MacFormat España 4/MacFormat n. 4 (Spain)/MacFormat 4.bin/La ciudad del ShareWare/Info/mac-chat-061-etx/Mac*Chat#61⁄23-Jan-95

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Mac*Chat#61/23-Jan-95
---------------------

Welcome to Mac*Chat, the free, weekly electronic newsletter biased
   toward Mac users who are production-oriented professionals.  Other
   Mac users may find many, many items of interest as well.  I'd enjoy
   hearing your feedback and suggestions.  Unfortunately, due to the
   massive numbers of messages I get every day, I can't guarantee
  a personal reply.

  Tony Lindsey, <[e-mail]>.

Copyright 1989-1994 Tony Lindsey. Nonprofit groups (such as Mac
   User Groups) or other non-commercial publications) are welcome
   to use any part of the Mac*Chat newsletters if full credit is
   given.  All others will need to contact me.

This newsletter is intended purely as entertainment and free
   information.  No profit has been made from any of these
   opinions.  Time passes, so accuracy may diminish.

Publication, product, and company names may be registered
   trademarks of their companies.

 This file is formatted as setext, which can be read on any text reader.

Topics:
Time For A Change
Internet Resources For Artists Wanted
How Did I Find It?
Software I Use For Newsgroups
Newsgroups For America Online Subscribers
Other Newsgroups Of Note
Prodigy Is Now On The World-Wide-Web
Censorship Is Dead
Golden Nuggets From The Mail Bag
Feedback Concerning Fireproof Safes
Inexpensive Color Printers
Storage Drive Info
Backup Strategies & Tips
Commercial Backup Service
Handling Phone Lines
Clipping Notes Within America Online
GEnie Tip
Meyers-Briggs Feedback
Question Of The Week
Free Subscriptions To This Newsletter

Time For A Change
-----------------
  Well, I think I'm getting the hang of this newsletter stuff.
  When I originally started issuing it, I was determined to write
  every word myself.  Now that I'm getting hundreds of messages a
  week from folks who honestly know better than I do on certain
  topics, I've decided to change my role.

  I'm now just the EDITOR of the Mac*Chat newsletter, rather than
  the sole author.  I *will* maintain an iron grip over content,
  though.  I will be the "intelligent agent," filtering through the
  heaps of slag to find the golden nuggets, and I'll re-post them
  here.

  I'll continue to write as much as I want (usually quite a bit)
  but I'll also include the very, very best of the tips I get in
  the mail.  This MAY make the newsletter rather long, and if
  that's a problem for you, please let me know.  I'm still
  re-inventing Mac*Chat after five years.  I'm certainly enjoying
  all of the feedback, even though I'm somewhat buried under the
  e-mail load!

  I'll do my best to keep it short, since I know quite well that
  none of us have hours of leisurely time for dawdling over reading
  material.  Every issue will be a very mixed bag!

Internet Resources For Artists Wanted
-------------------------------------
  I'm going to be demonstrating the uses of the Internet in a
  couple of months (tentative date in San Diego: March 14th) to a
  group of around 300 graphic artists, layout designers,
  photographers and other creative types.  My reason for doing so
  (I won't be getting paid) is to convince them that NOW is the
  time for the boldest of creative people to move into the new
  opportunities that are opening up.  The old days of the Internet
  belonging exclusively to computer nerds are ending, and the new,
  graphic-interface World Wide Web is very friendly to right -
  brain - predominant, artistic minds.

  So, here is my request:  Would other artists and such folks
  please help me find the coolest places on the Internet for
  artists, designers, typographers, or other creative types,
  whether on the WWW, ftp sites, accessible through Gopher, mailing
  lists or wherever?  You'll be helping a lot of people, and if you
  help me, I promise I'll publish the final, full group of listings
  and their descriptions here in this newsletter.

  I've already found a really cool place to visit:

http://www.charm.net:80/~fotogeek/

  This is Mike and Amy Lee's home page, which contains many
  cross-links to sources of clip-art, plus software publisher's
  (such as Adobe) home pages, and it's well worth a visit.

How Did I Find It?
------------------
  I was determined to track down at least ONE good place for
  artists on the Internet, so I headed directly to the place where
  everybody's talking about graphics on the Mac:  the
  "comp.sys.mac.graphics" newsgroup.  This is one of about 12,000
  discussion areas ("USENET newsgroups") that are available to
  anybody on the Internet.

  I left a message asking for help, and within 24 hours I received
  the news directly from Mike Lee, who had read my call for help.
  This technique of requesting assistance has never failed me.  I
  expect to hear from others soon.

Software I Use For Newsgroups
-----------------------------
  I personally access newsgroups on my commercial Internet
  connection using the great program called "Newswatcher."  It's
  free, and it's available from

ftp://ftp.acns.nwu.edu/pub/newswatcher/

  Newswatcher works very well for me.

Newsgroups For America Online Subscribers
-----------------------------------------
  So, newsgroups are all very nice for those of us who have the
  direct Internet connections, but I'll bet a lot of AOL
  subscribers didn't know they could do the same thing I did.  AOL
  has its own discussion groups, called Message Boards, but only
  AOL folks hang out there.  If you want to widen your scope of
  contacts to include the entire Internet, here's how:

  America Online members can subscribe to the comp.sys.mac.graphics
  newsgroup (it only needs to be done ONCE) in the following
  fashion:

  - Pull down the "Go To" menu and choose "Keyword"

  - Type the word "internet" and click "OK"

  - Click on the "Newsgroups" button.

  - Click on the "Expert Add" button.

  Type in the phrase "comp.sys.mac.graphics" without the quotes and
  click "OK"

  After a few moments, click the "OK" button.

  From then on, just go to the Internet section, click "Newsgroups"
  and then click on "Read My Newsgroups."

  Give it a try - Newsgroups are fascinating.  Many folks offer
  their opinions, questions, and answers, and it's not censored at
  all, once you're within the newsgroup.  America Online only
  initially offers about a quarter of the newsgroups that are
  actually available, omitting the ones that aren't in the English
  language or concern sexual matters.  However, if you already know
  the name of the newsgroup you want, and use the technique I've
  listed above, you can access ANY newsgroup.

  Don't hesitate to use the "Search Newsgroups" button.  I wanted
  to find discussion groups that concerned self-help seminars and
  reading materials, so I searched for "Improvement."  I didn't
  find it, so I looked for "improve."  Bingo!  I found exactly what
  I was looking for.

Other Newsgroups Of Note
------------------------
  I've also gotten GREAT results from the following newsgroups:

  comp.sys.mac.hardware (allows me to ask hardware-specific
  questions, and have them answered)

  comp.sys.mac.wanted (this is where people might buy or sell used
  Mac equipment)

  comp.sys.mac.misc (a real mixed bag, but worth visiting).

  comp.sys.mac.digests (where I post Mac*Chat every week, and
  several other electronic newsletters can be found there).

Prodigy Is Now On The World-Wide-Web
------------------------------------
  I just found out that Prodigy is the first commercial service to
  add support for the WWW.  I expect America Online to be next.
  This means that folks who want to point-and-click their way
  through the Internet can do so in a very simple way.

Censorship Is Dead
------------------
  I find this very newsworthy.  These services base their entire
  theme on being friendlier than their competitors, and they screen
  out those topics and images that may offend folks with delicate
  sensibilities.  That all ends once their subscribers get on the
  Internet.  It's a wild, exhilarating, no-hold-barred place out
  there.

  I like to think that I've been around the block a few times, and
  that I'm not very easily shocked or surprised.  However, the
  Internet has been a constant source of new discoveries for me,
  and I've had my wig blown off several times.  No matter WHAT
  special interest you may have, there's at least one support group
  waiting to discuss things with you.

  Personally, I'm a libertine - I like to see the truth come out,
  no matter what the topic may be.  Anyone who spends much time on
  the Internet can't help becoming more tolerant - There's just too
  much real, live discussion going on.

  Obviously, there are many cases where the truth is not
  necessarily going to make you free - but it will make you uneasy
  or unhappy.  I've seen many things I personally don't like on the
  Internet.  However, the new lack of censorship is the way of the
  global village, and I've had to grow a thicker skin.  There is a
  new code of ethics and courtesy, called "Netiquette," and it's
  developing into the best way to deal with people all over the
  planet every day.

  Would somebody please send me copy of a good netiquette guide, so
  I can tell folks about it?

Golden Nuggets From The Mail Bag
--------------------------------
  By the way... If you have something you want to send to me,
  PLEASE send it to my e-mail account ([e-mail]), rather
  than to Mac*Chat.  That way I'll be able to sort it into its
  proper category.   Thanks!

  [Comments within square brackets like this are from me, Tony
  Lindsey, the editor.]

Feedback Concerning Fireproof Safes
-----------------------------------
  From: [e-mail] (Miles Abernathy)

  I have heard, with little or no evidence, that fireproof safes
  and file cabinets contain the mineral gypsum in their walls. As
  the gypsum heats up it gives off water vapor (steam), which helps
  keep the contents from burning up. What it does to hard drives
  and tapes I don't know, but it might be fatal.

  There are fireproof safes for paper and fireproof safes for
  computer media. Paper safes contain gypsum as the insulating
  material, and can get as hot as 350 F inside. This temperature is
  OK for paper but will melt many plastics, like computer diskettes.

  Media safes use wood for insulation, and hold the inside
  temperature and humidity below that which would damage computer
  media (tapes and diskettes). Be sure to get a UL-labeled safe,
  since at least one brand on the market is "junk."

  From: Tom L Sullivan ([e-mail])

  WARNING: Check out your fireproof file cabinet with a reputable
  safe shop: many "fireproof" safes use a special material in the
  walls of the safe that releases moisture when heated. The idea is
  to flood the interior of the safe with moisture, making the
  _paper_ contents more able to endure extremes of heat. These
  safes allow the internal temparature to rise well above the level
  that computer media can tolerate, and when you toss in the
  humidity factor, you've got a double whammy.

  If yours is an older safe, then I'll bet that's the technology it
  uses. In which case, you can add fire to your list of
  possibilities. The only thing you're safe from is theft, since
  the cabinet is too heavy to easily move.

Inexpensive Color Printers
--------------------------
  From: [e-mail]

  One topic that readers might be interested in is that of the new,
  low-cost, color ink jet printers that have been hitting the
  market. See also January 95 MacUser's review of these printers. I
  did a lot of research on them, and this is what I found:

  The contenders are Apple's stylewriters, the 2400 & Pro, HP's
  560c, and Epson's Color Stylus. All of them, in my opinion,
  produce better looking prints than the CLC's I used to get, but
  none can do 11x17", of course, and, being ink jet, they are not
  water resistant, regardless of any manufacturers' claims. They
  all produce, at 360 dpi, output that resembles a slightly grainy
  photo. They're all priced in the $500-600 range.

  There has been much interest in the Epson because of its optional
  higher resolution of 720 dpi, on special paper. It is indeed
  spectacular, but buyers should be aware of several drawbacks:
  Since it is aimed primarily at the PC market, the Mac version of
  the driver is not very good (it doesn't even ship with it, you
  have to request it or download it from Epson; also you have to
  buy a serial cable to connect to a Mac). It can take 40-50
  minutes to print a page in 720 mode; it's also unacceptably slow
  at just printing a one page letter.

  The Epson works great on PC's, and gets better color through them
  than through a Mac. Also, of the several that I've seen as demos
  in stores, they all had streaking problems, which was probably
  only clogged jets, but may suggest maintenance problems.

  Bottom line: if you have another printer for your main tasks,
  this is a nice addition to do inexpensive color sheets with.
  Don't try to make it your only printer.

  [Note from Tony: Does anybody know when Epson is shipping the
  network-friendly Appletalk interface for the Epson Stylus?  I've
  only tested it with the Mac serial interface, which means
  unplugging cables to swap between the color Epson, the
  black-and-white laser printer and a modem.  Not fun, but great
  color.  Really.  Once that hardware interface starts shipping,
  anybody in the building connected to the network can select the
  Stylus in the Chooser when they need a color printout, and then
  back to the laser printer next to them for the rest of their
  work.]

  Regarding Apple's offerings, one thing that the MacUser article
  failed to mention about the Stylewriter Pro is that, from most
  popular word and graphics applications, it cannot center the
  image on the page, printing either too high or to the left, or
  both. This appears to be a hardware design flaw, which cannot be
  corrected, except by repositioning your text and graphics before
  printing. There is also a bug in the driver that prevents it from
  working if you have more than 32 megs of free RAM.

  The 2400 does not have these problems, and is in most ways a
  better printer, and is also $100 cheaper. The nicest features
  about the Pro are that it is much quieter, a little faster when
  printing color, and has separate, transparent ink cartridges for
  each color. The 2400 prints better black and white text, having
  an adjustable nozzle height, and does it quickly, at 3 ppm. It
  comes with two separate cartridges, one all black, and one CMYK,
  which you need to change manually, which is a little
  inconvenient. Both print beautifully to coated or glossy paper,
  in 360 dpi, in what is probably comparable quality to the Epson
  in 360 dpi mode. Both also take advantage of Apple's ColorSync
  control panel, resulting in output very close to your monitor's
  appearance.

  HP offers several models, the top one being the 560C. They, like
  HP's in general, are very reliable, and in every way comparable
  to the Apples. However, HP just announced that it is sending all
  buyers of the 560C a kit to correct a sheet feeding problem. I,
  personally, find the HP's text output slightly less crisp than
  the Stylewriter 2400's.

  The other big area of concern is Postscript compatibility. None
  of these printers works in Postscript code; all are Quick Draw or
  equivalent. Most applications nowadays will interpret Postscript
  for Quick draw printers, but problems will result. Users of the
  Epson have reported problems with objects being repositioned
  incorrectly, getting fonts to print correctly or at all can be a
  big headache, and gradients in graphics documents may not print
  smoothly. The only option available is to use an emulation
  program. HSC makes Stylescript, which works only with Apple's
  Stylewriters, providing an alternate driver to use.

  I bought the Apple Stylewriter Pro at first, specifically to take
  advantage of Stylescript, but was disappointed with two aspects:
  One, it is not Power PC native, which, on my 7100, meant that a
  non-fpu version was installed. This is unacceptably slow, taking
  as long as 10 minutes simply to download a single font.
  Presumably it is faster on 68040 machines. Two, it doesn't allow
  you to use the Scatter mode when printing graphics, a feature
  available in the regular driver, resulting in lower quality
  graphics.

  Also, due to restrictions imposed on GDT by Adobe, the
  installation disks are copy protected and will install only once
  onto your hard drive. You can't make back-ups and, if you need to
  reinstall, you need to call the company and have them send new
  disks.

  After discovering the Pro's alignment problems, I returned it for
  the 2400, and have been happy with it, although I have had
  annoying problems printing fonts from Pagemaker: whether Type 1
  or True type, they can really get butchered. That is the only
  occasion for which I resort to using StyleScript. Also, gradients
  printed from Illustrator tend to get chopped off abruptly; it's
  better to export it to Photoshop, and print from there, from
  which they're quite smooth and lovely. There are several good
  glossy papers on the market that work beautifully for color
  printing. I've been using HP's CX JetSeries CutSheet Paper, at
  about 10c per page. For ordinary printing, you can get Ink jet
  paper from Office Depot for $4-5 a ream.

  From: [e-mail] (Ken Klausen)

  I bought a color printer. I looked at the HP 540 and 560c. Could
  not find a 550c. However, what I would have paid for a 560c, I
  got a EPSON Stylus Color Inkjet. Photo quality (I should say,
  Canon color copier) at 720 dpi on special 720 paper. Byte and
  Floppy on Clairemont Mesa had the best price in San Diego at $519.

  The only thing for $279 was the 540. The extra expenditure for
  the EPSON was worth every penny. Good suggestion for small
  desktop publisher who wants good home or office production
  quality.

Storage Drive Info
------------------
  From: "J. D. Sterling Babcock" <[e-mail]>

  In your issue on backups, you mention tape drives and magneto
  optical. Tapes are great for a network.  However, for a personal
  computer, magneto  optical and removables are expensive.  You may
  want to mention that  Iomega is coming out with a 3.5" floppy
  with 100 MB/disk.  The removable drive is $200, a 25 Mb disk is
  $15, and a 100 Mb disk is $20.  I intend to reccommend this to my
  clients for people who need backup at a low cost. The drive is
  due out at the end of March, and there is a 200 Mb version
  planned for the end of the year.  Access time is about 30 mS
  (about slow hard drive speed), but the transfer rate is up at 1.5
  Mb/sec.  True, it is magnetic media, but it is a _lot_ better
  than no backup at all.

  [Personally, I'm tired of magnetic media for external storage and
  archiving.  I had originally planned to get a Tahoe 230-meg
  Magneto-optical drive, but I just found out it has an external
  power supply and those goofy SCSI-2 connectors.  I need to plug
  whatever drive I get into a client's computer 25-pin connector,
  run diagnostics, update their System, etc.  I need it mostly to
  allow me to boot-up a dead Mac, no matter what System folder
  enabler it may need.

  My Syquest drive is creaking along on its final legs, and I'm
  looking around to see what's what.  The APS
  (800-677-3294/816/920-4109) 230-meg MO drive is only US$799!  The
  Tahoe is around $935.  I'm leaning toward APS pretty strongly
  right now.  I just called and they confirmed that it has two
  50-pin SCSI connectors, an internal power supply, and active
  termination built-in.  Very sweet.  However, I will be buying my
  cartridges from Diskette Connection Connection (800-654-4058 or
  405-789-0971), as I mentioned in my previous issue.

  My Syquest disks (being magnetic media) are failing left and
  right.  I simply can't trust them any more, and I need to.  They
  have a DEFINITE lifespan of about 5 years at most, and the MO's
  last at least 10 to 100 years, from the gossip I've heard.  If
  you archive desperately important stuff, don't use magnetic
  media!]

Backup Strategies & Tips
------------------------
  From: [e-mail] (Lee Larson)

  I read your piece about the backup strategy using Retrospect, and
  I think you're somewhat stuck back in the old backup paradigm of
  having locked in schedules.

  [You're absolutely right - I haven't set up a tape backup system
  for a client in over a year.]

  This fails to exploit a lot of what Retrospect can do. Here's the
  strategy I use.

  (1) Install Retrospect Remote on every machine you want to back
  up over the network. Retrospect will back up from System7 shared
  volumes without RR, but performance is much slower, and you're
  kept from backing up many System files and any files which are
  busy. Also, RR can be set to handle backups in the background so
  unobtrusively that it can be done without a user noticing, even
  on a machine as slow as a Classic.

  (2) Configure the RR control panel to warn the user once per week
  that the machine has not been backed up. It will do this at
  shutdown and is very effective. This means you don't have to
  install special messaging software.

  (3) Get a bunch of blank tapes and label them uniquely. I call
  mine Department1, Department2, ... , Department8. Set up
  Retrospect storage sets with the same names. Tapes come with
  inserts in their cases on which you can write dates. Write the
  date of first use there, making sure the case is labelled. Don't
  mess with stickies.

  (4) Set up a Retrospect script to run at the same time every day
  which incrementally backs up all the remote machines and teach it
  about all the storage sets mentioned above. An incremental backup
  means that it looks at what is already in the storage set and
  only backs up what it doesn't already have.

  (5) Schedule it to run every night. I run mine at midnight.
  Retrospect will come up like magic at the appointed hour. If
  Retrospect can't find a particular Remote on the network, it just
  notes that in the log and passes through to the next one. This
  just means that the machines which are on at midnight get backed
  up.

  (6) Leave a tape in the drive all week and the backup machine on
  _every_ night. Users can then decide when it's convenient and
  important for them to back up their work.

  (7) Cycle your tapes and the destination storage set every
  Thursday.  Mark the date you pulled the tape out of the drive on
  the box insert. When the box insert is full of dates, toss the
  tape and start a new one.

  Using this method, the backup state is never any worse than the
  method you advocated, and is usually a lot better because users
  don't have to wait until Thursday to back up their important work
  done on Friday. It's also less error prone because if the network
  god neglects to change the tape on Thursday, the backup is still
  done to the tape that's been in there all week anyway.

  I have been doing a variation on this method for quite a while,
  and it works well. On a Mac IIci connected to an Archiv Python
  DAT, it backs up a dozen or so Macs while I sleep.

  From: [e-mail] (David Chou)

  RAM disks (or silicon disks) have a much faster access speed with
  relation to hard drives. Reading/writing to/from a silicon disk
  is waaaay faster than to/from a hard drive.  For portable
  computers, accessing the RAM disk is more power friendly than
  accessing from the hard drive (HD spin up, etc.).

  In my case, I keep my System Folder and a bunch of apps on the
  10MB RAM disk (smallish apps, nuthin' from Micro$oft).
  After my portable boots, I throw away the HD icon, leaving just
  the silicon disk on the desktop.  Every- thing I need for daily
  activities are accessed from the HD.  I do, however, keep an
  alias of an application from the HD in my Apple Menu folder so I
  can "resurrect" the HD after throwing it away.

  CopyDoubler (or the Mac) is smart enough to resurrect the HD just
  for the backup, then remove it when the backup is complete.
  Fantastic!

  From: [e-mail] (Gerold Ritter)

  I do my backups (to 230 MB MO Cartridges) with QuickBack, a
  program that offers a similar "Fast Copy" scheme, copying only
  the changes. Shure, QuickBack is not that elegant (you have to
  type in pathnames...), but once set up correctly, it works fine
  for me. And it's free...

  QuickBack is available from any info-mac mirror at

  info-mac/disk/quick-back-185.hqx

  Greetings from Switzerland

  From: [e-mail]

  Here's my hybrid backup strategy:  I have an external 200MB
  Maxtor in my  IIci and an external 1GB APS drive.  I have an
  extra 204MB Maxtor full height 5.25" external drive that I got
  when I worked at Prime;  Prime got rid of a bunch of these that
  they acquired for evaluation purposes in late 80s.  I use DiskFit
  Pro to backup the internal Maxtor onto the  external Maxtor.  I
  have four partitions on the internal Maxtor and four  identical
  partitions on the Maxtor + an extra scratch partition.  DiskFit
  Pro makes each external partition a copy of the internal
  partition, sort of like the way you use CopyDoubler.  Only the
  modified files are copied. To backup the APS drive, I borrow an
  8MM Exabyte from work over the  weekends and backup onto tape.  I
  cycle through four tapes, keeping one at the office (the Mac is
  at home).

  From: [e-mail] (Marvin Carlberg)

  I'd like to cast a vote for  Drive Savers Data Recovery in San
  Francisco, 415-883-4232.  They have never let me down; they are
  quick and experts in their field, and if you've ever seen their
  booth at MacWorld, you will see that they can perform miracles
  recovering crashed hard drives of all sorts including a PowerBook
  rescued from the bottom of the Amazon.  Scott and the rest of the
  gang were  lifesavers to a number of companies and individuals
  whose computers were damaged or destroyed in the Los Angeles
  fires and the earthquake last year and I'd recommend them to
  anyone in need of data recovery large or small.

  From: Pamela Greene <[e-mail]>

  Announce sounds like a great utility for other reasons, but for
  backup reminders, it's not absolutely necessary.

  The person in charge of running the backup could also sit down on
  Thursday morning and schedule the backup script to run Thursday
  night. In that case, Retrospect Remote has a built-in option to
  remind users not to shut down their machines.  When they choose
  Shut Down and a backup script is pending, Retrospect puts up an
  alert and offers the chance to cancel the shutdown.  (Simply
  having the backup scheduled for every Thursday, all the time,
  might not be a good idea, since then the warning will come up
  every day and users will become too accustomed to ignoring it.)

  From: "Lee Larson" <[e-mail]>

  There are other excellent backup strategies too. This
  once-per-week, do-it-or-lose-it idea has gone the way of the high
  priests in the room with the IBM mainframe.

Commercial Backup Service
-------------------------
  [I received the following information from a gentleman who runs a
  commercial service.  I have not evaluated his company's work, so
  I have no judgment on whether it is good or bad.  I'm including
  it here purely for the sake of sharing information...]

  From: Tom L Sullivan ([e-mail])

  Since you're a computer consultant by trade, I thought you might
  be interested in National OffSite Storage. Basically, we store
  and provide rotation of backup tapes in the continental United
  States. In your consulting, I'm sure you've run across many
  clients who need our service, and frankly, I'm hoping you'll see
  this as an opportunity to point them to a service they genuinely
  need.

  You can also do a full disaster plan for them, if you wish. We
  have a free guide that is tailored for small organizations, and
  we've specifically released it so that consultants can use it in
  behalf of their clientele. It's available via our web page:

  http://www.digimark.net/noss/nossinfo.html

  or

ftp://ftp.digimark.net/noss/DRPGuide/... pick the format you like.

  or send email to: [e-mail]

  This will allow people to grab our free disaster recovery
  planning guide with minimal effort. I recommend you grab the
  guide for yourself... it's really oriented toward the small shop,
  and we've received _no_ flames on the content, so far (knock on
  wood).

  When your client who had the fire stops taking those periodic
  backups home regularly, and starts leaving them at the office,
  that would be a good time to have them try us out. Just wait and
  watch for it. A significant majority of small orgs don't handle
  their backups properly over the long term, even when a system has
  been set up for them. They need a system that reminds them
  periodically.

  I see why you're not using our service: Syquest cartridges (too
  heavy and fragile for mailing), fireproof cabinet in the garage.
  The only things that can get you are a flood or earthquake.

Handling Phone Lines
--------------------
  From: [e-mail] (John Heaney)

  Since you like collecting tips, I thought I'd send you one.

  Since I started working at home (I'm a freelance computer
  programmer), I had a second phone line put in. I bought a two
  line phone; my business line is line 1 and my home phone is line
  2. That way I can answer my home phone from my office.

  I also connect my voice/fax/modem (Prometheus Ultima Home Office)
  to my business line, so really I'm doing all of my business
  communicating with one line. The problem comes in when I log onto
  the Internet. I can spend an hour or more connected to the
  Internet and all during that time my business line is tied up. I
  could just give people my home phone number in case my business
  phone is busy (which would only happen if I were online since I
  have Call Waiting), but I don't want to. I came up with a better
  solution.

  Before I dial out to an online service, I forward my business
  line to my home line. That way, people can call my business phone
  and get through on my home phone line. Now, I don't have to worry
  about tying up my business line and I don't have to give out my
  home phone number.

  By the way, in order to get Cancel Call Waiting, which most
  people know to embed in their dial out scripts, I had to get a
  package that included Call Forwarding. It wasn't an extra feature
  I had to pay for. Also, you should know that there is no easy way
  to script the Call Forwarding command because of the way the
  phone company implemented it. However, it is straightforward to
  write a script to cancel the Call Forwarding when you log out. I
  actually have my Call Forwarding to my home and my Cancel Call
  Forwarding on my speed dialing on my phone. I find this works
  best.

  [Thanks for the tip!  It may help a lot of people.  Personally, I
  don't use either Call Waiting OR Call Forwarding.  I'm very happy
  with Pacific Bell Voice Mail here in San Diego (800-540-8020).
  There's a building downtown that stores my messages in a big pile
  of RAM chips.  If my business line is busy, either while I'm
  telecommunicating or talking to a client, then the system takes
  my messages.  I can retrieve them from any phone, any time.  It
  costs less per month than it would in energy costs from running
  my Mac 24 hours a day to answer my phone.  It's a system I'm very
  satisfied with.]

Clipping Notes Within America Online
------------------------------------
  From: [e-mail]

  I do something similar to you for "clipping" out articles/mail,
  etc. that I want to save. (I have discovered I am as bad an
  electronic pack rat as I am with paper! At least it doesn't take
  up as much room...!) After logging newsgroup postings, bulletin
  board postings, etc. off of AOL, as I am reading them, if I want
  to save a bit, I highlight it, cut it out, then, after having
  finished the whole of that file, select all, hit the delete key
  (erases everything without disturbing the clipboard's contents,
  then pasting what I clipped back in. Hitting Command-W to close
  the window and agreeing to save the changes is all there is to it.

  Very seldom do I want to save more than one thing off of each log
  file. If you highlighted all the log files you wanted to read,
  then hit Coomand-O to open them, using AOL's Windows menu to
  switch between them, when you are finished, and close all the
  windows, only those files you didn't save anything from are still
  highlighted and can be dragged to the trash. The ones that were
  left were the bits you clipped, and each one can be renamed to
  something to remember what it is. Throw them in a couple of
  folders to control the clutter, and you're all set.

GEnie Tip
---------
  From: [e-mail]

  In response to your AOL tips I would like to tell you about
  "ONLINE SERVANT" for the GEnie service.    An excellent shareware
  HyperCard program, it allows you to program exactly what message
  areas you would like new messages from (or any one of three
  options such as # of days back). OS will log onto the service,
  collect your e-mail, deliver any messages you have written and
  get the messages from your selected categories and topics. It
  does so quick and easy saving you the maximum on-line time
  possible and even has a timer option to do when you are not at
  home or late at night.

  Once you get your messages and mail you can respond to them
  off-line in your own free time and upload them without getting
  new messages at the same time.

  The folks on GEnie tend to be a more mature and the discussions
  there are a nice escape from the flame wars and the kids on-line.
  I tried AOL for a while but I gave it up.

Meyers-Briggs Feedback
----------------------
  From: [e-mail] (Kevin Connery)

  You brought up one of my favorite issues, the Meyers-Briggs Type
  Indicator

  (MBTI) in issue #59, and I thought I'd point out a few additional
  tidbits:

  alt.psychology.personality is a newsgroup devoted to this, and
  other personality issues.  Interesting reading.

  The MBTI *IS* copyrighted, and the full indicator is not licensed
  to be given save by those who've taken a seminar in
  interpretating the data.  What is floating around the net is
  usually the Keirsey-Bates Temperament Sorter, which is
  loosely--and, sadly, not very rigorously--based on the MBTI.

  Nevertheless, if the description of the type fits well, it's a
  reasonable fit; I'm a nearly polar INT, with either P or J
  preferences, and both the KBTS and the MBTI gave similar results.

  I do feel compelled to point out that most computer-types, like
  the ones you railed against earlier in the newsletter, are INT's
  as well; see the jargon dictionary for another reference. It's
  enlightening to find a ExFP in the field!

  The formal contacts for the official MBTI are through Consulting
  Psychologists Press, which is in Palo Alto, CA. I don't have the
  full reference, and they don't appear to be on the net directly.

Question Of The Week
--------------------
  From: [e-mail] (Gnani Perinpanayagam)

  I use a PowerBook 170 and one of the small blue rubber rollers
  which moves the mouse pointer has lost its sticky coating.  I
  have resorted to using an external mouse - not very convenient,
  but will do for the present.  I visited the local NMac Agent and
  he wanted me to spend 100 US Dollars and change the whole mouse
  assembly. Not very environmentally friendly suggestion.

  Has anyone a simple suggestion to recoat the rubber roller. It is
  very simple to take out and reassemble, but of course the
  diameter is critical as if the coating is too thick it will foul
  and not rotate.

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