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1990-04-23
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News Release
Version 3.0 of LANtastic NOS
TUCSON, Ariz., April 5, 1990 -- Version 3.0 of the LANtastic Network
Operating System supports voice chat and voice mail when LANtastic
Voice Adapters are installed on each PC, Artisoft announced today.
With Version 3.0 and the new voice adapter, which is purchased
separately, users can pick up the telephone handset provided with
each adapter and talk with or leave voice messages for others on the
network.
Version 3.0 also offers a textual chat option, pop-up messaging that
informs the user whenever someone wants to textually or verbally chat
or when he has a text or voice message waiting, a disk cache, even
easier menu-driven installation, support for diskless workstations,
printing speed improvements, additional security, more open files per
server, and context sensitive help.
Each $149 IBM-compatible 8-bit LANtastic Voice Adapter will ship with
a telephone handset and cord that connects it to the adapter. Version
3.0 and the LANtastic Voice Adapter are scheduled to ship in May.
End-users who purchase the LANtastic Network Operating System after
April 15 can receive a free V3.0 software upgrade by sending in the
upgrade card enclosed in the package. V3.0 upgrades for other users
are $50.
LANcache, LANtastic NOS's new disk cache LANcache, a multi-tasking
disk cache, allows users to process data much more quickly because it
is read from RAM rather than disk. LANcache can read new data even
as it writes to disk, and does so in the background while other CPU
operations are performed. Additionally, users can delay writing to
the disk by a user-specified length of time, allowing the cacher to
write larger blocks of data to disk and thereby increasing network
speed.
The efficiency of the caching system can be checked. A "hit" is
recorded each time the desired data is found in the cache, and a
"miss" is recorded when the disk must be accessed. "Hit" rates of
more than 90% are common.
Easier Installation
Getting the network up and running is even easier with the new menu
driven installation procedure, which helps the user install the
software with a series of questions and explanations of each step.
The installer can use default names for the users, servers and
workstations. Default account files, privileges and network
resources can be assigned by the program and a batch file is created
which allows a user to bring up the network and log on with one
command.
Diskless Workstations Supported
Diskless workstations now can remotely boot off a server instead of
needing a floppy drive when the LANtastic Boot ROM Daughter Board is
plugged into the expansion bus on the LANtastic 2Mbps adapter in the
server. LANtastic Boot ROM Daughter Boards can be purchased
separately from Artisoft for $99.
Network Printing Improvements
Most LANs can despool to only one printer at a time, which can slow
up network printing. Now, while one file is being printed, the
server searches through the Queue for any files to be printed by
another printer and prints it at the same time. Users also have the
flexibility of specifying the location of the spool files. Even RAM
disk can be specified to speed printing. Additionally, output can
easily be directed to parallel and serial printers; the size of the
Network Printing buffers can now be increased to enhance performance;
and the contents of the entire queue can be deleted with one command,
instead of one file at a time.
Enhanced Security Features
Now the network manager can assign each user access to the system
only between certain hours of operation and can specify the date at
which an account will close, making it easier to set up temporary
accounts. In order to encourage users to change their passwords more
often, an expiration date and extension days can be assigned to a
password. Also, indirect files can reside in any directory, so if an
indirect file is accidentally deleted, only the contents of the
indirect file and not the file that it references are lost.
More Allowable Open Files
Other peer-to-peer LANs are capable of supporting hundreds of nodes,
yet because of DOS limitations are only able to open up to 255 files
per server, far too few for large networking applications. LANtastic
is fully able to support large networks by allowing them up to 5100
open files per server.
Context Sensitive Help
Users can now ask for help in a given section of the Net and Net_Mgr
programs and the help file appears automatically prescrolled to the
corresponding section, thus saving the user the trouble of hunting
through the Help file to find the pertinent information.
For more information about the Artisoft product line, contact
Artisoft Inc., 575 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ 85704. Telephone
602-293-6363. Fax 602-293-8065.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(H)elp, (1-14), Bulletin List Command? 3
News Release
LANtastic Voice Developer's Package Available from Artisoft
TUCSON, Ariz., April 5, 1990 -- Artisoft announces two LANtastic
voice products that make it possible for developers to add voice to
software applications. The $149 IBM-compatible 8-bit LANtastic Voice
Adapter and the $195 LANtastic Voice Programmer's Interface (VPI) are
scheduled to ship in May. The LANtastic Voice Adapter can be sourced
through Artisoft's reseller and distribution channels. The VPI must
be purchased directly from Artisoft.
Artisoft's LANtastic Voice Adapter digitizes spoken messages or music
and preserves them in nearly the original sound quality. The VPI, a
set of simple software commands that interface to the LANtastic Voice
Adapter, allows developers to add high-fidelity sound effects,
including speech and music, to software programs. Developers can
create, for example, educational and training programs on disk or
CD-ROM that give verbal instructions to students, voice mail, and
talking software demos when used with the LANtastic Voice Adapter.
Users of applications with voice support must have LANtastic Voice
Adapters installed on each PC.
LANtastic Voice Adapter
Artisoft's LANtastic Voice Adapter is a low-cost, IBM compatible
expansion adapter that converts between audio/voice signals and a
digital data stream. When used in conjunction with supporting
software, it provides the capability to digitize spoken messages,
preserving them in nearly their original fidelity.
It features full-duplex operation (simultaneous record and play), a
standard telephone handset connection, and line level audio in and
out allows for the use of an external sound source, recorder or
amplifier. The 8-bit companded D/A and A/D conversion provides
clean, noise-free reproduction. The LANtastic Voice Adapter works
completely in the background and does not tie up a system.
Hardware Compatibility:
∙IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 model 30, 30-286 and compatibles, and 386-based
IBM PC bus compatibles.
PC Requirements:
∙One floppy drive
∙8-bit expansion slot
∙PC DOS 3.1 or higher (3.2 not recommended)
Dimensions:
∙Height: 4.0 inches (including brackets)
∙Length: 5.0 inches
∙Depth: 0.8 inches
Power requirements:
∙+5V @ 330mA
∙+12V @ 33mA
∙-12V @ 33mA
D/A Conversion:
∙8 bits/sample
∙µ 255 law companded
Sampling Rate:
∙7990.1Hz
Bandwidth:
∙200Hz - 3400Hz
Selectable Jumpers:
∙J1: Enable DMA channel 1
∙J2: Enable DMA channel 3
∙Both channels may be enabled to support full duplex operation
External Interfaces:
∙P1-Handset, electret, 0.2V peak-to-peak
Standard female, modular telephone handset jack (M4P4C). Electret
microphone input and output are supported on this connector.
Telephone handset is provided. Electret microphone input is
reproduced in the earphone as long as power is supplied to the board
to give the handset the sound of a "live" line. ∙P2 - LINE IN, 100K
Ohms 2.5V Female, RCA-type audio jack. Accepts a standard audio
signal for digitizing from an external source. May be connected to a
CD player, tape recorder, or other external device. This signal is
mixed with the microphone input from P1 and is reproduced in the
earphone. ∙P3 - LINE OUT, 2.2K Ohms 1.2V Female, RCA-type audio
jack. Provides a standard line-level audio signal. May be
connected to a tape recorder or an external amplifier to record or
broadcast the output signal.
LANtastic Voice Programmer's Interface
The LANtastic VPI is a set of software routines for interfacing to
the LANtastic Voice Adapter. VPI uses a structure called the Voice
Control Block. This block is similar to an NCB or MCB in the
NetBIOS. It contains pointers to blocks of data which can be used
for PLAY and RECORD. Commands can be "no-wait" which means control
returns to the calling program immediately while the VPI works in the
background. When the VPI command completes, the user's POST routine
is called.
Basic VPI Routines:
Adapter_Status Find out about the voice adapter
Reset Reset the voice adapter
Deinstall Takes VPI out of memory
Cancel Cancel a pending Voice Control Block
Send Sends a buffer to PLAY channel
Silence Sends silence to PLAY channel
Receive Receives a buffer from RECORD channel
Threshold Wait for sound to reach a certain loudness
and then begin receive from RECORD channel