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|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| || || || || || || || ||| |||| || || || |||| || || || || || || || Your |||||| |||||| || || |||||| |||||| GEnie ST || |||||| |||||||| |||||| || || || || || || || || RoundTable || |||||| || || || |||||| || || || || || || || RESOURCE! ||||| || || || || || || ONLINE MAGAZINE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// July 15, 1990 ~ A T/TalkNET OnLine Publication ~ Issue No.1.04 ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Publisher/Editor ................................... John F. Peters Co-Editor ........................................ Darlah J. Pine GEnie Lamp Staff: Sandy Wilson - Jeff Williams Fred Beckman - John J. Kennedy - Larry Duke """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" FROM THE DESKTOP ........ [FRM] ONLINE LIBRARY .......... [ONL] Notes From The Editor. GEnie Library Statistics. TELETALK ONLINE ......... [TEL] THE ONLINE FUNNIES ...... [FUN] Women And Computing. Cowtoons! HELP!!! ................. [HEL] OFF THE RECORD .......... [OFF] (NOT) For Beginners Only. Mini-Qwik-Views. ASK MS. GENIE ........... [ASK] HEY MISTER POSTMAN ...... [HEY] Q & A About GEnie. Is That A Letter For Me? UPS & DOWNS ............. [UPS] ST ELSEWHERE ............ [ELS] Singing The Download Blues... Other Areas Of Interest. PD_QUICKVIEW ............ [PDQ] LOG OFF ................. [LOG] Yours For The Asking. 'Till Next Time. [EOA] """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" READING GEnie Lamp GEnie Lamp has incorporated a unique indexing """""""""""""""""" system to help make reading the magazine a bit easier. Just load GEnie Lamp into any ASCII word processor or text editor. In the index you will find the following example: FROM THE DESKTOP ........ [FRM] ONLINE LIBRARY .......... [ONL] Notes From The Editor. GEnie Library Statistics. To get to the ONLINE LIBRARY column, set your find or search command to [ONL]. If you would rather scan the articles, search for [EOA]. [EOF] will take you to the last page. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ///////////////////////////////////// GEnie QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Naturally the person in charge of the mainframe knows / / absolutely NOTHING about telecommunications. There was / / line noise so he changed the keyboard. ARRRRRGGGGHH!!! / / I had to leave the room. :-)" / //////////////////////////////////// WAYNED. ////////////// [FRM]////////////////////////////// FROM THE DESKTOP / ///////////////////////////////// Notes From The Editor """"""""""""""""""""" o Gift of Time Update o It's Gonna Be A Loooong HOT Summer! o HP DESKJET OWNERS: An Offer You Can't Refuse! o RoundTable News o NEOCEPT REALTIME CONFERENCE! o GEnie Lamp Contributors GIFT OF TIME UPDATE In GEnie Lamp #3, I suggested to shareware authors """"""""""""""""""" to check into the Gift Of Time feature offered here on GEnie as an alternative method for users to register their programs. The idea is a good one. It allows the user to register the program with a minimum of hassles. There is one small caveat you should be aware of... the Gift Of Time option is available only in the United States. My thanks to Sandy Cerovich for filling me in on this. --= john =-- MORE RT TRIVIA Have you ever wondered which files have been downloaded """""""""""""" the most, what the average size of a file uploaded to GEnie is or who has uploaded the most files to the RoundTable? If so, don't miss Larry Duke's column, ONLINE LIBRARY for some interesting facts about the Atari ST library. HOT, HOT, HOT! Think it's hot outside? You should see how hot things """""""""""""" are heating up in the bulletin board area! Be sure to check out, "IS THAT A LETTER FOR ME?" in this issue for all the HOT details. HP_DESKJET OWNERS! The following message was posted in CATegory 4, """""""""""""""""" TOPic 9 by J.MEEHAN3. If you own a HP Deskjet, Joe has an offer you can't refuse! TO ALL... If you have considered doing the cable modification I have a deal you can't refuse. I moved my set up and did not have an extra plug for the line booster, so I decided to try the cable fix a'la DJ_MOD.FIX file #12219. It did work by the way. When I went to get the diode (the only part needed) I found the the smallest quantity I could find was 50. Since I don't need to modify 50 cables I will give-a-way "F R E E" the other 49. Just be one of the first 49 DJ and DJ+ owners to send me a stamped self address envelope. I will even send information on how to find line (pin) #1 at no extra cost! To take advantage of this offer, send a SASE to: Joseph E. Meehan 3034 Falcon Bridge Drive Columbus, Ohio 43232 Joseph's EMail address is: J.MEEHANS3 ATARI ROUNDTABLE NEWS """"""""""""""""""""" o For the quiz results, see the file QUIZ.RES (#15711) or download GEnie Lamp 1.03 (#15661). o Check out the demos of TWO new products from CodeHead Software, for the price of one! File #15719 contains demo versions of LookIt! and PopIt! o ISD Marketing is proud to announce the 1ST Annual Outline Art Creativity contest. -*GREAT PRIZES*- Check out file #15660 called OLARTCON.TST for details. NEOCEPT REALTIME CONFERENCE! Neocept, the makers of Word Up!, a full """""""""""""""""""""""""""" featured word processor, have been scheduled for an RTC. Here's your chance to get your questions about version 3.0 answered. The day : Wednesday - July 18, 1990 The time : 10:00 pm EDT The Place: ST Roundtable, Conference Room 1 ATARI RT QWIK_TIP For those of you who are no longer beginners, but """"""""""""""""" still looking for help with more advanced subjects, check out "Intermediate and Advanced Atari ST Subjects," a new book from Ralph C. Turner. It covers such subjects as binary code, file editors and control codes, disks and file recovery, hard drives, attaching 5 1/4 inch floppy drives, and more. I've enjoyed reading it, both for the review and for new information. (SANDY.W) CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE A special thank you to following people who """""""""""""""""""""""""" have contributed, (whether they know it or not!) to this issue of GEnie Lamp. They are: D.A.BRUMLEVE, DAVESMALL, HAWK, M.SQUIRE, M.MOTOGAWA, L.VALLEY, J.MEEHAN3, S.CEROVICH, TJ-TREE, C.F.JOHNSON, WAYND.,RANDALL5, GRIBNIF, M.GALE1, A.ZARCHY, R.GILLIES, C.WALTERS1, JEFF.W, LARRY.D and probably a few others we may have missed. (Sorry 'bout that!) The questions and answers found in Ask Ms. GEnie have been taken from the bulletin board area. Ms. GEnie would like to thank the following RT members for their contribution to this column: A.WESTON, SANDY.W, M.EASTER, BOB.Z, DOUG.W, CYCLONE and LEPULLEY. Thanks, everyone. The GEnie Lamp Staff //////////////////////////////// GEnie QWIK_QUOTE ///// / "Chet, Oh yes....and about the clock coming on at / / midnight .... you're exactly right, it was a joke! / / <grin> (I'll have to remember that in the future, / / that's the best euphemism for "bug" I've ever heard./ / "Oh sure, that wiping out the hard drive thing ... / / that's a JOKE! Hahaha! Don't you get it?")" / /////////////////////////////////// C.F.JOHNSON /////// [EOA] [ONL]//////////////////////////////// ONLINE LIBRARY / /////////////////////////////////// GEnie Library Statistics """""""""""""""""""""""" By Larry D. Duke (LARRY.D) For those of you that have a need to know extremely trivial facts (I include myself in this arena), I have compiled some statistics (sorta) of the ST Libraries. Some of the data surprised me. Little did I know... o The average file length is 38877 bytes. Sizes range from the minimum 1260 bytes (lots of them) to one gigantic upload. The largest file in the library is 1,830,780 bytes in length, uploaded by Dan Scott on 2/2/89. This file, GUITAR.ARC, contains digitized guitar music, and has been downloaded by some 29 people. o There have been 1797 uploaders to the libraries. Of these uploaders, the top 10 are: # UPLOADS ADDRESS -------------------------- 361 DARLAH 268 LUCZAK 154 SANDY.W 129 BANDBOX 123 ZMAGAZINE 123 SGUBER 118 ST.REPORT 104 L.GRIGGS 101 UNICORNPUB 101 INTERSECT o The average number of accesses on each file is 144. All files in the library have at least one download to their credit (sysops download ALL files before releasing them), with the top 10 in the library listed below: 1271 ARC.TTP X MPMONTGOMERY 860922 37800 5196 2 Desc: Archive for the ST.. at last! 12916 LHARC.ARC X ST.REPORT 891123 54180 2553 2 Desc: LH ARC VER .51 13310 ARC602ST.ARC X D.WAYRYNEN 891222 73080 2158 2 Desc: Latest ARC. 175% faster than 5.21C 2637 PICSW7.ARC X JAKOB 870421 39060 2150 28 Desc: New PicSwitch version 0.7 3122 STINVDRS.ARC X D.K.F. 870609 18900 1851 8 Desc: ENHANCED SPACE INVADERS FOR ST! 5148 SPSLIDE8.ARC X JKERSHNER 871213 8820 1537 28 Desc: NEW SLIDE SHOW FOR SPECTRUM PICS 4789 GALACTIC.ARC X J.FRADKIN 871116 37800 1517 8 Desc: Full version of Galactic Warriors 1558 MACNUDE.TNY X BOBR 861121 26460 1507 12 Desc: Possibly the BEST nude pic EVER! 12127 PINHED14.ARC X C.F.JOHNSON 890916 11340 1485 2 Desc: PinHead v1.4 - load programs *fast*! 8078 HAC_MAN.ARC X D.HELMS 880910 46620 1420 8 Desc: Pac-Man clone. Color.Good(joystick) These I found to be quite interesting. Most of the files in the 1000+ access category were older files. That shouldn't be too much of a surprise, since the greater time in the library naturally leads to greater availability. But, the files in the lower library numbers are still getting download counts. These files are all exceptional, and deserve the banner of being the top ten. If you don't have them yet, take the time out to download them (some of these files have been updated...PINHED14.ARC is now PINHED17.ARC, and LHARC.ARC is now LHARC061.ARC). o The libraries continue to grow at a functional rate. In the past year, 4,720 files have been added. That's 12.9 files per day, 90.5 per week, and 393.3 files per month made available for downloading. o The current storage needed to contain the ST Libraries (as of 7/12) is an amazing 397,482,120 bytes (that's 388,166 Kbytes or 379 Mbytes). At max capacity for a double sided floppy ( 80 tracks, 9 sectors/track...I know you can go bigger, but this is the standard), it would take 548 (1095 single sided) disks to hold this data. Where else could you get ST related programs, files, and product information? [EOA] [TEL]////////////////////////////// TELETALK ONLINE / ///////////////////////////////// Women & Computing """"""""""""""""" By Dorothy Brumleve I think the fact that fewer women use computers has many causes, so here's a peek at the ones I can think of offhand: (1) Many men got into computing as a subset of a hobby in electronics projects, an almost exclusively male hobby. (2) For years and years, computing required a kind of "inside" knowledge, much as UNIX does today. Those who weren't on the inside didn't have the info. (3) The general public does seem to think that computing requires an awful lot of math, and as we all know, girls are a rarity in math classes beyond trig, in fact, beyond algebra. This is a much- studied subject, and both societal and gender-difference reasons have been cited by researchers. I tend to think it isn't gender related. (inherently that is) (4) You have to know what a tool is for before you'll use it, and you won't use it then even if you do know what it's for. All the women I know in town who are into computing (including me!) got into it because of word processing. They were typists, or researchers, or simply letter-to-mom writers, and they used their computer first as a typewriter. Later they began to explore other applications. People keep buying these word-processing computers when they could be buying a more general computer. I'm betting it's mostly women who buy the damn things; they are scared off by the word "computer" but if it will only do typing, then they think of it as a typewriter and that's safe. My sister bought one of these overzealous typewriters that waits for 16 characters or something before it prints... $550. What a waste! (5) Every blessed arcade game out there (ok, TETRIS and KLAX are excep- tions are very carefully designed to appeal to boys). This means that few girls play arcade games, and since arcades are a portal into computing, I'm betting we'll have this gender disparity for many, many years to come. I have a daughter who is every bit as computer- literate as her brothers, but I only have one daughter compared to four sons, so my family is not going to put a dent in this problem when they mature... (6) Who makes financial decisions in a family? Who chooses the stereo? Who chooses the car? Who chooses the computer? At my house, my husband used to do all this stuff, and still does to some extent; I kept screwing up the checkbook. He brought home an ST. He didn't encourage me to use it, but my son did, and I learned in spite of him and ultimately took it over for myself. I think in a lot of families the man makes these decisions, and he makes them according to his needs. If my husband had brought home an MS-DOS machine as so many do, I don't think I EVER would have touched it. (7) Who designs the software? Is it designed with a woman's needs, a woman's approach to computing, in mind? Hardly. As in the games, many of the topics of computer applications are of little interest to the typical woman, especially if she doesn't know a database can help her do things, etc. Women not working outside the home are only exposed to the kinds of things the man of the house (if any) does on his computer (if any), and after all, the software was designed for men and by men. Women in business are exposed to all sorts of uses for computers, and they are more apt to use them at home as well, even if the software is sex-biased. Well, that's a start... --Dorothy [*][*][*] If you would like to comment or respond to Dorothy, you can contact her in CATegory 22, TOPic 6. Her address is D.A.BRUMLEVE. //////////////////////////////// GEnie QWIK_QUOTE //// / "Doctor Bob, Doctor Bob ( wasn't that a line from / / Muppets? ).. Yo, Dr. Bob! I downloaded the demo / / last night.. I haven't seen any thing this nice / / for a LOOOONG time on the ST.." / ///////////////////////////////////// TJ-TREE //////// [EOA] [FUN]////////////////////////////// ONLINE FUNNIES / ///////////////////////////////// Cowtoons! """"""""" (___) (__) (__) ( O ) (oo) (oo) /-------\ / \/--------\/ / | ||V | | * ||----|| ||------|| ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ The cyclops that Jason and This cow lived with the Argonauts met had this cow Dr. Doolittle "Hawk" [EOA] [HEL]////////////////////////////// HELP!!! / ///////////////////////////////// (NOT) For Beginners Only """""""""""""""""""""""" o GE MAIL: Be a POWER user! o GEnie Lamp QWIK_TIP: GETTING HELP Time is money, and that is especially true when you're """""""""""" online. Your best defense against a enormous bill at the end of the month is knowing what to do and when to do it. "(NOT) For Beginners Only" is a column written with that principle in mind. Over the next few issues, this column will discuss some of the tricks and procedures that you can use on GEnie that will cut the amount of time you spend online AND at the same time increase your online productivity. [*][*][*] GE MAIL POWER One of the best ways to save money on GEnie is to learn """"""""""""" how to use the editor in GE Mail. Here is a list of commands available in GE Mail at the command prompt. Following that, are the Sub-commands available at the ENTER command. 1. ACCEPT - Accepts input from local microcomputer. To send an an XMODEM file, use 'Upload XMODEM file' item on page 200. 2. CANCEL nnnnnnn - Permits the sender to cancel a letter at any time. 3. DEFER - Marks the specified letter(s) as listed without actually having listed. 4. DELEGATE addr - Redirects letters from the current address to the specified address. 5. DISPLAY - Provides status of all letters that are current. 6. DISPLAY nnnnnnn - Provides activity status of a specific letter. 7. ENTER - Used for preparing and/or sending letters. 8. EXIT/STOP - Returns user back to GEnie Menu System. 9. FORWARD nnnnnnn - The letter is forwarded to designated address(es). 10. HELP - Lists the available GE Mail commands. 11. LIST I - Used to list respondent's current GE Mail letters. 12. LIST nnnnnnn - Lists out a specific letter. 13. RELEASE ALL - Purges all letters that have been listed by the user. 14. RELEASE nnnnnnn - Purges letter nnnnnnn provided that it has been listed. 15. REMIND nnnnnnn - Places a REQUIRED ACTION tag on a letter. 16. REPLY nnnnnnn - Similar to ENTER, provides automatic addressing. 17. REQUE - Sets Queue status to be recognized with unlisted letters. 18. SCAN I - Same as LIST, except user will continue to be reminded about letters and will not be released as in LIST. 19. TBATCH - Same as ACCEPT except first 3 lines are taken as as To, cc, and SUB. 20. USERS - Please select Page 200 - Item 8 to Search the GE Mail Directory. The following commands are available within the GE Mail ENTER command. 1. *ACC,addr - Adds addresses to the CC list. 2. *ATO,addr - Adds addresses to the TO list. 3. *CC,addr - Changes the addresses in the CC list. 4. *CHAVC - Editing command to change the text of the current letter. 5. *COPY,nnnnnnn - Copies an existing letter into the current letter. 6. *DELETE,n - Deletes line n from the current letter. 7. *HELP - Prints commands available to the ENTER command. 8. *INSERT,n - Inserts subsequent line text after line. 9. *LIST - Lists the current entered letter. 10. *LNH - Lists the current letter without header information. 11. *LOCATE - Editing command to locate text in the current letter. 12. *M - Same as *CHAVC. 13. *NEXT - Permits the current letter to authorized users and returns user to the ENTER mode. 14. *n,text - Replaces line n in the current letter with text. 15. ^n - Back up n lines in the current letter. 16. *PASS - Provides extra security protection to the current letter. 17. *RESEQUENCE - Resequences the line numbers in the current text. 18. *SEND - Permits the current letter to authorized users and returns user to the GE Mail command level. 19. *SUB,desc - Changes the letter subject. 20. *TAB,/ch/n - Establishes a TAB character and positions. 21. *TO,addr - Changes the addresses in the TO list. 22. *UPLOAD - Accepts input from Local disk file or tape. 23. *WIPE - Erases the text of the current letter and returns to ENTER level. 24. *X - Erases the text of current letter and returns to GE Mail command level. GENIE QWIK_TIP Is it a good idea to leave a message in different BB """""""""""""" areas? No. Normally we delete multiple posts of the same message, but sometimes we do not catch it for awhile. There is really no reason to leave the same post in multiple topics. It is best to just pick the most likely topic and leave it there. If you are concerned that it may be missed, you can leave a short message in another topic pointing to the longer message. [EOA] [OFF]////////////////////////////// OFF THE RECORD / ///////////////////////////////// Mini-Qwik-Views """"""""""""""" o WORD UP WORD PROCESSOR o OPUS: SHAREWARE SLEEPER OF THE YEAR o DREAMPARK 1.4 MB POWERDRIVE o NEW WUZTEK MONITOR CABLE WORD UP! """""""" By M.SQUIRE I have had a chance to use Word Up some since I posted my message on Saturday and so far, I'm pretty happy with what I've seen. The print quality on my Epson LX-810 is much better with Version 3.0 because Neocept shipped a new printer driver that provides me with better resolution. Text only mode printing is _much_ better and offers me the choice of 10 pitch, 12 pitch, or 15 pitch printouts. All of the fonts supplied with 3.0 are new - Swiss is now Sans (Serif), Dutch is now Serif, and Typewriter is now Typed and there are several new fonts as well such as Book Sans, Book Serif, Corporate, Distinctive, and Small and Large Math. Old WordUp 2.0 files must be "opened" and then "saved" to convert them to WordUp 3.0 format. The only problem that I experienced in the conversion was that most of my old documents used either 14-point Swiss or Dutch and the 14-point size was dropped in version 3.0. Otherwise, no sweat! The spell checker works fine. I loaded in my personal dictionary file from Word Perfect and, after inserting carriage returns between the words contained in it, ran Word Up's spell check program and started a new personal dictionary file for Word Up. There appears to be an import/export capability for 1st Word Plus and Word Writer files as well as ASCII. I didn't try that since I use Word Perfect as my other word processor. There is now a Print Preview feature that proved to be really handy to me in getting my text centered just right on the page (in terms of vertical spacing). The method of storing GDOS screen and printer drivers is new. You place the printer driver and a file called NOT_USED.FNT in your GDOS.SYS folder and the remainder of your screen and printer font files go in a series of folders called FONTSDEV.xx where xx = the GDOS device number. This is how they implement their new memory management scheme where you can have all of the fonts available to you, but only load those into memory that you need. However, I discovered that my Mega2 could not handle _all_ of the GDOS fonts that I have (when I did, Word Up went into terminal G+Plus load mode) and I wound up subdividing them into three collections of folders. Finally, there appears to be at least one lingering bug, this related to screen garbage. While working with Word Up 3.0 for a while, I noticed that when I called up command screens, picked my option, and clicked on "OK" that some of the command box was left on the screen, generally where the mouse pointer had been. I'm not certain if this is entirely a Word Up problem or whether part of the problem is attributable to my use of Turbo ST 1.82 or CodeHead Software's HotSaver 1.1 which reserves some 32K of RAM for screen memory. Perhaps, I can isolated the cause during my future use of Word Up. GENIE LAMP REMINDER Do you have any questions or comments that you """"""""""""""""""" would like to relay to Neocept? Here's your chance. Neocept will be in the RTC hot-seat on Wednesday - July 18, 1990, at 10:00 pm EDT in the ST Roundtable, Conference Room 1. [*][*][*] [*][*][*] OPUS SPREADSHEET """""""""""""""" By M.MOTOGAWA Doug's (the author of OPUS) very modest. I used to (way back when) use Swiftcalc 2.0 and Opus blows it well out of the water! From what I've seen of a lot of other sheets in the $50-$75 range, Opus has no competition. It's the shareware sleeper of the year for sure. No risk here, just a super nice spreadsheet at a bargain price. If you have GDOS (or better yet, G+Plus!) and the rest of the GDOS requirements, then you get to access the fancy graphing functions too. Doug must be a math prof or something, all the high-powered math functions he put in Opus really leaves me at the gate. Nice to know the power is there, though. DREAMPARK 1.4 MB POWER DRIVE """""""""""""""""""""""""""" By L.VALLEY Well, I've finally got my internal 1.44 MB drive up and running on my Mega ST4. The only problem installing it was in trying to get the drive to the right height to match the existing slot in the Mega cover. If you shim it up with nuts and washers (as DreamPark suggests) then your screws will be about 1/4" too short. I used some cable posts and they worked great! Cutting out the front of the Mega cover is a snap as well. So far, it seems to work exceptionally well. Instead of transfer rates of around .3 - .35 MB per minute (as measured by Cheetah), you get transfer rates up around .65 - .85 MB per minute! All of the normal ST GEM software seems to work well with the drive. Procopy works - up to version 1.70. Something was changed in version 1.80, and it's unreliable with the PowerDrive. The Blitz cable is dead. And it kills your machine (won't boot properly). So if you get a PowerDrive, get rid of your blitz cable. Every game I tried to boot worked well, and disk utilities handled the new drive without a glitch. Michtron Utilities, and CleanUp worked fine on it. Diamond Back II doesn't work right... yet. I should get a beta copy any day now that has a fix for the PowerDrive! What a way to back up your hard drive. Just format the disk with 20 sectors instead of 18, and you get 1.6 MB per disk! SuperCharger works OK with the PowerDrive, but I haven't managed to get 1.44 MB working yet. I'm still trying... let you know in a couple of days. So far I love it! This is another "gotta have"! (If you read ST- Informer, you'll know the significance of this phrase...) See ya later... gotta go play now! NEW WUZTEK MONITOR CABLE """""""""""""""""""""""" By L.VALLEY I just got the new Wuztek monitor cable, and it is slick. The output on my monitor is even sharper than it was before, and now you can use the Wuztek monitor with Revolver and have a mono session and a color session running simultaneously! Wow! There will be a DA coming that will allow you to switch resolutions with the click of a mouse button! The only thing I would like to see changed is that the box defaults to color mode when you first boot up. That should be user selectable. I'd like to default to mono, but right now I have to hold down the mono button while I'm booting up. Maybe in the next release... [EOA] [ASK]////////////////////////////// ASK Ms. GEnie / ///////////////////////////////// Questions & Answers About GEnie """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" o Read messages efficiently. o Where is Gadgets? o Why does GEnie use two different editors? o What happens when a Category is replaced? Hi everyone, welcome to, "ASK Ms. GEnie!" I've been selected by the GEnie Lamp Staff to field any questions that you may have about the Atari ST RoundTable or GEnie in general. Let's get started... [*][*][*] Dear Ms. GEnie, I need a way to efficiently read messages from multiple categories. I have downloaded several help files, and have yet to figure out a way to do it. The best I have done so far is to set the cat, then do a read date>xxxxxx nor, then repeat the process for each cat I'm interested in. The problem with this method is that it is very slow == expensive. Is there a better way? Anyone have a do file or something I can use as an example? Thanks. -Alan Dear Alan, The IGN PERM is a very useful command, but if you IGN PERM CAT, you will still see new topics as they are started in that category. If you never want to see a particular category again, use the CANCEL command. Just type CAN # (category #). You can always rejoin a category later if you wish to. IGN ALL will set your pointers to make all messages prior to the time that you executed the function old. Then, all of the msgs posted afterward will be new, and will called by any of the "new" commands, such as browse (for read new) and ram (for read all new marked). Some of us prefer to mark topics for reading rather than ignore all of the ones we don't want to read. (Or, to browse some places and to read marked in others.) One of my do files that logs me onto GEnie takes me to the ST RT, browses cats 1, 2, and 14, and then reads all of the marked topics in all of the other categories. It then goes to the library, gets a brief listing of the directory, and then starts to browse the longer listings from the highest file number available. It uses the NOR suffix for its BRO CAT NOR, and RAM NOR functions, so that it won't be interrupted by reply prompts, since I do all of my replies offline. If you use marking to select your topics instead of ignore to de-select, you will also need to fix up a do file to periodically examine each category for new topics, so you won't be left out of knowing about some hot new topic that you have missed in categories you don't browse. You might also want to check out the file BB.HLP in the Software Library. It contains explanations of a number of commands, as well as navigation shortcuts. Have a Happy! Ms. GEnie [*][*][*] Dear Ms. GEnie, What's going on? I can't find the Gadgets by Small support area. Am I looking in the right place, i.e. under an ST area? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks, Bob Dear Bob, Bob, Gadgets has its own RoundTable. Just type GADGETS or m690 at one of the prompts to get there. Have a Happy! Ms. GEnie [*][*][*] Dear Ms. GEnie, Why does GEnie use a different editor in the E-Mail area than it does here? I've gotten into the habit of always doing a *P after I've entered each post to make sure it came through the way I sent it, but you can't do that in E-Mail. Wonder'n Dear Wonder'n, Most of the editor commands in email and the BB are identical, but some (like the "*P") are not. The email message editor doesn't reformat text to the recipient's screen width so *P is not a valid command there, so use the *L instead. The differences in the email and BB editors are a minor annoyance to me also. For instance, whatever you do, don't use the *W command in email. It will clear out the contents of the message and return you to a blank line one as it does here, but it also clears the TO:, CC:, and SUBJECT: lines also. However, the differences are subtle ones for the most part and many people never stumble over them. To my knowledge, there are no plans to change any email or BB editor commands to bring them totally in sync with each other. However, any suggestions or complaints about it can be directed to FEEDBACK. Have a Happy! Ms. GEnie [*][*][*] Dear Ms. GEnie, When a category gets replaced by a new one do individual user's settings get reset (categories which were ignored become joined once again)? Need to know Dear Need to know, Yes, unless it is created as a private category. When a new category is created, everyone is invited into it. If you never want to see it again you can use the CANCEL command to avoid it. [*][*][*] [*][*][*] If you have a question you would like for me to address, post your question on the GEnie Lamp Bulletin Board, CAT 34, TOPic 4 or leave E/Mail to me, Ms. GEnie, in the "Feedback to SysOps" option on page 475. [EOA] [HEY]////////////////////////////// HEY MISTER POSTMAN / ///////////////////////////////// Is That A Letter For Me? """""""""""""""""""""""" o MESSAGE BOARD HOT-SPOTS o HOT QWIK_TIPS o GOING BUGGY? ST BUG/VIRUS ALERT o BULLETIN BOARD SPOTLIGHT >>>BULLETIN BOARD HOT-SPOTS """"""""""""""""""""""""""" You think it's hot outside? You should see what's cooking in the bulletin board area! [*][*][*] [*][*][*] HOT, HOT, HOT! Want to get in on the "phony fax" scandle? You can """""""""""""" find all the latest gossip in CATegory 11, TOPic 7. HOT, HOT, HOT II If you're not into Phony-faxes, how about """""""""""""""" who-dun-its? The mystery surrounding the file access pumping has been solved... or has it? The saga continues in CATegory 26, TOPic 4. HOT, HOT, HOT III There's a little friction going on between the """"""""""""""""" makers of QUICKST and TurboST. Seems as though Softrek has made an offer that Darek would like everyone to refuse. See CATegory 2, TOPic 13 for more details. HOT, HOT, HOT IV It appears that Atari has some problems to work """""""""""""""" out with its new STe line. There have been reports from all over the U.S. of people trashing their hard drives upon boot-up. Strangely enough, not all STe computers seem to be at fault. To keep up on the topic, see CATegory 14, TOPic 40. >>>HOT QWIK_TIPS """""""""""""""" One of the pleasures of reading the message bases is when I come across a tip or a new way of doing something with my computer. Here's a few examples of what has been posted in the last couple of weeks. TOUCH-TYPISTS Here's a hint for touch-typists on the ST: Put a tiny """"""""""""" drop of white glue in the middle of your F and J keys, and allow to dry. Then it's easier to find the right keys when your hands return to the keyboard, after using the mouse or whatever. No more looking at the keys each time you come back! A.ZARCHY [Andrew] HP DESKJET OWNERS I noticed that when printing the DJ+ would do some """"""""""""""""" strange things towards the end of the page, like leave a great big gap then form feed to a new page. Flipping up switch #8 of the firstbank and #1 of the second bank take care of that problem. These dips happen to be for skipping the perf and text scaling. On plain ol' text dumps from my desk top it seems that the printer does not want to print the last line or so. Mainly because it needs to get a formfeed command from the desktop. Instead the busy light blinks letting you know that there is no more data...but..gee dad is this all? Kick the FF button, Mr. DJ+ is all smiles again! [M.GALE1] WHAT IS ERROR 36? There are many reasons for an Error 36 (Access """"""""""""""""" Denied/Not Possible). In my experiences the most common is a file left open. For instance in a FoReM BBS the only time you can play with the programs log file is if you use it the 'right' way. Seems that FoReM keeps the file open except for when using the System command, or executing a doors program. Any other time (while FoReM is running) and you get an Error 36 because the file is still 'owned' by FoReM. I'm not 100% sure, but under TOS 1.4 I believe that's the error # that will pop up if you try to create a folder the same as a filename already in existence, or vice-versa. Don't recall that restriction under earlier TOS'. I'm sure there are other ways of getting that error also. [WAYNE.D] You can get the same error number if you attempt to delete a folder that still has files in it or if you try to rename or delete a file that is set to read-only. Dan [GRIBNIF] COMLYNX FIX Had an interesting experience with the COMLYNX cable that """"""""""" I thought I would pass on in case it would help others. We had a real bad time getting either of our two cables to work. You know, California Games and Gauntlet both would not "see" the other machine. We played all sorts of games with the power-on timing between machines, but .. Anywho, I took a continuity tester the leads. They're stereo plugs, mini sized, meaning you've got the tip, the ring below the tip, and the lower ring (if you're holding a plug up). Interestingly, the tip is not continuous through the wire; only the lower and higher rings are. (Well, big surprise ... it's a two wire cable). Still, 'twas a little eerie seeing tip disconnected. I found that the plugs were not seating fully due to the plastic molding halfway down the plug. They'd get most of the way in, but about 1/16th inch of the way home, they'd stop. They collide with the plug and plastic of the Lynx case. I took an Exacto blade and carefully trimmed about 1/8" off the plastic molding by the plug. So you know, the metal extends down that far, then expands outwards. I trimmed the plastic much as a pencil sharpener would have. Surprise, surprise, surprise ... next time I tried Gauntlet, it worked fine the first try ... and it had never worked before. Ditto for Cal Games. We had a disk cable maker extend the plastic a little too far on the GCR cable mold, and the solution is the exact same. (That prevented the GCR cable from getting far enough into the 14-pin disk drive socket). So, if your cable is flaky and you don't mind violating your warranty (grin), try trimming off the first 1/8th of plastic completely and tapering it back from there. Just might do the trick. -- thanks, Dave / Gadgets [DAVESMALL] >>>GOING BUGGY? """"""""""""""" In GOING BUGGY? you will find messages that have been posted by RT members that have found a problem with a particular piece of software or hardware. It's important to remember that just because someone says they have found a bug or caught a virus that things are sometimes not always as they seem. There is always the possibility that they may be having a problem with a conflicting desk accessory or auto-program or it could even be hardware related and specific only to their set-up. AUTO FOLDER MISH-MASH Software conflicts can make the best-built ST """"""""""""""""""""" system unusable and make its user wail with frustration. What is the best order in which to load AUTO Folder programs and desk accessories? CATegory 2, TOPic 30. BUGS AND THE TT John Townsend from Atari confirms that Ultrascript """"""""""""""" does not work on the TT. He also stated that, "Any problems that we find that are ours, we will fix. Any that are the applications, we will notify the company of what they are doing wrong. Ultrascript is high on the list of programs to be tested." CATegory 14. TOPic 35. CALAMUS I think I've discovered a new bug. When I mark a block of """"""" text with the I-Beam cursor and click on centered text, I get an internal error. This happens consistantly when performed upon the first line of text. Normally I just change in the body of the text but the first line. I don't think I have the latest update so maybe this happens only to me. ...Bob [R.GILLIES] CATegory 16, TOPic 2 [*][*][*] [*][*][*] >>>MESSAGE SPOTLIGHT """""""""""""""""""" Chet Walters is the focus of this issue's Message Spotlight. With all the talk about problems users are having with the new STe, Chet's message does bring a little dose of reality to it all. -----------Category 14, Topic 40 Message 213 Tue Jul 10, 1990 C.WALTERS1 [Chet] at 04:31 EDT Well, it just goes along with all the rest. I bought a lawn mower motor to replace one that died. Turns out I needed a step shaft and did not know it. I took it back and ordered one with a step shaft. It came in. I took it home without looking in the carton. Opened it. No step shaft. Took it back. Got another and this time opened it at the shop. No step shaft. Got another. Finally a step shaft. Four motors before I could cut the grass (by then it looked like those "amber waves of grain" you've all heard about). Next I bought a photocopier for productivity. Brought it to the office. It was DOA. Took it back. It was the last one so I chose another model. Brought it home. DOA. Screw this! Got the money and bought a Laser printer instead for productivity. Nice printer. KX- P4450 from Panasonic. Set it up and printed fine for about 10 minutes. When the fuse got hot the laser got out of the kitchen. Would not print even a self test. Called in the techie to replace the laser unit. Worked fine thereafter if you like the left side of the page to always print a quarter of an inch above the right. The text lines looked remarkably like bezier curves. Finally screamed my way into a replacement of the entire unit. Now it's ok. Next, I got an air conditioner so's I could work in the office during the day without shorting the keyboard from perspiration (sweat, really) dropping on it from my forehead. The AC unit worked ok, but the control was shorted probably from the sweat of an assembler's forehead dropping on it at the factory. Got another. It's ok now. Got an STe from Atari last week. Works fine for games and such. Try to plug a harddrive into it and bye bye HD. Total havoc. Called Atari. "Well, a certain percentage of the first run of US STe's have weak DMA chains. (About 10% it seems) Send it back." Oh, well, does anything work first time out of the box anymore? Seems not. Some of the fireworks I had for the fourth of July were duds too. The ones that worked were spectacular though! That's sort of like Atari computers. When they work there's nothing can touch them. To that I must add that the STe was the first bad unit I ever got from Atari. Everything else I ever got from them worked fine and forever. I sold my first beige beast 800 to a person and it's still going strong after seven years. All of the Megas purchased by WizWorks have performed flawlessly since they were plugged in. Except for a surge that fried a monitor and power supply once, they've just been great workhorses. So, can I blame it on them? Not really. If you read the above, it's just been my luck lately. Must be in the stars. I'll be sure to check with Nancy's astrologer before I buy another big ticket item. Mebbe I'll just have it shipped to a different address under an assumed name and have my son pick it up for me. That might trick cloud I've been working under lately. Ralph - I will say this. They did not quibble at Atari at all. They just said send it back. Not bad. They are getting better. Atari that is. Lets not kick them while they're down. If there's a problem then give 'em a chance. Saying they did this deliberately smacks of paranoia. Sure, they've been lax in their duties, but hey, look at the above and see who ain't been lately! The DEV program is getting really responsive and responsible. Atari is on the way up. Keep your eye on it! Might be a good time to invest in Atari stock now that it's rock bottom priced. Dunno, I never was much good at that stock stuff. Ok, I promise _I_ won't buy any. It'd be sure to dive if _I_ got some. That's the way it's been for me lately. _______Chet at \/\/iz\/\/orks :^{) [*][*][*] [*][*][*] While on GEnie, do you spend most of your time downloading files? If so, you may be missing out some excellent information in the Bulletin Board area. The messages which are listed above only scratch the surface of what's available and waiting for you in the bulletin board area.To help get you started, here are some of the bulletin board highlights that have been posted in the last couple of weeks. If you are serious about your Atari, the GEnie Lamp staff strongly urge you to give the bulletin board area a try. There are literally thousands of messages posted from people like you from all over the country. //////////////////////////////////// GEnie QWIK_QUOTE ///// / "...it's amazing how many glaring errors you can see / / in a newsletter that you spent days putting together... / / after it's printed! <grin>)." / ////////////////////////////////// LEPULLEY /////////////// [EOA] [ELS]////////////////////////////// ST ELSEWHERE / ///////////////////////////////// Other Areas Of Interest """"""""""""""""""""""" GADGETS RT NEWS We've long wanted a self-running demo of the Spectre, """"""""""""""" but we just haven't had the time to make one. So we thought we'd ask if you would be interested. What it needs to be is a demo that works without a Spectre or GCR (or ROMs) of what the Spectre can do. It's straightforward to imagine some screen shots (perhaps taken with a screen-snapshotter from the Mac RT?) and a small program to fade between them. If we see one we like, we'd be happy to trade a real, live MegaTalk board for it. Or perhaps cash, but heck, who wants cash when a MegaTalk is available? Naturally, any of the usual facts about Spectre (speed, etc) would be welcome, but we're primarily looking for a demo that shows what Spectre can do. It doesn't have to be a 2000 hour special, just some good stuff. Other than that, I'd like to leave it to your imagination. Contest is open to everyone except Doug, whom it wouldn't be fair to include. (*grin*). All the usual stuff you read about contests -- you know, we judge 'em, etc -- applies here too. You know us. Have fun, and feel free to send a disk over to us at our usual address. Any questions? Feel free to ask. (Yes, it would be good if it ran on color monitors -- but that's kinda difficult, as you know.) -- thanks, Dave / Gadgets ////////////////////////////// GEnie QWIK_QUOTE /////// / "BTW, According to Coca Cola, 12 oz = 355ml, and / / according to Pepsi Cola, 12 oz = 354ml. They can't / / agree on anything! *GRIN*" / /////////////////////////////////// DOUG.W //////////// [EOA] [UPS]////////////////////////////// UPS AND DOWNS / ///////////////////////////////// Singing The Download Blues... """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" By Jeff Williams Recently, I came across the message in the "Feedback To SysOps" area from a new RoundTable member, Richard J. Sampognaro. (R.SAMPOGNARO) In the interest of helping other new members, I'm reprinting Richard's letter along with my response to him here in GEnie Lamp. [*][*][*] Hi, I'm new at GEnie, but I have used download from local BBS for or a long time I was downloading file 13970 and after 968 blocks it cut me off and I was no longer on line. I got an error message HDER, I'm using an Atari 1040ST, and a 1200 baud MultiTech Modem, Is this normal? Can you help me set up ymodem to speed up downloads or even xmodem1k would be better than xmodem? Richard, That file is quite large...there a couple likely possibilities why you may have dropped the line while you were receiving it. The first is interference on the line while you were downloading. Even though it is electronic data being transferred, it is subject to all the same things as you are when you are talking on the phone. In fact, the modems are much more sensitive to it than you are. I'm sure you've been talking on the phone many times when you could hear a bit of crosstalk on the line. Crosstalk is being able to hear a conversation that is not supposed to be on your connection. You've also heard static, whistles, and pops sometimes. We humans are terribly discerning and selective about what we'll pay attention to. Most crosstalk or line interference isn't so bad that we cannot hear the person who we are talking to. We are able to "filter" out the extraneous noises and concentrate solely on the other person on the line with us. Consumer grade modems, unless you spend an awful lot of money, are not able to be as selective as we humans. To them, every sound (er, electronic signal) on that line gets equal attention. If the background "noise" is strong enough, the modem can't filter it out. If it is bad enough, one or both of the modems on the line will drop carrier. One indication of line noise can be noticed if your terminal software displays errors during file transfers. If the receiving modem detects an error, it will signal back to the other modem to retransmit that block that didn't make it through okay the first time. When this happens, many terminal programs will display a count of bad blocks encountered. When you see a lot of error blocks, you are best off disconnecting and trying the download in another online session. It is almost a certainty that your call will establish a path through other switching stations, so you will probably not encounter further troubles. But if the trouble is between you and your telephone switching station, or between your GEnie node and its switching station, then you might run into line problems with greater consistency. Pray it was a problem elsewhere. <grin> Another nasty guy is call waiting. Call waiting is the natural enemy of modems. When you hear that pulse of tone indicating to you that someone else is trying to call you while you are on the phone, you have no problems with that. But a modem breaks carrier immediately! There are some very expensive modems with enough error detection and error correction logic built into them to compensate for call waiting, but most consumer-level modems aren't capable of this. If you have call waiting as one of the services you've contracted for with your phone company, consider getting rid of it. If you can't or won't get rid of call waiting, call your telephone customer representative to find out if you can disable call waiting for individual outgoing calls. In most areas that allow you to disable call waiting, you just punch up *70 and then dial the number. If you don't have touch tone service, you might be able to dial 1170 in front of the phone number. What happens then is for that single outgoing call, people calling you will get a busy signal if they try to call you while you are online. Most modems will accept the addition of *70 to the front of the phone number. But not all areas with call waiting allow for disabling call waiting in this manner. Check with your phone company if you have call waiting. If you have any telephone extensions in the house, someone picking up another phone on that line could cause a disconnect. Another thing you want to pay attention to is how much free space you have on the disk that you are downloading any file to. If your disk fills up while you are still receiving a file, you are out of luck. Most terminal programs are nice enough to notify you of the problem, but some might behave badly and shut down the modem. This isn't terribly likely, but you never know. Finally, it could be a GEnie problem. But it has to be a documentable problem...that is, you have to provide GEnie with enough information so they can run diagnostics on the line and GEnie equipment to see if anything is wrong. Here is the information you have to provide GEnie Client Services in order to help them help you. Be prepared to tell them what computer, what modem, and what terminal software you are using. You'll also have to tell them where you are and what phone number you call to connect to GEnie. They'll also want to note what baud rate you are using. And there is one more piece of information that can save them a whole lot of time in tracking down a suspected GEnie problem. At any GEnie page prompt, type and enter the word PORT. This will return with a long port number and a short MRC number. Make note of both of them and give them to Client Services when you report the problem. The trouble with the PORT command is that you can't use it retroactively. That is, if a problem actually breaks the connection between you and GEnie before you use the PORT command, there is no guarantee that your next call to GEnie will be on the same port as it was previously. For that reason, I always do a PORT command as soon as I log onto GEnie. In fact, it's part of my autologon routine for GEnie. This way, if I have a line problem and want to tell GEnie about it, all I have to do is look back in my capture buffer for the PORT number I was using. Obviously you can't do a PORT command while you are in the middle of a file transfer, but if you ever notice spurious characters appearing on your screen while reading email, reading messages, or while you are moving about on GEnie, get to a page prompt as soon as possible and do the PORT command just in case you have to report a problem. Or, if you do like I do (doing a PORT command as soon as you logon each time), you won't have to worry about not getting a PORT number -after- troubles start occurring. You'll have the PORT number already! To notify GEnie Client Services of a possible GEnie problem, you can get hold of them in one of two ways. To send them email on GEnie, just enter the word FEEDBACK at any GEnie page prompt. You will then be prompted to type your message to GEnie Client Services. The other way is to call them on their toll-free voice line. The number is 1-800-638- 9636. Many terminal programs support xmodem, xmodem 1k, and ymodem batch file transfer protocols. You'll have to check the documentation for your terminal program to see how they are used. However, if your program doesn't support any or all of these, I would heartily recommend you download XYZ.ARC. It is file #13099 in the ST Roundtable's Software Library. It includes all the information on how to use it. With some terminal programs, you can run a program like XYZ.TTP without exiting the terminal program. If yours doesn't, you might have to quit the terminal program and start XYZ.TTP from the desktop when you want to transfer one or more files. XYZ.TTP supports the xmodem, xmodem 1k, ymodem, and zmodem transfer protocols. If you have any questions that are more specific to the software you are using, let us know which terminal program it is. If it's one that one or more of us sysops are familiar with, we can probably clue you in to the parts that you are having trouble getting to work right for you. Well, I think I've given you MORE than enough to mull over in one session. I hope you had your capture buffer on! I can get a bit professorial at times and run away at the keyboard. <grin> Regards, Jeff Williams Atari ST Roundtable ////////////////////////////////////// GEnie QWIK_QUOTE ///// / "I once had a tech school teacher who summed it up pretty / / well. A student came to him whining that a transister / / that he'd been issued for an experiment was bad. The / / teacher said, "Well, you learned something then. You / / need to learn to LIKE problems, because it will be your / / job to fix them." That's why I love my job so much. The / / only time I don't love a problem is when it's one I've / / solved a million times before." / ///////////////////////////////////////// R.RANDALL5 //////// [EOA] [PDQ]////////////////////////////// PD_QUICKVIEW / ///////////////////////////////// Yours For The Asking """""""""""""""""""" Program Name : Many Borders & Many Icons Filename : MNYBRDRS.ARC, MNYICN1.ARC Library Area : 5 Program Number : 15594, 15549 File Size : 46620, 177660 Program Type : DTP Icons and Borders Author : Dennis Kamber Ver. Reviewed : N/A File Type : Tradeware (See Read-me file for details.) [*] [*] [*] WHAT IT IS This little collection contains well over 1,000 borders """""""""" and icons! For ease of downloading it has been split into three files, MNYBRDRS.ARC. MNYICN1.ARC and MNYICN2.ARC. These were formerly PrintMaster type icons and borders, to the best of my knowledge, every thing in this package was found in the Public Domain. PD_Q RATING * * * * """"""""""" DOCUMENTATION Good/See PD_Q Comments """"""""""""" PD_Q COMMENTS If you are into Desktop Publishing in any shape or form, """"""""""""" GET these files! There are literally thousands of icons and borders to choose from. all in .IMG format. Each .IMG file contains 50 or so icons, ready for clipping using your favorite .IMG utility. [EOA] [LOG]//////////////////////////////// LOG OFF / /////////////////////////////////// 'Till Next Time """"""""""""""" COMMENTS? If you would like to ask a question, leave a comment or just """"""""" drop in and say hi, you can contact us in CAT 34. Or if you prefer to remain private, you may use the "FEEDBACK TO SYSOPS" command on page 475, or leave a message to one or more of the following addresses: o John F. Peters (ST-GUEST) Publisher/Editor o Darlah J. Pine (DARLAH) Editor o Sandy Wilson (SANDY.W) o Fred Beckman (FB) o Jeff Williams (JEFF.W) o John J. Kennedy (JJKENNEDY) o Larry Duke (LARRY.D) HOT OFF THE PRESS GEnie Lamp is published on the 1st and the 15th of """"""""""""""""" every month for our Atari ST RoundTable members on page 745, option 5. If you prefer to download your issue of GEnie Lamp, you will find the current issue as well as all the back issues on page 746, in the GEnie Lamp library, #35. PROBLEMS? If you are having trouble finding your way around GEnie or """"""""" have a question you would like an answer to, we've asked Ms. GEnie, our resident expert, to start a column just for you. If you would like to have Ms. GEnie tackle one of your questions, you can post your message in CAT 34, TOPic 4. (See "[ASK] MS. GEnie" for more details.) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\//////////////////////////////////// © 1990 by T/TalkNET OnLine Publishing, Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information. Signed articles are the opinion of the authors and are not necessarily the opinion of the publisher or staff of GEnie Lamp. We reserve the right to edit all letters and copy. ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ [EOF]