PC-SIG: Essential Home & Business/PC-SIG - Essential Home and Business Collection.iso/03/0/4/OLDBULL.DOC

Text File | 1984-06-16 | 19KB | 506 lines

    This is the original set of Bulletins all combined into one
file for your convenience in downloading and capturing a copy.

    This information is either needed by you or it is my req-
uirement that you have a copy.  Certain bits of information must be
passed on to you, as a user of this service, and other information
must be passed on to anyone you would give a copy of the worksheets
that are on this service.

    Quite obviously, this is also my means of advertising the
service to the whole world. This service is free to anyone who calls.
Donations are encouraged for the sake of expanding the system and
making the service more valuable to YOU and to others. I have invested
nearly $7,000 in this system and it has truly been a pleasure so you
don't need to feel sorry for me, but if it is to grow beyond this, it
must be with your help. I am tapped out, as far as spending more on
this system is concerned.

    I ask that you keep a copy of this file and include it with
any copies that you make for others. They, in turn, should also keep
a copy and include it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    **--Welcome to the Astrix Computer System!--**

This Bulletin Board Service is available for the primary purpose of
making available worksheet models and information about worksheets.

The system utilizes the RBBS-PC Bulletin Board System developed by
D.  Thomas Mack and others of the Capital PC User Group, Inc., P.O.
Box 3189, Gaithersburg, MD 20878.  If you have any system type dif-
ficulties, please leave a message on this system or seek help from
others who specialize in RBBS type problems.

The bulletins that follow will provide a basic understanding of this
BBS and how you can use it for maximum benefit to suit your needs.
Please do not skip the bulletins the first time that you access the
system.

Any comments and suggestions are always welcomed and encouraged about
any question or issue, especially regarding the products that are the
offering of this service.

                The Sysop


    **--New Users of the Astrix Computer System--**

It is with a great deal of pleasure that I welcome you to this bulletin board
service. I hope you find it everything that you expected it to be and to pro-
vide the information that you sought. If not, please leave word on the system,
so that improvements can be made in the areas that you feel need the most at-
tention.

I would like to stress that in the final analysis, this bulletin board belongs
to you.  If it doesn't meet your needs, then it is incumbent upon you to sug-
gest ways in which it would more closely meet your requirements. Don't be shy.
I've spent a lot of time and energy to put this together, but I have only been
anticipating the features that I felt deserved space and effort. It is through
feedback, that all of us together will evolve this service into a useful idea.

The presumption is that you are operating an IBM PC or extremely close compat-
ible computer system. If you are not, then you may run into some difficulties.
Lotus 1-2-3 is not always able to be run on compatibles, but you are a better
judge of your system's capabilities and compatibilities than I. You may need
some help in getting started. If so, then leave a comment for me, with infor-
mation so that I can get in contact with you at a later time.



    -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Bulletin Menu -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

        1 - The Astrix Computer System Information
        2 - How to use this Bulletin Board System
        3 - What's Available on this service
        4 - Recent News and/or Announcements
        5 - What's coming in the future on ACS.
        6 - Why do I do it?




    **--The Astrix Computer System Information--**


                         tm
Name:            The Astrix Computer System
Address:        P. O. Box 1265
            Rockville, Maryland 20850

Telephone Access:    Data:        [phone]
            Voice:        [phone]

Computer Access:    Comp-U-Serve:    72426,513
            MCI Mail:     116-6408



    **--General System User Information--**


Below you will find a list of Lotus 1-2-3* Worksheet Files.
You are free to download any/or all of these files for your
personal and business use. These worksheets are freely avail-
able to the general public at no cost. See Bulletin
----
*Lotus and 1-2-3 are Trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation.



    **--Basic Services offerred--**

1. Downloading worksheets and documentation

2. Uploading worksheets and documentation

3. Leave messages (problems, comments, etc)

4. Read the collective messages of others

5. Use as an announcement service for other
     services or activities related to spread-
     sheets, seminars, u-name-it.

6. A Financial Related BBS (since finance is
     likely to be a close cousin to the major
     area of interest on the BBS).


    **--Acknowledgements--**

The Astrix Computer System gratefully acknowledges the Lotus
Development Corporation for their design and development of the
Lotus 1-2-3* Package.

PC-Files-III*

RBBS-PC*

Que Corporation for SuperCalc* SuperModels for Business

* denotes Trademarks

    **--Notices and Terms-**

You are asked to distribute any, all, or none of the Worksheets
that you download from this service. If you should choose to make a
copy for a friend, I request that you include the entire MACLIB
Worksheet in it's original state. You may make your own version
of the MACLIB file, but use a different name and maintain it's
own identity. I didn't want to garbage up the individual worksheets
with a lot of stuff that you would have erased anyway, so the
MACLIB file is my means of maintaining identity with these products.

Additionally, you are asked not to charge anyone for these worksheets,
other than the recovery of media expenses.



    **--How to use this Bulletin Board System--**


You may download models or worksheets in either WKS, DIF, PRN, or
VC format. You may upload using the same formats for any of your
files.

You may leave messages for others or comments to the Sysop of ACS.

If you download one of the worksheets and find it useful and/or
profitable, then a small donation would be appreciated, which will be
used to enhance this system and make this kind of information more
widely available.

If you take the whole package of 21 basic building block worksheets
with sample data, then I would expect that you would either make a
larger donation or have the sense of fair play to give them away and
destroy them, but in any case, to discontinue using them yourself.

If you download the MACLIB file, you will have obtained a sample of,
what I think, are some of the more exciting features being demonstrated
in the use of Lotus 1-2-3.

This includes the use of Menus for worksheet, and problem selection,
file saving, help, printing, cloning, and others.


    **--What then does all this cost you?--**


Now lets digress for a moment and discuss my philosophy of pricing
and value. If you use a tool and it saves you something on the order
of $25.00 on your taxes or other financial activities, then it wouldn't
be too much to pay a thankyou complement of about $5.00. If you
managed to work it to death and save a million, it still wouldn't be
worth much more than 5 bucks. If you save nothing and gain no benefit,
you would be better off calling someone else, and reducing the load
on this system.


There are 21 models in the basic system. If you took the complete set
and made extensive use of all of them and saved a bunch, I would feel
that a reasonable response would be $50.00. Since most people will
find only a few to be really useful and the others as mostly dust
collectors on their scarce media, I still feel like 50 is a fair.


    **--Frequent calling and checking for updates--**

Please do not abuse the system with frequent calls, because it will be
about a month or more between changes on the basic service.  This will
allow time for feedback on what people have taken and used and possibly
had some problems using, which require corrections or improvements.

If you download a model and do encounter some problems, it is always
greatly appreciated to find out about the difficulties and maybe be
able to find a solution that will prevent others from having the same
difficulty.  To call back and leave word of this nature is encouraged
as often as you would care to do so.


    **--The Ol' Watering Hole Syndrome--**

Some Billboard Services become a hitching-post for people with common
interests and this one could well be one of those for people with an
interest in worksheets and macros.  Actually I hope it does, but not
to the extent that the basic service is impaired.  Later on I would
like to expand the BBS to include conferences on various aspects of
spreadsheeting, but not now, the system can't take on that kind of load
as yet.

The current plan calls for an expansion board which will add some non-
attended capabilities and much more memory.  In the near term this system
will expand to 640K and most of the message files and overlays will be
in ram disk.  This will hopefully allow an improvement in your ability
to get the information that you need in a shorter amount of time and
provide for more callers to have a chance at gaining access.


    **--The Wave of Tomorrow in Worksheet Black Markets (??)--**

If you take the macro library and become a regular user of this expanding
trade of Lotus 1-2-3 macro mania, then it would be appreciated if you
would contribute back, on a subsequent visit, a few of the better macros
that you may have created or discovered someplace. In this way we will
all grow rich on our stores of macros to do wild and wonderful things with
Lotus 1-2-3.


    **--What's Available on this service--**


The basic service is oriented to providing a set of models or worksheets,
if you will, which can be used in your personal or business life. These
files are divided into directories based on subject matter.

Use the L)ist command, L; to get the top level directory listed.

Use the L)ist;n command, where n is the one or two digit number, to
get the second level directories listed.

To actually download a worksheet, you must use the XMODEM protocol.  The
worksheets in their native format are not transferable as ASCII text.
Other alternatives are available via use of the DIF format, which is also
provided in a separate directory using the same names.    Another directory
uses print format and for those of you, who have only Visi-Calc to use,
the VC format is in still another directory.

These directories are empty at the present time, because I don't
have sufficient disk space to accomodate all of the models in
these other formats. On a special request basis, I can make some
of them available in DIF/PRN/VC formats.

Parallel with each of the files that is a model is another file
that contains documentation related to the worksheet, if any
is needed.

The basic directory structure looks something like the following illustra-
tion, having as many of the sub-directories as space is available and
subject matter requires.  Please note that a file extension is universally
not used as part of the file name in terms of subject.    File extensions
are used to identify file types, since there are so many different types
of files on this service.


The extensions employed and their meanings are as follows:

    WKS    Lotus 1-2-3 Worksheet format
    DIF    DIF file format
    VC    Visi-Calc format
    PRN    Lotus 1-2-3 Print format
    TXT    ASCII text file format
    DOC    Documentation (WORDIX or NROFF) format




               Master Directory
               ________________

Directory 1. "dir1"   -->Use L;1 to list this directory.

    This directory contains 7 of the 21 models. Their file names and
    titles are as listed next. These models are in WKS format and
    require the XMODEM protocol for transfer, if this protocol is not
    available, check into the possibility of transfering the DIF
    format or PRN format.

    1. CBB.WKS      Check Book Balancer
    2. CDB.WKS      Cash Disbursements
    3. CFM.WKS      Cash Flow Manager
    4. CFP.WKS      Cash Flow Projection
    5. LNA.WKS      Loan Amortization
    6. LNP.WKS      Loan Payoff Calculator
    7. LCT.WKS      Line-of-Credit Tracker


Directory 2. "dir2"   -->Use L;2 to list this directory.

    This directory contains 7 of the 21 models. Their file names and
    titles are as listed next.

    8.  ADC.WKS      ACRS Depreciation Calc.
    9.  IRR.WKS      Internal Rate-of-Return
    10. ARC.WKS      Acc. Rec. Tracker
    11. EIO.WKS      EOQ Inventory Ordering
    12. FFS.WKS      5-in-1 Financial Statement
    13. RAR.WKS      Ratio Analyzer
    14. IIB.WKS      Interactive Inc-Statement


Directory 3. "dir3"   -->Use L;3 to list this directory.

    This directory contains 7 of the 21 models. Their file names and
    titles are as listed next.

    15. STC.WKS      Statistics Calculator
    16. GCC.WKS      Growth Capacity Calc.
    17. QA1.WKS      Queue Analysis (single)
    18. QAM.WKS      Queue Analysis (multi)
    19. NVB.WKS      New Venture Budget
    20. PVA.WKS      Price Volume Analysis
    21. QGN.WKS      Quote Generator


Directory 4. "This directory is in progress and will be available soon.

    When it becomes available, you can list it with the L;4 command.

    This directory contains all of the news files and other types
    of general interest text file information. You should start with
    this directory and capture a copy of the entire set of information.
    Saving a copy of this set will always provide you with the infor-
    mation that you might need later, such as phone numbers, times,
    dates, and anything else that you might tend to overlook in your
    zest to get it "all", in the time alloted.

    Personally, I would recommend that you quit at this point in your
    first call. Look over the information and see what all is being
    offered to you. There are 21 models available in the basic set
    and capturing a copy of all 21 in the first gulp is probably more
    than you're able to cope with, or effectively keep organized.


Directory 5. "dir5"   -->Use L;5 to list this directory.

    This directory contains macro files in worksheet format for down-
    loading directly into a Lotus 1-2-3 Worksheet, and in print for-
    mat for making hard copies on your computer locally or using as
    a source to copy from, if you are unable to transfer the actaul
    worksheet, due to the need for the XMODEM protocol.


        1. MACLIB.WKS    Lotus 1-2-3 Macros
        2. MACS.PRN    Macro set in PRN format


Directory 6. "dir6"   -->Use L;6 to list this directory.

    The basic 21 models in DIF format. (not implemented yet)

    This directory and the two that follow will not be employed
until I am able to procure a hard-disk for this beast. I will load,
on a request basis, any one or several of the models in a particular
format.

Directory 7. "dir7"   -->Use L;7 to list this directory.

    The basic 21 models in PRN format. (not implemented yet)


Directory 8. "dir8"   -->Use L;8 to list this directory.

    The basic 21 models in VC format. (not implemented yet)


Directory 9. "dir9"   -->Use L;9 to list this directory.

    This directory contains models donated by users, that I have
    reviewed and feel offer a good alternative way of doing the
    things, or additional capabilities, not in the original set.
    Please help this part out with some of your own. This is an
    alternative to actually integrating one of your models into
    my macro library. The forthcoming documentation will describe
    my conventions with regard to macros.

Directory 10. "dir10"   -->Use L;10 to list this directory.

    This directory contains Lotus 1-2-3 Worksheet macros in
    WKS format and TXT format that are contributed by users.

Directory 99. "dir99"   -->Use L;99 to list this directory.

    These are all yours and hot off the press, so to speak. As long
    as you, the callers, keep contributing such great quality stuff,
    far be it from me to keep it from passing on along. I personally
    am using the PC-TAX83 package and haven't found anything wrong
    yet. If any of you need the BASRUN.EXE file, I can make that
    available. Leave a comment.



    **--Recent News and/or Announcements--**

As of now this area is vacant, but will contain items of interest to the
worksheet community. New software releases. New models on this service.
Improvements in the current model set. I have ideas, but I would also like
suggestions for what you would like to see in this bulletin section.





    **--What's coming in the future on ACS.--**


    **--More Services--**

I will be expanding the interrelationships of the worksheets through
use of the DIF format and the import and export to a database man-
agement system. Not to fret, the database management system is avail-
able as public domain software. If you have already gone the whole
loaf and gotten dBASEII, you won't be any worse off, for sure. How-
ever, some of us can't afford any 700 for database management and
for most of our uses, that sort of sophistication isn't necessary or
used by the home computer user. If you do, then so much the better.

In the months ahead I will be updating each of these worksheets
with new macros and semi-automatic features. You are welcomed to
return as often as you like, to get the latest version, upward
compatible, of course, or well noted.

I will be offering other services for which I will charge specific
rates, such as individual counseling to a small businessman to help
implement these models into his internal information management
system. Word about any thing of that nature, including a more well
defined set of office hours, will be forthcoming and announced
right here.

    **--System Improvements--**

Just having arrived is a 6-Pak-Plus, with no memory as of yet, but
in the near(?) future up to maximum of 640K. All of the System files
will then reside in RAM disk, which should speed things up a bunch.

A 10MB hard disk, asap.

More print capabilities.

A second processor would be nice, one with multi-tasking, multiple
telephone access, and much more storage.

If you would like to help, don't feel that I'm holding you back.



    **--Why do I do it?--**

There are several good reasons why I am involved in providing this service.

    1. I've had a dream for many years of operating a computer
    service for the general public where my only boss was the
    voluntary user of the system.

    2. If I'm correct and this is a valuable service that others
    also find valuable then it will be supported by them.

    3. I have a computer system, basically sitting idle for the vast
    majority of the day because I use other computers in other
    endeavors.

    4. It's fun. That's why most of you who read this have computers.

    5. It could be profitable.

    6. If it isn't profitable, then I'll let my computer do something
    else for a living.

    7. I'm intensely interested in learning more about Lotus 1-2-3,
    and what better way than finding a whole raft of other people
    who share this interest, and that's another reason why many
    of you have called.