The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-386-Vol-2of3.iso/b/bcbn04.zip/BCBN04.TXT

Text File | 1992-05-14 | 45KB | 862 lines

                  BIRMINGHAM CHRISTIAN BBS NEWSLETTER
                                ISSUE #4
                               MAY, 1992


                          Table of Contents

         Title                                   Author
------------------------------------   ---------------------------
Yucky Technical Stuff                     Staff
Announcement                              Staff
Ricky's Mindless Mumblings                Ricky Eanes
New Age Music Artists                     Harry Jones
Untitled                                  Michael Davidson
Hell: Suppose It's True After All...      Computers for Christ
The Igma Chronicles                       Brent Elliott
Browsing Through the PC                   Larry Hardeman
"Where Are Those Graphics"?               Henry McGraw
Electronic Soapbox                        Ricky Eanes
Hardware Reviews                          Harry Jones
In Closing...                             Staff
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Yucky Technical Stuff

Purpose

This newsletter was created as a way for the users of Birmingham's
Christian BBS's to have their own publication to cover all the events,
opinions, and general information of the various boards in Birmingham.
We hope to provide the reader with accurate, interesting articles on a
variety of topics, as well as dealing with modern Christian issues. Our
staff works very hard on each issue, and we hope that you enjoy it.

Disclaimer and Reprinting

We at BCBN try to insure the accuracy and clarity of all information we
publish.  However, we cannot be held accountable for any damage as a
result of errors or omissions in our publication.  We want to have a
good newsletter, and please let us know if you think that anything
about it should be changed.  Please also be aware that opinions
expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the opinions of the
editors, other writers, or SysOps.

If you wish to use any material in BCBN for your own needs or
publication, please contact the author of the material or Ricky Eanes.
In general we will let you reprint BCBN articles, but please notify us
ahead of time and send us a copy of whatever you plan on using the
article for.

Rules for Submitting Articles

Anyone can write an article for BCBN, and we do not turn down many
articles. As long as it has meaning and would be interesting to other
people, we will publish it.  Our only rule for the subject of articles
is that we will not allow anything "bad", or should we say "against the
teachings of the Bible".  You get the picture. We enjoy articles on
Christian issues, computer hardware and software, editorials on many
different subjects, and many other topics.

If you have an article, please type it in an ASCII text file and upload
it to the BCBN file area on Hardeman's Christian BBS.  It is for BCBN
text files only, and while anyone can upload to it, only our production
staff can download the files.  If possible, please leave a C)omment to
the SysOp or a message to Ricky Eanes telling us that you uploaded your
article so that we will be sure and see it.  We do reserve the right to
correct and reformat your submission in any way we see fit, but we will
ask you before we make any major changes other than spelling
corrections and the like.  We WILL NOT change the content of your
article or omit any of it in publication.

BCBN has it's own conference on Hardeman's called BCBN Stuff.  It
should be used for any questions, comments, or anything else about our
newsletter that you want to ask or tell us in a message. This would be
a good place for you to tell us when you have uploaded an article.

If Hardeman's is long distance to you or you can't call there for some
reason, you may also leave your submission in a private message to
Ricky Eanes on Medicine Man, Family Smorgas-board, or Pooh's Korner.  I
can also most likely be reached on whatever BBS you downloaded this
issue from.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                          ***ANNOUNCEMENT***

The Second Quarterly BCBN Users Meeting is scheduled for May 16th.
Unlike previous meetings, this one will be held at 5:00 P.M. to allow
people who work on Saturday to be able to attend.  The location
will be in the Food Court at Eastwood Mall.  This time, we will try to
be near the middle of the Food Court.

These meetings are becoming more popular each time, and is actually the
forth gathering for us (but only the second "sponsored" by BCBN).  We
just sit and talk, and grab something to eat if you wish.  There is no
specified duration, and can last until the nice security guards kick
you out.  However, they tend to last around two hours, but you can drop
it and leave at anytime.  We would love for everyone to drop by, even
if they can only come for a few minutes.

  WHO: The Birmingham Area Christian BBS Users
 WHAT: The 2nd BCBN Users Meeting
 WHEN: May 16th at 5:00 P.M.
WHERE: Eastwood Mall Food Court
  WHY: To allow us to chat and meet each other in person
  HOW: By transporting yourself to the Mall, finding the heap of
       computer addicts, and having lots of fun

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                       Ricky's Mindless Mumblings
                             by Ricky Eanes

Well everyone, this is our forth issue.  We are finally beginning to
establish ourselves as a Birmingham "institution".  We have many
exciting things in this issue, and in my opinion it should be the best
yet.

I would like to thank everyone that has written an article for BCBN
once again.  We are beginning to get enough articles each month without
me begging, so I guess that is a good sign.  With this issue, we get to
print our first correction (way to go Larry!).  We have our first piece
for the "Electronic Soapbox", which will hopefully turn into a very
popular section.  I don't want to give anything away, so on to the
correction.

***CORRECTION***
In BCBN #3, in Larry Hardeman's article entitled "Browsing Through
the PC", line four of paragraph nine should read:
---
...number of sectors and all that by 512 (512 bytes per sector)...
---
Notice it previously said "512k" instead of bytes.  We apologize for
any inconvenience or misunderstanding this may have caused.
***CORRECTION***

Now that the nasty business is done, let's get on to other stuff.  We
are expanding our writers base with each issue, and we do hope that
this will continue through the months.

In the "futures" department, we will have our first User Flashlight
next month.  Also, work is getting underway for a totally new indexed
reader program for BCBN.  More on this in a future issue.

Thank you one last time for reading and/or writing BCBN, and enjoy!

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                         New Age Music Artists
                             by Harry Jones

As a follow-up to last month's article on New Age music, and in response
to several requests, I am listing below the names of several artists
whose music is classified as New Age by the music industry.

Please note that I do not have personal knowledge of the specific
religious beliefs of these artists.  However, by allowing their music
to be so classified, I have to believe that either they are
knowledgeable of and support the New Age movement, or are at least
"riding the current" of the popularity of this style of music.

I had hoped to obtain a copy of Schwann's music catalog to provide a
more comprehensive listing of artists, but was unable to find a copy
(other than the reference copies in the music stores) that listed
anything other than classical.  So, my source is the latest issue of
the Columbia House Music Club newsletter. The following artists are
listed in the New Age section of that publication:

Paul Halley         Chuck Greenberg     Mickey Hart
Georgia Kelly       John Tesh           Vangelis
Acoustic Alchemy    Paul Winter         Ben Tavera King
Leo Kotke           Tangerine Dream     Andreas Vollenweider
Yanni               Mike Oldfield       Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass
Suzanne Ciani       Benjamin Verdery    Barefoot
Shadowfax

This is less than a third or so of the artists whose music can be found
in the New Age music sections of a number of music stores here in town.

Note that Vangelis wrote the music for the very popular movie "Chariots
of Fire" which was, as you may recall, a pro-Christian movie.  Also,
note that Mike Oldfield wrote "Tubular Bells" and much of the music for
the movie "The Exorcist".  Also, according to the Columbia House Music
newsletter, John Tesh is the host of the TV show "Entertainment
Tonight".

I can personally attest to the New Age flavor of Andreas Vollenweider's
music.  My wife and I attended one of his concerts in the Alabama
Theater several years ago.  The identification of his music with the
spirit world was evident through the presentation of the music in the
concert.  At that time, I was very familiar with his music and owned
several of his CD's.

Some music labels have dedicated themselves to New Age.  Among them are
the Narada and the Private Music labels, as well as many of the titles
published by the American Grammophone label.

Well, that's about all for this month.  Let me know if any of you are
interested in more information.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                                Untitled
                            Michael Davidson

By now, if you don't understand the reasoning behind the title, then I
suggest you go dig up your back issues like good little readers and
find out. This month's topic is: Complexity and Godel's Incompleteness
Theorem. Wait! Don't press <PgDn> yet! I can explain! This really will
be interesting!

First of all, I need to define complexity. The complexity of a sequence
of numbers is the length of the shortest computer program used to
generate that sequence. For instance, the complexity of the sequence
1109 would be fairly low, because all you would need to do is tell the
computer to output the string "1109". Now if you wanted to have a
string like 1109110911091109... you would tell the computer to do the
aforementioned and then tell it to repeat itself an infinitesimal number
of times. A sequence with even greater complexity would be
10100100101010100101010010100. You would have to tell the computer to
start with a one and then put in either one or two zeroes. Now comes
the essential part. Say we had a completely random string of zeroes and
ones, like 1110010001111101010001101110001. The complexity of such a
string would be infinity, because to output a completely random string
of numbers that go on forever, you would have to type that exact string
of numbers into the computer. You would never reach the end, therefore
the complexity is infinite.

Before I go into what could be the theorem that perhaps had the most
profound effect on mathematics in the twentieth century, I will tell a
short biographical sketch. Kurt Godel was born in Brunn in 1906 in what
is now Czechoslovakia. He attended the University of Vienna in 1924,
and lived in Vienna until 1939 when he came to the United States. (A
completely irrelevant rumor is that Godel took a while to become a US
citizen because he found a logical contradiction in the Constitution.)
He lived in Princeton, NJ, and worked for the Institute for Advanced
Study until his death in 1978. He did have a long marriage, but despite
this, he was a very solitary man, and had few friends. He was, however,
good friends with another physicist by the name of Albert Einstein.

Kurt Godel's first incompleteness theorem states that any theorem that
contains even a tiny bit of arithmetic will contain statements that
cannot be proven true or false, and therefore, no theorem/axiom/formal
system etc. can hold true for all mathematics, and none of the
aforementioned can be really and truly proved without automatically
assuming certain things.

You might be getting the idea by now. Let's take a simple example.
Let's try to prove 3x2=6. We can say that 3+3=6. Then we must prove
that by saying 1+1+1=3, and that 1+1+1+1+1+1=6. We eventually will wind
our way down to the simple equation 1+1=2. You then must prove this
statement, which can be done by a number of means. Then, you must prove
the statement you used to prove 1+1=2. Then you must prove that
statement. We can go on forever, or in other words, infinitely. To
prove everything in a formal statement of mathematics, we must prove an
infinite number of statements, like we learned we had to do for even a
simple equation like 3x2=6. The system would have an infinite
complexity, and could never be completed, even if we used all of the
sand in the Sahara to make silicon chips for storing the data.

Therefore, nothing can really be proved without assuming something,
i.e. 1+1=2. We all know that 1+1 does equal 2, but we just can't prove
it.

What relevance does this have to the real world? None whatsoever! It's
just neat! Or at least I think so, and I hope you do to. Well, maybe it
wasn't as interesting as I promised, but I had fun writing it, and I'm
sure Ricky had fun publishing it, so at least two of us are happy. Next
month, maybe I'll do something pertaining to real life. Then again,
maybe not.

Any correspondence/questions/comments/problems should be addressed to
me or the sysop in the math conference at Hardeman's Christian BBS. I
will only get messages addressed to the sysop in the math conference,
so be sure you join it before entering your message.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                  Hell: Suppose It's True After All...
                           by Robin Sheffield
                    (Computers for Christ - Chicago)


Two friends were discussing the possibility of life after death. "Hell
is a myth," one argued.  "How can a God of love condemn His creatures
to everlasting punishment?"

His friend nodded in agreement, and the matter seemed to be settled.

The two sat silently for a moment until one of them looked up and said,
thoughtfully, "Suppose it is true, after all?"

Suppose it is true after all that Hell exists?  Jesus Christ Himself
described it as a place of "darkness" and a "furnace of fire" where
there shall be "wailing and gnashing of teeth." (1)

Some say there is no consciousness after death.  But from Christ's
words, it's evident that a person in Hell is just as aware of himself
and his surroundings as when he was on earth!

The Bible, God's Word, says Hell is an everlasting burning for the
punishment of sinners and hypocrites, (2) a bottomless pit (3) where
men have no rest, day or night. (4) It's a place where people pray, but
their prayers are not heard, (5) where they gnaw their tongues and at
the same time curse God. (6) Hell is a place where no one would want
their loved ones to go. (7)

Suppose it is true after all that God will punish sin?  The Bible says,
"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
(8)

Suppose it is true after all the we cannot get to Heaven on the basis
of good things we've done?  The Bible says, "we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags." (9)

Suppose it is true after all that Jesus Christ is the only Savior?
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me." (10)

Be assured that God is holy and must punish sin.  But He is also a God
of love, "not willing that any should perish." (11)  Therefore, He sent
His Son to die on the cross for our sins: "God commandeth His love
toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much
more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through Him." (12)

But we must first recognize that we have sinned, ask God's forgiveness
and receive Christ as our Savior.  Then we can have the joy and peace
of God's forgiveness, and the assurance that when we die we will be
with Christ forever in Heaven.

Have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior?  "He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." (13)  The choice is
yours.

Bible References:

(1) Matt. 13:42         (8)Heb. 9:27
(2)Isaiah 33:14         (9)Isaiah 64:6
(3)Rev. 20:1            (10)John 14:6
(4)Rev. 14:11           (11)2 Peter 3:9
(5)Luke 16:27           (12)Romans 5:8,9
(6)Rev. 16:10,11        (13)John 3:36
(7)Luke 16:28

***Editor's Note***
This article is available for download on Hardeman's Christian BBS as
as DOCT6.ZIP.  There are many other files like it available by
Computers for Christ.  We will make an effort to present one every
month in this publication.
***Editor's Note***

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                      The Igma Chronicles Part I:
                            The Introduction
                            by Brent Elliott

Once upon a time, long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, there lived
a man named Igma (actually he lived on Earth, it just depends on how
you look at it).  He was different from anyone else in that he had no
arms or legs.  But he never thought of this as a handicap because he
had a job for the U.S. Postal Service.  He sat all day in the Postal
Service lounge, drank coffee, ate vending machine snacks, and played
his nearly worn out acoustic guitar (he was very coordinated with his
eyebrows). He liked his coffee the same way he liked his eggs: with two
creams and a sugar. His favorite snack was "Captain Grungy's Cinnamon
Swirls" (he never read the ingredients).  When he returned home each
day (an employee gave him a ride), he sat on his bed and played tunes on
his guitar.  You would be surprised to see how those eyebrows moved.
But he didn't play the song for his own pleasure; he played for the
other, unofficial member of his family, Bigear.

Bigear was Igma's cat who had no difference in size between his two
ears.  They were normal, cat-sized ears that heard the music Igma
played and sang along in his high cat-like voice.  He sat in a cat-like
way and had a cat-like purr.  His only handicap was that he had a roach
in his tail, but to make up for this shortcoming he learned to speak
the language of the humans, French.  But he soon found out that no one
in America spoke French (but it broke the ice at parties).  Because of
this, he sat down with a book called "English Si Vou Play" and learned
Igma's language.  A year ago he started writing a series of articles
for The New York Times called "Cat's Eye" which frequently spoke of
petting and purring, and every now and then, the roach.

Igma and Bigear lived in the small town of Verehousenbacher, Wyoming in
a small studio apartment.  It was built with seven foot ceilings since
Igma had no arms or legs and didn't need a high ceiling. He equipped
the floors with foot pedal light switches so he could perform at least
some household tasks.  When he was at home he watched TV and played
more songs for his cat.  This kept him busy until it was time to go to
bed (usually after the syndicated episode of Matlock has fully sunk in).
He led a boring life, which was typical of a man with no arms or legs.
The surrounding town held all the essentials of life; a bakery, a
grocery store, a post office, a bank, and a 7-11 complete with Wyoming
lottery tickets (the jackpot last week was 23 cents).  Life was really
slow in the town of Verehousenbacher (maybe because it lies five miles
away from a nuclear disposal center), but the people were still
friendly.  If you needed to borrow some NyQuill, the next door neighbor
would give you some.  They were just all around nice people.

Every now and then, the paperboy would give Igma a paper he didn't pay
for by mistake.  When Igma started to read the small Wyoming newspaper,
he noticed a headline that said "Scientists Discover Thing; Reads Mind
Says Man".  Igma read the article which was a chip which Japanese
scientists designed (yes, they're ahead of us in fiction too) which can
read the thought patterns of human beings and laboratory rats. Igma
didn't know why he was so excited by this discovery, but he knew it
could help him somehow.  He thought that maybe he could build a device
that would help him drink his coffee, or read the newspaper, or even
drive a car.  But he thought to himself "that's silly" and continued to
read the boring articles.  Igma and Bigear drifted off to sleep while
the "Later Than Late Show" was running.

The next morning Igma got up after having a very good dream about
mashed potatoes.  He gargled a glowing substance that was in his tiny
bathroom, to get rid of morning breath.  As he slid into the kitchen to
get a frozen burrito for breakfast, he remembered that he had another
dream.  A smile came to his face and he flopped back and forth with
glee - and then he stopped and said to Bigear, who was pandiculating
while heading towards the kitchen, "I can have arms and legs!!!".  This
was certainly a miracle since he was a torso with a head.

Bigear was definitely confused by this remark and thought Igma had been
to a television evangelist.  Bigear looked at him in a strange way and
said "You've gone insane, man!"

"No way," Igma replied, "Remember that article in the newspaper last
night which spoke of that chip that can read your mind?"

"No."

"Well," said Igma as he went on to describe the article.  Two hours
passed and Igma finished telling Bigear about his plans.  In short (I
don't have two days to tell you everything he said, but transcripts are
available for $12), the plans were that Igma could mobilize himself
using this mind reading chip using the box of motors, steel, and
electronic parts which were conveniently in his closet.  He also
instructed Bigear on how to draft.  After days of training and a French
translation, Bigear began taking orders on building this suit.

The planning went on for days.  There were many sleepless nights that
month and Igma had to give up watching Matlock for a while.  Pages of
dark pencil drawings piled up in the corner of Igma's studio apartment.
Exact specifications were written out for the limb simulator and
everything was just going great until that one moment when everything
stood still.  The news announcer on the radio had announced that the
Italian Dyslexic Garbage Men were in town.  This was not good news
considering that the IDGM used international food for weapons.  Igma
decided to get Bigear vaccinated because these guys don't play fair.
The plans would have to wait.  Everything must be stopped. Everyone
must stop watching World League Football.  Bigear had to go to the vet.

Later that day, Igma arrived at the vet with his feeble feline and
placed him in a waiting room chair.  A doberman pincer came up to
Bigear and began to beat him up.  A cloud of smoke surrounded the two
as in all cartoons, and you could see fur, noses, and blood everywhere.
Squealing and barking emerged from the cloud as in any cat/dog fight.
Igma tried to break it up but they wanted to fight too bad.  And
besides, the vet was loving it because the more injuries, the higher
the bills.  All of the noise went away and the violent cloud stood
still. As it dissolved into the air, the other people in the waiting
were saying things like "Poor cat" and "Good job fido!" and "Anyone
have any popcorn?".  But when the cloud was completely gone, Bigear
stood tall and looked at Fido.  When everyone else finally looked at
Fido, they found that he was severely injured and tied to a chair which
was never in the office in the first place.  A few moments later, Igma
asked Bigear, "What were you doing?!?!?".

Bigear replied frightfully, "It wasn't me, it was the roach" (as you
may recall, Bigear did have a roach in his tail).  "You know how those
roaches love to fight!".

Igma thought for a minute and said "Well, I guess we'll just have to
have the roach removed too".  So Igma walked up to the counter and
answered the questionnaire which asks about you and your pet.  The list
was long and Igma was offended by such questions as "Did you live near
Chernobyl in 1986" and "How many fingers am I holding up".  But after
all of the questions were answered, the Vet picked up Bigear and took
him back into the operating room.  The last thing Igma heard before
returning to his seat was "Gloves-Scalpal-Scissors-OOOPS!-Masking
Tape".

Time passed.  Sixty minutes seemed like an hour.  24 hours seemed like
a day!  Five minutes later the vet came out with a smiling Bigear in
one hand, and the roach in the other.  After he handed Bigear to Igma,
the roach began to beat up the vet.  A cloud of smoke enveloped the two
as Igma and Bigear walked out the door.  Igma walked proudly down the
street with Bigear until he almost ran into a small cart that said
"Lemonade and Mindreading Chips" on the side.  Igma pulled out two
dollars and said to the rough looking man behind the cart "I'll have a
lemonade and a mind reading chip".

"Sure," the man said, taking the money from his hand.  He handed Igma
the change, lemonade and the chip.  Igma immediately began to drink the
lemonade and almost ate the chip before he realized what it was. "This
is the chip we need to build my suit with!" he yelled to Bigear.

"No kidding!" Bigear yelled back.

"We've gotta get home fast to start building my suit!" Igma stated
excitedly.  "Will you help me Bigear?"

"Well..."

"I'll be able to pet you..." Igma said.

Bigear replied "It's a deal old pal!" as they walked towards home,
without the Italian Dyslexic Garbage Men on their minds.

***The big mystery is: How has Igma been walking all this time if he
has no arms or legs???  Find out next time on The Igma Chronicles!!!

                           To Be Continued...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                        Browsing Through the PC:
                    Hard Drive Installation Tid Bits
                           by Larry Hardeman

Last issue I told a little about the construction of primarily MFM and
RLL hard drives. Without taking up a lot of your time, we will assume
you know the difference between MFM, RLL, and IDE type drives. Besides,
Ricky already has other articles for this issue, so I can't take up too
many pages.  The following information will be based on the above type
drives unless otherwise mentioned.

To install a hard drive you will need the proper controller card,
cables, and, of course, a drive. Let's run through the steps for
installing a MFM or RLL drive. If you have an XT computer, a 8-bit
controller is required and it must match the drive type. On a 286 and
above you will need a 16-bit controller. The most common controller
cards used are manufactured by Seagate, Western Digital and Adaptec.
Two cables are needed to connect the drive to the card and you will
also require a power connection coming from the power supply of your
computer.

Some drive bays in computers require rails to hold the drive into the
computer which usually are supplied at the time of purchase of the
machine. Unplug the computer and remove the case. Examine your
controller card noting which pin on each connector is the #1 pin on
both the 34 pin jumper and the 20 pin jumpers. Install the controller
card in a empty expansion slot and fasten it down by first removing the
associated plug in the back of the case.

Making reference to your computer's user manual, install the hard drive
in an empty drive bay, again noting the #1 connecting edge on the drive
card edge connectors. I prefer using internal bays whenever possible.
If you are using an exposed drive bay, your drive will need a bezel on
the face of the drive.  Plug the cables to the drive and controller
card. The cables will have one of the edge wires colored different than
the other wires.  This is your #1 wire and must be connected to the #1
terminals of each the controller card and hard drive.  Next, plug the
power supply cable to the drive. This connector has 2 corners of it
with a 45 degree chamfer so it can't be plugged backwards.

Now it is time to configure your system if you are using an AT class
computer.  Your drive has a certain number of tracks, heads, sectors
per track and sometimes a landing zone and pre-comp zone. Find the
drive in your CMOS drive table which matches your drive. If your are
using a XT class computer, most cases you don't have to worry about
this, but some XT's do have a CMOS setting and require a setup program
supplied with your machine when purchased. Again, refer to your users
manual. The setup programs will ask you for if you want to enter data
into the bad tracks table.  If your drive has a label on it showing bad
tracks from the factory,  you better key this information into the bad
tracks table. If you don't, you are risking losing data later on or
having DOS lock out more tracks than necessary when you do your DOS
formatting of the drive.

Now there are a few steps we must take to get the drive to function
properly.  These are low level format, partitioning, and high level
formatting the drive. This sounds awful, but it is really rather simple
if you follow directions.

I am going to assume that your drive has never been low level formatted
with the particular controller card you have. MFM and RLL drives must
be low level formatted before they can be used, to establish
communications between the controller card and the drive. This is
different from the DOS high level format. There are some special
utilities to low level a new drive and most controllers have a program
in their ROM that you can use by using the DOS Debug Program from your
DOS floppy disk. In addition, some AT BIOS's have a low level format
utility as well. Whichever you use, it must be done unless you
purchased the drive and card together already low level formatted.

If you get the error "No drives found", or similar, then the controller
card is unable to find the drive. The most probable cause is that you
are using a twisted pair cable and have your drive jumpers set to DS1.
A drive can be configured DS1 thru DS4. If you are using a cable with
no twist in it, set your jumper to DS1 and if you are using the end
connector of a cable with a twisted pair, set the jumper to DS2 (refer
to illustrations provided with your drive documentation).

Now, once you get the drive low level formatted, it is still not yet
usable.  Depressing isn't it! You next have to install partitions on
the drive.  A hard drive is referred to as a physical drive, and you
can install multiple logical drive partitions. If you are using DOS 3.3
or below and a drive larger than 32Meg, it is necessary to install more
than one logical drive. DOS will assign logical drive letters beginning
with C and up thru Z if your drive is that large. This is only in most
of our dreams that our drives would be this large, that is, unless our
name is Rocky Rawlins.

To install partitions and logical drives, you will need to run the DOS
FDISK program from your DOS floppy disk.  Due to the length of this
subject, read the DOS manual.

Finally, we get to high level format the drive with the DOS format
program.  Each logical drive will need to be formatted. This is a
simple task. The command is "format drive: <ENTER>" for all logical
drives D and above and "format c: /s <ENTER>" for drive "C" (the /s
forces system files to be copied so you can boot from drive "C").  Once
you have the drives formatted by DOS, you are off to the races. The
drive should boot and you can install your favorite communications
software and call your favorite BBS.

I know all of this sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It does
take a little time though. There are areas not covered which I may do
later on, like installing a second drive.  I would like to mention
something though.  If you are installing an IDE drive, you only have
one cable from the controller card to the drive and it is a 40 pin
cable. Also, if you don't have special software from the drive
manufacturer, NEVER LOW LEVEL FORMAT an IDE drive.

I mentioned in my last article that I had a little experience with an
IDE drive that was not quite as fascinating as Mark Maisel's trip to
Tom Eagan's house, but here it goes. I sold a computer to a customer
and got it in here one Saturday afternoon. When I went to partition the
drive with DOS 3.3, it wouldn't work because the company I bought the
drive from had formatted the drive with DOS 4.01. So, being used to MFM
and RLL drives, I said to myself "I'll fix that, I will low level
format this baby and start from the beginning". So, I got the low level
format started and then picked up the documentation that came with the
drive. At the very top of the paper it said "Caution: Do Not Low Level
Format!". Well, this was a 120 megger and quite expensive at the time.
After that I tried everything to get the drive to work, but the only
thing accomplished was I got sick. The drive was trashed and had to be
returned to the factory to be repaired.

Generally, all you need to do with an IDE drive is plug it up, run DOS
FDISK and FORMAT programs and you are in business. My experience with
IDE drives is that they seem fail more often than I would like for them
too, but they are excellent performing drives. I have seen numerous bad
Western Digital 40 Meg drives. Don't know if it is because there are
more of these in circulation than any other drive or what, but there
are a lot of Seagates out there too.

I hope you learned something from this, because it took me an hour to
type it. Maybe Ricky will check this one for errors before he publishes
it? Oh well, next month we are going to discuss floppy drives. I need a
break!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

             Graphics, Graphics, Where Are Those Graphics?
                            by Henry McGraw


Well hello again! Sorry I didn't make it last month, but hey, stuff
happens. Anyway, a lot has happened to me in the last month. But that
will have to wait for another day. I promised to talk about graphics
files this month and that is what I am going to do. So here goes.

Have you ever been getting a newsletter or flyer together on the
computer, and decided you'd add that special graphic, oh you know the
one, the one you saw last week while you were cleaning old files off
the hard drive? Let's see, was that in the CLIPART directory?..No I
don't see it in there...I think it was named JHS%;66.PCX, but I could
be wrong. Maybe it was in my paint program.. hmmmmm...no, don't see it.

Sound familiar? Well you need a graphics bloodhound. A program that
will let you see your graphics files in thumbnail view, so they can be
found quickly. There are several of these programs out there. They all
do a good job. If you want to see what I mean, download the shareware
version called PIXFOLIO.ZIP available on your friendly neighborhood
BBS.

Many programs allow you to view a file before you import it to the
application. Word for Windows v2.0 has this feature. The programs I am
really talking about, however, are Scrapbook and Pixfolio and are, in
essence, databases of graphics files. You view the graphics in what is
called thumbnail view. There are 10 or more graphics displayed at one
time on the page. There are multiple pages. This makes locating a
particular file extremely easy.

Other programs are coming onto the market with this ability built into
them. One that comes to mind is Corel Draw! In case you don't know,
this is my favorite program in the whole wide world. The program that
keeps Corel'S files together is called Mosaics. But again it is a
database of graphics files viewed a page at a time with 10 or more
files displayed at once. If you're like me you want your graphic right
now. You sure don't want to have to close your draw program and go
searching all over creation for it and lose your train of thought. I
mean it's not often I get a whole train.

This month's best game is Kings Quest V on CD-ROM. This is like going
to an interactive movie complete with sound. Fantastic!

Next time, what online services are worth and why. See ya then.

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                           Electronic Soapbox

Welcome to the BCBN equivalent of the editorials.  Here is where anyone
can voice their opinions and arguments on whatever topics they wish to
discuss.  These can be sort of like essays, debate-style papers, or
whatever the author wishes to make his point with.  We especially
encourage responses to articles in this section, either on the local
Christian BBSes, or, better yet, in a "rebuttal" article for this
section. Please keep in mind the regular BCBN article submission rules
when writing for this section.

                       -------------------------
                        Why Register Shareware?
                             by Ricky Eanes

Out of all the thousands of BBS user's around, how many of them do you
think register every single shareware program that they use?  Sure,
there are some that register many of them, but it is unlikely that
anyone could even think about registering all of their programs.

In a perfect world, everyone could and would pay for all of their
programs.  But this world is far from perfect, and as a result many
people have never even registered a single program.  I myself have only
registered a few of the many programs I use, and that's something I'm
not proud of.  Shareware authors spend countless hours coding and
debugging their programs, and they deserve something in return.
Commercial authors get plenty for their work.  In many cases, shareware
programs are actually better than their commercial counterparts, mainly
because of the easy user support.

Let's just stop and think a minute about where BBS-land would be if
shareware didn't exist.  One would have to buy every program they use,
even those little utilities that you use about once a year.  BBSes
might not even exist, for if you think about, the whole BBS system we
have today more or less centers around shareware.  Many bulletin board
programs are themselves shareware, as are nearly all of their doors,
files, and add-on products.

Shareware authors are not going to go bankrupt, be forced to live on
the streets, and turn to a life of crime just because you didn't send
them $10 to register one of their programs.  But after all, it's the
thought that counts.  If you wrote a shareware program, and you knew
that many people were using it, but received no registrations, wouldn't
you feel bad?  Just think how they feel.  There has probably never been
a shareware program that never got any registrations, but I'm sure that
there are many that gave up the concept because of lack of response.
Just think where we would be today if, say, Phil Katz (author of PkZip,
etc.) had bombed out with the initial release of his program and never
tried at it again!

On the other hand, some programs obvious get almost too many
registrations.  When this happens, the program goes commercial, i.e.
Telix and Qmodem.  However, these programs are living proof that the
shareware system still works.

Take, for example, offline readers.  Go through an active message base
on some board and find a percentage of the taglines you see that were
registered.  You could perhaps get 10% on a good day.  Don't think I'm
just shunning everyone because I registered mine.  I just did so
recently, and only did it after I took some criticism for not doing so.
I do think that having a registered reader may give you more respect
from online people you meet for the first time.  If they see that you
spent the money to register it, they'll know you're serious about this
thing.

The shareware concept is a great one that I know will survive for years
to come.  It always has and will continue to give we the people quality
programs from authors who wouldn't otherwise be able to release them.
If we all do our part and support it, our BBS world will be just that
much better.

*This copy of BCBN is unregistered.  Please send $10 to....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                            Hardware Reviews
                         The Intel 14.4ex Modem
                             by Harry Jones

Back in January, I decided to depart the world of 2400 baud and invest
in a high speed modem.  After reading several articles, I decided on
the new Intel 14.4ex external modem.  The discount price for it is
around $500.  I have heard that Intel offers it to BBS Sysops for
around $400.

This little jewel has both V32bis and V42bis, giving it a rating of
14,400 baud (50% over a 9600) with a theoretical throughput of 57,600
characters per second.  I never have seen that kind of speed over phone
lines, though.  I regularly achieve 1650 to 1675 characters per second
transfer rates on file uploads and downloads on boards that will
connect at 14,400 baud.  The first time I downloaded a large file at
these speeds, I was simply amazed - seven times faster than 2400!  By
the way, YMODEM-G is a little faster (20 or so cps) than ZMODEM due to
its lower "overhead".

So, what boards can I connect to at 14,400?  Well, all of them that
have the USR Dual Standard modems, including Pooh's Korner, Crunchy
Frog, and The Matrix (nodes 5-7).  I have even called a couple of out
of state boards and have connected reliably at 14,400.  Other boards
with 9600 modems, such as the USR non-dual standards, connect at 9600
with file transfers at 1050 or so characters per second.  Connects with
boards using 2400 modems are reliable as well.

The modem is housed in a case similar to the Hayes Smartmodems, with a
black face and brushed aluminum cover.  The front panel has a full
complement of LEDs for status indication, including a red one that
indicates a connection at high speed.  The power supply transformer is
on the line end of the power cord and the power switch is on the back.
One annoyance is the lack of a speaker volume control - the volume can
only be adjusted with the ATL command.

The modem does run a little warm, but Intel must not be worried - they
give it a 3 year warranty.  Setup is a snap with no DIP switches to
set.  A modem diagnostics program is included to run tests and to
modify the default ROM settings, if needed. However, I have found no
need to change the factory settings.

Intel packages the modem with a copy of "Crosstalk Communicator"
communications program.  I loaded it on the hard drive just long enough
to take a look at it, then went back to my old favorite, QMODEM.  By
the way, QMODEM does not have a modem definition for the 14.4ex.  But,
configuring it using the Intel 9600ex works just fine - all you have to
do is set the default connect speed at 57,600 instead of 38,400.

The documentation that comes with the modem is quite complete, and
includes a quick reference card for the AT set commands. Although I
have not had to use it, customer support and product support is likely
to be good, considering the Intel name.  Intel offers a 24 hour BBS and
a FaxBack order line for obtaining up- to-date technical support
information.

Well, as you can tell, I am quite pleased with this little jewel. Now,
if only all the boards had high speeders...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                    Birmingham Christian BBS Numbers

          Name                    Number             SysOp
Hardeman's Christian BBS         640-6436        Larry Hardeman
Pooh's Korner                    980-8710        Eddie Dake
The Word                         833-2831        Rod Lewis
The Family Smorgas-Board         744-0943        Randall Dickerson
The Medicine Man BBS             664-5662        Jesse Massengill
The Christian Apologetic Board   808-0763        Jeff Brumlow


Thanks once again for reading this issue of BCBN.  Remember, if you
missed any of our back issues, you can always get them at any of the
above boards.  We'd love to hear your comments, so please let us know
what you think of our literary contribution to society.


                    Ricky Eanes and Michael Davidson
                     The People Who Fix Your Typos