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     Microreviews for SEPTEMBER  1996 Micropendium
     by Charles Good

     GENEVE 9640 COMPUTER by the Myarc division of Cecure Electronics

     Have I got a deal for you 99/4A users! How would you like to move up
     to 80 columns and have the pleasure of running 80 column Funnelweb?
     How about running modifyable disk versions of most 99/4A plug in
     cartridges? Would you like to get a Gram Kracker and an 80 column
     adapter and a fancy keyboard adapter, all wraped up into one neat
     hardware product.  That product is the "computer on a pbox card"
     Geneve Computer.  Geneves were out of production for several years,
     but now you can once again get a brand new Geneve card from the
     manufacturer with warranty and software (80 column word processor,
     advanced basic, 80 column Multiplan upgrade, cartridge converter, and
     DOS for only $200.  Cecure has purchased all the rights and remaining
     hardware of Myarc Inc., and are now selling new Geneve cards with a
     Cecure warranty.  This may be the most important and cost effective
     upgrade any 99/4A owner can make.

     For many years the Geneve has been criticized in newsletter articles
     because early versions of its MDOS operating system software were
     buggy and because of poor design that caused this 99/4A compatible
     computer on a card to overheat.  These criticisms are no longer
     justified.

     I have been using my Geneve with a SCSI hard drive for over a year
     and am VERY pleased with its operation.  I have figured out how to do
     on my Geneve everything I used to do on my 99/4A and now use the
     Geneve for most of my routine computing work.  I prefer the Geneve
     over my very expanded 99/4A system for several reasons.
     1- My Geneve is now very stable, much less likely to crash than my
     99/4A system.  There is no firehose cable or cartirdge to giggle loose
     and cause the computer to crash.  Because extended basic is loaded
     into my Geneve's RAM every time I need it, I never have an extended
     basic crash.  Because I have a SCSI hard drive and have my Geneve's
     MDOS on a PFM+ flashdisk I don't have to use floppy disks or a battery
     backed ramdisk for file or DOS storage.  On my 99/4A system, failure
     of the battery backed ramdisk operating system is a frequent cause of
     system crashes.
     2- Software performs better on a Geneve.  Almost all 99/4A software
     will run faster on a Geneve because it has a faster CPU, and there is
     useful Geneve software that will not run on a 99/4A.  For new Geneve
     users there is a learning curve.  It took me a while to figure out how
     to get Funnelweb and all my favorite 99/4A applications to run on my
     Geneve, but now they all work from a series of menus that appear at
     powerup.  I even figured out how to get Spell-It working nicely on the
     Geneve, something I could not do from ramdisk on my 99/4A.
     3- A Geneve has standard technical features that are only available as
     expensive add ons to a 99/4A.  This makes the Geneve very cost
     effective compared to adding the same features to a 99/4A system.  The
     Geneve lets you a full sized full featured XT keyboard, provides an 80
     column display with up to 256 colors, and gives you the ability to
     load and run stock or specially modified command module software from
     disk or hard drive.  My 99/4A system can do all these things too.  My
     99/4A has an 80 column card (only available from Germany these days
     and very expensive), a pgram+ gram device for loading cartridges from
     disk or ramdisk (no new fully built gram devices are currently being
     sold), and a full keyboard interface that takes up a lot of space
     because I still have to use the 99/4A console in addition to the big
     keyboard.  A Geneve costs less, takes up less space, and runs more
     software than my comparably equipped but somewhat less capable fully
     expanded 99/4A system.

     The old Geneve problems with MDOS and overheating are no more, at
     least on my system.  The latest non SCSI (v2.21) and SCSI compatible
     (v4.00S) versions of MDOS are very stable and all the documented dos
     commands work properly.  The only problem I have with MDOS is if I try
     to load a nonexistant file or save to a nonexistant path.  This causes
     the comptuer to lock up.  I have solved my early overheating problem
     by having Cecure install extra heat sinks.  All Geneve cards now sold
     by Cecure include these extra heat sinks as standard equipment.  I
     increased the cooling of my Geneve by taking the Geneve card out of
     its plastic clamshell and mounting it on the back half of a metal TI
     clamshell.  This exposes all the heat generating parts directly to
     cooling air.  I think the Geneve's plastic clamshell keeps too much
     heat inside.

     On the down side, there are a few software packages will run on my 80
     column 99/4A but won't run on my Geneve.  These include disk versions
     of some third party cartridge games and some 80 column software
     created specifically for the Mechatronics gram karte.  I don't use any
     of this software, so this is no big deal to me.

     On the slightly down side, there are some useful applications that for
     some reason don't work when loaded into the Geneve's RAM directly from
     my SCSI hard drive but do work just fine from floppy or from the
     Geneve's internal ramdisk.  TIPS has trouble loading in graphic files
     directly from SCSI.  The TI Writer formatter doesn't like reading in
     text files directly off of my SCSI hard drive.  Sometimes TI artist
     graphics act funny.  I can view any kind of file directly on my SCSI
     drive but I can't do a file string search.  In each of the above
     cases, the solution is to use a batch file to download the needed file
     from my SCSI hard drive to the Geneve's internal ramdisk, and then run
     my software application.  This takes little extra time and works very
     reliably.

     You can start using a stock Geneve right away with your existing Pbox
     and TV or monitor by pulling the 32K and fire hose cards out of the
     Pbox and inserting the Geneve card.  This immediately gives you the
     equivalent of a 99/4A that is equipped with an 80 column adapter, a
     pgram+, and an AT keyboard interface.  Cecure doesn't include the
     required XT or XT/AT switchable keyboard in their basic price.  They
     will sell you a keyboard for $25.  You can not use many of the common
     store bought "AT only" keyboards.

     For best results I don't recommend a TV or TI color monitor with a
     Geneve, although these can be used with your 99/4A's rf modulator or
     monitor cable if you are only running 40 column software designed for
     the 99/4A.  If you want to run 80 column software you need better
     video.  I have an 80 column "Amega compatible" color monitor, the
     Magnavox 8CM515. Amiga/Geneve compatible color monitors are no longer
     in production and used ones are hard to find these days, but you can
     get supurb 80 column resolution using a cheap monochrome monitor with
     your video showing up in shades of amber or green monochrome.  You
     need the type of monochrome monitor that has a one pin "video in" jack
     similar to the video in jacks on VCRs.  Such monochrome monitors are
     commonly available at used computer stores for $20 or less and work
     very well with most Geneve and 99/4A software, particularly high
     resolution 80 column software.  You need a special monitor cable with
     80 column monitors.  Cecure sells Geneve monochrome video cables for
     $5.

     If you want to upgrade further I recommend extra video ram so you can
     access all the features of 80 column Funnelweb and extra heat sinks if
     you don't already have them so that the Geneve card stays cool.
     Cecure's new Geneves. Cecure can install both these items.  Without
     the extra video ram you can still run 80 column Funnelweb, but your
     text buffer size will be 64K instead of 128K.  I also recommend
     battery backed ramdisk(s) or a hard drive system for seamless no disk
     day to day computer operation.  A hard drive is better.  I am
     delighted with the slick operation of my SCSI interface card and
     "inside the P-box" low power hard drive system I obtained from Bud
     Mills Services.

     In addition to the above, my very expanded Geneve is equipped with a
     DSDD floppy disk controller, additional cpu RAM (available in
     different formats from Cecure and from Bud Mills Services), a PFM+
     flashdisk so that I can automatically boot my SCSI MDOS without a
     floppy or battery backed ramdisk, and a RAVE speech card.

     To summarize, this is what an instant 80 column 99/4A compatible
     Geneve upgrade will cost: $200 for a new Geneve card with software,
     $25 for an XT/AT keyboard, $5 for a monochrome monitor cable, and $20
     or less for a monochrome monitor.
     ---------------------
     MYMENU2+ by Jim Uzzell of DDI Software

     Here is something you can use with the enhanced extended basic that
     comes standard with your Geneve.  MYMENU2+ is the most extensive and
     useful application software written in Myarc Advanced Basic (aka
     Geneve extended basic) that I have ever seen.  It contains a whole
     bunch of useful applications, some with features not found in other
     Geneve or 99/4A compatible software.  And because most of these
     applications are written in advanced basic they are easily user
     modifiable.  I like MYMENU2+ so much that I have my Geneve set up to
     automatically boot the program every time I select advanced basic from
     my custom Geneve startup menu.  From the MYMENU2+ display I can from a
     menu run all the other advanced basic programs on my hard drive.
     MYMENU2+ is the only Geneve software that can do this.

     Here is what you get with MYMENU2+, all in memory and either
     simultaneously displayed on screen or available from a command menu: a
     calendar display of the current month; a display of reminders for the
     current day, a time-of-day display, a file manager somewhat similar to
     Funnelweb's "disk review", a text processor with many many printout
     options, a four function calculator, a spreadsheet, a label printer
     that can use TIPS graphics, a disassembler, a sophisticated floppy
     disk formatter, and an easy to use system for backing up an HFDC hard
     drive.

     The startup 80 column screen of MYMENU2+ is just packed with
     information.  The volume or current subdirectory name is shown (you
     can alter the advanced basic code to get the program to start at any
     desired drive or directory) along with the drive designation (DSK1,
     WDS1, SCS1, etc) the total number of sectors and the number of
     sectors free and used on that drive.  You see how much memory is
     identified by FREESPACE 0 through 4 and how much total memory system
     is allocated to advanced basic.

     The software reads the Geneve's clock and gives you a continuously
     updated current time display and a picture of the current month's
     calendar with the current day of the month highlighted.  You see four
     20 character text lines of reminder notes for the current day.  These
     notes are read in from a DV80 text file that includes notes for the
     entire month and which can be updated using any word processor.  The
     MYMENU2+ calendar and reminders notes do the same thing that John
     Johnson's public domain software REMIND ME does.  Some users will
     choose to set up their Geneve so that the MYMENU2+ startup menu with
     its calendar information appears on screen automatically each time the
     Geneve is booted.

     You also get at MYMENU2+ startup a file listing of the floppy drive or
     hard drive directory you configure into the program.  For each file
     you are told its name, size in sectors, type, and whether it is
     protected or not.  If subdirectories are present beyond this level you
     are so informed.  Each file or subdirectory has a letter of the
     alphabet next to it.  Select the letter next to a file and if the file
     is a PROGRAM or IV254 runable from advanced basic the file will run.
     MYMENU2+ is the only software I know that will create a menu and let
     you automatically run advanced basic programs from that menu.  On my
     Geneve's hard drive I put all my advanced basic runable software in
     the sub directory first read by MYMENU2+ when I go to advanced basic
     from my custom startup menu.  If you type a letter next to a DISPLAY
     or INTERNAL file of any size and the file can be viewed on screen or
     dumped to a printer.  If you type the letter next to a subdirectory
     name you go to that subdirectory and can run advanced basic programs
     from there.  You can print a current directory listing in either
     normal sized print or in superscript with tiny line feeds designed to
     fit onto 3.5 inch labels.  The label includes the volume name and
     current date.

     All of the following applications can be run from the MYMENU2+ startup
     menu:

     "Load ASM" which allows you to load and run object code files that can
     be executed from the advanced basic environment.  You have to know the
     path name of the file you want to run.  You can't just put the cursor
     next to an object code file name and run it.  Also, you need to know
     if the file runs directly from a CALL LOAD or whether it needs to be
     CALL LOADed and then CALL LINKed to.

     "Calc" which is the four function calculator written in basic that was
     published in Micropendium several years ago.  A little window appears
     within the MYMENU2+ startup menu with the calculator in the window.
     When you exit the calculator the window disappears and the startup
     menu is restored.

     "MYFORMAT" which is a floppy disk formatter with lots of options.  You
     can set the skew and interlace of the formatted disk.  The only other
     Geneve application that lets you configure these parameters is the
     quick disk copy program hypercopy.  Myformat also has an optional
     timed disk test cycle which you can experiment with to determine which
     skew and interlace settings give the fastest read/write results.  You
     can also use the test cycle to identify your fastest and slowest
     floppy drives with respect to read/write speed.

     "BKUP" can be used to back up the entire contents of your HFDC
     controlled hard drive.  It doesn't work with SCSI drives.  BKUP will
     create a series of batch files that can be used to back up your entire
     hard drive and squeeze the maximum number of unarchived hard drive
     files onto the fewest number of disks.  BKUP makes batch files for
     backing up and later restoring the entire hard disk directory
     structure.  It also tells you how many floppy disks to format prior to
     backing up your hard drive.  Once these batch files are produced by
     BKUP you exit to MDOS and run the first batch file.  You will be told
     to insert disk 1, then disk 2, etc. of the disks you were told to have
     preformatted until your whole hard drive is backed up.  Later if you
     have to reinitialize your hard drive, you run another batch file and
     insert your backup disks 1,2,3, etc when told on screen by the restore
     batch file.  Your entire hard drive with all its directories and
     subdirectories will be restored.

     "QLABEL"  prints text and graphics on 3.5 inch labels.  This is an
     excellent very user friendly utility!  You can have up to 7 lines of
     text in your choice of printer fonts (condensed, emphasized, etc) with
     a TIPS graphic on the left side.  The graphic is optional.  You need
     a set of TIPS graphic files if you want a graphic, but you don't need
     to know the names of the TIPS files or the graphics within the files.
     Just tell QLABEL where the TIPS files are located (eg. DSK1. or
     SCS1.TIPS.).  QLABEL will tell you the names of the graphics you may
     chose within the TIPS file.  Your label design, with selected graphic
     image will appear on screen for your approval prior to printing.  You
     then tell the computer how many of these labels to print.  This little
     utility is a great way to make practical use of your collection of
     TIPS graphic files.

     "DDI DISM" lets you disassemble any page of the Geneve's memory or EA5
     programs loaded into memory.  You can also disassemble the DSR of any
     card in your PE box by specifying Geneve memory page BA and the
     appropriate CRU address.  The disassembly can be veiwed on screen or
     sent to a printer or disk file.  Disassemblies sent to a printer can
     eat up lots of paper printing only on the left side of the page, so
     one of the printer options lets you print the disassembly to a disk
     file that you can later, using software provided with MYMENU@+, print
     out in multiple columns.  This saves lots of paper.  The main menu
     gives you these choices: disassemble opcode, display hex data, read
     ascii text, read with offset >60, BL and BLWP branches, REF/DEF table,
     and restart.

     "DDI WORD" is a basic word processor (written in basic and with only
     basic editing capabilities) with very full featured printout options.
     It is an 80 column line oriented word processor without word wrap.
     Type in a line of text and press <enter> to put that line in the text
     buffer, then type and <enter> the next line, etc.  Any additions
     deletions or corrections to one line do not automatically affect any
     of the other lines of your document.  There are no tab settings.  If
     you want lines consistantly shorter than 80 columns this has to be
     taken care of manually as you enter each line.  Margins can be created
     at the time of printout.  The fact that I am writing the MYMENU2+ part
     of this microreview using DDI WORD means it is a usable word
     processor, but it doesn't approach the Funnelweb editor for ease of
     use.  The following options are available from the DDI WORD menu: add
     text, delete line, insert line, change line, move line, change word
     (like TI Writer's "replace string"), print file, save file, load file
     (appends the file to the contents of the edit buffer), display buffer
     (after you have loaded a file), kill file (delete any disk file),
     restart (clears edit buffer), and exit.  As you edit or display the
     contents of the edit buffer line numbers are displayed.  Working on
     existing text is done based on these text line numbers.

     The really cool thing about DDI WORD is the variety of printout
     options.  When you select print file you are presented with these
     choices: emphasized, double width, near letter quality, proportional,
     double strike, italics, condensed, superscript, and end.  You can
     select as many as you want (for example emphasized + double width +
     double strike for really big dark text) with "end" as your last
     choice.  These same printer choices are also available in Qlabel.
     Printer codes for these features can be altered in DDI WORD's advanced
     basic code if needed.  I found that only NLQ had to be changed from
     the defaults to make it work with my ancient Star SG10 printer.

     After selecting a printer font you are given these additional
     selections:
     -Length of File Lines.  This is the maximum length of any text line in
     your document.
     -Printer line length 80/132 or 136.  If you select 132 then you will
     automatically use "condensed" print even if you did not select
     condensed from the previous menu.
     -Line spacing x/216.  This determines line feed spacing.  If you
     accept the default of 36 then normal pica sized text will print out
     double spaced.  Using tiny line spacing and condensed or superscript
     font you can print tons of text on a single sheet of paper.
     -Page length.  How many lines of text per page.
     -Left and right margins.  You need to plan the line length of your
     text as you create text in order to utilize these margins properly.
     -Number of columns.  Thats right! DDI WORD will print your text in
     parallel columns.  This feature works great!  The only thing you have
     to plan is the length of your file lines times the number of columns
     cannot exceed the printer line length.  A file line length of 40 (as
     you create the text) and a printer line length of 132 will give you
     lots of room for 3 parallel columns of text. (40x3=120 which is less
     than 132).  There are other columnizers, notably one created by Jim
     Peterson.  But I like DDI WORD best for printing columns because the
     function is built right into the word processor.

     DDI WORD's combination of user selected printer fonts and line feed
     spacing plus the ability to generate multiple columns of text give the
     user tremendous control of the printed product.  The only thing you
     can't get in your printout with this word processor is right
     justification.

     "MYPLAN" is a spreadsheet.  It can be up to 18 columns and 18 rows, a
     total of 324 cells.  Each cell can have a maximum of 28 characters of
     text or numerals, but only 13 of these will show in a printout.  You
     get an on screen display of either 2 or 4 columns at a time, your
     choice.  The two column display with 13 characters visible per cell is
     easier to read.  In the four column mode you only see 7 characters and
     numbers beyond the range of +- 1000 are displayed in scientific
     notation.  Formulas can include column sum and row sum as well as plus
     minus multiply divide and exponents and are entered using a syntax
     defined in the documentation.  There is excellent error trapping to
     tell you if your formula syntax is incorrect.

     There are a number of print options.  The most useful is printing the
     entire spread sheet's columns and rows.  This can be done 9 columns at
     a time using any dot matrix printer that supports compressed print and
     132 characters per line (almost all do).  It takes two sheets of paper
     to print out all 18 columns, but you can selectively print only the 9
     columns beginning at the cursor position.  Such a printout can also be
     directed to a disk as a DV80 file with no control characters.

     Functions are available from the keyboard with the F1 to F9 keys, or
     with the CTRL key and a number key.  You need the included keyboard
     overlay strip to tell you which keys to press, since there is no on
     line help.  Available functions include: Load spreadsheet file, Save
     spreadsheet to a disk file, Dump sheet (a long vetical list of each
     cell and its contents), Print sheet 9 columns at a time, 2 or 4 column
     view toggle, Home to cell A1, Page display left, Page display right,
     Clear a single column, Clear the entire spread sheet, Edit the entire
     28 characters in a cell, Copy one cell to another cell location, Text
     entry, Numeric/formula entry, Exit the spreadsheet and return to the
     MYMENU2+ main menu, and of cource Compute spreadsheet.  Computation
     time is seconds to minutes depending on the complexity of the
     spreadsheet.  Because the Geneve is fast, computation time is faster
     than it is for any non Multiplan spreadsheet ever written for the
     99/4A.  In fact, computation time may be faster than Multiplan on a
     99/4A.

     MYPLAN is not as good as Multiplan.  Calculation speed is slower than
     with Multiplan, and unlike Multiplan you are limited to a relateively
     small number of rows and columns and you don't get an 80 column screen
     display.  In its favor, MYPLAN is very easy to use, in part because it
     is always conveniently available from the MYMENU2+ main menu.

     MYMENU2+ is commercial and only available from DDI Software.  The
     software and on disk documentation come on a DSSD disk and costs $30.
     After finishing this review I sent in my money to purchase my review
     copy.  I consider this money well spent.
     -------------------------
     RAVE SPEECH SYNTHESIZER ADAPTER CARD by the Rave division of Cecure
     Electronics.

     This device is the only way to add speech to a Geneve system.  You
     just unscrew your 99/4A speech synthesizer box, remove the circuit
     board and plug it onto the Rave card.  Then you plug the Rave speech
     card into your pbox.  Thats all there is to it!  There are no CRU
     switches to set, no special software to load, nothing complicated at
     all.  This setup makes your Geneve 100% compatible with all 99/4A
     software that uses speech.  This software includes command module
     games, TEII speech, extended basic speech, and TI's "Text to Speech"
     software.  The Rave speech card also works on 99/4A systems, allowing
     a 99/4A user to move the speech circuit board into the pbox.

     As of this writing Cecure has purchased the entire inventory of the
     Rave company, and has the speech card on sale for $30 plus shipping.
     The original price was $50.  I hope this price is still valid by the
     time you read this.  Every Geneve owner should have speech.

     Here is one potential Geneve and 99/4A speech application.  I have
     written a small TI extended basic program that utilizes TI's "Text To
     Speech" software to allow both Geneve and 99/4A computers to speak any
     DV80 text file.  Just start my program, input the path of the desired
     text file when asked, and listen to the computer speak the file to
     you.  The trick is to convert the text file to all upper case, since
     TEII speech and extended basic "Text to Speech" only speak words
     spelled in upper case.  My program does not work in advanced basic
     because Text to speech doesn't work in the advanced basic environment.
     Send me $1 and I will send you my program on a SSSD disk together with
     the necessary Text To Speech files.
     --------------------
     ACCESS:

     Cecure Electonics (Rave Speech Adapter, new and used Geneve computers,
     Geneve compatible keyboards and monochrome monitor cables) P.O. Box 2.
     Muskego WI 53150.  Credit card order only phone [phone] (note
     those last four digits).  Information and technical help phone
     414-679-9918.

     DDI Software (aka Jim Uzzell, source of MYMENU2+).  HQ Airsouth.  PSC
     813  Box 105.  FPO AE 09620.

     Charles Good (text file speaker software).  P.O. Box 647.  Venedocia
     OH 45894.  Phone [phone].  Email [e-mail] (now my
     preferred address).  Visit the Venedocia Ohio Home Page at
     http://www.bright.net/~cgood