device requires one, so there are probably as many as six channels available to you. Even if you have to resort to trial and error, your odds of choosing a vacant channel on the first try are pretty good. (For more information on IRQ and DMA conflicts, see the feature "Keep Your PC in the Pink'' in the November issue.)

You can save yourself a lot of heartache by picking a CD-ROM drive kit that has special software to help you decipher this stuff. For example, many CD-ROM drives come with a SCSI adapter card to connect the drive to the system. The newer adapter cards let you use software to set IRQs and DMA channels. Adaptec SCSI cards come with a program called EZ-SCSI, and some manufacturers bundle a version of CorelSCSI with their cards. If your kit comes with one of these programs, you may wonder what all the fuss is about.

Check out the kits available from Creative Labs (from $399; 800-998-1000, 408-428-6600), Insight Direct (from $199; 800-755-3931, 602-902-1176), Media Vision (from $299; 800-845-5870, 510-770-8600) or Turtle Beach ($899; 800-645-5640, 717-767-0200). These drives are among the easiest to install, and competent tech support is just a phone call away. (For more information about these products, see the review "Is an Ultra CD-ROM Drive in Your Future?'' in the July issue.)

The same companies also offer multimedia kits, which include a sound card and speakers in addition to the CD-ROM drive. Many of these sound cards can serve double duty as controller cards for CD-ROM drives--either SCSI or one of the more popular proprietary schemes.

Among the drives that use proprietary controllers are some of the most popular on the market, such as the Mitsumi FX001D and the Sony CDU-33A. The drawback of this type of controller is that it's not as flexible--you can' t later decide to attach a scanner or a hard disk.

A good 16-bit SCSI controller can add a lot of flexibility later, but many of the SCSI drives come with 8-bit controllers. You may want to upgrade to a 16-bit model, even though the CD-ROM drive itself doesn' t need the extra bandwidth and the 16-bit cards are more expensive. The payoff is you' ll have eight more IRQs to choose from, and you' ll have the bandwidth necessary to add a fast SCSI hard disk or a scanner.

Q:  All right, I' m ready to begin the installation. What do I do now?

A:  Be sure to read the manuals that come with the drive before you begin. Again, make sure the computer's power is off, then remove the case and ground yourself. Next, remove the slot cover (on the back of the computer) for the adapter.

Install the controller first. Line up the slot cover at the rear of the card so the screw hole lines up with the hole in the chassis. Then grasp the card firmly by its green plastic edges (don' t touch the gold connectors with your fingers!) and gently rock the card into position--from front to back, not side to side-- until it's well seated and the screw that holds the card in place fits easily.

The manual will tell you how to connect the cable to your drive. If you' ve chosen an external unit, you' re practically finished. All you have to do is connect the cable to the back of the system, plug the drive into the wall, then turn on the system and run the installation software. For a SCSI drive, you may have to fiddle with the SCSI device number and termination issues. Look in the manual for instructions on how to adjust the device number on your drive and how to terminate the SCSI daisy chain.

To install an internal unit, slide it into an available drive bay with a matching cover that can be removed from the front bezel. Check to see whether your drive comes with the proper rails for your system. If it doesn' t, you can buy a set of rails from your local computer store. These rails attach to the sides of the drive and enable you to slide the drive unit into your system drive bay and screw it into place. Finally, connect the power and the cable to the controller.

Q:  Do I really have to do all that just to install a CD-ROM drive in my computer?

A:  Okay, there is an alternative. If this procedure is too complicated for your tastes, consider a parallel-port CD-ROM drive. Some popular ones are Micro Solutions CD-ROM Backpack ($439; 800-890-7727 x200, 815-756-3411 x200), and NEC Technologies MultiSpin 3Xp Plus with Enhanced Parallel Port to SCSI Kit ($415 and $120; 800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500). The disadvantage of this type of drive is that it's a little slower than one attached in the conventional manner. But it's simple to install:  You just attach it to your parallel port (most use a pass-through connector so you can connect a printer on the same port), plug it in, turn it on and install a software driver. These drives also provide the convenience of portability, meaning you can easily move one between your home and office PCs, or between your desktop and notebook Pcs.

If you' re patient, you can wait for Plug and Play, which will make its debut in Windows 95. This specification, under joint development by Microsoft and Intel, should eliminate many installation problems because the system itself will keep track of IRQs, DMA channels and I/O ports. The easiest option of all, of course, is to purchase your next system with the CD-ROM drive installed.

Jonathan Blackwood is associate First Impressions editor of WINDOWS Magazine. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan 95 Optimizing Windows: Register Your Apps With Windows

By:  John Woram

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Have you fallen into the habit of ignoring the undocumented Windows registration information database? Well, you might want to resolve to start paying it some mind in 1995.

Why? Rumors out of Redmond promise that this will be the year of Windows 95 (it's the Year of the Pig in China, but this is probably mere coincidence). If the rumor mill is to be trusted, the .INI file will still be with us in Win95, but many of its duties will have been moved into what will be known as the Registry, a set of registration database files. Some .INI file lines will be ignored; others may remain for compatibility reasons.

Put another way, power users will have a brand new toy to play with.

The REGEDIT.EXE applet in Windows 95 probably won' t look like the version 3.x counterpart I' ll describe here. But it should support similar functions. For example, if a new application's

setup procedure adds a few lines to, say, WIN.INI, those lines may vanish the next time you run Windows 95. But with a little spade work, you may find them buried in one of the new registration databases. At other times, you may need to move a line or two by hand. In either case, a nodding acquaintance with basic RegEdit techniques may be of value. To that end, here's an overview of registration manipulation.

Most likely you already know that if you open File Manager and double-click on any file with a .TXT or .INI extension, the Notepad applet will open with that file loaded and ready for editing. You probably also know that if you drag either file type over to the Print Manager icon, the file will print. But if you try one of these tasks on a file with a custom extension (your initials, for example), you' ll get an error message because Windows doesn' t recognize that extension.

You could add an xyz=notepad-.exe ^.xyz line to the [extensions] section of WIN.INI to tell Windows to open Notepad whenever you double-click on a file with an .XYZ extension. But when you drag your .XYZ file over to the Print Manager icon, you' ll get a "Cannot Print File'' message, because this method doesn' t address the printing of an .XYZ file.

Call In An Associate

Instead of editing WIN.INI by hand, all you have to do is use File Manager's Associate option (in the File menu). If you do, both editing and printing will work. The Associate option adds the line described above to WIN.INI, but it also does something else, and that something else is really what's making this work. In fact, you can probably erase the line added to WIN.INI without affecting operations. (For a quickie refresher, look up the [extensions] section name in the May issue's "Streamline WIN.INI'' feature.)

To dig a little deeper, make a backup copy of REG.DAT as, say, REGDAT.OLD, just in case you need to recover from a subsequent editing error. Now it's time to bring RegEdit out of hiding. Open the Accessories group window, then open Program Manager's File menu and select New. Click on the Program Item radio button and then on the OK button. Type RegEdit in the Description box and REGEDIT.EXE in the Command Line box, then click on OK.

You should now see a new RegEdit icon in the Accessories group window. Double-clicking on its icon will display the contents of the REG.DAT file, which is the Windows registration information database. The database contains a list of registered file types--the ones Windows already knows about--and the instructions that tell File Manager how to handle them. Double-clicking on Text File will display a Modify File Type dialog box which, among other things, shows two radio buttons labeled Open and Print. If you click on the Open button, the command line immediately below it will read notepad.exe %1. Clicking on the Print button will cause the line to change to notepad.exe /p %1.

In both cases, File Manager knows it should open Notepad, replace %1 with the name of the file you' ve highlighted, and then load that file. That's what happens if you simply double-click on the highlighted file. If you drag the file icon over to Print Manager, the /p switch tells File Manager to do all that, and then print the file.

So far, so good. Thanks to the database, File Manager knows how to handle these text files. But what's a text file? Okay, you know what a text file is and I know what a text file is, but who told File Manager what a text file is? As you may suspect, the database did, but it isn' t showing us how yet. To extract a little more information from it, close the RegEdit applet and use Program Manager's File menu to take a look at its Properties. Then add a /v switch after REGEDIT.EXE in the command-line box. Doing this will put the applet into its so-called verbose mode, in which it tells all.

Now when you double-click on the RegEdit icon, you' ll see a treelike structure, whose complexity is directly proportional to the number of Windows applications you' ve installed. If you use the Search menu to find a key labeled .txt (make sure to include the period), you' ll discover a txtfile identifier after the equal sign. Search for a txtfile key and you' ll see a tree whose branches are the instructions for opening or printing a text file. If you search for the .INI key, you' ll find it too has a txtfile identifier, which leads File Manager down the same path (or, rather, up the same tree).

Choose A Flashier .Ini Editor

At this point, you may want to close the RegEdit applet, delete its icon and forget that you ever opened this can of spaghetti. But (there's always a "but' ' ), you can do some useful things with it. For example, although Notepad is nice for dashing off the occasional memo, it's probably not the slickest .INI editor on your Windows desktop. So why not associate .INI files with the Norton Utilities'  .INI Edit applet instead? (If you have some other neat Windows .INI editor, follow the same instructions, but choose its directory and filename instead.)

There are two ways to do this. The first--and simplest--is to edit the registration database indirectly, without actually touching it. Because this method has an important limitation, read on before you proceed to avoid having to go through an undo routine later.

Select File Manager's Associate option, use the Browse button to wander over to the Norton directory (probably C: \NU), and then select the INIEDITR.EXE file. After you complete this operation, double-clicking on an .INI filename in File Manager will open the new editor with that file loaded and ready for editing.

Now here's that limitation I promised:  What if you want to print the file by dragging it over to Print Manager? If you read the fine print--that is, the Help screen for the Browse button--you' ll learn that if you select a file from the list in the Browse dialog box, you can open the file but not print it.

Why not? The Help screen doesn' t say. You can find out what the problem is by reopening RegEdit in its verbose mode (using the /v switch) and searching for the .INI key. This time you' ll find an incomplete listing:  There's an Open command but no Print command. So File Manager no longer knows what to do if you drag an .INI file over to Print Manager.

Add The Missing Print Support

No harm done. If you' re feeling adventurous and you' ve made a backup copy of REG.DAT, here's how to add the missing print support:  Highlight the Shell box immediately beneath the .INI key, open the Edit menu and select the Add Key option. Type print in the Key box and click on OK. You should see a new Print key below the .INI key. Highlight it, reopen the Edit menu and again select the Add Key option. This time, type command in the Key box and notepad.exe /p %1 in the Value box, then save the changes.

The next time you double-click on an .INI file in File Manager, the Norton .INI Editor will open with that file loaded and ready for editing. Notepad will still be used for printing, because Norton's .INI Editor doesn' t support this feature. (If your favorite .INI editor does have a Print option, you can use it instead of Notepad.)

Later, if you want to edit the database again, you can open RegEdit in its regular mode. But if you do, you won' t find your new .INI editor in the list of registered file types. This brings me to the second method of adding full support for editing and printing. It may seem more complex than the Browse option, but in most cases it avoids the tedious process of editing the database in verbose mode.

Assuming you' ve done none of the above, open RegEdit in its conventional mode (without the /v switch), open the Edit menu and select Add File Type. Type INIEdit in the Identifier box and INI Editor in the File Type box. Click on the Open radio button and type c: \nu\inieditr.exe %1 in the Command box. (Or type the path and filename of your favorite .INI editor.) Don' t press the Enter key yet. Instead, click on the Print radio button and type notepad.exe /p %1 in the now-empty Command box. Toggle the buttons to make sure the information in the Command box is correct for both buttons.

Now you can press Enter. When you do, you' ll find your .INI editor in the list of registered file types. If drag-and-drop printing still doesn' t work, open RegEdit in verbose mode. Search for the .INI key, then edit it to read .INI = iniedit. Now everything will work as it should.

With these RegEdit tricks up your sleeve, you' ll be well prepared for whatever Windows 95 brings.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook and The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House). His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan. 95 Letters

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Once again, Windows 95 is on everyone's mind. Many of you responded to Fred Langa's concerns about Windows'  new name. Most agreed that the name is not ideal, but a few thought otherwise. We' ve also been flooded with letters from fans of our Wintune utility.

What's In A Name?

As you pointed out in your recent editorial (Win.INI, November), Microsoft's Windows 95 name does bring up some interesting questions about version-naming schemes. For example, what will Microsoft call a new version of Windows delivered in the year 2000? Windows 00? Windows Zero? And what happens in the year 2003? Do we go back to Windows 3?

Bill Cernansky

via the Internet

Using the current year as a version number will be more meaningful to buyers than the arbitrary convention used now. But I agree with your complaint that minor bug fixes could leave us with names like "Windows 95 Version 2.03a,'' which would be no improvement.

Jon Keener

via America Online

Short-Term Memory

Thousands of readers may be bamboozled by your statements about Windows 95 running in 4MB of RAM. Get real! Since your stated objective is to help readers buy the right products you should be telling users to load up on RAM now, before the increased demand driven by Win95 pushes RAM prices and availability to excessive limits!

Dick Shoemaker, NPCUG Editor

via the Internet

[Editor's reply:  Early indications are that Windows 95 will run at about the same speed as today's Windows on any given system. Today's Windows will run--but not well--in 4MB, so it's a safe bet Win95 will do the same. See the December issue for a complete rundown of minimum and recommended system requirements for Win95.--Fred Langa]

What About Dos?

I can' t help wondering whether Windows 95 will run my existing DOS applications. And if so, how well?

Richard P. Heine

Whittier, Calif.

[Editor's reply:  Windows 95 is still in development, so it's not possible to make a definitive statement. So far, Win95 looks very solid in routine DOS support, and it even provides a way to quarantine ill-behaved DOS applications. I' d bet most DOS apps--except for low-level DOS utilities that probably won' t work with any 32-bit file system--will work fine with Win95.--FL]

WINTUNE RULES

Hats off to your crew for a great job! The beta of Wintune 2.0, build 11, pointed out a problem I didn' t know I had. Now my system performs better than ever.

I recently canceled a computer magazine subscription and will replace it with a subscription to WINDOWS Magazine. I don' t see anyone else out there giving this much free help and information.

Tony Armalis

via the Internet

E-Mail Is Forever

Eileen McCooey's column on e-mail (Dialog Box, August) raises an issue that has concerned corporate trial attorneys for some time:  the retention of damaging e-mail.

Too often, employees send copies of memoranda throughout the corporation. There is bound to be a copy of that memo "that never should have been written'' on someone's hard disk. The problem is aggravated by e-mail programs that retain copies of mail in "folders'' throughout a network, defying efforts to purge old e-mail.

Skilled attorneys can turn even relatively innocent e-mail into Exhibit A. Some thought must be given to the legal consequences of e-mail--similar to the  measures that have been applied to written records.

Michiro Iwanaga, Attorney at Law

via CompuServe

Power To The (Is) People!

As a PC-literate computer security professional who cut his teeth on mainframes, I found Jonathan Matzkin's article refreshing (.EXE File, October).

Users are increasingly recognizing that the professional management of corporate information and technology is important. Servers are being moved into the data center, right next to the mainframe. Backup, security, storage management, capacity planning, network management and disaster recovery are being placed back in the hands of the IS department at the request of user management. Now, if we could just fit all those servers into one big box...

Allan Alton

via the Internet

A Cd On Every Desktop?

Cheryl Currid seems to be suggesting that all new Windows PCs in an office should be purchased with CD-ROM drives "because so many of tomorrow's applications are likely to come on CD'' (Windows at Work, October). But most serious applications can be installed directly from a network. A single installation copy on a network can eliminate many installation headaches. Companies should install CD servers and spend money on individual units only when truly necessary.

Bill East

via the Internet

[Author's reply:  I used to feel the same way, but I' ve changed my mind. CD-ROM drives are getting so cheap that it hardly adds to the cost of desktop PCs. I agree about serious applications being installed on (or from) the network server. But there simply isn' t enough hard disk space to collect all the drivel people want to access. If I dared to load my CD-bound collection of video and audio clips onto the server, my coworkers would lynch me.--Cheryl Currid]

Doublespace Bytes

DoubleSpace or DriveSpace drives-

By:  default--assign four unused drive letters before assigning a host drive. For experienced users, this means wasted conventional memory. DOS sets aside 88 bytes for each assigned drive.

I overcame this problem by going to the host drive and changing the attributes in the hidden .INI file by typing ATTRIB DRVSPACE.INI -S -H -R. (A DoubleSpaced drive would have DBLSPACE.INI instead.) Then I changed the statement LastDrive=I to LastDrive=E (the next logical unused drive). I also changed the line ActivateDrive=I,C0 to ActivateDrive=E,C0. After saving the changes and exiting Edit, I changed the attributes back (ATTRIB DRVSPACE +S +H +R) and booted the system. I saved 352 bytes of conventional memory.

Any program that also uses the host drive (such as a Windows swap file on an uncompressed drive) or any path statements that point to the old drive letter have to be changed as well.

Jeffrey A. Worth

via the Internet

Woram's Pruning Tips

I must commend John Woram! It's about time someone tells us how to really trim our Windows directories (Optimizing Windows, November). Previously, I had read articles giving only lists of common files that can be deleted. I' m glad to see someone figured out how to make a real list of deletable files.

Mike Pleimann

via the Internet

Snail Mail Is Still Cheaper

I may have missed some things in the phrasing of, "...e-mail is by far the least expensive form of communication,'' ("The E-Mail Explosion,'' November). The last time I checked, it cost only 29 cents to send a two-page paper letter.

Karen T. Cleveland

via the Internet

CORRECTIONS

Our October Review ("Backing Up Isn' t Hard To Do' ' ) reported an incorrect phone number for Conner Peripherals. The correct number is 714-641-1230.

We want to hear from you! Please send your letter and phone number, to:  Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753, or by e-mail to winmag@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


Jan. 95 Windows At Work: New Year's Resolutions

By:  Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Quit Smoking. Lose Weight. Get More Exercise. Does This Sound Familiar?

For many of us, January 1 signals the start of yet another self-improvement regimen. But why focus only on physical fitness? This year, why not resolve to work better, faster and smarter by mastering computer technology?

In touring large corporate sites, I see many computers that are misused or underutilized. These companies aren' t getting an adequate return on their sizable hardware and software investments because they' re not using their systems effectively. Well, there's no better time than the present to break bad business habits and become more technologically fit. The 10 resolutions that follow will get you and your company on the right track:

1. Connect and collaborate. If your office computer is a standalone, get connected immediately. No worker is an island, and your computer shouldn' t be one either. Hook up to the office LAN, join an on-line service like CompuServe or America Online, or get an Internet connection. Sharing information, files and ideas is the first step toward better computing. Standalone computing will only stunt your growth.

2. Energize with e-mail. If you haven' t already started using e-mail for most of your outside correspondence, don' t waste any more time--or money. In most cases, it costs less to send an e-mail message than a paper letter, and there's no envelope printing, stuffing or stamping involved. As far as internal office correspondence goes, e-mail makes it easy for you to send information to all the people who need it, without interrupting your workday or theirs.

3. Go wild with wireless. This year, resolve to cut the cords by trying a connection that lets you extend your LAN and even roam the continent. RadioMail has been my constant companion for nearly two years now--I won' t leave home without it. Using just a small palmtop or subnotebook computer, I can send and receive messages from a taxicab, a moving sidewalk or even a sauna. (Yes, I have actually read and responded to e-mail from all those locations!)

To get even more from your wireless wonder, use it to access a knowledge-base service. For example, for less than a dollar a day, you can tune into Farcast (from Farcast of Menlo Park, Calif.) and dial up any news story that's hit the wire in the last 30 days. You can also get up-to-the-minute stock quotes or program an agent (a so-called Droid) to collect them for you.

4. Say no to notepads. Are you still carrying around a paper notepad? It's high time to find an electronic replacement. It's okay to jot down an occasional note, but you should also have a quick way to transfer important information into your computer. I recommend a PIM (personal information manager), but if you' d rather work with what you' ve got, you can simply create a text file with Windows'  Notepad applet. Either way, you' ll have faster access to your to-do list, contacts and other information. And you' ll find it much easier to share these things with others.

5. Crumple up your calendars. I know you probably just got 15 leather-bound appointment books for Christmas from everybody from Aunt Matilda to the local coffee shop. Ditch ' em. Some businesspeople spend as much as eight hours a week penciling in--and erasing--appointments, and trying to keep their personal calendars up to date and in sync with coworkers. You can increase your productivity immediately by going electronic. If your office has a shared calendar system, such as Novell's GroupWise or Microsoft's Schedule+, use it. And for the sake of efficiency, give colleagues access to view your calendar. If you set them up correctly, most of these packages have excellent security features that' ll keep prying eyes from seeing private information.

6. Straighten out your spreadsheets. Don' t automatically dismiss this advice as nice for newbies but trite for power users. Lots of people set up spreadsheets as reports and then kludge data and formulas to make them look pretty. That technique spells trouble if you ever want to perform sophisticated analysis on the data or share it with colleagues. A case in point:  Market analysts at a firm I work with collected data into spreadsheets for years, but had to roll up summaries manually because they couldn' t construct a formula that worked. I doubt they' re the only ones skimming the surface of their spreadsheets. Dig into yours.

7. Discover databases. Now's a great time to start auditing your office practices. Where do you maintain your customer list, telephone and address book, inventory information, project lists, sales records and personnel files? If your answer isn' t ``in a database,'' you should ask yourself why not. Databases--not spreadsheets or word-processing documents--are the key to organized and accessible company data. This applies to all companies, large and small. If you' re new to databases, pick up an easy one, such as Borland's Paradox or Microsoft's Access. And get some training:  These applications aren' t intuitive for most people.

8. Gear up for groupware and workflow. Groupware technology is a more potent way to share information and automate workflow than most people realize. IDC, a consulting firm in Framingham, Mass., recently conducted a study of Lotus Notes users. Nine out of 10 companies surveyed reported returns of more than 40 percent on their initial software investments. About half showed returns exceeding 100 percent, and a quarter edged over 200 percent.

Workflow software, like ViewStar or Keyfile, can expedite those time-consuming sequential procedures we all have to follow (for instance, processing purchase orders, expense reports or claims). One caveat:  No technology can fix a fundamentally flawed process. If your company has a 14-person sign-off procedure for travel authorization, you' ve got more than just a technical problem. Using workflow software will only speed up the mess. Pare procedures to the absolute minimum and then automate them.

9. Master multimedia. If your firm isn' t set up for multimedia, it's missing out on a powerful training and presentation tool. The combination of sight, sound and interactivity holds a viewer's attention and increases information retention. Each individual can review material he or she doesn' t understand, get more information as needed, and skip over topics of little interest or relevance.

Prices for multimedia gear have dropped to a range comfortable for most companies. Video capture boards now sell for around $500, and libraries of stock video footage go for $50. Coupled with easy-to-use editing software, these offerings make it easy to create a custom training course or business presentation.

10. Visit with videoconferencing. It' ll decrease your frequent flyer miles, but try out some desktop videoconferencing tools anyway. With prices now below $2,000 per desktop, you can hook up for the cost of a few business trips.

Beyond saving you the cost of one trip to visit one group of people, a single videoconference lets you meet with several groups of people at multiple sites all at once, saving you the cost of several business trips. Videoconferences beat standard teleconferences or group e-mail discussions because they let you show actual designs or prototypes using a video input device, such as my favorite, the FlexCam by VideoLabs.

Admittedly, the video quality on desktop systems still has a way to go. Pictures are jerky even for high-end, 15 frames-per-second systems. And sometimes the video isn' t quite clear, or the video and audio won' t synchronize perfectly. If some of your colleagues are outside major metropolitan areas, you might have trouble getting them connected. Still, glitches aside, videoconferencing is a great way to communicate with remote colleagues.

It's true that sticking to New Year's resolutions often requires a resolution itself. But the best way to make your company come out on top is to stay in tip-top technological shape.

Cheryl Currid is president of Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. Her E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan. 95 The Explorer: When Windows 95 Ships...

By:  Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

The Day That Windows 95 Ships Is Sure To Be V-Day For Microsoft.

In its short, incredibly successful history, Microsoft has won battle after battle in its campaign for total dominance of the microcomputer industry. This year--for better or worse--Microsoft wins the war.

One component at a time, Microsoft has come to control and influence our computer systems and the industry that produces them. On the one hand, Microsoft's preeminence is a good thing. The company can impose standards and facilitate the formation of an industry that produces compatible, easy-to-use, and affordable hardware and software.

On the other hand, Microsoft's control threatens to stifle innovation, eliminate competition and slow the progress of personal computer technology.

Here's how Microsoft took control of the microcomputer industry, followed by advice on how you can enjoy the benefits--and protect yourself from the hazards--of the company's domination.

Give PC A Chance

Microsoft's first victory came when it gained the right to produce DOS, one of the two operating systems for Big Blue's runaway success, the IBM PC, while keeping for itself the option to sell to IBM's competitors. DOS's killer app, Lotus 1-2-3, became the best-selling application ever. DOS sales soared and CP/M, the other operating system, withered away.

Compaq and other start-ups cashed in on the success of the IBM PC by building copycat systems that ran MS-DOS. The systems were called IBM-compatibles and Big Blue controlled the PC standard. Meanwhile, Apple owned the graphical computing market with its Macintosh, which it erroneously guarded as a closed, proprietary system.

When Microsoft shipped Windows 3.0--which married Mac-like ease of use with the openness and low price of PC hardware--in 1990, IBM started to lose its grip on the standard. Gradually, the clone vendors stopped trying to make systems compatible with IBM hardware, and instead concentrated on Windows compatibility. Now Microsoft controlled the standard for PCs.

An App Reply

DOS brought riches to Redmond, but not much control over application software. Windows, however, provided the control. The success of Windows prompted more application software makers to write more and better software for Windows than for any other platform. Unlike in DOS, where the app vendors decided on the appearance of dialog boxes, buttons and menus, Microsoft largely determines the look and feel of Windows apps.

Recently, the company tightened its grip on the appearance of apps with its "Microsoft Office Compatible'' campaign. The goal is to compel smaller vendors to create programs that not only look and feel like Microsoft's operating system, but also emulate the look and feel of its major apps. Vendors that comply will get a "Microsoft Office Compatible'' sticker.

The Wizard Of OS

In early 1992, Microsoft shipped Windows 3.1. Demand for this version soared so high that Windows compatibility became a life-or-death issue for hardware and software vendors alike. By 1994, Windows compatibility was so important it affected other operating systems.

Even Apple finds Windows support necessary for survival. Apple PowerMacs are fast enough to run Windows apps in emulation mode. Some non-PowerPC-based Macintosh systems contain Intel-processor-based motherboards, essentially a Windows PC inside a Mac that can access the Mac's devices (monitor, keyboard, mouse). Today, Mac TV commercials emphasize the ability of these Macs to run Windows more than any other feature.

Apple isn' t the only operating-system vendor running for its life by running Windows. IBM's OS/2 has always been judged mainly by its ability to run Windows apps. Even Microsoft's own Windows NT--which of course has apps of its own--currently needs to run 16-bit Windows apps well to stay alive. And the UNIX OS vendors are scrambling to cope with the Windows juggernaut, offering Windows emulation to prevent users from jumping ship and swimming to NT.

Chip Off The Ol'  Block

Over the 10-year history of Windows, Microsoft gradually increased its control of PCs, apps and even other operating systems. But this year, an astonishing shift will occur:  Microsoft will actually grab control over the standard for the microprocessors that power Windows PCs.

The clone chip makers are starting to come up with microprocessors that are better and cheaper than--and not necessarily compatible with--Intel chips. And, like in the PC business, the test of a good chip is becoming Windows compatibility, not compatibility with the hardware leader.

AMD is working on a semi-RISC chip called the K5, which will fit in a Pentium slot. The 100MHz K5 chip is supposed to run Windows 30 percent faster than a 100MHz Pentium chip. The K5 should be able to execute four instructions per clock cycle (the Pentium executes two). Though the K5 is far from a Pentium clone, it makes Windows and the PC think they' re running on a fast Pentium.

Cyrix is working on a chip called the M1. Like AMD's new chip, the M1 isn' t a Pentium clone. Unlike the AMD chip, the M1 isn' t even pin compatible with the Pentium--it requires a custom motherboard. But it runs Windows, and that's the whole point. AMD and Cyrix should have working prototypes of the K5 and M1 chips by the time you read this.

Just like it did with application software, Microsoft has put itself in a position to grant or deny compatibility stickers to chip vendors that meet its specifications for design and compatibility.

Sticker Shock

The launch of Windows 95 this year completes Microsoft's effort to seize control over hardware and software. The company will be handing out "Windows 95 Compatible'' stickers to hardware and software vendors that meet a strict list of requirements. For software vendors, that means, among other things, 32-bit execution, strict adherence to the Microsoft Windows User Interface Design Guide (which governs almost every aspect of an application's look and feel), the ability to run on Windows NT, long filename support, OLE 2.0 support and e-mail support (including a Send command in the File menu). Hardware vendors must be fully Plug-and-Play compatible in order to earn the sticker.

Declaration Of Windependence

Microsoft will get plenty of hardware and software vendors to do things the Windows Way. Vendors want those stickers, so most will comply. And Windows 95 PCs will be a lot easier to use as a direct result of Microsoft's increased dominance of the industry. That's good.

But innovative products that don' t jump through Microsoft's hoops may lose sales and possibly even die because they don' t have the sticker. That's bad.

Don' t get me wrong--I' m glad we have an industry leader imposing standards on an unruly, open platform. But there's a real danger that Microsoft will establish a hegemony in which only deep-pocketed, well-stickered vendors can survive.

Think about it. How many of the innovative technologies and products we now enjoy originated with Microsoft? The company is great at imposing standards, shipping truly warm-and-fuzzy products (usually on the second or third try) and building upon and profiting from the innovation of others. But Microsoft is not a technology innovator.

It's only a danger, though, if we buy into the Microsoft party line. So let's declare our independence from Microsoft. Take that compatibility sticker with many grains of salt. Keep an open mind. Support vendors that move the industry forward, innovate and compete on merit rather than marketing--sticker or not.

This year, Microsoft will win the war. But we, the people, still have freedom of choice.

Mike Elgan is the executive editor of WINDOWS Magazine. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Jan. 95 WIN.INI: I'm A Webaholic

By:  Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Hello. My Name Is Fred. I' m 43 Years Old, And I' m A Webaholic.

I say this without shame, and I invite you to join me. In fact, I' ll go so far as to say that if you' re not personally and actively exploring the Internet, especially the World Wide Web, you' re missing out on the most dynamic part of the computer industry today.

On the Net, you can tap into more than 4,000 newsgroups--loose and threaded message areas that cover everything from comp.theory.info.retrieval to rec.food.drink.beer. You can telnet into computers set up to allow guest log-ins, and operate those distant computers as if you were sitting at one of their terminals. You can ftp to download sites and transfer megabytes of files, programs, sounds and images to your hard disk. You can search the resources of the Internet with gopher and a variety of other eccentrically named tools. And you can browse the Web.

Web sites offer compound documents (called pages) that can combine text, images, sound and animation, as well as hypertext links to other pages on the Net. (This intricate cross-linking is why it's called the Web.) A good Web browser automatically plays or displays any multimedia components found on a Web page, and also puts a graphical front end on all the lower-level Internet tools (telnet, ftp, news and gopher sessions). In a sense, the Web is a superset of the Internet. With a good Web browser, you can point and click your way to almost anything.

The above probably mirrors some of the glowing coverage you' ve seen elsewhere about the Internet. But it's not all a bed of roses. For example, a typical Web page can contain dozens of links to other Web pages, some of which may be on distant computers. These pages, in turn, can contain pointers to still more distant pages. It doesn' t take many jumps across Web links before you feel as if you' re wandering one of the lower levels of Doom, desperately looking for the way back.

Once you' ve visited a site, most Internet front-end software lets you put the address on a menu so you can get back more easily the next time. But that first visit can be tough. For example, to jump straight to the place on Microsoft's server where the ship date of Windows 95 is discussed, you need to point your Web browser at http: //www.microsoft.com/pages/peropsys/win_news/chicago/wwwhtml/chicago/chicoqa4/TOPIC06.htm.

And you' d better type very, very carefully, without messing up the upper and lowercase characters. If you don' t get it exactly right, you won' t get there at all.

The main cause of this unfriendliness is that, underneath it all, the Net is still mostly UNIX, the one operating system that could make DOS look warm and fuzzy. When you run into trouble on the Net--and you will--expect a taciturn error message at best. "Server did not respond'' could mean you made a mistake, or there's a problem with your hardware or software. Or it could be trouble between you and your Internet node, or a network problem between any two links en route to the server you' re accessing. Or it could mean trouble at the server itself. Good luck figuring out what went wrong.

Even when making a connection isn' t a problem, figuring out where to go can be. There's almost no organization on the Web. For example, Microsoft's hard-core bits-and'bytes Web server is on an equal footing with the Louvre's culturally rich site, which in turn sits alongside "Roadkills R Us,'' an actual Web page devoted to celebrating those times when the rubber meets the rodent. I' m not making this up.

Despite these hassles, the Internet--especially the Web--is a fabulous and growing resource. Monthly data traffic on a main backbone of the U.S. portion of the Internet, omitting local and foreign traffic, currently runs to something like 16 trillion bytes. Call it 16 terabytes, 16 thousand gigabytes or 16 million megabytes--it's a boatload of bytes, and it's growing by around 5 percent per month.

Here are some tips to ease your way into the data stream:

•	Go with a fast connection. Web files can be huge, and the Net itself is showing signs of congestion ("bursty'' performance, for example). Your best defense is a direct, high'speed network connection. But don' t sneer at dial'up:  My local dial'up provider lets me connect by modem at a healthy 57.6 kilobits per second. Just make sure you have a 14.4Kbps or 28.8Kbps modem, and use a data'compressing protocol. In my area, a few dial'up providers offer all'you'can'eat dial'in access for about $15 per month, and most of the rest offer dollar'a'day plans.

•	Go graphical. When you can, avoid command'line Internet navigation and text'based Web browsers. Shareware Net tools are fine and cheap, but commercial Internet access packages offer polished and debugged Windows versions of the standard Net tools. (See our First Impressions of Internet in a Box, Everything You Need to Net, and SuperHighway Access, Pedal to the Metal on the Infobahn.)

•	Go with a guide. If you' ve ever wasted part of a trip because you didn' t know the best places to visit, you' ll understand the benefit of having a guide to help you through the exponential complexity of the Web. WINDOWS Magazine will keep you posted on the most useful and interesting sites as part of our expanding on'line coverage. You can also check out our new home page on the Web (located at http: //techweb.cmp.com/win), where we' ll keep a current list of hotlinks to the best places we know. Once you' re on our page, you can simply point and click to the best of the Internet and the Web.

•	Also, look for NetGuide, a new publication from CMP, WINDOWS Magazine's publisher. NetGuide will help you get the most from your on'line time and money.

•	Go! No matter how you get there, just make sure you do. If you' re not on the Web, you' re not connected, and you' ll soon feel like a radio owner in the age of TV. Once you are connected, you' ll have a leg up in keeping yourself and your company current. Floating around in that sea of Internet data are answers to just about any questions you can think of--and ones you haven' t even begun to formulate yet. You can' t afford not to be connected, so this year, resolve to tap in.

Happy New Year!

Fred Langa's E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Bug Derails OS/2 Warp Launch

By:  John D. Ruley

A bug that prevents DOS and Windows programs from loading properly has turned up in some initial copies of OS/2 Warp v.3. The bug may retard Warp's acceptance in the market, and has already cost IBM the support of at least one major retailer.

The bug showed up first in some early copies, including copies sent to the press for review. IBM representative Rob Crawley confirmed the bug exists, but said IBM is replacing potentially bugged shipments at retailers with copies thought to be bug'free.

Here's how to detect the problem:  If a CONFIG.BAK file exists in the root directory of an OS/2 Warp v.3 system immediately after installation, then the system has the bug. Crawley recommended that users encountering problems running DOS or Windows applications call IBM technical support. "We know how to fix it,'' he said.

The situation has prompted a major booster of OS/2 to pull back. The competitive industry "precludes us from selling Warp until its technical problems are fixed,'' said Paolo Pignatelli, president of the Corner Store, an Internet'based reseller, Crawley said IBM's response to the bug made it "a minor issue.'' He said, "We could have just shipped [Warp] and let people download a fix, but we decided to do the right thing and fix it before it reached most customers.' '

Even Without Bugs, Warp Bugs Users

Warp's troubles came just as IBM was expected to roll out a nationwide, multimillion'dollar ad campaign trumpeting Warp as a shipping alternative to Microsoft's as'yet'unavailable Windows 95 product.

Microsoft has taken Warp quite seriously, assigning staff members to monitor activity on public bulletin boards and distributing a white paper that "addresses some general incorrect statements IBM representatives have made to the industry press.'' Some observers wondered what all the fuss is about.

Even before the recent bug was reported, examination of prerelease and shipping copies of Warp revealed some serious deficiencies. --JDR


New Pentium PCs Not Optimized For Win95

By:  John Gartner

If you think shelling out three thousand bucks for a new PCI Pentium system guarantees optimal Windows 95 performance, you may be disappointed. According to some hardware vendors, Pentiums with EIDE (Enhanced IDE) disk subsystems may need to be upgraded for maximum Windows 95 performance.

Although Pentium motherboards integrate EIDE, vendors universally agree that SCSI'2 is better.

Windows 95 can perform multiple I/O tasks simultaneously, a feature supported by SCSI'2, but not EIDE. Drive controller manufacturer Adaptec estimates that using EIDE can degrade hard disk performance by up to 70 percent when processing more than one disk operation.

SCSI'2 is absent from the newest Pentium systems because it costs roughly $4 to add EIDE to a motherboard, and between $6 and $20 to add SCSI'2, according to vendors. Buying a SCSI'2 adapter is more expensive, ranging from $50 to $250. Clearly, an after'the'purchase SCSI upgrade is a costly route for end users seeking super Windows 95 performance.


Gridlock On The Information Highway

By:  Jim Forbes

Heavy traffic on the Internet is threatening to make the information highway as slow as a Los Angeles freeway during rush hour.

Gridlock caused by an estimated 200 percent yearly increase in Internet users, as well as concerns over funding, has consultants and communications providers worried about the future of the Internet.

It is easier than ever to get on the information highway. Mosaic Communications, Spry Software and Booklink Technologies recently launched Windows programs that allow users to navigate the Internet, peruse its news groups and retrieve information. And Windows 95 is expected to make it even easier to connect to the Internet through TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) support.

Analysts believe about 9 million people worldwide use a service originally designed for fewer than 20,000 users. In the coming year, the number of people who log onto the Internet is expected to hit nearly 20 million.

The overcrowding is taking its toll. It once took hours for mail to reach its destination on the Internet. Today, a piece of mail can take nearly a full day to go from sender to receiver unless a user has access to a principal server like those at MIT, Stanford and other installations.

Users "should not expect the Internet architecture to handle the volume of traffic it does today without appropriate servers,'' said Lisa Thorell, a Spry Software official. She believes that part of the solution to Internet gridlock is for service providers to update their mail servers.

Meanwhile, the Federal government appears to be reevaluating its fiscal commitment to the loose collection of minicomputers nationwide that power the Internet. Without mainstream corporate partners, the loss of government funding could mean an end to the Internet as we know it.


Marvel To Compete With AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy

By:  Jim Forbes

If you use on'line services, you' re a potential target for Microsoft, which recently announced its long'awaited commercial service, code'named Marvel.

Although Marvel will not begin operating until sometime later this year, a front end for it will be included with Windows 95, which is expected to ship in the first half of this year, said Microsoft chairman Bill Gates recently. According to Gates, Marvel will eventually include content, extensive libraries of software utilities and macros, full access to the Internet, chat areas, special interest groups, mail, facilities for obtaining new versions of Microsoft applications, access to Microsoft technical support specialists and other features.

Microsoft will differentiate Marvel from competing services such as CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy through its tight integration with Windows 95, including support and use of OLE'based "shortcut'' objects, said George Meng, a Microsoft official.

When Marvel debuts, it will offer on'line technical support for Microsoft applications, operating systems and, perhaps, hardware.

"Marvel will not have everything offered on other services. Our goal is to be very selective and provide our users with high value -- especially people who need [software and hardware] support,'' Meng said.

At press time Microsoft insiders estimated that Marvel basic service will cost $4 an hour or less.

Microsoft sees Marvel as an opportunity to promote content. "We believe content providers have not yet had the financial incentives they need to really play in this market,'' Meng said. There is also the possibility that Microsoft will leverage its recent acquisition of Intuit--historically a proponent of electronic financial transactions and services--to generate significant income from the Marvel venture.


Microsoft's Merger With Intuit Raises Questions

By:   James E. Powell

Microsoft's merger with Intuit, maker of the leading financial software package, Quicken, signals Microsoft's second attempt at dominating the financial services market. Microsoft failed to dominate the market with its own financial software package, Money.

At the recent Microsoft shareholders'  meeting, chairman Bill Gates emphasized that the $1.5 billion stock transaction represents a long'term investment in financial services. It will help users get checking, credit card and investment information on'line.

Typically, users incur a monthly charge for unlimited transactions or a monthly fee and per'access or per'transaction charges. Intuit provides services such as a Visa card with transaction history available on'line and TurboTax, which enables customers to file tax returns on'line for a fee.

Industry sources question how much growth can be expected from on'line services. Users are often uncomfortable with on'line transactions--in some cases due to concerns about security--or unwilling to pay fees that add up to $20 per month for all the options offered by Microsoft Money.

Product managers from Microsoft's competitors told WINDOWS Magazine that fewer than 5 percent of their users are interested in such on'line services. Dataquest estimates that the highly touted home shopping and on'line banking applications are used by less than 10 percent of on'line service users.

Microsoft isn' t alone in expressing interest in on'line services. Visa International subsidiary Visa Interactive has signed up 28 U.S.'based institutions to offer electronic banking and bill payment services. NationsBank announced that it will participate in an electronic banking and bill payment pilot program based on H&R Block's Managing Your Money software.

Meanwhile, Microsoft sold Money to Novell. The Justice Department must still review and approve the merger, and its investigation may center on whether Money would be a viable competitor in Novell's hands.


Unhappy Returns For Electronic Tax Cheats

By:  James E. Powell

Better check that tax return one more time. A new industry group is out to make filing fraudulent tax returns harder than ever.

Last year more than 13 million people filed income tax returns electronically. Some 70 percent of filers applied for a refund anticipation loan, and those applications were evaluated for fraud by the Fraud Service Bureau, an industry consortium.

Using a neural network of tax return information collected over previous years, the FSB scores and evaluates returns.

Now the Council for Electronic Revenue Communication Advancement (CERCA) wants to expand this fraud detection technology to include the other 30 percent of electronic filers. CERCA consists of software publishers, tax preparation companies, publishers and others who "want to pave the tax lane of the information highway,'' said Bob Barr, CERCA's president.


New Chips To Make Windows NT Fly

By:  John D. Ruley

If you thought Intel's 90MHz Pentium was fast, just wait a few months. Processor vendors are working on new chips that promise speed far beyond that available in today's hottest desktop systems.

Motorola's Power'PC 620 is an advanced development of the basic Motorola'IBM'Apple Power'PC 601 architecture (currently used in Apple's Power Macintosh systems) and the faster 604 processor. The 604 is expected to debut in Motorola PowerPlatform server systems by the time you read this. The 620 improves on the basic 601 and 604 design with six internal execution units, providing four instruction executions for every CPU clock cycle.

Motorola's chip also employs exotic logic such as out'of'order execution, branch prediction and speculative execution. Used in conjunction with a large external cache, the processor is expected to deliver double the performance of a 604 at equal clock rate--or about four times the performance of an equivalent Intel Pentium CPU. Motorola and IBM expect to begin sampling the 620 processor in the first quarter of 1995, with volume production beginning in the second quarter.

Mips Technologies is following on the development of R4200, R4400 and R4600 variants with its R10000 chip (formerly code'named T5). The R10000 is a four'way superscalar 64'bit microprocessor that employs dynamic scheduling, nonblocking two'way set'associative CPU cache (64KB on'chip, and up to 16MB of secondary cache off'chip), and Mips's new "Avalanche'' bus design. The R10000 chip is expected to outperform even the Motorola 620. Samples of the new chip are expected to be available in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, Digital Equipment Corp. continues to increase the speed of its Alpha AxP RISC processor. Recent demonstrations of advanced Alpha systems have shown clock rates over 300MHz. DEC will soon ship a new line of Alpha'based workstations and servers using 200MHz and 233MHz processors with 256KB to 2MB secondary caches.

All these advanced CPUs can be used easily in multiprocessor designs for even higher performance. All are expected to be available in high'end systems running Windows NT this year.

Sources told WINDOWS Magazine that the P'6 includes four'way superscalar execution and direct support for multiprocessors. Indeed, engineers at multiprocessor'maker Sequent Computer Systems expect that P'6 will make two' to four'CPU multiprocessors such a low'cost item by 1996 that Sequent itself plans to move into larger, faster systems using exotic design approaches such as Distributed Symmetric Multiprocessing (DSMP).


Faster Memory In The Works

By:  Paul E. Schindler Jr.

Rambus has signed major memory vendors to produce a faster memory architecture.

Rambus doesn' t make chips. It licenses memory speedup technology to chip makers, including NEC, Toshiba and Hitachi.

A Rambus card or system moves data at 500 megabytes per second (MBps), 10 times as much data as today's best systems. RAMBus licenses a proprietary 8'bit addressing scheme which simplifies and speeds up memory addressing in conjunction with a reengineered memory controller and new memory chip designs.

The Rambus technology allows vendors to use larger, cheaper memory chips (including the 16MB memory chips set to debut in 1995) without sacrificing speed. A Rambus official predicts  vendors will first offer better performances at the same price, and eventually offer video boards that would cost $400 today for less than $200.


Sage Study Shows Speech Technology Soaring

By:  Hailey Lynne Mckeefry

A recent study by Sage Research has found that speech recognition technology is generating interest in many industries, although it isn' t yet common on the desktop. "What the Sage study suggests is that people are starting to look at speech recognition seriously and to demand more from it,'' said Eric Nahm, vice president of sales and marketing at Verbex Voice Systems.

The report found that 52 percent of the 113 information systems professionals polled had evaluated or planned to evaluate speech recognition technologies. Fifty'six percent predicted that between 5 percent and 25 percent of their organizations'  employees will use speech recognition in the future, while 35.4 percent said between 1 percent and 5 percent will use it.

Some consider these forecasts modest. "These numbers may be low,'' said Harley M. Rosnow, director of development at Kurzweil Applied Intelligence. "I expect that by 1997 speech recognition will be incorporated into all significant applications on the PC desktop.' '

"Entering data onto forms will be the most common application both now and in the future,'' said Kim Gessert, a Sage analyst.


Apple Does DOS, Windows With DX2 Card

By:  Jim Forbes

Apple is scheduled to ship this month another add'in card that allows Macintosh computers to run Windows. The new version of its "DOS Compatibility Card'' uses a 66MHz 486DX2 chip.

It is designed to be used with high'end Macintoshes equipped with the PowerPC 601 or Motorola 68040 processors. Apple's PC'on'a'card shares the Mac's memory, hard disk and multimedia peripherals, such as CD'ROM drives and speakers.

The DOS Compatibility Card costs between $650 and $700. The card offers Sound Blaster compatibility and software that allows users to connect to Novell NetWare and TCP/IP'based networks.

Apple offers the add'in card as a standalone for upgraders, or installed as part of a specially configured $2,499 PowerPC 6100 (Apple, 800'776'2333, 408'996'1010).


Publisher Presents Presentation Practices

By:  James E. Powell

If you' ve been using a presentation software package for five years and spend about 13 hours creating a typical presentation, you' re about average. That's what Software Publishing Corp., makers of Harvard Graphics, found out in a survey conducted by Systems Research Corp.

The survey focused on usage habits and characteristics of 620 Harvard Graphics, PowerPoint and Freelance Graphics users as well as spreadsheet, word processor and drawing package users. The average presentation includes 13.3 slides aimed at a group of 15 people.

Presentations are given in a formal podium'style manner 41 percent of the time and in staff meetings by just over one'fourth of those surveyed. Hard copy handouts are produced by 94 percent of users, 72 percent use overhead transparencies and just over a quarter of those responding use 35 millimeter slides. Some 83 percent of respondents use predesigned charts to create slides. User's number one priority is a product that "helps them create the most professional'looking presentations.'' That ranked ahead of "ease of use'' and "getting the job done fast.' '


Mobile Multimedia Stuck In Hardware And Software Bottleneck

By:  Philip Albinus

Mobile multimedia still has a long way to go. At a recent forum, "Mobile Multimedia in the Workplace,'' sponsored by Sharp Electronics, designers and users said multimedia hardware and software must improve before multimedia presentations will be ready to hit the road.

The hardware needed to run the multimedia presentations is too costly, too heavy and not powerful enough, while multimedia software is confusing and bulky as well, the panelists said.

"Multimedia is still in its infancy,'' said Vijay Vashee, PowerPoint product manager for Microsoft Corp. "Most of us can' t do a good multimedia presentation. The software is to blame in some ways. As long as it's easy to create, people will use it.' '


Cheaper, Faster Photo-Realistic Printing On Horizon

By:  John Gartner

An innovative technology promises to make high'quality photo'realistic output on the desktop more affordable. Variable'dot thermal transfer (VT2) gives desktop users an alternative to dye'sublimation printers, and will cut the time and cost for high'quality output in half, according to the Association of Color Thermal Transfer Technology (ACT).

Unlike previous thermal'wax printers that use a fixed pixel size, VT2 printers can vary the size of a dot down to 2.5 percent of a standard 300'dot'per'inch dot by modulating the amount of heat in the print head. Smaller pixels eliminate coarse edges and provide the smooth gradations necessary for printing skin tones and high'resolution images. VT2 printers are expected to produce a page in two to three minutes at a cost of slightly more than $1 per page.

The first VT2 printer, the Casio PrintJoy color thermal video printer, was demonstrated at the recent ACT technical conference and prints 200'dpi small format Photo'CD images. Full'page, 300'dpi VT2 printers from vendors including JVC and Mitsubishi should ship during the first half of this year. According to ACT's Rick Wallace, full'page VT2 printers should be priced "somewhere between the cost of standard thermal'transfer printers and dye'sublimation printers,'' or between $7,000 and $15,000. Also previewed was laser'beam thermal technology, which uses a beam to fuse wax to paper, with products due within a year.


Jan. 95 News Bits

Compiled By Philip Albinus

•	Microsoft plans to release the third beta version of Windows 95 to users outside the beta testing group. At press time, Microsoft officials said the beta would cost about $30.

•	The next version of Microsoft's Windows NT Resource Kit will contain everything needed to set up an NT'based Internet node, including World Wide Web, telnet and Domain Name Service (DNS) server software.

•	Most people believe that subnotebook computers do not compare to full sized notebooks, according to Martin Reynolds, an industry analyst for CI InfoCorp. They believe subnotebooks are functionally limited and buyers purchase notebooks as replacements for desktop PC units, he said.

•	Borland bought the commercially successful Program Manager replacement, Dashboard, from Hewlett Packard. Borland will release Borland Dashboard after making a few cosmetic changes.

•	Microsoft plans to help NeXt Computer modify OpenStep, NeXt's object'oriented tool that re'uses large portions of code, so that developers can use the tool while developing applications for Windows 95 and Windows NT.

•	National Semiconductor is designing its own version of the Intel x86 microprocessor. The company says its chips won' t be used in PCs, but as embedded microprocessors in printers, smart telephones and microwave ovens.

•	Sequent Computer Systems vice president Paul O' Mara told WINDOWS Magazine that the company sold some 400 NT'based multiprocessor systems last year--an impressive result considering that Sequent's total installed base after 10 years in the UNIX'based business is about 6,000 systems. O' Mara also said Sequent expects NT'based system sales will eventually account for the bulk of its business.

•	Hewlett Packard announced plans to acquire Versatest, a maker of test equipment for flash memory chips.

•	Nearly 50 percent of all multimedia presentations address an audience of five or fewer people, said an official who works on Microsoft's Powerpoint for Windows.

•	IBM will scrap its PS/2 and ValuePoint lines and return to the original brand name:  IBM Personal Computer. IBM has reduced its line of computers from seven to four. IBM will offer models under the brand names IBM PC, IBM PC Server, Aptiva and ThinkPad.

•	Software companies will benefit more from the sales of utilities for Windows 95 and the new release of Windows NT than they will from the sales of applications, predicted Gordon Eubanks, chairman for Symantec Corp.

•	Intel began construction of a $500 million expansion of its Santa Clara, Calif. microchip factory, used for the manufacture and development of Pentium chips.

•	Modem makers U.S. Robotics and Megahertz Holding Corp. plan to merge.

•	PC maker Zeos International will merge with Micron Computer and Micron Custom Manufacturing, subsidiaries of Micron Technology.

•	Caere Corp.'s acquisition of Calera Recognition Systems for a stock swap valued at $35 million is expected to be completed this month. Both companies develop OCR (optical character recognition) engines and document management applications.

•	A U.S. Federal District Court found in favor of Intel Corp. and ordered Advanced Micro Devices to stop taking orders for Am486 microprocessors. The AMD chips contain Intel In Circuit Emulation code. AMD was also ordered to stop using the code in new AMD chips.

•	In a survey of 500 frequent U.S. business travelers, more than half of the respondents said they use notebooks to write memos and prepare documents and faxes during air travel. Business travel is apparently no time for fun--only six percent of the respondents admitted to playing computer games while traveling. The survey was conducted by Dell Computer Corp.

•	Despite industry rumors to the contrary, Microsoft denies that the company is working on a PowerPC version of Windows 95. Motorola is quietly working with key software vendors to see that its PowerPC chip, which lacks an operating system of its own, is supported by Windows NT and applications from Novell (WordPerfect), Intergraph and others.


Jan. 95 Exit Windows

Compiled By Sara Stephens

Copyright (c) 1994, CMP Publications, All Rights Reserved.

Screen Saver O'  The Month

The Seinfeld Screensaver and Planner lets you put Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer to work creating fax forms, cards and letterheads using scenes from their hit TV show. Take your pick from one hour of live'action video clips and more than 100 photographs. You can even play that funky'bass Seinfeld theme music to make the most of this multimedia must. Seinfeld Screensaver and Planner, $39.95; Time Warner Interactive, Burbank, Calif.; 800'482'3766, 818'295'6600.

Itchin'  To Etch

Talk about signs o'  the times, can you believe Etch A Sketch has gone Windows? The legendary drawing toy makes multimedia history with push'button Direction Draw, free'form Magnetic Draw, special effects, animations, sounds and interactive games. Activities are orga'nized into four sections:  Let's Travel, Build'it, Draw'it and Games. Etch A Sketch, $29.95; ScreenMagic, San Francisco, Calif.; 415'648'8056, fax 415'647'2448.

Hit Me With Your Chip Shot

Micromanage the new year with Chip Shots, A Calendar of Microprocessors. This fact'filled calendar reviews the history of the 80x86 series of microprocessors with multicolored modern'art'like photomicrographs that' ll blow your mind. Chip Shots, $10.95; Amber Lotus, Oakland, Calif.; 800'3'AMBER'L, 510'839'3931.

An Apple A Day?

Students in Apple computer's backyard broke away from their Macintosh desktops to build their own computer--a PC, that is. In just six hours over the course of three days, kids at Orion Elementary School in Redwood City, Calif., assembled a system with an NEC monitor, an Intel 486 microprocessor,  a Seagate 204MB hard disk and a Creative Labs Sound Blaster. Computer columnist Lawrence J. Magid cooked up the idea and got vendors to donate parts. Contact Magid via CompuServe mail at 75300,2105.

Word Up!

And down and across. If you like crossword puzzles, you' ll love Multimedia Crosswords. Covering topics from sports to movies and historical figures to literature, this multimedia mindbender will fill in the blanks when you' re stumped. It will prompt you with photo, video and sound bite clues and check your answers to see if you' re on the right track. Choose from Reader's Digest and TV Guide puzzle packages. Multimedia Crosswords, $34.95; InterMedia Interactive Software, Philadelphia, Pa.; 800'545'7677, 310'793'0600.

If you' ve seen any offbeat Windows'related tidbit, please send it to us! We' ll send you a cool WinMag coffee mug and T'shirt for each item we publish. Send Exit Windows items to Sara Stephens, AOL screenname SaraStephens.


Blazing Notebooks Report Card

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI 's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950101.doc

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

and load a bitmap image into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950103.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn ' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


Windows Meets The Press Report Card

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI 's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950102.doc

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

and load a bitmap image into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950103.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn ' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


Blazing Notebooks Feature Table

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

Feature Table p. 1

Feature Table p. 2

Feature Table p. 3

Feature Table p. 4

and load a bitmap image into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950104.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950105.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950106.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950107.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn ' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP).


Windows Meets The Press Feature Table

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

 Feature Table p. 1

 Feature Table p. 2

 Feature Table p. 3

 Feature Table p. 4

and load one of these 3 bitmap images into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950109.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950110.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950111.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950112.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


Introduction

Introduction to All The Words:

Full Text of WINDOWS Magazine August 1994-February 1995

Because this is an unusual Help file, and because this contents screen is the first thing you see when you open it, we're going to tell you a few things about All The Words.

This is, for the most part, a standard Windows Help file. Some extra features are made possible by our use of a Help File authoring tool called HDK.

Here's some advice on how to find what you're looking for:

Finding Vendors or Products

•	If you single-click on the Find button above, you will be allowed to search the full-text of all our May 95 issue.

Finding Articles by Author, Topic or Column Name

•	Because we offer full-text search, there are a limited number of keywords under the traditional "Search" button above. If you single-click on Search, you will be shown topics, bylines and column titles.

Finding Articles by Issue

•	If you single-click the Contents button above, it will reopen the hierarchical, graphical Table of Contents in the right-hand window. If both windows are open, you will notice that the Table of Contents displays your location in the hierarchy at all times. This file has no traditional Table of Contents page.

Getting Out

•	There is a Close button above. It is the equivalent of double-clicking in the upper left hand corner of the application or selecting File/Exit from the menu.

Contacting the WinMag Staff

You can contact our staff and contributors via electronic mail. For the addresses, click on the more details button below.


HDK

HDK is a set of tools that can be used in conjunction with Word for Windows and the Microsoft Help Compiler to create Windows Help files--in reality, Hypertext documents. HDK enhances the WinHelp display engine (shipped with every copy of  Windows) by adding on its own graphical Contents View, which makes it easy for end-users to locate information in large manuals. It  graphically represents the chapters and sub-chapters in the manual; the user simply clicks on a topic to display it.

HDK automatically provides Full-text Indexing, thus overcoming WinHelp's biggest limitation. End-users can now find any word, anywhere in the document.

HDK costs $395. It was developed by Virtual Media Technology of Australia and is distributed exclusively in the United States by:

DEK Software International

1843 The Woods II

Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

Tel: 609-424-6565  Fax: 609-424-0785

Email: Compuserve 75143,3631

Internet: 75413.3631@compuserve.com


Make Quick Associations

You can specify which file extensions belong with which applications by using the Associate function in File Manager's File menu. Just type in the three-letter extension you wish to associate, and then choose from the list of programs or use the Browse function to select the appropriate application. For example, if you associate the extension .ZZZ with Notepad, then any time you double-click on a file with that extension, Notepad will be launched and will open the specified file.


Contacting The WinMag Staff/Columnists

WINDOWS Magazine

America Online: WindowsMag

CompuServe: 74761,173

Prodigy: CNNB30A

WINDOWS Magazine

CMP Publications Inc.

1 Jericho Plaza

Jericho, NY 11753-1635

516-733-8390 (fax)

WinMag Staff	ELECTRONIC MAIL ID
or Contributor
Albinus, Philip	PALBINUS@CMP.COM
Blackwood, Jonathan	JBLACK@CMP.COM
Blumenfeld, Julie	JBLUMEN@CMP.COM
Boyce, Jim	COMPUSERVE: 76516,3403
	76516.403@COMPUSERVE.COM
Castagna, Rich	RCASTAG@CMP.COM
Currid, Cheryl	MCI: 534-1670
	5341670@MCIMAIL.COM
Dendy, Ellen	EDENDY@CMP.COM
Elgan, Michael	MELGAN@CMP.COM
Etra, Ian	IETRA@CMP.COM
Forbes, Jim	JFORBES@CMP.COM
Gabel, Dave	DAGABEL@CMP.COM
Gartner, John	JGARTNER@CMP.COM
Gee, William	WGEE@CMP.COM
Handel, Ian	IHANDEL@CMP.COM
Heller, Martin	MHELLER@BIX.COM
Kenworthy, Karen	AMERICA ONLINE: WINMAG1
	WINMAG1@AOL.COM
Lang, Nancy	NLANG@CMP.COM
Langa, Fred	FLANGA@CMP.COM
LaSusa, Tom	TLASUSA@CMP.COM
Lauriston, Robert	COMPUSERVE: 75300,3205
	75300.3205@COMPUSERVE.COM
Majumder, Digs	DMAJUMDE@CMP.COM
McCooey, Eileen	EMCCOOEY@CMP.COM
McKeefry, Hailey	HMCKEEF@CMP.COM
Methvin, David	DMETHVIN@CMP.COM
Miller, James	JMILLER@CMP.COM
Powell, James E.	JPOWELL@CMP.COM
Ruley, John	JRULEY@CMP.COM
Schindler, Paul E.	PSCHIND@CMP.COM
Sloman, Jeffrey	COMPUSERVE: 71221,1143
	71221,1143@COMPUSERVE.COM
Strauss, Karen	KSTRAUSS@CMP.COM
Sverko, Adriano	ASVERKO@CMP.COM
Tapellini, Donna	DTAPELL@CMP.COM
Woram, John	JWORAN@PIPELINE.COM
Yacono, John	JYACONO@CMP.COM
Yegulalp, Serdar	SYEGUL@CMP.COM


February 1995

Columns

Letters

News

New Products

First Impressions

Features

Reviews

How-To


Columns

Feb 95 Dialog Box

Feb 95 Windows At Work

Feb 95 The Explorer

Feb 95 Win.INI


Letters

Feb 95 Letters


News

Intel Acknowledges Flaw In Pentium

Windows 95 Preview Program Announced

NT Brings Windows To The Power PC

Borland, Microsoft Duke It Out In Development

The Microsoft Network Riles Competitors

WWW Could Stand For Words, Words, Words

Sharp Ships Zaurus PDA -- Without Winpad

Feb 95 Technology Watch

Feb 95 News Bits


New Products

Compiled by Hailey Lynne McKeefry

Feb 95 New Products: Accounting

Feb 95 New Products: Application Development

Feb 95 New Products: Bundles

Feb 95 New Products: Color Printing

Feb 95 New Products: Graphics

Feb 95 New Products: Internet Access

Feb 95 New Products: Misc.

Feb 95 New Products: Multimedia

Feb 95 New Products: Network Management

Feb 95 New Products: Notebooks

Feb 95 New Products: Online Services

Feb 95 New Products: Systems

Feb 95 New Products: Telephony

Feb 95 New Products: TVs And PCs

Feb 95 New Products: Utilities


First Impressions

Feb 95 FI: allClear III

Feb 95 FI: AutoCAD Release 13

Feb 95 FI: Borland Delphi

Feb 95 FI: Bulk Mailer / MyProfessionalMailManager

Feb 95 FI: Compaq Contura 400cx

Feb 95 FI: Crossties 2.0 / Crossties For Workgroups

Feb 95 FI: CTX EzBook

Feb 95 FI: Day-To-Day Contacts / Day-To-Day Notepad

Feb 95 FI: DML Scan - It

Feb 95 FI: Global Menu 5.1

Feb 95 FI: Hijaak Graphics Suite 3.0

Feb 95 FI: HP OfficeJet

Feb 95 FI: HP ScanJet 3P

Feb 95 FI: Intersolv Q+E 6.0

Feb 95 FI: Kensington Thinking Mouse

Feb 95 FI: Lexmark Optra Lx

Feb 95 FI: Maximizer Sales Suite

Feb 95 FI: Mediatrix Audiotrix Pro

Feb 95 FI: Microsoft Bob 1.0

Feb 95 FI: NEC Versa M/75TC

Feb 95 FI: Org Plus 3.0

Feb 95 FI: Ositech Trumpcard Jack Of Diamonds

Feb 95 FI: Panasonic V41 Multimedia Notebook

Feb 95 FI: Papermaster 1.0

Feb 95 FI: PC - Loan 1.0

Feb 95 FI: Perform 3.0

Feb 95 FI: Phoenix Internet Express

Feb 95 FI: Presentation Partner 1.05

Feb 95 FI: Quick Restart 1.2

Feb 95 FI: Remove - It 1.0

Feb 95 FI: Simply 3D

Feb 95 FI: Stickaround Notes

Feb 95 FI: Suite Imaging

Feb 95 FI: Suretrak Project Manager

Feb 95 FI: Tektronix Phaser 140

Feb 95 FI: Windowasher 1.0

Feb 95 FI: Wordperfect Works 2.0 / Clarisworks 3.0

Feb 95 FI: Zeos Meridian 800c


Features

Presenting...A Windows Presentation Contest

Windows 95 - Does your system measure up? - Hardware

Win 100 Software Awards


Reviews

Big Screens Boast Room with a View

Spreadsheets To Count On

Second Server an Ace for Improved Windows NT


How-To

Feb 95  Pullout - How to Buy Tax Software

Feb 95 Enterprise Windows

Feb 95 R & R: Resources and Recreation

Feb 95 Exit Windows

Feb 95 Power Windows

Feb 95 Windows Online

Feb 95 Superior Shareware

Feb 95 Getting Started

Feb 95 Optimizing Windows

Feb 95 Networking Windows

Feb 95 Programming Windows


Second Server an Ace for Improved Windows NT

By: John D. Ruley, Editor-At-Large, And Will Gee, Lab Assistant

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Last month, WINDOWS Magazine reviewed Windows NT Workstation version 3.5. We reported that at 12MB or more of RAM, it outperforms WFWG 3.11 when running standard 16-bit Windows applications. This month, we review NT Server 3.5--the successor to Windows NT Advanced Server (NTAS) version 3.1.

Much of the attention for Windows NT has focused on its abilities as a desktop operating system. But the Server version is equally important--and may be even more significantly changed.

Besides the dramatic changes in Microsoft's pricing and licensing strategy for NT Server (see eNTerprise Windows in the January issue), there are major developments regarding performance, NetWare and UNIX connectivity, and many detail improvements. The performance of NT Server 3.5 benefits from the improvements to the Workstation version. Microsoft claims that NT Server's file-and-print performance now equals or surpasses NetWare 3.1x--especially if WFWG 3.11 (with 32-bit file caching) is used as a client. WINDOWS Magazine lab tests on a Dell Dimension P90 configured as a file server running either NetWare 3.11 or NT Server 3.5 does indeed show better file performance on the NT server. Application-level testing, however, did not bear out the low-level results. A Microsoft Word macro that opened a document, made minor changes, undid them and saved the document (forcing the system to first read and then write the file) showed 20 percent lower performance under NT Server 3.5 than under NetWare 3.11, with a 130KB document. Increasing the document size to 1.3MB reversed the results; NT Server 3.5 performed about 10 percent faster than NetWare 3.11. We consider those results virtually a photo finish. The difference between the application results and the file-server results shown in Figure 1 probably indicates that NT's server-side disk caching is most efficient when more is done with a file than simply reading it in and writing it back out.

NT Advanced Server 3.1 wasn't regarded as a speed demon for file and print services, but was widely seen as an outstanding platform for client/server applications. NT Server 3.5 continues this trend, as shown by Figure 2, later in this article. We easily achieved throughputs close to 100 transactions per second (tps) with a Compaq ProSignia 486-based server; Digital Equipment Corp.'s AlphaServer 1000 pushed the figure to well over 200 tps. The latter figure exceeds the performance usually quoted for minicomputers like a Hewlett-Packard 9000 and approaches the performance of a low-end VAX mainframe.

For those with no interest in a full-bore relational database, Microsoft has cut a deal with Btrieve Technologies and is offering NT Server users a 10-user Btrieve database engine for $99.

Netware connectivity, which wasn't NT 3.1 Advanced Server's strongest suit, is significantly enhanced in NT Server 3.5. A NetWare Gateway Service allows NT Server to share NetWare disks for access by NT Workstations, WFWG systems and other clients of the NT Server. The NetWare Gateway also works with a new NetWare Migration Service that can automatically duplicate user accounts and directory structures. An enhanced remote access service provides up to 255 simultaneous sessions over Asynchronous NetBEUI, PPP or SLIP connections by using conventional modems, ISDN or X.25 hardware.

Possibly the most radical of NT Server 3.5's new features involves TCP/IP networking (as used on the Internet). NT 3.1 provided low-level TCP/IP support in both the standard and Advanced Server versions, but the TCP/IP protocol stack was streams-based, giving slow performance. The new stack is native--meaning it's much faster--and eliminates the need for continuous forwarding of NBT (NetBIOS over TCP) broadcasts, provided Windows Internet Services (WINS) is enabled. WINS is a new protocol providing Domain Name Service (DNS)-like translation between names and IP addresses. Unlike DNS, WINS is designed to work dynamically and supports mobile users. It can be interoperated with DNS using a WINS-to-DNS translator utility, which the NT 3.5 Resource Kit will provide. DNS is backed up by an even more radical new Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service, which leases IP addresses from a list provided by the NT Server Administrator.

What the combination of DHCP and WINS provides is dramatically simplified TCP/IP connectivity. Once an NT Server with DHCP and WINS is properly installed and configured, it takes only the clicking of a few buttons to connect a compatible client. The NT CD-ROM includes DOS, Windows and OS/2 client software, plus an update for WFWG. The actual assignment of the IP address is handled automatically.

Other enhancements to NT Server 3.5 include a complete suite of Win32s-based administrative tools that permit the server to be remotely managed from any Windows (or WFWG) machine that resides on the LAN.

Of course, these new features simply augment NT Server's impressive basic feature set: domain-wide multiserver administration, single enterprise-wide user log-in, interdomain trust, built-in account replication, fault-tolerant disk storage (including RAID-5), built-in Macintosh file system support, and so on.

One final note: Anecdotal evidence suggests that the memory and performance enhancements Microsoft made to NT 3.5 probably benefit servers as least as much as workstations. As an example, an administrator at Sequent Computer's Portland, Oreg., headquarters recently ordered a CPU upgrade for his NT 3.1-based mail server, which was saturated (80 percent CPU utilization) with traffic from an MS-Mail 3.2 network. Before installing the upgrade, he checked performance--to establish a baseline--and found that the system was operating at only a 20 percent CPU load. Checking with a network sniffer revealed the mail traffic hadn't gone down. At something of a loss to understand what had happened, the administrator asked his technicians if anything changed on the mail server. One told him that it had just been upgraded from NTAS 3.1 to NT Server 3.5.

Info File

Windows NT Server 3.5

Price: Per server, $699 (estimated retail); Client licenses, from $39.95 each

In Brief: The second generation of Microsoft's premier client/server platform is as fast as (or faster than) NetWare for file services and can outperform minicomputers as a database server.

Disk Space Required: 90MB

System Resources: N/A

(32-bit operating system)

RAM: 16MB

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080


9502 Monitors Related

Report Card: Monitors

See For Yourself  - Terms You Should Know

Plug - And - Play Monitors

Measuring Up  - What You See Is What You Get.

Power Savings Beyond Energy Star Compliance

How We Tested: 20-Inch Monitors


Big Screens Boast Room with a View

10 21"Monitors Offer Room To Roam

By: John Gartner, Technical Editor, Karen Strauss, Technical Editor, And James Miller, Lab Assistant

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

IN THIS COMPARISON:

IBM 21P

Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 21, MT-9121

Mag InnoVision MX21F

Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 21T

Nanao FlexScan T2-20

NEC MultiSync XE21

NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21

Philips Brilliance 21A

Sampo AlphaScan GLX-KDM-2077E

Sony Multiscan 20SE

Don't overlook the important role the display plays in your Windows experience. With one of the 20- or 21-inch monitors we've reviewed in this article, Windows not only will work better for you, but also will look better.

With a bigger workspace, there's more room to keep multiple windows open, which plays to one of Windows' many strengths. But there are advantages even if you're more single-minded and prefer to tackle one task at a time. Combined with a graphics board that has zoom or virtual-desktop features, these oversized monitors let you zero in on an area of detail for closer scrutiny or pull back for an overall view. Working at a resolution of 1600x1200, you'll see much more of your document on-screen. You won't have to waste time scrolling around to find that data you're searching for.

Whether laying out pages, analyzing financial data on a spreadsheet or editing a CAD drawing, you'll appreciate the 50 percent increase in viewing area compared with a 17-inch monitor. Stacked up against a 14- or 15-inch monitor, the gains are even more impressive. The best news of all may be that prices are dropping. The average price in this roundup is around $2,200, about $200 less than 15 months ago.

We tested ten 20- to 21-inch monitors from different manufacturers. All of the monitors met the Energy Star power-consumption standard, drawing less than 30 watts in power-saving mode. All use the VESA DPMS (Display Power Management System) to activate power-saving mode. They all support low radiation emissions by meeting the MPR-II standard. And all but one (the NEC MultiSync XE21) have a maximum resolution of 1600x1200.

The ability to customize Windows' appearance increases with this newest batch of large monitors. The monitors uniformly included advanced controls to optimize the display's appearance, including functions to minimize moire, pincushioning and trapezoidal distortions (See Terms You Should Know) All but the Sampo AlphaScan GLX-KDM-2077E included controls to specify the color temperature, and many let you specify the individual concentrations of red, green and blue. Some even included micro controls to minimize pincushioning or barreling on specific areas of the screen.

In addition to the manufacturers of the monitors we reviewed, we contacted Panasonic, RasterOps, Samsung and ViewSonic. These companies were all introducing new models that were not yet shipping by press time and, therefore, could not be included.

Hyundai submitted a monitor that arrived after our deadline. At the time we tested, Nokia did not offer a monitor that uses VESA DPMS.

IBM 21P

IBM's decision to use the Mitsubishi Diamondtron picture tube for the 21P was a wise one, because the tube's images are bright and stunningly sharp. Colors from all parts of the spectrum are robust, and you can have precise control of hues. Leaving out a control to compensate for moire patterns, however, wasn't as clever; you can't adjust for the rainbow-like effect that appears through gray or white backgrounds. IBM recognizes the problem with moire patterns, and the documentation recommends not using colors that reveal this distortion.

The 21P is the heavyweight champion of these high-end monitors: At 84 pounds and a depth of 21.5 inches, you'll need a friend and substantial table space to set it up. You must position the 21P a few extra inches from the wall because the cable connectors aren't recessed in the back of the unit as they are in other monitors. The tilt-and-swivel base makes positioning the 21P simple, but be careful not to knock off the plastic door covering the control buttons.

Two sets of buttons--one for expanding and one for contracting the display controls--will adjust the screen size in minute increments, but holding the buttons down accelerates the adjustments too quickly to be useful. The verbose documentation takes longer than necessary to explain these simple controls.

The 21P requires more power than most large monitors, absorbing almost 125 watts during normal usage. The power-saving mode drops power consumption to below 10 watts, though. If you use the lowest power mode--shutdown--you can't revive the monitor with a keystroke; instead, you must power the monitor off and then turn it on again.

The 21P generates great images, but the awkward ergonomics keep it from being a standout product.

Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 21, MT-9121

The VisionMaster Pro 21 offers unique wireless remote control and on-screen programming capabilities that will appeal to TV channel surfers. The only front-panel button is the power switch, which also happens to be the only control that's not included on the remote control. The remote can change practically everything, from brightness to pincushioning, and can even adjust the angle of the monitor, since a motorized base repositions the tilt and angle. While it's in the drawer, you can use the remote like a control panel. This explains why the remote's button labels are 90 degrees off when you're pointing it at the monitor.

Although the remote control is a nice touch, the VisionMaster Pro 21 falls flat where it matters most: The display is simply not that good. Focus, sharpness, resolution and color convergence all showed significant problems during our video torture tests. Nevertheless, it did match the Pantone colors with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Overall, the blacks were rich and the colors good, but there was noticeable drop-off in the darker ranges of color.

One area where this monitor excels is in power conservation. During normal use, the power consumption averaged 115 watts, just about the norm for the monitors in this group. In low-power mode, though, it sipped 5 watts, making it the most miserly monitor in the group. You can just walk away and leave this monitor on without an ounce of guilt.

Mag Innovision  MX21F

The MX21F is a solid performer in the same way as an offensive lineman: It's big, sturdy and does its job well, but it doesn't have the flair of some other players. While the MX21F isn't the brightest or sharpest picture available, we saw minimal distortion and an above-average overall display. Colors are fully saturated, but the focus at the corners is not equivalent to the sharp lines at the center of the screen. You'll be satisfied with the nearly 20-inch diagonal viewing area this monitor provides, although other monitors have sharper pictures.

Setting up the MX21F requires more time than competing products. You must attach the tilt-and-swivel base and snap it into place, which is a chore. At 80 pounds, it's a handful to reposition when seeking that optimal viewing angle. MAG includes connectors for both BNC and D-Sub cables, and the front panel button lets you switch between inputs easily.

To optimize the display, the MX21F provides four pairs of buttons for specifying the screen size. Above the row of buttons are function LEDs that list the advanced controls selected--a much easier method of description than confusing icons or a manual. An LCD display gives status messages indicating the current refresh rate and power state. You can store eight user-definable settings for color and display size using the control panel.

Unlike the other monitors in this review that offer secondary low-power modes that consume less than 10 watts, the MX21F offers just one reduced power mode. Our hands-on tests showed an average consumption of just under the 30-watt specification for Energy Star compliance.

Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 21T

The Diamond Pro 21T is no diamond in the rough: You'll be amazed by the extremely sharp picture with brilliantly saturated colors and some of the deepest blacks we've seen yet. The true colors, make it an excellent monitor for matching to industry standards or output. And, with a 19.88-inch diagonal image, it is one of the largest displays in this group. We noticed two minor imperfections. In the center of the display on solid white or gray backgrounds there was a small moire pattern that we couldn't eliminate because the monitor lacked a compensating control. Also distracting is the reflective surface that mirrors objects in well-lit rooms.

The front panel controls were the most difficult to use of any monitor reviewed. While the breadth of controls is impressive--standard and fine-tuning controls are available--the combinations of buttons and lights are confusing, even with the manual. But if you have a free serial port, you can forego this difficulty by using the well-designed software that controls every aspect of the monitor's image. It handles the control panel functions and more with an intuitive interface that will charm any Windows user.

During normal usage, the Diamond Pro 21T consumes about 120 watts. In power-save mode, it uses about 18 watts, well below the 30 watt Energy Star maximum. Once you've entered the lowest power mode, the monitor won't snap back on at the touch of a keystroke; you must power it off and on again.

Nanao Flexscan T2-20

Of the monitors we tested, the FlexScan T2-20 has the most advanced features. Nanao's forward-thinking design includes a maximum refresh rate of 105Hz at 1024x768 and operates with the best graphics boards available. The FlexScan T2-20 is one of the first DDC-compliant monitors (see Plug - and - Play Monitors, for Real), which will support Plug-and-Play setup under Windows 95. To make optimal use of the FlexScan T2-20, you can toggle between two PCs by pushing the front panel BNC/D-Sub button.

The FlexScan T2-20's ErgoPanel antiglare coating is incredibly effective: It nullifies virtually all glare, unlike many monitors that can double as vanity mirrors. Because of this light-filtering process, the FlexScan T2-20's image is decidedly less sharp. Also, colors are not very vivid and blacks are not as dark as we'd like. The FlexScan T2-20 fared extremely well in our rigorous DisplayMate tests; images were equally bright throughout the screen, and we experienced almost no image distortion.

You can control basic display adjustments (brightness, contrast, display size) with the front-panel buttons and can easily customize advanced features. Clicking on a large button below the adjustment dial starts up the On Screen Manager, a menu of seven categories of screen controls. By turning the adjustment dial, you scroll through the extensive list of distortion-eliminating options, and on-line help is included. The monitor beeps if you've reached the maximum or minimum adjustment possible, and it displays percentages of color concentration and brightness, simplifying the display adjustment process.

Like most aperture grille monitors, the FlexScan T2-20 requires more energy than other flat-screen CRT displays. A deep-sleep mode draws less than 10 watts of power, but the FlexScan T2-20 takes noticeably longer to reawaken than other monitors. Berkeley Systems' popular After Dark screen saver is included, in case your graphics board does not support power savings. While its attractive design and advanced features are commendable, the FlexScan T2-20 doesn't look sharp where it matters most.

NEC MultiSync XE21

The MultiSync XE21 has a nice ergonomic design and easy-to-use controls. There was one noticeable problem with the image quality: A big round halo effect would appear whenever the picture was darker in the middle and brighter around the edges. It looked as if a dinner plate were blocking some of the light. The MultiSync XE21 supports DDC (See Plug - and - Play Monitors, for Real), an emerging Plug-and-Play standard. Also, the XE21 was one of the few monitors with only a D-Sub connector, limiting your connection options. It's unusual for a 21-inch monitor not to support 1600x1200 resolution, but that's the case with the MultiSync XE21.

In our color-quality tests, the MultiSync XE21 had trouble reproducing orange, brown and gray shades but did a very good job with yellow, cyan, magenta and red. The front-panel controls give you access to on-screen programming in one of the most innovative ways we've seen. The utility is contained in the monitor's microprocessor, so it doesn't require a serial cable, nor does it eat up disk space. Plus, the range of controls is impressive, and the animated icons clearly indicate what part of the display you are adjusting. This is a control panel for anyone who doesn't want to remember the definition of pincushioning or trapezoidal distortion.

The brightness and contrast controls are thumbwheels on the front of the monitor, though they are recessed and hidden behind a deep overhang, making them difficult to access. The bright side (no pun intended), however, is that this setup makes it impossible to accidentally alter the settings.

Power management is one of the XE21's strong suits. It uses 92 watts during normal activity and powers down to a paltry 7.6 watts in its energy saving mode, making it the most environmentally friendly monitor in this review. Unfortunately the control panel and power saving aren't quite enough to warrant the higher price. The estimated street price of $2,095 is comparable to the far superior Sony and Mitsubishi monitors, making them the better values.

NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21

The SuperScan Elite 21 is an average monitor with rich blacks, fairly bright colors and a viewable area of 19.75 inches. It has a good delineation in color values through the lower ranges, and it handles color matching well. With an estimated street price of $1,895, it's also one of the lowest priced monitors in this group. The push-button front panel controls are easy to use, so you won't need to refer to the manual often. The BNC/D-Sub switch on the front makes this a good choice for hooking up two systems, or for double duty in video production. The push buttons click a bit too much, and the brightness and contrast adjustments are not as quick and easy to use as they should be.

Like the Mitsubishi, the SuperScan Elite offers on-screen programming via a Windows application, but it requires a serial port connection. This application is less sophisticated than the Mitsubishi's, offering fewer controls. The front panel also has fewer controls than the Mitsubishi. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, barreling, size, position, RGB presets and user settings. If you choose to create a new custom setting, you can save your older settings to disk and reload them later, so you can have as many custom setups as you want. There is also a sleep setting, which allows you to configure some of the DPMS power settings.

The power profile of this monitor is paradoxical. During normal use, its power consumption is among the lowest in the review group at an average 94 watts, bested only by the NEC. When it switches into low-power mode, though, it still consumes 27 watts, which puts it just under the 30 watts necessary for Energy Star compliance.

Philips Brilliance 21A

The Brilliance 21A doesn't quite live up to its name, although it does produce a bright image. At 19.88 inches, the maximum image size was among the largest reviewed. The monitor fared well in our video torture tests, except for the focus test, which showed imprecise curves and lines. The Brilliance also had trouble reproducing Pantone colors for our color-quality tests, particularly in displaying oranges, browns and blacks. The blacks were weak on this display, appearing more charcoal gray. Like some other monitors in this review, there was enough reflection to read text held in front of the screen.

The controls for adjusting everything are a combination of buttons and a front-panel LCD. They were somewhat difficult to use and the LCD that lights up to indicate advanced mode when you press a control timed out a little too quickly. All of the controls that you expect to find in a monitor in this class are present. There are also several preset and user settings that should keep you on target in any Windows resolution. Eight buttons control the monitor settings: Press the function key to step through the options, and the plus and minus keys to make changes.

The LCD shows the resolution and refresh rates, and describes which aspect of the monitor you are adjusting, although not every item is intuitive. For example, instead of listing color temperature with a value in Kelvin, you get a choice among 1, 2 and 3, which corresponds to 9,300, 6,500 and 5,000 degrees. There is a serial connection that allows you to do some on-screen programming for video modes that are not recognized as factory presets, but you probably won't need to use it.

Sampo Alphascan GLX-KDM-2077E

At $1,495, Sampo's AlphaScan GLX is priced $400 less than any other monitor reviewed, hardly more than some 17-inch monitors. But spending less also means you get less: The maximum image size of 18.75 inches diagonally makes this the only monitor with a viewable area less than 19 inches. All four corners of this curved display are cut off by the bezel, so you don't get the complete picture unless you shrink the image display. This is as inefficient as it is distracting.

With dimensions lower than 19 inches in any given direction and a weight of just 66 pounds, the AlphaScan GLX is also the smallest of this litter of large monitors. Despite its small footprint, it consumes the most power while in full operation. Sleep mode, however, reduces power consumption to less than 7 watts.

The AlphaScan GLX employs a minimalist approach to display controls. The controls are limited in number, but customizing the display is simpler than other more elaborate schemes. You increase or decrease the values for six functions by pushing on the left or right side of the buttons. Icons for a second set of functions are printed above the six buttons; changing the mode lets you access these additional controls. Missing from the standard set of controls are color temperature and color convergence. There are color mode controls that allow the user to adjust red, green and blue individually.

While colors were bright and consistent throughout the screen, we witnessed misconvergence and some moire patterns during our DisplayMate testing. The AlphaScan GLX gives you added real estate at near 17-inch monitor pricing, but it's not appropriate for professional graphics editing.

Sony Multiscan 20SE

For detailed graphics editing, the Sony Multiscan 20se clearly had the sharpest picture in this group. Graphic artists and production specialists alike will appreciate its crisp text and precise lines and circles. While its colors aren't as vivid as the Mitsubishi's, they are more than adequate. We were able to match colors to our Pantone swatches with a high degree of accuracy, although blacks were not as dark as we would have liked them to be.

The relatively small form factor and lighter weight make setting up the Multiscan a pleasure for a large monitor. Connecting a PC is limited to the BNC connector, although a Macintosh interface is also provided. The display quickly adjusts to any desired viewing angle, and you need less desk space because it measures under 20 inches in any direction.

The Multiscan's glaring weakness is the front-panel control design. We hope that you won't have to change settings, because adjustments--excluding brightness and contrast--require pressing cryptic combinations of buttons. Tiny LEDs indicate which mode is in operation; translating these color codes requires keeping the manuals handy. Changing color modes, for example, is particularly difficult. While most manufacturers are adding on-screen programming to simplify manipulating the screen, Sony hasn't kept pace; it uses the same control buttons as on earlier models.

The Multiscan was among the best at minimizing power consumption, requiring just over 100 watts at full operation, and dropping down to about 13 watts in low-power mode. Berkeley Systems' After Dark screen saver is included to complement the DPMS support. We recommend the Sony for its exceptionally sharp images.

Info File

IBM 21P

Price: $2,245 (direct)

In Brief: This monitor's Diamondtron tube generates stunningly sharp and vivid images. The exhaustive set of controls makes fine-tuning the image a pleasure.

IBM Corp.

800-727-2727, 914-765-1900

Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 21, MT-9121

Price: $2,150

In Brief: The monitor's wireless remote control can access the on-screen programming and reposition the viewing angle from anywhere in the room.

Iiyama North America

800-294-4335, 215-957-6543

MAG InnoVision MX21F

Price: $2,199

In Brief: A well-rounded combination of features and performance, this monitor has a nearly-20-inch viewing area.

MAG InnoVision

800-827-3998, 714-751-2008

Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 21T

Price: $2,399

In Brief: Brilliant color, rich blacks, a strikingly sharp picture and well-designed on-screen programming make this monitor an excellent choice for high-end graphics applications.

Mitsubishi Electronics America

800-843-2515, 714-236-6352

Nanao FlexScan T2-20

Price: $1,990 (street)

In Brief: The investment in this monitor should earn interest far into the future because it supports high refresh rates, Plug and Play, and multiple inputs.

Nanao USA Corp.

800-800-5202, 310-325-5202

NEC MultiSync XE21

Price: $2,095 (street)

In Brief: This monitor provides a clear, bright picture and smartly designed on-screen programming that even a neophyte will love.

NEC Technologies Inc.

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500

NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21

Price: $1,895 (street)

In Brief: The SuperScan Elite 21 has an attractive display and a Windows utility that makes adjusting the screen easy.

NSA/Hitachi

800-441-4832, 617-461-8300

Philips Brilliance 21A

Price: $2,999

In Brief: This monitor offers a large viewable area and a quality display that is remarkably consistent.

Philips Consumer Electronics Co.

800-835-3506, 615-521-4316

Sampo AlphaScan

GLX-KDM-2077E

Price: $1,495

In Brief: The low price and small exterior dimensions make this a monitor suitable for desktops short on space.

Sampo Corp. of America

404-449-6220, fax 404-447-1109

Sony Multiscan 20se

Price: $2,449

In Brief: This monitor displays the sharpest images of any monitor reviewed and is designed for lower power consumption.

Sony Electronics

800-352-7669, 408-432-0190


Report Card: Monitors

•	Color quality: How well did the monitor reproduce our Pantone sample colors? How vivid and saturated is the full spectrum of colors?

•	Image quality: Are images sharp and focused over the entire display, with proper color convergence? Is the monitor free of geometric distortion and moire patterns?

•	Ergonomics: How easy is it to set up the monitor in a comfortable viewing position? Is power management easy to configure? Is the documentation clear?

•	Controls: How complete are the controls? Is the screen easily adjusted, and the settings easily saved?

•	Active power usage: All tested monitors are Energy-Star and VESA-DPMS compliant. How many watts of power do the monitors consume at full power?

	Color Quality (Pantone)	Image Quality (DisplayMate)	Ergonomics	Controls	Power
Hitachi	B	B	B	B	A
IBM	B	B	C	B	C
IDEK	B	C	A	A	C
Mag	B	B	B	B	B
Mitsubishi	A	A	C	B	C
Nanao	C	B	A	A	C
NEC	C	B	B	A	A
Philips	C	B	C	C	C
RasterOps	D	B	B	C	C
Sampo	B	C	B	C	D
Sony	B	A	B	C	B
Click Here to access a .DOC version of this report card

Recommendations

Out of this field of large monitors, the Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 21T and Sony Multiscan 20se earn recommendations because of their excellent display quality. Though neither received perfect scores in all of our categories, these two monitors distinguish themselves in the most critical aspect of monitor performance--image quality. What you do most with a monitor is simply look at it.

The Diamond Pro 21T offers the best overall picture, generating laser-sharp graphics and brilliant colors. It's the choice for graphics professionals who need to match industry standard colors to their work. The 19.88-inch viewing area is the largest of the lot, and colors are consistent throughout the screen.

The Sony Multiscan 20se is recognized for the range of colors and stunningly sharp images generated by the Trinitron tube. For graphics work that requires precision editing, this monitor's solid image is the answer. The Sony Multiscan 20se is also thrifty with energy, scoring among the best for power consumption.

Honorable mentions go to the IBM 21P, MAG InnoVision MX21F and NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 21--all of which offer quality displays in attractive packages. The SuperScan Elite 21 is among the most energy-efficient models, while the 21P and MX21F met or exceeded our expectations for image and color quality.

Remember, we're grading these monitors on a curve, so to speak, comparing the performance of each to the best available. All of them are good, and you'd likely be satisfied with every monitor we reviewed. Also, the color and image quality tests are subjective, and monitors from the same manufacturer may vary slightly because of production differences.


See For Yourself  - Terms You Should Know

By: Karen Strauss

•	Aperture grille: A horizontally slotted grille used by Trinitron monitors that is functionally equivalent to a shadow mask. Grille aperture is measured by its striped pitch, which is the distance between vertical bars of color in the grille.

•	Barrel distortion: Distortion that occurs when the screen edges curve outward, which gives the displayed image a barrel-like (convex) shape. The opposite of pincushioning.

•	Color matching: Individual adjustments to the red, green and blue electron-beam intensity, used to match the color characteristics of the display to a color printer or photograph.

•	Color temperature: The measurement in degrees Kelvin. Different temperatures give the colors a warmer or cooler cast, adding reddish or bluish highlights. Normal daylight temperature is 3,800 degrees Kelvin. Changing the color temperature can adjust for lighting conditions, or for closely matching hard-copy output. The U.S. proofing standard for output is 5,000 degrees Kelvin, and the television broadcast standard is 6,500 degrees Kelvin.

•	Convergence control: Control that governs alignment of the electron beams emanating from the electron gun or guns. Each beam illuminates one phosphor in a triad that fuses with the others to form a pixel. How well the monitor manages to bring all three colors together on the screen also affects the sharpness of the display. Monitors with misconvergence have displays that appear fuzzy near the corners of the screen because each pixel is blurred from the spread of the electron beams.

•	DDC (Display Data Channel): The VESA standard for Plug-and-Play monitors. It is used in conjunction with DDC video adapters to configure automatically the monitor's resolution and refresh rate.

•	Degauss: Elimination of temporary distortions or color-reproduction problems on screen, caused by magnetic fields. Many monitors now offer automatic degaussing when the monitor is powered on, and almost all monitors also offer a manual degauss switch.

•	Dot pitch: The distance between each of the phosphor dots or dot triads on the shadow mask of a color monitor. These dots make up the image on the screen. The smaller the dot pitch, the tighter and crisper the image appears. Trinitron monitors are rated by stripe pitch, based on the space between vertical bars of color in the horizontally slotted grille.

•	Horizontal scanning frequency: The speed at which the electron beam scans from left to right across the screen. Horizontal scan rate is measured in kilohertz (kHz) and is typically between 30kHz and 90kHz.

•	Invar shadow mask: The beams emitted by the electron guns and processed by the magnetic deflection yoke pass through holes in a metal plate called a shadow mask. This mask helps keep the electron beams aligned with their target locations--the small dots of color phosphor--on the inside of the monitor's screen to generate the image. Most vendors now use masks made of invar, an iron and nickel alloy, which is less susceptible to distortion caused by heat.

•	Keystone distortion: Distortion that occurs when the left and right sides of the screen are parallel and the top and bottom are not, creating a parallelogram rather than a rectangle. Similar to trapezoidal distortion.

•	Moire: An objectionable rainbow-like pattern on the screen, especially noticeable on solid backgrounds.

•	On-screen programming: An on-screen display control system, similar to the programming modes of many VCRs, that allows you to access and adjust most monitor settings, such as position, size, convergence and geometry.

•	Orthogonality control: Control used to ensure that the horizontal and vertical lines are perpendicular.

•	Pincushioning: Distortion that occurs when the edges of the viewable area of the screen appear to curve inward toward the center of the display, producing a concave image. The opposite of barrel distortion.

•	Refresh rate: The vertical scan frequency, or the rate at which the image on the monitor is updated, in hertz. Most monitors and video adapters adhere to standard rates recommended by VESA to ensure proper synchronization. Rates of 70Hz and higher are recommended; the screen image looks very solid, resembling a fixed image instead of a constantly regenerating (or flickering) display.

•	Resolution: The number of pixels across and down the screen. Examples include 800x600 and 1024x768. Higher resolutions produce noticeably sharper and smaller images.

•	Rotation (tilt) control: A control used to realign the angle of the display. The display area can appear crooked on screen if the yoke was not installed correctly, or because of interference from the earth's magnetic field.

•	Trapezoidal distortion: Distortion that occurs when the top and bottom of the screen are parallel, and the right and left sides are not. It is similar to keystone distortion.

•	Trinitron: Trinitron monitors use a display tube that places color dots on the screen differently from other types of tubes. A Trinitron tube uses a vertically slotted grille to make three vertical bars of color side by side. Trinitron displays are measured in grille aperture pitch, which is very similar to dot pitch. Trinitron tubes are distinguished by their use of two tensioning wires that cast a thin horizontal shadow across the screen. Appearing as black lines, they are most noticeable with bright white backgrounds.


Plug - And - Play Monitors

For Real -Finally, A Sure Cure For MAC Envy

By: John Gartner

It's about to get much easier to set up a monitor for optimal viewing, thanks to Windows 95 and a new VESA standard. Users will no longer be required to exit to DOS or memorize scan rates from manuals to get the graphics card and monitor working in sync.

DDC, the Display Data Channel specification, and its derivations, extend the Plug-and-Play functions built into Windows 95. DDC1, the initial unidirectional specification, continuously sends identification information from the monitor to the graphics card via a standard 15-pin D-Sub connector. During the system boot-up process, the monitor sends the EDID (Extended Display Identification) data to the system. This 128-byte data file describes the monitor's capabilities, including supported scan and refresh rates, and power management settings. EDID also includes the monitor's serial number and model, useful for inventory control. The monitor then configures itself to the highest resolutions and scan rates available without requiring user intervention. Both the monitor and graphics card must be DDC compliant for Plug and Play to work; if only one component is DDC capable, the products will function, but without Plug and Play's added features.

DDC2, the second and more advanced version, provides two-way communications between the system and monitor by also using the standard VGA connector. Under DDC2, the graphics board queries the monitor, a faster identification process than DDC1. If a DDC2-level monitor is found, a two-way channel is established between the system and monitor. Under Windows 95, the Monitor Setup applet shows the attached monitor, limits the options on screen to available settings and allows users to customize the display.

Users can select a wider range of scan rates and resolutions exclusively from the keyboard, without having to adjust the monitor's controls. Say good-bye to dials, mode function buttons and color temperature settings; all of these functions will be at your fingertips under Windows 95. The DDC2 specification makes it all possible through an extension to the graphics board BIOS, allowing the software to access monitor settings.

DDC1 has been endorsed by many monitor and graphics vendors, including ATI Technologies, Cirrus Logic, Nanao Corp., NEC Technologies and Tatung Co. of America. Widespread product availability should coincide with the release of Windows 95, although the Nanao and NEC monitors we reviewed already include DDC support.

DDC2AB, yet another variation, uses the ACCESS.bus connector instead of the VGA cable to communicate between the monitor and PC or keyboard. The ACCESS.bus allows multiple input devices, such as keyboards, scanners or mice, to chain from a single phone-line-like port in the rear of a monitor or PC. The ACCESS.bus is slated to appear on many systems and monitors early this year.


Measuring Up  - What You See Is What You Get.

By: Karen Strauss

You may wonder why the viewable areas of 20- and 21-inch monitors don't match the advertised sizes. Well, monitor manufacturers borrowed the idea from television manufacturers, who label products based on the size of the tube. They measure the tube diagonally, including the size of the glass from edge to edge--before it's placed inside the case--and use this number to label the monitor. But a bezel is placed around the edges of the tube, which typically cuts down the viewable area of the screen. Some monitors lose additional viewing area because of the shadow-mask technology used to sharpen the image.

For this review, we measured the maximum area Windows occupies, ignoring all of the dead space. Large monitors are consistent with smaller monitors, generally providing a viewing area 1-2 inches smaller than the listed tube size.

Despite this confusion, there is a standard way to judge the picture size of a monitor. VESA (the Video Electronics Standards Association) has established a method of defining the usable image area for displays. Called VIAD (Video Image Area Definition), this standard defines the video-image area as the largest rectangular image, listed in horizontal length and vertical height in millimeters. Most manufacturers include this information on their product sheets, so look for it when you comparison shop.

MONITOR SIZE (INCHES)	ACTUAL IMAGE SIZE (INCHES)
14	12.7 to 12.8
15	13.5 to 13.75
17	15.25 to 16.33
20-21	18.75 to 19.88


Power Savings Beyond Energy Star Compliance

Beyond Compliance: Monitors Slow Consumption To A Trickle.

By: John Gartner

We tested the monitors at full power after the screens had been optimized for brightness and contrast. Power consumption was recorded using an ITT Pomona MX-200 power meter. The range of energy use was spread over 40 watts during normal usage, while low power consumption was much less varied. We also discovered that monitors that drew less power while active didn't necessarily consume less power while dormant. None of the three most efficient monitors in active mode were equally impressive in a low-power state.

The NEC and NSA/Hitachi were the only monitors tested that drew less than 100 watts in their active state, but they were middle of the road when powered down. The Iiyama and IBM 21P were the most efficient operators in low-power mode, consuming less than 10 watts.

Most monitors use three stages of power consumption that work with a screen saver and VESA DPMS video card. After a user-defined period of keyboard inactivity, the monitors power down to an interim low-power mode  that meets the Energy Star requirement of 30 watts or less. Then, the monitor will switch into "sleep'' mode, which can require less than 10 watts of power, but causes a delay of several seconds to reactivate the screen. All of the monitors reviewed except the MAG Innovision MX21F include this additional low-power mode. Once the IBM 21P and Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 21T monitors enter low-power mode, they do not automatically reawaken with a keystroke. They must be turned off and on to come back to life. These monitors should have powered themselves completely off, which is the most economical option.

While the money saved by the difference of a few watts will not be enough to buy an extra PC, reducing the burden on the corporate wallet and environment merits considering the power-efficient models.


How We Tested: 20-Inch Monitors

In addition to the objective power consumption tests, we also judged the monitors for overall picture quality.

Our subjective viewing tests were composed of color quality, which includes saturation and ability to reproduce defined colors, and image quality, which includes sharpness, focus, lack of distortion and screen-edge consistency.

We first optimized the displays using DisplayMate for Windows (Sonera Technologies, 800-932-6323, 908-747-6886), a program designed for tweaking display quality. DisplayMate includes screens for fine-tuning the display size, shape and colors, and has a demanding obstacle course that includes tests for focus, color consistency and misconvergence. Even after these rigorous tests, we were still very impressed by the image quality of these displays. Most of the distortions we noted were minimal, and the spread between the best and worst monitors was slight.

We used Pantone's Professional Toolkit software and Color Formula Guide (Pantone, 800-222-1149, 201-935-5500) for our head-to-head color quality tests. Monitors were subjectively rated for their ability to reproduce specified colors. We placed an emphasis on orange and gray shades, since they're the most difficult to accurately reproduce.

We hooked up the monitors for side-by-side comparison using a Vopex Network Technologies (800-742-8324, 216-543-1646) splitter box, which transmits the video signal from one graphics board to up to eight monitors. A miroCrystal 20V 64-bit graphics accelerator, installed in a Dell Dimension XPS P90, generated the images.


9502 Spreadsheet Related Topics

Report Card: Spreadsheets

When Your Numbers Are Warm And Fuzi


Spreadsheets To Count On

Little Difference Among Big Three For Windows

By: John Walkenbach, Contributing Editor

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Not long ago, it was easy to decide which spreadsheet to buy. Microsoft Excel was your only choice if you used Windows. If you hadn't moved up to Windows, Lotus 1-2-3 was the safe choice. And Quattro Pro was the best pick if you were on a tight budget.

As Windows gained a firm foothold among PC users, Lotus and Borland developed spreadsheets for this environment. The initial offerings were lacking, but over the past few years these products have matured, leaving their DOS counterparts in the dust. Now Windows users have three excellent products to choose from: Lotus 1-2-3 Release 5.0, Microsoft Excel 5.0 and WordPerfect/Novell's Quattro Pro 6.0 (Borland recently sold its entire spreadsheet product line to Novell Corp.).

These products will seem remarkably similar to the casual user. They all feature multisheet files with notebook-like tabs, customizable toolbars, right-click shortcut menus, in-place chart editing, draw layers on every worksheet and recordable macros. The designers of the Big Three Windows spreadsheets have no qualms about borrowing successful features from their competitors. Each upgrade includes powerful new features that are often irresistible. And despite this feature overload, spreadsheets have never been so easy to use.

Dig deeper and you'll find that each spreadsheet has unique features that might make it right for you: Lotus 1-2-3's support of integrated mapping lets you plot data on geographic maps; Excel incorporates worksheet outlining; and Quattro Pro includes the best formula builder.

File compatibility is often critical for spreadsheets. Although these products can read and write many standard file formats, none can read or write files produced by the current versions of competing products: Excel can't read 1-2-3's .WK4 files or Quattro Pro's .WB2 files; 1-2-3 can't read Excel 5.0 files or .WB2 files; and Quattro Pro can't read Excel 5.0 files or .WK4 files. If you need to share files across different products, you must save your files using an older file format. This is a compelling argument for choosing one standard product for your office.

If price is an issue, keep in mind that manufacturers offer competitive upgrade pricing, and each of these products is also available as a component of a software suite. Suites are among the best software bargains available.

Lotus 1-2-3 Release 5.0

Lotus 1-2-3 has fully recovered from its disappointing initial Windows release, and Release 5.0 stands out as an appealing and powerful spreadsheet. It comes with lots of improvements and is currently the only spreadsheet with integrated mapping.

For basic spreadsheet tasks, 1-2-3 for Windows is a joy to use; operations work just as expected. The user interface is well-designed and generally consistent, and offers plenty of SmartIcons, shortcut menus and drag-and-drop procedures to streamline common tasks. However, there are a few lapses. For example, you can't drag a worksheet page to another location in the file, and the program doesn't allow multiple windows into the same document. Also, Lotus still hasn't fixed 1-2-3's flawed group-edit mode, which applies any changes you make to every sheet in the file. If you can lay out all the sheets identically, group editing can save a lot of time. But if that isn't the case, you could be in for lots of extra work.

Press the slash key and the 1-2-3 Classic menu--familiar to users who cut their teeth on the DOS version of 1-2-3--appears in a floating window. This means that 1-2-3-for-DOS upgraders can be productive immediately--something you can't say about users of other DOS spreadsheets who upgrade to Windows. Unfortunately, the 1-2-3 Classic menu isn't completely helpful because you can't use it to access many of the operations in 1-2-3 for Windows.

If your company does business outside the United States you'll appreciate the fact that 1-2-3 is the only spreadsheet that lets you work with multiple currencies in a single file. However, unlike the other products, 1-2-3 does not support user-defined numeric formats.

Other new features include range fill-by-example, multiple-page print preview and the ability to change the color of worksheet tabs. Particularly notable is the interactive status bar, which displays (and lets you change) the font, size and numeric format of the selected cells. The product fits in perfectly with other members of Lotus SmartSuite.

The new SmartMasters feature consists of a dozen ready-to-load templates for common tasks such as budgeting, invoicing and project scheduling. There's even a SmartMaster that you can use as the foundation for creating your own SmartMaster templates.

The package comes with an extensive on-line tutorial that teaches basic tasks (printing, database operations or using Version Manager, for example) by using sample files. A CD-ROM version, which includes animated tutorials and Lotus ScreenCam, should be available by the time you read this.

Most users will be quite satisfied with the analytical prowess of 1-2-3, and Release 5.0 adds several new @functions to its arsenal. But 1-2-3 is lacking in a few areas: It doesn't support array formulas, nor does it offer the statistical tests found in Excel and Quattro Pro.

Lotus 1-2-3 originated the concept of spreadsheet-scenario management, which its competitors borrowed. But the competitors' implementations pale in comparison to 1-2-3's Version Manager. If you need to track multiple versions of ranges and combine them into named scenarios, 1-2-3's Version Manager alone may sway your purchase decision. Also, its backsolver (goal-seeking) command is superior; it lets you determine values in multiple cells that will result in a desired formula value. Other products are limited to single-cell goal-seeking.

One of the nice things about 1-2-3 is that it uses the same exact procedures to work with worksheet databases and external databases. Querying a database is easy: You choose selection criteria from a dialog box, and the qualifying records are inserted into a special query range on the worksheet. As in previous versions, you must have the appropriate DataLens driver to work with data stored in an external database table (it also supports the ODBC standard). Once you're connected to the database, the procedures work the same as for a database worksheet. The product ships with drivers for dBASE, Paradox, SQL Server and Lotus Notes.

If you have a copy of Lotus Approach 3.0 installed, you'll find that 1-2-3 works well with this database program and adds some important new features. For example, Lotus 1-2-3 options let you create forms, reports, mailing labels and even dynamic crosstabs using 1-2-3 data. These procedures use OLE 2.0 technology, but they are only available to you if you own Approach.

Previous versions of 1-2-3 required a standalone program to translate files, and the number of supported formats was limited. Release 5.0 is a bit more accommodating and eliminates the separate translation program. The File Open dialog box incorporates a new button to assist in importing text files. But that won't always work because you must know the data-field separator in advance. Excel makes this procedure more foolproof by using an interactive method to help you bring in data from text files.

The latest release of 1-2-3 also lets you open or save a dBASE or Paradox file from the File Open dialog box (although it actually loads the file using the DataLens driver).

Lotus 1-2-3 can import graphics--as long as they're in .CGM or the obscure .PIC format. You can, of course, get around this limitation by using the Clipboard to copy a graphic from another application and paste it into your worksheet.

Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows uses the same style of data consolidation that appeared in the DOS releases. Unlike Excel and Quattro Pro, it won't consolidate information by matching labels.

Lotus 1-2-3's graphs can best be described as adequate. The product is fine for basic charting, but you may be disappointed if your needs are more advanced. Creating charts is easy enough--just select the data and click on a SmartIcon--but you won't find the level of customization found in competing products. For example, 3-D bar charts cannot be rotated to provide a better view, and you can't adjust the spacing or width of bars in a bar chart. Unlike Excel and Quattro Pro, 1-2-3 has no facility to create on-screen slide shows.

The new integrated mapping is easy to use. With a few mouse clicks, you can convert a range of geographic-based data (such as sales by state) into an attractive and colorful map. Lotus provides many map formats, and you can order additional maps.

Lotus 1-2-3 offers excellent integration with Lotus Notes; that could make your choice of a spreadsheet easy if your office uses Notes as its standard. The combination of 1-2-3 and Notes allows a workgroup to collaborate on projects and can often eliminate the need to consolidate multiple files manually. In addition, 1-2-3 supports any VIM/MAPI mail system for file exchange and range routing. The Version Manager provides full support for working with scenarios and versions of ranges supplied by others.

Application development is not one of Release 5.0's strong points, although it does include a few new macro commands. For example, you can now access functions in DLLs (Dynamic Link Libraries) and pop up a dialog box to display a message as your macro runs. Those are useful features, but if your job involves creating spreadsheets that will be used by others, you'll find the other two products are superior in application development. Lotus 1-2-3's macro language is powerful, but it's just not in the same league as Excel's Visual Basic, Applications Edition (VBA). Although

1-2-3 supports custom dialog boxes, creating or editing them requires using a separate program and pasting cryptic macro codes into your worksheet. Excel and Quattro Pro use a completely integrated approach that is much better than 1-2-3's.

Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows is certainly a strong contender, and it's the ideal choice if you are moving up from a DOS version of 1-2-3, if you require geographic mapping, or if your office uses Lotus Notes. However, you may have to compromise in the areas of charting and application development.

Microsoft Excel 5.0

Excel was the original Windows spreadsheet, and each new version takes spreadsheets to new levels. It has many unique features that hard-core users would find difficult to give up. For example, worksheet outlining makes it easy to organize hierarchical information and display it at different levels of detail. And Excel is the only product that can filter a data table by hiding nonqualifying rows. Also unique is its ability to create subtotal formulas automatically. The competitors have attempted to mimic its powerful Pivot Table feature, but can't match Excel's implementation.

Although it may not have all the bells and whistles designed to lure beginning users--prebuilt templates and interactive tutors, for example--Excel is designed to make day-to-day operations efficient. Sometimes Excel seems to anticipate your next move. For example, when you sort a range, there's no need to select it first; Excel will automatically detect it. In fact, that's true with all operations that involve tables. Excel supports template files, but includes only one (a template to create a slide show). New users might appreciate its Tip Wizard, which monitors your actions and offers tips based on what you've been doing.

Excel makes it particularly easy to select ranges using only the keyboard and has an extensive selection of toolbar icons and shortcut keys. Excel's OLE 2.0 support makes it work particularly well with Microsoft Word 6.0. When an embedded Excel worksheet is activated in Word, the menus and toolbars are changed to Excel's. All three spreadsheets provide in-cell editing, but only Excel lets you format at the character level. For example, you can underline one word in a multi-word label (1-2-3 allows this, but it requires embedding cryptic formatting codes).

The included Analysis ToolPak allows users to perform statistical tests, sampling, random-number generation and moving averages. The add-in also provides dozens of additional financial, statistical and engineering functions. Excel originated array formulas, which have subsequently been adapted by Quattro Pro. Arrays significantly expand the power of formulas by letting you perform calculations on a group of cells.

No other product makes it so easy to manipulate database tables stored in a worksheet. Selecting the AutoFilter command transforms each field name into a drop-down list. Simply select the field values to display and the non-qualifying records are hidden from view. Another handy tool is automatic subtotals. A single command inserts subtotal formulas into a table, along with a collapsible outline.

You can query external databases by using the separate Microsoft Query, which is essentially a subset of Microsoft Access. It supports ODBC and saves the queries with the workbook so they can be refreshed upon command. Excel's VBA language makes it relatively easy to create custom worksheet functions, which can simplify your formulas and allow you to perform tasks that might otherwise be difficult or impossible.

But for the ultimate analysis tool, check out Excel's Pivot Table feature. This lets you create dynamic cross-tabulation summaries and multiple views of a database (worksheet or external) in just about any way you can imagine. This feature is quite powerful and surprisingly fast. The Pivot Table wizard walks you through the steps required to create a Pivot Table. Once created, it's easy to manipulate the table. For example, you can drag a column heading to convert it to a row heading, and the data is redisplayed instantly.

Excel can read and write several spreadsheet and database formats directly. Unfortunately, it can't read 1-2-3's .WK4 format or Quattro Pro for Windows files. When you select a text file to import, the Data-Parse wizard kicks in and lets you specify interactively how the data will be parsed. Excel imports graphics files with speed and flexibility. It can read all of the major graphics file formats and even provides a thumbnail preview in the dialog box.

Excel's flexible Data Consolidate command will come to the rescue when you need to consolidate data from multiple files. If the source files are not set up identically, Excel can match up the data using row and column headers.

Unfortunately, all versions of Excel use the .XLS extension for worksheet files. Since these files are not backward compatible, attempting to open an Excel 5.0 file in an earlier version will result in a screenful of garbage characters. An unsuspecting user might mistakenly think the file was corrupt. Excel can, of course, save files in formats for earlier versions.

Excel charts can float on top of a worksheet or reside in a separate chart sheet. The latter choice is preferable if you need to print the chart on a separate sheet. Once a chart is generated, you have control over virtually every element. If you find that you typically perform a series of graph customizations, you can save the custom chart specs as an AutoTemplate, which you can then apply to subsequent charts with a few mouse clicks.

Excel is the only spreadsheet that lets you insert error bars in your charts. That feature, which is standard fare for many scientific applications, is quite flexible. Another unique feature lets you insert a choice of "best fit'' lines to your chart. Excel supports on-screen slide shows, but not quite as well as Quattro Pro.

Excel's workgroup features are basic. It supports common messaging systems, such as MAPI and VIM, and you can mail or route a document without leaving the spreadsheet environment. You can also merge scenarios from other files, but 1-2-3's Version Manager is much more capable.

When working on a network, only one user at a time can have a file's reservation. If you attempt to open a file that's in use, Excel lets you open it as read-only, and offers to notify you when the file becomes available.

If you need to develop spreadsheet applications that others will use, Excel is arguably your best choice. The new VBA macro language provides ultimate control and makes other spreadsheet macro languages seem like relics from the past. Also included is a comprehensive debugger, which makes it easy to track down logical errors in your code. VBA is a unique animal that definitely takes time to master. But the time investment will pay dividends, since Microsoft plans to make the language available in all of its Office products.

It is easy to create custom dialog boxes, and they are stored in separate sheets in the workbook file. In many cases you can link the controls to a worksheet range and avoid using macros, although you always need a macro to display the dialog. Excel is the only spreadsheet that lets you insert standard dialog-box controls directly on a worksheet. For example, you can use a drop-down list box to make it easy for the user to choose from a list of options.

Modifying menus is easy with Excel's menu editor, and this is the only spreadsheet that lets you add commands to the right-click shortcut menus.

A single command converts an .XLS worksheet application into a tamper-proof add-in. That feature alone may make Excel the product of choice for spreadsheet-application developers.

Excel is the clear leader of the pack in advanced technology. Support for OLE 2.0, dynamic Pivot Tables, worksheet outlining and its innovative VBA language make this product stand out from the crowd. One potential problem with Excel is its voracious appetite for system resources. Simply loading the program with no files open eats up 25 percent of system resources.

Quattro Pro 6.0

Quattro Pro for Windows has always been strong in the features department, but its lengthy menus and a seemingly bottomless pit of toolbars overwhelmed users. Borland recently sold the product to Novell, and the latest version sports a more streamlined menu system and a cleaner method of handling toolbars. A new interface element is the property band--a collection of drop-down lists that's functionally similar to 1-2-3's live status bar. WordPerfect users will feel right at home, and you have the option of using the more comprehensive WordPerfect File Open dialog box.

Quattro Pro is hardly an innovative product--it borrows many of its features from competitors--but most users will find little lacking. Beginners might appreciate its interactive coaches and ready-made templates. Advanced users will find lots of analytical muscle that's easy to access, thanks to the "experts'' that walk you through some of the more complex procedures. For example, the Budget Expert prompts you for some key information and then creates a formatted budget template, complete with formulas. All that's left to do is fill in the numbers.

Standard editing chores are generally fast and efficient, with useful toolbars, shortcut menus and drag-and-drop actions. Quattro Pro originated the one-stop shopping approach to formatting cells. You just right-click on a cell or range and choose the property inspector to get a compound dialog box that's loaded with various formatting options.

Like 1-2-3, Quattro Pro includes several prefab templates for some common spreadsheets and lets you create new templates. Unfortunately, user-created templates don't appear in the template list unless you manually edit an .INI file. Even then, you must restart the program before they appear in the list.

Several of Quattro Pro's full complement of built-in functions are unique. For example, the @CONVERT function converts a wide variety of measurement units--quarts to liters, for example. But, as in 1-2-3, users cannot create custom worksheet functions. Version 6.0 includes an innovative formula composer; it can often simplify the process of creating complex formulas that use @functions. However, that tool will bewilder inexperienced users.

As an option, Quattro Pro can "compile'' the formulas in a worksheet. The performance improvement, if any, depends upon the number and type of formulas used. The option is most useful for spreadsheets in which the formulas will not be changed.

Quattro Pro's Analysis expert is almost a dead-ringer for Excel's Analysis Toolpak add-in. But it adds a few new twists such as the ability to generate a loan-amortization schedule or determine if you should refinance a property loan. Other experts simply make common procedures more accessible: The scenario expert helps you work with multiple scenarios, and the what-if expert walks you through the steps required to generate a table that shows the effects of substituting different values.

Working with database information is a mixed bag. The new @TABLELINK function lets you create links with external database tables using a single formula. You can set these up manually or use a command to create the links automatically.

You can query external databases by using the Database Desktop--a standalone program that's accessible from the spreadsheet. But querying database tables stored in a worksheet requires the same cumbersome approach that first appeared in the original version of 1-2-3. Both 1-2-3 and Excel provide easier ways to handle the task.

The Data Modeling Desktop, which is similar in some ways to Excel's Pivot Table feature, is another standalone application that you can access directly from Quattro Pro. But working with it can be tedious; Excel's approach is better.

If you need to pull in data from diverse sources, Quattro Pro may be just what the doctor ordered. It reads 1-2-3 files (except those in .WK4 format) and Excel files through version 4.0. It also supports dBASE, Paradox and Reflex database files. You can import almost all text file formats and call upon the import/export function to do the parsing for you.

Quattro Pro's data-consolidation feature is clearly patterned after Excel's. If the files don't have the same layout, you can combine the files by matching up row and column labels.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but most beholders would agree that Quattro Pro's graphs are the best looking of any spreadsheet. It's also the only product that attempts to create a chart appropriate to the data selected. Depending on your application, you may find that the choice is often wrong--but it's easy to change the chart type after the fact.

The program has an extensive graph gallery and can even display multiple charts in a single pane. Quattro Pro's chart advisor can help you get just the right look for your audience. It lets you specify levels of some key parameters, and then offers you some choices.

Like 1-2-3, Quattro Pro has no facility to automatically insert best-fit lines or error bars into your charts.

Version 6.0 has caught up with its competitors, and it includes a draw layer on every worksheet to make it much easier to insert drawing objects and charts. Charts created in Quattro Pro can be edited in-place or in a separate window. It's the only product that supports text-only charts, and its slide show feature is superbly implemented. New to this version is the ability to use "master'' slides to dramatically change the look of a presentation with minimal hassle.

Quattro Pro's workgroup features are strong. It uses a "publish and subscribe'' approach to sharing data. A user can publish a file (or just specific sheets in a file) and allow selected users to subscribe to it. The procedure works across a wide variety of messaging systems, including LANs, Lotus Notes, cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail and even MCI Mail. The process can be confusing at first, but should eventually run smoothly.

Quattro Pro's UI Builder, which lets advanced users create custom dialog boxes controlled by macros, was introduced in the initial version of the product. Unfortunately, the feature has pretty much stagnated and is lacking compared to Excel's custom dialog boxes. Although it's easy to create links that define actions for various dialog-box controls, there are no tools included to help you debug--or even list--the links that you create. As a result, it is far too easy to end up with a dialog-box version of spaghetti code.

Quattro Pro no longer supports keystroke macros, so if you use such macros in your worksheets (which is quite common), plan on spending time revising them so they'll work with Version 6.0. For example, if your Version 5.0 macro included a statement such as {Alt+B)S (to sort a block of data), the macro will not work with Version 6.0. For some, this lack of backward compatibility will be a serious problem.

Quattro Pro may be the most improved spreadsheet, but still has a long way to go in key areas--most notably database procedures and app development. But if price is a factor, most users can overlook the omissions in favor of its extraordinarily low price.

John Walkenbach is a freelance writer, consultant, shareware developer and author of a dozen spreadsheet books. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."

Info File

Lotus 1-2-3 Release 5.0

Price: $329; upgrade $105 (estimated retail)

In Brief: Although the program lacks some analysis and charting features, its integrated mapping, Version Manager, support for Lotus Notes and easy migration for 1-2-3 for DOS users make it a good choice.

Disk Space Required: Minimum 11MB, maximum 27MB

System Resources: 13%

RAM: 4MB (6MB to use mapping or Approach)

Lotus Development Corp.

800-343-5414, 617-577-8500

Microsoft Excel 5.0

Price: $339; version upgrade, $129; competitive upgrade from 1-2-3 or

Quattro Pro, $129 (estimated retail prices)

In Brief: A perfect blend of power and ease of use, this product offers many unique features. VBA makes it the best choice for application developers.

Disk Space Required: Minimum 9MB, maximum 20MB

System Resources: 25%

RAM: 4MB

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Quattro Pro 6.0

Price: $395; version upgrade, $49.95; competitive upgrade, $99.95

In Brief: The latest incarnation of this product has a vastly improved user interface, lots of analytical power, and several built-in coaches and experts. Its database features could stand some improvement.

Disk Space Required: Minimum 10MB, maximum 28MB

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 4MB (8MB recommended)

WordPerfect, the

Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 810-225-5000


Report Card: Spreadsheets

•	Data-analysis tools: How many ways can you slice, dice and analyze your data? Does the program actively assist you?

•	Data compatibility: Can you import data stored in common formats, and is it easy to consolidate information?

•	Graphic capabilities: How extensive are the program's charting, graphic and drawing features, and how easy are they to use?

•	Workgroup features: Does the program make it easy for you to collaborate with your coworkers?

•	Application development: Can you easily develop applications to be used by others?

•	Overall usability: Can a typical user use most of the program's features with ease?

Product	Data - analysis tools	Data compatibility	Graphic capabilities	Workgroup features	Application development	Overall usability
1-2-3 Release 5.0	B	C	B	A	C	B
Excel 5.0	A	B	A	B	A	A
Quattro Pro 6.0	B	B	B	A	B	A
Click Here to access a .DOC version of this report card

Recommendations

Recommending any one of these products over the others is not easy. Your choice will ultimately depend on several factors: your familiarity with a particular product, the presence of a unique feature that's important to your work and even what word processor you use. For the vast majority of users, any of the products we've reviewed in this article will get the job done.

After evaluating the products, though, we award the WINDOWS Magazine Recommended rating to Excel 5.0. The product demonstrates the highest level of technology, offers several unique features and is an excellent platform for developing spreadsheet-based applications.


When Your Numbers Are Warm And Fuzi

Fuzicalc Takes Your Assumptions Into Account

Spreadsheets are great, but they often fail to tell the full story. Take a financial forecast, for example. The projected values are based on several assumptions. In some cases a minor change in an input variable can result in major changes to dependent results.

The scenario-management feature found in the leading spreadsheets offers one solution to this problem. But FuziWare's FuziCalc tackles uncertainty with a different approach. FuziCalc is based on the concept of "fuzzy'' numbers--numbers that represent a range of possible values.

When you enter a value into a FuziCalc cell, you can specify your level of confidence about the value. The method corresponds to the way people actually talk about numbers. For example, when asked to forecast fourth-quarter sales, your response might be something like, "We already have orders for $1.5 million, but production constraints limit us to about $2.8 million. I think sales will pick up over the next month, and my best guess is $2.4 million.'' With a normal spreadsheet, you would enter your best guess into a cell. With FuziCalc, you can actually express this uncertainty by means of a "belief graph.''

A belief graph must have at least three points--its lowest value, highest value and the value that represents your best guess. This produces a simple triangular distribution of values. But you can add additional points to any belief graph to represent other distribution shapes. You can express your best guess as a range rather than a single value, for example.

Any value in a FuziCalc worksheet can have a belief graph associated with it. And, yes, you can still use exact values (called "crisp'' values). When fuzzy numbers are used in formulas, the result of the formula is also expressed as a fuzzy number. The formula displays the most likely value, and you can display a chart that shows the possible outcomes.

The latest version of FuziCalc adds a slew of new functions, color graphics, improved DDE support and shortcut keys. Unfortunately, the only file format it can import is the obscure .SLK. Nevertheless, it's easy to copy and paste values from another spreadsheet, or to use DDE to create links.

FuziCalc works much like a traditional spreadsheet. You probably won't use it as your only spreadsheet, though, because it lacks many features you're used to having in your favorite product. Formatting options are limited, for example, and there's no macro capability.

Despite its limitations, many users will find this unique product the best way to deal with uncertainty. And its Excel-like interface makes it easy to learn; an experienced spreadsheet user can get up to speed in about an hour.

Info File

FuziCalc 1.5

Price: $495;

for a limited time, $199

In Brief: A spreadsheet that deals with uncertainty using "belief graphs.''

Disk Space Required: 4MB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 4MB

FuziWare

800-472-6183,  615-588-4144


Feb 95 New Products: Accounting

Get Accounting Apps That Fit Just Right

No matter what the size of your company, there's an accounting package out there for you. BestWare and Acropolis have introduced upgrades to their accounting applications.

M.Y.O.B. Accounting 5.0 from BestWare, aimed at small businesses, provides a getting-started videotape, a CD-ROM of on-line video help, and an on-screen interview feature designed to get the non-accountant up and running quickly. The program features 100 templates and an Easy Fill data entry feature that automatically brings up selected items after the first few characters are entered. The Easy-Add feature lets you add entries to the cardfile on the fly.

Version 5.0 features a data-zoom capability that allows you to drill down through information to find a specific item or transaction. Other new features include the M.Y.O.B. analyst, which groups all analytical functions of the program together for quick access, and a batch capability, which lets you select and submit reports for batch printing.

For high-end accounting power, Acropolis Accounting 3.0 from Acropolis presents you with a choice of 10 basic modules: General Ledger, Chart of Accounts, Custom Financial Reports, Bank Book, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, Import/Export Manager, System Manager and Network Manager.

Acropolis' Payroll module lets you customize employee deductions, earnings types and company contributions to W2s. The Import/Export Manager lets you import setup customer, vendor and transaction information. The Bank Book module features full-bank reconciliation. The program supports account codes up to 40 digits long and can be used with a single PC or on a network.

M.Y.O.B. Accounting 5.0, $119.95.

BestWare,

800-322-MYOB, 201-586-2200 x300.

Acropolis Accounting 3.0

Starter package, $1,995; additional modules from $495 to $995.

Acropolis Software,

800-525-8700, 206-820-8700.


Feb 95 New Products: Color Printing

You can add PostScript and raster image files to your printing repertoire with the Kodak XLS 8600 PS thermal-dye printer. The unit prints both Adobe PostScript Level 2 and raster images at 300 dpi from virtually any presentation and image-editing package. The unit, which ships with 32MB of RAM, can print an 8- by 10-inch color image in 75 seconds after processing. It can also print on transparencies. $9,995.

Eastman Kodak Co.,   800-CD-KODAK, Canada 800-GO-KODAK.


Feb 95 New Products: Telephony

Cruise Through Communications

Maybe you are too busy for interruptions -- or just too busy for interruptions from certain people? Either way, Connectware has a solution that beats locking the door and hitting your phone's Do Not Disturb button. Cruiser, an integrated messaging tool, lets you control who you talk to, how you talk to them, what you talk to them about and at what time.

Not to be outdone by any secretary, the program also sorts your mail, dials your phone, manages your files, sets up your calendar and facilitates meetings. As a message recipient, you can set communication options that determine in what medium--e-mail, fax or voice mail--messages should be sent. Cruiser will even automatically send the same message to multiple recipients in their desired media.

As a sender, you can glance down Cruiser's virtual hallways to check which of your coworkers is available. The conferencing feature lets you switch between voice and data modes during a call, so conference participants can review on-screen data files simultaneously.

Per user, $199.

Connectware,

800-357-0852, 214-907-1093

CTI On A Lan? Yes, Of Course You Can!

Once upon a time, not too long ago, you couldn't enjoy the benefits of computer-telephone integration (CTI) without sinking big bucks into a link between your PBX and your computer. CTI Express changes all of that. When combined with Edify's Electronic Workforce, the application allows you to achieve high-end CTI results at a relatively low-end expense.

With traditional voice response applications, routine telephone tasks, such as account inquiries and service notifications, can be automated. CTI Express takes it one step farther: It not only allows customers calling in to retrieve account information from your company's database, but also will automatically transfer the call--together with the caller's account history--to a service representative's desktop. When the rep picks up the phone, the caller is on the line, and his information is on-screen, enabling the rep to offer personalized, efficient service.

From $15,000, plus implementation consulting.

Edify Corp.,

408-982-2000, fax 408-982-0777.

Desktop Video Now

If you've decided that you need videoconferencing capability now, you're in luck. The pTv's F2F-1000 software works with both standard phone lines and ISDN lines and modems to bring live video images to your desktop today.

The package includes Face 2 Face software, a video adapter card and a calculator-sized video camera. You also get five copies of the receive-only version of the software, so you can communicate with other people who don't have the F2F-1000 setup.

$599.

pTv,

714-376-1659, 714-499-3449.


Feb 95 New Products: TVs And PCs

A twist on the art of channel surfing, TVNow lets you use your PC to search TV listings for more than 70 national cable channels. You can search by type of show, topic or actors' names. TVNow conducts the search then shows the name, channel, date, time and a detailed description of any matching program. Per year, $59.95; quarterly, $18.95.

VisionSoft,  800-577-3492, fax 910-275-0417.

Weighing in at a mere 13 ounces, TVator-Remote is a palm-sized remote control you can use to control your PC- or Mac-created presentations. A universal TV-to-PC converter enables the product to work on all PCs, as well as PAL or NTSC televisions. You control all presentations with an infrared remote control. You can zoom, overscan/underscan, freeze/unfreeze, and control picture brightness and sharpness. $499.

Antec,  510-770-1200, fax 510-770-1288.

TV Elite Remote + Mouse combines a remote-control mouse and graphics software with a PC-to-video scan converter that allows you to show presentations on a large- screen TV. The mouse works at distances up to 60 feet. The graphics program, Slide Works, lets you create presentations from your desktop, and TV Tools Software offers more than 65 drawing tools. $229.

Advanced Digital Systems,

800-888-5244, 310-926-1928.


Feb 95 New Products: Multimedia

Get Your Training App On Course

CBT Express lets you create computer-based, multimedia training courses even if you're a first-time developer. The program includes a prebuilt course blueprint. It features a student tracking database that lets students log into a course, save their work and then return later to resume where they left off. It also comes with a storyboard planner for organizing ideas, 375 background graphics, and audio, video and animation clips.

The product's SmartFrame technology eliminates the need for scripting, flowcharting and programming with prebuilt backgrounds, navigation buttons and a WYSIWYG screen builder. Templates for lessons, summaries and glossaries are included, as well as true/false, multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank testing exercises.

$2,995.

AimTech Corp.,

800-289-2884, 603-883-0220.

Corral Multimedia And Keep It In Its Place

Like wild horses, multimedia files can be hard to handle, but MediaWrangler from AltaVista and Organize Your Collection in Windows--Multimedia from HomeCraft can help you herd your files into an organized group.

MediaWrangler helps you organize graphics, sound, text and video files that are spread out over several media such as CD-ROMs, hard disks and network drives. The program uses hyperlinks between media types to organize your files in hierarchies. You can annotate images; play, record and edit audio files; and convert between image formats. JPEG compression and decompression are built in.

Organize Your Collection lets you create your own multimedia catalog, combining graphics and sound files in a database. The program offers several indexing capabilities and user-definable printed reports.

MediaWrangler, $299.

AltaVista Technology,

800-364-8777, 408-364-8777.

Organize Your Collection in Windows--Multimedia, $59.95.

HomeCraft Software,

503-692-3732, fax 503-692-0382.

Watch Full-Screen WIN Video

Watch television or videos on your VGA monitor as you work using Win/TV-Cinema. The video add-in card provides full-motion video in a window that can be resized from icon size to full screen. The card gives you still-image capture, as well as fast AVI clip capture with built-in YUV compression and hardware-assisted zoom. The cable-ready, 122-channel tuner provides monophonic audio. Auxiliary audio/video input from composite video sources allows VCR or camcorder input.

$299; with tuner, $349.

Hauppauge Computer Works,

800-443-6284, 516-434-1600 x200.

Big sound for your multimedia system can be yours with Sony's SRS-PC40 speakers. The magnetically shielded, full-range bass reflex speakers measure 2.6 inches. The built-in amplifier provides 6 watts of power. $99.95.

Sony Electronics,

800-222-SONY, 201-368-9272.

When image is everything, your presentations need all the help they can get. The Ovation+ line of LCD projection panels uses Active Color Enhancement technology to display 16.7 million colors and 24-bit images. A digital video control ensures precise images with up to 800x600 resolution. Power and video cables connect as though the unit were a monitor, and the panel includes a serial mouse for one-button control of both the panel and your computer. $4,995 to $6,695.

Proxima Corp.,

800-447-7694, 619-457-5500.

The MultiSpin Series of quadruple-speed CD-ROM drives includes internal, external and portable models that provide smooth video and animation playback. The drives include a 256KB continuous flow cache, 600KBps data transfer (500KBps for the portable), and an average access time of 220ms (240ms for the portable). $415 to $699.

NEC Technologies,

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500.


Feb 95 New Products: Graphics

Stroll Through Virtual Creations

You can get into graphics, literally, with Virtus WalkThrough Pro 2.0. The program lets you create simple or complex 3-D geometric shapes on-screen and then walk through the simulated environment. The visualization program features perspective-correct texture mapping and real-time 3-D rendering navigation technology.

WalkThrough lets you navigate through your rendered 3-D space with a mouse click and includes collision detection and smooth sailing, a rendering method that softens the edge where two surfaces meet.

Also available are add-on galleries that include prebuilt scenes and objects, to save modeling and rendering time. These include Home Remodeling, Science Fiction, Archaeology, Alphabet Rooms and Office Design. The included Virtus Player publishing utility and read-only player allow anyone to open and view a Virtus software model.

$495; galleries, $39 each.

Virtus Corp.,

800-VIRTUS-1, 919-467-9700.

End Your 3-D Design Nightmares

Ray Dream Designer 3.0 simplifies 3-D graphic design to make it work like a dream for entry-level artists.

The Modeling Wizard starts with simple shapes and, based on user input, builds an object to fit the specifications. For complex shapes, a Bezier-based Modeler helps create and reshape 3-D objects using tools similar to those found in traditional 2-D programs, such as Illustrator and CorelDraw. Designer displays full-color surfaces and objects in true perspective, allowing users to instantaneously see adjustments to reflections, transparencies and highlights.

The Shader Browser gives you over 120 color and texture characteristics that can be applied by dragging and dropping.

The G-buffer stores multiple channels of geometric data so that you can export rendered images to image-editing applications, such as Photoshop or Micrografx Picture Publisher. Once exported, the data allows you to create shape, photographic, atmospheric and lighting effects.

$349.

Ray Dream,

800-846-0111, 415-960-0765.

Make Those Charts Flow

You can add readable charts to the flow of information that you send to people with FlowModel. The program lets you create complex flowchart diagrams and access the data associated with any node or connection in the diagram at the touch of a button. The software routes connections between nodes automatically. Global editing features let you change the size, shape, color or style of any node or connection on the chart. You can also attach notes to both nodes and connections.

$495.

Arcland,

610-993-9904, fax 610-993-9908.

Autodesk Animator Studio Release 1.0 features 24-bit true-color paints, digital-sound recording and editing capabilities, and digital video support. All tools provide anti-aliasing and alpha channel transparency. You can also draw, paint and airbrush on top of a digitally captured image. $795; upgrades, $150 to $395.

Autodesk,

800-879-4233, 415-332-2344.

Having trouble seeing what your spreadsheet information is really saying? Harvard ChartXL lets users select from more than 183 2-D and 3-D business, statistical and technical charts. The Spin or Tilt options in the Control Mode let you change the perspective of your chart.

The program includes light-sourcing perspectives and "what-if'' analysis tools. $149; competitive upgrade, $99.

Software Publishing Corp.,

800-234-2500, 408-986-8000.

Visual Numerics has added 50 enhancements to Stanford Graphics 3.0. The new iteration lets you link Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 or ASCII files to a built-in spreadsheet. You can choose from 171 preformatted graph types. The package includes on-screen curve fitting, regressions,data smoothing, FFTs and 50 mathematical and statistical functions. Windows 3.1, $495; Windows NT and Windows 95, $695.

Visual Numerics,

800-222-4675, 713-784-3131.


Feb 95 New Products: Notebooks

Mighty Processing, Mini Package

Epson has introduced the first two members of its ActionNote 766 Series. The subnotebooks use Cyrix's 66MHz 486DX2 3.3-volt processor.

The ActionNote 766C has a 9.5-inch dual-scan passive-matrix screen, while the ActionNote 766CX ships with an 8.5-inch active-matrix screen. The units come with 8MB of system memory, a 260MB or 340MB hard disk, a built-in 14.4Kbps modem, a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and a self-contained trackball. MS-DOS 6.22, Windows 3.1, Borland Sidekick and Delrina's WinCom Lite and WinFax Lite, as well as trial subscriptions for CompuServe and America Online, are included. Both units weigh under 5 pounds and measure 1.6 by 11 by 8.7 inches.

From $2,999.

Epson America,

800-BUY-EPSON, 310-782-0770.

Enter Notebook Nirvana

If you like to make decisions, the Aspen Portalite V600, with its variety of options, will put you in heaven. The notebook is available with 486DX, 486DX2 or 486DX4 processors and with a monochrome, dual-scan passive-matrix or active-matrix screen.

The Portalite's standard configuration includes accelerated local-bus graphics, 1MB of video memory, 4MB of system memory, a 250MB hard disk, two vertically stacked Type II PCMCIA slots and a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. The unit measures 8.6 by 11.4 by 1.72 inches and weighs in at 5.9 pounds.

External connectors supplied with this unit include one serial, one parallel, one external keyboard port, one 200-pin docking station port and one external VGA video port.

From $1,770.

Aspen Computer,

800-472-3273, 716-626-0315.

Cruising Presentations

The detachable 8.5-inch active-matrix screen of the Revered Power Cruiser notebook converts into an LCD projection panel to let you do multimedia presentations. The TFT screen has a removable backing to let it be placed atop an overhead projector and a cable that connects it to a PC. You can choose a 486DX, 486DX2 or 486DX4 processor. The unit ships with a removable hard disk, 4MB of system memory, an internal 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, an integrated trackball, two internal speakers and two Type II PCMCIA slots.

From $6,995.

Revered Technology,

805-445-6655, fax 805-445-9962.

The Toshiba T2400C series of portables uses a 50MHz 486DX2 processor and ships with a 250MB or 320MB hard disk. It includes local-bus accelerated graphics, an internal 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, two Type II PCMCIA slots, and a SCSI-2 port to connect external CD-ROM drives. An optional 16-bit Sound Blaster compatible audio card can be used to enhance multimedia presentations. This notebook is available with dual-scan and active-matrix color screens. From $2,799.

Toshiba America Information Systems,

800-334-3445, 714-583-3000.

If you use your notebook computer in unusual places, the ASF NCL 480 computer light should brighten your day. The NCL 480 is powered by four rechargeable nickel cadmium batteries and clips on to your notebook to illuminate the screen, keyboard and surrounding area. The NCL 480 includes three extra bulbs, a portable charger and a soft carrying case. $39.98.

ASF Associates Ltd.,

800-771-3600, 516-868-3638.

You can put a computer in the palm of your hand. The Fujitsu Stylistic 500 hand-held pen PC has a tablet screen and a 50MHz 486DX2 processor. It provides two types of PCMCIA expansion slots: one that will accept PCMCIA-ATA hard disks  and one that works with

Type II/Type III PCMCIA cards. The Stylistic 500 ships with 4MB of system memory, an 8-inch backlit monochrome screen and a 105MB hard disk. It weighs 2.6 pounds and measures 7.2 by 10.7 by 1.5 inches. $2,795.

Fujitsu Personal Systems,

800-831-3183, 408-764-9310.


Feb 95 New Products: Utilities

Scrambled Fax Defies Prying Eyes

People read others' faxes all the time, but you can foil those pesky peepers with PrivaSoft. The program scrambles your document by taking a bitmap image of the item and breaking the picture into small pieces that are moved out of order around the page. This makes the page unreadable so that the information remains private and confidential. A user-selected key allows the recipient to reshuffle the document for viewing after it has been scanned back into a PC. The program installs as a print option into your word processor.

Special pattern-recognition techniques are used to compensate for distortions or noise that might occur during fax transmission or paper handling. You can add an unscrambled header at the top of the document so that the fax will be delivered to the intended recipient.

$92.95.

Aliroo America,

516-496-3599, fax 516-496-3698.

Get A Lock On Personal Computer Privacy

Privacy and security are becoming a must for PC users. The DataLock security program encrypts and decrypts data on the fly without user intervention.

Locked files can only be accessed by computers using the same serialized copy of DataLock. Usable with or without a network, each serialized copy of DataLock can generate 42 variations of encrypted data and comes with its own built-in key, relieving the need for an encryption key every time a file needs to be locked or unlocked.

The program provides an array of security features. To prevent unauthorized modifications to the configuration, an administrator-defined password is required to use the configuration utilities. Even if the password is forgotten, however, the program can be reinitialized with a special install password. Laptop users concerned about theft can use the optional boot password to prevent DataLock from running.

Five-user license, $300; additional licenses, $60.

Xenodata Corp.,

800-676-7370, fax 918-664-5663.

Probe Your Problem PC

WINProbe 3.0 searches and analyzes your hardware and software configurations and provides up to 300 suggestions on how to improve your system's performance. The program can perform more than a dozen tests, including memory, floppy disk drive speed and hard-disk surface analysis. An Installation Wizard helps identify setup and configuration problems. The program also provides you with information on everything from installing a hard disk to identifying an IRQ. A real-time status panel updates and tracks freed system resources and memory.

$99.

Landmark Research International Corp.,

800-683-6696, 813-443-1331.

Inoculate Your PC Against Viruses

There are ways to protect your PC from viruses before one puts your system out of commission. Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit can detect and repair 5,300 computer viruses and is updated monthly with 100 to 200 additional viruses. The program scans for problems at a rate of 6MB to 7MB per second.

The FindVirus feature detects and identifies viruses in files, partition code and boot sectors, while VirusGuard, a memory-resident virus interception tool, checks every program before it is run or copied. The Generic Decryption Engine guards against mutating viruses, which change themselves each time they infect a file. The ViVerify tool monitors for viruses that are unfamiliar to the program by looking for the types of changes that viruses make in the executable code.

Single-user license, $149; corporate license, from $995.

S&S Software International,

714-470-0048, fax 714-470-0018.

Make Managing Files A Complete Wiz

Keeping your files in order can be a real trick, but WizManager Pro 2.0 can spell the end to file confusion. WizManager waves a magic wand and makes File Manager the center of all your operations. A launchbar at the top of the traditional File Manager screen lets you access all your apps.

The included WizUtilities Pak gives you a set of independent utilities, such as WizZipper, WizViewer, WizSync and WizLock. With WizFinder, you can retrieve files and directories knowing one keyword or the approximate date or time the item was created. WizDuplicates identifies and deletes duplicate files to free disk space, while WizSync synchronizes and updates directories between a desktop and portable PC.

$39.95.

Mijenix Corp.,

800-MIJENIX, 608-277-1971.

Call 911 For Data Disasters

When your hard disk crashes, don't assume that all your information is dead. Let 911-Recover try to resuscitate it. The program will identify and repair a variety of data recovery disasters, including problems in your boot sector, volume boot sector, FAT 1, FAT 2, root directories, subdirectories and data files. It analyzes the drive one byte at a time and then displays a list of the changes needed to repair the hard disk.

$499.

Micro 2000,

800-864-8008, 818-547-0125.

You can put an on-line sign-out sheet on your LAN with the Windows Sign-Out Board. The program lets users designate themselves as either "in'' or "out'' and include locations, contact information and return time. Time- and date-stamped messages can be left on the board. Up to 25 users, $125; each additional 25 users, $75.

Danielson Computer Services,

503-524-5620, fax 503-645-4911. Circle 637

Go figure  any way you want. CalcPac comes complete with four calculator styles: Business, Scientific, Conversions and Tape. The Business style conveys present and future values and interest rates.  The Scientific calculator has over 160 functions, including fractions and hyperbolic functions. You can convert miles to kilometers with the Conversion calculator, or do simple math with the Tape calculator. $59.95.

System Essentials,

800-335-9733, 314-537-9537.

You can be your own ad agency with MyAdvancedBrochures, Mailers & More. The program works with preprinted color papers from a variety of vendors. It lets you create bi-, tri- and fourfold brochures. You can also create business cards, letterheads, mailing labels, envelopes, postcards, programs and menus. $99.95.

MySoftware Co.,

800-325-3508, 415-325-9383.

Make sure the sounds coming from your PC are music to your ears. The Sound Factory I CD-ROM provides 30 music pieces and sound effects to test your sound card's quality. The disc includes everything from Beethoven's fifth to thunderstorms. You can select a full combination of 12 audio modes ranging from 8-bit mono (11KHz) to 16-bit stereo (44KHz). Each audio clip is accompanied by a 256-color image in .BMP format. You can even listen to the CD on a standard audio player. $49.95.

Accurate Research,

800-799-8802, 408-748-9988.

FileCompressPro lets you drag and drop files you want to compress. You can open and view multiple .ZIP files at the same time. The program comes in Standard and Professional Editions. Both include Zipplus, which lets you distribute self-extracting files that are executable under Windows or DOS, without requiring a compression utility on the system. The Professional Edition adds the ability to create configuration files that will automatically zip or unzip all files in a specified location or directory. You can search for files by name or keyword. The Professional Edition also includes a DDE interface for programmers. Standard Edition, $59.95; Professional Edition, $99.95.

Software Builders,

800-432-0025, 404-717-8003.


Intel Acknowledges Flaw In Pentium

By: John D. Ruley And Philip Albinus

A wave of furious electronic mail swamped some Internet news groups last fall as end users learned of a bug in the floating-point unit of the Intel Pentium microprocessor.

The bug was discovered by Dr. Thomas R. Nicely, a professor of mathematics from Lynchburg College. Nicely's report, posted on the Internet's comp.sci.intel newsgroup last October, was picked up by WINDOWS Magazine's sister publication Electronic Engineering Times, and from there became a major news story.

Nicely's message said, in part: "--the Pentium FPU is returning erroneous values for certain division operations --This can be verified in compiled code, an ordinary spreadsheet --or even the Windows calculator.'' Nicely's message provoked a flood of responses as Pentium users confirmed the bug and found multiple ways to demonstrate it (including the computation shown on this page).

Intel chairman Dr. Andrew Grove responded with his own Internet message: "I am truly sorry for the anxiety created by our floating-point issue --[We] concluded after months of work that an error is only likely to occur [on] the order of once in nine billion random floating-point divides.''

How Serious Is This Bug?

An investigation by WINDOWS Magazine has revealed that:

•	The bug is easily demonstrated using common business applications and can be reproduced on all Pentium-based systems that we tested at press time (November, 1994). Moreover, there is no way to identify which Pentiums are affected short of running a test.

•	It seems to affect only extremely high-precision computations (those with at least 12 significant digits), and at worst appears only in the fifth or sixth digit--an error of about one part in 10,000.

•	The probability of an end user encountering the problem is undetermined, but is undoubtedly low. It has shown up only in floating point divide operations that involve certain unique pairs of numbers. This appears consistent with Grove's "one in nine billion'' estimate.

Specialists familiar with microprocessor design generally agreed with Grove. Linley Gwennap, editor of The Microprocessor Report (an industry newsletter), said "I don't think [the FPU bug] will change the demand for Pentium chips.'' WINDOWS Magazine columnist (and Windows floating-point guru) Dr. Martin Heller said, "In well-designed engineering applications, this problem should not show up beyond the sixth significant digit --I've seen one real-world example of the bug, in a medical application where three cells out of 1,000 had errors in the last significant digit.''

A check with support organizations confirmed that there has been almost no effect on users. Deborah Willingham, Microsoft's vice president of support, said, "It certainly isn't a big issue for us at this point.'' Tommy Steele, executive vice president of Intergraph Corp. (which makes Pentium-based workstation systems designed for high-precision scientific and engineering use), said, "So far, we haven't heard from a single customer who's actually seen the problem.''

Intel's Pentium technical manual says: "The Pentium processor FPU has been completely redesigned --to deliver stable, accurate results when programmed using straightforward 'pencil and paper' algorithms.'' Gwennap said, "Intel engineers said there are worse problems in Pentiums than this one, but Intel does not release its bug list. I don't know why people are doing research calculations on a Pentium PC instead of a RISC machine.'' Heller added, "This says some bad things about Intel's quality assurance.''

Intel set up a special telephone number for Pentium users concerned about the problem (800-628-8686, 916-356-3551). Interested readers can find further information on this matter in the "Pentium Problems'' topic of the WinMag forum on America Online.


Windows 95 Preview Program Announced

By: John D. Ruley

"Several hundred thousand people will get Windows 95 at cost.'' With those words, Microsoft senior vice president Brad Silverberg announced the Windows 95 preview program at a standing-room-only press conference late last fall. Silverberg said the program will focus on getting Windows 95 into the hands of system administrators and other computer professionals--and will extend well beyond the Windows 95 beta test program, which already includes 48,000 users. While details on the preview program were sketchy at press time, it was expected to cost participants under $50, and to be available by the time you read this. Preview program participants will not get a discount off the production product, which is expected to ship by mid-year.

In a related development, Microsoft authorized a wide variety of third-party hardware and software makers to show products aimed at Windows 95 users at the Fall Comdex trade show late last year. Over 100 vendors obliged with Windows 95-compatible Plug-and-Play hardware, including monitors, sound cards, network cards, disk drives and complete systems. Windows 95 software demonstrated publicly included music synthesis, remote access, fax, accounting, backup, databases, terminal emulators and development tools. Microsoft also showed new Windows 95-specific versions of its own Word and Excel.

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are unhappy with Microsoft's pricing of Windows 95. While the product is expected to cost end users no more than they've paid in the past for the DOS+Windows 3.x combination (there are rumors of a promotional price of "around $100''), Microsoft is charging OEMs $45 and up to bundle Windows 95 on their systems. That's substantially higher than the prices they've been paying.


NT Brings Windows To The Power PC

By: John D. Ruley

The second generation of Motorola's much-anticipated Power PC processor will soon debut as a Windows NT platform. Late last year, Microsoft and Motorola announced an agreement under which Motorola assumed primary responsibility for the Power PC port of Windows NT. Motorola also signed an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) agreement calling for the bundling of NT (Workstation and Server) and the Back Office applications on Motorola's new PowerStack line of Power PC-based server and desktop systems. The PowerStack systems are due to ship about the time you read this.

The Power PC architecture, jointly developed by Motorola, IBM and Apple Computer, is a possible challenger to Intel's Pentium processor.

Besides Windows NT, Apple Computer's MacOS and IBM's AIX variant of UNIX also support the Power PC. A Power PC version of OS/2 is due later this year.

"Microsoft is the largest single developer of applications for the Motorola MC68000 processor family [used in the Macintosh], and we expect to have the same position on the Power PC,'' Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said.

Ed Staiano, Motorola's executive vice president and president of general systems sector, said, "We expect to have a full range of native applications in 1995.''

The Microsoft-Motorola agreement also includes provisions for Motorola to use NT in embedded applications.

Apple Outsells PC Makers

Apple shipped the most PCs in the best quarter ever in the U.S. PC market. Apple shipped 641,000 machines in the U.S., including 160,000 Power Macs, during the third quarter of 1994. The second-highest PC maker was Compaq with a shipment of 617,000 PCs.


Borland, Microsoft Duke It Out In Development

By: Karen Strauss

The visual development wars are heating up. Borland is preparing to go head-to-head against Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 with Delphi, an object-oriented fourth-generation language (4GL) and compiler originally planned only as a tool for building client/server applications. Neither product has shipped yet, though Delphi is expected in the first quarter of 1995 (see our First Impression of Delphi in this issue). Meanwhile, there is no ship date for Visual Basic 4.0 and rumors about its future are flying. Depending upon whom you ask, Microsoft is either delaying release until Windows 95 ships or revamping the product and its feature set to compete more directly with Delphi.

Delphi, shown broadly for the first time at Fall Comdex, is actually two products: one for the general programmer, the other for client/server application development. The Desktop Edition, aimed at the Visual Basic programmer, is designed as the tool for general Windows development. Borland is aiming the Enterprise Edition at users with large installed SQL databases, closely linking it to the company's client/server strategy.

Borland CEO Philippe Kahn said the company is focusing "entirely on Windows 95 and Windows NT and is not looking at OS/2 and Mac at this time.'' Kahn wants to make Borland "the Switzerland of servers,'' meaning Delphi and other Borland products will work openly with any SQL database.

Microsoft continues to delay the upgrade Visual Basic programmers have awaited for a long time. The company showed a special edition of Visual Basic 4.0 at its Visual Developers Booth at Comdex. This latest version offers an impressive array of features, enhanced OLE automation development tools and new object-oriented programming functions. But it lacks visual inheritance and other features that would make it a true object-oriented progamming language. It also lacks the sophisticated client/server development tools that make Delphi a strong contender for corporate development.


The Microsoft Network Riles Competitors

By: Jim Forbes

Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Network (formerly called Marvel) late last year, bundling a Microsoft Network front-end application with the second beta of Windows 95.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said the Microsoft Network will ultimately support extensive links to the Internet, and feature electronic mail and rich content. But most importantly, this new on-line service could drive the cost of connecting to all such services into the cellar.

Established on-line services expressed concerns about Microsoft's new venture. Executives of CompuServe and America Online (AOL) said they will go to great lengths to protect their markets against Microsoft's encroachment. AOL President Steve Case said the bundling of the front end for the Microsoft Network with Windows 95 gives Microsoft an unfair advantage. "They have to make sure the competition has equal access'' to Microsoft's disks, Case said. Bill Miller, general manager of the Microsoft Network, downplayed the significance of bundling. Miller pointed out that competing services often bundle free trial memberhips with software products and computers.

Microsoft's online competition has little to worry about so far.

The first release of the Microsoft Network, provided to 30,000 Windows 95 beta-testers, offers little more than technical support. A senior CompuServe executive calls Microsoft's 1995 version of the network "a supermarket that's waiting for customers but lacks groceries.''


WWW Could Stand For Words, Words, Words

By: Jim Forbes

The explosive growth of interest in the World Wide Web (WWW) is provoking a strong reaction from big-name application developers. Microsoft and Novell are preparing programs and software tools that will make it easier to post information on WWW servers.

Microsoft's Office Business Unit and the Novell Applications Group are racing to release tools or versions of their programs designed for creating, viewing or manipulating data on Internet World Wide Web servers. Microsoft's initial entry is the Internet Assistant, an add-on that lets you create, publish and view documents containing linked hypertext in WWW-standard Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) from within Word 6.0. Microsoft also plans to provide a free "viewer'' to allow users to view Word documents distributed on a network--which could lead to the Word .DOC format supplanting HTML in some applications.

Internet Assistant is available free and can be downloaded from Microsoft's World Wide Web Server (WWW.microsoft.com).

The Novell Application Group (formerly WordPerfect) will add similar capabilities to a special release of its bestselling Windows word processor, WordPerfect 6.1. Called WordPerfect 6.1, SGML (Standard Graphics Markup Language) edition, this new release costs up to $300 more than the standard edition of WordPerfect 6.1, but its authoring tools can create and distribute complex documents on Web servers.

Most software executives still believe such tools are more important for the future than the present. "Support of HTML or SGML within a Windows word processor is still a niche opportunity,'' says Dallas Powell, a Novell Applications Group product manager. "Most documents that are posted on Web servers are created with Unix, not with Windows word processors.''

But that will change in the next year or two as the number of Web servers installed nationwide increases, said Powell and other executives. The availability of software authoring tools is one of the factors that could increase the popularity and acceptance of new on-line services such as the Microsoft Network.


Sharp Ships Zaurus PDA -- Without Winpad

By: HAILEY LYNNE MCKEEFRY AND JIM FORBES

Sharp Electronics Corp. designed its new Zaurus ZR-5000 personal digital assistant (PDA) to use Microsoft's WinPad operating system, and it ran WinPad in demonstrations. However, when Sharp began shipping the Zaurus late last year, it did so with a proprietary operating system.

It now appears that WinPad (a subset of standard-mode Windows 3.1 designed to run on second-generation PDAs) will never ship--at least not in its present form. At press time, sources informed WINDOWS Magazine that Microsoft has cancelled the WinPad developers program. WinPad developers are being refunded the cost of their development kits, and have been told that, while Microsoft continues to see the hand-held market as potentially important, it doesn't expect to deliver an operating system or development environment until 1996. Sources also say Microsoft plans to withdraw the WinPad-based accessory applications currently shipped in beta versions of Windows 95.

The Sharp Zaurus is a follow-up product to Sharp's popular Wizard series of electronic appointment books. It runs on two AA batteries, includes a Type II PCMCIA slot, built-in PIM, word processing and communications software, and retails for under $600. (Sharp: 800-BE-SHARP, 201-529-9593)


Feb 95 Technology Watch

Compiled By John Gartner

First Windows DMI-Compliant Systems Ship

Hewlett-Packard previewed and announced the shipmen of the first PCs supporting the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) specification. DMI provides easy access to system configuration information and will simplify inventory control for network management.

DMI is a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) enabling users to view details of hardware and software installed on the PC. Information is stored as ASCII data in an MIF (management information file).

Hewlett-Packard's Vectra PCs are the first DMI-compliant systems with a Windows application for viewing MIFs. HP previewed the N2 and M2 Vectras at Fall Comdex, and scheduled them to ship by the end of 1994. HP scheduled the rest of the Vectra line to be updated for DMI by February.

The Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF), a consortium of vendors, designed the DMI interface. DMI-compliant hardware and software will become widespread in 1995. Many of the DMTF's 400 member companies will announce DMI-compliant PCs, printers and networking products. Windows 95 will support MIF files, and Microsoft's new System Management Server provides network support for MIFs. The DMTF expects a standard network protocol for distributing MIFs in early 1995.

VESA to Establish Standards For Interactive Entertainment Services

The Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) is thinking interactive with its new VOST (VESA Open Set-Top) committee, which is made up of more than 100 cable, telephone, semi-conductor, hardware and software manufacturers.

VESA, which developed the VL-Bus architecture, is extending development beyond the PC to standardize and promote interactive entertainment and information services. VESA wants to organize PC and service providers because existing set-top products are proprietary devices that have garnered slow acceptance.

Set-top boxes are devices that communicate between homes and outside services. They can connect televisions, PCs and telephones. Set-top boxes will provide access to information services including cable TV, video on demand, interactive games, home shopping and news. VOST will establish audio, video and security standards, with the first VOST standards expected in the first quarter of 1995.

Displays Get Bigger, Better and Flatter

New technologies previewed at Fall Comdex will change the look of laptop and desktop displays. Panasonic showed a 15.4-inch color active-matrix display that supports 1152x900 resolution at 0.26 millimeter dot pitch. Pricing and availability were undetermined at press time.

Several vendors announced plans to market "pure flat'' monitors by the end of 1995. These monitors use vertically and horizontally flat tubes, unlike most current monitors. Flat monitors appear almost concave; they provide less distorted, more realistic images and larger viewable areas. MAG Innovision, Panasonic and Viewsonic are among the manufacturers scheduled to ship pure flat displays.

The monitors will probably cost $100 to $300 more than non-flat displays.

Technologies to Watch (Not!)

Missing from Fall Comdex: nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries, 32-bit graphics cards, and sub-notebook computers.

NiCads were killed off by the rise of nickel-metal-hydride and lithium batteries; both are lighter and more powerful than the older NiCads. New graphic display cards are almost all 64-bit, and many feature 3-D display hardware on the board. Sub-notebooks are being replaced by lighter, full-size notebooks, and by advanced personal digital assistants (PDAs) like Sharp 's Zaurus.


Feb 95 News Bits

Compiled By Philip Albinus

•	Microsoft and Intuit received a request from the Justice Department for information concerning their proposed merger. Microsoft plans to acquire Intuit, maker of the hugely successful Quicken personal finance package, in a deal reportedly worth $1.5 billion.

•	Hayes Microcomputer Products has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect the Atlanta-based modem maker from creditors. A Hayes official blamed the company's cash shortage on increased product demand. Hayes, which set the standard for PC data/fax modems, is not for sale and will continue to manufacture modems under the Hayes name, a company official said.

•	Installation woes are stalling the acceptance of Windows in Japan, according to Japanese software distributors. It takes 28 disks to install the Japanese version of Windows 3.1. "This doesn't include the fonts for Windows 3.1,'' said a software and hardware reseller in Japan. The reseller told WINDOWS Magazine sales for Windows NT and IBM OS/2 are also floundering in Japan because installation is too much of a nightmare.

•	Corel Corp. expects to profit from IBM OS/2 Warp. Corel president Michael Cowpland pledged to develop OS/2 Warp versions of Corel products. He said IBM predicts the latest version of OS/2 will sell 10 million copies by the middle of 1995.

•	The computer fax market will grow from $887 million in 1993 to more than $3 billion by 1998, according to predictions from BIS Strategic Decisions. The integration of voice, data and document communication will fuel the anticipated growth. Fax modem sales should hit 17 million units by 1998, and 65 percent will have voice capability, according to the predictions.

•	Will the summer of 1995 mark the end of the 486 microprocessor? Vic Ellisor, an official of IPC Technologies, says most desktop manufacturers will phase out the Intel 486 chip for faster, cheaper and cooler-running Pentiums. IPC Technologies owns Austin Computers and manufactures personal computers.

•	Set your sights on quadruple-speed CD-ROM drives, because dual-speed CD-ROM drives are becoming scarce. By the spring of 1995, the quadruple-speed CD-ROM drive will become the standard speed, predicts Thomas Hunt, an official with Disk Technologies Corp., a maker of CD-ROM and hard disks.

•	Think of it as AAA for your notebook: IBM announced FastServe overnight repair for traveling ThinkPad users. IBM said it would ship troubled ThinkPads via Federal Express to a repair depot in Memphis, Tenn. IBM will then ship the repaired machine the next day to the owner, who can pick it up at a Federal Express office. This offer is available only to IBM notebook users in the United States.

•	Microsoft acquired One Tree Software, maker of SourceSafe, a source code control tool that helps prevent accidental code loss. SourceSafe allows you to merge and manage multiple releases of software. Microsoft will develop and market SourceSafe under the Microsoft name and will support DOS, Windows and Windows NT operating systems as well as the Macintosh development environment.

•	CD-ROM application sales are going through the roof. In the second quarter of 1994, software sold on compact disks totaled $139.6 million--a 421 percent increase from the same period in 1993, said sources at the Software Publishers Association. The SPA noted that consumer-oriented and content-based titles, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, beat out business software titles.

•	In a deal worth an estimated $730 million, Sybase and Powersoft announced that they would merge to form the seventh largest software company in the world and the largest client/server vendor. Powersoft, maker of client/server tools, will operate as an independent subsidiary of Sybase, maker of relational database management systems.

•	Talk about buying the store! Pure Data, a small Canadian fax card and networking hardware concern, bought the SatisFAXtion line of fax and data modems from Intel Corp. The company also acquired Intel's distribution channels worldwide in the deal.

•	Silicon Graphics licensed its InPerson desktop videoconferencing application to NetManage, maker of TCP/IP for Windows applications. NetManage wants to allow Silicon Graphic's customers and Windows users to collaborate using real-time desktop conferencing.

•	Software publishers and distributors lose more than $35 million a day in revenues due to software theft, according to the Business Software Alliance. The BSA estimates the software industry loses more than $12.8 billion annually.

•	America Online acquired two small Internet service companies in a stock swap totaling an estimated $34 million. The purchase of Navisoft and Booklink Technologies will help form the core of AOL's Internet Services Co. Both companies make applications that allow businesses and consumers to access the Internet and World Wide Web.

•	If you're a little lost in Windows NT, Microsoft is offering help at the right price. Registered users of Microsoft Windows NT can receive an evaluation guide for Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation 3.5 for free. The evaluation guide is an elaborate help file and tutorial on a single diskette. Call Microsoft at 800-426-9400 or 206-882-8080 for information.

•	Microsoft has filled the third spot in its Office of the President with Robert Herbold, a 26-year veteran of Procter and Gamble known for creating distinguishing brand names.


Feb 95 Power Windows

And A 1GB Hard Disk On Every Desk

By: Karen Kenworthy

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Just a few months ago, a 528MB hard disk seemed large. But as prices shrink, hard disk sizes keep on growing. By the time you read this, 500+ MB hard disks may have become entry level, while hard disks with capacities of 1 gigabyte or more may have become commonplace.

Does this mean the venerable IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) standard, with its 528MB capacity limit, is dead? Well, yes, or at least it's rapidly dying. But it won't pass on without leaving an heir. That heir is a one-year-old named EIDE (Enhanced IDE), and it's brought about a revolution in the IDE world. Still low-cost, IDE hard disks are encroaching on the high-performance sector previously dominated by SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) hard disks. Now it's time to take a new look at EIDE, its new potential and its growing pains.

EIDE is a standard that Western Digital Corp. proposed in 1993. This standard covers hardware and software developments needed to support larger IDE hard disks. It also allows vendors to develop new IDE tape and CD-ROM drives. For good measure, the standard even enables EIDE hard disks to transfer data up to four times faster than original IDE hard disks.

Breaking the 528MB barrier required changes to both hardware and software. To understand these changes, you need to know how a hard disk does what it does.

If your PC was built or upgraded over the past five years, chances are it contains an IDE hard disk. Since their introduction in the late 1980s, these inexpensive, no-nonsense drives have taken over the small computer market.

For most of that time, IDE hard disks hummed along in a sleepy corner of the computer world. Each year they got larger, faster and cheaper. But they were never the largest, or the fastest, hard disks available. They were just good old-fashioned values, the kind of hard disks you could appreciate if you had to watch your dollars, but still needed good performance.

Knowing Its Limitations

For all their appeal, IDE hard disks have their limits, the most noticeable being capacity. Many hard disks now store 1GB or more, but because of a combination of factors, genuine IDE hard disks are limited to 528MB.

This limitation has to do with the way data is stored on a hard disk. A hard disk contains a small stack of metal platters. These hard metal disks are what give the hard disk its name.

Each platter is coated with a compound similar to what's found on audio or video cassette tapes. Electric currents passing nearby can magnetize and demagnetize small regions of this coating without disturbing the coating on the rest of the disk. The state of the magnetic field at a particular location could represent a numeric value, either 0 or 1.

Engineers realized they could create a data storage device by combining these coated platters with a small source of electric current. Being engineers, they immediately set out to arrange all that data in neat, geometric patterns. Because the platters were round, they quickly settled on concentric circles of data, called tracks.

These tracks end up on top of one another because the platters are stacked one on top of another. So you can think of a hard disk as a group of concentric cylinders.

Each circular track was then divided into small arcs, called sectors. Each sector is just large enough to hold 4,096 bits (512 bytes) of data, plus a few extra bits for housekeeping. As far as a disk is concerned, the sector is the smallest unit of data, and a disk always reads and writes an entire sector at a time.

Ceramic Arms With Magnetic Heads

The picture was almost complete. All that was lacking was something to magnetize a selected part of the disk, or detect the magnetic field already there. After some experimentation, the engineers settled on heads, small coils of wire embedded in small, flat pieces of ceramic. Attached arms can position the heads anywhere over the surface of a platter.

Because there is one head above each platter and another below, you can store data on both sides of each platter. The spinning of the platter (platters can rotate at speeds of 3,600 rpm, sometimes faster) ensures a steady air flow, which enables heads to float a few thousandths of an inch above the surface of the platters.

Fortunately, these gory details of hard disk anatomy are usually well hidden. You seldom, if ever, need to worry about heads, cylinders or sectors. To you, a hard disk contains nothing but directories and files, and a precious, continually shrinking, bit of free space.

DOS makes this convenient fantasy world possible. Living with one foot in the world of applications and users, and another in the world of disk hardware, DOS does the dirty work of transforming requests to read or write data in a file into requests to read or write a specific sector.

SCSI and some other new hard disks number all their sectors consecutively. This type of sector identification is known as LBA, or Logical Block Addressing. When dealing with those hard disks, DOS merely specifies a sector's LBA number and the drive does the rest. IDE hard disks, however, are not that smart. To read or write a sector, DOS must specify the actual cylinder, head and relative sector within the track. This type of sector addressing is called CHS, for Cylinder, Head and Sector.

DOS decides which sector needs to be read or written, but it doesn't perform the actual read or write. That job is left to your hard disk's driver software, which knows how to talk to your particular hard disk and controller. In the case of IDE hard disks, the driver is usually found in a portion of your PC's BIOS known as the INT13h handler (named after the CPU instruction used to execute the driver).

DOS was designed to handle truly stupendous hard disks. Internally, it stores CHS information in three 16-bit numbers. In theory, this allows DOS to deal with hard disks that have as many as 65,536 cylinders, 65,536 heads and 65,536 sectors per track. A hard disk that large could store approximately 281,474,976,710,700 sectors, or 144,108,591GB!

BIOS Bottleneck

Unfortunately, the designers of the INT13h handler weren't so farsighted. They set aside just 10 bits to record the number of the cylinder to be read or written, which limits hard disks to a total of 1,024 cylinders. INT13h limits heads to just 8 bits, or a total of 255 heads. And worst of all, INT13h set aside only 6 bits to specify a sector within a track, which limits tracks to just 63 sectors. Putting this together (multiply 1024 x 255 x 63), it turns out the INT13h handler limits the number of sectors to 16,450,560, or a total of 8,422,686,720 bytes (8.4GB).

That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Most of us could live with a couple of 8.4GB hard disks for a while. But it's not that simple. To understand why, you need to look at the electronics found on those IDE hard disks.

IDE hard disks are compatible with a much older hard disk standard known as ST-506 and an old hard disk controller standard known as WD1003. Shugart Associates developed the ST-506 back in the 1970s to accommodate hard disks already on the market as well as those expected to be developed over the next few years. The same was true of Western Digital Corp.'s controller standard, WD1003 (named after its popular hard disk controller card), which first appeared on the market in 1984.

The ST-506 and WD1003 standards have held up surprisingly well over the years. Even though a large hard disk in those days held just 10MB, the standards, and therefore the IDE standard, anticipated hard disks as large as 136.9GB (267,386,880 sectors). They did this by setting aside 16 bits to specify a cylinder (65,536 cylinders), 4 bits for a head (16 heads) and 8 bits to specify a sector within a track (allowing for 255 sectors per track).

What's Wrong With This Picture?

So far, I've explained why DOS limits hard disk size to 144,108,591GB, IDE's hardware design limits capacity to 136.9GB and the BIOS' INT13h handler limits hard disk size to 8.4GB. But earlier I said IDE hard disks were limited to a total of 528MB. Something just doesn't seem to add up.

The problem is the way the INT13h handler and the IDE hardware place limits on cylinder, head and sector numbers. If you look closely, you'll see something troubling: Where one is generous, the other often skimps.

Because all CHS addresses DOS computes must pass through both the INT13h handler and the IDE hardware, the one with the least capacity dictates the limits of the cylinders, heads and sectors.

When you put it all together, you'll find that cylinders are limited to 1,024, there can be no more than 16 heads, and each track can have no more than 63 sectors. The result is a total hard disk limit of 1,032,192 sectors, amounting to a total of 528,482,304 bytes (528MB).

Lying To DOS

To break this barrier, the way the hard disk communicates with the BIOS' INT13h handler and the IDE hardware interface didn't need changing. After all, those interfaces already support multigigabyte hard disks. But larger disks do require a new INT13h handler--one that uses a bit of trickery to accommodate them. The new handler lies to DOS when asked about the hard disk's geometry. The phony values yield a hard disk the same size as the real hard disk. But the make-believe hard disk's cylinder, head and sectors-per-track values fall within the INT13h limits.

When processing requests to read or write the EIDE drive, the sneaky INT13h handler converts the CHS addresses DOS provides (corresponding to locations on the imaginary hard disk) into CHS values appropriate for the real hard disk.

Newer PCs and some IDE adapter cards come with a BIOS containing an EIDE-compatible INT13h handler. These handlers support larger drives (with VL or PCI bus IDE adapters) and faster data transfer rates as well.

But millions of us have computers with older BIOSes that pre-date EIDE. Fortunately, Ontrack Computer Systems has developed an EIDE-compatible INT13h handler that resides on your hard disk and loads when your PC boots, just like other device drivers. Well, almost like other device drivers. Because you need this driver to read the hard disk on which it resides, Ontrack has written a clever boot track modification that allows its driver to be loaded before DOS itself. The result is EIDE support as slick and as transparent as if it were built right into your motherboard's BIOS.

Ontrack's Disk Manager ($124.95; 800-752-1333, 612-937-1107) also does something a new BIOS ROM can't: It updates Windows so 32-bit disk access works with EIDE hard disks. The 32-bit disk access driver shipped with current versions of Windows suffers from the same 528MB limitation as other INT13h handlers of the same vintage. So Windows forces you to use whatever real-mode INT13h handler you may have, or format your hard disk so its capacity falls below the 528MB limit. With Disk Manager, you can exploit your hard disk's full capacity at full 32-bit disk access speeds.

Windows 95 is expected to support all EIDE features, allowing disk manufacturers to continue making faster, cheaper IDE drives. The jury is still out on IDE CD-ROM and tape drives, but these IDE enhancements may prove popular too.

Karen Kenworthy is the author of Visual Basics for Applications, Revealed! (Prima Publishing, 1994). Her E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


9502 Programming Windows

Drop That Menu!

Playing with Palettes and Fooling with Tools


Feb 95 Programming Windows

Programming On The Fly And Other Moving Stories

By: Martin Heller

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

As he climbed into the seat next to me, I got the impression he should be wearing blue. I realized I was right when he made a few insider comments about the Lufthansa Airbus we were flying.

My seatmate on this flight from Frankfurt to Munich was, in fact, an Air Force pilot/physician on his way to a conference to discuss the design of the F-22 cockpit and controls--your basic mission-critical user interface. This gave me an idea: What if we used Windows to control fighters?

Think about it. You'd at least want to double-click in order to fire a missile, wouldn't you?

"I'm locked on the target. Firing. Double-click. Double-click, darn it. Yikes! Who's been flying this thing? I have to reduce the double-click speed. Aaah! Losing lock. He's getting above me. Radar lock. I'm having a bad day. Radar lock. Aaaahhh!''

And of course you'd want to be able to perform normal maintenance activities with drag-and-drop, wouldn't you?

"Switching to reserve tanks. Selecting reserve tank icon. Dragging reserve tank icon to fuel line. Ack! Jiggled the mouse. Let's try again. We're getting low, Captain. Selecting reserve tank icon. Wait a second. That isn't the reserve tank icon, it's -- Aaaahhh!''

And we know how reliable Windows can be in constant use, don't we?

"Squadron leader, I'm returning to base. Repeat, returning to base. The software just gave me a General Protection Fault on--Oh no! Aaaahhh!"

Safe And Sound On The Ground

Things weren't quite this exciting at my clients' office, but they were interesting nonetheless. At my suggestion, my clients had been evaluating SQL databases and negotiating licenses. That's a serious issue when you're successful enough to have thousands of runtime units.

When I last saw my clients, they were trying to decide between Sybase version 10 and Microsoft SQL Server--products with a common ancestor and a great deal of compatibility, but different feature sets and pricing structures. I suggested they also look at Watcom SQL, which has the most favorable pricing structure of all the competitive SQL databases. But when I returned, I learned that they were about to sign a contract with Oracle.

Why? They decided that in their business, the biggest consideration is database speed, and Oracle 7 was fastest in their application tests. But selecting Oracle 7 raised a number of other issues. For one thing, it forced them to redesign some tables because of schema restrictions in Oracle; for another, it made them consider using Oracle Forms to develop their applications.

Now, Oracle Forms is an ambitious client-server development system that starts with CASE tools, continues with a deep knowledge of how databases work and finishes with a p-code runtime environment. On paper it looks wonderful.

My first demonstration of Oracle Forms looked good, even though the finished applications were visually crude. But then I asked about the machines the demo was running on.

"What is that, a 486SX/33? A 386/40? And what's the server, a 486/50?''

"Uh, no. They're both 90MHz Pentium boxes with 64MB of memory.''

Tilt. I tried running the same applications from my 486SL/33 laptop. They took more than a minute to load and a couple of seconds to scroll down a line in a listbox. Basically, Oracle Forms is a nice idea that hasn't been perfected. It might be okay for in-house developers, but it lacks the performance commercial developers need. My clients quickly reached a consensus: Even though Visual Basic requires more work to use it for good database applications, it would make a better front end for their products.

No Punishment Too Severe

To use the network with VLMs in order to access Oracle, I had to install the Novell WINUP9 disks. After I did this, my laptop started freezing up periodically and displaying a "parity error'' message. My first thought was that my machine had picked up a virus, especially because a few other machines in the room were doing the same thing. So I ran Microsoft AntiVirus--and found nothing.

I had the same problem the next day, and I was getting nothing done. I tried taking my laptop apart and reseating the RAM expansion daughterboard just in case it had come loose on the airplane. No luck.

Finally, I ran into an American expatriate at the company. "Hey, Richard, I've got this weird problem on my laptop. It keeps claiming it has a parity error.''

"Oh, that's the Parity-B virus. It lives in the master boot sector and doesn't corrupt any files. We've had it running around here for months. McAfee's Scan can detect it most of the time, and you can eradicate it if you boot from a clean floppy and run FDISK /MBR.''

Not only was my laptop infected, four other computers and about 85 diskettes in the room also came down with the virus. The aggregate productivity loss at this one company this week was at least 10 man-days.

What would be an appropriate form of punishment for virus writers? At the time, my thoughts ran to flaying, drawing and quartering, or perhaps boiling in oil. Now that I've had time to think about it, cleaning chewing gum off the streets of Manhattan with a toothbrush until there's none left--like a modern-day Sisyphus-- would be more appropriate.

In-Flight Education

A couple of weeks later, I was off to Win-Dev West, the Windows Developers' conference, in Santa Clara, Calif.

My seatmate, John, was the friendly type. By the time we took off he'd told me his life story. Before breakfast he found out about everyone in adjacent rows.

"I'm a software engineer.'' This from the seat behind me. "I'm doing educational game software for Windows. Have you ever heard of Reader Rabbit?'' John hadn't, but I had. I introduced myself to Bruce.

It turned out Bruce wanted to know how to drop down a menu item when a single key is pressed--not an accelerator key, not an Alt-key combination, but a normal key. He'd already tried the obvious things and struck out. I had my laptop with me, no interest in the movie and nothing much else to occupy my time, so I made a copy of the Generic sample and started hacking. You'll find the result in Drop that Menu! The next day, Bruce found a slightly more elegant way of dropping the menu, which is at the bottom of .Drop that Menu!

I thought this would be a 10-minute job, but it turned out to be a little tricky. A straight WM_CHAR message wouldn't work because it didn't indicate that the Alt key is down. A WM_CHAR message with the Alt flag (bit 29) set didn't work, either--I had to send WM_SYSCHAR in menu mode, not WM_CHAR. The WM_SYSCOMMAND / SC_KEYMENU message got me into menu mode just fine, but I made a stupid mistake: I transmitted it with SendMessage rather than PostMessage.

Wrong. Menu mode is the Windows equivalent of a Roach Motel. Messages go in, but they don't come out. My debugging showed me that pretty quickly, because I didn't get control at the line after the SendMessage until after I had already escaped from menu mode.

Naturally, this didn't register until I'd stowed my computer for landing. Once I remembered you have to post rather than send messages that go into the menu system, I really did clean up the code in 10 minutes.

Smoothing Transitions

I picked up a lot of good information at Win-Dev West. I was also enlightened by what interested others. Six months ago, everyone wanted to know about OLE. At this conference, it seemed people were just as interested in Win32 and advanced Windows 3.x topics as they were in OLE. I was surprised by how many people wanted to know how to plan their companies' transitions from Windows 3.x to Windows 95 and/or Windows NT.

My answers varied according to the company situations, but this exchange I had in a "chalk talk'' was typical:

"In our shop we have about 12 programmers writing C++ code using MFC, and another 20 writing Cobol on the mainframe. We want to know how and when to switch over to Win32.''

"Well, you're pretty lucky. In my experience, taking an MFC program from 16-bit Windows to 32-bit Windows is just a recompile. Don't sweat it. You're going to be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is.

"If you had a body of C programs using the native Windows API, it would be a lot tougher. Then I'd suggest you take two or three programmers for a couple of weeks and do a pilot project. You'd have them convert one or two applications and keep good records, then you'd use the metrics from those records to plan the rest of your conversions. You'd also try to track the benefits of the conversions: Did the applications get faster? More responsive? More maintainable? Did old bugs go away? Did new bugs crop up?

"Once you had that sort of knowledge about your own code base, you'd be in a good position to give your managers a conversion schedule. And once they know when your internal applications will be converted, they can plan when to upgrade the users to new systems, when to upgrade the hardware and when to bring in 32-bit versions of their productivity applications.''

Killing Bugs

I had a good time holding my "Bugaholics Anonymous'' meeting at Win-Dev West (which basically covers the debugging methods I presented in the January 1993 "Programming Windows'' column) and my "If this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium'' talk, actually entitled, "Adapting to Multiple Win32 Environments.'' I also learned a lot from other people's talks.

For instance, at Nancy Cluts' Chicago talk (Nancy writes sample code for Microsoft's Developer Network), I learned about the DrawEdge function in Chicago. DrawEdge makes displaying your own custom controls with a 3-D look as easy as can be. At Mike Blaszczak's Advanced MFC talk (Mike is a program manager in the MFC group), I discovered several useful MFC classes I'd completely overlooked. Two of them were CDialogBar and CPalette. I already knew about the related CToolBar because AppWizard can create applications that automatically use toolbars.

CToolBar makes a bar that displays and reacts to lightweight bitmapped buttons, but it can't handle edit fields or drop-down lists. CDialogBar, on the other hand, lets you display a full dialog as a bar, but all the buttons are real controls--they use up a window handle. CPalette makes a floating button array palette; it's derived from CToolBar and is provided in source form in the CTRLBARS sample rather than being built into the standard MFC libraries (See Playing with Palettes and Fooling with Tools).

If you build a 32-bit version of CTRLBARS with Visual C++ 2.0 and let your mouse linger over a button, you'll find that tool tip windows come up automatically. But if you try the same thing with the 16-bit version built with Visual C++ 1.51, you won't get tool tips. Why? Because the functionality wasn't migrated back to the 16-bit version of MFC. Mike told me this was scheduled to be fixed in the next update to VC++.

$64,000 Questions

At the conference registration table I was standing with Kim Crouse (owner of the Windows training firm Synaptix, and one of the original Windows instructors at Microsoft University) when a conferee approached us. "Can I ask you a Windows programming question?''

"Sure.'' We'd both been answering programming questions all week. (Programming conferences can sometimes feel like quiz shows.)

"I use WinExec to start another application from mine. How do I know if it's already been started so I don't create another instance?''

Kim took this one before I could shift my brain into 16-bit gear. "Do you know the title of the application, the name of its window class or the name of its .EXE file?''

"Oh, the name of the .EXE file.''

"GetModuleHandle takes one argument, the name of the module, and returns its handle. If the handle is NULL, the program isn't in memory. If you get a valid handle, you can use it to get an instance count with GetModuleUsage.'' I'm always in awe of how Kim can pull up this level of detail at the drop of a hat.

Of course, that doesn't work for Win32 programs--GetModuleHandle can give you a module handle only if the .DLL or .EXE is mapped into your address space. GetModuleUsage isn't supported in Win32, because each Win32-based application runs in its own address space. And no, I didn't have this information at my fingertips. I vaguely remembered there might be a problem, and had to doublecheck it in the Win32 API help file later.

What you do instead for Win32 programs is use FindWindow. It takes two parameters, the window class name and the window name or title. If you supply a NULL for either parameter, it's considered a match. Window classes and titles are globally available to Win32 programs, even though module handles are not globally available.

It's subtle stuff like this that keeps people like me in business. Heaven knows it would be more fun to fly fighters--as long as I don't have to do it with a mouse.

Martin Heller teaches and writes about 16- and 32-bit Windows programming. He has a Ph.D. in high-energy particle physics and never took a computer science or programming course in his life. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Drop That Menu!

Here's one way you can make a menu item drop down just by pressing a single key:

case WM_CHAR:

if(wParam == 'm' || wParam == 'M') {

PostMessage(hWnd,WM_SYSCOMMAND,

SC_KEYMENU,0L); //alt

PostMessage(hWnd,WM_SYSCHAR,'h',0L);

//h--help menu

}

break;

This is a slightly more elegant method:

//The lParam means Alt key down,

// 1 repeat count

PostMessage(hWnd, WM_SYSCHAR, 'F',

0x20000001L);


Playing with Palettes and Fooling with Tools

CPalette creates a floating button array palette.

C Palette, which is derived from CToolBar, is provided in source form in the CTRLBARS sample, rather than being built into the standard MFC libraries.

#ifndef __AFXEXT_H__

#include <afxext.h>

#endif

class CPaletteBar : public CToolBar

{

// Constructor

public:

CPaletteBar();

BOOL Create(CWnd* pOwnerWnd, int x, int y);

void SetSizes(SIZE sizeButton,

SIZE sizeImage, UINT nColumns);

BOOL SetButtons(

const UINT FAR* lpIDArray,

int nIDCount, UINT nColumns);

// Implementation

public:

virtual ~CPaletteBar();

#ifdef _DEBUG

virtual void AssertValid() const;

virtual void Dump(CDumpContext& dc) const;

#endif

protected:

// overridden from CToolBar

virtual void GetItemRect(int nIndex, LPRECT lpRect)const;

virtual int HitTest(CPoint point);

virtual void DoPaint(CDC* pDC);

void InvertTracker(CPoint point);

void RecalcLayout(UINT nButtonCount);

protected:

BOOL m_bTrackMove;

CPoint m_ptMouse, m_ptLast;

UINT m_nColumns;

CWnd* m_pOwnerWnd;

UINT m_cxRightBorder;

// Generated message map functionsprotected:

//{{AFX_MSG(CPaletteBar)

afx_msg void OnLButtonDown(UINT nFlags, CPoint point);

afx_msg void OnMouseMove(UINT nFlags, CPoint point);

afx_msg void OnLButtonUp(UINT nFlags, CPoint point);

afx_msg int OnMouseActivate(CWnd* pDesktopWnd, UINT nHitTest, UINT message);

//}}AFX_MSG

DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP()

};


Feb 95 FI: Bulk Mailer / MyProfessionalMailManager

The Incredible Bulk (Mail)

By: James E. Powell

Bulk, in postal parlance, may not be so big. Mailings as small as 200 pieces can qualify for postal discounts, but the forms and procedures the post office requires can try your patience.

MyProfessionalMailManager (MPMM) and Bulk Mailer+ help you fill out letter trays, attach the proper labels to bundles, create the Postal Service reports and even correct misspellings.

At the heart of both programs is a mailing list. You can include notes and telephone numbers (one in Bulk Mailer+ and four in MPMM) and customize the list with two user-definable fields in Bulk Mailer+ or MPMM's 250. After you select the records for a mailing and enter information such as the weight of each piece, both programs sort and print labels or envelopes, calculate postage, print the reports, and bundle labels.

MPMM is slightly easier to use because of its excellent documentation, including an easy-to-read booklet from the U.S. Postal Service. MPMM's data-entry screen can be customized to add logos, change the size and order of fields, and categorize entries. Its screen is a little busier than that of Bulk Mailer+, which I preferred when working in data-entry mode. MPMM updates the last mailing date field automatically, and its record selection is a little more flexible.

The programs have many similar features. Both can purge duplicates, though only MPMM can move duplicate records to a new file and let you define how many letters of a field must match before records are considered duplicates. Both can find individual records or select groups of addresses, sort your mailing list, perform mail merge, search and replace text, and create custom report and label formats.

If you have a CD-ROM, you can use MPMM's Address Checker to correct your addresses to conform to Postal Service standards. The process, called CASS certification, is incredibly quick. You can check a single address or your entire database. The program corrects the spelling of street and city names, determines the Zip+4 and carrier route values, and adds a POSTNET bar code. The Postal Service requires that you use an updated CD-ROM to receive additional discounts. MPMM includes a "sample'' CD-ROM and a coupon to get your first up-to-date CD-ROM free. Additional updates are $59.95 each or $149.95 for a yearly subscription. A similar option should be available with Bulk Mailer+ by the time you read this.

There are distinct differences between the programs. Bulk Mailer+ is clearly focused on reporting and sorting. It offers over 40 different presort and postal summary reports. However, its import is limited to comma- and tab-delimited files. While the program can find records fast, moving among records isn't intuitive.

MPMM handled the comma-separated files we supplied, as well as Paradox, dBase and Access files. Neither program, however, could handle a two-line address.

Though MPMM does so much more for less, it's a good choice for the occasional user or for someone whose mailings are small. MPMM handles first- and third-class mail (including nonprofit mailings). Its tabbed dialog boxes are easy to navigate.

To take full advantage of Postal Service discounts, you'll want to use Bulk Mailer+, which offers support for second-class mail, has more presort features, and can deal with flats as well as letters and postcards. There are two versions of Bulk Mailer: The standard package (Bulk Mailer) accommodates 8,600 names, and Bulk Mailer+ can handle an unlimited number. (MPMM tops out at 100,000 names.)

Bulk Mailer+ also includes an every-nth-record selection for test mailings, and you can choose all remaining records for a subsequent mailing. You can also use data-entry defaults to enter common address information. The program supports leading high-speed printers for quick printing of labels and bar codes.

For ease of use, MPMM excels. For larger mailings, Bulk Mailer+ has the edge.

Info File

Bulk Mailer+ 4.20i

Price: $595

In Brief: This sophisticated program helps you get the maximum postal discounts.

Disk Space Required: 1.4MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 4MB

Satori Software

206-443-0765, fax 206-728-7068

MyProfessionalMailManager 1.0

Price: $129.95

In Brief: With an easy-to-use interface, this program is best suited for the occasional user.

Disk Space Required: 3.7MB

System Resources: 18%

RAM: 4MB

MySoftwareCompany

800-325-3508, 415-325-9383


Feb 95 FI: Crossties 2.0 / Crossties For Workgroups

Find The Missing Links

By: James E. Powell

CrossTies is a cut above most PIMs. It lets you enter different types of information and then link the pieces with logical connections without entering the data more than once.

CrossTies treats everything as an object. For example, a person object contains a contact's name and address; an organization object could be a company address; an activity object may relate to a meeting; and a project can be just about anything. In this new version, you can choose which objects you want available, so unused object types won't clutter your screen.

After you enter data for objects, you can link two or more together. The ability to create links is at the heart of CrossTies. Here's how it works. Suppose I'm one of your coworkers. In CrossTies, you can connect my person object to a project we're working on together. Then you can "tie'' my object to any meeting object that I'm supposed to attend. When you look at the meeting object, you'll see all the people involved and maybe a linked document, such as a meeting agenda. Click on any object, and you'll see its underlying details. You can drill down on any object to view all of the linked information.

Version 2.0 adds user-defined fields for an object, with the available number varying by object type. For example, there are 12 user-definable fields for an organization, but 24 for a person object. Also new in this version are a spell checker, a date/time stamper, an automatic database backup and restore facility, and the ability to use the CrossTies phone book from within WinFax PRO.

Search capabilities in CrossTies have also been improved. There's now support for "not'' and "show empty'' conditions. You can use any user-defined field, as well as the Created By and Edited By fields in a query.

You can schedule events by dragging an object and dropping it on the calendar, and you can set the lead time for notification of an activity. Objects can be set to appear in bold type to highlight important events or critical participants. Automatic conflict checking, recurring events and a snooze button have also been added in 2.0.

When you run CrossTies for the first time, it creates program objects for your installed applications. You can then add documents or objects from other programs. When you click on one of these objects, its application is launched and any associated file is opened. CrossTies also includes viewers so you may not even need to launch the application. With this version, you can attach an existing file to an object without having to copy it from its original directory.

CrossTies for Workgroups has all of these features, plus it adds information sharing through the Novell Mail Handling System (MHS), Microsoft Mail (MAPI) or Lotus cc:Mail (VIM). If you don't have any of these, don't worry--you can use CrossTies' built-in e-mail system. Unfortunately, a glitch in the late beta version I tested prevented full testing of the workgroup features. In theory, however, setting up a CrossTies workgroup is quite simple. You first create a workgroup object, and then tie in the related objects; these  objects are members of the workgroup you select from your e-mail system, which CrossTies accesses. When you have an object that you wish to share with the workgroup, you just connect it to the workgroup object. When you change data in an object shared by a workgroup, members are notified by e-mail.

Documentation is easy to read, and if you use the sample database, you should be up and running in just a few hours.

CrossTies 1.0 introduced some interesting concepts, but it had limitations. Version 2.0 adds ease of use and some much-needed features, while maintaining 1.0's clean design. It has the power and flexibility to make diverse pieces of information relate as they do in the real world.

Info File

CrossTies 2.0, CrossTies for Workgroups 2.0

Price: $149.95;

Workgroups, $299.95

In Brief: CrossTies lets you enter data about people, places and things, and then lets you connect related data.

Disk Space Required: 4MB minimum, 10.3MB full installation

System Resources: 14%

RAM: 4MB

CrossTies Software Corp.

800-955-TIES, 214-407-9996


Feb 95 FI: Intersolv Q+E 6.0

Data Dipper Scoops Competition

By: Christopher O'Malley

Long before client/server was in vogue, Q+E was a neat little utility that let spreadsheet users poke their numeric noses into database information without leaving the comfort of their worksheets. Intersolv Q+E 6.0 can still do that, but this handy spreadsheet helper has grown into a comprehensive query-and-reporting tool with a long reach that's ideal for client/server networks.

Q+E 6.0 is the first new version of the product since it was acquired by Intersolv last year. The change in ownership has clearly brought a change in philosophy--Intersolv makes a number of client/server development Products: -that's reflected in this greatly expanded version of Q+E. Q+E's price, too, has undergone some expansion, up about $200 from the last version.

However, if you're serious about pulling together information from one or more databases, Q+E 6.0 is well worth its price. That's especially true if you're attempting to corral data from a number of locations or machines within an enterprise. Q+E 6.0 complies with the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard, so it can use any ODBC driver to connect to a data source. And connect it does, with the ability to access more than 30 databases right out of the box. These include not only popular PC databases such as dBASE, Paradox and FoxPro, but also several SQL servers and DB2 gateways, and databases created with Oracle and Informix.

Q+E can do more with this information than ever before, too. Its Report Builder simultaneously walks you through the process of generating a report and frees you from the tyranny of tabular pages. You can now arrange data anywhere on the page, and the data can include charts and other graphics in addition to text. Q+E 6.0 gets you started with four predefined report templates (tabular, form, mailing label and form letter) that you can adapt to suit your purposes, plus a blank template for creating wholly customized reports. The program also has a new print preview function, so you can look before you leap to hard copy.

You can still have Q+E spit out unadorned tables if you want to, but its report-complementing Chart Builder makes adding a graphic touch almost too easy to resist.

In four simple, visual steps, the Chart Builder turns a column or table of numbers into one of 14 chart types, including 2-D and 3-D column, bar, pie and area charts. These charts can be easily positioned anywhere in a report and resized as needed. The charts also stay linked to the data on which they're based, so your graphics will automatically update as the data that defines them changes.

The improvements in Q+E 6.0 go beyond access and reporting basics. Its new Administrator function lets you regulate data access and editing for either individuals or groups of users on a network. These rules don't change the underlying database rules, but they let you control who sees and does what by disabling or even removing functions from Q+E's menus. You can install Q+E as a read-only program, so users can look but not touch.

There's no shortage of shortcuts and automating tools, either. The program's clean interface includes a row of large buttons, which can be customized and supplemented with icons of your own design. A right-button click summons a pop-up menu of context-sensitive choices, such as sorting and formatting options for a highlighted column.

For more advanced automation, the new Job Scheduler lets you automatically execute scripts at preset times or frequencies. Tasks can be as simple as issuing a query or as complex as merging new data with old. You can also control Q+E from within another Windows application, thanks to the program's OLE 2.0 support. You can issue a query or create a chart from within Word, for example, and then incorporate the results into the open document.

In function as well as cost, Q+E 6.0 has clearly outgrown the "utility'' label. Yet, by making it easy for users to share the data wealth, it remains one of the most utilitarian data-access products around.

Info File

Intersolv Q+E 6.0

Price: $499; upgrade, $199

In Brief: No longer a mere spreadsheet utility, Q+E is a fully outfitted data query, analysis, charting and reporting tool.

Disk Space Required: 4MB to 12MB, depending on tools and drivers

System Resources: 25%

RAM: 4MB

Intersolv

800-876-3101, 919-859-2220


Feb 95 FI: Maximizer Sales Suite

Full Contact Suite

By: Christopher O'Malley

A contact management program is often little more than a database with a phone dialer. Modatech's Maximizer has always aspired to be more than that, with advanced scheduling, reporting and word processing features. With the Maximizer Sales Suite for Windows, Modatech pushes the envelope again, offering even more help for professionals whose business is people.

Sales Suite combines the Maximizer contact manager with three natural allies: MapLinx Corp.'s MapLinx database mapping program, Crystal Services' Crystal Reports report writer, and SofNet's FaxWorks fax program. The latter two augment Maximizer's limited reporting and faxing features. MapLinx adds an entirely new dimension.

Though Modatech touts the Maximizer Sales Suite as a "seamlessly integrated'' concoction of four previously separate programs, it's far from that. For starters, the four distinct manuals are evidence to the contrary. Sales Suite is more like a quartet of applications united by a common icon bar and a few strategic data links. That's not necessarily bad, but the seams are hardly invisible.

One downside to the bundle approach is that installing the equivalent of four programs takes a little patience and a lot of disk space. Sales Suite consumes about 30MB of disk space if you opt for all its features. Support, should you need it, is scattered, too. Modatech supports Maximizer and FaxWorks, but MapLinx and Crystal Reports are supported by their respective publishers.

Still, the four programs complement each other well. The anchor of the foursome is Maximizer, a well-rounded contact manager that keeps things simple with its list-oriented approach to tracking contacts, notes, appointments and to-do reminders. Beneath this facile facade is a database with powerful searching features that uses Novell's Btrieve engine. It also has a very capable word processor, with spell checking, thesaurus and mail merge. Naturally, there are phone dialing and call logging functions as well.

MapLinx does a nice job of bringing Maximizer's data to life. MapLinx can plot selected contact data from Maximizer onto a map that covers as much as the United States, or as little as a city's zip codes and major byways. This sort of geographic visualization not only gives you a snapshot of where your customers are; it can also help you do things like plan mailings, advertisements, territories and even business trips.

Crystal Reports doesn't have quite the same visual pizzazz, but it also can cast your Maximizer contact data in a new light. This report writer uses templates that let you create polished, customized reports from your Maximizer data, complete with arithmetic functions so you can render totals, averages and the like. You can also add graphics to your reports and maps from MapLinx. While there's really nothing new here from a database perspective, the pairing of a data extractor like Crystal Reports with a contact manager can help you squeeze some new intelligence out of a rarely leveraged repository of information.

FaxWorks has a straightforward mission: to send, receive and view faxes. Its principal tie-in with Maximizer is that you can easily send faxes to anyone in your contact database, because FaxWorks creates a phone book for each contact list, with each fax logged in Maximizer just as a letter would be.

In addition to these data links, Sales Suite uses a small, movable icon bar to sew its four pieces together. That makes it easy to jump from one app to another, or from other Windows programs to your contact data. Maximizer supports DDE linking, but it does not support OLE.

Maximizer Sales Suite could be better integrated, and it would probably be a whole lot leaner if it were designed from the ground up as one program. But its meshing of contact management with analytical and communications tools is a clear step in the right direction.

Info File

Maximizer Sales Suite

Price: $379; upgrade, $129

In Brief: Maximizer Sales Suite adds mapping, report-writing and faxing capabilities to its core set of contact-management tools. It could be leaner and better integrated, however.

Disk Space Required: 30MB

System Resources: 6% to 9%

RAM: 4MB, 8MB recommended

Modatech Systems

800-804-6299, 214-929-7111


Feb 95 FI: Day-To-Day Contacts / Day-To-Day Notepad

Pair In Pursuit Of Personal Info

By: Ron Bel Bruno

A newly paired duo of personal productivity tools promises to sort the people, places and tasks in your life into a sensible set of data. Half of this team--Day-to-Day Contacts 3.0--succeeds, but Day-to-Day Notepad 1.0 falls short of its organizational goals.

PIM junkies will instantly recognize Day-to-Day Contacts as a new incarnation of Dynodex, a popular contact manager. Records in Contacts can be linked to items in the companion product, Day-to-Day Notepad, an outline-based notekeeper.

Contacts has an enhanced toolbar, among other improvements, and a no-nonsense look and feel that emphasizes simple data entry. Contacts outpaces other PIMs with its myriad print options and included databases listing 800 numbers and travel information.

No matter how well a PIM automates your personal data, paper is still more portable than most PCs. Contacts includes print templates for more than two dozen popular datebooks and Avery label formats, as well as 10 or so envelope styles. Datebook pages are infinitely customizable, using the program's simple graphical field and page-layout windows. If your hard copy needs are unique, or Contacts doesn't include a template for your datebook, you can create a custom format easily.

If you're more intrigued by the people in your phone book than the actual process of managing that information, you're sure to appreciate Day-to-Day Contacts' simplicity.

It's hard to bestow similar kudos on Day-to-Day Notepad. The program uses a notebook-page metaphor, but fails to carry through when it's time to enter information. Using it is a lot like writing an outline with a pen. But imagine if you had to click the pen every time you reached the end of a line or wanted to cross a "t'' or dot an "i.'' Notepad requires the electronic equivalent. For example, if you're creating a topic that exceeds one line of text, you have to press Ctrl+Enter to move to a second line. Likewise, pressing any of the arrow keys will just leave you wondering why the cursor isn't moving. You can, however, use the drag-and-drop features to rearrange topics.

With Notepad, your data is organized in an outline format. The information could be a to-do list, presentation, contact list or even a simple database that takes advantage of Notepad's sort facility. Notepad calls the outline's first topic entry the "mother.'' Under the mother reside any number of "daughters,'' or subtopics. Each of the outline's subsequent major topics is called an "aunt.'' Despite this warm and fuzzy approach, this fatherless application only manages to make what should be simple confusing.

Bringing new aunts and sisters into a Notepad outline is an equally unintuitive experience. To create a new subtopic, you either have to select Topic/New Daughter from the menu, or press Enter and Ctrl+R (to indent the entry). If you make a mistake, Ctrl+Z or Edit/Undo revises your genealogical error.

If you can overlook these significant shortcomings, you may be able to take advantage of an otherwise flexible environment. The documentation provides a full plate of suggestions on using Notepad. Most practical of these is the To-Do List/Calendar and Phone/Address List. If you're working with a small amount of information, the program's search and sort features make it an adequate database or contact manager. A good assortment of font, style and format commands for presentation purposes rounds out the features list.

If you need to organize your thoughts in an outline format, you're likely to have more success using your word processor's outlining features. But if you just want to keep track of the people who populate your life, Day-to-Day Contacts provides an easy-to-use, uncluttered system for keeping in touch.

Info File

Day-to-Day Contacts 3.0 and Day-to-Day Notepad 1.0

Price: Contacts, $49.95; Notepad, $34.95

In Brief: This team of personal productivity tools features an effective electronic phone book, but its note taker falls short.

Disk Space Required: Contacts, 900KB; Notepad, 300KB

System Resources: Contacts, 16%; Notepad, 5%

RAM: Contacts, 4MB; Notepad, 4MB

Portfolio Software

800-DAY-TO-DAY,  802-434-4000


Feb 95 FI: Org Plus 3.0

Put People In Their Place

By: Rich Castagna

To picture the pecking order of an organization, you can use an org chart, which may best represent a company's chain of command. Org Plus 3.0 requires little more than a good eye and a list of the principal players to breathe some graphical life into org charts.

Org Plus' austere interface makes it plain that this program has a one-track mind. It has a standard menu bar, but its toolbar buttons are clearly dedicated to org charts, with icons labeled Manager, Assistant, Co-worker and Subordinate. You'll use these buttons frequently, as they provide the basic building blocks for a chart.

With tabbed dialog boxes tumbling out of programs everywhere these days, Org Plus' dialogs stand out because they are single function and tabless. There is, however, right-button support to pop up context-sensitive menus.

To create a new chart, you can start from scratch or use one of the samples. The New Chart dialog presents three choices for the style of the labels that will appear in the org chart boxes. You can have the name come first with the title below, the reverse, or you can define a custom style.

If you pick Custom, the Define Labels dialog box opens. In it you describe each box entry as text, a name, a picture or an amount. For a picture, you specify an image size or let the program size it to fit the box. For an amount, you can select formatting options, such as currency, leading zeros and number of decimal places.

After defining the box's contents, a template appears with an area for a Chart Title, and the org chart's topmost box with the labels that you created. You can type in a title and alter its properties, including font style and size, color, shading, border and so forth. Changing text properties is a little clumsy because you have to go through several dialogs. Also, you have to be sure to highlight the text first. The program let me make several changes that were displayed in a preview box but not applied because the text had not been highlighted.

You can select from about 20 different org-chart styles, with another eight or so that describe the arrangement of boxes for lower levels. If you change your mind, you can pick another style and Org Plus will reformat your chart.

Boxes are added by clicking on a toolbar button and then clicking on its intended position in the org chart. You can grab several boxes at once by clicking the button several times; that number of boxes drops onto the org chart at the location you specify. It's a handy shortcut that cuts down on repeated trips to the toolbar.

Another shortcut provided by Org Plus is its slate of object selection options. You can select all of the boxes or part of a chart based on criteria such as level, job title, chart branch and so forth. You then can apply format changes to multiple boxes in a single stroke.

There are also plenty of formatting options to dress up your chart. You can choose from three box shapes, nine borders and a few different line styles. Boxes can be resized manually, but you don't get handles that you can grab and drag--you have to enter numeric values in a dialog box. It's a cumbersome process because it's not interactive, so you can't see the effect of the changes until you close the dialog.

Also supplied are some basic drawing tools--boxes and lines--that can be used to give a chart some ornamentation. But these drawn objects don't pick up the defined attributes for box labels.

A chart can be zoomed in and out with four levels of magnification. You can also toggle the view to show how the org chart will print across several pages. A date can be added to a chart to indicate when the chart was created, last modified or last printed. You can't change the type style or size of the date.

Printing charts is facilitated by Org Plus' batch-print feature. You can gang up a bunch of charts to print, and even save the list for later use.

Charts can be saved in other file formats, including comma- or tab-delimited text and .BMP, .WMF, .PCX and TIFF graphic formats.

Org Plus maintains its focus by serving up org charts and only charts. If you need to put your personnel in perspective, it rates a look.

Info File

Org Plus 3.0

Price: $140 (street)

In Brief: Org charts are this program's raison d'etre; it does one thing, and does it with acceptable results.

Disk Space Required: 3MB, 5MB recommended

System Resources: 15%

RAM: 4MB

Banner Blue Software

510-794-6850,  fax 510-794-9152


Feb 95 Exit Windows

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Screensaver O' The Month

Dilbert diehards, rejoice. Scott Adams brings the warped worldly perspectives of Dilbert, Dogbert and Ratbert to your desktop. The 16-module screensaver set includes all the expected authority-mocking modules and one showing Adams at work drawing and animating characters. Comes with free CompuServe introductory membership and a $15 usage credit. Dilbert, $39.95; Delrina, 800-315-5848, 408-363-2345.

Cyberchow Cookbook

Twinkie Casserole, anyone? How about Spam Sushi or Jell-O Fingers in Peanut Sauce? Gigabites, the Hacker Cookbook by Jerry Johnson, offers recipes for dinners, drinks and desserts that are easy to make and fun to eat. Waist watchers needn't worry--all dishes are under 6,000 calories.  $9.95; Ten Speed Press, 800-841-2665, fax 510-559-1629.

Ditch Your Decoder Rings

Move over, Cap'n Crunch. The author of Pager Power has provided the coding solution of the '90s. This book lists words, word parts and commonly used phrases with a numeric code next to their entries. So next time you want to page your partner in Poughkeepsie, just press 498. He or she can use a copy of Pager Power to find that you've just said, ``Life is amazing--especially with you around.'' $4.95; Ten Speed Press, 800-841-2665, fax 510-559-1629.

For The Politically Correct

Now, political junkies can get a fix while they work. On the Right and On the Left calendars and daily planners let you pick your side and your weapons: You get a congressional directory with names, party affiliations, and phone and fax numbers--plus cartoons from top editorial cartoonists. There's even a copy of The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook. $49.95; InfoDisc, 305-583-8897, fax 305-583-8767.

Radio-Free O.J.

When O.J. Simpson's defense attorney, Robert Shapiro, needs an image of a piece of evidence, he swipes the Radio/Freedom Reader wand across a bar code keyed to an image stored on CD-ROM. Images are transmitted via radio frequencies to the courtroom. From $695; Worthington Data Solutions, 800-345-2220, 408-458-9938. Circle 653

Quasi-Easter Egg O' The Month

Forget the Nestea plunge. Take the NT plunge instead. When you set Windows NT's Open GL 3-D Pipes screensaver for mixed joints, the program generates a teapot at random joints. How refreshing!

Read My Lips: No More Revisions!

Microsoft recently posted on several major on-line services its press release on the new Win95 logo--complete with revision marks. Maybe the release, like the software itself, is still under construction?

Send us your offbeat Windows-related tidbit. We'll send you a coll WinMag coffee mug and T-shirt for each item we publish. Send Exit Windows items to Nancy Lang. Her E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 Windows Online

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Here's How

Parlez Vous FTP?

By: Karen Kenworthy

When you access files on the Internet via anonymous ftp, the dialog between the ftp server and your PC (the ftp client) occurs in the arcane language of the File Transfer Protocol (ftp). Here's a crash course on common ftp commands: open servername connects you to an ftp server (when asked for a name, enter the server name followed by :anonymous; when asked for a password, enter your own Internet mail address); dir dirname lists the contents of a directory on the server; cd dirname changes the working directory of the server; get filename adds a file to the list of files to be downloaded (if batch mode is on, the file will be sent when you log off the server or issue the download command; if batch mode is off, the file will be sent immediately); batch toggles batch mode; download retrieves files scheduled by the get command; and close disconnects you from the ftp server.

If ftp fluency is too tough for you to master, consider a new client program, such as Internet Chameleon. It hides the ftp command dialog and provides a graphical display of directories, similar to Windows' File Manager.

New On The Net

World At Your Fingertips

By: Julie R. Blumenfeld

Planning your next business trip or vacation? If you want to know about places to go, just jump on the Net. You can now access all types of tourist information using the World Wide Web. Start out at http://www.city.net. There you'll find links to home pages for many U.S. and overseas cities. You can browse by continent/region or country, or search for city name. The information provided ranges from restaurants to parks to weather conditions to athletic teams. Once you've chosen your destination, you can book flights and make hotel reservations using America Online (Keyword: travel) or CompuServe (GO TRAVEL).

Windows Watch

One-Stop Shopping

By: Karen Kenworthy

You can dig around the Internet for days on end searching for Windows-worthy files. Or you can go straight to a site where you know you'll always find something you can use: Indiana University's Center for Innovative Computer Applications, at ftp.cica.indiana.edu. Here's a list of treasures you'll find in the directories there: desktop utilities, Excel files, fonts, games, icons, Windows NT applications, patches and fixes, sound files and utilities, Windows utilities, Winsock-compliant applications, Word files, WordPerfect files and the Windows Resource Kit.

Online News

•	Find out about CompuServe's upcoming Internet plans by visiting the service's Web page (http:\\www.compuserve.com). n Prodigy is also going Web with its new independent service AstraNet (http:\\www.astranet.com). Content includes sports, finance and government.

•	America Online has introduced a slick new ftp client. Go to the Internet Connection (Keyword: Internet) to check out accessible sites.

Windows Magazine Online

Pull In For A Free Tune-Up

If you haven't yet downloaded Wintune 2.0, run--don't walk--to your modem. Wintune is WINDOWS Magazine's complete test and tune-up kit, and version 2.0 adds an Advisor module that explains exactly what to do to make your system run at its peak. Wintune is one of the most popular downloads ever, for good reason: It can double the speed of some systems, it's easy to use, and best of all, it's free. Look for WT20.ZIP in the Wintune and Support Files section of  the WinMag Software Library on America Online (Keyword: WinMag).

Winning Win95 Dialog

As the countdown to Windows 95 continues, the discussion is heating up, and the Win95/4.0 (Chicago) folder in the WinMag Message Exchange on America Online is the place to be. Join in! The quality of the discourse is high, with blessed little of the annoying "my OS can beat up your OS'' noise you may find in other operating system-related forums.


Feb 95 Superior Shareware

Complied By Julie R. Blumenfeld

Cd Wizzard 2.30

This Audio Cd-Rom App Has All The Features Of A Stereo Cd Player And A Customizable 3-D interface. You can save up to 1,000 disc names and tracks in Wizzard's database, and you can sample, compress and save the first seconds of tracks for playback without having a disc in the drive.

$15.95

Brett McDonald

BFM Software

38602 Lancaster Dr.

Farmington Hills, MI 48331

CDW230.ZIP

181,561 bytes

Email Assist

Enhance WinCIM's or CSNAV's e-mail and forum messaging with this CompuServe add-on program. It features spell-checking, easy quoting (for example, >>quote here<<) options and a signature macro. Signatures can include your name, your favorite ASCII art, and even date and time codes.

$15 to $18

James N. Hughes

PO Box 250389

Little Rock, AR 72225

EAWC.ZIP (WinCIM)

315,221 bytes

EACSN.ZIP (CSNAV)

90,424 bytes

available only on CompuServe

File Master 1.3

You'll dominate file management with features like graphics viewing, archive support, and text file and directory printing. With File Master, you can configure drives and command buttons, add items to the custom menu and send multiple files to an executable file.

$19.95

Darren Ramey

2507 Cherokee Ln.

Winston-Salem, NC 27103

FMST13.ZIP

325,424 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

Mousewarp 1.5

Tame your mouse with this handy utility. MouseWarp lets you choose a different arrow shape, select a right- or left-handed pointer and configure mouse movement with the arrow keys. "Mouse wrapping'' means your mouse can go off the edge of the screen and come back on the other side.

$14 ($15 Canadian)

Toggle Booleans

PO Box 4204, Station E

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada, K1S 5B2

MSWP15.ZIP

19,743 bytes

Odd Job

This free-form PIM provides a set of tools to tackle any task. In addition to its standard PIM features, Odd Job lets you conduct keyword searches with wildcards, create templates for importing data and attach file descriptions. You also get a clipboard monitor, icon extractor and system resource window.

Freeware

Steve Pugliese, S.J.

1101 Carroll St.

Brooklyn, NY 11225

ODDJOB.ZIP

405,220 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

Scheduling Employees 4.06

Manage personnel resources while tracking time and wages. Scheduling Employees lets you set up 99 departments with up to 100 employees each. Then you enter personnel information--including pay rate, status and notes--and create weekly schedules.

$39.50

Guia International Corp.

731 Edgewater Place

Kennesaw, GA 30144

SEW406.ZIP

629,112 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

Spelllist 6.01

You'll speed through spell-checking Word 6.0 documents if you use SpellList. This macro checks an entire file at once and then lists suspect words. You can print the list, add words to it and check spelling in context. An included EditDictionary macro lets you add or remove Word dictionaries.

$20

Tim Rohrer

850 Jefferson St.

Eugene, OR 97402

SPELL6.ZIP

37,007 bytes

requires Word 6.0

Super Conversions 5.0

This utility gives you 4,800 measurement conversions for distance alone. Register and you'll get another 26,000, for area, volume, weight, power, pressure, temperature, time, energy, force, acceleration, illuminance, concentration, electrical current, hydraulics, density and more.

$15

Matt E. Hart

2516 W. Kingsport

Broken Arrow, OK 74011

SCNVRS.ZIP

18,371 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL

Track-It 4.04

Track your inventory with this point-of-sale stock management app. Features include custom invoices, order entry, service and purchase orders, four-pricing levels, and network and multi-user support. Track-It provides 45 reports, and supports bar codes, postal codes and dot-matrix printing.

$169

Millennium Software

PO Box 2209

Dublin, CA 94568

TRAKW.ZIP

639,886 bytes

requires 4MB of RAM and 4MB free disk space

WDLLFnd 1.10

No .EXE, .DLL, .DRV or .VBX file will escape the eye of WDLLFnd. This utility finds all such files on your system and reveals what routines a program uses, if any. Then it reports discrepancies, such as duplicate program names, or .DLLs found but not referenced or referenced but not found.

$10

Treeless Software and Design

82 Whispering Dr.

Streamwood, IL 60107

WDLLF1.ZIP

50,545 bytes

requires VBRUN300.DLL


9502 Win 100 Related Topics

95 Win 100: Product Of The Year

95 Win 100: CAD

95 Win 100: Communications

95 Win 100: Contact Management & PIMS

95 Win 100: Content Publishing

95 Win 100: Databases

95 Win 100: Desktop Publishing

95 Win 100: Document Management

95 Win 100: Fax

95 Win 100: Finance

95 Win 100: Games

95 Win 100: Graphics & Image Editing

95 Win 100: Help Authoring

95 Win 100: Management

95 Win 100: Networking & Internet Access

95 Win 100: Multimedia Authoring

95 Win 100: Online Access

95 Win 100: Operating Systems

95 Win 100: Presentation

95 Win 100: Programming Languages/Development Tools

95 Win 100: Project Management

95 Win 100: Remote Control

95 Win 100: Screen Savers

95 Win 100: Spreadsheets

95 Win 100: Statistics

95 Win 100: Suites/Integrated Apps

95 Win 100: Tutoring

95 Win 100: Utilities

95 Win 100: Word Processing

95 Win 100: Outstanding Technologies


Win 100 Software Awards

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

It had to happen. There's such an abundance of excellent Windows products out there that we decided to double our Windows 100 awards. This year, we'll make two annual presentations--one for the best software of the year and another for the best hardware. In this issue, we're proud to present the Win 100 Software Awards. WINDOWS Magazine's editors pored over the thousands of software products that crossed our desktops over the past year, whittling down a long list into this group of 100. Our award winners range from utilities to databases, programming languages to word processors.

As an added bonus  we've chosen our first annual software Product of the Year. To be eligible for this distinction, the software had to demonstrate its positive impact on Windows computing while offering unique capabilities to a wide range of users. Also for the first time ever, we're happy to present our Outstanding Technology award to four products that we believe are harbingers of the next wave of technology. Here's our list of software champions. We're sure you'll agree these products are worth checking out for yourself.


95 Win 100: Product Of The Year

Windows NT Workstation 3.5 With Windows NT Workstation 3.5, Microsoft has gotten serious with high-end Windows. It's smaller, faster and better than its predecessor--and is quite simply the best available platform for running compatible 16-bit and 32-bit Windows applications.-In lab tests at WINDOWS Magazine, NT actually outperformed Windows for Workgroups 3.11 as a platform for 16-bit Windows applications. With 32-bit Windows apps becoming increasingly common, NT looks like a secure platform for the future.-Features include portability to RISC architectures, including Digital Alpha AXP, Mips  R4x00 and Motorola Power PC 60x--as well as conventional Intel x86 processors. You also get C2-certifiable security, scalability to symmetric multiprocessor systems, OpenGL 3-D workstation graphics and support for long filenames. Support for extremely large hard disks and up to 4GB of RAM (assuming your hardware can hold that much!) is built in. You can run multiple 16-bit Windows applications in separate sessions, and integrated OLE 2.0 capabilities are available for both 16- and 32-bit applications.-If you have the necessary memory and disk space--about 12MB of RAM and 90MB of hard disk real estate--this could well be the Windows for you. $319 (street). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.


95 Win 100: CAD

AutoCAD LT 1.0

Get amazing drawing power with AutoCAD LT 1.0. Designed for beginners and experienced users alike, the program renders impressive 2-D drawings and boasts excellent editing commands, enabling you to modify existing elements in your file. Its customizable toolbox, ability to reference drawings, and file and interface capabilities with AutoCAD make this software a work of art. $495. Autodesk, 800-228-3601, fax 415-332-2344.

Drafix CAD Professional 3.0

Drafix CAD 3.0 surpasses its earlier versions with the addition of right-mouse-button menus, OLE support, balloon help and other improvements. The well-designed toolbox puts drawing and editing commands within easy reach. The program has a rich MacroPro Language and comes with more than five dozen macros for you to use and customize. Drafix also supports .DXF and IGES formats for exchanging files with other CAD programs. $199 (street). Foresight Resources Corp., 800-231-8574, 816-891-1040.

DynaDesigner

DynaDesigner offers features powerful enough for the CAD crowd--designers, architects and engineers--at a price that will entice even newcomers. A well-designed Windows interface provides even more incentive, although the learning curve remains steep. You can create grouped entities to form symbols and use templates to control drawing settings. With associative dimensioning, changes you make to an entity will automatically be reflected in the dimension. A Command Line Interpreter lets you issue and edit text-based commands. $249 (street). Ditek Software Corp., 800-40-DITEK, 905-479-1990.

Mathcad Plus 5.0

Take the tedium out of solving mathematical problems involving symbolic equations using Maple routines, Fourier and LaPlace transforms, and eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Mathcad Plus 5.0 lets you solve these equations and even provides two electronic books with reference material and physical constants. Other books are also available. A "lite'' version of the product, without the symbolic manipulation and matrix operations, is also available. Plus version, $299.95; lite version, $99.95. MathSoft, 800-MATH-CAD, 617-577-1017.

MicroStation 5.0 for Windows NT

Multiple tool palettes grouped by function, interapplication communication via DDE (dynamic data exchange) and eight concurrently active view windows are just a few highlights of this Cadillac of CAD applications. MicroStation makes your drawings intelligent, using algebraic location and other user-imposed constraints to solve the drawings' geometry. $3,790. Intergraph Corp., 800-345-4856, 205-730-5372.

TurboCAD 2.0

Here's CAD power at a bargain price. In addition to being friendly to your wallet, TurboCAD 2.0 is friendly to novice CAD users. You get a nearly unlimited number of undo levels, context-sensitive floating toolbars that pop up with the click of your right mouse button and Remembered Views, which lets you save frequently used object positions for later recall. TurboCAD's resemblance to painting and drawing programs augments its friendliness. $149.95. International Microcomputer Software, 800-833-8082, 415-454-7101.


95 Win 100: Communications

LapLink 6.0

LapLink makes quick work of file transfer by comparing the original file with the destination file, then copying only the bytes needed to update the destination file. You can connect to a host with a greater display resolution than that of the PC you're working from and use LapLink's chat mode to explain your actions while you operate someone else's PC.  $199.95. Traveling Software, 800-343-8080, 206-483-8088.

Procomm Plus 2.0

Datastorm's upgraded version of Procomm Plus is the communications package that has it all, from intelligent on-line scripts that manage messaging and information service files to the bare-bones fax-and-receive module. A hassle-free installation program automatically sets up your comm port and modem for maximum speed and efficiency. The program switches instantly from data to fax and back. $179. Datastorm Technologies, 314-443-3282, fax 314-875-0595.

TurboCom/2

Solve your high-speed communications problems with TurboCom/2. Replacing standard Windows serial port drivers, TurboCom/2 packs a lot of power into less than half a dozen files. If you have a high-speed modem and you sometimes lose characters during a download, or if you find that you have trouble downloading files in the background, this lightweight software package with heavyweight capabilities could be just the thing you need. $29.95. Pacific CommWare, 800-856-3818, 503-482-2744.


95 Win 100: Contact Management & PIMS

ACT 2.0

This popular contact manager boasts new communications features, such as e-mail links and network connectivity. Your e-mail messages can include contact records from your database or other files. And you get plenty of scheduling power with ACT. Improved printing options let you print calendar entries associated with database records that will fit neatly into a variety of paper organizers. $279.95. Symantec Corp., 800-441-7234, 503-334-6054.

Advantage 1.0

A well-designed, colorful and flexible user interface distinguishes Polaris Advantage. It handles all the PIM basics (storing names, addresses, appointments, to-dos, phone calls, reminders and notes), then adds 10 customizable tabs to display this information in any combination you like. You can time your calls and set up a meeting with a single click. Drag-and-drop, linkable items, good search capabilities and fast importing also make Advantage a powerful entry-level PIM. $149. Polaris Software,  800-PACK-RAT, 619-735-2300.

Day-Timer Organizer

Any PIM can accommodate basic personal and business data categories. What really matters are the methods of accessing, inputting and displaying the data. In this regard, Day-Timer excels. Day-Timer lets you create custom data fields and categories, and link any piece of data--a task, address or appointment--to another activity. Printing is painless: All modules of the program print WYSIWYG pages easily. $99.95 (direct). Day-Timer Technologies, 800-225-5005, 610-266-9000.

GoldMine 2.5

Stay on top of your schedule. This PIM supports recurring appointment entries, warns you when you've scheduled two meetings at the same time and links documents with contact records. Support for the Multiple Document Interface lets you have several records open simultaneously. The network version of GoldMine keeps a history of each contact record, and supports task delegation and group scheduling. $295. ELAN Software Corp., 800-654-3526, 310-454-6800.

InfoCentral 1.0

InfoCentral helps you keep track of information in a flexible, hierarchical outline form based on objects--such as clients or companies--and the connections among them. And it lets you organize, rearrange and view information any way you want. You can associate a single object with multiple objects and attach documents to any object. InfoCentral also provides fast and flexible searching, and built-in reports. $99. WordPerfect Corp., 800-451-5151, 801-225-5000.

METZ Phones 5.5

Attention to detail is what makes this program stand out. METZ Phones provides a straightforward method to track names and addresses in an easy-to-use interface. It also lets you display your contact information in list view or detail view, track up to 10 different phone numbers for each contact, and even track phone calls and their lengths for billing purposes. $89. METZ  Software, 800-447-1712, 206-641-4525.

Sidekick 1.0

If you've been around PCs a while, you probably remember Sidekick. The useful PIM was a darling of the TSR crowd. Resurrected from the dark old DOS days, Sidekick's first Windows version is a hit with its simple interface and lickety-split speed. The Cardfile is the heart of this PIM, and it's easy to arrange it to your liking. You can search any field in your database and use Boolean operators, too. Sidekick's Calendar lets you set appointments and to-dos, and make phone call lists. You can even drag a name from the Cardfile to the Calendar to create an appointment. $35 (street). Borland, 800-533-0004, 408-431-1000.


95 Win 100: Content Publishing

Great Literature Plus

If the novelty of Doom-playing work breaks is wearing off, curl up in front of your computer with this multimedia package instead. Great Literature Plus offers you 1,900 classic works by more than 180 writers, including Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Aesop. More exotic literary tastes will be satisfied by such writings as Ernest Ronan's Bhagavad Gita. Hard-copy devotees, take note: These classics are enhanced in their electronic form with narrated excerpts, animations, author biographies, art and music. $64.95. Bureau of Electronic Publishing, 800-828-4766, 201-808-2700.

The Haldeman Diaries

Who needs Deep Throat when you have the Haldeman Diaries? This CD-ROM package will cater to all your Watergate whims via the journals of H. R. "Bob'' Haldeman, the Nixon administration chief of staff who did time for Watergate crimes. Unlike the paper version, the disc provides complete, unedited text as well as pictures not found in the book. You also get 45 minutes worth of Haldeman home movies and a 120-page letter Haldeman wrote--but never sent--to the prosecutor who put him behind bars. $69.95. Sony Imagesoft, 800-922-SONY, 310-449-2999.

The Playboy Interviews

This interactive CD-ROM contains interviews of 350 celebrities, visionaries and politicians, from Walter Cronkite to Eddie Murphy, Stephen King to Yasser Arafat. The disc also includes audio clips from the original tapes, and 1,000-plus photos. Memorable quotes are arranged by topic, so you can easily compare Stephen Hawking's perspectives on the meaning of life with Frank Sinatra's. $59.95. IBM Multimedia Publishing Studio, 800-898-8842, 615-793-5090.


95 Win 100: Databases

Access 2.0

Wizards are everywhere in Access 2.0, bringing ease of use to the newest version of this database. With the CrossTab Query Wizard, for example, you can create complex queries to summarize data into rows and columns. Access 2.0 supports cascading updates and deletes. OLE 2.0 permits in-place editing of objects, and OLE automation controls other applications from within Access Basic. $495 (street). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

Approach 3.0

Approach has been an easy-to-use database manager from day one. With version 3.0, it's become even easier. You can use Approach to create a new database or use an existing file from a number of sources, including dBASE, Paradox, FoxPro, Oracle and others. It also supports ODBC (Open Database Connectivity). The highlight of Approach is its InfoBox. From this tabbed dialog, you can change the attributes of almost any object. You can experiment with your screen designs, because the InfoBox stays open and shows all of the modifications dynamically. $105 (street). Lotus Development Corp., 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500.

askSam 2.0

With the look and feel of a Windows word processor, askSam 2.0 offers all the features of a powerful database and contact management application without intimidating new users. To build database documents, just create a form with the field names, and add opening and closing brackets for designating the field size. AskSam searches keywords and phrases, and can run minimized without draining resources during your Windows session. $149.95 (direct). askSam Systems, 800-800-1997, 904-584-6950.

dBASE 5.0

This new version of dBASE lets you easily migrate DOS dBASE users to Windows. Programming aids include object classes, inheritance and encapsulation, as well as automatic translation of actions into program statements. The Expression Builder offers a point-and-click approach to building dBASE expressions, and the Forms Expert automates forms design. $495. Borland International., 800-233-2444 x1280, 408-431-1000.

Folio Views 3.1

Although not a traditional database, Folio Views has everything you need to create and manage an infobase, the program's name for a collection of information. To create an infobase, you import files from other applications or create your document within the Views environment. Adding hypertext jumps to other sections or attaching pop-up windows to a word is simple. Views can store text, date, time, integers or floating-point data, and you can have a different set of fields for each record. $895. Folio Corp., 800-543-6546, 801-344-3710.

FoxPro 2.6

Created to ease the transition from dBASE to FoxPro, FoxPro 2.6 sports a Catalog Manager similar in appearance to the dBASE Control Center. The program is saturated with features designed to make the moving process easier. Eleven Wizards let you create everything from tables to mailing labels. The AutoMigrate feature automatically detects and makes copies of anything in dBASE format, leaving the original intact. Inside, FoxPro functions like Microsoft Access. $99.95 (street). Microsoft Corp.,   800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

ReportSmith 2.0

This latest version of ReportSmith supports OLE 2.0 with cross-application drag-and-drop, in-place editing and OLE 2.0 automation (in which one application can launch and control other applications). Support for Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding standard enables ReportSmith to create compound documents that contain multiple objects. ReportSmith also lets you create a query by dragging data from a report and dropping it onto a query window. A new hypertext feature extracts data by using predefined, English-like phrases rather than SQL code. $99.95; SQL, $299.95. Borland, 800-233-2444, 408-431-1000.


95 Win 100: Desktop Publishing

MyBrochures and Mailers 1.0

If you have limited artistic training--and a limited budget to match--this program's for you. MyBrochures and Mailers provides 98 design templates created to work with specialty papers from MySoftware Co. or other paper manufacturers. Also included are 16 background designs that you can print on plain paper in color or black and white. $59.95.  MySoftware Co., 800-325-3508, 415-325-9383.

PagePlus 3.0

Desktop publishers will appreciate PagePlus' powerful features and low price. The Story Editor displays paragraph styles on the left and text on the right; and it lets you add or edit text, change fonts, search and replace, and check spelling. You can wrap text inside graphics and around irregular shapes, and use high-end features like custom CMYK palettes, automatic trapping and color mapping. $59.95.  Serif, 800-489-6719, 603-889-8650.

Ventura 5.0

Ventura 5.0 uses a unique file-linking approach to conserve hard disk space. The Publication Manager tracks, organizes and manages projects and their files. Among Ventura's tools are adjustable rulers, a story editor and automatic typo correction.  Panose font-matching technology makes substitutes for unavailable fonts. The CD-ROM includes 650 Type I and TrueType fonts, 17,000 pieces of clip art and 100 images. CD-ROM, $495; diskettes and CD-ROM, $595. Corel Corp., 800-772-6735, 613-728-8200.


95 Win 100: Document Management

Acrobat 2.0

Acrobat's two main modules, Exchange and Distiller, effectively turn your computer screen into a printer. Exchange's virtual printer driver creates Portable Document Format (.PDF) files that contain all the text and graphics of your original file. The freely distributable Acrobat reader allows anyone to view the .PDF file on Windows, Macintosh, Unix and other platforms without the originating application. Distiller converts documents saved in PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript directly to .PDF format. Exchange only, $195; with Distiller and file search, $595. Adobe Systems, 800-83-FONTS, 415-961-4400.

Envoy 1.0

An electronic publishing tool for document sharing, Envoy is perfect for team projects in which a number of people need to view and comment on a single document. You can annotate documents with color highlighters and use drag-and-drop thumbnails to rearrange pages from several documents into one new document--even if the originals were created in different applications. You can create an Envoy document from any Windows app by printing to the Envoy printer driver. $189. WordPerfect Corp., 800-451-5151, 801-225-5000.

OmniPage Professional 5.0

OmniPage Professional makes OCR easy. By recognizing gray-scale information as well as horizontal and vertical position, the program offers a higher level of accuracy than previous versions. OmniPage Professional takes on the tough task of recognizing small and unusual fonts, can be trained to recognize special characters, and checks questionable characters against its customizable dictionary. The True Page feature maintains the position of text and graphics on a page. $695. Caere Corp., 800-535-SCAN, 408-395-7000.

SmarText 3.0

SmarText replaces those three-ring binders with an electronic version that's easy to assemble and easier to keep up-to-date. This electronic document builder has two essential parts: the Builder and the Reader. The Builder assembles an electronic document, creating outline headings, subheadings, outlines, tables of contents and indexes. The Reader lets you open and read a document. Builder, $299 (street); Reader, $79 (street). Lotus Development Corp., 800-831-9679, 404-391-0011.


95 Win 100: Fax

Crossfax

This fax program (which comes bundled with CrossTalk 2.2) packs every function you'll need to send, receive and manage fax documents. You get OCR capabilities, scan and fax, cover sheets and logos, and adaptive answering. Crossfax installs a TSR in your AUTOEXEC.BAT for background operation and places an icon for Crossfax Scheduler in your StartUp group. $195. Digital Communications Associates, 800-348-DCA1, 404-442-4000.

WinFax PRO 4.0

WinFax PRO 4.0 uses Windows features to make faxing faster. You can drag faxes to the Send button to resubmit, or drag faxes from one folder to another. With WinFax you can send duplicate copies of your faxes to cc:Mail or Microsoft Mail users, and route your e-mail messages as faxes. $129. Delrina Corp., 800-268-6082, 408-363-2345.


95 Win 100: Finance

Peachtree Accounting Release 3.0

Peachtree makes the business of keeping your small-to-medium-sized business' books as painless as possible. Double-entry bookkeeping systems have traditionally had a bland interface and complex structure. Breaking that mold, Peachtree combines a highly graphical interface with an informative (and fun to watch!) tutorial that makes the program accessible even to those who lack a formal accounting background. $169. Peachtree Software, 800-247-3224, 404-564-5700.

QuickBooks 3.0

QuickBooks lets small-business owners who do their own accounting keep their companies' books without knowing anything about debits, credits or journal entries. It even breaks accounting traditions: Audit trails are optional instead of enforced, you can edit or delete transactions at any time, and you always have access to your data. Don't let its simplicity fool you--QuickBooks can invoice, manage your inventory and calculate finance charges. $99.95 (direct). Intuit, 800-624-8742, 415-322-0573.

Quicken 4.0

Quicken 4.0 eases the burden of both personal and small-business financial management. The program's on-screen checkbook is easy to use, and the Tax Planner guides you in preparing your taxes for 1994 and 1995. Usability has been enhanced in several areas, including toolbars that allow easier access to your accounts. A graphical menu makes it easier to navigate through Quicken. $49.95 (direct). Intuit, 800-624-8742, 415-322-0573.

QuickXpense

QuickXpense offers deliverance from expense report drudgery. Portable Software is in the process of acquiring the formats for expense reports from the Fortune 1,000 companies. If your company's format is not included, Portable Software can create a template of your form, or you can use one of the program's generic forms. Drop-down boxes offer preset expense categories. $99.95. Portable Software Corp., 800-626-8620, 206-637-8808.


95 Win 100: Games

Millennium Auction

Millennium Auction takes place in the early 21st century, when the world's historical and cultural treasures are preserved through a controlled system of auctions. You may be surprised to see the remnants of the present that find their way into the auction, such as the British crown jewels (put up for auction by Queen Fergie in the year 2003). The items--each with its own graphics and detailed history--change from game to game. Winning the game requires a subtle use of strategy to acquire the appropriate artifacts at the right prices. This is one game that will stimulate your intellect, not your adrenaline. $69.95. Eidolon, 800-245-4525, 718-884-7095.


95 Win 100: Graphics & Image Editing

3D Choreographer

Animation of the Walt Disney kind takes artistic skill and painstaking effort, but 3D Choreographer lets you create eye-catching animations (.FLI files) without breaking a sweat. You can choose from a wide variety of "actors,'' including people, animals and objects like pencils and computers. Each actor is tunable so you can modify hair style, facial features or coloring. Actions such as running, jumping and even smiling are built into the program, so you don't need to deal with the details of how the actors move--they just do. $149. AniCom, 800-949-4559, fax 919-933-9503.

CorelDRAW 5.0

CorelDRAW 5.0 is a one-stop solution for any graphics project. It offers updated tools for drawing, painting, charting, presentation and animation. The new version adds Ventura 5.0, a full-fledged desktop publishing program with 825 fonts and 22,000 clip-art elements on CD-ROM. New features let you produce sophisticated masking effects and apply special attributes to an object, such as transparency, color shifts and inversions.  CD-ROM, $695; diskettes and CD-ROM, $895. Corel Corp., 800-772-6735, 613-728-8200.

FreeHand 4.0

FreeHand 4.0 is more like its Macintosh counterpart than previous versions, and it also offers cross-platform compatibility with the Mac version. Drawing and text capabilities have been improved, and dozens of menus and dialog boxes have been replaced by 11 floating palettes. A Color List palette lets you create your own custom color libraries that you can reuse in other drawings. $595. Altsys Corp., 800-477-2131, 214-680-2060.

IntelliDraw 2.0

In the competitive--and crowded--graphics market, "smart'' drawing capabilities put IntelliDraw at the head of its class. The program's smart tools establish logical relationships between objects to streamline repetitive tasks. For example, a change you make to one text box in an organizational chart will automatically be applied to all equivalent text boxes. Advanced users will appreciate IntelliDraw's CAD-like features, symmetrigon tool, envelope warping, perspective warping and layers palette. $99. Adobe Systems, 800-833-6687, 415-961-4400.

Kai's Power Tools

Take your image-editing capabilities from okay to oKai with Kai's Power Tools. Gradient Designer tools boil down the art of gradient creation to a point-and-click process, even when you're using 500 colors and varying levels of transparency. You can wrap blends around free-form paths, generate fractals fast, and choose from an infinite array of scalable patterns and textures. The program's interface is fun, funky and effective. $199. HSC Software, 805-566-6200, fax 805-566-6365.

Micrografx Designer 4.1 Technical Edition

Micrografx Designer 4.1 carries an extensive clip-art library, a large set of translation filters, and other drawing and presentation tools. With CAD-like capabilities, Designer works with layers so you can alter existing elements in your file. To help get new users up and running, Designer offers bubble help and a Hint Line. $695. Micrografx, 800-676-3110, 214-234-1769.

Photoshop 3.0

Adobe pushed the graphical envelope a little farther with the latest version of Photoshop. Support for multiple layers allows you to create independent bitmap objects and treat them as if they were vector drawings. You can overlay and change them without affecting other objects. A newer, streamlined interface uses tabs to bring up tool attributes inside Photoshop's many flexible and customizable palettes. New filters and plenty of plug-ins round out this image-processing  toolbox. $895.  Adobe Systems, 800-833-6687, 415-961-4400.

Picture Publisher 5.0/4.0 for NT

Picture Publisher 5.0 isn't just another pretty interface. This popular image-editing program retains its friendliness while incorporating sophisticated features and powerful editing tools. You can drag and drop images between windows and applications, and use Kodak's Precision Color Management system to improve consistency among your scanner, screen and output devices. The Windows NT version provides native performance on Intel x86 (including a special Pentium-optimized version) and Mips and Digital Alpha RISC processors. $595 each. Micrografx, 800-676-3110, 214-234-1769.

Visio 3.0

Generate flowcharts, org charts, schematic and network diagrams, and space plans with Visio 3.0. Establishing connections between shapes is improved with this new version. When you click on the new connector tool and shapes are automatically linked as you drag them to the work area. $129 (street). Shapeware Corp., 800-446-3335, 206-521-4500.


95 Win 100: Help Authoring

Doc-To-Help 1.6

The newest version of this help authoring tool includes Hyperforce Tools--utilities that assist in the creation, viewing and distribution of hypertext help files. Another feature, Navigator, displays the arrangement of a help file in expandable outline form. You can jump from the help file to any topic through a hypertext link. Other tools let you drag and drop help files into Visual Basic and add 256-color bitmaps and watermarks to help files. $295. WexTech Systems, 800-WEX-TECH, 212-949-9595.

ForeHelp

ForeHelp gives you an instantaneous, nearly perfect simulation of the appearance and operation of your completed help file, without making you compile it. By showing you each new element as you go along, ForeHelp makes it tough for you to make a mistake. ForeHelp doesn't depend on a word processor, so it's ideal for creating help files from scratch.  $395. ForeFront, 800-357-8507, 303-499-9181.


95 Win 100: Management

Employee Appraiser 2.0

Employee Appraiser makes writing employee evaluations a less tedious job. You can select the narrative style (second or third person), then choose various topics for evaluation. It's easy to rate predefined factors such as verbal communication and writing quality. To do this, you simply choose a series of descriptions. The program then builds a fully editable appraisal for you. You can create templates that combine a standard set of factors for employees with the same job description. $129. Austin-Hayne Corp., 800-809-9920, 415-610-6800.

Review Writer 1.0

Managers faced with the difficult task of conducting and documenting employee performance reviews will appreciate Review Writer. The Quick Build mode leads you through questions to gather key information. If you're an experienced user, Document mode caters to your needs. You can click on icons to get help in specific areas, and import goal and performance information from Avantos' ManagePro, an employee management program. $129. Avantos Performance Systems, 800-AVANTOS, 510-654-4600.


95 Win 100: Multimedia Authoring

Macromedia Director 4.0

Macromedia Director gives PC users the powerful multimedia authoring tools that Mac users have enjoyed for years. Director gives you control over every aspect of multimedia development, putting you in charge of your own production studio. The central concept is a movie production, complete with cast members, a score, a stage and even a scripting language. Hollywood, here we come! $1,195. Macromedia, 800-288-4797, 415-252-2000.


95 Win 100: Networking & Internet Access

Internet Chameleon

This Internet front end is fast and comprehensive--and so easy to set up that even the greenest of Net novices can get rolling in no time. Internet Chameleon's SLIP and PPP connections actually make your system a part of the Net. The ftp software serves as an address book, allowing you to configure and save frequently accessed sites. Chameleon's Gopher shoots files across the wire at blazing speeds. $199. NetManage, 408-973-7171, fax 408-257-6405.

Pipeline

Pipeline, an Internet connection tool designed by Internet maven James Gleick, gets you onto the Net without any complicated SLIP, PPP or UUCP setup procedures. The services are listed under a single menu and icon interface, and they have straightforward names like News and Society, Law, and Politics. Because Pipeline can multitask over asynchronous lines, you can download a NASA image while accessing your e-mail. Free software; unlimited connect time, $35 per month. Pipeline Network, 212-267-3636, fax 212-267-6432.


95 Win 100: Online Access

America Online 2.0

America Online has raised the bar for commercial online services. AOL was first with a tightly integrated, native, Windows-based front end to its dial-up service, and now it has added richness and features other services will be racing to match. The new front end adds more color, better and sharper graphics, and the ability to view text and images together in virtual pages. Free software; monthly, 10 free hours, $9.95; thereafter, per hour, $2.95. America Online, 800-827-6364, 703-448-8700.

CompuServe Windows Navigator 1.0

CompuServe Windows Navigator lets you design scripts to automate CompuServe sessions. The script directs your PC as it cruises forums and services, downloading information in half the time it normally takes. Write a script to produce your e-mail automatically or download files. A session screen lets you view the action as it happens. $50, includes a $25 connect time credit. CompuServe, 800-848-8199, 614-457-8600.

E-Mail Connection 2.0

E-Mail Connection helps you avoid traffic on the information highway by sending and receiving electronic mail from popular online services manually or automatically. The program utilizes the gateways of CompuServe, Prodigy and MCI Mail to send and receive mail from AOL, AT&T EasyLink and other services. Addresses from incoming mail are captured for later use. $49.95 (street). Connectsoft, 800-234-9497, 206-827-6467.

Excalibur

Break BBSes from the DOS doldrums with Excalibur. This Windows-based BBS supports a wide range of modems and goes out of its way to keep your transmission times at their optimum. Excalibur presents file lists in scroll boxes, giving you the option of point and click, keyboard shortcuts or pull-down menus to retrieve what intrigues you. It even nudges your creativity with a point-and-shoot screen designer for no-sweat custom screens. $199. Excalibur Communications, 800-EXCAL-BBS, 918-488-9801.


95 Win 100: Operating Systems

Windows NT Workstation & Server 3.5

Microsoft's high-end operating system now outperforms Windows for Workgroups 3.11 when running standard 16-bit desktop applications in 12MB or more of RAM. Added to NT's basic scalable, portable, secure architecture are new features such as the ability to preemptively multitask 16-bit Windows applications in separate sessions, workstation-style OpenGL graphics, NetWare client support, built-in networking with dynamic TCP/IP address assignment and flexible server pricing. NT Workstation 3.5, $319 (street); NT Server 3.5, $700 (street). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.


95 Win 100: Presentation

Astound 1.5

Lackluster presentations come alive with Astound 1.5. Add animation to charts, create and edit 3-D charts, and control the perspective and rotation of charts. You can record and edit your own sounds and narrations, and add video to presentations. The software supports .WAV, MIDI and CD audio files, as well as .AVI and Quicktime files. Astound ships with 50 slide templates and 20 drawing tools. $399. Gold Disk, 800-982-9888, 408-982-0200.

Freelance Graphics 2.01

Graphics greenhorns and gurus alike will appreciate Freelance Graphics 2.01. This presentation package is extremely easy to use, with tools like SmartMaster, which offers you 65 predesigned presentation styles. A slide sorter displays your slides as thumbnails, so you can insert, delete and reposition them quickly. A broad range of drawing and charting tools lets you tweak and touch up graphics to your heart's content. You can even embed Freelance presentations into word processor documents and e-mail messages. $355 (street); competitive upgrade, $105 (street). Lotus Development Corp., 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500.

Harvard Graphics 3.0

You'll be up and running in no time with Harvard Graphics 3.0. The program offers step-by-step presentation creation, an easy-to-navigate interface and an empowering toolkit with templates, background gradients, transition effects, an outliner and a slide sorter. The 5-Minute Coach fills you in on the basics of building effective presentations. $395. Software Publishing Corp., 800-234-2500, 408-986-8000.

Persuasion 3.0

Persuasion 3.0 is aimed at the experienced user. It includes 500 pieces of clip art, a revamped interface, and expanded charting and multimedia capabilities. Many of its 84 chart types offer 3-D variations, and you can liven up your presentations with sound or video. $495. Adobe Systems, 800-628-2320, 206-622-5500.

PowerPoint 4.0

When designing a presentation, fancy transitions and glitzy multimedia shouldn't be your primary focus. What really counts is how you organize and present your thoughts. That's what Microsoft focused on in this PowerPoint upgrade, and it paid off. The AutoContent Wizard asks you questions and prepares an outline based on your responses. The Rehearsal feature tracks the time you spend on each slide, and speaker notes keep you comfortable on the podium. The vastly improved charting package lets you choose from more than 100 charts, including new surface, doughnut and radar graphs. $339 (street). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

WordPerfect Presentations 2.0

You'll breeze through the fundamentals of presentation-building with WordPerfect Presentations. Its QuickTutors will ease your pre-presentation jitters. Among Presentation's strengths are sound support, drawing and image-editing capabilities, and text attributes. $395. WordPerfect Corp., 800-451-5151,801-225-5000.


95 Win 100: Programming Languages/Development Tools

Visual SlickEdit

Visual SlickEdit is every programmer's best friend. This powerful editor lets you create a completely customized programming environment. Using a Project as the basis for building an application,  you can compile files, execute your make file, rebuild your application, execute a debugger or edit resources--all from the Project menu. Slick-C, the program's macro language, is indeed so slick you'll wish you could use it as a main programming language rather than a scripting tool. $295. MicroEdge, 800-934-EDIT, 919-831-0600.

Visual Voice for Mwave 1.0

Visual Voice is the obvious choice for building voice applications into your Visual Basic projects. The program works with IBM's Mwave DSP technology and generates code for call processing, call monitoring and database access. The Voice Workbench provides templates for creating voice files, voice strings, voice queries and subroutines. Assembling your creations in VB is a simple matter of copying subroutines and pasting them onto a VB form. $495; with Mwave, $695. Stylus Innovation, 617-621-9545, fax 617-621-7862.

WindowsMaker Professional 5.04

WindowsMaker Professional combines visual Windows applications design with solid code generation and a simple way to connect user-interface events with code. The program can generate code for single- and multiple-document programs, applications that have controls in Windows, context-sensitive help and common dialog boxes.  Best of all, you can exercise much of what you do without going to the trouble of compiling. $995 (direct). Blue Sky Software Corp., 800-677-4946, 619-459-6365.


95 Win 100: Project Management

Microsoft Project 4.0

Can you use a spreadsheet? Then you should have no problem using Microsoft Project 4.0. Microsoft developers went to great lengths to make this version of Project easier to use. Plain English replaces arcane project management jargon, Cue Cards provide instructions as you work, and Wizards pop up whenever Project decides you need help. The new version also supports OLE 2.0, which means you can drag a task list from Word or Excel and drop it directly into Project. $469 (street). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-822-8080.


95 Win 100: Remote Control

Carbon Copy 2.5

Work in two places at once with Carbon Copy 2.5. This remote-control package was designed to perform file transfers, as well as complete PC operations between the host PC and a notebook or separate PC. Carbon Copy offers full network access to the host PC, lets you determine either a modem or LAN remote connection, and offers password protection against unauthorized entries. $199. Microcom, 800-822-8224, 617-551-1000.


95 Win 100: Screen Savers

3DPC

The mesmerizing graphics in Forte's screen saver, 3DPC, look like they might just jump right off your screen and into your life. Even though the program offers a modest set of nine modules and limited custom settings compared with other screen savers, you'll find it hard to take your eyes off the high-quality rendered images as they wiggle, flip and crawl across your computer's screen. $19.99. Forte, 619-431-6495, fax 619-431-6465.

Delrina Screen Savers

Take your work on the wild side with Delrina's screen savers. The Far Side screen saver includes a series of animated and sound-enhanced scenes by syndicated cartoonist Gary Larson. Watch the hilarious happenings of dog hell, guffaw at the dangers of goldfish life and break up over ballooning bison. Other Delrina screen savers include Dilbert (pictured) and Opus 'n' Bill. $12.95 to $27.95. Delrina Corp., 800-315-5848, 408-363-2345.


95 Win 100: Spreadsheets

1-2-3 Release 5.0

The latest Windows version of this venerable spreadsheet offers SmartMaster templates, multipage print preview and the ability to open multiple files in a single operation. Lotus Maps, an integrated mapping tool, lets you plot numerical spreadsheet data geographically. $329 (street). Lotus Development Corp., 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500.

Excel 5.0

Excel 5.0 truly excels in providing sensible solutions to common problems of spreadsheet users. The latest version supports OLE 2.0, so you can drag Excel charts to a Word or PowerPoint document and edit them in place. It also uses Microsoft's IntelliSense technology, prompting you with shortcuts for tasks it "senses'' you're trying to perform. Other improvements in version 5.0 include a TextWizard for hassle-free text importing and a Pivot Table feature that gives you multiple views of your data. $339 (street); Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

Quattro Pro 6.0

Quattro Pro 6.0 is a combination of 3-D power and showmanship complemented by some of the best linking features anywhere. Its Spreadsheet Notebooks feature organizes spreadsheets into stacks of worksheets, or notebooks, separated by visible tabs. The new Formula Composer allows you to visually create, edit and debug a worksheet formula. $395. WordPerfect Corp, 800-451-5151, 801-225-5000.


95 Win 100: Statistics

SPSS 6.1

SPSS is a well-rounded statistical-analysis software package. Aimed at the hard-core statistician, SPSS accepts data in many formats and performs multivariate-regression, t-test and factor-analysis, and categorical-data analysis. Modules are available at extra cost to extend the program's usefulness in time-series analysis, process control, geographic mapping and more. A powerful command language automates analysis tasks through batch processing. $695. SPSS, 800-543-2185, 312-329-3300.

Statistica/w 4.5

This powerful, but patient, statistical-analysis package prompts you if you forget to supply a variable or important parameter. An extensive toolbar puts most tasks just a few mouse clicks away. And almost every feature is customizable, including the program's command language. Statistica also provides powerful graphical plots of your data that are so flexible you can configure them 400 different ways. $995. StatSoft, 918-583-4149, fax 918-583-4376.


95 Win 100: Suites/Integrated Apps

Microsoft Works 3.0

Designed to meet the needs of the small office/home office market, Works combines word processing, spreadsheet, database and communications modules into one package, and the applications work together almost seamlessly. Works offers on-screen tutorials, Cue Cards and Wizards. Microsoft incorporated some of the better features of its existing software--including Word, Publisher and Excel--into Works. $99.95 (street). Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

SmartSuite 3.0

SmartSuite 3.0, which bundles Ami Pro, 1-2-3, Freelance Graphics, Approach and Organizer, is more than the sum of its parts. The package brings tighter integration than ever to this Lotus lineup. Three ScreenCam movies show you how to work with multiple applications. A guided tour illustrates common operations. A customizable icon bar, called SmartCenter, lets you launch any suite application or other app whose icon you add to the bar. $474 (street). Lotus Development Corp., 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500.


95 Win 100: Tutoring

Lotus ScreenCam

ScreenCam is a training and presentation utility that records everything you do on-screen and then plays it back in a movie window. All your movements, including mouse and keyboard activities, are recorded. You don't need ScreenCam or the recorded app when you play back the ScreenCam, because the program creates a standalone movie. You can even record simultaneous voice and smooth-motion screen captures so you can narrate a difficult procedure while recording movements on-screen. $69. Lotus Development Corp., 800-343-5414, 617-577-8500.


95 Win 100: Utilities

Emergency Disk 2.0

Emergency Disk 2.0 is a subset of tools from Central Point's massive utility collection, PC Tools. Emergency Disk creates a bootable diskette--complete with all necessary drivers, CMOS and partition settings--so you can reboot and repair a crashed hard disk. The program's DiskFix utility, Memory Information, and Undelete and Unformat utilities are also part of the package. $29.95. Symantec Corp., 800-441-7234, 503-334-6054.

LeadView 3.0

LeadView 3.0 offers an all-around package for cataloging, converting and image editing, as well as an excellent screen-capture utility. The screen-capture module lets you capture windows, menus and selected areas, and send them directly to a file, printer, viewer or the LeadView image editor. Cataloging options let you add thumbnails, assign comments, and search and sort on a variety of criteria. There's even an option for playing .AVI and MIDI files. $99. LEAD Technologies, 800-637-4699, 704-332-5532.

Norton Utilities 8.0

A favorite for preventing--and recovering from--disk disasters, Norton Utilities 8.0 is fortified with eight tools just for Windows users. Most notable are Norton Disk Doctor, which checks for disk irregularities, and Norton Speed Disk, a disk optimizer. You can run both utilities in the background, and set them to automatically fix any problems they find. The new INI Tracker records changes to your Windows and system files, saving you tons of troubleshooting time. $179. Symantec Corp., 800-441-7234, 503-334-6054.

OBmax 1.4

Although this utility runs in DOS, it will forever change the way you run Windows on your HP OmniBook. The OmniBook is a wonderful, if limited, subnotebook computer that frequently suffers from problems caused by a shortage of memory. OBmax helps solve those problems by managing your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files so you load only the drivers you need for the work you're doing. It's easy to install and comes with several useful configurations preloaded. $79 (direct). Ace Technologies, 800-825-9977, 408-734-0100.

PC Tools 2.0

More than just a simple desktop shell replacement, PC Tools 2.0 provides a robust set of tools to enhance and control your Windows environment. The CrashGuard tool allows you to set thresholds that can warn you of impending Windows doom. The System Consultant offers suggestions for optimizing your system and can even do it for you. A pull-down list of often-used tasks, flexible configuration of your desktop, an enhanced File Manager and a host of context-sensitive right-click capabilities make your Windows tasks a breeze. $99.95 (direct). Central Point Software, 800-278-6657, 503-690-8090.

Plug-In 2.11

If you're in the market for an economical, feature-packed utility, Plug-In should be your choice. This shareware boasts group file management and icon management, along with a system resource monitor with an alarm that warns you when memory is running low. Its QuickRun menu provides fast access to your favorite apps and one-click access to the last 25 commands you typed. The list goes on and on. $20. Plannet Crafters, 800-651-1000, 404-740-9821.

Power Pak 4.0

Speedier printing, display and storage performance are all possible with Power Pak 4.0. The program's print spooler utility uses a RAM buffer to return you to your application quickly after executing a print command. If you don't have a graphics accelerator card, Power Pak's KwikScreen utility can update a 256-color screen up to 50 percent faster. A third utility, KwikLoad, loads Windows faster by using Super-PC Kwik, a cache included with Power Pak. $99.95. PC-Kwik Corp., 800-284-5945, 503-520-4299.

ProdeaSynergy 2.0

ProdeaSynergy is a visual application integration tool that automates work flow. On a graphical design screen, you select your applications and define the path your data should take. It makes all your applications work together without fancy programming or other gymnastics. The program supports most of the leading Windows applications, and the company maintains an updated list on its bulletin board. Single user, $295; 10-user license, $2,495. Prodea Software Corp., 800-427-2317, 612-942-1000.

SmartPad 3.0

Beef up a toolbar-challenged application, or add graphical elements to a program with SmartPad 3.0. Build toolbars from scratch with a variety of icons that you can assign to your choice of functions. Add color, alter placement or adjust spacing. If you change your mind about including an icon on a toolbar, drag the icon to SmartPad's shredder to destroy it in ribbons of color. $95. Softblox, 800-434-0202, 404-892-0202.

UnInstaller 2.0

Uninstalling Windows applications can be dangerous because so many files are shared by multiple applications. It's also difficult because Windows applications tend to spread themselves indiscriminately all over your disk and .INI files. UnInstaller 2.0 removes most of the danger and difficulty from the process, remembering everything and always asking nicely before deleting a program or line from an .INI file. If you've already uninstalled something without its aid, it will still help you clean up afterward. $69.95. MicroHelp, 800-922-3383, 404-516-0899.

WINCheckIt

WINCheckIt lets you take inventory of your Windows PC's hardware features, such as available memory, hard disk space, comm ports, printers and modems. With an inviting interface, WINCheckIt runs an initial diagnosis of your PC and recommends changes for improved performance. The Clean Up utility searches and deletes duplicate files from your hard disk. $49.95 (street). Touchstone Software Corp., 800-531-0450, 714-969-7746.

WinProbe 2.1a

With WinProbe 2.1a, there's always a doctor in the house. This diagnostic and troubleshooting tool lets you probe your PC's inner workings. With a finger on Windows' pulse, WinProbe offers information you can use to fine-tune your configuration. Included hardware utilities let you run everything from surface analyses of your hard disk to tests for sound and video boards. You can even give your mouse a checkup. $49. Landmark Research International Corp., 800-683-6696, 813-443-1331.

XTreeGold 4.0

XTreeGold is a powerful File Manager substitute that gives you access to all your drives through a single drive window. The directory tree is easy to navigate. By clicking a small button to the left of each directory name, you can collapse or expand branches. Files and their properties, such as extensions, dates and attributes, can be organized in outline form to simplify the tasks of viewing and searching for files. $99.95 (direct). Central Point Software, 800-228-6657, 503-690-8088.


95 Win 100: Word Processing

Ami Pro 3.1

Ami Pro now keeps you connected to both e-mail and your coworkers. New features in this word processor include support for Notes/FX 1.1 technology and a Notes database that makes it easier to create new documents based on user-defined templates. The update also provides a front end to cc:Mail and Lotus Notes mail for creating, sending and replying to mail from within Ami Pro. Until March 31, $105 (street) before $30 rebate. Lotus Development Corp., 800-831-9679, 404-391-0011.

HotDocs 2.0

HotDocs lets you create more sophisticated boilerplate documents than most word processors. Build a template from an existing document, then tell HotDocs how to make substitutions in future documents. The program takes care of changing pronoun gender and prompts you when words need replacing. It works from within your word processor. $99.  Capsoft Development Corp., 800-500-DOCS, 801-763-3900.

Microsoft Word 6.0

Multimedia and Bookshelf Microsoft Word 6.0 Multimedia and Bookshelf on CD-ROM is the right stuff for writing. Select a word or phrase from any document--or even e-mail--and click on one button, and you can search for references to your selection in The American Heritage Dictionary, Longman's Original Roget's Thesaurus, the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, the Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, the Hammond Atlas, the People's Chronology, and the World Almanac and Book of Facts 1994. Buy Bookshelf and be the smartest kid in any class (or office!). $399. Microsoft Corp., 800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.

WOPR 6.0

This set of utilities is guaranteed to make Microsoft Word 6.0 friendlier. Its file manager lets you copy, rename or delete a file within Word. You can also create a list of commonly used directories and move to them with a single click. A clip-art browser makes flipping through available artwork a breeze, and a toolbar editor lets even a novice create and place buttons on toolbars. $49.95. Pinecliffe International, 800-659-4696, 314-965-5630.

WordPerfect 6.1

WordPerfect 6.1's new features make writing easier. Find and Replace seeks all forms of a search word and makes corrections with the right form. Change "buy'' to "purchase,'' and "bought'' changes to "purchased.'' A QuickCorrect feature comes with 150 commonly misspelled words that can be automatically fixed as you type. An Open as Copy option saves the original version of a document and makes a copy for you to work on. $395. WordPerfect, The Novell Applications Group, 800-451-5151, 801-225-5000.


95 Win 100: Outstanding Technologies

NCSA Mosaic

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign calls NCSA Mosaic an Internet browser and World Wide Web client. We call it revolutionary. NCSA Mosaic is a free graphical exploration tool that enables you to use and enjoy the Web's incredible wealth of information, applications, multimedia clips and assorted wackiness. Obtain a copy via anonymous ftp from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/Windows or e-mail to mosaic-win@ncsa.uiuc.edu.

Elastic Reality

If you've seen Forrest Gump, Wolf, Speed, Northern Exposure, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine or Babylon 5, then you've seen Elastic Reality. It's the software used to produce these and more than 60 other broadcast and theatrical productions. Elastic Reality runs as a 32-bit Windows application on Windows and Windows for Workgroups, and natively on all Windows NT platforms (versions for the Macintosh and Power Macintosh are also available). $495. Elastic Reality,  608-273-6585, fax 608-271-1988.

OS/2 Warp 3.0

OS/2, IBM's long-running "dark horse'' operating system, went through its third major revision this year. Warp includes a vastly improved setup and configuration as well as Windows 3.1 compatibility, multimedia extensions, IBM's own suite software and complete access to the Internet via IBM's own provider. Expected to be under $80 (street). IBM Corp.,  800-3-IBM-OS2, 810-552-4200.

Back Office

This revolutionary product is nothing less than a successful attempt to shrink-wrap an entire data center. In a single package--on a single CD-ROM--Back Office combines a powerful SQL database, enterprisewide e-mail, connectivity to legacy mainframe systems, powerful management of desktop resources and a world-class server operating system (Windows NT Server 3.5) on which the other components run. Per server, $2,200; per client license (allows access to any number of servers), up to $300. Microsoft Corp.,  800-426-9400, 206-882-8080.


Feb 95 R & R: Resources and Recreation

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Hot Picks

Get The Picture?

Expose yourself to better photography with Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs. You can review the CD-ROM's informative lessons on principles and techniques, or just browse through the images to see how exposure settings were used to achieve the results. Experiment with exposure settings on actual photographs and see the effects immediately. You also get more than 500 pictures taken by award-winning photographer Bryan Peterson, as well as a copy of his book, Understanding Exposure. --James E. Powell

$79.95; Diamar Interactive Corp., 206-340-5975, fax 206-340-1432.

The New Dealer

Approach that car dealership armed with the information you need to make an intelligent purchase. Popular Mechanics New Car Buyers Guide 1995 contains an extensive library of statistical data, performance and pricing information, and audiovisual files on hundreds of domestic and foreign cars. Hesitant new car buyers will benefit from the hints in the strategies section of this CD-ROM. --Jim Forbes

$30-$35 (estimated street); Books That Work, 800-242-4546, 415-843-4400.

Armchair Art Gallery

View more than 150 modern paintings and sculptures without suffering from sore feet. Tate Gallery: Exploring Modern Art takes you on a multimedia tour of the Tate Gallery in England. Enter one of six "galleries'' or take a random tour. Let the cursor linger over a work, and you'll hear its name and the medium used. Double-click on it to access background information on the work and see it enlarged. The Archive option fills you in on artists' lives and describes their works.--Nancy A. Lang

$49.95; Attica Cybernetics, 011-44-865-791346, fax 011-44-865-794561.

At Your Leisure

Penguins And Parrots

And now for something completely different--it's Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time. This "interactive CD-ROM thingie'' contains hours of audio, video, animation and occasional naughty bits from the Flying Circus TV show. See the giant animated hedgehog and listen to the "Lumberjack Song.'' Try your hand at bizarre arcade games like "Spot the Looney.'' Extend Python frivolity to your workspace with The Desktop Pythonizer and its animated wallpapers, audio clips, video and icons. --Ian Etra

$59.95; 7th Level, 800-884-8863, 214-437-4858.

Book Of The Month

The Next Generation

Microsoft's future depends on the efforts of unsung heroes in the company trenches. Show-Stopper! tells the story of the making of Windows NT, focusing on mercurial project leader Dave Cutler. G. Paschal Zachary's book describes Cutler as a hard-driving man, and chronicles his role in bringing NT into being. Despite around-the-clock work, the project is set back by last-minute design changes, internal politics and personality conflicts. Zachary also discloses the "show-stopper'' bugs and problems the team encountered. --David W. Methvin

$22.95; The Free Press, 800-223-2236, 201-784-4180.


Feb 95 New Products: Systems

Get Leading Edge PC

PowerThe Leading Edge Fortiva Series of slim-line, full-sized desktop and mini-tower PCs comes with a variety of CPUs, including 486SX, 486DX2 and Pentium processors.

The Fortiva 4000 Desktop computer ships with 4MB of memory, VESA local-bus graphics, a 270MB hard disk, Super VGA graphics, 512KB of video memory and a 40MHz 486 DLC processor.

The Fortiva 5000 Desktop is available with a 50MHz 486SX2 processor and 4MB of memory or a 66MHz 486DX2 processor and 8MB of memory. A 9600bps modem is standard as are VESA local-bus accelerated graphics and 1MB of video memory. Both come with a 420MB hard disk.

The Fortiva 5000 Pentium ships with a 60MHz Pentium processor, uses the PCI architecture, and comes with 8MB of RAM and a 540MB hard disk. The computer offers accelerated graphics and 1MB of video memory.

From $999 to $1,899.

Leading Edge Products,

800-874-3340, 508-836-4800.

Server And Desktop In One

The DEC Multia MultiClient Desktop runs both mainstream personal productivity applications and server-based applications. The computer provides access to Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, UNIX and other applications that are available across a local area network.

This machine, which uses a 166MHz Alpha processor and PCI-based graphics, comes with built-in 16-bit audio, thin and thick wire Ethernet connection and 24MB of system memory. The unit includes a 340MB SCSI drive and Windows NT. Optional X11.R6 software allows access to UNIX and other operating systems. On-line tutorials, an application manager and remote-user diagnostic software are also preinstalled.

From $3,495 to $6,000.

Digital Equipment Corp.,

800-777-4343, 508-493-5111.

80 Mhz Efficiency

The Micro Express MicroFLEX-VL/80G, which ships with an 80MHz 486 processor, uses an AMI Green BIOS that puts the CPU, hard disk and monitor into sleep mode after a user-specified period of disuse. The base configuration includes a 14-inch monitor, 8MB of memory, a 420MB hard disk, a local-bus graphics adapter with a graphics accelerator, a 3.5-inch hard disk and a 101-key keyboard. The computer's motherboard has a switchable voltage regulator that supports 3.3- and 5-volt processors.

$1,499.

Micro Express,

800-989-9900, 714-852-1400.

The IBM Aptiva Personal Computer provides multimedia features, such as voice recognition and telephony. The PCs are available with a variety of processors, including the Pentium. Most models ship with 8MB of memory, accelerated graphics, an internal 14.4Kbps modem, a dual-speed IDE CD-ROM drive and stereo speakers. You can choose from a Sound Blaster 16-bit audio or wave-table card and a 270MB, 363MB, 424MB, 540MB or 727MB hard disk. From $1,199 to $2,599.

IBM Corp.,

800-IBM-3377, 914-765-1900.

If you demand high performance and fast response time, the BTG ACTion AXP275, which uses a 275MHz Alpha RISC processor, could be the machine you're seeking. The base system includes 2MB of external cache, 32MB of system memory, a 1.44MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, a 1GB SCSI drive and a 220MHz DAC 9GXE Pro S3 Vision964 accelerated graphics adapter with 4MB of video memory. The unit provides two serial ports and one parallel port, a PCI Ethernet card, and a 17-inch Nokia MultiGraph 447 monitor. $9,997.

BTG ACTion Systems,

800-449-4228, 703-641-1200.


Feb 95 New Products: Internet Access

Change Your View Of The Internet

Maybe you'd love to harvest information on-line but think that the Internet takes too much time. You can increase your on-line productivity with InternetWorks. This viewer/browser contains all the necessary communications software like TCP/IP, Winsock and SLIP/PPP, in addition to features like multithreading, multiple windows and OLE 2.0 support.

The multithreading feature lets you continue to use the Internet while downloading. You can display unlimited windows for simultaneous viewing or searching.

InternetWorks also includes options to customize the program interface. It supports home pages, clickable .BMP files, page layouts with single- and two-column printing, the creation of HTML documents and font customization. An electronic version of the New Rider's Internet Yellow Pages is also included.

$129; until Jan. 31, $99.

BookLink Technologies,

800-453-SURF, 508-657-7000.

Know The Rules Of The Road

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Don't get in trouble for not knowing the law of the land on the information autobahn. The All-in-One Internet Kit provides an Internet Tour Guide Handbook that explains Internet fundamentals, rules and resources, as well as providing comprehensive access software.

The handbook details how to secure a connection, load the software, and access hundreds of Internet sites and services. The kit also lists Internet providers. The software provides graphical interfaces for e-mail, ftp (file transfer), telnet (remote server connection), Gopher (Internet server index), Veronica (index keyword search), Archie (ftp server search) and Jughead (title keyword search).

$49.95, including a coupon for six months of free Internet access.

Wentworth Worldwide Media,

800-638-1639, fax on demand 717-393-2565.

Connect Your Network

The BBN Internet Server supports all Internet protocol client platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, UNIX and OS/2. This UNIX server contains an Intel Pentium-based PC running Berkeley UNIX, with an Ethernet controller card and DAT drive. The standard configuration includes 16MB of RAM, a 500MB hard disk and two serial ports. It comes with Gopher, WWW and ftp directories, and supports speeds from 14.4Kbps to T1 speed.

$9,895.

BBN Internet Services Corp.,

800-632-7638, 617-873-8730.


Feb 95 New Products: Online Services

Design professionals now have an electronic place to exchange information at designOnline. This BBS's interface is a custom- developed version of the FirstClass client software from SoftArc. Users can log in through three 28.8Kbps lines and three 14.4Kbps lines. Three-month membership, $45.

Alphabet's Design Group,

800-326-TYPE, info@alphabets.com.

Represent yourself in court with the help of the Nolo Press Self-help Legal Center on the Internet. You can find it in the Personal Finance Center of O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator (URL=http://gnn.com/gnn/bus/nolo/). You can also access quarterly editions of Nolo News, descriptions of Nolo's titles and software, as well as Nolo's complete catalog. There's even a section for Nolo's favorite no-holds-barred lawyer jokes. Contact GNN for membership information.

GNN

800-338-6887, info@gnn.com.

You don't have to get the news only with your morning coffee. First for Mosaic will deliver customized news to your entire company over the Internet. Your company's individual news profile is built from over 350 worldwide news wires, newspapers and magazines each night, then sent to your internal Web server before 8 a.m. each business day. The stories arrive electronically prefiltered and pretagged in HTML format. Pricing depends on company size and number of stories. 100 stories for 500 users, $150 per user per year; 100 stories for 2,000 users, $59 per user per year.

Individual

800-766-4224, 617-273-6000.


Feb 95 New Products: Network Management

Preserve Your Network Data

Cheyenne Hierarchical Storage Manager 1.0 helps you manage and store the data on your NetWare 3.11, 3.12 or 4.x server. It utilizes hierarchical storage management, a process that automatically and transparently migrates your data across a hierarchy of storage media.

HSM allows for a wide range of magnetic, optical or tape devices at each level of the hierarchy. Network administrators can define parameters, including hard disk utilization, file usage and age, or a combination, to control what data is moved from the hard disk.

In addition, HSM provides filters that can exclude files from the migration process based on type, size and owner. Each primary server, as well as each hierarchical level, can have a separate set of migration parameters.

Base package, $6,995; one-server Expansion Module, $495.

Cheyenne Software,

800-243-9462, 516-484-5110.

Track And Follow Up On Assistance Calls

Don't let yourself be worn to tatters answering and following up on help-desk calls. Apsylog has enhanced its computer asset management program, PC Galaxy 2.0, with a help-desk system.

The system allows network specialists to log calls from users and create problem folders for those calls that can't be solved immediately. The problem folder is used to track additional calls, comments and service reports. PC Galaxy automatically keeps track of priorities and elapsed time since the call was open. All relevant information can be stored in PC Galaxy's knowledge base.

Version 2.0 also offers customizable list windows and improved support for the bar-code inventory module. PC Galaxy is compatible with most network architectures, including Novell NetWare, Microsoft LAN Manager and Banyan's Vines.

Single user, $995.

Apsylog,

415-812-7700, fax 415-812-7707.

Hire Double-Duty Security

Safeguard your network from unauthorized intrusions and from viruses with StationLock for LAN. StationLock's security features include passwords, diskette encryption, directory and file protection, and the ability to restrict access to hard disks and floppy disk drives. It also lets the LAN administrator configure each workstation's security settings from the server, without having to visit each individual station.

StationLock provides antivirus technology that detects and cleans file, boot and memory viruses to prevent their spread over the network. It can produce a virus activity report and virus alert broadcast. The virus pattern file lets you check for the presence of thousands of viruses.

Per station, $129.

Trend Micro Devices,

310-782-8190, fax 310-328-5892.

Answer Testpro 2.5 allows object-based testing of client/server applications, including SQL Windows, PowerBuilder and Visual Basic apps. The enterprise testing tool lets you build a library of automated repeatable test scripts that can be stored as compressed .GIF and .PCX files to save storage space. Other new features are GPF trapping and automated Feedback. Introductory package, $10,000.

Sterling Software,

818-716-1616, fax 818-716-5705.

You have to be on guard about software licenses. Software Sentry lets you manage application license usage on your network. It monitors standalone applications and software suites. The program tracks or blocks application usage by user count and by overall or concurrent usage. It also provides application version control across the network. Per server, 50 users, $295; 100 users, $595.

Microsystems Software,

800-489-2001, 508-879-9000.

Express Systems has integrated its license management program, the Enterprise Optimization Module, with Microsoft's Systems Management Server. EOM utilizes SMS to transfer data from multiple servers in an enterprise to a central location, where it is analyzed and presented on the SMS console. Per server, $495.

Express Systems,

800-321-4606, 206-728-8300.


Feb 95 New Products: Application Development

Untangle Underdocumented Code

Program documentation is just a button away with C-DOC Professional 6.0. No longer will you have to struggle with poorly documented programs. C-DOC, which is composed of six modules, lets you "reverse engineer'' your software and format your source code.

The C-CALL module provides tree diagrams and cross-references for all functions, while the C-CMT module creates comments for function blocks. The C-REF module gives you a complete identifier cross-reference for locals, globals and defines, and lets you create and navigate through C++ class-hierarchy tree diagrams. The C-Metric module provides complexity/quality metrics, including counts of comments, code and "C'' statements. C-Metric can also compute the "cyclomatic'' path complexity for all functions. The program's C-LIST function can indent and format program listings (including optional line numbers, page numbers and titles).

C-DOC comes in native Windows NT/Win32 and Windows/Win16 versions. It supports long Win32 and OS/2 filenames.

$299.

Software Blacksmiths,

Voice and fax, 905-858-4466.

Transform All Those Tedious Tasks

WinBatch 5.0 automates tasks in Windows 3.1 or Windows NT. Like the DOS batch language, WinBatch uses editable script files with commands (known as the Windows Interface Language functions) to handle strings; manage disk drives, files and windows; manipulate date and time variables; work with Windows' Clipboard; and perform data-entry functions. Scripts can be interpreted or compiled into executable files using the optional WinBatch Compiler.

Version 5.0 adds a variety of functions, such as OLE 2.0 automation, improved networking functionality, structured programming, support for floating-point arithmetic, timed events and registration database functions. It also lets you set environment variables, work with Julian dates and call third-party DLLs.

Windows, $69.95; NT, $99.95; WinBatch Compiler, $395.

Wilson WindowWare,

800-762-8383, 206-938-1740.

Control Vb Source Code

SourceWorks/VB is designed specifically to keep your Visual Basic source code under control. Its workgroup design gives developers simultaneous read and write access to all files, yet prevents unintentional file overwrites. SourceWorks uses VB-sensitive differencing to note file revisions for every routine and can track all files in a project (and their revisions) by team member. The program supports configuration management so that parallel releases can be generated from a single-source repository.

Three-user pack, $795.

ViewPoint Technologies,

508-655-9595, fax 508-655-3651.

Add thumbnail galleries to your application with Lenel Gallery, a GUI tool that also integrates menus and toolbars directly into your program. You can present text, images and multimedia files to your users as thumbnails that they can resize or link to other information. Supports DLLs, OLE controls, OLE 2.0 automation and .VBX files. $299.

Lenel Systems International,

800-225-3635, 716-248-9720.

VtoolsD simplifies the development of virtual device drivers (VxDs) for Windows 3.1. The toolkit includes libraries written in assembly language and structured to minimize VxD size. It includes full support for both C and C++ programmers.

VtoolsD provides an object-oriented framework for VxD development. $495.

Vireo Software,

508-779-8352, fax 508-779-8351. Circle 602

Use OLE controls to enhance your application's data-entry capabilities with ProtoView Interface Component Set (PICS) 2.0. New in version 2.0 are a hierarchical list box with multiple sort levels and bitmapped graphics at each level; date and time edit controls; numeric edit controls, which support picture masking and scientific notation; and a percent bar for indicating processing progress. $249.95.

ProtoView Development Corp.,

800-231-8588, 908-329-8588.


Feb 95 New Products: Misc.

Take Control Of Word 6.0

No program can do everything, but Prime 6.0 makes Microsoft Word 6.0 do a lot more. The program adds a dozen features to the word processor, including a Window Manager, which lets you control all program windows from a single dialog box; a Document Variable Manager, which lets you add, view, modify, delete and catalog document variables; and an AutoText Lister, which lists local and global AutoText contents and statistics.

The Fast Spell Checker creates a single list of all misspelled words in your document and creates a word frequency list. The FileNew feature provides descriptive template names and template previews. It also lets you save new files directly into a specific directory. You can also add documents to Program Manager as icons and create new program groups with the Create Program Icon utility. The Zoomer, a 3-D zoom control with 10 custom settings, lets you take an up-close look at your work.

$39.95.

Prime Consulting Group,

800-788-0787, 314-965-5630.

Avoid Estate Probate

Living Trust Maker 2.0 guides you through the process of creating a living trust, which can keep your estate out of probate after you die. The program helps you create a revocable living trust for a single person or a couple. It can also aid you in deciding what property to include in your trust and what to leave out.

The interview format prompts you to add property information and choose trustees. For those with children, the program explains how to choose between a child's subtrust or a custodianship arrangement. The program also allows you to transfer property to your trust and amend or revoke the trust at any time.

There are over 100 legal help screens, as well as an on-line glossary, that explain key legal terms and concepts. A Living Trust Maker legal manual is also included.

$79.95.

Nolo Press,

800-992-6656, 510-549-1976.

Ensure Network Safety

The Smart-UPS line of uninterruptible power supplies features SmartSlot, an add-in card slot that lets you add the PowerNet SNMP Adapter card or the UPS Interface Expander card for use with multiplatform networks. The batteries in the units can be hot  swapped. Other new features include SmartBoost, which automatically boosts power during a brownout, and SmartTrim, which steps down high voltages to a safer level during a power surge.

From $499.

American Power Conversion,

800-4-APC, 401-789-5735.


Feb 95 New Products: Bundles

Panasonic is bundling its EAB-710P multimedia speaker system with the Lenel MultiMedia Works CD-ROM, which includes several multimedia utilities: the Universal Player multimedia player, the Show Server enabling server and the Show Builder presentation builder. $249.

Panasonic Communications & Systems Co.,

800-742-8086, 201-348-7000.

Get control of your color when you buy an NEC XP15, NEC XP17 or NEC XP21 monitor. The units ship with Colorific color management software, which adds color control to business applications. The XP monitors provide resolutions of up to 1600x1200. Colorific enables Windows to adjust for color biases in the CRT and graphics card. From $695 to $2,580.

NEC Technologies,

800-NEC-INFO, 708-860-9500.

Fractal Design Corp. is bundling its Fractal Design Dabbler drawing and painting program with Wacom Technology's ArtPad graphics tablet and UltraPen stylus. The tablet provides a 4- by 5- inch drawing area and 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. $239.

Fractal Design Corp.,

800-297-COOL, 408-688-5300.

When you buy the IX-4015 color scanner you will also receive OmniPage Direct optical character recognition software. The software allows you to edit, reformat and print scanned text or numbers from within a variety of programs. The desktop scanner provides 400x800-dpi resolution. $799.

Canon Computer Systems,

800-848-4123, 714-438-3000.


Feb 95 Letters

Letters: Based on the truckloads of letters and megabytes of e-mail messages we received praising our 1,250 Tips issue, we're guessing that you liked it! A number of you shared tips of your own, some of which you'll find on this page.

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

TIPS 'R' US

I just finished READING your 1,250 Tips Special Edition. I intend to save this entire issue. It's full of very useful information!! You should make these special in-depth editions a more frequent offering.

Barry H. Barnett

via the Internet

I received my 1,250 Tips Special Edition yesterday. As with last year's Tips issue, I couldn't put it down until I got to the last page.

I do have an update for your Stacker Sticker tip on p. 82. You said Stacker can't put a permanent swap file on the compressed drive. Fortunately, this is no longer true. With the latest version of Stacker (4.0), you can create permanent swap files on compressed drives.

Janet Balistreri

via the Internet

I love your 1,250 Tips Special Edition. You correctly pointed out that Norton 8.0 speed disk won't work if your system's 32-bit disk access is turned on. However, there's a brand-new patch from Symantec now, which I downloaded from a local BBS, that fixes the problem.

J.P. Myers

Apple Valley, Calif.

Windows was supposed to eliminate the need to memorize complex keystrokes in order to use software. I found it amusing that a large number of the tips in your 1,250 Tips Special Edition were keyboard "shortcuts.''

David R. Gagnon

via the Internet

Your 1,250 Tips Special Edition was full of interesting and useful tips that even an experienced user like me can use. However, a few tips need more explanation.

On p. 28 you say running Windows in standard mode gets a faster response and that the only reason to run 386 enhanced mode is to run multiple DOS programs. This may not be the case for all users: Windows for Workgroups runs exclusively in 386. And many Windows programs require enhanced mode to operate.

On p. 90 you discuss removal of ROM shadowing to gain memory. You should mention that on some systems the RAM in the 640-1024KB area is not available if shadowing is not used, so some users won't gain memory using this procedure and they will get slower boot speeds by disabling shadowing.

On p. 116 you discussed the use of Control Panel Ports Session to set modem parameters. However, these are only used for the virtual port that Windows provides to DOS applications. Any Windows application directly sets these parameters in conjunction with sending modem initialization strings to set the modem up correctly. The values in the Control Panel have no effect on operation of the port for Windows programs.

Bob Miller

via the Internet

DEFENDING MICROSOFT

Yet another letter in your magazine bashes Microsoft for the poor job it did creating Windows 3.x (Letters, November). The author complained about system resources. System crashes are not Microsoft's fault, but the fault of application developers. Sure, Microsoft made the resource heap only 64KB, but it also set strict rules about deleting resources when the application is done with them, not allocating the same resource twice and trying to delete a resource that is no longer allocated.

Barry Pearlman

Chesterfield, Mo.

Reader Richard Rivera (Letters, December) says Symantec will be the latest company Microsoft "stabs in the back'' (by deliberately making Win95 incompatible with Norton Desktop). He's wrong. Symantec will introduce a set of utilities for Microsoft Windows 95.

Larry Budd

via America Online

I read John Corso's letter (Letters, November) complaining about Windows' system resources limits. I have a solution: switch to Windows NT. I did more than a year ago and haven't crashed yet.

Bill Hyde

via CompuServe

I just upgraded to Windows NT 3.5 Server. The product is stable as a rock. I am no IS guy--just a businessman--but I set the whole thing up. I booted up 10 days ago, and my family has tried everything imaginable to crash the system. The system won't even allow users to do a system shutdown, but granted only me that privilege.

Why are all the magazines doing five-page beta reviews on Windows 95 when the real thing is here and now?

Mike Rogers

via the Internet

MORE WINTUNE FAN MAIL

A coworker told me his computer seemed slow. I told him to run Wintune. The program helped us determine that both his turbo function and his internal cache were off. His machine is reborn with blazing speed.

Seeing this, our new LAN administrator tried it on his home PC. He found some bad BIOS settings. When he corrected them, he saw real improvement in the operation of his system. He's so impressed that he's going to run it on the PCs connected to the LAN to see how the last guy had them configured and how they can be improved.

Tony Armalis

via America Online

[Editor's reply: Many of you have called us seeking to buy Wintune, or asking us for a copy. Wintune is not available for purchase, and we are not distributing it on disk. It is freeware that can be downloaded from America Online, CompuServe, BIX and The Well. Support is available on AOL. For specific on-line locations, see our January feature "Pull In for a Free Tune-Up'' or contact windowsmag@aol.com.--Eileen McCooey]

KEEP IT SIMPLE

I'm confused by Windows' mess of .INI, .DLL and other files. Please "suggest'' to programmers that they include an uninstall program with their applications or install all apps' files into a single directory.

Joseph Francis

Jersey City, N.J.

QUIT GRIPING!

I'm weary of listening to people gripe about long-distance carrier charges for reaching on-line services from rural areas (Letters, December). People make lifestyle choices, and some decide to enjoy the benefits of living in the country.

I think it's great that they can buy a five-bedroom house on three acres of land for half of what it costs me to live in a townhouse near the city. I do not sympathize with the fact that they might have to pay four cents a minute to connect with an on-line service.

Larry Jandro

via the Internet

YOU CAN'T BUY EXPERTISE

Your article on Windows-based statistical software was quite timely ("Anyone Can Be a Statistician,'' November). However, I have serious reservations about putting sophisticated statistical software in the hands of those who don't know how to use it. The world is filled with too many examples of "stupid statistics tricks.'' These packages no doubt produce professional-looking output filled with fancy terminology, but that doesn't mean the output makes sense.

Dave Fox

via Internet

CORRECTIONS

A First Impressions article in our December issue listed an incorrect price and phone numbers for Hewlett-Packard's HP Vectra XU 5/90C. The correct pricing is $6,438 (list price) and $5,886 (street price). The phone numbers are 408-246-4300 and 800-752-0900.

In our November 1994, December 1994 and Winter 1995 Survival Kit issues, the directory structure for the cica.indiana ftp site for downloading Superior Shareware files was listed incorrectly. The correct directory structure is: pub/pc/win3/winmag.

We want to hear from you! Please send your letter and daytime phone number to: Letters, WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753, or by e-mail to winmag@mcimail.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.


Feb 95 Enterprise Windows

Know Your Options And Setup Is A Snap

By: John D. Ruley

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

One of the greatest frustrations of working on leading-edge, high-end systems is that just when you've got something completely figured out, it changes. That's what's happening now with Windows NT installation and setup.

Under NT and NTAS 3.1, setup was simple--you could have either one CD-ROM and a boot diskette, or a whole pile of diskettes. In either case you also needed one blank diskette to use as an emergency diskette for recovering from a serious system crash. Performing an over-the-network installation using the 16-bit Windows program called WINNT.EXE made the whole process pretty painless.

With NT 3.5, CD-ROM, diskette and over-the-network installations have all changed significantly. Even though the process is still relatively painless, it's different enough from the old installation that it's worth explaining the options in some detail.

Before Starting Setup

If you're upgrading from NT 3.1 you can probably skip this bit. But if you're installing NT for the first time, there are some things you should know.

First, you're going to need a lot of free disk space--75MB for NT Workstation and 90MB for NT Server. And that space has to be uncompressed, because NT won't recognize any existing form of disk compression. Second, you'll need at least 12MB of RAM for a workstation and 16MB for a server. You can install the workstation in 8MB, but that's like running Windows for Workgroups in 2MB: You can do it, but you won't like the results. Third, you'll save yourself a lot of time and trouble by checking the current NT Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) to make sure NT supports your hardware. You can download the HCL from the WINNT forum on CompuServe or by anonymous ftp from ftp.microsoft.com.

Before you install NT Server, you need to decide which security model to use (Workgroup or Domain) and whether your server is to be the Primary Controller for the local NT Domain. Another decision you have to make for both Workstation and Server is which network protocols to install. The Workstation will install NetWare-compatible IPX/SPX by default; the Server installs both IPX/SPX and TCP/IP. I won't go into detail because these issues are well covered in the documentation Microsoft ships with NT (printed books in NT Server and on-line .HLP files in the \SUPPORT\BOOKS directory of both Workstation and Server CD-ROMs).

I do want to draw your attention to the Concepts and Planning Guide and the videocassette shipped with the Server. If you insist on skipping the guide, at least watch the video. It makes things a lot less confusing if you're a first-time NT user. One more thing: If you install NT on a system that already has Windows, you'll be given the option to install NT in the existing Windows directory. Accept that option. It automatically migrates all your installed Windows applications for you, which is a great time-saver.

With that out of the way, let's get to the nuts and bolts.

Diskette-Based Installation

I've always had my doubts about installing NT from diskettes, and Microsoft has confirmed these doubts with NT 3.5. To install NT, you need a CD-ROM drive, or at least access to one. The normal NT Workstation and Server kits include only the CD-ROM and boot diskettes. If you don't have a CD-ROM drive and need to install from diskettes, you must mail Microsoft a coupon included in the kit. The company will send 3.5-inch diskettes (5.25-inch diskettes are not available).

One disadvantage of installing from diskettes is that you get only the base NT Workstation or Server installation. You don't get any of the additional features--driver library, on-line documentation, service and debugging tools--that are on the CD-ROM. Because NT Workstation  doesn't include printed documentation, you'll want to order the books too (they cost extra). And don't bother trying to go this route with a RISC-based system. CD-ROM is the only way to install NT on a RISC system.

CD- ROM Installation

As you can see, CD-ROM installation makes life much easier. Along with the CD-ROM you get three boot diskettes. Why three? Remember the legal difficulties Microsoft had with STAC software? (STAC sued Microsoft for patent infringement of its Stacker disk compression program. Microsoft settled the suit by buying out STAC, but not before a court order required Microsoft to cease and desist using any compression method that conflicted with STAC's patents.) Had Microsoft been able to use compression, the contents of all three installation diskettes could have fit on one, and NT 3.5 would have required significantly less hard disk space than NT 3.1. This should improve in later builds, because Microsoft now owns the STAC patents, but for now we have to live with a three-diskette install.

Actually, it's not so bad. If you don't have the diskettes, you can still do an over-the-network-style installation using WINNT32.EXE, which has an option to create the diskettes for you. (It does this in a separate thread, while continuing to copy files from the CD-ROM to your hard disk--a neat trick.) It's important to select this option, or you won't have an NT emergency diskette.

I recently found out the hard way that the emergency diskette can save your hide. I accidentally deleted a registry key on one of my systems. Because I didn't have an emergency diskette to repair the damage, I had to reinstall NT from scratch. In the process I lost a complete NTFS partition and about a month's work.

Aside from having three startup diskettes, the CD-ROM installation of NT 3.5 is the same as it is for NT 3.1: Put the CD-ROM in the drive, boot the first diskette and follow instructions. This is one of the easiest ways to bring up NT, and it's the way I recommend bringing up all NT Servers.

Over-The-Network Installation

If your machine doesn't have a local CD-ROM drive, you can install NT 3.5 over the network. If you've already installed NT 3.1, use WINNT32.EXE. This 32-bit installation program has a nifty set of options.

Just run WINNT32 from the command line or from Program Manager to start the process. You'll be prompted for the location of the source files (the \i386 directory of the installation CD-ROM for Intel systems; \mips or \alpha for the two supported RISC systems). Otherwise, it's pretty much like doing a local CD-ROM-based installation.

If you haven't installed NT, you'll need to install DOS along with some sort of network connection to the shared directory on the CD-ROM. Once you've done that, run WINNT.EXE. This is basically a 16-bit version of WINNT32. Running WINNT with a /? switch displays a number of options.

Most of the options you get with WINNT are the same as those you get with WINNT32, including the /B switch, which eliminates the creation of the boot diskettes and the emergency diskette. (Before you select this option, remember what happened to me.) But you also get /O, which allows you to create just the boot disks, and a few more options that deal with free space. These are important because WINNT.EXE copies the NT setup files onto your hard disk, and then boots into NT to run the rest of setup--so you need about 56MB of free disk space.

Once WINNT.EXE copies the files and boots into NT, the setup runs exactly as it does from the CD-ROM or diskettes. Just follow the instructions.

Upgrading From NT 3.1

There are some special considerations if you're upgrading from NT 3.1. First, the file system drivers have changed. NT 3.5 includes a FastFAT driver that supports long filenames on DOS-compatible File Allocation Table (FAT) partitions. This is no big deal--NT 3.5 will install onto whatever FAT partitions you have and give you the new capabilities. More serious are the changes to the NTFS driver.

If you just want to upgrade one way (from NT 3.1 to NT 3.5), all you have to do is run any of the regular setup options, and you'll be asked if you want to upgrade. The problem comes if you want to keep NT 3.1 and dual-boot NT 3.5.

In this case, you'd better make sure you have enough hard disk space to support two complete NT installations--figure on 200MB. Update the NT 3.1 file system to make it compatible with NT 3.5. An UPDATE.EXE program in the CD-ROM's \FS31UPD\i386 (or \mips or \alpha, as appropriate) directory will handle this for you. Just run the UPDATE program from NT 3.1, then install NT 3.5 in its own directory.

Additional Installations For Servers

Once you've installed the operating system, you'll find some interesting things in NT Server 3.5. One of the nicest is the new Network Client Administrator. This is a complete NT-based program that makes setup diskette sets for Microsoft's NT-compatible DOS, Windows and OS/2 clients. It can also make an update diskette with new network support for Windows for Workgroups clients. Using this in conjunction with the over-the-network WINNT.EXE can just about automate installation of NT Workstation on desktops. It builds a DOS client diskette, installs it on the target system, connects to the shared CD-ROM and runs WINNT to finish the job. There are also Windows-based NT administration tools (finally), so you no longer need to have an NT Workstation on your desk if you want to manage an NT Server remotely. These tools are in the \clients\srvtools\windows directory on the CD-ROM. Just connect to the directory over the network and run SETUP.EXE.

NT 3.5 Servers also have the new Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) services, which make administering TCP/IP-based networks much easier; a remote boot service that lets you support DOS and Windows on disketteless workstations; and some other nifty features, like Microsoft's Migration Tool for NetWare.

Tips And Tricks

While working on this column, and reviewing NT 3.5 Workstation and Server (see our reviews in the January issue), I discovered a few time-saving tricks. First, don't try to run WINNT.EXE from Windows. You'll get a message that says "Setup cannot run in a 386 Enhanced Mode Windows MS-DOS Command Prompt. Exit Windows and run Setup again.'' Do as the prompt says: Exit to DOS and run Setup from there. It may seem ironic that you have to run the Windows NT installation program from a DOS prompt, but it's apparently necessary because of the way WINNT.EXE forces a reboot halfway through the setup process.

I spent a lot of time attempting to install NT on a couple of portable systems and learned quite a bit about over-the-network installation in the process. The big thing to watch for in this kind of installation is if NT doesn't automatically recognize your network card, such as the Xircom parallel-port Ethernet adapters I was using. If this happens, your best bet is to skip the network installation. (You can try to bluff your way through the installation, but with no network adapter set up, you'll probably crash NT when you shut it down.)

You could install the MS Loopback adapter (which is a dummy network driver), finish the rest of the NT install and then boot back to DOS. Once you're back in DOS (with access to whatever network you started WINNT.EXE from), you can copy all the NT 3.5 installation files from the CD-ROM's \i386 directory, because it turns out they take up only about 30MB. You may also want to copy the CD-ROM's \drvlib\netcard\i386 directory, which contains additional drivers for less-common cards--another 5MB. In any case, after you have copies of the files, reboot to NT and select Control Panel/Networks. Because you don't have the networking set up, you'll be prompted to set it up, and you can install the network card manually.

Even this may not work. When I tried to install Xircom PE2 support, I got this helpful error message: "External library procedure CopySingleFile reported the following error: Unable to do the specified file copy operation.'' Of course, it doesn't say which file it's trying to copy. I eventually discovered an additional set of Xircom drivers in the CD-ROM's \drvlib directory, and those worked.

If you still can't set up your network card, install Remote Access Services (RAS). Used with a standard null modem cable, this will give you low-speed (around 1Mbit/sec) connectivity through your RS232 port.

Uninstalling Windows NT

It may seem like heresy for me to discuss uninstallation, but in some situations NT just won't work. The best thing to do in these cases is to get rid of it, and go back to DOS/Windows. If you get stuck, here's how to go back: First, shut down, then restart the system and boot DOS. (If you installed NT on a DOS system, you'll probably get this option on startup. If not, use a boot diskette).

Once you're in DOS, make a boot diskette using the format /s command, and put CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on it. Then delete the entire WINNT35, WINNT or WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory--whichever was used (it depends on whether NT was installed fresh, over NT 3.1 or into an existing DOS/Windows setup), and delete all subdirectories. I've found that the easiest way to do this is to use Windows' File Manager.

That takes care of the bulk of the work. To finish the job, delete the following files from the root of the boot drive: PAGEFILE.SYS, BOOT.INI, NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOTSECT.DOS. (Some of these files are hidden; you can use the DOS attrib command to unhide them.)

Now, if you attempt to boot your machine you'll get the error message: "BOOT: Couldn't find NTLDR please insert another disk.'' To get around this, use the SYS command on the boot diskette you made earlier (typically SYS C:) to transfer DOS and make the hard disk bootable.

John D. Ruley is WINDOWS Magazine's editor at large and resident NT guru, as well as the author of Networking Windows NT (Wiley, 1994). His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 Getting Started

Refresh Your Memory By Cleaning Up Clutter

By: Jonathan Blackwood

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Are you finding your Windows 3.1x is having memory problems? Just doesn't have the same get-up-and-go? Maybe some of those memory limitations that were always there have just become a little more apparent as we've come to expect more from our systems and our software.

Windows 3.1x may be an old dog in computer years--especially with Windows 95 nipping at its heels--but you can still teach it a few tricks to jog its memory and put the spring back in its step. This month I'll reveal some of Windows' memory problems and suggest ways to solve them.

Q:I don't get it. My system has a whopping 16MB of RAM. So why do I get an "out of memory'' message when I have Mail, Word and Excel open, and then try to open Ecco?

A:You've hit the dreaded Windows resource barrier. Even though you may have 5MB or 6MB of RAM left over for your applications, you still get an "out of memory'' message. Put simply, Windows uses a special, limited amount of RAM to keep track of fonts, windows, menu choices, wallpaper, icons and so forth. This area of memory is fixed at 192KB, whether you have 4MB or 64MB of RAM installed in your system. When you've used up the 192KB--or even when you begin to approach the limit--Windows starts behaving strangely. If your system resources get low enough, your computer can even crash without warning.

You can check the status of your system resources from Program Manager. Open the Help menu and choose About. The last line in the dialog box will be the percentage of the total still available of all the heaps Windows uses for system resources. (Heaps are the small portions of memory in which Windows stores descriptions of graphical screen items.) Any time your system resources drop below 25 percent free, you're cruisin' for a bruisin'.

You'll notice that the amount of memory reported free in the next to last line of this dialog box is--more than likely--more than the total amount you have installed in your system. This is because in 386 Enhanced mode you also have virtual memory, which is the sum of both RAM and a disk file called a swap file. The swap file stores portions of running applications that have been temporarily swapped to make room for other applications.

Q:How do I avoid running out of memory?

A:If you consistently run into this wall, it's housecleaning time. You can reduce your system's resource overhead in a number of ways.

Because Windows uses its resource heaps to manage fonts, windows, menu choices, wallpaper and icons, reducing them frees more resources for application programs.

•	Peel off that fancy wallpaper. This is the background screen you see when all your open applications are minimized. Using wallpaper may be a fun way to express your personality, but it's also a good way to waste resources. Get rid of it. To do this, double-click on the Control Panel icon in the Main program group, then double-click on the Desktop icon. The best thing to do to conserve scarce resources is to select None for Pattern, Screen Saver and Wallpaper. Then click on OK.

•	Forgo some fonts. These days it seems fonts accumulate like coat hangers in a closet. One reason for this is that many applications throw in a dozen or so fonts as added bonuses when you install them. Wherever they come from, chances are you have at most only five fonts you use often. Windows fonts are controlled through the Fonts applet in Control Panel. When you select a font from the list of installed fonts, a sample will appear below. You can make a list of the fonts you use most often and remove the others. When you choose Remove you're just uninstalling the fonts from Windows, but you'll also get the option to delete the fonts from your hard disk. Unless you're positive you'll never use them, I recommend leaving them on your hard disk so you can reinstall them later if necessary. If you have a lot of fonts, check out a third-party utility, such as FontMinder (Ares Software, $79.95, 800-783-2737, 415-578-9090) or Typecase (Swfte International, $19.95, 800-237-9383, 302-234-1740). These handle fonts more elegantly than Control Panel.

•	Ditch those unused icons. There's not a lot you can do to reduce menu choices, but you can attack the number of icons and windows Program Manager displays. Many programs install icons for things you may never use again, such as readme files. These are prime candidates for pruning.

Next, see if there are any program groups for applications you've already uninstalled. If so, double-click on the program group's icon, then delete each icon in the program group by pressing the Delete key and then pressing Enter. When you've eliminated all the icons in a program group, you'll see a dialog box that asks if you want to delete the program group.

•	Do some regrouping. You can conserve resources by consolidating program groups. For example, you might want to move all your application icons into a single Applications group, instead of having each application icon in its own group. You'll also want to make sure all program groups are minimized when you open Windows. Do this by minimizing each of them, then holding down the Shift key while you open the File menu and select Exit Windows. Or you can press Shift+Alt+F4. Either way, you'll save the configuration you've created without exiting Windows.

Following these steps will enable you to open more applications at once and reduce the frequency of "out of memory'' errors.

Q:I recently purchased a new system so I could bring some work home. It's a 486DX/33, just like my system at work. It's got 4MB of RAM and a 200MB hard disk. The problem is, it's painfully slow running Word 6.0 and Excel 5.0, and much slower at running these programs than my office machine. What's wrong?

A:What's wrong is that although 4MB of RAM is enough to run Windows, it isn't enough to run Windows well. You'll get better performance if you add enough RAM to bump up your system total to at least 8MB (12MB or 16MB is even better, especially if you want to run Windows 95 later on). Beyond that, here are some things you can check out.

First, are you running Windows for Workgroups 3.11? It's the fastest Windows available, thanks to its better disk caching. If your system came with Windows 3.1 (or even Windows 3.11), consider springing for an upgrade.

Next, go into Program Manager and double-click on the Control Panel icon. Double-click on the 386 Enhanced icon, then click on the Virtual Memory button and look at the Type setting. This is your swap file, and it should be set to Permanent (as opposed to Temporary). If it isn't, click on the Change button, then set up a permanent swap file no larger than half the size of the RAM installed in your system.

If possible, check the boxes next to Use 32-Bit Disk Access and 32-Bit File Access (these may appear in gray in the dialog box, or they may not even appear at all, indicating that your system can't support them). But don't use 32-bit disk access on a notebook computer with power-saving features enabled, because it can cause conflicts.

Finally, while you're still in the Virtual Memory dialog box, click on the Change button to check your cache size. Then set it to 2048KB. This seems to be the optimum size--a smaller setting can slow things down, but a larger setting won't speed things up much.

Jonathan Blackwood is associate First Impressions editor of WINDOWS Magazine. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 Optimizing Windows

Decorating Tips Foryour Desktop

By: John Woram

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

To introduce this month's subject, I considered beginning with some nomenclature. I might, for instance, explain why Microsoft calls a Windows screen a desktop, then discuss the logic behind wallpapering a desktop. I might even reveal how you can tile wallpaper--a trick you'll never read about in those home improvement magazines! But then I realized if I could do all this, you might expect me to explain Windows 95 (the name that is, not the program itself). So I decided to go directly into a discussion of how to make the-- well, the desktop look a bit more presentable.

In my December column I suggested a few ways to spruce up Program Manager's appearance. This month I'll share some optimizing tips that affect other parts of the desktop. In addition, I'll show how some of these procedures will be handled in Windows 95--coming soon (or so we're told) to a computer near you.

Let's start with a closer look at a minimized application icon and the title that appears below it. For the purposes of this explanation, think of this text area as a miniature title bar, even though it bears no direct resemblance to the title bar that appears at the top of any open window.

If you highlight the icon by clicking on it once, its Control menu will open. The menu won't open if you click and drag the icon slightly, or press Alt+Esc to toggle from one application to another. But in each case, the title bar picks up the color specified (via Control Panel's Color applet) for an active title bar. If you have a logical mind, you probably expect inactive icon title bars to take on the color specified for the inactive title bar. After all, this is what happens in any of the open group windows within Program Manager. But it's not what happens down here at the bottom of the screen. Instead, these inactive title bars appear in the color specified for the desktop. (Yes, Mr. Spock, we know Captain Bill is illogical, but it's his ship.)

Because inactive title bars blend into the desktop color, they become invisible, unless you select the Wallpaper option. If you click on that option's Tile radio button, the wallpaper bitmap will cover the entire desktop, except where the desktop color shows through in the inactive title bar areas. The active title bar, of course, retains its usual active color.

Some Color Cautions

Sooner or later, most of us will open Control Panel's Color applet to change the desktop color scheme. The miniature desktop you see in the Color dialog box gives you a good idea of how the new color scheme will look, but there are a few side effects that you may not notice until later. For example, if you select the same color for both the active title bar and the desktop, all minimized icons will display their titles against the same background color, and the distinction between an active and an inactive title bar will be lost. It's not an unworkable situation, but it might be puzzling when you use that Alt+Esc key sequence to toggle between applications. Without the visual color cue, you can't tell which one is highlighted.

Vanishing Text Elements

If certain text elements in any Windows application seem to have vanished in an otherwise operational system, the desktop color configuration is again a likely suspect. For example, an active title bar with black title text set against a yellow background looks rather nice on one of my systems (personal opinion here). However, if I look up a word in one of my CD-ROM dictionaries, I see the definition but not the word itself. It turns out the color of the selected word is based on the active title bar color. If that color is say, yellow, the selected word shows up as white-on-white; that is, it's invisible.

This is not the greatest tragedy. If you go to the bother of looking up a word, presumably you can remember that word while you read the definition. But such invisible elements can be puzzling if you're running a new application where you wouldn't immediately recognize missing text as missing. It pays to go back to the Windows default colors when you examine an application for the first time. Once you know what to expect, you can start experimenting with color schemes.

Perplexing Patterns

After you've worked out an attractive color scheme, you can redecorate the desktop in several ways. If you use centered wallpaper or none at all, the Desktop applet's Pattern option can fill the uncovered screen area with a pattern. The pattern is nothing more than an 8x8 matrix of tiny squares, some black and others the color specified for the desktop.

This pattern repeats as necessary to fill any desktop area that the wallpaper doesn't cover. But there's a downside: Title text under an inactive minimized application icon becomes almost impossible to read against the visually busy desktop pattern.

If that doesn't bother you, you might find a pattern you prefer to the usual wallpaper selections. Or you can design your own via the Edit Pattern button in the Desktop applet.

Each pattern is defined by a sequence of eight numbers (decimal 0 to 255), each of which represents one horizontal row in the 8x8 matrix. The number's binary equivalent defines the on/off status for the eight boxes in that row of the matrix. A binary 1 paints a box black; a 0 leaves the desktop color in place. You can find the existing sequences listed in the [Patterns] section of CONTROL.INI. If you select one of them, such as Paisley, it gets written into WIN.INI as shown here:

[Desktop]

Paisley=2 7 7 2 32 80 80 32

The pattern called 50% Gray (170, 85 repeated four times) is a bit of a misnomer. Its binary equivalents (10101010 and 01010101) make adjacent boxes either black (1) or the desktop color (0). So the resulting color is simply a darker version of the selected desktop color, which is 50 percent gray only if the original desktop was white. Otherwise, the resulting color is 50 percent something else.

Menu Management

After you decorate your desktop, you might want to try a little menu tweaking. By default, every Windows drop-down menu is left-aligned with that menu's name in the title bar. If you can't stand left-aligned menus, you can add a MenuDropAlignment=1 line to WIN.INI. This aligns the right side of the menu with the menu name in the title bar. If you're still thinking logically, you would probably expect to add this line to the [Desktop] section. Don't do it. It belongs in the [windows] section.

So does another line that has limited usefulness in the current version of Windows, but may be of interest when Windows 95 finally arrives. A MenuShowDelay=xxx line specifies the pause (where xxx is the number of milliseconds) before a cascading menu appears when you're scrolling through a menu that supports this option.

In the current versions of Windows, about the only menu that does cascade is the Control menu's Edit option in an open DOS window. That little right-pointing solid arrowhead on the Edit line is your cue that an additional menu will appear if you highlight this option. If a MenuShowDelay= line is written into the [windows] section of WIN.INI, the menu won't appear until the specified delay has been reached. (But it will appear instantaneously if you click on the menu option, rather than scroll the highlight bar to it.)

For the moment, this little feature might be categorized as mildly interesting Windows trivia. But in Windows 95 it takes on added significance, because many more menus support the cascading feature. For example, the Program option on the new Start menu opens a cascading menu, which lists Accessories, StartUp and, depending on your system configuration, one or more other groups. If you highlight the Accessories option, a third menu will appear with a list of most of the applets formerly found in the Windows 3.x Accessories group window, plus others. Among these, the Games option opens yet another menu, in which four games appear. As the highlight bar scrolls past any of these menu options, the appropriate cascading menus appear and disappear to the immediate right of the open menu.

If you don't appreciate all this now-you-see-it, now-you-don't stuff, you can set the MenuShowDelay= line to say, 2,000 milliseconds. Now no cascading menu will appear unless the highlight bar lingers for two seconds on a cascading menu option.

A related MenuHideDelay= line is present in the USER.EXE file in Windows 3.x, but does not appear to be implemented. In version 3.x it's undocumented; in Windows 95 who knows?

How Will Windows 95 Do It?

What we do know for sure is that Windows 95 will handle cascading menus differently. To take a closer look, I'll reopen the Registration Info Editor discussion I started here last month. In its Windows 95 implementation, the Registry records these menu options, and the appropriate information is written into a hidden USER.DAT database file in the Windows directory. This task is accomplished either automatically or manually with the editor, which is still REGEDIT.EXE.

Windows 95 will rewrite the existing Pattern instruction in the database if you change from the no-pattern default. It will also preserve the solid desktop color under icon titles, so legibility won't suffer if you select a pattern. You must write the MenuDropAlignment and Menu

ShowDelay instructions manually (that is, unless Microsoft makes further changes before Windows 95 hits the streets). To view, add or edit any of these lines, use the editor to open the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, then the Control Panel folder and finally the Desktop folder. A Pattern instruction should already appear in the right-hand window, and you can insert the MenuDropAlignment and MenuShowDelay lines by writing a new string value.

Although the selected Pattern instruction is no longer written into WIN.INI, you can still find the list of available patterns in the CONTROL.INI file, just as in Windows 3.x. As for the Menu commands described above, they appear only in the database and adding them to WIN.INI will have no effect.

Desktop Colors And The Paintbrush Applet

As a closing note, if you frequently paste parts of the Desktop into the Paintbrush applet and then print to a non-color printer, the various colors will print as shades of gray. But if you're set up for more than 16 colors on screen, some apparently solid on-screen colors may print as thatched (dithered) patterns instead of solid gray.

Perhaps the simplest way to avoid this problem is to go back down to 16 colors for the duration of the Paintbrush print session. This configuration usually produces a good black-and-white printout. But if certain portions still print with a thatched effect, try changing the problem area to one of the following solid colors: black, red, green, cyan, gray, yellow or white. These choices will usually produce a reasonably solid gray scale that varies from black to white.

John Woram is the author of Windows Configuration Handbook (Random House, 1993) and the best-selling The PC Configuration Handbook (Random House, 1990). His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 Networking Windows

Feel Secure With Windows For Workgroups

By: Jeffrey Sloman

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Just because peer sharing in your enterprise makes you edgy, it doesn't mean you're paranoid. Peer-to-peer networking has the potential to create a whole collection of individual, unmanageable disasters. Once the user controls access and management of what's become a network file server, you're out of the loop.

This may be enough to persuade you to restrict users' access to peer services. Fortunately, you don't have to with Windows for Workgroups (WFWG). With its built-in se-

curity and management features, WFWG is a much better network client than ordinary Windows.

There are a number of ways to configure WFWG, one of which will be right for you.

Out Of The Box

First, I'll explain the default security of WFWG, the way it comes out of the box. If you enable peer sharing of files and printers during installation and do nothing else to configure security, you're left with an installation that provides simple share-level security. This means when users share resources, they must assign one or more passwords.

For directory sharing, you can choose among three password configurations using radio buttons located in the Share Directory dialog box. When you select the Read-Only button, users can access data only in that mode. If you want to require a password, you can enter it in the bottom Passwords pane of the dialog box.

When you click on the Full button, users with a full-access password will be able to read from and write to the directory. You can use this for general-purpose shared directories. Finally, you can choose Depends on Password. This lets you assign two different passwords in order to control access. You can give one group of users the read-only password and another the full-access password.

From The User's Side

There's no such thing as a "user account'' with share-level security. When a user logs into a NetWare server, his log-in name and password are compared with the bindery, a file containing information about authorized users and groups. NetWare applies this information about an authenticated user to determine access to various directories. This is called user-level security. With share-level security, there is no centralized storage of user information. The user's access to various resources depends upon the passwords she knows. The log-in dialog box you see when you enter WFWG is deceptive. It authenticates you only on the machine you're using (and sometimes with an NT Server domain if you've chosen certain start-up options). It doesn't log you into a central server.

When a user logs on to a default WFWG installation, the program provides a key to decrypt a password file. The password file is a list of passwords for all persistent drive connections made using File Manager (those with the Reconnect at Startup box checked). WFWG stores the file with a .PWL extension in the WINDOWS directory. An arbitrary number of password files can be created at any workstation. In fact, if you misspell your user name when you log on, you'll be asked if you'd like to create a password file for that user name. Once you've created a user account and assigned it a password, you'll need to remember only one password.

Still Feeling Insecure?

Share-level security is tough to manage. It's only as secure as the user's management of passwords because the access is based on knowledge of a password, rather than ownership of a user account. Security is compromised as soon as the password for a particular directory gets out--and the likelihood of this increases with the number of users who share a resource. This level of security is unacceptable in many situations. To make matters worse, you lack centralized control over configuration of the local workstation installations. Fortunately, you have options besides the default configuration that can make WFWG enterprise friendly.

To make authentication of users part of your WFWG security, add an NT Server to your enterprise (or use a LAN Manager server you already have). NT uses a concept called domains to manage user accounts across several servers. You can use an NT domain server to authenticate WFWG log-ins. This means a user needs a valid account in the domain to start up WFWG peer networking features. This option doesn't improve the inherent security of share-level passwords, but it does ensure that users need your authorization before they can access any enterprise resource.

To configure this option, select it in the Control Panel/Networks/Startup Settings dialog box. If the Log On to Windows NT or LAN Manager Domain checkbox in the Options for Enterprise Networking pane is selected, WFWG will contact the server for the specified domain and check the user accounts there for user authorization.

You need to consider a couple of things about this option. First, authentication takes five to 10 seconds. This isn't so terrible, but you should alert users beforehand so they expect it. Second, by default, WFWG will display a message that tells you it was successful. Turn on Don't Display Message on Successful Logon to suppress this. Finally, WFWG can store the domain password in the user's local password file so that the one WFWG log-on does everything--or you can require a separate log-on. Storing the password locally doesn't compromise security.

I know what you're thinking: "These options are locally configured. Users can just change the settings and I'm back where I started.'' That would be true, but there's something I haven't told you. WFWG 3.11 includes a centralized configuration capability through a utility called ADMINCFG.EXE. WFWG installs this program in the network WINDOWS directory when you perform an administrative installation (SETUP /A). This decompresses all the Windows files for a shared installation. You should move this program from the WINDOWS directory when you do the installation because your security depends on it.

ADMINCFG creates an encrypted file in the WINDOWS directory called WFWSYS.CFG, which contains all the information about configuration options and user access. The file must be present before WFWG can start network services.

Still nervous? Take a look at the main dialog box of ADMINCFG. The first three checkboxes you see can solve all your security problems. If you'd rather not allow your users to take advantage of WFWG peer-sharing capabilities, you can irrevocably turn off these options simply by checking the appropriate box or boxes.

For instance, you may want to disable file sharing but still allow users to share printers (an excellent way around that trouble-prone RPRINTER). If you turn off both file and printer sharing, users still will have access to Network DDE, a network version of the Dynamic Data Exchange used to share information among documents. You may even decide to shut off all peer services, but still take advantage of WFWG's networking integration and the bundled applications (MS Mail and Schedule+). Whatever you decide, these options are enough to make WFWG manageable.

The Password Is "Control''

Dig a little deeper and you'll unearth even more management treasures. Clicking on the Passwords button will give you a dialog box full of password options. In addition to the Password Expiration and Minimum Length options, which you're already familiar with if you use NetWare, you'll find choices specific to Windows networking.

With the Disable Password Caching option, you can choose to allow creation of local password files. You can select either asterisks or plain text for password display in dialog boxes with the Show Share Passwords checkbox. And you can force authentication using a domain server by selecting Require Validated Logon. The last option, Allow Caching of User-

Level Passwords, lets users store their domain passwords in the local password file.

The Administrator Setting dialog box holds your final set of options. There you can choose to have the WFWSYS.CFG file automatically updated from a network directory at Windows startup. If you do, changes made to the global configuration will be automatically propagated, even if WFWG is installed on local drives. If you're using a Microsoft Network Only configuration (WFWG alone or with Windows NT), the .CFG file must reside on the local drive or Windows will not start the network connection. Windows will automatically update this local copy from the network copy--either on a WFWG machine or a server.

WFWG can also display a custom message of up to 64 characters at logon. This is specified in the Custom Logon Banner box. You can also set or change the password for the WFWSYS.CFG file in this dialog. This increases the security of the file even if it's set to Read Only.

Jeffrey Sloman is vice president of research and development at Systems Integration, an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 FI: allClear III

Two Ways To Go With The Flow

By: Lynn Ginsburg

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but with allClear III, a flowcharting package, a few dozen well-chosen words can paint the picture for you.

AllClear takes a unique approach to flowcharting. It provides the standard graphical tools, but it adds a text-based scripting facility to build charts based on an outline. It also lets you use both tools, so you can switch freely between the two environments.

The script language is actually a handful of syntax rules involving punctuation marks. You can type directly in allClear or import an outline from another source. When you type a question in the script, the program creates a decision box on the graphical side and "yes'' and "no'' branches in the script. As you fill in the conditional branches, the appropriate boxes are added to the chart.

Creating a chart using only the program's drag-and-drop tools is somewhat less intuitive if you are unfamiliar with flowchart logic. For example, because the program is so strongly bound to flowcharting principles, removing a line that connects to a decision box causes the entire branch to disappear. There's sound logic behind this, but it's potentially confusing.

When creating a chart, you are presented with a choice of templates. You can choose a process tree, decision tree or org chart, or a fishbone diagram. If you don't know what kind of chart you'd like to create, you can choose a generic chart to get started.

Learning the scripting language forces you to understand the logic of a flowchart or decision tree. Once you have worked out this logic, the program does the drawing, placing and linking of graphical elements for you. However, you could create the same chart in a variety of other business graphics packages quite easily, using only drag-and-drop templates and automated graphics tools that help shorten the artistic learning curve.

When allClear generates a diagram, it is placed on a grid where columns can be inserted and deleted as needed.

If you reposition elements, they maintain their logical links, and you can also scale multiple objects simultaneously.

If you're already familiar with flowcharting, you'll be quite comfortable with allClear, and you'll enjoy its text or graphics options

Info File

allClear III

Price: $299.95

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 16%

RAM: 4MB

Clear Software

800-338-1759, 617-965-6755


Feb 95 FI: Kensington Thinking Mouse

More Mouse For Your Money

By: Hailey Lynne McKeefry

The Kensington Thinking Mouse is for those who subscribe to the "more is better'' school of thought. Compared to the standard Microsoft mouse, the unit offers twice as many programmable buttons, as well as a rounded shape that fits solidly into the palm of your hand.

The mouse's four buttons have a positive feel. Each can be set to act as a double-click, lock or lock-double-click. You can also make a button access a pop-up menu or play back a string of text. The Application Sets software lets you set up application-specific button functions.

Among the other software options is a Rest Reminder that sounds an alarm or pops up a message to remind you to take a break after a certain number of minutes at the keyboard. The Show Button indicator lights up to indicate that a mouse button is being held down, for use when one button is programmed as a Lock button. Brilliant Cursor lets you create hot spots on the screen that the cursor will automatically jump to.

The mouse's oval shape should be comfortable for either righties or southpaws.

Info File

Kensington Thinking Mouse

Price: Serial, $119.95 (estimated street)

Kensington Microware Ltd.

800-535-4242, 415-572-2700


Feb 95 FI: HP OfficeJet

Triple-Threat Jet

By: Jim Forbes

The "small'' in your small business might refer to the size of your work area. If that's the case, you'll be glad to know HP's OfficeJet squeezes a printer, fax machine and copier into a couple of square feet of desktop space.

The OfficeJet is only 11.13 by 17.25 by 15.5 inches. Its controls are on top of the machine below an LED panel that displays connection, programming and other information. Fax capabilities are built in--it doesn't require a fax card in a host PC.

As a laser printer, the OfficeJet will turn out 3 pages per minute in draft quality and about 1 ppm in higher quality. It prints at 600x300 dots per inch and enhances the output using HP's REt technology. The paper tray can accommodate up to 100 sheets of paper.

The OfficeJet's Group-3 compliant fax system can transmit one page of text in about 10 seconds and supports fax transmission speeds of up to 9600bps. The maximum scan resolution is 203x196 dpi and 32 halftone levels. You can store up to 60 phone numbers and five group numbers. It can store up to 24 pages of incoming faxes, which is useful if faxes come in while you're using the OfficeJet as a printer.

As a copier, the OfficeJet can make up to 99 copies of a document, with reductions up to 70 percent.

The OfficeJet is a great SOHO solution. You get three machines in one box at a price that won't break the bank.

Info File

HP OfficeJet

Price: $959

Hewlett-Packard Co.

800-752-0900,  Canada 800-387-3867


Feb 95 FI: Presentation Partner 1.05

Solid Foundations For Slide Shows

By: James E. Powell

Presentation Partner is like the contractor who pours the foundation before you build the house. You use it to build the outline of a multimedia presentation by making a few choices. It creates a professional-looking framework for a PowerPoint, Harvard Graphics, Macromedia Action or Lotus Freelance Graphics presentation. Or you can use the copy of AskMe Multimedia's Super Show and Tell, which is included on the program's CD-ROM (but without any printed documentation accompanying it).

You can select one of Presentation Partner's 12 topics to create proposals, corporate overviews and even kiosk-style presentations. You can also choose a "look'' for your presentation--traditional, modern or fun. The program's defaults can be overridden to include a company logo, for example, or you can add a graphic chosen from the 248MB collection of clip media.

When you click on Assemble Presentation, the program goes to work. It builds a skeleton with a title chart, bullet charts and so on, and adds background music or animation files to add emphasis.

I ran into occasional trouble with the program's defaults. Presentation Partner has a penchant for creating slides with dark letters on dark backgrounds, making some slides hard to read. However, once a script for a presentation is created, it's easy to modify. In addition to simple edits, you can convert graphics and videos to other file formats and reduce 24-bit graphics to 8 bits.

I had designated PowerPoint as the output format, so Presentation Partner automatically launched it and created titles and bullets. Everything was all set up and ready for me to edit. The background music played on cue, and I ran into only one glitch when an .AVI file refused to run properly.

Most presentation packages provide lots of help, but some are slim on details for multimedia shows. Presentation Partner can help fill in those gaps, lay the groundwork and get you on firm footing.

Info File

Presentation Partner 1.05

Price: $149.95

Disk Space Required: 20MB

System Resources: 13%

RAM: 8MB required; 16MB recommended for video playback

Midisoft Corp.

800-PROMIDI, 206-881-7176


Feb 95 FI: Tektronix Phaser 140

Stunning Ink Jet Casts Radiant Colors

By:  Jim Forbes

High-quality color printing used to equate with the color of money. But top-notch technicolor is well within reach with the Tektronix Phaser 140.

The Phaser 140 is built around Canon ink jet technology and also uses Canon ink cartridges. The printer has a 16MHz RISC processor and ships with a whopping 8MB of memory. Output resolution is 360x360 dots per inch, and a typical page of mixed text and graphics takes about one minute to print.

There are three connections on the back of the Phaser 140: a parallel port, a LocalTalk connector and an Ethernet hookup. It took only about 20 minutes to get the printer up and running.

The software that comes with the Phaser 140 is impressive, too. The printer works fine with Windows' standard PostScript driver, but Tektronix's software adds features such as color correction. Tests with a variety of applications yielded uniformly excellent results.

In addition to letter-sized paper, the Phaser 140 can handle envelopes, labels and Tektronix's own transparencies. Coated stock, also available from Tektronix, produces excellent results when printing photographic images.

The Phaser 140 is among the best high-quality color ink jet printers available.

Info File

Tektronix Phaser 140

Price: $1,695

Tektronix

800-835-6100, 503-682-7377


Feb 95 FI: Simply 3D

Venture Into Virtual Space

By: Lynn Ginsburg

Sometimes two dimensions aren't enough to size up the shape of things. Simply 3D takes flat graphic images and adds depth, rendering full-color images and text in three-dimensional space. The program provides extensive controls over the elements that simulate a 3D look, including textures, materials, lighting and camera effects.

Simply 3D is among a new crop of 3-D programs that feature ease of use without sacrificing power. Although using this program to create convincing 3-D scenes is still far from child's play, its powerful toolset offers a sensible approach to managing what is an inherently complex process.

Simply 3D has two modules: Renderize Live EZ and Visual Font. A 3-D rendering is called a project, and each project is made up of resources that include views, objects, lights, materials and images. A project might include resources such as a background, a graphic or text object, a light source and a camera angle. The effect of the combined resources is displayed in the viewport.

You define a project in the project designer window, from which you can access the other resource designer windows. Each designer window has its own set of tools. For example, the material resource designer controls an object's display characteristics, so its tools let you modify color, texture, sheen and transparency.

The project designer has three command wells in which you manipulate resources: edit, move and view. To work on a resource, you drag its icon to a command well and drop. Using these modal toolsets, you can combine the resources and create a final rendering in a variety of file formats.

Simply 3D also lets you create keyframe and path-based animations. The program supports and renders TrueType fonts and also lets you import and extrude vector-based objects from Adobe Illustrator. For backgrounds, image fills and textures, you can import .AI, .TGA, TIFF, .GIF, .BMP, JPEG, .PCX, .RAS and .RAW files. You can export your 3-D images for use in other programs in these and other file formats.

Simply 3D may not be as simple as its name implies, but it offers powerful tools for creating professional-quality 3-D objects.

Info File

Simply 3D

Price: $59

Disk Space Required: 11MB

System Resources: 6%

RAM: 8MB

Visual Software

800-881-4108, 818-883-7900


Feb 95 FI: Ositech Trumpcard Jack Of Diamonds

Jack Of All Trades

By: Rich Castagna

It sounds like an ace up the sleeve at one of the Donald's gambling palaces, but the Trumpcard Jack of Diamonds fits into a different slot.

It's a PCMCIA card that does double duty as both a modem and NIC (network interface card). The Type II card doesn't only double up; it can work as a 14.4Kbps fax modem and a 10BaseT NIC simultaneously.

The card works with any interface software that conforms to PCMCIA Card and Socket Services 2.x or later.

Setting up the network software is easy, too, but it might take some time poring through the manual to find the information you need.

The card worked flawlessly. I was able to establish a network connection and then, without logging off the LAN, use the modem to hook up with several on-line services. I tested its effective network throughput using WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmarks. The data-transfer rate was 0.27MBps, within a few hundredths of the rates for other PCMCIA Ethernet NICs.

The Trumpcard is perfect for a notebook with a single PCMCIA slot--you can stay hooked up to your LAN and the outside world, too.

Info File

Ositech Trumpcard Jack of Diamonds

Price: $549

Ositech

800-563-2386, 519-836-8063


Feb 95 FI: Windowasher 1.0

Squeaky-Clean Hard Disks

By: James E. Powell

Even a big disk has its limits. WindoWasher helps you find the seldom-used, and perhaps unnecessary, files on your disk and then lets you compress or remove them to free up space.

Using a DOS-based driver, WindoWasher monitors which files you access. The file list uses four colors to show how often a file has been used. You can assign ranges to each color, so that red indicates no accesses while blue indicates a file has been used one to 10 times, and so on. You can also get a graphical view with pie and bar chart representations of disk use.

WindoWasher's built-in browser lets you view the contents of a file, or you can use another viewer program. You use WindoWasher's Exile feature to compress, move or delete the unused files.

The Exile Manager shows you compressed files and restores them to their original location with a single mouse click. You can also use the program's FileSpy utility to create a log of accessed files.

A directory optimization feature relocates the most-used files to the beginning of their directories, which should cut down on the load time of programs. It took less than one minute to optimize a 540MB hard disk.

WindoWasher won't work with 32-bit file access because Windows bypasses the interrupts that the WindoWasher driver depends on. The company is working on a fix.

WindoWasher is a handy, unobtrusive utility.

Info File

WindoWasher 1.0

Price: $49.95

Disk Space Required: 1MB

System Resources: 2%

RAM: 2MB

Micah Development Corp.

800-653-1783, 617-641-1500


Feb 95 FI: Remove - It 1.0

Farewell, Lost And Lonely Files

By: Jonathan K. Matzkin

Peeking beneath the surface of Windows is like lifting a rock: You never know what you'll find. Applications add (and leave behind) all sorts of files--.BATs, .INIs, .DLLs and others that are less recognizable. Remove-IT will uninstall unwanted applications and help you manage, track and organize all your Windows system file components.

Nearly all of Remove-IT's functions are represented by animated icons that appear on its main screen. Clicking on the Remove-IT icon takes you to the program's most basic function. Remove-IT will delete old program files and also restore system files to the way

they were before the unwanted application was installed.

The files you delete when removing an app are automatically compressed and backed up, so if you have a change of heart you can get them back. But the program helps prevent you from deleting necessary files. It flatly refuses to delete anything your system needs to run, and it will prompt you before deleting any file that may be needed.

Other features available from the main screen include Find-IT, which identifies and deletes duplicate and unreferenced files. Clean-IT handles the safe deletion of drivers, fonts, and system and DOS files. Log-IT maintains a record of what was done during new program installs. Watch-IT keeps tabs on how recently files were used. This enbables you to identify and delete files that you haven't touched for a specified length of time.

Remove-IT creates a crash-recovery diskette that will restart your system if critical Windows or DOS system files become damaged, or if they are inadvertently removed.

Remove-IT is comprehensive, intelligently designed and effective.

Info File

Remove-IT 1.0

Price: $69.95

Disk Space Required: 2MB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 2MB

Vertisoft Systems

800-466-5875, 803-295-5875


Feb 95 FI: Quick Restart 1.2

Back To The Future

By: Philip Albinus

Notebooks have long been able to slip into a deep sleep and then reawaken precisely where you left off working. Quick Restart 1.2 brings this capability to the desktop.

With Quick Restart you can turn off your system without shutting down your apps or closing Windows. When you return, you can flip the power switch and pick up right where you left off.

Quick Restart installs in DOS and loads before Windows starts up. To put your system to sleep, you activate Quick Restart using hotkeys, which default to Shift+Backspace. A DOS screen informs you that your Windows session is being saved. After a few seconds, you can turn off your computer.

When you power up the PC, it appears to start a standard boot sequence, but after about 10 seconds your Windows session reappears.

When I first ran the program, I lost my mouse cursor. Adjustments to the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files remedied the problem. Also, if you run disk compression software, Quick Restart requires special installation procedures and additional editing of system files.

Quick Restart 1.2 will get you back to work fast.

Info File

Quick Restart 1.2

Price: $59.95

Disk Space Required: 0.5MB

System Resources: None

RAM: 4MB

PowerPro Software

415-345-9278,  fax 415-345-5128


Feb 95 FI: Stickaround Notes

Notes Stick With Digital Glue

By: Tom Lasusa

If a blizzard of yellow sticky notes has buried your monitor, try StickAround Notes. The program provides electronic reminders that mimic the paper variety, but these notes pop up on your screen instead of obscuring it.

You can use StickAround Notes for any kind of reminder, from a big, bold note about getting that proposal submitted on time to a tiny pop-up that refreshes your memory about sending flowers for your mom's birthday.

When you start up the program, a small note "dispenser'' appears over the application you're running. Clicking on the New button or double-clicking on the edge of the note that's sticking up from the dispenser will create a fresh note.

When a fresh note page appears, you can start typing your message immediately or choose one of the options from the menu bar that pops up above the note. You can add emphasis or your own personal touch by altering the font style and size, and changing the color of the text or the note itself. Other menu bar choices let you delete, hide or print notes. There's also a useful alarm feature that lets you set the date and time at which your reminder will appear.

The alarm is probably the best feature of this program. You can type or copy all kinds of information (from your schedule, list of appointments or to-do list), attach a date and time, and turn them into automatic reminders.

StickAround Notes is a simple program designed for one user. Unlike similar applications, such as Evergreen Notes, StickAround Notes can't associate reminders so that they stay attached to files or appear only when a particular application is opened. It would be nice if StickAround Notes had this option, as well as the ability to send documents with attached electronic reminders to other network users.

StickAround Notes is an easy-to-use program that does one thing and does it reasonably well. Its premise is simple--it'll turn all those little yellow notes that clutter your office into neat, digital, mind-jogging memos.

Info File

StickAround Notes

Price: $24.95 (estimated retail)

Disk Space Required: 200KB

System Resources: 3%

RAM: 350KB

O'Soft

800-888-4437, 617-225-2010


Feb 95 FI: DML Scan - It

TV Presentation Is No Big Production

By: Philip Albinus

The DML Scan-It can make a TV the star of your presentation and lighten your load when you take your show on the road.

This PC-to-television converter displays a monitor's image on a television screen. It is lighter, smaller and much less expensive than most LCD presentation panels. Scan-It's interface unit weighs less than 2 pounds and is slightly larger than a videocassette.

The product doesn't require any special software and supports resolutions up to 800x600 pixels, delivering a crisp, sharp image.

Scan-It attaches to your PC and to a TV; you can also have a simultaneous hookup to a PC monitor. It has a power switch on its front panel, alongside an infrared sensor for the unit's remote control. Front-panel LEDs indicate when the remote-control features are activated.

Scan-It is simple to set up and operate. The remote control lets you adjust the position of the image on the screen as well as its brightness and contrast. The remote also has a freeze button to lock in an image, and a zoom button to enlarge the picture.

If you're giving a presentation to a large audience, you'll still probably want to use an LCD projection panel. But for a more intimate setting--and a much lighter load--Scan-It is a great way to get your message across.

Info File

DML Scan-It

Price: $449

Digital Media Labs

800-888-5527, 408-577-1440

CTX EZBOOK


Feb 95 FI: CTX EzBook

Power-Pinching Portable

By: Jim Forbes

Portable computing isn't just about moving; it's about a movement, too. We've seen portables get more powerful, less expensive and more miserly in their use of battery power. CTX, with its line of EzBook notebooks, is making a strong pitch to be part of this new wave.

I tested the 75MHz DX4-based EzBook. It came with 8MB of RAM, a 520MB hard disk, a 3.5-inch floppy drive and accelerated graphics with 1MB of memory.

Its PCMCIA slot accepts one Type III or two Type II cards. It has ports for serial, parallel, docking-station, external-video and keyboard connections. It also has 16-bit sound with a microphone jack and built-in speaker.

The unit has a 9.5-inch color active-matrix screen with software controls for brightness and a trackball centered in its palmrest.

The EzBook weighs 5.4 pounds and measures 2.1 by 11.25 by 8.6 inches. An LCD below the screen displays status for power, disk access and so forth.

The EzBook's NiMH battery was very impressive; it managed to pump power for as long as 4.2 hours during normal use.

It also stood up well in WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests. On the CPU tests, it chalked up 35.59 MIPS and 7.8 MFLOPS for floating-point operations. The video subsystem's 2.4 million pixels per second and the hard disk's transfer rate of 2.44MB per second are both quite respectable results.

The EzBook performs well, and is reasonably priced.

Info File

CTX EzBook

Price: $3,379

CTX International

800-888-9052, 909-595-6146


Feb 95 FI: Mediatrix Audiotrix Pro

Card Tricks Are A Treat For The Ears

By: John Gartner

If quantity translated directly to value, there'd be no question that the Mediatrix Audiotrix Pro sound card would be the biggest bargain on the market.

The sound-system bundle includes a stack of diskettes filled with an assortment of audio entertainment software, a decent set of speakers, a MIDI interface cable and the ear-pleasing card itself.

The Audiotrix Pro supports ADPCM file compression for playback and recording of .WAV files, an unusual feature for a moderately priced card. It uses Yamaha's OPL4 synthesizer for MIDI and .WAV playback with pleasant results. Of the MIDI instruments, the wind and brass were realistic, but the percussion sounded rather synthetic.

The Audiotrix Pro also offers a variety of upgrades. Sockets for three types of option boards provide functions normally associated with top-tier cards. One socket will accommodate a DSP-based special-effects processor ($90) that adds reverb, flange or delay effects, and can emulate room or concert hall echoes. The other two sockets are for a RAM/ROM daughterboard ($135) to store your own wave samples and a SCSI or proprietary CD-ROM interface. The basic Audiotrix Pro lacks any CD-ROM drive connectivity.

Installation was easy, with the software indicating the changes to system files. Comprehensive help and a detailed readme file provide any assistance you need to complete the process. The card requires two interrupts and three DMA channels.

The software in the package is more recreational than business oriented, but for quality playback, the Audiotrix Pro is a great-sounding bargain.

Info File

Mediatrix Audiotrix Pro

Price: $295

Mediatrix Peripherals

800-820-TRIX, 819-829-8749


Feb 95 FI: PC - Loan 1.0

Loan Star States Payments

By: Joel T. Patz

Like your own private loan officer, PC-Loan helps you analyze your alternatives when it comes to borrowing money.

You provide PC-Loan with basic loan information, such as the amount, down payment, interest rate and loan duration, and the program uses those criteria to calculate the monthly payment for the loan. Or you can enter the monthly payment, interest rate and loan period, and let PC-Loan tell you how much you can borrow.

The program displays the detailed loan information textually as well as on a graph. The graph is a little hard to read because it doesn't have grid lines or X-axis labels, but the Y-axis provides the dollar amount of the periodic or cumulative principle and interest payments.

PC-Loan will compare and graph two separate loan scenarios so you can tinker with the variables to find the terms appropriate for you. You can drag a vertical line across the graph to see the total payments and interest, loan balances and loan payoff amounts at that point in the loan's life. The Loan Wizard can help you determine which is the best alternative.

PC-Loan can handle non-standard loan factors, too. It knows how to treat fixed or variable rates, extra payments and balloon payments. It can also show you the effects of skipping payments or paying off a loan early.

The manual is written in a casual style, but the screen shots are poorly reproduced. In some cases, the steps described in the manual don't match those on-screen. The crew at 20/20 Software acknowledged that there were potentially confusing discrepancies between the examples in the manual and some of the default values built into the program. PC-Loan has a conventional help file as well as context-sensitive help.

In the real world, a loan payment often includes additional charges for taxes and insurance, but PC-Loan has no provision for handling these additions. This could be a problem if you're using the program to build a budget.

PC-Loan is, however, a valuable tool for doing "what-if'' analyses of loans. It's fast, too, and reasonably priced.

Info File

PC-Loan 1.0

Price: $59.95

Disk Space Required: 600KB

System Resources: 10%

RAM: 4MB

20/20 Software

800-735-2020, 503-520-0504


Feb 95 FI: Global Menu 5.1

Handiest Utilities--Bar None

By: James E. Powell

Displaying the date and time, free system resources, and available RAM, Global Menu sits modestly in the title bar of your active application.

But Global Menu isn't limited to time and space. Click on the bar and you find a host of helpful utilities. The Quick Application Launcher can list up to 119 applications or documents, and you can add to it by dragging icons from Program Manager. The Windows Things option gives you quick access to File Manager, Control Panel, Calculator, Print Manager and other Windows programs. Easy Utilities displays and prints font samples, lets you set alarms, shows system information, monitors memory and resources, and formats or copies disks. The program also offers a search utility that is able to find files by name or text they contain.

Other utilities show available disk space, let you exit or restart Windows, or reboot. You can quickly reset your default printer, switch to another active application or copy special characters into a document. EasyCD provides a control panel so you can listen to audio CDs in your CD-ROM drive.

Global Menu is one of the handiest menu systems and sets of utilities I've seen.

Info File

Global Menu 5.1

Price: $39.95

Disk Space Required: 780KB

System Resources: 5%

RAM: 4MB

MicroSeconds International

800-889-3279, 619-756-0765


Feb 95 FI: Hijaak Graphics Suite 3.0

Suite Apps For Graphics Gang

By: James E. Powell

Whatever you want to do with a graphics file, there's a program in the HiJaak Graphics Suite that can do it. It includes one of the best general-purpose graphics utilities, HiJaak PRO, as well as Browser, Smuggler, TouchUp and DRAW.

HiJaak PRO has been revised in this collection, and it now has Intelligent Graphics Object Recognition (IGOR), which converts raster- or vector-graphics files using either centerline or outline techniques. You can set tolerance settings, undithering (to re-create color or gray patterns as solid colors) and the level of speck removal to get rid of extraneous dots. You can test the conversion with a user-selectable test patch to see the result before converting the entire file.

HiJaak PRO can create thumbnails of files (including text and multimedia files), and you can add searchable keywords, and print or view files. It does an excellent job of converting files from one format to another, either singly or in batches. HiJaak PRO also captures screens, optimizes palettes, and converts color images to gray scale or black-and-white.

The applications in the suite now support new graphics formats, including CorelDRAW's .CDR, Adobe Illustrator's .EPS, WordPerfect Graphics' WPG2 and Image Technologies' .RLC, in addition to the more than 75 formats and their variations already supported.

Browser, which has been updated with key words, automatic cataloging and searching, is the keystone of the suite. Browser helps you manage files with its hierarchical directory listing and thumbnail images. You can drag a thumbnail to an icon to open it in HiJaak PRO, TouchUp or HiJaak DRAW, or open Media Player for .AVI, .WAV and .FLI files. Click on a text file and Browser opens it in Notepad.

Browser's file management tools let you create or remove directories, and move, copy, delete or rename files or groups of files. From Browser, you can search for files, print catalogs of thumbnails and launch other applications. When you click on the Property button for a thumbnail, a tabbed dialog box appears with file size, path and attribute information. You can add your own notes and keywords.

Smuggler lets you search the thumbnails from within an application where a Smuggler option is added to the edit menu. I tested this with WordPerfect 6.1, and it worked perfectly. The Smuggler option lets you search for images using keywords, file name, file size, date and so forth. If your application supports pasting graphics from the Clipboard, Smuggler is a great way to incorporate graphics quickly.

TouchUp works with raster graphics, providing all the standard editing tools. You also can use it to enhance text and color, and add special effects such as blur, soften, blend and fade. Its multiple levels of undo are particularly handy.

If you work with vector graphics, HiJaak DRAW offers drawing tools galore, professional text editing and the special effects. HiJaak DRAW is a licensed version of Gold Disk's Professional Draw, so it has a different look and feel. Still, it's a powerful program with a good tutorial for techniques such as adding or manipulating text, adding objects and rotating images. Its high-end features include support for spot and four-color separation, multiple drawing layers and style sheets.

While the individual suite members are versatile, there's not a lot of integration among them. You can select a thumbnail in Browser, then drag it to an icon to open the file in another module. But once you have an image in TouchUp, for example, there's no quick way to drag it into another application. There's some feature overlap, too--HiJaak Pro, DRAW and TouchUp all provide raster and vector editing.

With the exceptional HiJaak PRO as its centerpiece, this suite delivers a useful and comprehensive graphics toolkit.

Info File

HiJaak Graphics Suite 3.0

Price: CD-ROM, $99.99; diskettes, $109.99 (direct)

In Brief: This package offers a broad collection of graphics tools for editing, converting, viewing and creating graphics files.

Disk Space Required: 25.4MB

System Resources: 7% (varies by tool used)

RAM: 4MB

Inset Systems

800-DR-INSET, 203-740-2400


Feb 95 FI: Borland Delphi

Promising Windows Development

By: James E. Powell

With its code name of Delphi, Borland's new development tool promises to have the impact of the company's revolutionary product, Turbo Pascal. Borland hasn't announced a firm shipment date for this product, but I had the opportunity to test a beta version.

Delphi combines the best features of the Turbo Pascal for Windows language with a top-notch graphical development environment that resembles--then goes beyond--Visual Basic. Delphi comes in two editions. Delphi Professional is similar in scope to Visual Basic, Professional Edition. It's appropriate for creating applications to access local databases such as dBASE or Paradox. Delphi Enterprise is targeted to corporate developers who build enterprisewide client/server applications.

The Delphi development screen has three sections. The tabbed Object Inspector gives you access to the properties (height, width, color and so on) of objects you place on a form. Object Inspector's other tab provides the list of events for which you can write code, such as OnClick, OnDragOver and OnMouseUp. In the forms window, when you select an object, Delphi displays its properties or events. You can double-click on an object to open the source-code window to write code for the object's click event. When you add an object to a form you can press F11 to see the corresponding code, and, because development is "two way,'' you can change the code (the name of the object, for example) and Delphi will change the appropriate values in the properties dialog box.

The toolbar has buttons for the standard functions (open, save, copy), as well as the Component Palette, a tabbed section for adding objects to your form. You can add dialog boxes, buttons, scroll boxes, a media player, file dialog boxes and database fields. Delphi supports Visual Basic custom controls, so you can use your favorite custom control library's objects, too. You can create your own components by customizing existing ones using inheritance.

There's a hierarchical object browser that details inheritances, a project manager for viewing the code units and forms in your project, an image editor for creating bitmaps, icons and cursors, and a menu designer.

The program even has Experts to relieve you of the drudgery of creating forms. For example, a Database Expert can help you build a simple (single-database) form or a master/detail form. There is also a set of interactive tutors, which was still under construction in the beta, with  topics on writing event handlers and setting component properties.

Delphi Enterprise provides drivers for Oracle, Sybase, Informix and Borland's own InterBase. There's a local InterBase Server (an ANSI 92-compatible SQL engine) for off-line development. Borland also includes its ReportSmith Client/Server edition for database reports and queries, for everything from mailing labels to crosstab reports. There's a Desktop Database feature, too, which lets you create and edit tables without writing code.

Delphi also lets you access DLLs written in C and C++, or you can use Delphi to create your own DLLs.

There's an integrated GUI debugger with which you can set watch variables and breakpoints. The customizable editor uses Brief-style commands; has search/replace forward and backward; unlimited undo, macro recording and playback; and color syntax highlighting. The Turbo Debugger from Borland's C++ compiler is also available if you want to see the underlying assembly code and register values.

Delphi uses a native code compiler, so there are no runtime interpreter DLLs to be distributed with your application. Even in the beta, the compiler was fast. (Borland claims it can compile more than 120,000 lines per minute.) Along with an automatic "make'' program, Delphi compiles only what has changed, so you can go from development to test in very little time.

All this application development power comes at a price. Delphi is more difficult to learn than Visual Basic, despite a very good printed tutorial. Still, for the power, flexibility and programming power you get, it's well worth the learning curve climb.

Info File

Borland Delphi

Price: Not available at press time

In Brief: Borland's new graphical development tool comes in desktop and client/server versions.

Borland International

800-891-2223, 408-431-1000


Feb 95 FI: Panasonic V41 Multimedia Notebook

Portable Presentation Punch

By: Jim Forbes

You can hit the road running with Panasonic's V41 Multimedia Notebook. Everything you need for multimedia is built in, including a dual-speed CD-ROM drive and 16-bit stereo sound system with speakers. One of the brightest active-matrix color screens I've seen makes portable presentations even more effective.

The V41 isn't just a multimedia toy--results of the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests show it has serious processing power. I tested a unit with a 100MHz Intel DX4 CPU, a 450MB hard disk and the standard 8MB of RAM. The 486DX4 processor clocked 48 MIPS and scored 10 MFLOPS on the floating-point test. The video system generated 5.5 million pixels per second, and the hard disk pumped out 3.4MB per second. These results are comparable to those of several 100MHz DX4-equipped notebooks that we've reviewed (see the First Impression of the Zeos Meridian 800C in this issue).

One of the first things you notice about this machine is its outstanding video display and graphics subsystem. The 10.4-inch TFT screen uses a single neon light source that runs lengthwise above the screen. The screen and display adapter can simultaneously display up to 65,536 colors at 640x480 resolution. Images displayed on this computer's screen are bright, crisp and clear. To protect the terrific screen, the top of the notebook's case is made of lightweight but sturdy magnesium.

An external monitor connection is hidden behind a rear-panel door along with the serial and parallel ports and a docking station connector. A PS/2 port is also located on the back of the unit. A flip-down door on the right-hand side covers the PCMCIA port, which accommodates two Type II cards or one Type III card.

The 16-bit Sound Blaster-compatible sound system includes two stereo speakers mounted inside the case. The speakers have both hardware- and software-based controls. The sound card produced good sound through the integrated speakers, but if that's not enough for you there's an output jack for external speakers on the back as well as a microphone input jack. A clip-on lapel microphone is included.

While other multimedia notebooks require docking stations for CD-ROM support, the V41 has a fully integrated dual-speed CD-ROM drive. The keyboard pops up like the hood of a car, and the drive is underneath on the left-hand side. On the right, there's a recessed space to store a second disk. I particularly liked this convenient arrangement because it didn't interfere with the system's keyboard. An easily accessed trackball is in front of the keyboard.

Panasonic uses a unique solution to pack even more under the V41's keyboard. On the right-hand side, under the CD storage space, is the Multimedia Pocket. This slot accepts the included floppy drive pack or a second battery. The high-capacity NiMH battery augments an internal battery to extend computing time on the road.

If you're using the V41's CD-ROM capabilities in a setting with no AC power, you must use both batteries: A single battery lasted only 30 to 45 minutes in a continuous-use rundown test. With both batteries installed, there was enough juice to keep working for about three hours using business applications and running the CD-ROM drive. Battery management utilities come preinstalled as do MS-DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1, and CD Viewer and sound utilities.

The Panasonic V41 weighs 8.4 pounds without the second battery in the Multimedia Pocket. Its dimensions are 2.25 by 11.7 by 9.25 inches. Compared with portables that require docking stations for CD-ROM support, this machine is slim but solid, and a virtual flyweight.

I was surprised by the V41's amazing 10.4-inch color TFT screen, its performance and its rugged construction. At a suggested retail price of $6,599 for the unit I reviewed, it's more pricey than other notebooks. But the integrated multimedia features put the Panasonic V41 in a new category: It's an example of what's in store for the coming two years. An all-in-one portable multimedia machine, the V41 is a great solution for taking the show on the road.

Info File

Panasonic V41 Multimedia Notebook

Price: $6,599 (as reviewed)

In Brief: With a dual-speed CD-ROM drive, 16-bit soundcard and speakers all built in, the Panasonic V41 Multimedia Notebook has everything you need to take multimedia on the road.

Panasonic Personal Computer Co.

800-742-8086, 201-271-3182


Feb 95 FI: Phoenix Internet Express

Info Highway Hot Rod

By: Ron Bel Bruno

It's been said that the Internet today resembles television of the late 1940s--a medium on the brink of mass appeal. If that's true, Internet Express just might do for the Internet what Milton Berle did for TV.

This clever program is ready to steer you into the fast lane of the information highway, whether you're a novice, intermediate or expert net rider. Its name is not hype: Internet Express gets you onto the Internet via the Delphi Information Service in about 10 minutes. And it'll get you there for a lower cost than most of the competition. It also offers loads of technical support if you should stray from the highway and find yourself at a dead end.

Internet Express' link to Delphi is its strongest asset. In a crowded field of commercial on-line services dominated by CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy, Delphi is the sole provider of full Internet access and a proprietary on-line service. With the Delphi connection, you can sign up to access Usenet newsgroups and Telnet, scan file servers across the globe using the Archie and Veronica search utilities, and join on-line dialogs with the Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

There's more, too. You can tap into the Wide Area Information System (WAIS) and a text-based version of the much-ballyhooed World Wide Web.

Internet Express' network interface, InterNav, offers an elegant combination of icon-based menu commands and interactive text menus.

Other services may have prettier faces, but few can claim such a wide window to the Internet coupled with extensive technical support.

You start your InterNav-guided Internet journey by clicking on Express' Internet icon; you're then transported to the Internet Special Interest Group within Delphi. The software's text-based menus are actually carefully constructed mouseable windows, designed to make Internet access as simple as turning on a TV. Novice users are shielded from the Internet's Unix-based ugliness, while power users can roam freely without restraint.

If, for example, you want to visit some Usenet newsgroups, you just click on Usenet from the list of Internet services, and a numbered list of newsgroup topics is displayed. To view one, a click on its number takes you there.

Internet users can be intimidated by the mazes of nested text menus, but with Internet Express, you'll never net surf alone. A simple two-stroke key command--Ctrl+Z--takes you to the previous level, and so on. Or you can click on Back at the command prompt.

The e-mail module brings Windows' niceties to an otherwise rough-around-the-edges e-mail universe. You can cut, copy and paste text from on-line screens into mail, import text or graphics files into messages, and file the mail you receive in your personal folders.

In other areas, the program touts a high level of connectivity. The Finger command, for example, helps you find another user's address on a particular remote server. With WAIS, you gain keyword-based access to over 500 information services worldwide.

Anyone who has ventured into the Internet knows the frustration and expense of wasted time, and how valuable a little help from your on-line  friends can be. Delphi offers 15 hours of technical support weekdays and eight hours daily on weekends, in addition to responsive e-mail help and a very well-written user guide.

Phoenix and Delphi give you a generous 10-hour credit when you sign up. After you devour those precious minutes, the monthly charge is as little as $20 for 20 hours. Delphi's network has more than 850 local-access phone numbers.

Whether you're just testing the Internet waters or you're riding the crest of this communications wave, you can't go wrong with this versatile, well-supported software.

Internet Express should help add a few more travelers to the information highway. See you there.

Info File

Phoenix Internet Express

Price: $29.95

In Brief: This economical, easy-to-use program gives you point-and-click entry to the Internet via the Delphi Information Service.

Disk Space Required: 1.5MB

System Resources: 11%

RAM: 4MB

Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

800-452-0120, 617-551-4000


Feb 95 FI: Zeos Meridian 800c

Mega Power At A Meager Price

By: Ian Etra

With its sleek styling, solid construction and hot performance, the Zeos Meridian 800C justifiably earns its place at the top of Zeos' notebook line.

The 6.3-pound 800C is offered with a variety of Intel CPUs. The unit I tested boasts a 100MHz 486DX4 processor, 8MB of RAM and a 350MB hard disk. A long back panel flips down to reveal parallel, serial and external monitor ports, as well as two separate PS/2 ports for simultaneously connecting an external keyboard and mouse. The PCMCIA slot accepts one Type III or two Type II cards, and card configuration is handled by Phoenix Card Manager software.

The large 10.3-inch DSTN color screen provides a bright display with only a hint of the streaking and scintillation that plague most passive-matrix screens. Contrast is controlled with a function key, but contrast levels have to be reset each time you power up the 800C. If you'd rather see the big picture, the VGA port provides a very clear image on an external monitor at resolutions up to 1024x768 with 16 colors, or a flicker-free 640x480 with 256 colors. Just add a keyboard and mouse, and this portable can be transformed into a powerful desktop system.

On the top of the case, LEDs indicate the battery status and drive access. The LEDs are conveniently visible, whether the case is open or closed. On the bottom of the unit, there's access to a compartment for RAM upgrades. The 800C comes with either 4MB or 8MB of system memory preinstalled, but it can accommodate a maximum of 20MB of RAM. The hard disk can be swapped out, too, simply by removing a single screw.

What sets the 800C apart, however, is its performance. On the WINDOWS Magazine Wintune tests, the CPU clocked in at 48.19 MIPS, which puts the 800C among the fastest notebooks we've tested. The real eye-opener, though, was its stunning hard disk performance, which spun out a sizzling 9.2MB-per-second data-transfer rate. The only thing slowing this speedster down is its video performance. Not that its Wintune numbers were bad--it registered a respectable 2.5 million pixels per second--but with the other components providing such fast company, it represents a processing bottleneck that became apparent in tests of real-world applications.

The 800C's processing power doesn't come without a price. In this case, the toll is levied against the notebook's battery life. Even with a DSTN display, the 800C consumes more power than the average 486DX4 notebook. Its battery lasted about 1.75 hours in a test of continuous use. With power saving enabled, I was able to work for nearly 2.5 hours--about an hour less than you'd expect and certainly not transcontinental range. One note of caution: If you're planning to travel with the 800C, you'll have to set aside an hour or so to refuel, because the notebook's battery doesn't charge while you use it.

Ergonomically, the 800C is a mixed bag. The palm rest provides a welcome site for sore wrists, and the keys are laid out logically, with an extra function key in the lower-left corner. The TruePoint tracking device is centered below the spacebar so that it can be accessed with either thumb. I was all thumbs with this operation and found that the slightly stubborn pointer was easier to control by taking my hand off the keyboard and using an index finger. If this pointing device were integrated with the keyboard it would be far easier to use.

The icing on the 800C cake is its price. At $3,195 (as tested) the 800C costs less than most DX4 notebooks and even some DX2 machines. The price includes a sturdy carrying case that comfortably houses the notebook and its peripherals. If you select options such as a 9.5-inch active-matrix display or PCMCIA cards, the price is still likely to remain below that of comparably equipped notebooks.

While the 800C may not be able to stray too far from an AC outlet, few notebooks provide this much power at such a reasonable price.

Info File

Zeos Meridian 800C

Price: $3,195

In Brief: The Meridian 800C supplies a lot of computing power for an outstanding price.

Zeos International

800-828-0413, 612-362-1234


Feb 95 FI: Papermaster 1.0

Master The Paper Chase

By: Hailey Lynne Mckeefry

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a grade B movie, Attack of the Killer Mail. If I were casting the film, I'd give PaperMaster 1.0 the conquering hero's role. With this electronic filing cabinet and a good scanner, you can marshal the more important documents on your desk into order on a PC.

I tested a beta version of this new document- management product from DocuMagix.

PaperMaster gives you control over the piles of paper on your desk--if you don't mind taking the time to scan your documents into the computer.

The program's menus are clear and easy to use, making the creation of drawers, folders and documents extremely simple. The drag-and-drop features let you organize and reorganize drawers, folders and documents in a snap.

The program keeps your documents organized and accessible with a graphical file-drawer interface. You can label each drawer with any of 63 provided icons as well as a name or description. Drawer names can be up to 255 characters long, and you can make them stand out by choosing from eight text colors. You can drag and drop file drawers to put them in any order. You can also lock file drawers with password protection to ensure privacy.

Within each drawer, you can create file folders that can also be any of eight colors and labeled with long names. The process of adding documents to folders is as efficient as the ISIS- or TWAIN-compliant scanner that you use to digitize your hard copy. You can also import documents created in other programs by printing them to the filing cabinet. The AutoFiling feature recognizes documents that you enter regularly--like a form or a bank statement--and suggests where you might want to store them.

Once a document is in the system, you can view the document image, but you can't edit it. You can, however, annotate documents with the sticky-note feature. The document window also contains thumbnails of each page in the document. You can move through the document by clicking on the page you want, or you can rearrange the pages by dragging and dropping the thumbnails. Only the size of your hard disk limits the number of drawers, folders and documents that you can keep in the system.

After your documents are filed, PaperMaster helps you find them. Rather than rooting through stacks of paper on your desk, you can search by file name, annotation or file contents for any document you've entered. The program offers to search the entire filing cabinet, a certain drawer or a certain folder. You can then access the document by double-clicking on it in PaperMaster's list of files found. To search for keywords in a document's contents, the program must have read and indexed each one. The Read & Index function takes a little time, but it runs in the background so you can continue to work.

If you are working in a small or home office and want to cut down on the number of office machines you have to buy, PaperMaster offers some other advantages. The Copy/Fax option can send any document in the filing cabinet to a fax card or printer so your PC can take the place of a fax machine and photocopier.

Although the scanning time required to convert the volume of paper in my office to an electronic format makes PaperMaster impractical for every document I have, this program is helpful for keeping track of important documents or for archiving electronic and paper documents in a single location.

Now that I have PaperMaster, I can produce a sequel to Attack of the Killer Mail and call it Escape from Mail-catraz.

Info File

PaperMaster 1.0

Price: $169

In Brief: Document management is easy with PaperMaster's file drawer and folders. Drag-and-drop features and good search capabilities make organizing documents a cinch.

DocuMagix

800-DOCU-MAGIX, 408-434-1138.


Feb 95 FI: AutoCAD Release 13

New Look For Key Cad App

By: Ranjit S. Sahai

For years, DOS was AutoCAD's first priority. New features appeared in the DOS versions of AutoCAD before migrating to other platforms. Release 13 for Windows is a milestone that indicates a shift from the original strategy. Not only is the Windows version being shipped concurrently with the DOS version, but it also contains features that will never migrate to the DOS version of this high-end CAD program.

New features offered in only the Windows version include multiple floating toolbars, a text editor, electronic documentation, interapplication communication, an enhanced command window, and an interactive tutorial and tour guide. Taking into account the larger installed base on DOS, Autodesk is making the switch to Windows easier by offering a multiplatform license that lets you run any or all of the three versions available--DOS, Windows and Windows NT--on the same machine.

In previous Windows versions, AutoCAD lagged behind its competitors in the interface department. But with Release 13, AutoCAD has come back with a vengeance. It now has a set of 17 toolbars, a resizable drawing window and a command window that can be moved to any convenient location. It also lets you assign keystroke combinations as shortcuts to any menu option, and the excellent help and on-line tutorials get a novice up to speed easily.

One of the first things you'll notice when starting AutoCAD is the absence of Draw and Modify options on the menu bar. Instead, you have the Draw and Modify floating toolbars. Most icons on the toolbar also provide access to related commands through what AutoCAD refers to as flyouts. When you pause over an icon, a horizontal toolbar of related icons flies out. For instance, if you hold the cursor over the Arc icon, you are presented with a flyout that provides 11 ways to draw an arc. Release 13's drawing and editing tools are excellent in scope and flexibility. They incorporate an unmatched undo capability that lets you step back through every command all the way to your last save.

To save you from zooming and panning when you move around your drawing, AutoCAD provides an Aerial View window. You click on the Airplane icon in the Standard toolbar to bring up the small Aerial View window that displays your whole drawing. To move to a particular area on your drawing, you select that region in the Aerial View window. Another way Release 13 improves viewing is with a library of materials that can be assigned to the surfaces of 3-D models. This helps you get a more realistic view of your rendered design.

Other new features of Release 13 include an integrated spell checker; support for external databases such as dBASE, Oracle and Paradox; precise splines for the modeling of complex solids based on curves; and object grouping as nameable selection sets for greater flexibility while manipulating groups of objects. Dimensioning has been enhanced through integrated GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing) symbol generation, and there is now support for new geometry, such as true ellipses.

Despite the outstanding feature set in this release, there is still room for improvement. High on my wish list are line weight as an element attribute and command options in a dialog box interface, instead of key ins on the command line. These features are offered in many low-end packages and Autodesk would do well to add them. Nevertheless, you will find features in Release 13 that can make design work in Windows with AutoCAD easier than with any prior version of the program.

Info File

AutoCAD Release 13

Price: Diskettes, $3,995; CD-ROM, $3,750; upgrade from Release 12, $495

In Brief: This is the best AutoCAD upgrade ever, with much-improved usability for Windows.

Disk Space Required: 46MB

System Resources: 11%

RAM: 16MB

Autodesk

800-964-6432, 415-332-2344


Feb 95 FI: Suite Imaging

Suite Talk: Multimedia Kit

By: James E. Powell

Suite Imaging is a collection of three powerful graphics tools--InterActive, Digital Morph and Kai's Power Tools--with a range of sophisticated features that promise professional multimedia productions.

InterActive is at the core of the suite. It has everything you need to create a multimedia presentation, including a graphics editor, an audio editor and a 3-D charting package called Perspective. There's also a screen-capture utility, an animation tool and even a runtime module so you can distribute your presentations.

InterActive uses an icon-based flowchart for building multimedia shows. You build the presentation's structure using icons that can display shapes, change font styles and sizes, and change borders. A presentation can have branches and loops or wait for input from a viewer.

After you add the icons, you assign parameters to them. For example, to display a graphics file you add a Display icon to your flowchart, then click on it to define the file and its location. You can call up an editor, such as a .WAV file editor, to select portions of a sound clip, or the graphics editor to modify an image. The program includes two CD-ROMs full of clip media.

To keep things interesting, the program also has plenty of special effects, such as wipe, zoom, fade and 3-D shadows. The animation tool, Iconanimate, lets you animate your presentation by defining paths for bitmaps to travel.

Perspective, the charting package, includes line, bar and pie charts. You can quickly toggle between a spreadsheet-like table and a chart. Perspective is a basic charter that won't rival your spreadsheet's charting module. Integration with the other suite applications is nonexistent, and printed documentation for Perspective was not included in the package.

RezSolution, InterActive's graphic utility, lets you manipulate graphics, allowing you to adjust their sizes to maintain proper proportions if the application is run under a different resolution. You can adjust the number of colors, too, so that an image maintains its integrity when viewed at other color depths.

InterActive isn't immediately intuitive, and I found the user guide often misleading. There's no tutorial and only one demo file. This is not a product for those who are afraid to experiment.

Digital Morph is the second component of the suite. With it, you can create an animated .AVI file of a morph between two images by specifying field lines on the source and destination images. You can also warp, or distort, an image using grid lines that you can stretch. You can select a portion--or cutout--of an image and move, scale, rotate, flip or animate it. You can also modify its color or texture.

Perhaps the most "fun'' feature is the third component, Kai's Power Tools (KPT). KPT is an add-in tool with 33 different filters and extensions for programs that are compatible with Adobe's plug-in standard, including Adobe Photoshop, Aldus PhotoStyler, Fractal Design Painter, Fauve Matisse, Corel Photopaint, Altamira Composer and Micrografx Picture Publisher.

There are two types of filters in KPT: filters with a user interface for customization and predefined filters. Effects in the latter group include pixel diffusion, contrast and color brightness sharpening, adding a glass lens to your graphic, and putting a page curl on the corner of an image.

Among the user-interface filters are a gradient designer, a tool for gradients on paths (for creating rainbows, for example); a fractal explorer for working with Julia and Mandelbrot set fractals; and a texture explorer for creating marbled or textured backgrounds. All of the filters are expertly done, and if you're a professional artist, you'll love the level of control KPT provides. If you aren't, you'll love playing with all the combinations.

The suite uses three separate installation programs, has separate user guides and virtually no interaction among the programs. There is no question that the tools are powerful, but they'd be even more useful if they were truly integrated.

Info File

Suite Imaging

Price: $395

In Brief: The combination of InterActive, Digital Morph and Kai's Power Tools is powerful, but the suite needs better integration.

Disk Space Required: 25MB

System Resources: 8%

RAM: 8MB

HSC Software

805-566-6200,  fax 805-566-6365


Feb 95 FI: Lexmark Optra Lx

High-Speed Laser On The Mark

By Hailey Lynne McKeefry

With Lexmark's Optra Lx laser printer in my corner, I may never have to leave my desk again. The MarkVision software lets you monitor all printer functions from your computer, and the 500-sheet paper tray lets you do a lot of printing between fill-ups. It prints 8 pages per minute at 1200x1200 dots per inch, or 16 ppm at 600x600 dpi or 300x300 dpi.

The included MarkVision printer utility provides bi-directional, intelligent communication between the Optra Lx and your PC. You  can access the printer operator panel from your desk. The software does it for you, allowing you to reset fonts and their point size, symbol set or source, right from your PC. You can change paper settings such as source, size and orientation. You can also control setup options like specifying printer language and resolution. If a paper jam or shortage occurs, the software's operator panel will indicate the problem. You can even reset the printer or print a test page.

MarkVision also gives detailed printer statistics and lets you change the printer drivers. Drivers for Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Lotus 1-2-3 2.x and 3.x, Word 5.0 and 6.0, WordPerfect 5.1 and 6.1, Microsoft Works 2.0 and 3.0, and Harvard Graphics 3.0 are included.

A variety of printing modes are available to optimize print quality and energy savings. The Print Quality Enhancement Technology mode smooths the edges of characters and lines in  text and graphics. You can use the PictureGrade feature to refine gray shading in PostScript Level 2 emulation and to adjust print darkness and paper type.

For environmental considerations and cost savings, the Duplex Option  prints on both sides of the paper, while the Toner Saver option prints in draft mode to save ink. With the Power Saver feature, you can set an idle time between one and 120 minutes, after which the printer will go into a reduced power mode. The Optra Lx is EPA Energy Star approved.

This printer is easy to install: It's as simple as attaching a parallel cable from the printer to your computer and plugging in the printer. All you need to do after that is install the software from two diskettes, slide in the ink cartridge, and you'll be up and running.

The Optra Lx doesn't look like most other laser printers. Although it's quite tall, the Optra Lx has a rather small footprint; the unit measures 17 by 16 by 15 inches. The paper output lands in a deep well that holds up to 250 sheets. The well is slightly tilted, and a metal U-shaped paper stop at the top prevents your documents from flying out. There is also a 500-sheet output bin that can be accessed by pulling out another paper stop. When the 500-sheet bin is in use, the printer software detects when the bin is full, stops the printer and displays a warning message until it is emptied and can resume printing. The manual-feed option

lets you print heavier stocks as well as transparencies.

This unit puts high-end laser printing on your desktop or network for less than you would expect to pay. The $2,999 printer uses an AMD29030 25MHz controller. It also ships with 4MB of memory--upgradable to 64MB--as well as 39 Type 1 scalable fonts, 36 scalable Intellifonts, 10 TrueType fonts and two bitmapped fonts (PostNet and line printer). PostScript Level 2 and enhanced PCL 5 emulation is standard.

The Optra Lx comes with a high-speed parallel and a serial interface. The unit also has two slots for internal, optional Ethernet, Token-Ring and Local-Talk network adapters.

Other options for the Optra Lx include a second 500-sheet paper tray, a 100-sheet auxiliary feeder for labels and cardstock, and a 40MB hard disk for storing downloaded forms, signatures, macros and fonts.

The Optra Lx is a printer that you can control from your PC, and despite its relatively high price, it's still a good value for the money. Duplex, Toner Saver and Power Saver options help you save energy and cut down spending on consumables.

Info File

Lexmark Optra Lx

Price: $2,999

In Brief: A high-end laser printer that's easy to get up and running, the Optra Lx and its MarkVision utility put the printer controls at your fingertips--right on your PC.

Lexmark International

800-358-5835, 606-232-2000


Feb 95 FI: Suretrak Project Manager

Managing To Keep On Track

By: Sara G. Stephens

If focus is the key to effective time management, then SureTrak is the locksmith. Its vast array of tools for schedule creation, updates and manipulation opens the door to effective, responsive project management.

I tested an early beta version of the program. While some features were still under construction, enough were working for me to build a production schedule for WINDOWS Magazine.

SureTrak is network ready, with support for server-based and peer-to-peer network systems, including Novell NetWare 3.11 or later, Banyan's Vines 5.0 or later, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, NT Advanced Server, IBM LANServer 3.0, Artisoft LANtastic 5.0 or later and others.

SureTrak's most distinguishing trait is its set of customization features. It offers more options for presenting, organizing and reporting data than I've encountered in any project management package. You can customize your workspace with bar colors, logos or other graphics, using easy-to-follow dialog boxes and Primavera Draw, a drawing app that's included. A broad range of filters--combined with a pivot capability that lets you view data from different angles--presents almost unlimited options for organizing project information.

SureTrak's usefulness in tracking and managing schedules stems from the tremendous amount of detail you're allowed to enter when creating your project schedule. To begin, you plug in your project's ideal start date and a finish date on the Activity Table, the main workspace.

After you fill in the activity columns with descriptions, durations and lags, SureTrak automatically calculates late start and finish dates. If you're diligent in updating your schedule's progress, you can use the Total Float column to stay informed of how much slack or slip time is associated with each activity.

To determine appropriate durations for activities, SureTrak considers the distinct effects that different resources have on the time an activity requires for completion. You can define each resource as being Driving or Nondriving. Driving resources determine the duration of the activity to which they're assigned; Nondriving resources don't. You don't have to worry about distilling this information into duration calculations--SureTrak takes care of it for you.

Activities can be grouped by activity codes, in outline order or by work breakdown structure (WBS). You can later use these groupings to organize, summarize, sort and filter your project data. Although the default activity code dictionaries are Responsibility (who's in charge of the activity), Area and Phase, you can add other dictionaries to these, or replace them entirely with whatever sorting mechanisms work best for you.

If you make it through schedule creation, you've earned the package of tracking and updating tools that SureTrak offers. One particularly handy feature is a Spotlight button, which highlights activities that are underway or scheduled to start. The activities are highlighted on the activity columns, with their corresponding time frames shaded on the bar chart. The program then automatically estimates the progress for the activities and their resources.

SureTrak's most unique, exciting and potentially useful feature is its Mail option which, alas, wasn't fully operational in the beta I tested. The MAPI- and VIM-compliant e-mail features will let you use an e-mail program to send project information to anyone you want--without leaving SureTrak. You can send the entire project as a compressed file, a snapshot of the project window or specific activity information. You'll also be able to use information you receive via e-mail to update your project schedule.

SureTrak is for the serious project manager. If setting, monitoring and updating project schedules is one of your primary responsibilities, get ready to embark on a steep but worthwhile learning curve.

Info File

SureTrak Project Manager

Price: $695; until March 31, $299

In Brief: This is an outstanding collection of tools for creating schedules, tracking progress and communicating with project workgroups.

Primavera Systems

800-872-5457, 801-973-1300,


Feb 95 FI: NEC Versa M/75TC

Notebook'S Screen Turns Heads

By: Jim Forbes

NEC has been an active player in the notebook market for years. The company has shown it has the stuff for the long haul with a line of portable products distinguished by their rugged construction and reliability.

One of the newest NEC notebooks is the 75MHz 486DX4-based Versa M/75TC, highlighted by its 9.5-inch active-matrix true-color screen. This machine is targeted for portable presentations and limited multimedia applications, both of which push the limits of notebook computer technology.

In addition to its Intel DX4/75 processor, the NEC Versa M/75TC I tested had 8MB of system memory, a 340MB hard disk, an internal 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and an integrated trackball. It also had a built-in microphone and high-fidelity speaker system. The Versa M/75TC ships with Windows 3.1, DOS 6.2, a utility that displays remaining battery life, Windows Sound System and a runtime version of Video for Windows, in addition to other software offerings.

The Versa M/75TC has the usual array of connectors--parallel, serial and external monitor ports--as well as a PCMCIA slot that accepts one Type III or two Type II cards. It also has jacks for a microphone and external speakers or a headphone.

But the feature that is likely to catch your eye first and hold your attention is the Versa M/75TC's screen. The TrueColor panel can display up to 16.7 million colors at a resolution of 640x480 pixels and has a brightness control to the right of the screen. The display is noticeably brighter than other active-matrix-equipped notebooks that I've tested recently. It also does something that few, if any, of its competitors can match: It lets you unlock the display and swivel it around, so that a presentation audience can see it more easily.

The built-in sound system is acceptable, as long as you avoid cranking up the volume to its highest level. I plugged a pair of portable stereo speakers into the audio-out jack to get much-improved sound quality.

Under normal usage you should expect a battery life of slightly less than two hours with the Versa M/75TC, a little less than other comparably equipped notebooks. But it's likely that when this notebook is used for presentations, AC power will be available, so short battery life shouldn't be a major constraint.

To its credit, you can accurately monitor the Versa M/75TC's battery life with the included utility that provides an on-screen reminder of just how much juice is left. Still, it would be prudent to include a second battery in your standard Versa M/75TC configuration.

A second battery can be installed in the Versa M/75TC's multimedia socket, where the 3.5-inch floppy disk drive normally resides. This socket will also accept a number of other portable peripherals that NEC expects to be shipping in the coming months.

The keyboard is well laid out and has a comfortable level of tactile resistance. The trackball is mounted on the front edge of the notebook's case, within reach of either thumb.

The performance of the Versa M/75TC, as measured by WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune benchmark tests, puts it somewhat above average for its class. In the CPU test, the 75MHz processor registered 34.9 MIPS and 7.81 MFLOPS for floating-point operations--average scores for this CPU. The video system, with its local-bus graphics accelerator, topped 2.3 million pixels per second, and the 340MB hard disk logged transfer rates of 2.67MB per second. These last two scores are not exceptional, but they are more than adequate for a variety of graphics applications.

The Versa M/75TC, like the other Versa notebooks, features easy upgrades for components such as the hard disk, RAM and display. Its excellent screen, upgradability and good performance make the Versa M/75TC easy to recommend.

Info File

NEC Versa M/75TC

Price: $4,899 (estimated retail)

In Brief: A 75MHz DX4-based notebook with an excellent active-matrix display, the Versa M/75TC is intended for portable presentations.

NEC Technologies

800-NEC-VERSA, 508-264-8000


Feb 95 FI: Microsoft Bob 1.0

Hey, Bob, How Do I...?

By: James E. Powell

If you know someone who is struggling to learn Windows, introduce him to Bob. Microsoft's Bob 1.0 offers a shell that makes Windows more palatable to the neophyte. In addition to replacing Program Manager, Bob provides a suite of applets that makes writing letters, keeping track of your schedule, sending e-mail messages and balancing your checkbook a snap.

I tested a beta version of Bob, which uses the visual metaphor of a house. Instead of Program Manager's groups, you work within several rooms, like the garage, study or sunroom. Although the rooms can be customized, they come with GUI geegaws galore. Clicking on a calendar over the fireplace lets you view appointments. Clicking on the clock allows you to set alarms. The pencil starts a word-processor applet, and a stack of mail launches the e-mail manager. Other applets include a simple database, called Bob Household Manager, and a checkbook manager.

To set up your own Windows apps to launch from within Bob, you can use the Browse button or have Bob look through your hard disk for them. Bob can add the program's standard icon to the screen, or change the icon to a box or picture frame. Unfortunately, it can't use the .ICO file of your choice.

The included applets are designed for quick and easy use. The word processor, for example, makes correspondence easy. Select the type of letter you want to create and Letter Writer will offer hints to make the letter more effective. The program can place sample text in your letter, so you only have to fill in the details. It provides standard word processing features, such as spell checking, adding borders and changing font characteristics, but avoids some of the more complex features like multiple-column text.

There's even integration between the applets, though it's appropriately subtle. Whether you want to print a letter or e-mail it, Bob will open a common address book. The calendar supports private and shared calendars so you can add tasks to other users' calendars.

You won't find standard Windows GUI elements in Bob. There are no pull-down menus, and dialog boxes are transformed into lists of options in plain English. Because the options are so intuitive, there's no need for a help-file system or a thick user guide. The Other Options button keeps seldom-used options out of sight.

A choice of animated guides offers friendly help. If you don't do anything after a given period of time, you'll be nudged along: Rover gently barks. Take too long and Rover curls up and takes a nap. The guides address you by name, adding a personal touch that can make computers a little less intimidating.

A single click replaces double-clicking in most cases. If you try to click on something in error, Bob pipes up with an "Aren't you forgetting something?'' message and a pointer to what you must click on first. When Bob expects you to enter data, Rover sits in front of a typewriter and begins to type.

Bob can be installed as the default shell or as an icon in a program group. You can use Alt+Tab to toggle between the two, or click on Exit and you'll be offered the option of switching to Program Manager without quitting Bob.

One thing's for sure: Bob's interface is easy to learn and simple to use. Like a good mentor, Bob steps you through everything at an ideal pace, without talking down to you. It adjusts options transparently by watching what you do and offering choices that make the most sense. If you're having trouble with a concept, Bob goes more slowly. Once you've mastered a topic, it will offer tips instead.

Bob might be for neophytes, but it requires a mature hardware configuration with a recommended 8MB of RAM.

Even the most die-hard computerphobe will find it easy to use Windows with Bob. If you know someone who wants to use Windows without the high learning curve, and you're tired of being the tech support line, get hold of Bob.

Info File

Microsoft Bob 1.0

Price: Under $100

In Brief: An intuitive Windows shell combined with a suite of applets, Bob lowers the Windows learning curve.

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080


Feb 95 FI: HP ScanJet 3P

Scanner Underscores Simplicity

By: John J. Yacono

More for your money. That's what the HP ScanJet 3p offers--especially if you add the right software, a printer and a fax/modem, enabling this scanner to serve as a photocopier and fax machine as well.

Whether you use a scanner for document management or to scan photos for a desktop publishing project, this gray-scale scanner will make it as easy as a couple of mouse clicks.

The ScanJet 3p is a flatbed desktop scanner that produces clean, detailed images. Its maximum optical resolution is 300 dots per inch, but enhanced resolution reaches 1,200 dpi. It has 256-shade (8-bit) gray-scale capability, and if you need to generate high-contrast images, it can fall back to 16 shades (4 bits). It renders 300-dpi, letter-size images in about 10 seconds. You can scale 300-dpi images from 4 to 4,000 percent of the document's size in 1 percent increments. Documents must be 8.5 by 11 inches or smaller.

The ScanJet 3p is bundled with software, a SCSI cable, a terminator and a SCSI card for either an ISA or MCA bus. The software includes a copier utility, Calera Recognition Systems' WordScan OCR software and HP's own PicturePlace, which lets you scan, view and edit images.

Installation of the SCSI card and cables is a snap. The OLE-compliant HP PicturePlace and other software loads just as easily, so you can be scanning in minutes.

The software is easy to use, too. Click on the scanner icon and the machine scans in a preliminary view of the object, surrounding it with a dotted rectangle. If the scanner finds two separate objects--if you scan two photos at once, for example--it places a rectangle around each image. You can move and resize the rectangles to indicate the specific area you want. If you prefer, you can use the cursor to draw a free-form outline of the subject. Then you can press the zoom-in button to reveal greater detail. If what you see meets your approval, pressing the accept button will initiate a final scan and you will be prompted for a filename. Images can be saved as TIFF, .BMP or .PCX files. Importation is even easier if you have TWAIN-compliant software, since it allows you to scan without leaving the application.

The picture editor displays thumbnail pictures of your images so you can choose the one you'd like to work with. The editor is very easy to use: I added highlights and removed blemishes from a photo--and realigned its angle--in just a few minutes. The results of scanning both color and black-and-white photos, even when zoomed in very close, were nothing less than impressive. The contrast was sharp without sacrificing detail. No contrast or gamma correction was necessary for anything I scanned.

You can use the copier utility with the ScanJet and a printer to copy documents, saving you the cost of a photocopier. Similarly, if you have a fax/modem with fax software, you can use the ScanJet as an outgoing or incoming fax machine. The WordScan OCR software converts scanned-text images into characters, practically eliminating manual document entry. The software supports HP's AccuPage, which boosts scanned-image quality through the use of positioning algorithms. It also makes the software more productive as it recognizes and passes on formatting information. For example, if you scan in a table, the software recognizes the table and formats it the way your word processor would. The software also recognizes multiple-column text, so it doesn't run together the lines of adjacent columns.

There are two options available for the unit: a 20-page automatic document feeder for $239 and a scanner stand for $69. The document feeder can supply the scanner with 8.5-by-14-inch documents, while the stand allows you to place the scanner on top of most HP printers to save desk space.

All told, the ScanJet 3p is a quality machine. It produces excellent images and is simple to install. The bundled software is easy to use, and it adds value to the package by turning this scanner into a multipurpose machine that will certainly enhance your productivity.

Info File

HP ScanJet 3p

Price: $599

In Brief: An easy-to-use flatbed scanner, the ScanJet 3p produces excellent gray-scale images without installation hassles.

Hewlett-Packard

800-SCANJET 208-396-2551


Feb 95 FI: Perform 3.0

Forms Take Shape

By: Rich Castagna

From birth certificate to marriage license, our lives are built around forms. And with its need for orderly, organized information, business is no slouch at churning out fill-in-the-blanks documents, either.

PerForm 3.0 is a new forms design package from Delrina that I tested in beta. It's not to be mistaken for one of those high-end programs that handles routing, dips into corporate databases and has sophisticated sign-off controls. PerForm is for those who are struggling to get their word processors to create good-looking, functional forms. It has an easy-to-use interface that puts all the tools you're likely to need to forge a form within easy reach.

PerForm's work area can display two full 8.5-by-11-inch pages. You can use the zoom feature's eight levels of magnification to zero in on any portion of a form, so it's easy to see details or work on a specific part of your form.

There's an ample supply of tools available to build a form. The formatting toolbar changes depending on what functional area--font, border, field and so forth--is selected from the pull-down menu. But you don't have to settle for just one toolbar at a time. You can tear off toolbars and drag them anywhere on the screen. In fact, you can customize your workspace to your heart's content. The toolbar on the left side of the screen can be tucked into the opposite side, the top, the bottom or left to float. Ditto for the command buttons--you can put them virtually anywhere. If moving these tools around doesn't satisfy your need for personalization, you can rearrange the buttons on the bars, too, or remove those you don't need.

When creating a new form, you can use one of PerForm's templates with a form for an invoice, memo, credit application, payment past due notice and others. Besides the running start a template provides, you can get further guidance from the DelrinaExperts.

DelrinaExperts guide you through each step of the form-building process. For example, after selecting a template, a DelrinaExpert asks you to choose a basic, intermediate or advanced form. You can click through these and get an idea of what each is because there's a large thumbnail representation of each with a description of the form's features.

The Expert help continues as you choose a style for your form--standard, casual, modern or professional. There are similar dialog box choices for headers, company logos and watermarks. The final dialog boxes deal with the specific content of your form. In them you can enter information such as the sales tax rate for an invoice form.

At the end of the process, a click on Finish sends PerForm off to create a form based on your choices. At any point, you can back up a step or two and reconsider the choices you've made. Given the program's ease of use, it's not likely that a form will go too far afield. But if it does, you can go back to square one and start over.

When the DelrinaExperts finally let go of your hand, you can use PerForm's drawing and formatting tools to tweak your creation by modifying fonts, colors, graphic elements and so forth.

Fashioning a form is only half of what PerForm does. The program is also an effective way to fill forms and to keep track of the data that's entered.

In PerForm's form-filling mode, you leave the design palettes behind and enter a database environment. The drawing tools disappear, replaced by buttons for adding, deleting and navigating through records. On the menu bar appears a new Database item that lets you flip through records or locate one by its sequence number.

You can also use your form to do some simple math. For example, Delrina's invoice form templates are set up to calculate line items, subtotals, sales tax and the grand total. You can also build custom forms that work in the same manner by inserting a table in your form. There are several preformatted table styles to choose from. You can alter the appearance of the table and define the field values to fill its cells.

The beta I tested lacked documentation, but I was able to create a form in short order with the easy-to-use tools and context-sensitive menus that pop up with a right-mouse click.

With PerForm 3.0, Delrina proves that form follows function.

Info File

PerForm 3.0

Price: $129

In Brief: Delrina's new design program is targeted to those who are struggling to create their company's forms with word processors.

Delrina Corp.

800-268-6082, 408-363-2345


Feb 95 FI: Compaq Contura 400cx

Portable Shows Off Its Lineage

By: Rich Castagna

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

The Contura 400CX has the kind of good looks that make you want to circle around it slowly at first so that you can feast your eyes on its gentle curves. But the sculpted swirls and twirls of its charcoal-gray case have a practical side, too.

With sizzling CPUs and eye-catching color being the norms for notebooks these days, usability has become as much of a distinguishing factor as it is a selling point. Compaq's designers apparently had ergonomics at the top of their to-do lists, because they didn't just build another souped-up road machine. They created a notebook intended to make portable computing as comfortable as possible. And, for the most part, they've succeeded.

The CPU in the Contura 400CX is a 40MHz Intel DX2, standard fare for a notebook in the "value-line'' class. The base RAM configuration is 4MB, expandable to 20MB. Rounding out the components are a 250MB hard disk, a 3.5-inch floppy drive and an 8.4-inch active-matrix display. The unit I tested had the standard configuration, with an additional 4MB of RAM to bring the system memory up to 8MB.

The Contura 400CX has the usual connectors--parallel, serial, PS/2 and external monitor ports, and a PCMCIA slot that handles a single Type III or two Type II cards. It also has a proprietary port for an optional docking station.

The Contura 400CX's exterior features a healthy dose of ergonomics that start with the gentle curves on the top of its case. When you slip your fingers into the indentations at the front of the case and slide back the latches, the first sight you'll see is a palmrest that extends about two-and-a-quarter inches from the space bar. A recessed trackball is set into the palmrest, about an inch off center. A large button across the top of the trackball dips down and around the ball on both sides. A smaller button nestled in the recess below the ball stretches across the bottom and is easily accessed from either side.

Above the keyboard, a four-inch-wide area that protrudes from the notebook's top deck bears a striking resemblance to the dashboard of a car. This mini-dashboard houses the status LEDs, which are angled so that they are clearly visible. My only quarrel with this arrangement is that the battery-charge light is out of sight when the notebook's top is flipped down.

Another ergonomic amenity is the large red power button that's surrounded by a ridge of plastic to help prevent accidental power outages. A clip-on handle makes it convenient to get up and go with the Contura 400CX, and a couple of flip-down feet allow for a comfortable typing angle for when you get to where you're going. And you'll never have to worry about a flimsy back door popping off and getting lost--there is no door.

Perhaps the best of the ergo accomplishments is the AC adapter. It's a little large, measuring about 3 by 5 inches, but is only an inch and a quarter or so high. The half-pound unit plugs directly into a wall outlet with its flip-out two-prong plug, so you won't have to carry a bulky power cord. The sides of the adapter are indented, not only so that it fits your mitt when you plug it in, but also to provide a place to wind the extra long adapter cord. The wound- up cord attaches to itself with a small clip that's molded into the connector housing.

The Contura 400CX's case itself is rather large, 2 by 11.9 by 8.9 inches--although the unit is a relative lightweight at 5.9 pounds. There's a half-inch bezel on either side of the keyboard--more than twice the space on most other notebooks. Not surprisingly, the keyboard is large, spanning nearly 11 inches from key to shining key. There's actually enough real estate on the keyboard for another notebook maker to put up a subdivision of smaller keys. Working with so much room for your fingers to roam can at first seem like an embarrassment of riches, so it takes some time to stretch out and get used to the unexpected luxury.

Most of the Contura 400CX's keys are naturals, so you won't have to resort to digital gymnastics for keystroke combinations. Some keys, however, are in less-than-familiar locations. The Control key isn't out at the far left as you might expect, so you'll probably inadvertently land on the Fn key at first. The Home/End, Page Up/Down and Insert/Delete keys are all the way up in the right corner, requiring a trek from the home row that's unusual for a notebook keyboard.

The keys are full-sized, but their touch would be improved if they provided a little more resistance. More unnerving, though, was the hollow ping I heard when typing quickly. A couple of keys were not very responsive and required a little extra push, while others seemed to repeat even with a light tap.

The 19mm trackball is very responsive, and the large buttons are easy to reach and press. You don't have to paw at the ball to move the cursor cross-screen, because a single swipe will send it flying from edge to edge. But like the keyboard, its touch needs a little work: It was a little too free-wheeling and sometimes hard to control for precise cursor movements.

The NiMH battery that powers the untethered Contura 400CX lasted a hearty 2.5 hours on our rugged rundown test. In actual use, I was able to work for 3.5 to four hours between battery charges.

You can set the power conservation options via a software utility or by using an Fn key combination that pops up a tiny graphic of a faucet, which you can adjust using the left and right cursor keys. To further save on juice, you can put the PC into standby mode when you're not using it. When it slips into this reduced-power state, your working environment is saved and restored when you wake up the system.

The biggest disappointment is the Contura 400CX's screen. The active-matrix display is only 8.4 inches--not tiny, but smaller than those on many other full-sized notebooks. The sheer size of the case--and an outline etched into the bezel around the screen--make the 8.4-inch display look even smaller.

The quality of the display image was disappointing, too. The screen is on the dark side, and the display also has a definite blue tinge. While the images were well defined, the blue overtones muted both colored and white areas.

Screen brightness is controlled by an Fn key combination, like the power-setting hotkey.

On the performance front, the Contura 400CX registered unimpressive results on WINDOWS Magazine's Wintune tests. In the CPU-related tests, the notebook clocked 21.04 MIPS and 4.31 MFLOPS for floating-point operations--typical scores for a 40MHz CPU. The notebook's local-bus graphics system is aided by 1MB of RAM, but it only managed 2.1 million pixels per second, ranking the Contura 400CX among the average notebooks in its class. Similarly, the transfer rate for its 250MB hard disk was a fairly slow 1.55MB per second with 32-bit file access activated.

Along with its high style, the Contura 400CX carries a rather high price tag. Considering its lackluster performance, it could use a little interior renovation to complement its innovative exterior.

Info File

Compaq Contura 400CX

Price: As reviewed, $3,575 (street)

In Brief: The latest addition to Compaq's Contura line of notebooks is an ergonomic dream, but a so-so performer.

Compaq Computer Corp.

800-345-1518, 713-378-1442


Feb 95 FI: WordPerfect Works 2.0 / Clarisworks 3.0

Two Small Suites To Whet Your Appetite-Wordperfect Works 2.0 And Clarisworks 3.0

By: James E. Powell, Northwest Bureau Editor

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Statistics show that most people don't use 80 percent of an application's features. WordPerfect Works and ClarisWorks are good news for the 20-percenters who need a word processor, spreadsheet and database but don't want to wade through the fusillade of features found in full-size applications.

These two "mini-suites'' trim the fat by paring extraneous features. They take less of your precious hard-disk space, while shedding such capabilities as adding watermarks to documents or connecting a database to eight types of files simultaneously. What these integrated packages don't sacrifice is power.

WordPerfect Works and ClarisWorks each include a word processor, database and spreadsheet module, plus drawing tools. For everyday business productivity, or for a perfect set of applications for your home PC without a high price, you'll find more than enough features in either product to keep you satisfied for some time to come. They're also ideal for notebooks where disk space may be limited. But best of all, they're excellent performers.

Functionally, the programs are very similar, but their graphical environments do differ. WordPerfect uses several rows of buttons at the top of the screen, changing the icons depending on what you select. Claris uses a floating palette of icons for shortcuts that changes based on the object selected. It's a subtle distinction, as are many of the other differences.

Beyond their look and feel, there are scores of features common to both programs. The word processors let you create new documents, embed spreadsheets or drawings within the documents and wrap text around graphics. You can add footnotes, adjust columns by dragging markers on the ruler bar and create reusable document styles. Both have a spell checker, thesaurus and find-and-replace--features which you can also use with their spreadsheet and database modules. All modules in both packages have undo and redo options.

The WordPerfect Works word processor has smart quotes and lets you move text around using drag-and-drop, but it can't import a graphic into a document directly as ClarisWorks can. Claris' Assistants help you quickly create special-purpose documents, such as certificates, fax cover pages, promotional fliers and so on. ClarisWorks also offers an outline view. Not to be outdone, WordPerfect lets you embed notes in documents and quickly add the date and time, which can be set to remain the same or to update each time you open the document.

The flat-file databases in both products have everything you need to keep lists of customers, property, products or whatever else you need to keep track of. I found the database in WordPerfect Works easier to use, thanks in part to its easy-to-understand interface. For example, it is far simpler to create selection criteria with WordPerfect Works than with the cryptic symbols used by Claris. You can create your own forms, grids (tables) or labels using forms designers in both, but WordPerfect's grid looks and acts just like a spreadsheet, while Claris uses a slightly different format. Both databases have utilitarian built-in functions, such as text concatenation and date calculations.

The databases in the two Works let you create numeric, text, date and time fields. Both let you define a calculated field and a summary field for reporting. WordPerfect also offers a picture field for storing graphic images, such as .PCX or .BMP files. Surprisingly, neither offers memo fields, but both make it easy to create auto-entry fields for default values, serial numbers, pick lists of predefined values or verification fields that check for missing or non-unique entries.

From a design perspective, WordPerfect Works is the easier to use when it comes to changing the backgrounds and styles of database fields. In fact, ClarisWorks won't let you change fields' background colors at all. The two programs' naming conventions are suspiciously similar, too. In both you can select the "Part'' command ("Add Part'' in WordPerfect; "Insert Part'' in Claris) to add a header, summary or footer to a report. With either database, you can place subtotals on a report; in WordPerfect Works you can choose to place that subtotal at either the beginning or end of the group it summarizes. WordPerfect has the advantage for label printing, with support for 123 Avery labels formats to ClarisWorks' 50.

The charting and spreadsheet modules run neck and neck, though I give a slight nod to ClarisWorks' because its features are easier to find in dialog boxes. For example, it was easier to figure out how to add the percentage amounts to a Claris pie chart than one in WordPerfect Works, though WordPerfect let me select the distance each slice was exploded from the whole. And WordPerfect's dialog boxes are more straightforward for changing bar colors in a chart.

For pure number crunching, the spreadsheets offer automatic summation and a host of cell formats. In both products, you can toggle off automatic calculation for formula-laden spreadsheets. But there are several differences. WordPerfect can put negative values in red; ClarisWorks can't. ClarisWorks is slightly faster at sorting data. And when a descending sort resulted in incorrect references for total calculations, ClarisWorks restored the value by sorting the list in ascending order, while WordPerfect required the undo command. WordPerfect offers more help for building complex functions. With Claris you can see headers and footers on screen, but WordPerfect makes you use Print Preview.

Claris and WordPerfect provide graphics tools for adding rectangles, circles and freehand drawing. The draw modules support multiple layers, grouping and alignment options, and rotate and flip commands. The paint modules (for bitmap images) work like the Windows' Paintbrush, but with much more power, and with features such as image enhancement options, and flip and rotate commands.

Both products lacked some features. You cannot set the border thickness in a spreadsheet cell, for example. Both claim to have communications capabilities, but don't. ClarisWorks calls Windows' Terminal, while WordPerfect Works lets you launch any communications package you already own.

If you plan to do all your work with new files, you'll be happiest. Both programs had problems importing or exporting data in other formats, with Claris being the weaker by far. Claris couldn't import an Excel 5.0 file at all. WordPerfect did okay, including picking up the formatting, but its single-dimension spreadsheet couldn't handle data from Excel's second sheet, so it tacked it on the end of the first. WordPerfect Works wasn't able to open even the simplest file from Word 6.0; Claris could import the text but couldn't handle the table that was in the Word document. WordPerfect, on the other hand, was better at converting an existing tab-delimited file into its database and importing a standard dBASE file.

WordPerfect Work's layout is pleasing. I liked ClarisWorks' tool palette of shortcuts, as well as its Assistants for building new documents. ClarisWorks also lets you create a slide show with any type of document, though you can't mix a page from a spreadsheet with one from a word processing document.

ClarisWorks topped WordPerfect Works in one important category: documentation. WordPerfect's manual was little more than a glorified list of help topics that you can read on-line. Claris shows you the basics of each module with application suggestions. Both programs have a guided tour to get you started, complemented by plenty of on-line help. WordPerfect ships with dozens of sample documents and a special edition of Quicken. Claris includes a copy of FaxWorks 3.0.

The differences between ClarisWorks and WordPerfect Works are so subtle that you're likely to make your choice based on a specific feature that one has and the other lacks. Either way, you can't go wrong. With both you get ample power without investing heavily in time, money or hardware.

Info File

ClarisWorks 3.0

Price: $99; upgrades, $49 (includes Borland Sidekick through Jan. 31)

In Brief: Slim and spry, this integrated suite shows great improvement from its previous version.

Disk Space Required: 9MB

(full installation)

System Resources: 9%

RAM: 4MB (8MB recommended)

Claris Corp.

800-3CLARIS, 408-727-8227

WordPerfect Works 2.0

Price: $109

In Brief: WordPerfect's suite has an excellent mix of features with a strong word processor and a good spreadsheet.

Disk Space Required: 13.5MB (full installation)

System Resources: 23%

RAM: 4MB

WordPerfect, the Novell Applications Group

800-451-5151, 801-225-5000


Presenting...A Windows Presentation Contest

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Do your presentations make your audience sit up and take notice--or nod off to sleep?

In either case, we want to see them! Send us a copy of a presentation that you created in a Win-dows program. We'll publish examples of the best work we get to recognize your accomplishments.

We'll also select a few that could use some sprucing up and show before-and-after versions. If we choose your presentation for recognition or redesign, we'll ask you to submit it to us on disk. We regret that we cannot acknowledge or return sample presentations that are not chosen for follow-up. No phone calls or e-mail, please!

Please mail a paper copy of your presentation to Presentation Contest WINDOWS Magazine, One Jericho Plaza, Jericho, NY 11753. All entries must be received by March 1.


Feb 95  Pullout - How to Buy Tax Software

How to Buy Tax Software -This year, surprise the IRS with neat, complete and perfectly calculated tax returns. It's a snap (well, almost) with the right software.

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

FIRST CHOICES

Make several copies of this worksheet, and fill out one for each program you are considering. Use the completed worksheets to compare products and their features.

1. ALL THE FORMS YOU NEED

The tax program you buy should include every form you need to use, including any recently issued by the IRS. Most tax programs provide commonly used federal forms, but it's a good idea to determine if less-common forms and schedules are included as well. If you use more than one federal form, look for an application that transfers the appropriate data from one form to another.

Most vendors offer separate state tax programs. You can usually purchase state tax programs state by state, but beware--not every vendor offers forms for every state. That may be a concern if you have two residences or live and work in different states.

If you want to prepare both federal and state tax returns on your PC, look for a federal forms program that automatically enters data into the appropriate fields of your state forms program.

Checklist

•	Includes all necessary federal forms

•	Transfers data from one federal form to another

•	Vendor offers all necessary state forms

•	Federal forms package automatically enters data in state forms

2. DATA IMPORT

Make sure you can import all the information you entered into your financial management program over the past year. Most tax preparation applications import the .TXF (tax exchange format) file format, which is  supported by many money management applications for data export. At the very least, make sure you can import ASCII files if you need to bring in data from another application.

Checklist

•	Imports .TXF

•	Imports ASCII file format

3. PRINTED FORMS/ELECTRONIC FILING

You should be able to print IRS-approved forms with your tax package. You may also want a package that supports the 1040PC, a format specific to computer-printed returns that the IRS can process more quickly than the standard 1040 form. With the 1040PC you can also specify the direct deposit of your refund (if any).

If you have a modem, consider a program that lets you file your returns electronically. Some tax programs offer this capability, often at a slightly higher cost than those that don't offer it.

Checklist

•	Prints IRS-approved forms

•	Prints 1040PC form

•	Supports electronic filing

4. PEACE OF MIND

Buy a tax package from a vendor that promises to pay any penalty due to a miscalculation by the software. Covering all the bases is the only way to avoid having to pay any penalties for errors made by your software.

Also, look for an application that double checks your entries. Some programs provide auditing features, also called reviewers, that act like watchdogs. Auditors flag any items in your returns that might appear suspicious or out of the ordinary to the IRS, such as omissions or errors. In addition, some reviewers offer suggestions on how to fix potential problems.

Checklist

•	Vendor will pay penalties due to computational errors made by software

•	Software offers auditor/reviewer feature

5. HELP/TECH SUPPORT

Make sure official IRS instructions come with your tax program. If you're inexperienced at filling out tax returns, get an application that offers additional help. Most programs offer the usual context-sensitive help, but some go out of their way to guide you through the process. Look for on-line accountants, or interviewers, that provide information and ask questions relevant to the data you are currently entering. Some programs also feature advice from renowned tax consultants. If timeliness is an issue (that is, if it's April 14 and you're just starting your taxes), consider a program that allows you to enter real-life data in a worksheet as you learn how to use the program.

Reliable and affordable technical support is also an important consideration. Make sure you know what area code you'll be calling and the hours technical support is available. Keep in mind any difference in time zones. Will you have to call from your office or when your long-distance carrier rates are highest?

Checklist

•	Provides official IRS instructions

•	Provides sufficient context-sensitive help

•	Features sufficient extra help

•	Vendor offers acceptable technical support

6. HEAD START

Get ready to do next year's returns with a program that carries data over from the prior year to the current year. Many vendors also offer head-start programs that are made available before the IRS has issued the official forms for the year. Transferring data from a head-start program to the real thing is usually a simple process.

Checklist

•	Carries over data from previous year to current year

•	Offers head-start program

Related Software

The following personal finance and small business accounting programs received a WINDOWS Magazine Recommended seal or Windows 100 award in 1994.

Microsoft Money 3.0

Microsoft's personal finance application provides Wizards that step you through complex tasks such as loan calculation and retirement planning. Additional-fee services include on-line payment and banking transactions. Also featured are bank, cash, credit, investment and loan registers; and check, report and chart printing. The program  has a budgeting tool and exports .TXF files.

$24.95; Until March 31, $14.95 (estimated retail)

Microsoft Corp.

800-426-9400, 206-882-8080

Peachtree Accounting  Release 3.0

Flowcharts, folder tabs and icons give Peachtree Accounting an interface inviting even to nonaccountants. The program has a forms designer and dozens of predesigned forms, such as invoices and purchase orders. SmartGuides provide users with extra help. The program exports Comma Separated Values (CSVs).

$169

Peachtree Software

800-247-3224, 404-564-5700

Quickbooks 3.0

QuickBooks is an easy-to-use small business accounting package that looks and feels like Intuit's personal-finance application, Quicken 4.0. QuickBooks lets you generate a report that shows you when your bills are due. The program handles invoice creation and inventory management, tracks accounts receivable, and generates about 50 different reports. You can export ASCII, tab-delimited and 1-2-3 files.

$99.95 (direct)

Intuit

800-624-8742, 415-322-0573

Quicken 4.0

The Financial Calendar featured in Intuit's personal money-management application, Quicken 4.0, allows you to better manage your cash flow by plotting past, present and future financial situations. Quicken tracks virtually any type of investment and supports electronic bill payments. The program exports .TXF files and provides a direct link to Intuit's tax application, TurboTax.

$49.95 (direct)

Intuit

800-624-8742, 415-322-0573


9502 Win95 Hardware Related

Logo To Go

Build A Win95 PC

Goodbye To IRQsome Upgrades


Windows 95 - Does your system measure up? - Hardware

Does Your System Measure Up? - Before You Install Windows 95, Make Sure Your Hardware Is Up to speed. A little work now will save you a lot of time and trouble later.

By: David W. Methvin, Senior Technical Editor

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Part I: Upgrading Your Hardware, February

Part II: Installing Windows 95, March

Part III: Day-to-Day with Win95 (Postponed)

Windows 95 may not be on your dealer's shelf yet, but  it's already time to prepare your hardware for upgrade day. Don't even think about putting Disk 1 into your A: drive until you make sure your hardware can handle the new operating system.

In theory, Windows 95 installation should be relatively painless. The new Plug-and-Play support definitely makes hardware setup easier. (See No More IRQsome Upgrades) I've been running beta versions of Win95 on various systems, and the software has, for the most part, determined which hardware components are installed on those systems and how they are configured.

In this first of a three-part series, we'll show you how to get your system ready for a smooth upgrade to Windows 95. Next month, we'll arm you with configuration and setup tips for the new operating system. Finally, in part three, we'll tell you how to live day-to-day with Win95.

If you're buying a new system, look for one that is Plug-and-Play ready. Although some issues are unresolved--since Windows 95 will be the first operating system to support Plug and Play--the vendor should be able to provide BIOS upgrades to support the evolving standard. Make sure this is true of the system you're considering. If the hardware carries Microsoft's Windows 95 logo, that offers some reassurance that it is compatible. (See Logo to Go)

If you're planning to install Windows 95 on a system you already own, you might need to upgrade some of your hardware. If your system falls short in some areas--for example, if it has inadequate disk space or skimpy RAM--the Win95 experience could quickly turn into a nightmare.

Because Windows 95 is still under construction, nobody knows what hardware the final product will support. In addition, hardware drivers provided in the beta test versions might be removed later because of reliability problems. The bottom line is there's no guarantee that your hardware will work flawlessly with Windows 95, even if you follow all the guidelines here. But you'll definitely tilt the odds in your favor, so let's get to work.

Just 4MB! But Seriously, Folks...

Microsoft's stated goal was to have Windows 95 run as well as Windows 3.1 with 4MB of RAM. You hear less about that objective as the ship date approaches. There are so many new features and accessories with Windows 95 that the comparison isn't quite fair. For example, if you try to run Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with a network connection, Norton Desktop and a few other accessories, you'll find that 4MB isn't enough RAM. In fact, Win95 includes the equivalent amount of functionality right out of the box. Big applications like Word and WordPerfect don't take kindly to 4MB either.

In any case, 8MB is a realistic minimum for RAM, although more is better. If you have a 486 system with only 4MB of RAM, you can upgrade to 8MB for less than $200. If you're buying a new system, also take a look at the amount of RAM cache (also called CPU cache or Level 2 cache). A cache of 256KB is adequate, but 512KB is even better.

Dealing With Disk Drives

Odds are Windows 95 will support your hard disk and controller right out of the box. One good gauge of your disk subsystem's compatibility with Windows 95 is whether it works with the 32-bit options of Windows for Workgroups 3.11. If you use 32-bit disk and file access, your hard disk is probably ready for Windows 95. Even if you needed vendor-provided drivers in Windows 3.1--for a name-brand SCSI disk controller, for example--there's a good chance Windows 95 will support your hard disk.

You know what kind of hard disk you need, but how much space will you require? The beta version of Windows 95 took about 30MB of disk space, so don't even start an installation with less than 40MB free. In addition, you shouldn't remove Windows 3.x until you're comfortable with Win95 (more about that next month). Before installing Windows 95, reclaim some disk space by converting your Windows 3.1 permanent swap file back to a temporary one with Control Panel's Enhanced applet. You'll still be able to return to Windows 3.1 that way, but you won't waste the disk space while running Windows 95. You can also save disk space by installing Windows 95 right over your current Windows installation, although you won't be able to run Windows 3.x without reinstalling or restoring it.

You won't need to reformat your hard disk to use Windows 95. Drives compressed using Stacker, DoubleSpace or DriveSpace should also be supported in the final product.

Windows 95 uses a few sneaky tricks to let you create files with long names like "First Quarter Results.XLS.'' It creates a standard DOS filename as well, so older Windows and DOS programs that don't understand long filenames can "see'' that file as FIRSTQUA.XLS.

One word of warning: Once you've installed Windows 95 and started working with long file names, you can't boot back into DOS and use disk doctoring tools like Norton Utilities to change the disk. Those programs don't understand the new long-name entries and will destroy them. Fortunately, Windows 95 comes with defragmenting, disk compression and repair utilities that know how to deal with the new long-name format.

CD-ROM And Multimedia

If you don't have a CD-ROM drive yet, buy one. The most immediate benefit you'll get is an almost effortless install of Win95. Instead of shuffling a stack of diskettes for an hour, you just pop in the disc and answer a few questions. You'll also save hard disk space because you'll be able to read clip art and images directly off the CD-ROM.

Most CD-ROM drives use a SCSI interface. If you also use a SCSI hard disk, you can drive both from the same controller. Windows 95 supports the major brands of SCSI controllers right out of the box.

Some sound cards have an on-board SCSI controller for a CD-ROM drive. Windows 95 will recognize many common cards. If you have a sound card from Creative Labs or Media Vision, or a fully compatible clone, you're probably okay. Otherwise, check with your vendor.

CD-ROM drives based on the Enhanced IDE (EIDE) standard are due in early 1995. However, vendors still haven't worked out the details of how EIDE devices will work with the Plug-and-Play standard. Although EIDE-based CD-ROM drives should cost a bit less than those with a SCSI interface, it's hard to recommend them until the configuration issues are resolved.

Video Vexations Vanish

Video drivers are notorious contributors to system instability under Windows 3.1. Some vendors seem to have weekly updates to their drivers, but still can't crush all the bugs. Perhaps fearing that video driver problems would sully the reputation of Windows 95, Microsoft has done more video code development than it has in the past.

Even in the beta, the installation program recognizes many common video cards and resolutions. The beta installs quick, but stable, drivers. In addition to generic 640x480 VGA and 800x600 Super VGA, it supports chip sets from S3 and ATI, two of the biggest video chip set makers. Still, technology moves quickly, so you should find a vendor that can provide driver updates. If history is any guide, the drivers that come in your video card box will be obsolete long before the shrink-wrap is broken.

If you're buying new hardware, look for cards and monitors that support Plug and Play. Windows 95 will automatically query your hardware to find out what modes and resolutions it supports. If you don't have Plug-and-Play hardware, just fill in a few dialog boxes based on specifications from your owner's manuals. Either way, setting up your video in Windows 95 is significantly easier than in Windows 3.1.

Ports Of Call

Even your serial and parallel ports can ride the Plug-and-Play wave.

A modem is the most common type of device connected to a serial port. With modem speeds reaching 57.6 kilobits per second and higher, a hardware buffer is a necessity, not an option. The simplest and least-expensive buffered serial port uses the 16550 chip set. New systems with on-board serial ports should use this chip. If you have an older, unbuffered serial port, you can buy a two-port add-in card with a 16550 chip for less than $100. Alternatively, you can choose an internal modem that has the 16550 chip built in.

Parallel ports were mostly one-way streets in the past, with the PC sending data out to devices such as printers, but not expecting any back talk. With the increasing popularity of two-way parallel port attachments such as network adapters, the industry has defined the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) standard to improve two-way data capabilities. For best performance and configurability, you should buy systems with EPP.

When possible, Windows 95 queries the serial and parallel ports to determine what devices are attached to them. Instead of selecting a modem type from a huge scrolling list, you simply tell the operating system to sense the modem type. You can use the same procedure for printers on the parallel port. Since this technique won't work for all devices, especially older ones, there's an option to let you set them manually. If you happen to have an unusual communication device that requires special drivers, such as a Hayes ESP board or Intel SatisFAXtion modem, contact the vendor to see if its drivers will support Windows 95.

Tape Drive To Survive

Don't even think about installing Windows 95 without completely backing up your hard disk first.

It makes no sense for you to back up on diskettes. The best and most cost-effective option for a standalone system or a small network is a QIC-80 tape drive, which usually connects to the personal computer through the floppy disk controller. The bundled Windows 95 backup utility supports most popular brands of these drives.

Once you have Win95 up and running, make backup a high priority. As with any new and unfamiliar environment, you're more likely to accidentally delete a file or incorrectly configure an important system setting.

Now What?

What if you have an unusual disk controller or special drivers? Windows 95 can generally support these by loading your existing drivers and running them in 16-bit mode. However, this can hurt performance. Use this method as a last resort until you can get a Win95 driver from the hardware vendor--or, failing that, new hardware.

Whether you're in the market for a new computer with Windows 95 or just looking to upgrade your existing one, good vendor support can make the difference between pleasure and pain. Remember, though, you have alternatives to the system vendor. The vendors of your BIOS, video card, disk controller and other hardware may also have support programs. Many vendors run a BBS or forum on major on-line services where you can get advice and download updated drivers. With a little bit of preparation, your move to Windows 95 won't hurt a bit.


Logo To Go

By: FRED LANGA

Microsoft's Windows logo is supposed to make it easier for you to mix and match hardware and software products. The idea is that anything bearing the new "Designed for Microsoft Windows 95'' logo is guaranteed to be compatible with, and to take advantage of, the features of Windows 95.

This new logo replaces three current ones (Windows Compatible, Windows Ready-to-Run and Windows Compatible 32-bit Application). Vendors can go without  the new logo and simply state that their products are "for Windows.'' But if they do license the new logo, they must guarantee that their products offer the following:

•	Hardware must support Plug and Play (a mechanism for automatic hardware configuration, setup and enabling).

•	Software must be a 32-bit Windows app; use the Win95 user interface; support long filenames; provide automated installation and uninstall capability; and (usually) support OLE.


Build A Win95 PC

HARDWARE SUBSYSTEM	RECOMMENDED SPECS
RAM	8MB or more
Hard disk	500MB or more
CD-ROM drive	Double-speed or faster
Monitor	17 inch, Plug and Play through Data Display Channel (DDC)
Video card	32-bit video accelerator, 2MB video
Serial port	16550 chip or other hardware data bufferering
Parallel port	Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP)


Goodbye To IRQsome Upgrades

By: Fred Langa

If you never had to configure a sound card in a PC, count your blessings. Actually, adding any major new hardware to a system can be a royal pain, requiring you to delve deeply into the geekdom of IRQs, DMAs, UMBs, I/O addressing and the like. Though many users--especially among the likes of WINDOWS Magazine readers--are comfortable with these arcane rites, few of us really enjoy them.

Plug and Play (PnP) promises to obviate most, or even all, of these hassles. The idea is that a PnP system will keep track of itself, auto-configuring and enabling all add-on devices and automatically avoiding conflicts with what's already installed.

Easy Install

In real life this makes it simple to drop in a sound card, a new hard disk, a CD-ROM drive, modem, PCMCIA card or anything else you want to add. The system will sense the new device, identify it, adjust its hardware settings and load the required device drivers--all with little or no user input.

It also works the other way: Remove a device, and the system will sense that it's gone, automatically uninstall whatever device drivers were in use and notify your applications that the device is no longer present so they won't try to use it.

Plug and Play can also work for entire systems. Place a PnP notebook into a docking station, and the notebook automatically activates the station's hard disk, network, external keyboard and monitor. Undock the system, and it will smoothly revert to the internal memory, LCD, keyboard and so on. You won't even have to reboot.

There are three components in a PnP system: a PnP BIOS on the motherboard, PnP (software-configurable) hardware devices and a PnP operating system to manage it all. Windows 95 is a PnP operating system.

You probably can live with your older hardware devices. Although you won't get the full PnP benefit with such devices (no operating system can magically move jumpers or flip dip switches for you), the system will attempt to work around the settings locked into your older devices. If a device works under today's Windows, chances are it will work under Win95. As you upgrade with system components that are "Designed for Microsoft Windows 95'' PnP, or when you eventually upgrade to an all-PnP system, you'll then gain the full benefit of Plug and Play.

And you'll never have to mind your IRQs again.


Feb 95 Dialog Box

By Lawrence Magid

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Every Time You Turn Around, Another Company Bites The Dust.

Are you getting the feeling that merger mania is taking over the industry? Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Intuit is a good example. As I write this, the deal is pending approval from the Department of Justice. But if the feds give the green light, the world's largest software company will own the world's largest producer of financial software.

And that's only the latest round of the feeding frenzy. Microsoft gobbled up Intuit after Intuit devoured ChipSoft and Parsons Technology. ChipSoft was the leading tax software vendor and Parsons was number three in that category.

The Microsoft-Intuit deal is hardly unique. In 1994, networking giant Novell acquired WordPerfect Corp. Symantec, which already dominated the Windows utility market with its popular Norton Utilities, acquired its major competitor, Central Point Software. And Adobe, in an effort to paint a prettier picture of its position in the graphics marketplace, acquired competitor Aldus Corp.

When will it end? Is the software business going to turn out like the automobile industry, with three or four dominant players controlling nearly 100 percent of the market--and drastically limiting our choices?

A better analogy might be the beer industry. Once upon a time, hundreds of local breweries were spewing out unique brews, catering to every conceivable taste. Then the Millers and Anheuser-Buschs of the world bought up or outmarketed their smaller competitors until only a handful of suds makers remained. But look around: Once again, thousands of small breweries are springing up around the country. Some cater to a local trade; others market their wares nationally. Why have small beermakers succeeded where independent carmakers failed? Because the barriers to entry are lower. It's a lot cheaper to build a brewery than an auto factory.

The same is true with software. We will indeed see even more mergers over the next few years. But we'll also see plenty of new independent software developers. For one thing, each new paradigm shift generates new players. Back in 1984, just as the DOS market was beginning to become predictable, the Mac came along and fostered a slew of new companies. It happened again in 1990 shortly after Windows 3.0 was released. The early Windows players, at first, were lucky to break even. Today, many are flourishing.

Multimedia, another paradigm shift, has been the catalyst for still more startups. Vicarious, which publishes the CNN Time Capsule, is just one example of a successful company that wasn't even in business before 1993. We've seen plenty of other newcomers in this business, as well as joint ventures between traditional media companies and software entrepreneurs.

The Internet--that as yet uncharted and largely unexplored network of networks--and commercial on-line services represent the biggest software development and distribution opportunity since the dawn of the industry. We'll see thousands of new developers selling their wares and services over the Net. Some, like SPRY, publishers of Internet In A Box, will develop better and easier ways to access the Net. Others will use the Net to distribute software, and still others will develop programs that actually run while you're on line.

The major new force in software will come not from computer programs themselves but from information. Remember the movie The Graduate? Before young Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) went upstairs with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), he was approached by a middle-aged man who had one word of advice: plastics. If the movie were set in 1995, the word would be content.

Content, too, is a form of software, and you don't even have to be a programmer or network guru to cash in on it. Tens of thousands of players, ranging from sole proprietors to media empires, will jump into the content game.

Even though I'm not thrilled about giant companies playing Pac Man with smaller ones, I'm not worried about the state of the industry. Opportunity still abounds for the little guys.

Lawrence Magid is a syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those held by WINDOWS Magazine. Have an opinion--or a gripe--about Windows computing? Send it to Mike Elgan. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 Windows At Work

By: Cheryl Currid

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

The Time Is Finally Ripe To Turn Your Back On Black And White.

Color printer sales more than doubled from $1.1 billion to $2.6 billion last year, according to a report by IDC, a market-research group in Framingham, Mass. Tempted by an array of new lower-cost offerings, from sub-$300 ink-jet printers all the way up to network-connectable $7,000 color lasers, customers responded with their checkbooks, credit cards and purchase orders. I predict an even stronger sales surge will follow.

All is almost well on the way to a more colorful future. I still see one stumbling block, and it's not technology. In addition to widely available color-printing technology, most Windows-based software packages come color-ready. For years now, the big three word processing packages (Ami Pro, Word and WordPerfect) have made color selection as easy as font selection. Spreadsheet and presentation packages have, too.

The stumbling block isn't acceptance of color printing, either, because the benefits are clear to see. First of all, color printers cut costs. Many of the marketing or collateral materials you currently send out to expensive service bureaus don't really require the quality of offset printing. With low-cost color printers and per-page supply costs as low as 7 to 24 cents, you stand to save a bundle bringing in short-run jobs that don't demand absolutely perfect quality. And you can save time by doing the job down the hall rather than sending it across town.

For example, I recently saw a hotel menu printed on a $1,695 (list price) Tektronix Phaser 140 bubble-jet color printer that looked as good as any professionally printed menu. And it sure helps the hotel staff to have local control of printing when they run out of pink champagne ice and need to substitute lime. No need to have the waiter make excuses for an unavailable item--just change the menu and reprint it. It's cheap and easy.

Second, color leaves a lasting impression. According to the IDC report and many other studies, the audience retains the message longer when a presentation is delivered in color.  The same goes for almost anything printed in color. I've heard claims that color improves response rates for direct mail as much as fourfold.

Color also clarifies, so you can use it to highlight important information, such as "Please pay the amount shown in red.'' Some people maintain that printing instructions in color reduces the number of service and support calls.

So what's that stumbling block? Well, after watching a number of workgroups catch on to color printing, I see a pot of productivity problems at the end of the rainbow.

I expect that lots of people will blow lots of time while they figure out what colors to use, how to use them and how to reshape their documents to accommodate color. And those early attempts will probably look goofy.

Think back to the first time you got hold of a bunch of fonts. If you're like the rest of us, you spent ages trying to pick out just the right combination of serif and sans-serif faces for your documents. And during that period--I call it the "technology adoption valley''--your productivity plummeted.

But you don't have to repeat those font follies when it comes to adopting color. With a little planning, you can fast-forward through the technology adoption cycle.

Here are some hints:

•	Experiment off-hours. If you're committed to color, buy a color printer to use at home. With Hewlett-Packard and others offering decent ink-jet technology for less than $300, most people can afford  to do color at home. While you're at it, experiment with different types of paper for your color creations. For example, specially treated slick paper displays color much better than 20-lb. plain bond. Your company letterhead may or may not accept color well.

•	Learn about color. Just having color at your fingertips won't instantly turn you into Renoir. It's worth your while to tour the bookstore for new books on doing business in color. Some of the guidelines are obvious and similar to the ones we learned when we first discovered fonts, such as "Use color sparingly for maximum impact.''

But some of the tips may be new to you. For example, different cultures react differently to certain colors, so you'll need to choose your colors carefully if your documents go overseas.

•	Set some standards. Once you develop colors that work for you, share the information with your colleagues to help them over the hurdle. For example, you can select standard colors for headings in documents, the first letter of a new paragraph, or notes that appear in margins.

If your office produces regular reports, create a standard report template for your word processing software. At the same time, you might want to settle on other formatting standards, such as margin settings and page-numbering schemes.

I've been experimenting with color for several months, and I'm just about ready to pronounce color printing ready for prime time.  Products like Hewlett-Packard's Color LaserJet and the Tektronix Phaser 540 color laser printer have quelled my concerns about quality and speed. For workgroups on a tight budget, color ink jets, like the Phaser 140, are a viable option. Today's color printers work reliably and are easy to maintain. And they're on their way to becoming the new office standard, so soon you'll need to print in color just to stay competitive.

The only thing preventing me from giving the green light on color printing is my concern about productivity. So just do a little planning, then get yourself a color printer and paint the office red. And orange and yellow and green ...

Cheryl Currid is president of Houston-based Currid & Company, a research and consulting firm. She is also author of The Reengineering Toolkit (Prima Publishing, 1994). Contact her care of Mike Elgan. His E-Mail ID can be found by clicking on the search button at the top of this screen and searching for "E-Mail IDs."


Feb 95 The Explorer

By: Mike Elgan

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

Yo-Yos, Pet Rocks, Hula Hoops, Disco, Designer Jeans  And The Internet?

Okay, before you string me up, I'm not suggesting the Internet is just going to vanish like these fads did. Nor do I believe it's frivolous. Quite the contrary: The Internet will continue to be extremely useful--to the people who created and used it long before TIME and CNN ever heard of things like Internet protocols and emoticons.

Perhaps Internet hoopla is more aptly compared with the citizens band radio craze of the '70s. The press was brimming with reports that people in every profession were buying up CBs and learning lingo like "Breaker, breaker: Do you copy?'' The fad came and went, although the medium is still quite useful to truck drivers--its original users.

Likewise with the Internet. Everybody's talking about it. The mass media is packed with glossaries and explanations for the general public. It seems everybody wants to "surf the net.'' And for a while, many will give it a try.

But the Internet--that is, the non-graphical, command-line parts of it, such as telnet, mailing lists and gopher--is a fad. Sure, it's hip now to sling around Internet lingo and brag about cyperspace exploits. But most Windows users will tire of the Internet. On-line services are the future of cyberspace. Here's why:

•	Traffic jams at ftp sites. It's getting really hard to log onto some of the better ftp sites during the day. Each has a maximum number of users, and many sites seem to max out with alarming frequency. Unlike pay-to-play on-line services, these sites don't make money from their popularity, so they can't just expand service to meet exploding demand.

On-line services, on the other hand, are in business to make money. And just like any good capitalist endeavor, where there's profit there's competition. Microsoft, for example, plans to ship its MS Network on-line service with Windows 95. MS Network will feature e-mail and message areas you'll view in the Windows 95 WordPad applet. Messages will be in rich text format (.RTF), so you'll be able to use cool fonts and colors.

Microsoft says content providers will have extraordinary flexibility in the way they present their information, which should lead to graphically interesting, varied content. The interface for MS Network will be fully integrated into the Explorer shell. You'll be able to place on your desktop shortcuts to your favorite areas on-line, keeping them just a mouse click away.

America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy aren't standing still, either. All will compete with faster access, more services, richer content and better interfaces than any service currently offers. By this time next year, on-line services will be vastly superior to the ones we now use.

•	Snail e-mail. The Internet is a good, reliable carrier of e-mail, but that's changing. Growing Internet traffic is slowing down e-mail (see our January news story, Gridlock on the Information Highway, '' for the gory details). E-mail is such a killer app that it's killing the Internet.

As you probably know, you can send e-mail from any major on-line service to any other. But in most cases, the on-line services don't actually deliver the mail to other on-line services. They just dump it into the Internet and let it find its own way. Because of all this traffic, e-mail messages that used to take an hour to arrive at their destinations now take an entire day. It won't be long before Internet e-mail takes longer than paper mail.

As Internet e-mail service slows to a crawl, the on-line services will likely start offering direct connections to each other, speeding up the delivery of mail to minutes instead of days. These direct connections may support .RTF messages and binary attachments. A model for this already exists: MCI Mail and CompuServe offer a direct connection to each other that supports binary attachments.

As a mail carrier, the Internet will look increasingly unattractive to users whose expectations for performance and features just keep rising.

•	Massive mailing lists. Mailing lists are perfect for, say, small numbers of Internet-savvy grad students who want to share information on arcana. But most newsgroups nowadays don't offer a good way for business people to communicate. It seems that half the messages contain basic questions and the other half ask, "How do I resign from this list?''

And there's no way to control the quantity of messages you'll receive. When I joined the Windows 3.x list, I found my in-box inundated with a dozen messages an hour. Another list I used to be on has a frequency of about one message every couple of months or so. I quit both and found comparable on-line service message areas.

Mike's Law

You've likely heard of Moore's Law: The number of microprocessor instructions per second you can buy for a given amount of money doubles every 18 months (or the cost of a given number of instructions per second gets cut in half every 18 months).

Well, I've noticed another phenomenon (which I'll call "Mike's Law''--what the heck) whereby user expectations of computer performance and features double every 17 months. In other words, as fast as computers are becoming speedier and cheaper, our demands are increasing faster still.

According to Mike's Law, most Internet services will lose their appeal for average users, because they'll never keep up with rising user expectations.

But on-line services will keep up. The simple reason is that on-line services are businesses that compete with other businesses for revenue. Competition will push on-line service providers to cope with Mike's Law.

The Wonderful World Wide Web

I do believe one Internet service will continue to grow like crazy: the World Wide Web. To use the Web, you don't need to learn special commands or jargon. You just click your way through the information, jumping from server to server.

Unlike the rest of the Internet, the Web is graphical. And it works (usually). Most importantly, the Web will be able to keep up with user expectations of better content, although it too will slow down  as more people get on-line.

I see huge improvements in the Web in the coming months. The content is getting richer because there's a current explosion of new Web sites. Several companies are working on Win95 software that will let you set up your own personal or business Web home page, so even smaller businesses that don't use Windows NT will be able to set up their own servers.

Because it's easy and graphical, the Web will prove to be a popular and long-lasting phenomenon. In fact, the major on-line services will probably offer Web browsing from within their services.

As further proof of the Web's popularity, Microsoft recently announced its plan of turning Word into a Web viewer and Web-document creator by giving away a Word add-on that reads and produces HTML documents (the current standard document format for the Web). The company is also giving away a utility that lets people who don't have Word view Word documents.

It's easy to see what Microsoft is up to here. By handing out these two free utilities, Microsoft is trying to get people to use Word for the creation of Web documents in either the current, limited format or in Word format with all its colors, typefaces and embedded graphics capability. If the company succeeds, it will make the creation and browsing of Web documents easier and cheaper (at least for people who shell out the bucks for Word), and enable the Web to support more graphically sophisticated documents.

While general use of the Web flourishes, use of other Internet services will return to the people who built the Internet and for whom it was originally intended. The mass media will forget about these services, the public will move to on-line services en masse and the Internet fad will fade away.

10-4, good buddy.

Mike Elgan is WINDOWS Magazine's executive editor. You can contact him via the Internet--for now.


Feb 95 Win.INI

By: Fred Langa

Copyright (c) 1994  CMP Publications  All Rights Reserved

When 16 trillion bytes rain down on you, you better get an umbrella.

That's the volume of data traffic in any current month on one backbone portion of the Internet in the United States. It's an overwhelming, exhilarating, mind-numbing amount of data. And if you're not careful, it can drown you.

Last month, we talked about the necessity of getting familiar with the Internet and the World Wide Web, either via your company's network or through dial-up access with a fast modem. Learning to stay afloat in that sea of on-line data

will make you a party to the fastest-growing and most exciting portion of the computing industry today (come visit us at http:\\techweb.cmp.com/win). With some mastery of the Internet and especially the Web, you'll help yourself, your coworkers, your company--and maybe your career-

By: being able to find answers to almost any question. What's more, the Net fosters serendipity: You'll often find useful things you weren't even looking for.

But the downside is the sheer volume of data. You can spend a fearsome amount of your day connecting to sites or pages that turn out to be not what you wanted. Your best bet is to use the Net and the Web only for what they're good for--targeted searches on sites or pages that are known to be useful, and free-form exploration of new or rapidly changing topics or areas. In other words, don't use the Net or the Web to access static information that's available through other means.

"Other means'' can include a well-crafted CD-ROM. Used properly, a CD can be a figurative umbrella to shield you from the torrent of unwanted data that can wash out a Net or Web search. The authors of a good CD will have filtered out the nonessential information on a given topic, presenting you with focused, task-specific content. In seconds, a good CD can deliver information that might take days to assemble on-line.

We've covered many such tools in the pages of WINDOWS Magazine. Microsoft's TechNet, a two-CD set that's updated monthly ($295 per year, 800-344-2121 x160, 206-882-8080), is a good example. TechNet contains resource kits, knowledge bases, driver updates, product information and white papers on all the core Microsoft products. If you're a power user, and especially if you support other users, it's a lifesaver.

Our own WINDOWS Magazine Extra is a CD-ROM that puts hundreds of megabytes of Windows-based information at your fingertips. The first edition, available now, contains all 1,250 tips from our annual tips issue in an easy-to-use, searchable, animated help file format. This CD lets you use your PC's speed and power to find tips pertaining precisely to your specific Windows hardware or software problem. No wasted effort, no irrelevant information, and no flipping through back issues to try to locate the tidbit you need. Many of the CD's tips are supplemented by on-screen demos which show you--in real-time, narrated video--how to implement the tips.

We created the videos using Lotus ScreenCam, which captures everything that happens on a computer's screen and saves it as a standalone executable file. This method has three huge advantages over conventional camera-and-videotape demos. First, the focus is exclusively on the computer screen: no happy-talking announcers, props or distractions. You see exactly what the demonstrator did on his or her system, and you hear only an explanation of the steps. Second, ScreenCams don't require any add-on Windows drivers. They'll play back as-is on almost any standard, multimedia-capable Windows system. Third, you can copy ScreenCams from the disk. If you're the one coworkers turn to when their systems go awry, imagine the convenience of e-mailing an animated tutorial of the solution.

Our CD also contains a year's worth of the text of WINDOWS Magazine. As a bonus, it also includes about 100 cream-of-the-crop programs from our Superior Shareware pages. This alone could be worth the cost of the CD when you consider the download charges it'll save you.

And in the demoware spirit, America Online, Caere and WordPerfect have placed demo and trial versions of their software on the CD for you to try out.

Last, but certainly not least, the CD also contains a free copy of Wintune 2.0, the WINDOWS Magazine Test and Tune-Up Kit. Wintune will analyze your system and tell you exactly what to do to make it perform at its full potential (see Pull In for a Free Tune - Up).

The WINDOWS Magazine CD runs on any multimedia Windows PC (CD required, sound card and speakers optional but recommended). It costs $14.95, and will soon be available in bookstores and on newsstands, or you can call 800-255-8100 to order. It's an unbeatable value.

Someday, the Net and the Web may evolve to the point where your on-line connection will be the only data resource you need. But in today's less-than-perfect on-line world, access to a great CD will give you the closest available approximation of "information at your fingertips.'' Check it out!


Monitor Report Card

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950201.doc

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

and load a bitmap image into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950203.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn ' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


Spreadsheet Report Card

If you have Word for Windows or some other word processor that reads WinWord .DOC files (that is, there is an association in WIN.INI's [Extensions] section for the file extension .DOC)

and load this table into your word processor for sorting, editing or exporting.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950202.doc

(if you know you have Word for Windows or a compatible processor and this button doesn' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .DOC)

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

and load a bitmap image into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950206.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn ' t work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


Monitor Feature Table

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

 Feature Table p. 1

 Feature Table p. 2

and load one of these 2 bitmap images into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950204.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950205.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


Spreadsheet Feature Table

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

 Feature Table p. 1

 Feature Table p. 2

 Feature Table p. 3

and load one of these 3 bitmap images into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950207.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950208.bmp

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950209.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)


NT Server Feature Table

Most Windows computers have a program that views bitmaps.

 Feature Table p. 1

and load this bitmap image into your program for viewing or printing.

\ASCII\1995\TABLES\950210.bmp

(if you know you have the Windows Paintbrush applet--PBRUSH.EXE--or some othe program that can edit and view bitmaps, and this button doesn't work, Click Here to see how to create an association for .BMP)