5/14/95 CompuNotes Issue #9 Patrick Grote, Publisher and Editor CompuNotes is a weekly publication available through an email distribution list and many fine on-line networks! We feature reviews, interviews and commentary concerning the PC industry. +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | As you know, we had to change the publication name due | | to the fact CyberNews was in use already. Well, we hope | | you enjoy your first issue of COMPUNOTES! We had a rough | | time picking the new name from over 200 entries! In the | | long run, we invented our own name, but gained inspiration| | from CompuNews by jws3984@nc5.infi.net and CompuPost by | | ag861@freenet.toronto.on.ca. We will be awarding a choice | | of software to these two folks. Again, we really want to | | thank everyone for their submissions! | | -=-=- Patrick Grote, | | Publisher and Editor| +-----------------------------------------------------------+ This Week's Contents: ===================== NEWS ==== -=> Playlink Card Lets Users Play via the Web <=- -=> Microsoft Doesn't Forget Fun <=- WEB SITE OF THE WEEK ==================== -=> INTERACTIVE SEINFELD QUIZ ONLINE <=- FTP FILE OF THE WEEK ==================== -=> NET-ALERT Network Management Tool <=- REVIEWS ======= -=> Sidekick 2.0 by Starfish Software - Patrick Grote <=- -=> ViperWrite by Looking Glass Software - Don Pelligrino <=- INTERVIEW ========= -=> Rich Harper, President of the ASP <=- To subscribe, send a message to subscribe@supportu.com with subscribe in body. To unsubscribe, send a message to unsubscribe@supportu.com with unsubscribe in body. Comments should be sent to feedback@supportu.com. Voice: (314) 984-9691 BBS : (314) 984-8387 FAX : (314) 984-9981 All old copies available from anonymous FTP at ftp.uu.net:/published/compunotes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . All News (C)opyright Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> New Way to Use the Web <=- FREMONT, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Phylon, Inc. announced its PlayLink(TM) website on the Internet at Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, May 11-13, 1995. The website offers players the chance to find opponents from around the globe, obtain listings of existing remote games, hot game tips, announcements of new game releases, answers to common hardware/software questions, and PlayLink(TM) software upgrades as they are released. By becoming part of the World Wide Web, Phylon's PlayLink(TM) will become instantly accessible to the millions of game players around the world. The PlayLink(TM) chipset (PHY-2000) was also announced today. It allows existing remote PC games to be played between two players, with voice interaction, over a normal telephone line. This chipset will allow voice and real-time game data communications, along with a host of unique features such as talk first mode for game setup, games synchronization, call waiting, and others. The PlayLink(TM) system provides game players the opportunity to play remote games in a whole new way. Existing hot titles such as DOOM 2, Heretic, Falcon 3.0, Descent, Indycar, Nascar, and all other two-player mode games, can be played with the PC PlayLink(TM) card with voice interaction between the players. A sound card may be used in combination with PlayLink(TM), in order to hear game music and sound effects mixed with the remote player's voice. The PlayLink(TM) chipset also provides 14,400 bps modem/fax capability and can easily be enhanced in the future, by obtaining software upgrades from the website. Planned upgrades will provide: high speed modem access such as 28,800 bps V.34, voice over the Internet, and much more. The PlayLink(TM) PC product is also available directly from Phylon, through the Internet in June. The package sells at an introductory price of $150 each or $200 for two, plus sales tax and s/h charges. It includes a PC In ternal card, a high quality headset, free access to the PlayLink(TM) website, and free shareware games. Phylon, Inc., privately held, develops technology and solutions for voice-band communications. Phylon communications technology is embedded in personal computer products, personal communications and consumer products and network systems worldwide. For more information, contact Phylon at 4027 Clipper Court, Fremont, CA 94538. Phone: 510-656-2606. Fax: 510-656-0902. NOTE: PlayLink is a trademark of Phylon, Inc. The games mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies. -=> More Classics are Back <=- LOS ANGELES, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Electronics Entertainment Expo, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is demonstrating the classic arcade game Pac Man, part of Microsoft's latest arcade games collection, Return of Arcade. Microsoft also announced Microsoft Hawaii, a new scenery-enhancement pack for the upcoming release of Microsoft Flight Simulator(TM) version 5.1. Microsoft Return of Arcade has been developed exclusively for the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 operating system. Building on the success of the original Microsoft Arcade package, the new collection includes four all-time favorite arcade games -- Pac Man, Dig Dug, Pole Position and Galaxian -- each replicated from the original coin-operated machines and designed for PCs running Windows 95. "These games bring back nostalgic memories of spending long afternoons in game halls and pizza parlors with pockets full of quarters," said Stuart Moulder, a product unit manager of the entertainment business unit at Microsoft. "For a few minutes each day, players of Microsoft Return of Arcade can use their home or office PCs to relive the days of their youth." As with the original Microsoft Arcade, which includes Asteroids, Centipede, Tempest, Battlezone and Missile Command, each Return of Arcade game is easy to enter and exit, and easy to learn and use. Players can customize each game by changing the number of lives, increasing the rate of fire, and changing other variables, such as customizing the keyboard controls. Additionally, the games use Microsoft Wavemix technology to render multiple sound effects simultaneously in Windows, for an engrossing and realistic arcade-style game experience that will keep users coming back for more. Aloha Hawaii! Like the previous scenery-add-on products for Microsoft's best-selling entertainment title, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Microsoft Hawaii provides pilots of the soon-to-be Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 CD-ROM (scheduled to be available in stores on June 9) with a realistic enhancement of the PC flying experience. The first Flight Simulator scenery enhancement available on CD-ROM, Microsoft Hawaii provides some of the world's most breathtaking aerial sights in stunning detail. Microsoft Hawaii covers the entire Hawaiian archipelago and features realistic-looking coastlines, water and cliffs, plus hotels, golf courses and famous landmarks such as Diamond Head and the Hana coast. From private Lanai to the sizzling nightlife of Waikiki on Oahu, Microsoft Hawaii gives users instant access to PC paradise. Pricing, Availability and System Requirements. Microsoft Return of Arcade is scheduled to be available in stores in fall 1995 for approximately $34.95. System requirements are as follows: Microsoft Windows 95 operating system, Multimedia PC or compatible with 486DX or higher microprocessor running at 33 MHz, 4 MB of RAM and 3 MB of available hard disk space, a high-density disk drive, Super VGA (for full 256-color support), sound board (recommended), Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device, and headphones or speakers (recommended). Microsoft Hawaii is scheduled to be available in stores in fall 1995 for approximately $24.95. System requirements are as follows: Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 CD-ROM version; a Multimedia PC or compatible with a 386 or higher microprocessor, 2 MB (minimum) to 4 MB of RAM with expanded memory manager (suggested) and 5 MB of available hard disk space plus 20 MB of additional hard disk space for Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1, CD-ROM drive, VGA or Super VGA monitor (256-color highly recommended), audio board (recommended), Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device, compatible joystick and flight yoke (recommended), and the MS-DOS(R) operating system version 5.0 or later. Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. The Microsoft Home brand was created in response to customer demand for a line of useful, enjoyable, premier-quality products for everyone in the home and offers software in the categories of personal productivity, kids, games, educational entertainment and reference. NOTE: Microsoft, Windows and MS-DOS are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Flight Simulator is a trademark of Bruce Artwick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEBSITE OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to a cool WebSite . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> INTERACTIVE SEINFELD QUIZ ONLINE <=- Do you know Elaine's I.Q.? What were George's SAT scores? Now you can test your own Seinfeld I.Q. with a World Wide Web version of the S.A.T. -- the Seinfeld Aptitude Test! The Seinfeld Aptitude Test is a new book by Beth B. Golub that contains more than 550 tough trivia questions about the smash TV series. Twenty-five questions are included in an interactive quiz at Book Stacks Unlimited, the popular online bookstore. To find out whether you qualify as "Master of Your Domain" or just a "Wuss," point your Web browser to: http://www.books.com/releases/release.htm For more information about the Seinfeld Aptitude Test and World Wide Web interactive quiz, send e-mail to Steve O'Keefe . We can e-mail a text version of the quiz to those without Web browsers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NET-ALERT is a network management tool for Novell Network Administrators. NET-ALERT will notify network administrators via pocket pager when a file server goes down. NET-ALERT will monitor Novell file servers 24 hours a day and determine if they are up and running. If one of the server's goes down, NET-ALERT will alert you. NET-ALERT monitors Novell file servers running Novell NetWare 2.X, 3.X and 4.X. NET-ALERT will eliminate the end of the morning file server crisis. NET-ALERT is a valuable network management tool that will assist you in providing the maximum available up time. You can find this as NETALE21.ZIP on the following FTP site: WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/misc/netale21.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sidekick 2.0 for Windows Reviewed by Patrick Grote Phillipe Kahn has always been a hero of mine! As I entered the worl of IBM compatibles in the early 80s as a acne faced teenager, my first conquest in the arena of software was Turbo Pascal. Not only did people call me the wiz when it came to Turbo Pascal, I had adults paying me to create programs for them. I made the decision then that computers were pretty cool . . . As Turbo Pascal grew, so did Phillipe and his company Borland. Borland soon offered other languages, yes I actually bought TurboProlog, and then they moved to applications. Anyone remember Sprint? This had to have been th best DOS word processor ever created. I swear Borland still uses this to document their programs. Anyway, Borland's first application/utility was something called Sidekick. It brought a new acronym to our computing language called TSR, terminate stay resident. Sidekick would actually remain in your memory after loading! This meant you could pop it up in the middle of Sprint or dBase II without having to quit and reload the program! When you did pop Sidekick up, you had access to a phone directory, scheduler, calculator and even, yes everyone needs one, an ASCII table! Sidekick remained on everyone's must buy list for years. As time marched on, other products came to dominate the world Sidekick used to reign over. Borland lumbered like a giant into the Windows application world and quickly lost sight of the useful tool it left back in the DOS world. Fast forward a few years later and you'll see that Borland has sold almost all their applications off, Phillipe no longer calls the day to day shots and Sidekick has been sold to small startup company called Starfish Software. Started up by Phillipe himself. Starfish's main focus is on delivering simple, high-quality, software products. To this end, note that Sidekick ships on 1 diskette, only uses 3 megabytes of hard drive space and is lightning quick! The latest Sidekick has three main sections -- cardfile, calendar and notes. These three sections are about as simple as any designer could make them. Anyone with just a passing knowledge on how to use a mouse can be up and running inside Sidekick in minutes. As you start to use Sidekick you notice everything you do is just like you thought it would be. To create an appointment with someone, all you have to do is click on their name from the card file and drag it over to the calendar section. Same with deleting information. Click on what you want to delete and drag it onto the trashcan. Some of the newer features of Sidekick catch the others in the game and knock them out! Some of the neater new features: * Alarms work even if you are out of Sidekick! * 70 templates for printing reports, envelopes, etc! * Balloon help that only activates when you need it! * Global find and replace features! There was only one very disappointing feature of Sidekick 2.0. It won't covert your 1.X data files. You need to do this MANUALLY! Ugh! Everyone needs a personal information manager nowadays. Why go with a bloated, over priced resource hog? Why not go with a slim, styled, easy to use package like Sidekick for Windows? Starfish Software 245 Mt. Hermon Rd. Suite 313 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (408) 439-0942 CompuServe: GO SIMPLIFY WWW: http://www.simplify.com Viper Write Reviewed by Don Pellegrino "Viper Write" is a hypermedia word processor. Hypermedia allows the user to link multimedia objects into the text of a document. The document can then be read interactively, presentation style. "Viper Write" is a small, easy to use, and very powerful program that makes such a process practical for both a novice and a technical guru alike. Hypermedia: Hypermedia is a collection of multimedia linked together and navigated through by a common document. For instance, when executed, a "Viper Write" document may display a screen full of text with a few graphics embedded and have a number of underlined or differently colored words. These words will act as links. When they are clicked another screen or even a video related to the word will display. This style of presentation is the backbone of the World Wide Web. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is used transfer the hypertext used to display ninety percent of the information on the Web. It is also the way "Windows Help" is organized. The Word Processor meets Presentation Software: "Viper Write" is not the most sophisticated word processor available but it does a moderate job of producing text. The standard Windows WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) functions are available, such as changing the font, color, and size of text. It also includes a 100,000 word dictionary and spell checker. The most outstanding aspect of the program is its incorporation of OLE (Object Linking and Embedding). This allows the user to create a graphic, sound, or video in another application and easily t and paste that object into a "Viper Write" document. The user can even launch any other Windows application from within a "Viper Write" presentation. Distributing a Viper Write Project: "Viper Write" includes a small program called "Viper Presentation." After the user creates a presentation with "Viper Write", "Viper Presentation" can be used solely to run the presentation. That EXE file can be distributed for free and without copyright infringement. The "Viper Write" documents and any other data or program files used in the presentation must be bundled together for it to run properly. Once the project is collected and ported to disk or compressed (ZIPped or ARJed) it can be run on any stem that meets the Viper system requirements. System Requirements: The minimum system requirements for "Viper Write" are an IBM or compatible PC with a 80386 or higher processor, DOS 3.3 or later, Microsoft Windows 3.1 (run in Enhanced Mode), 2 megabytes of free memory and 2.5 megabytes of hard drive space. 5.4 Megabytes of hard drive space are required for full installation. A mouse is recommended. Price: The suggested list price is $129.00. Neither my local Egghead Software nor Electronics Boutique salesmen had ever heard of the program but it can be ordered directly from Looking Glass Software. Looking Glass Software Inc. 11222 La Cienega Blvd., Suite 305 Inglewood, CA 90304-1104 Phone: (310) 348-8240 Fax: (310) 348-9786 CompuServe: NONE WWW: NONE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK | Interesting people you should know about . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ASP is probably the most influential organizations in the consumer computer world today? Don't know what ASP stands for? Try Association of Shareware Professionals. This organization, sporting thousands of members, is banded together to promote shareware as a viable distribution method. Don't know what shareware is? Basically, the way you purchase the software is to try it before you buy it. Rich Harper has been president of the organization during the most turbulent time the organization has faced. Through this his patient, guiding hand has lead to greater growth and expansion. Here is what he has to say . . . PG: No one can just "do computers" all the time. Do you hit the golf course? Play a little ping pong? What? RH: My "real job" is working as a paramedic for a rural ambulance service. When I find time between that and my Presidential duties, I bicycle and canoe. PG: Do the words Pearl Jam mean anything to you? What type of music are you in to? PH: Pearl Jam - isn't that what happens when you drop your wife's necklace into the garbage disposal? :-) I tend to listen to mostly 70's and 80's rock, with emphasis on groups like Genesis and Electric Light Orchestra, and just enough recent music thrown in to keep it from getting stale. PG: Ok. Just like everyone asks a car reviewer or mechanic what kind of car they drive, what is the configuration and type of your primary PC? RH: My bread and butter system is a 486SX2/66 with eight megs of RAM, SVGA and a 15" monitor, double speed CD-ROM, SoundMan WAVE card, 850 megs of HD space, tape backup, internal 28.8 modem, and a lovely cordless mouse. I also have a 486DLC-40 with 4 megs RAM, SVGA and a 14" monitor, single speed CD-ROM drive and a ProAudio16 sound card - but my son has dibs on that one. PG: Define the Information Superhighway in your own words. RH: Avoiding all the marketing hype and allowing for the fact that some people wouldn't recognize it if they ran into it - it seems to me that whatever path you can find from your computer to the information you need qualifies. PG: If Bill Gates and Jim Manzi were locked in a room for 15 minutes together what would happen? RH: Who's Bill Gates? PG: How long have you been involved with the ASP? How long as President? RH: I've been an ASP Author Member since 1990. For several years I have been working my way up the chain of command, first as an Author Membership reviewer, then as Chair of the Author Compliance Committee, and being selected as President in May of 1992. PG: What is the most beneficial aspect of being ASP President? Most frustrating? RH: The thing that I enjoy most about being ASP President is that I can have a hand in helping to shape and guide an industry that's been pretty good to me since I joined it. Probably one of the most frustrating things for me is that I tend to be a people-person, and occasionally find it difficult to carry on business from behind phones, faxes and EMail. I work much better in a face to face, one-on-one setting. PG: STAR. Comments? RH: In its own way, STAR is as much an asset to its members as the ASP is. We each have slightly different visions of what the shareware community is and how we can best help it and our members, and I certainly respect the STAR leadership for sticking to their founding principles. PG: What shareware products do you market? How successful are they? RH: My biggest product (alas!) isn't a shareware product - it's a software tracking and reporting system for police departments. After that one, my biggest gun is the TransferTIME program. Neither product has sold more than a few hundred copies, which is fine by me. I'm not really in the shareware business to replace my "other job", but more to suppliment it. On that basis, I'm wildly successful! PG: What's been the biggest change in the ASP since you have been involved? RH: I think the biggest change is yet to come with the new Author Standards document that will be voted on in June. This is the second serious attempt to completely overhaul the ASP's Policy on Non-Crippling, and hopefully this one will be the one that succeeds. Initial returns look good, but until the ballots are counted who knows? Rich can be contacted at rgharper@mail.msen.com His home page: http://www.msen.com/~rgharper/homeasp.html This issue was brought to you by Readables, the publishing house that understands you! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tired of pumping money into your BBS? | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |THE BBS CASH MACHINE is a book written by a sysop who has experience | |running a profitable BBS. With over 10 years sysoping experience, | |you'll gain the knowledge and know-how to attract .- ~ ~ -. | |and keep paying customers to your BBS! .~ ~. | | / \ | |Even if all you want is for your BBS to break | .o~o~o~o. | | |even, the author shows you how! 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