Macintosh Animation Showcase

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#: 506 S1/General Information 20-Apr-88 15:06:50 Sb: #492-#Device Drivers Fm: Ty Wait 76701,231 To: Michael Macewich 76267,375 (X) There may not be a problem, Mace, but it really depends on which titles you are thinking of using. Discs that are produced according in HSF will all be accessible using the Microsoft extensions. However, if the application that uses the disc chooses to ignore the extensions and requires the use of its own device drivers that cannot coexist with the extensions, then you have the reboot problem. You also have good example of the "not invented here" syndrome, since there are few, if any, functions that the application is likely to need that can't be achieved through the extensions and the manufacturer's supplied driver. My suggestion is to do some digging and find out whether the titles that you expect to be using will work under the extensions (which will also support ISO/9660 in release 2.0) and go from there. Hope this helps. -Ty 1 Reply #: 507 S3/CDROM Applications 20-Apr-88 23:35:14 Sb: #Graphics in CDROM Fm: Joel Diamond 76357,2064 To: ALL I am collecting information on identifying what CDROM products are currently available that include the display of graphics along with text.. I am aware of McGrawHill's Science and Technology CDROm, and Geovision's Window Based Maps of the World.. are there any other CDROM disks out there that have the ability to display graphics and text? Joel diamond 1 Reply #: 508 S1/General Information 21-Apr-88 00:32:23 Sb: #481-#Standards Fm: Tom Roscoe 71777,2564 To: rolfe windward 70014,646 (X) There are both good and bad points about SCSI. If you're on the PC bus, it is a more costly way to go. The SCSI interface card is more expensive than a PC bus card, AND the drive is more expensive, since it must have extra circuits to convert fro the native mode to SCSI. Advantage on PC bus is that 7 or 8 drives can be connected to a single I/F card. On other machines, the existance of SCSI means that SCSI hardware can be connected to hardware where no one has yet built a custom interface. Although its not HARD to make a custom I/F card, the problem is that unless it is a closed system, other software cannot be run. For a programming type, getting the NCR card specs & data, and Drive command data, will give a good idea. I don't have short explanation. 1 Reply #: 509 S3/CDROM Applications 21-Apr-88 00:57:48 Sb: #507-#Graphics in CDROM Fm: Tom Roscoe 71777,2564 To: Joel Diamond 76357,2064 How about the Discovery Systems sampler with EGA graphics, text and audio. The grandaddy of them all is the Hitachi CD-ROM Test Disc 3 with 640x400 3 bit plane graphics data. The Hitachi disc was shipped to developers with the original access software. Picture files are converted to EGA or CGA modes, audio is included. There are lots of text files, BUT no access software on the Hitachi CDBIOS disk. 1 Reply #: 510 S1/General Information 21-Apr-88 08:25:47 Sb: #505-Software Fm: Jack Ryan 76164,1273 To: Vic Wagner/Metadigm 76046,3004 The High Sierra specification is online in Data Library 5 - Data Preparation. It is contained in three files that can be downloaded to your system for review. Regards... Jack Ryan #: 511 S1/General Information 21-Apr-88 09:04:41 Sb: #503-Device Drivers Fm: Michael Macewich 76267,375 To: Jack Ryan 76164,1273 Thanks for the response. I know enough now to feel comfortable when I talk to title and application vendors. --- MACE --- #: 512 S1/General Information 21-Apr-88 09:05:11 Sb: #506-Device Drivers Fm: Michael Macewich 76267,375 To: Ty Wait 76701,231 (X) Thanks, that help a lot. --- MACE --- #: 513 S1/General Information 21-Apr-88 11:32:24 Sb: #508-Standards Fm: rolfe windward 70014,646 To: Tom Roscoe 71777,2564 OK ... thanks for your opinion ... I'm interested in the problem primarily because we are building a knowledge base for a library which currently has IBM (actually Epson) work stations but will eventually have some MacIntosh workstations (from a grant donor). The current grant will supply a four (4) drive bank with another four to follow ... so concerns are network support as well as program access and compatibility. I am assuming (as one must these days given the current flux in the marketplace) that some of what we acquire will either not work well (due to various incompatibilities) or will be derived from a standard which is relatively quickly superceded. I am only hoping to keep these inevitable exigencies to a minimum. Thanks for responding ... RW #: 514 S1/General Information 21-Apr-88 15:39:56 Sb: #482-CDI or DVI Fm: Mark Sterling 74335,1677 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 In a message a few days ago you mentioned that you were playing with a software based compression/decompression technique for displaying video images with a CD-Rom and a MacII. You mentioned that the resolution was 640 x 480 but you did not mention the how many colors (bits/pixel). At 150k/sec the compression/decompression technique must be pretty good. I am not trying to pry but only wondered how many bit planes you were getting. Would firmware compression/decompression provide an advantage? Do you know of any faster digital optical storage devices that are currently available. Interfaces and drivers can be made to suit if such a device exists. Analog devices are not suitable in this case. By the way I have an Amiga and sent for the upgrade to Videoscape 3D and am wondering how close you are to shipping (pant-pant). Answer is optional. Thanks, .....Mark #: 515 S3/CDROM Applications 22-Apr-88 09:05:09 Sb: #509-Graphics in CDROM Fm: J.S. Frentzen 76117,2127 To: Tom Roscoe 71777,2564 Keep in mind that the Geovision product requires Microsoft Windows to run, and that Geovision's first releases are bug-ridden. They promise a new version that will run on most configurations with fewer problems; the McGraw-Hill product requires Wyse Technology graphics hardware in order to display graphic images. If you don't have the hardware, you're out of luck. -- Jeff #: 516 S1/General Information 22-Apr-88 13:48:06 Sb: #488-HFS vs. High Sierra Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Larry Phillips 76703,4322 Exactly. Write a driver for the ISO/High Sierra format. That would work out just fine... Still need a large HD for authoring though..... #: 517 S1/General Information 22-Apr-88 13:48:14 Sb: #491-HyperCard & CDROM Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Noboru Toyoshima 76662,330 (X) Just some demos. The drive goes to the public in May or June? #: 518 S1/General Information 22-Apr-88 13:48:29 Sb: #514-#CDI or DVI Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Mark Sterling 74335,1677 (X) The Mac II display is 8 bits per pixel. That's a 300K frame compressed to less than 10K for 15FPS from a CD-ROM. We start with 640 x 480 x 24 bits. Create a "best fit" pallette, generate 8 bit images and clean them up numerically. Then compress. Works O.K., get's better with each revision. 2.0 VideoScape is just waiting for printers on 63 page additional docs. Should be out any day. 1 Reply #: 519 S1/General Information 22-Apr-88 16:10:13 Sb: #496-Hello! Fm: Len Kaltman, Comstock 71401,216 To: Joel Nagy 76701,232 The Image Club disc works well for me, as I do a fair amount of desktop publishing. The customer service I received from the company was excellent. Greg K. at Image Club spent about an hour with me on the phone, fixing my system files which were out of whack. The contents of the disc itself varies in usefullness, but such is the nature of clip art. However there are hundreds of beautiful drawings, that print out very well at 300 and 1200 dpi. Also, the fonts on the disk are top notch. I recommend the disc highly and without reservation. Hope this is helpful... Regards, Len Kaltman #: 520 S4/Adding CDROM Access 22-Apr-88 22:21:39 Sb: Amiga Driver Fm: Vic Wagner/Metadigm 76046,3004 To: Larry Phillips 76703,4322 Larry, you want to joint effort the ISO/HS driver? Give me a call if you do. But wait 'till AFTER DevCon. #: 521 S1/General Information 23-Apr-88 01:55:30 Sb: Your Forum! Fm: Matt McConnell [MIW] 76545,2671 To: *SysOp Hello, You may wish to notify Database Administration [70006,2016] of a error I have found. Your forum is not listed in the CompuServe online index (G INDEX). It is also not listed in the find feature as either FIND CDROM or FIND FORUM. Plus I can not find the CDROM Forum on any DISPLA page. Lastly The CDROM Forum is not listed on the Forums menu (G FORUMS). I do hope this information will help You. Sincerely, Matt. P.S. -- If You don't mind could You send me a ACK of this message via EasyPlex. ThankYou very much! #: 522 S3/CDROM Applications 23-Apr-88 10:16:21 Sb: #473 OED Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: 71777,2564 (X) Thanks, Tom. I'm getting an Amdek soon. Yes, as you said, the computer is more a factor than the drive. Lots of my friends' machines (including PS/2 30 and an IBM AT) have failed to run PC-SIG CD-ROM on an Hitach drive, so I'm very afraid there actually exists a matching problem between the computer and the CD-ROM software (or, more exactly, the interface which is too slow). #: 523 S3/CDROM Applications 23-Apr-88 10:17:29 Sb: #490 OED Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: 70135,141 Thanks, Earle. Yes, you hit the point. The price is too high for an individual to buy. If I open the package and it happens not to run on my system, then disaster! The reason I'm interested in this OED CD-ROM is that normal printed OED (which I have) is too heavy to handle daily and heavily (sorry the pun), and occpies the great space in my not so large (in fact, small) study. Re price, in Japan OED sells for around $2000, so for those who don't have it, it's a bargain. Another reason I'm interested is that, using this, I can search the citations by the date or by the author. However, that's only what catalog says. Well, if I get one, I'll report here what it does. At the moment I'm not yet decided, hearing all booings. I really wish it's under $500! #: 524 S1/General Information 23-Apr-88 16:19:46 Sb: #Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: ALL A few days ago I read a big article in a local newspaper (Daily News, New York) about an announcement from Tandy Corp. which should have a big effect on CD technology! According to the article, Tandy released information on a new ERASEABLE laser disc technology which they will be bringing into the market in the next 12-16 months. It is supposedly the size of a regular CD disc, which can be erased and re-written to repeatedly (no WORM technology here!). Its predicted to sell for less than $15 per disk and approximately $500 for the drive! The article predicited that this new technology will be as important as VHS! I checked the date on that article a few times to make sure that it wasn't an April Fools article (it wasn't) and logged onto CDROM to hear the latest. I'm amazed that NO ONE is mentioning it! Is my newspaper having LSD flashbacks or is this for real? It was called Tandy's Thor CD technology. ANyone no any more????? -RSL- 2 Replies #: 525 S1/General Information 23-Apr-88 16:24:59 Sb: New user Fm: Benjamin Orlowitz 71571,457 To: All Being new to the Mac and this cd technology, I'd like to find a few of the more useful cd rom applications, the hardware, and the software required to use these applications, and the approximate cost of the items. Thanks! #: 526 S1/General Information 23-Apr-88 18:30:57 Sb: #524-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Roy The Los Angeles Times had some info. Fri and today (Sat) about that drive. . 1. Within the next two years a $500 recorder-player with eraseable disc (under $10) that after recording can be played either on the Tandy or any other standard compact disc player already on the market. This says the disc are "AUDIO CD" standard. . 2. No word on how many times the disc can be erase. While 1000 is a lot for audio it would not make it for a computer(data). . 3. Within THREE years a unit to store computer data. . 4. To me the bigger announcement was the PS/2 clone billed as faster more powerful and less expensive then IBM is to be "shipped in July". . Bob Distler 3 Replies #: 530 S1/General Information 24-Apr-88 02:25:32 Sb: #526-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Singing Electrons/Tom J. 73717,2261 To: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 (X) The word I read was that they had not determined a limit to number of writes, with the implication that the number would not be a significant limitation. Pretty impressive- this breaks a lot of things wide open. -TJ- #: 531 S1/General Information 24-Apr-88 13:46:28 Sb: #526-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 Bob, I'm no industry Guru, but if this Thor technology comes to market, it will shatter the ancient software vs. hardware battle (more people will buy CDROM players when there's more cheap software, but software manufacturers won't invest in more software until there are more players out there, and thereby more buyers! This event strikes me as the second most important event to happen to CD technology since its own development (am I being too over zealous)! I don't remember reading about anything like this being developed by any other company. I can't wait to see the specs! Hell, I'd even settle for write=1000 read many!!!!!! -RSL- 1 Reply #: 532 S1/General Information 24-Apr-88 16:13:47 Sb: #498-kurzweil Fm: Mark Schneider 71330,467 To: John McCormick 76360,44 John, Westlaw and Lexis CD-ROMs are inevitable, but the question is when will they be ready to "cannabalize" their rip-off dial up services. I think someone's going to get rich on legal database CD-ROM before they offer serious alternatives to their $100/hr business which brings them $150 million/year. Hope it's me! Re scanners: are you happy with CompuScan and IOC in areas other than paper feed? Accuracy? Speed? What prices? Are they flatbeds or sheet feeds? Thanks, Mark #: 533 S1/General Information 24-Apr-88 16:27:10 Sb: #524-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Mark Schneider 71330,467 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) I read in L.A. Times that the data capacity is 100 MB - which is quite a bit for most traditional microcomputer applications - BUT is the lowest I've heard for optical media. I suppose that the capacity will grow to match 600 MB CD-ROM standard after awhile. 1 Reply #: 534 S1/General Information 24-Apr-88 19:44:44 Sb: #526-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Vic Wagner/Metadigm 76046,3004 To: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 I think 1000 re-writes would be fine for computers, after all, we're considering write-once, write 1000 times has gotta be better. #: 535 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 01:09:35 Sb: #TANDY CDROM Fm: RICK MILLER 72637,1124 To: ALL I'LL KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE AND INTRODUCE MYSELF AS A NEW MEMBER. I HAVE AN ATARI 520-ST. CAN ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THE NEW CDROM ANNOUNCED BY TANDY? I THOUGHT THAT I HEARD, ON THE RADIO, THAT IT IS AN ERASEABLE CD?? IS IT NOT A WORM??? 1 Reply #: 536 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 03:19:22 Sb: #535-#TANDY CDROM Fm: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 To: RICK MILLER 72637,1124 Rick, If you look back thru the week's Online Today news, (g olt-90, choose last week, I think, maybe gone by now), there was some articles on the THOR-CD ROM stuff. Also the official Tandy announcement is in THORCD.TXT in DL14 of the TandyPro forum. I popped in here cuz I figured this would be where all the info is, but don't see any (yet). Basically, it's compatible with normal CD players, meaning it has applications for audio right now. Video and data later. The recording industry of course has already gone bonkers... this means you could go over to a friends house and copy off all his CD's, which understandably has many in an uproar! Right now, you can only write over (erase the old data) about 40 times, tho. Maybe that will change some by the time it gets to market (18 months they say). They're also gonna license the technology out. Tandy has just rewritten the rules for a lot of the CDROM market! 1 Reply #: 537 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 04:14:22 Sb: Hello message. Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: All Hello, all! Sorry to be late in introducing myself, who has asked about OED CDROM a while ago. I've recently been interested very much in CDROM applications, mainly reference works that will help my study. My specialty is poetics (in English, Provencal, Italian, etc.). So a multi-lingual version of Microsoft Bookshelf would be very useful to me. In Japan a company called Sanshusha published such an application, which contains a dictionary for seven languages. Also I am interested in language processing by computers. I've devised my own way of compiling a concordance to a body of text. I compiled two such concordances. One of them will be perhaps out soon. So I'm also looking for a suitable place to talk about these matters. Have literary scholars gathered around some place in CompuServe? Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks. #: 538 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 08:21:50 Sb: #518-CDI or DVI Fm: Mark Sterling 74335,1677 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that a 30:1 compression was possible. I assume that something is lost but 8 bits/pixel sounds pretty good. Thanks for the V3D info also. .....Mark #: 539 S4/Adding CDROM Access 25-Apr-88 10:49:29 Sb: FORTHPLAY Fm: Tom Roscoe 71777,2564 To: SYSOP Would appreciate it if you could remove Forthplay from the download area. Forth code is traditionally distributed in source code form. Since the Source file is rather ragged, I don't believe it is of CompuServe quality yet, although the program does work on multiple drives. Forth'ers can still do access based on code in the Forth forum, and the hardware command information. Thank you, Tom #: 540 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 10:59:41 Sb: #531-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Singing Electrons/Tom J. 73717,2261 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 Agreed. This development, providing it works out according to the publicity, will make CDROM 100 times more viable. -TJ- #: 541 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 11:17:40 Sb: #536-TANDY CDROM Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 The more I read about the new Thor CD technology, the less fantastic it sounds. Presently, according to this message base, it hold 100 megs instead of 500 megs, it can only record sound at this time, and can only be re-written 18 times. I will go to TandyPro Forum and download there official announcement for Thor CD technology. I hope that by the time it's available to the public its specs are improved! -RSL- #: 542 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 11:17:50 Sb: #533-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Mark Schneider 71330,467 I hope that they're able to bring up the information density to a par with CD-ROMs. We probably won't see any products using this technology for the next few years, so I hope they can improve on the specs I've recently read! -RSL- #: 543 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 11:18:02 Sb: Thor CD announcement Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: ALL I just downloaded the announcement from Tandy about their Thor CD technology. It seems to be big on hyperbole, and promises for the future, and short on actual specifications. I hope this technology approaches its promise! -RSL- #: 544 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 21:02:51 Sb: #531-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Roy, By the time I got this, I also saw your #543 note about download of Tandy announcement. While it looks good now, in 3 years it may not be all that much. Bob 1 Reply #: 545 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 21:03:00 Sb: #534-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 To: Vic Wagner/Metadigm 76046,3004 (X) Vic Drives are out today(not same format) that can do over 10,000 re-writes. The thing is "what will be on the market in 3 years when Tandy ships this disc ? " Bob 1 Reply #: 546 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 22:09:30 Sb: Video Search Problem Fm: Reuben Mezrich 72356,252 To: all Subject: Video Search I've been using the Voyager stack to control a Pioneer 4200 videodisk and have noticed an annoying problem. When the video search command is issued the disk drive responds quickly, with the proper image appearing almost "instantly", but control is not returned to the stack for what seems like forever --well several seconds anyway. Is the slow response after the search a feature (i.e. is it waiting for some handshake from the pioneer) or am I doing something wrong has anyone else noted this problem? Reuben #: 547 S1/General Information 25-Apr-88 23:07:21 Sb: #537-#Hello message. Fm: JOHNNY SEWELL 76701,254 To: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 (X) I feel sure that there is a Literary Forum on CompuServe but don't know the exact name of it. To find that you could type FIND FORUM at any ! prompt on the system and get a list of all the forums. You might want to either capture that to your printer or disk. Johnny 1 Reply #: 548 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 05:00:03 Sb: #547-Hello message. Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: JOHNNY SEWELL 76701,254 (X) Thanks, Johnny. I'll try to find out. #: 549 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 08:47:45 Sb: #542-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: J.S. Frentzen 76117,2127 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Has anyone really considered the 'vaporware' quality of Tandy's announcement... no public demo, no hardware, no technical info, very sketchy. I applaud Tandy's bravery but no one has any solid facts, it's all guesswork. Two years before anything is available? Public relations B.S. -- Jeff 1 Reply #: 550 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 10:39:01 Sb: #541-TANDY CDROM Fm: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Ahhh but consider what you could do. Even now, they say it can record almost bit for bit audio. With a little hacking, I'm sure you'll see this being used for computer data quicker than you'd think. Not being able to rewrite a million (or even 100) times doesn't bother me. The impact will be that, with luck, more little people will spring up to sell/provide unique databases at a relatively cheap price. And I'm sure other apps will come along. Their big deal really is that they came up with a writable cdrom that just also happens to be compatible with current audio disk players. Audio buffs will go buts, and DAT is dead before it starts. We'll see in a coupla years, anyway. We've got time <grin>. Kev #: 551 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 12:02:12 Sb: #541-TANDY CDROM Fm: Singing Electrons/Tom J. 73717,2261 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Roy, are you saying that the official Tandy announcement says 100 megs and 18 re-writes? That bears little resemblance to what I read in a number of sources immediately after the announcement. Is the Tandy announcement posted here? -TJ- #: 552 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 12:06:07 Sb: #543-Thor CD announcement Fm: Singing Electrons/Tom J. 73717,2261 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Frankly I think that just the fact that someone is doing this is going to be a needed shot in the arm for CDROM. Right now the number of people ;who absolutely have to have CRROM is low enough that prices are too high for people who are just curious. With even 100 meg storage and 18 rewrites the technology becomes interesting for several other purposes- HD backup, ;for example. This can potentially lower prices enough to start CDROM really rolling. I hope Tandy (or somebody else) can really come through with this. -TJ- #: 553 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 15:17:46 Sb: #545-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Vic Wagner/Metadigm 76046,3004 To: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 (X) I sure don't know what's going to be around then. I knew about the re-write media, but hadn't seen any drives available now, RSN, yes, but not NOW. #: 554 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 17:14:50 Sb: CD-ROM / AUDIO Fm: Kadi Morand 73330,137 To: Ty Wait 76701,231 Dear Mr. Wait, One more time. My company, DIGITAL PROGRAMMING, INC., is currently offering a programming/editor control system for compact discs which is based on CD-ROM drive: C.O.D.E.S. (Compact disc Output Direct Editing System.) I noticed that several of your DL's contained information on this topic, and thought your members might like to know of our developments in this area. I have prepared press releases available to send up, as well as system specification files; but I am unclear on whether this would be considered "dissemination of information" or "advertising", the latter not being welcome on the forums. Could you please help clarify for me whether this information would be welcome in any case; in what form it should put, and whether you would allow us to channel our own user communication/support thru the forum. This entire message may be redundant if you have received my Email message of 4/24/88. I think I now have my Autosig set to deal with the forum, so if you get two of these, disregard one. My own "novice" ability with CompuServe is still quite evident. Thank you, Kadi (pronounced Kay-dee) Morand. Voice Contact: 818/780-9780 #: 555 S1/General Information 26-Apr-88 18:19:29 Sb: #544-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: BOB DISTLER 76276,1460 (X) Bob, True, by that time (three years) other researchers may have done Tandy's THOR technology better. Whoever wins the profits war, we consumers will surely be the big winners in more powerful, flexible and USEFUL machines! -RSL- #: 556 S1/General Information 27-Apr-88 00:08:21 Sb: #549-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 To: J.S. Frentzen 76117,2127 Jeff, Yeah, but Tandy is not normally a vaporware type of company. They're making sure that people know they can license this, and giving some lead-time for that. I get the feeling talking with some insiders that they may have already loaned some companies their hardware. The best part is that Tandy is big, and with their outlets (and other licensees) selling this stuff, we should be in fairly good shape price-wise. I think it's great, tho yes waiting 18 months will be tough. Kev #: 557 S1/General Information 27-Apr-88 11:17:37 Sb: #549-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: J.S. Frentzen 76117,2127 Perhaps it is B.S., but then if I were some hi-tech Seven-Eleven store I'd want to proclaim loudly that I've discovered a technological advance that will revolutionize data storage technology. Maybe they'd like to line up a bunch of companies to license the technology inorder to finance the final steps? We shall see when (and if) other companies start to license the technology! -RSL- #: 558 S1/General Information 27-Apr-88 11:17:50 Sb: #550-TANDY CDROM Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Kevin Darling 76703,4227 (X) Predicting long range consumer trends can be fraught with errors. People often don't act in consistently rational ways (otherwise LP records would have faded into obscurity with the appearance of high fidelity cassette recording/playing technology). Irrational humans aside, I agree with you. If Tandy can bring their THOR technology to market in the next few years, DAT is dead (does anyone remember RCA's old video disc anymore?)! Now, if only those music publishing/recording interests will shut up and not try to push lo-fi anti-piracy circuits on the technology!!!! -RSL- #: 559 S1/General Information 27-Apr-88 11:18:03 Sb: #551-TANDY CDROM Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Singing Electrons/Tom J. 73717,2261 (X) Emphatically NO! Those specs (100 MB, 18 write cycles) were purely rumors listed on CIS. The announcement, which can be found in TandyPro Forum, DL14, THORCD.TXT, is very vague! An article in InfoWorld was equally vague. They suggest that the storage is not yet equal to conventional CD technology, but they are hopeful to reach its capacity. As to the number of write-overs, they state that the limit has not been found yet. That sounds strange to me. It seems like an easy thing to test. Perhaps they'd like a try at bringing that number up before giving it out to the press! -RSL- #: 560 S1/General Information 27-Apr-88 11:18:10 Sb: #552-Thor CD announcement Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Singing Electrons/Tom J. 73717,2261 (X) I agree entirely. This is what needed to make a technology which had a great future, soon have a great present!! -RSL- #: 561 S1/General Information 27-Apr-88 14:40:59 Sb: I'm a new user! Fm: RICH MENARD 75410,316 To: ALL I'm Rich Menard, Computer Coordinator K-12 for the Rocky Point School Dist., Rocky Point , NY My interest in CDROM is with respect to its use as an educational tool for research etc. at the 7-12 grade levels. I'm somewhat familiar with databases and the possibilities that CDROMs hold for schools. I will be needing to make purchasing decisions in this area in the next 2-3 months and I do not feel that I know enough at this point to make an intelligent decision. Any information will be appreciated and I'll probably be asking a lot of "beginner" questions. #: 562 S1/General Information 28-Apr-88 23:51:19 Sb: Additional Forums Fm: Doug Allen 73710,1365 To: Sysop I hope that this message is not totally misdirected...I am a member of an association known as AIIM (the Association for Information and Image Management) and have recently discussed the potential within the association for establishing an on-line FORUM for the Association's trade membership and professional society. Briefly we are involved with Document Management systems including: source document microfilm systems computer output microfilm systems, and Optical Disk systems.. We're concerned with hardware, software, and services. Our recent Annual Conference in Chicago drew more than 10,000 attendees and included more than 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibits. I'd like to hear how we might pursue the development of our own FORUM or how we might be included within an existing forum. Please pass this message along to the FORUM developers, or let me know what I need to do to pursue the matter further. THANKS!!! #: 563 S1/General Information 29-Apr-88 00:00:58 Sb: #537-Hello message. Fm: Mark Schneider 71330,467 To: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 (X) Eiichi - welcome to the forum! We need more members around here who are interested in the applications of CD-ROM to the humanities. I am curious about your concordance: what exactly does it do? And how did you write it (i.e. which interpreters & compilers)? Thanks, Mark #: 564 S3/CDROM Applications 29-Apr-88 16:27:18 Sb: Bookshelf Fm: Michael G Reed 71420,1707 To: Sysops/All Just discovered the CDROM Forum. Do any MS Bookshelf expertss hang out around here? Or does the forum have a more technical or business orientation? I'll hang out for a few days in any case to see what's going on. Nice to know you're here after tring over on MSAPP and getting so little useful feedback or support (with one or two memorable exceptions). Be seeing ya, -Michael{R} #: 565 S1/General Information 29-Apr-88 19:19:52 Sb: #538-CDI or DVI Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Mark Sterling 74335,1677 With computer generated imagery NOTHING gets lost. With digitized video you run image processing stuff on the image, this can be "dialed" as you like. In some cases the images actually improve in appearence. Typically the "background" gets washed, but you don't lose the details. #: 566 S1/General Information 29-Apr-88 19:55:52 Sb: #531-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) Actually If it takes 3 years to come out .... it could halt sales of current CD-ROM drivers and discs (the Osborne Syndrome, any announced un-shipping product is superior to any shipping product). 1 Reply #: 567 S1/General Information 29-Apr-88 19:55:59 Sb: #535-TANDY CDROM Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: RICK MILLER 72637,1124 Atari also annonced a low cost CD-ROM drive back in March. #: 568 S1/General Information 29-Apr-88 19:56:10 Sb: #559-TANDY CDROM Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) If it can really record an entire Audio CD, then it's data capacity MUST be the same as a conventional CD-ROM. Yellow Book (CD-ROM) is a layer above Red Book (CD Audio). #: 569 S3/CDROM Applications 29-Apr-88 23:11:26 Sb: #349-cdrom Fm: Michael G Reed 71420,1707 To: sherwood egbert 71171,1774 There are software programs that will allow larger than 32Meg disk partitions. I don't remember the details, but if you GO IBMSW they'll be able to help you. You might ask about drawbacks if any...seems I lurked a thread about some conflict but I'm pretty sure it was with a specific disk test program called SpinRight. Sorry to not be clearer... -Michael{R} #: 570 S1/General Information 30-Apr-88 06:02:20 Sb: #Concordance Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: Mark Schneider 71330,467 (X) I've used C compiler to develop my concordance system. It is now a combination of 5 to 10 progs. I'm glad there is someone who's interested. BTW, I've got an Amdek drive and run Bookshelf fine on it. 1 Reply #: 571 S1/General Information 30-Apr-88 12:38:24 Sb: #566-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 (X) With the confusion from CD-ROM CD-V and CD-I, I think that the technology doesn't need any other excuse for delay in mainstream use of optical technology. Although I wish Tandy were announcing viable products in the next quarter, I think that the announce advance in the technology was required before optical technology takes off! -RSL- 1 Reply #: 572 S1/General Information 30-Apr-88 13:35:32 Sb: CD Pressing Price Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: All I don't know if this has been announced on this network. I just recieved a brochure from Discovery for CD-ROM Mastering and Pressing. Basically the offer is for a $1500 mastering, and a duplication cost of $2.00 per disc. To put this into perspective in 1985 (Jan.) our cost per 400K 3.5" disk was around the same amount. 400K to 500,000K in 4 years, not too bad. #: 573 S1/General Information 30-Apr-88 13:48:27 Sb: #571-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 (X) See my message regarding the drop in prices for CD-ROM mastering and duplication. Mass market multi-media CD-ROM is a reality. And that reality is Macintosh, HyperCard, Animation and Apple's CD-ROM player. We can allways wait for the "next big thing" or we can make an industry happen today! William Volk VP Technical 1 Reply #: 574 S1/General Information 30-Apr-88 17:17:36 Sb: #570-#Concordance Fm: Mark Schneider 71330,467 To: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 (X) But what exactly does your concordance DO? How would one use it in an application? I'm a lawyer interested in developing full-text legal databases and thus I'm very interested in things like concordances. By the way, you might find literary critics at the Literature Forum; I think it's GO LIT. 1 Reply #: 575 S1/General Information 01-May-88 05:36:50 Sb: #574-#Concordance Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: Mark Schneider 71330,467 (X) Well, Mark, my system of concordance does as normal concordances would do like the Concordance to the Bible. It alphabetically lists the words from the body of text and you can see the whole line the keyword is on. My style goes like: - headword (frequency) the verse the headword is in ------ followed by the location of the text - I've been to LIT forum once, but could not find anything of interest as yet. Maybe I'll go again, thanks. 1 Reply #: 576 S3/CDROM Applications 01-May-88 06:07:15 Sb: #PC DEMO CDROM Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: All I've often heard about the Discovery Systems PC Demo CDROM here. I think there's somebody who's connected with the Discovery Systems. I'm curious to know what is in that CDROM and how I can get it. Should I write to {the Discovery Systems? Thanks. EH P.S. I find it hard to insert blank lines into my message. I've often seen such messages here, but how can I do that? Any help'd be appreciated. 2 Replies #: 577 S1/General Information 01-May-88 09:57:17 Sb: #Panasonic WORMs Fm: Reuben Mezrich 72356,252 To: All Last week I had a demonstration of a Panasonic WORM drive. It is different than other WORMs in several respects. It is analog; It uses an 8" disk; and it is relatively expensive (about $15,000 for a recorder/player, about $4000 for a player only). It can be driven from hypercard, using standard commands. The representative claims several advantages when used as an image file, including very large storage capacity (about 16,000 images) and faster image "paint to screen" time (i.e. the time to actually get the image onto the screen once you have located the correct frame). He also claimed that, because it is analog,it is easier to do overlays (i.e.images from the WORM mixed with text or other images from another video source) than could be done with a standard digital disk. The demo looked nice, but then all demos look nice. Are there any comments? Does anyone have any experience with this system? Reuben 1 Reply #: 578 S1/General Information 01-May-88 10:11:03 Sb: #532-#kurzweil Fm: John McCormick 76360,44 To: Mark Schneider 71330,467 (X) The compuscan and IOC scanners are obviously page feed rather than flat bed or they wouldn't be able to handle stacks of paper. These two scanners don't recognise typeset although IOC told me that they would soon support this feature (albeit at a higher price) sometime real soon. the Compuscan scanner is by far the most accurate of any scanner I have tested except for the slightly less accurate IOC scanner. Recent improvements to the compuscan firmware should make it marginally better, but it was VERY accurate when I tested the different models. I wish you luck with your legal database ventures, but it looks to me like a very, very big job exx especially with two major competitors already entrenched. As for the $100 / hr rate, it seems to me that this is fairly in line with attourney's regular fees, or am I mistaken? I see the conversion of "free' gfovernemnt databases already supplied on 9-tr4ack tapes as being the biggest growth industry for small compannies, I know ofseveral already making profits in this area and there is a lot of Federal data just laying around waiting for people to put on CD-ROMs. 1 Reply #: 579 S1/General Information 01-May-88 15:04:58 Sb: #573-#Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 (X) It's the ancient hardware vs. software discussion! I haven't seen any low cost CD-ROM media available yet. I don't know too many people who can afford hundreds of dollars for a glorified Dictionary! -RSL- 1 Reply #: 580 S1/General Information 01-May-88 20:29:10 Sb: #577-Panasonic WORMs Fm: Pete Geyer 71211,2261 To: Reuben Mezrich 72356,252 What you describe sounds like the Panasonic VIDEODISC WORM, the Panasonic Optical Disc Player/Recorder (TQ-2026F), that goes for about $14,000 to $15,000. The player (TQ-2027F) goes for about $3,000 to $4,000. The recorder allows you to record up to 24,000 still frames (e.g., slides) or 13 minutes and 20 seconds of motion video, or an appropriate combination of still frames and motion video on one 8" disc. There are also two audio channels that provide up to 26 minutes and 40 seconds of audio (or 13 min./20 sec. for stereo sound). Both devices can play back video at the standard rate of 30 frames per second. They can also search for and display any one of the 24,000 frames in under a second. Everything is recorded as analog NTSC video. We're currently using these systems with Hypercard to develop interactive videos. Their primary use as I see it is in developing prototype interactive videodisc applications. But the future for interactive video will eventually belong to DIGITAL solutions like DVI (Digital Video Interactive) compact discs or whatever else comes along. - Pete Geyer #: 581 S1/General Information 01-May-88 23:56:21 Sb: #575-#Concordance Fm: Mark Schneider 71330,467 To: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 (X) Eiichi, sounds like an interesting program you wrote. How would I obtain a copy? How fast does it build its list, and are there any limits to the amount of text it will handle? Thanks, Mark 1 Reply #: 582 S1/General Information 02-May-88 00:14:44 Sb: #578-kurzweil Fm: Mark Schneider 71330,467 To: John McCormick 76360,44 Well, John, virtually all the material I'd like to scan is typeset, so I'm looking hard at the Kurzweil. As for the economics, yes, it's true that $100/hr is typical for much lawyer time, but the point is that when they use Lexis or Westlaw the client must absorb that cost as well. As a result, only the largest law firms can afford to use those systems regularly (if an oil company's looking at tax law, a few bucks in research won't alarm the stockholders). CD-ROM makes it possible to "democratize" (ouch!) computer based legal research, probably right down to the sole practitioner serving the middle class. The question in my mind is when will the mainframe guys figure they better transfer their service to off-line, user-owned, micro-based media? They're making a hell of a lot selling it over the telephone (with proprietary software that prohibits downloading!). The market's probably big enough to support numerous outfits at any rate. #: 583 S1/General Information 02-May-88 01:38:03 Sb: ATARI CDROM Fm: Tom Roscoe 71777,2564 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 (X) Atari showed CD-ROM at the CES show in June 85. Still waiting for Developers info on buying a drive after MS-CONF. #: 584 S1/General Information 02-May-88 01:56:50 Sb: #581-Concordance Fm: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 To: Mark Schneider 71330,467 Mark, I wrote a treatise on the concordance programs (with the source codes). Though it is written in Japanese, if you or anybody around you can read the language, I'd be glad to send you an offprint. Please tell me by E-mail where I can send it to. My programs can handle as long as memory permits. Normally output file is around 500K long from 30K original file. (Alphabetical indexing increases the size very much.) At the moment my system is limited to poetry, where basic data are {composed of one ,ige each, whereas in the case of prose (legal documents or whatever other documents) the data structure should be different. For that field of application I have not begun my study yet. I have recently found a superb program that can handle such data. It is MEMLANE (memory lane) in IBMSW data library. It is worth looking at. Though it is very excellent, the author's name is not known. I'd really like to thank the author, though. Someday these data (indexed data) can be put on a CD-ROM rather cheaply and everybody can get most out of it. Thanks, EH. #: 585 S3/CDROM Applications 02-May-88 09:10:47 Sb: #576-PC DEMO CDROM Fm: Jack Ryan 76164,1273 To: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 The CDROM Sampler is described in message #440. If you would like a copy drop me a note on Easyplex or on your letterhead. Thanks.. Jack Ryan #: 586 S1/General Information 02-May-88 10:59:34 Sb: #579-Tandy's Thor CD Advance? Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Roy S. Laufer 72435,1025 At a $1500 mastering price, and a $2.00 per disk duplication it's possible to create cheap CD-ROM titles. In 1985 we sold Macintosh games at $39.95 retail and the duplications numbers were the same or worse. I do now that some of the Mac user groups have announced titles at <$100. Here's a question, is there a market for CD-ROM games???? #: 587 S3/CDROM Applications 02-May-88 12:44:19 Sb: #576-PC DEMO CDROM Fm: Michael G Reed 71420,1707 To: Eiichi Hishikawa 76661,132 You should consider using TAPCIS ($79) or ATO (free) for your Forum work. They let you choose all interesting msgs offline then go back on to retrieve those you want and read them offline too...and much more. If you're interested, go WPSG and download TAPCIS.INF from DL #12 . Can't help with ATO as I don't use it but here it's similar. Both will ease the work and cut the expense...I would have been long gone without TAPCIS. -Michael{R} #: 588 S1/General Information 02-May-88 19:28:10 Sb: #CD-ROM Games Fm: Brian Barjenbruch 71251,2716 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 (X) There are certain games, such as M.A.C.H. 3, that lend themselves quite nicely to background footage from a disc, with computer-generated characters. D & D-type games would also work with disc scenes. But, it's not likely that we'll see any very soon until CD-ROM drive prices come down out of outer space. 1 Reply #: 589 S3/CDROM Applications 02-May-88 21:05:01 Sb: MICROSOFT BOOKSHELF Fm: JIM BESHA 71231,770 To: ANYONE I HAVE BEEN RECENTLY UNABLE TO INSTALL MICROSOFT BOOKSHELF ON MY COMPUTER (IBM PC) WITH A AMDEK LASERDRIVE I CAN ACCESS THE DRIVE AND DISPLAY DIRECTORIES BUT I CAN'T INITIATE THE SETUP PROCEDURE - ALL I GET IS A BEEP ANY SUGESTIONS? #: 590 S1/General Information 03-May-88 00:09:43 Sb: Introduction Fm: Wayne Lee 76650,323 To: All Just a message to say "hello". Looks like a good forum. I'm an Emergency Medicine physician, and we use a program called Emergidex which is on a CD-ROM disc. Because of that, I'm interested in any other applications for the CD player (I'll have to look and see what type) that we have. The program is produced by a company in Denver called Micromedex. Anyone familiar with it? Wayne #: 591 S1/General Information 03-May-88 01:28:11 Sb: DEC RRD50 Fm: Dale E. Coy 76067,652 To: All I've been "lurking" here since the forum began, but haven't seen much information about the equipment I have. I'm a system analyst and system manager at a major National Laboratory. We use a lot of hardware and software from Digital Equipment Corporation. At one time, we were looking at some CD-ROM applications - and now we're looking again. I have an AT with Digital's RRD50 CD-ROM drive and their PC interface. There's almost no information available for this hardware. Can anyone enlighten me as to what the interface really is, whether the drive is any good, what "modern" software will run it, etc? Any information would be much appreciated. #: 592 S1/General Information 03-May-88 04:27:33 Sb: Ignorant ?s Fm: Raymond G. Harder 72160,1373 To: All I have a few basic questions: 1. Can any of the currently available CDROM drives be attatched to MACs and *AND* IBMs? 2. Are the search engines available with source code (to be modified?) 3. What drivers are available for the MAC for non Apple CDROM? 4. When will the Non-autosave Hypercard be available? (I am assumming that This is the main hold up for Hypercard based CDROMS????) 5. Who gives the best academic discounts on quality CDROM drives? thanx for any info? Ray Harder 72160,1373 #: 593 S1/General Information 03-May-88 08:13:05 Sb: #565-#CDI or DVI Fm: Mark Sterling 74335,1677 To: Aegis Development 76067,2500 (X) I know what you mean. Details are not generally lost but reduction of bit planes will reduce the realism of the colors. I have used Digi-View with the Amiga for a while and it is true that you can process images to look better than the input. Does your compression technique compute changes from frame to frame and only store the changed pixels? Just wondering. .....Mark 1 Reply #: 594 S1/General Information 03-May-88 08:24:45 Sb: New Member - Intro Fm: Dean Ostergaard 76266,2550 To: All Hello All! I just wanted to introduce myself in this forum. I haven't read all the messages yet but it looks good so far. I first got involved with CDROM back about 1984/85. A small consulting firm I was working for had developed a little program to excersise the Sony CDU-1 prototype drive. Sony supplied it to developers along with the hardware. I was also a non-voting participant at a couple of the NISO Z39 meetings for CDROM standards. I am currently working on an application for the library and Book Seller markets. I don't like this high level stuff as much as I did the bit twiddling (High Sierra took the fun out of it) and now I have to deal with users instead of programmers. But, it's a living. I hope I can make a valuable contribuution to this forum and I'm looking forward to "meeting" a lot of you folks here. >>>DeanO<<< #: 595 S1/General Information 03-May-88 09:57:54 Sb: #326-LAW Titles Fm: Joel Nagy 76701,232 To: Michael Macewich 76267,375 Hello Michael --- Welcome to the CDROM Forum! As to the drive and driver I can't say... you might try Ty Wait 76701,231 on that part. Legal titles: #: 596 S1/General Information 03-May-88 14:03:00 Sb: #588-CD-ROM Games Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Brian Barjenbruch 71251,2716 You are confusing CD-ROM and Laser Disc. The type of "background video" you refer to is very difficult to do in CD-ROM. What's easy to do in CD-ROM (and difficult in Laser Disc) is tons of digital data. This could include text, maps, code, etc. etc... #: 597 S1/General Information 03-May-88 14:03:11 Sb: #593-CDI or DVI Fm: Aegis Development 76067,2500 To: Mark Sterling 74335,1677 That's a starting point in DV-I and our stuff as well. But it's just a starting point and without image processing video will have little if no redundency between frames. #: 598 S1/General Information 03-May-88 17:03:25 Sb: Microsoft bookshelf Fm: JIM BESHA 71231,770 To: Sysops/all I'VE JUST DISCOVERED THIS FORUM. BUT DOES ANYBODY KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS PROBLEM : I HAVE A NEW AMDEK LASERDRIVE WITH MICROSOFT BOOKSHELF.I CAN INSTALL THE DRIVE AND RUN SOME THINS ON THE DISK (README FILES & THE LEARN PROGRAM) BUT I CANOT RUN THE ACTUAL PROGRAM.WHEN I TRY TO INITIATE THE SETUP PROGRAM ALL I GET IS "ECHO OFF" THEN A BEEP - NOTHING HAPPENS EXCEPT IT CHANGES THE DIRECTO TO D:\BOOKS ANY SUGESTIONS ? #: 599 S1/General Information 03-May-88 22:37:26 Sb: #580-#Panasonic WORMs Fm: Reuben Mezrich 72356,252 To: Pete Geyer 71211,2261 (X) The Panasonic VIDEODISC WORM is indeed what I saw. My question is-- for an application in which I don't expect to have more than 20,000 images, is there any advantage of digital over analog storage? Is there any difference in search speed? or in the time it takes to "paint" the image to the screen once you get to the right frame? If I want to combine the video output of the disk drive with another video source (e.g. the Mac itself) is there any advantage of one system over the other? By the way, do you buy direct from Panasonic or through a distributor? Reuben Mezrich 1 Reply #: 600 S1/General Information 04-May-88 01:33:08 Sb: #599-Panasonic WORMs Fm: Pete Geyer 71211,2261 To: Reuben Mezrich 72356,252 Reuben: You've seen the Panasonic solution to analog storage of images. What have you considered in the way of digital solutions? How many images do you need to store? If you went the digital route, where would you store the images? CD-ROM? Would you need to manipulate the digital data, or simply display an image as is? Are you aware that high-quality digitized images tend to chew up lots of disk (or disc, or disque, or....) space, even when compressed? Analog videodiscs are currently the most efficient way to archive thousands of "high quality" images. Speed of digitized image retrieval and display will depend on several factors, including the storage technology used, whether software, hardware, or no compression is employed, and image quality. What kind of speed are you looking for? A videodisc player "paints" an image to the screen in 1/30 of a second (or 30 frames a second for motion). Even DVI (Digital Video Interactive) can't currently do that with the quality of videodisc images. But if you can settle for less quality or you don't need motion, then speed MAY not be a big problem. One disadvantage of using digitized images on a standard Mac would be image quality as compared to a videodisc image. It really depends on what you're looking for. The quality of Mac II color graphics overlayed on top of a videodisc output would be better than a digitized Mac image. BTW, we bought our Panasonic equip. from a distributor. - Pete #: 601 S1/General Information 04-May-88 01:56:40 Sb: #New Member Fm: Barbara Walden 74270,446 To: All Hi, Everyone. My name is Barbara Walden, and I've signed up because I think CD-ROM is a great idea. I have been using Hitachi's model 1503S and Microsoft's Bookshelf with my Tandy 1000 TX for about three weeks now, and it has whet my appetite for more and better applications. I am especially interested in finding foreign-language dictionaries on disc that include audible pronunciation--I've heard that this has been done already with an English dictionary, though I haven't located a publisher yet. 1 Reply #: 602 S1/General Information 04-May-88 09:30:30 Sb: #601-New Member Fm: Dennis Tanner 70007,2011 To: Barbara Walden 74270,446 Try calling Carolyn Kuhn at the Software Mart in Austin, TX. Phone 512-346-7887. They have done some foreign language CD-ROM work with voice. --Dennis Tanner