PsL Monthly 1994 July/PSL Monthly Shareware CD-ROM (Public Software Library) (July 1994).iso/pastnews/news9312.vws

Text File | 1993-11-04 | 17KB | 371 lines

=====News & Views <psl_logo.pcx>


- Programming is Easier Than Ever
- How We Review Programs
- A Day or Two In the Life...
- Shareware Overload?
- New Retail Products
  ...$15 Game Controller/Joystick
  ...$5 Grateful Dead Mouse Pad
  ...$25 King's Quest VI CD-ROM Offer
  ...$149 Network System installs on parallel port
  ...Bram Stoker's Dracula
  ...Front Page Sports: Football Pro

-----Programming is Easier Than Ever

Starting with this month's PsL Monthly CD-ROM, we are putting a section of
PsL's disk-based library on the CD each month. The section this month is
Programming.

The major programming sections in PsL are Basic, C, Pascal, and Assembly
Language. Other languages included are Cobol, Fortran, Forth, Modula2,
artificial intelligence languages (e.g.: Lisp), and others.

Each programming section has tutorials for learning the language,
third-party compilers and/or interpreters, tools to make programming
easier, libraries of routines and individual routines to add features to
your programs without having to do the programming yourself, and more.

---Picking a Language

[CD-ROM Note: Ignore disk numbers and look in the PRGMMING directories.]

If you have an interest in programming, first pick a language, study some
of the tutorials, and try some of the third-party compilers to see how you
like it.

We recommend starting with Basic because it is the easiest program with
which to get immediate results. Disk #4744, Basic Training, is a good
tutorial and MegaDisk set #27344 gives you three different Basic compilers
to try. MegaDisk set #27053 is a trial version of Microsoft's QuickBasic,
but if you got QBASIC with your version of DOS, you can do a lot with it,
short of turning your program into an EXE file.

Young people who are serious about programming and may want to make it a
career might want to start with assembly language and learn the basic
elements of programming. A86 (disk #0690) is an outstanding assembler and
comes with D86, a powerful debugger, by the same author. Megadisk set
#27052 is a collection of 5 disks (for a total of $6.99) for learning
assembler.

If you really want to maximize results and minimize programming, you cannot
do any better than Visual Basic for Windows. With an understanding of only
a few of the most essential elements of programming, such as DO-WHILE and
FOR-NEXT loops and calling subroutines, you can write professional looking
programs.

While a dying breed of hard-core DOS users still swear that they will never
use Windows, nowhere are the advantages of Windows more evident than in
programming with VB.

---DOS vs Windows Programming

For a good example, compare the CD-ROM access programs for DOS and for
Windows. The DOS version was written with Microsoft's Professional
Development System 7 (MS's euphemistic name for Basic). The Windows version
was written in VB.

A great deal of the code in the PDS version has to do with displaying text,
scrolling text, and detecting user's input. Virtually none of that code is
needed in VB because Text Boxes with scroll bars display the text
automatically. VB takes care of detecting user input and executing the
proper code.

The DOS program requires you to load a third-party TSR (by the name of
Together) to view graphics and the Windows version does not. This is
because like the mouse support in the Windows version, graphics support is
a function of Windows and the programmer does not have to worry about it at
all.

In contrast, writing a program in DOS to try to support the countless
variations in video graphics is a daunting task which we are happy to leave
to the author of Together.

---VB - Almost No Programming At All!

To give you an idea of how little programming can be required with Visual
Basic, take a look at the following screen shot of a Windows wallpaper
changer being written: <VB.PCX>

In the screen shot, the box that the user sees (with the title "PsL's
Wallpaper Changer") is surrounded by VB windows.

This program, which we have put in the WIN\UTILITIES directory of the CD
this month as [CH_PAPER], lets you change drives using a pull-down drive
box (upper right of the PsL window) which displays all available drives,
change directories with a scrolling directory box which automatically
changes when a new drive is selected.

To the left of the directory box is a file list box which shows all the
files in the selected directory. The user can change the Windows wallpaper
simply by clicking on a file name, or can enter a number of minutes in the
box above the file box to have the program display each BMP file in the
directory.

All of these boxes were inserted into the PsL window simply by clicking the
appropriate button to the left of the window.

Below the PsL box are two code boxes. The bottom one sets up the necessary
Windows commands for the program to call to cause the wallpaper to change.
These commands were cut-and-pasted from a VB-Windows reference file.

The box above that is essentially all the code required by this program -
two lines which call the Windows commands. The first line, "Sub
m_Change_Click" is just the title of the subroutine. "m_Change" is the name
we gave the menu item "Change". When the user clicks on that menu item,
VB/Windows automatically runs this subroutine.

The programmer doesn't have to worry about what the mouse is doing, about
what kind of video the user has, about creating and operating all the
directory and drive boxes, or even about what makes the wallpaper change
once the command is given.

Voila - a very useful utility with virtually no programming!


-----How We Review Programs

PsL's reviewers have to test and review up to 1000 programs a month
(including those which are ultimately rejected). We are often asked how we
can review so many programs every month.

Part of the answer is that we have an experienced staff, most of whom have
been with PsL for years. The other part of the answer is a program which
automates much of the review process.

PsL's Reviews program starts by automatically virus-checking the new
disk/files as part of the installation process.

Reviews is tied into a database which can instantly tell us if a program
has been written up in the past and if so, it can insert information from
the past write-up into the current one. Since we get well over 100 updates
a month and have written up over 10,000 programs in the past, this one
feature saves a tremendous amount of time.

For new programs, Reviews makes it easy for reviewers to run programs and
to extract information from DOC files for use in the write-ups.

The Reviews program runs in Windows, where it is easy to test-run a program
and view the docs in separate windows while keeping Reviews open in another
window.

Paint Shop Pro, another Windows app, makes it easy to capture program
screens, whether text based or graphical, and to manipulate the screen
images before saving them for inclusion with the program write-up.

When all the reviews for a month have been done, checked and edited, the
program assigns disk numbers and assembles the write-ups into categories
for importing into FrameMaker (DTP program) where the raw text is prepared
for output to PostScript files and sent to the printing company.

The result is the monthly PsL News.


-----A Day or Two In the Life...

...of the computers at PsL.

For about a year, we struggled with a problem of one of our systems locking
up when opening a DOS window in Windows. We reinstalled Windows, Stacker,
and every other piece of software on the machine. We replaced every
component including the mother board. We appealed to Microsoft for help to
no avail.

The problem has apparently been solved. A MediaVision techie told us to
move their drivers from a Stacked drive to an unStacked part of the drive.
Although we don't understand the connection, we did so and the problem went
away.

Another "feature" of Windows that I've been unable to figure out is how to
turn down the volume on the Multimedia Mixer and have it STAY turned down.
I've adjusted everything I can find in WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI and any other
INIs to no avail. I still get a 150 decibel trumpet blare every time
Windows starts.

One of our reviewers, Mary, was testing a program the other day and had to
reboot her machine. Upon restarting, the computer refused to recognize her
hard drive. We tried everything, ending up with removing the drive from the
case, and starting the machine with the hard drive sitting on top of the
case. Surprise, it worked! We put it back in the case and everything's been
fine. The hard drive must have just wanted a little freedom for awhile.

Today, one of our other reviewers, Paul, rebooted his machine and HIS
computer refused to recognize his hard drive. He tried switching
controllers, and still nothing, which tended to rule out the controller. He
stuck the drive on another machine and it came up with no problem, which
tended to rule out the drive. After trying everything else, we replaced the
computer's power supply and that fixed it.

Yesterday we installed a brand new CD-ROM drive on a machine. It refused to
accept a CD caddie, so we sent it back to the manufacturer and must wait a
week or two for a replacement.

We lost about six hours of work because a commercial text editor, Kedit,
not only lost the work in progress by aborting with an error message about
EMS memory; it also trashed the disk file as it aborted. The blame in this
case seems to go to a newly installed memory manager.

But the problem is compounded by Windows 3 (which is also noodling with
memory), a disk cache, a DOS window within Windows, a keyboard macro TSR
within the DOS window, and THEN loading Kedit, which swaps data to EMS
itself.

Another DOS window is open and also has TSR's loaded in it. And of course
when the computer boots up, it loads CD-ROM drivers, sound card drivers,
network drivers, removable cartridge drivers, mouse drivers, print
spoolers, Stacker drivers, etc.

Remember that all of this has been cobbled onto a system which IBM
originally marketed with 16k of RAM and a port for using a dime-store
cassette player for data storage and retrieval.

The wonder is not that today's systems are sometimes unreliable, but that
they ever work at all.


-----Shareware Overload?

A couple of people have told us that the PsL Monthly CD is more software
than they can handle. They don't get through looking at one month's CD
before the next month's comes.

We agree that the CD provides an embarrassment of riches, and the volume of
software on the CD quadruples starting this month with the addition of
sections of PsL's disk based library.

On the other hand, we have also talked to people who have bought a
half-dozen diskettes from PsL and did not get around to looking at them
until months later, so it's a matter of degree.

The main point to remember is that just as you don't read every single word
in a newspaper or magazine nor watch every show that comes on TV, you don't
have to use every program that comes on the CD. If over time you use only a
few programs from each CD, it pays for itself.

Also, unlike newspapers and magazines which are too bulky to keep and too
hard to search when you do want to look something up in an old issue if you
do keep them, the PsL CDs create a valuable library of software in a small
space.

And because the cumulative listings of prior CDs are included with each new
CD, it is easy to find programs on old CDs by program name, author name or
type of program.


-----New Retail Products

---Command Pad #30414 $15

Arcade games on the PC already equal and sometimes surpass those on the
Nintendo-style games, but if you are still using a mouse or even a joystick
to play them, you are missing out on the playing action of the arcade game
machines. For only $15, there's no reason to miss out any longer.

This Nintendo-style game controller plugs into your game/joystick port.
(Many computers and nearly all sound cards have game ports.) No drivers are
needed because most games have gamepad/joystick support built in.


---Grateful Dead Mouse Pad  #30417  $5

Deadheads rejoice! For a mere $5, you can own a mouse pad emblazoned with
the logo from the band that refuses to die. The beautiful red roses
surrounding a grinning skeleton are the perfect addition to any desktop.
(Shipping is $3 if ordered alone; no additional shipping if ordered with
anything else.)


---King's Quest VI CD-ROM   #30382  $25

This special upgrade version is available to owners of any previous King's
Quest games. (You do not have to send in your previous game. This offer is
on the honor system.)

It contains an incredible 50-megabyte animated introduction, a special
Video for Windows presentation, several hours of digitized dialog and
narration by actors, and much more.


---Coactive Network  #30418  $149 per PC, $35 per Mac

If you have ever wished for a cheap and easy way to share files among
computers, send messages from one machine to another, or to share printers,
the Coactive network system may fill the bill, but its drawbacks are that
it is a bit of a memory hog and it is terribly slow.

The Coactive Network hardware consists of a small device that connects to
your computer's parallel port. It has a pass-through connector so that you
can still plug in your printer, but if you are already using a pass-through
connector, such as for the SyDos Personal CD, you will have to use another
parallel port. The necessary software is self-installing.

Each network device has two phone plug jacks and standard telephone wire is
used to connect the computers. Coactive guarantees that you can hook up a
basic network in less than 5 minutes.

The Coactive software makes each computer on the network think it has a
drive "N:", and each computer has a name which appears as a subdirectory on
N:. For example, if you hook up two computers and call one "DESKTOP" and
the other "LAPTOP", when you enter DIR N: you will see N:\DESKTOP and
N:\LAPTOP. To copy files from the desktop computer to the laptop, you just
enter COPY FILENAME.EXT N:\LAPTOP.

Copying a 56k file to another machine on the network took 15 seconds.
Copying the same file to a floppy took 5 seconds. A 316k file took 75
seconds on the network. Obviously, passing floppies around is still going
to be the preferred method for transferring large amounts of data unless
you can arrange to do it while you are away from your machine.

On the other hand, we set up a large database file on one machine and let
the other machines access records in it (the network's "N:" is just another
drive to your software). The time to get a record and display it was quite
acceptable.

Another feature of Coactive is the ability to share printers. This is a
natural since the network attaches to the printer port and has printers
plugged into it. The print spooler takes another 9k.

Coactive is sufficient for exchanging small files such as email among
computers. It is also an easy way to network a slot-less laptop or
notebook. And Mac connectors are just $35.

If your need is to transfer files or other large chunks of data throughout
the day, you will need a faster (and more expensive) system. For any of the
other uses mentioned in this article, you will find it to be a cheap and
easy solution.


---Bram Stoker's Dracula  #30416  $39.95

Battle the Prince of the Undead in this incredible 3-D animated arcade
game. As Jonathan Harker you will travel to Transylvania to track down
and destroy hoards of vampires and finally face the Dark One himself in his
dreadful castle.

The VGA graphics are very well done. The excellent user interface is
reminiscent of Castle Wolfenstein. The game also features digitized sounds
and music to enhance the overall creepiness. Requires a 1.44mb disk drive,
a Microsoft compatible mouse, 384K EMS memory, and a hard drive. <DRAC.PCX>


---Front Page Sports: Football Pro  #30415  $45

If you are looking for a stunningly realistic football simulation, look no
further. You are in total control of the season from start to finish, with
hundreds of user-definable options. Authentic NFL rosters and stats are
used, and leagues can have up to 28 teams with 1400 professional players.

There is a comprehensive tutorial, incredible animation filmed from actual
players, digitized speech and helmet-crunching sound effects, a play editor
with over 1000 stock plays, 10 field viewing angles plus a blimp-view zoom,
three skill levels of coaching and play, play book printing capabilities,
and much, much more.

This game was voted 1993's "Sports Game of the Year" by Computer Gaming
World. Requires a 386/25 or better, 2 meg RAM with EMS, DOS 5+, VGA, 10 meg
of free hard disk space, and 1.44 mb floppy drive. A mouse or joystick is
recommended.