ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/HATCH/WWIVNEWS.ZIP/9403_4.NWS

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 29KB | 503 lines

the various versions of Unix were forced upon the respective companies due to
AT&T's rather stringent royalty requirements.

...While many Unix enthusiasts see this as the first positive step in years
towards unification, which will help bringing Unix into the forefront of the
operating system wars, the majority of industry experts agree that this is
nothing more than Novell saying "hey, we can't sell it, might as well give
it away!", and is in effect simply the first real nail in Unix' coffin. Lord
knows all the DOS/Windows and OS/2 users are saying the same thing!

...From the "Stick a Joystick in his mouth!" Department: Nintendo Inc. is
conducting a major study on epilepsy in relation to television game activities.
The study comes on the heels of recent reports on the problems of epileptic
children who played Nintendo's "Super Famicom" and the "Family Computer" -
what's known as the NES System outside Japan. At least four dozen cases have
been reported of children suffering epileptic seizures while playing TV games,
with the cause believed to be what's called "optic induced epilepsy." This
particular form of epilepsy is said to be caused by rapidly flashing lights,
usuallt in the red or orange range of the spectrum. In the case of the NES,
the flickering lights associated with certain game effects have been measured
to flash at rates normally associated with those that trigger seizures.

...Nintendo, as well as other major Japanese game makers have already performed
research the possible epileptic problem. Other game firms such as Sega and NEC
Home Electronics may join Nintendo in the research, although some independent
medical researchers in Japan have shown some skepticism about the relationship
between TV games and epilepsy. These researchers claim that statistics already
show that no such link exists.

...According to the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Japan, there are about
one million epileptic patients in Japan alone. Among these people, only 30,000
people have been diagnosed as optic induced epileptic patients, and none of
them can be specifically linked to a TV-induced attack. The problem can be
prevented with oral medicine, but patients are still encouraged to avoid
staring into rapidly flashing lights.

...From the "Govorit Po-IBMiski?" Department: Apple and IBM moved closer
towards closing the interoperability gap between their platforms with Apple's
introduction of an application that allows its Macintoshes to work on
IBM-based networks. Apple's SNA.ps 5250 emulation software package enables the
Macintosh to behave like IBM terminals and access thousands of applications
available on IBM's AS/400 systems.

...While most Mac enthusiasts question the logic behind emulating what most
industry experts consider IBM's biggest boondoggle since the PCjr, quite a
few inquiries from AS/400 MIS' have been reported by Apple reps since the
package went on sale in June '93. The $345 MSPR package is the first joint
sales venture for both Apple and IBM.

...From the Dick Tracy Department: Motorola has announced plans to introduce
a card-size version of its NewsStream Advanced Information Reciever. The
NewsCard is aimed at use in PCs, palmtops and PDAs, and is due out later this
year. In a related move, AT&T connected its EasyLink Services E-Mail to
Motorola's Embarc wireless delivery service. This allows AT&T Mail users to
send E-Mail to recipients using portable computers in more that 200 cities.
Both moves are expected to benefit the wireless information gathering features
of the next generation of PDAs.

...From the Arteest department: Corel has acquired the entire Ventura line of
products. This includes Ventura Publisher, Ventura Database Publisher, and
related all technologies. Plans are reported to be along the lines of
combining all products with Corel Draw and release a major desktop publishing
office suite sometime in 4Q '94.

...Corel is now shipping Corel Ventura 4.2 for Windows. This includes two
CD-ROMs with over 600 fonts, 10,000 EPS clip-art images, and 100 Kodak PhotoCD
photos. MSRP is $249, although some softwarehouses have reportedly been
selling it for $199.

...For those who've had to use Ventura Publisher in lieu of Pagemaker, the
general hope is that Corel will simply work all the quirks out of VP and make
it a viable Windows product for once!

...From the "Why *should* I upgrade?" department: Did you know that Novell has
not still upgraded to release 4.01 of NetWare internally? Did you also know
that they have no absolutely *no* immediate plans to do so? Hey guys, at least
Microsoft had the guts to upgrade to Windows for Workgroups with the first
release, so what does that tell you about Novell 4.01?

...From the "TANSTAAFL" department: Word from that great Mormon state is that
WordPerfect is abandoning the 1-800 technical support line. Citing the
various runaround reasons every other company has given for switching to
1-900 support lines, the bottom line through all the hype appears to be this:
If Microsoft can get away with charging an average of $12 a call, then
WordPerfect 6.0 should average about twice that based on how buggy the
code is!

...Speaking of WordPerfect, did anyone happen to catch the significance of
the 6.0 release for DOS? That's right, it won't work on an XT no matter
how much XMS that RAMpage has on it! You have to have a 286 or better to
even *boot* the mess!

...In short, folks, WordPerfect has driven the final nail in the XT's
coffin. Let's have a moment of silence for the 8088, shall we? It served
us well all those years, and now it's time to put it to rest. That is, of
course, unless you're still enamored with using Wordstar 4.0!

...From the Hard Copy department: Hewlett-Packard and Time Warner are
reportedly working together to develop technologies that would allow a cable
customer to plug a color printer into the cable converter box, and print out
sales coupons, ads, magazine articles and color stills of TV shows. The first
testing ground will be Time Warner's planned interactive TV experiment in
Orlando, Fla., where 4,000 cable customers will be equipped with H-P color
ink-jet printers.

...While the QVC support stuff might be effective, one has to wonder how
Hollywood is going to react to such an innovation. After all, if you can
simply plug in a Deskjet and grab a shot of anything on the screen, there's
going to be agents running amok trying to figure out how to secure royalties
for each printed image! And you thought the $1 surcharge on blank tapes was
simply greed in action!

...On a side note, no word yet whether the B&W Deskjets or any of the HP
Laserjet series will be supported by this new cable system.

 ...From the Greener Pastures & their products department: In an effort to
get in on the "Green PC" bandwagon, several suppliers have started offering
a new series of mousepads.  Get this, folks - Rainforest pads. These mousepads
are decorated with color photos of actual, still-alive rainforests and the
various fauna and flora that live there.

...Of course, this isn't just art for art's sake. Included with each mousepad
is a free educational booklet which is supposed to help heighten awareness of
rainforest conservation. Based on current consumer apathy towards the "Save
the Forests by wiping your ass with your hands!" crowd, rest assured that
anyone buying these pads will no doubt file this manual with the rest of
those hardware manuals we're forever losing!

...While we're greening our PC's here, Technology Marketing Partners has
something called the MonitorMiser. This litte $79.95 doo-da hooks in between
your monitor and the power cord, and powers the monitor down after a
specified amount of idle time. Since most energy savings occur at the
monitor level, if you're *really* into this "Green PC" fad but don't want
to spend a lot on a new, "Energy Star" compliant machine, then this might
be the way to split the difference.

...To carry this one step further, has anyone caught AST Research's ad for
their "Green PC"? The one that's got the monitor and pizza box painted
a fluorecent forest green? Well, word from an AST rep who *demanded* to
remain anonymous says that a certain government agency that's responsible
for pushing the "Energy Star" program has inquired with AST about buying
some *two thousand* of these gaudy little baubles. And you thought the
Clinton Administration was going to cut waste and frivolty, didn't you?

...Of course, the most logical next step in the "Green PC" movement would
be for someone to start developing solar powered portables. After all, at
least 80% of the hand-held calculators manufactured in the past 2 years
have been small models with solar cells running them. Granted, it took
almost 15 years for that to become the standard for calculator power, but
in the end the chipsets are more efficient in both power and speed. If
TI could go from a desktop model with a 20lb external power supply to a
5.5oz handheld with twice as many functions within that time, imaging how
quickly we could bring PCs down to near that level seeing as how we sort of
already know how to do it?

...Well, Zenith Data Systems is reportedly working on such a beast now.
While their yet-unnamed prototype is still a good two years away from an
actual production run, the unit uses solar power to extend the life of
current battery packs from 3 hours to at least 15 hours depending on use.
Don't expect this one to be cheap, folks: prices for the solar cell banks
alone totals up to just under $1000 at current market prices, and those
aren't expected to change anytime this decade based on current market
speculation!

...From the Full Metal Jacket department: Anyone here tried OS/2 For Windows
yet? Reports from everyone who's used this product and done side-by-side
comparisons with regular OS/2 2.1 say that "Ferengi" not only is a far more
stable combination than the normal OS/2 package, but that it actually runs
about 10% faster, especially when you migrate apps to the OS/2 desktop!

...Of course, releasing a streamlined version of OS/2 had more initiative
from Microsoft than anything else. Seems that Big Blue was having to pay
the Gates boys $30 a copy in royalties for each copy of normal OS/2 sold,
per the agreement that allowed the use of Win31 source for the Win-OS/2
shell & migrator. In what has to be the best marketing strategy IBM's done
to date - if not the best for 1993 *period* - IBM in one fell swoop clipped
the need to pay Bill Gates one red cent out of any OS/2 profits, and managed
to do so without raising the cost of the product! Word from inside Microsoft
is that Gates was broken the news about Ferengi on his *honeymoon*, which
probably didn't help matters too much with the nuptuals :-)

...On a side note, the running jokes around Microsoft - one real, the other
we're not sure of - regarding Gates' departure from batchelorhood, go
something like this:

"Bill Gates got married to one of his employees on a friday. The following
monday, Mrs. Gates called in to tell her supervisor that she'd be late for
work for a while..."

"Mrs. Gates had two words to describe her honeymoon with husband Bill. Those
words were 'Micro' and 'Soft'..."

...From the "Sounds like Blaster Spirit" department: Word from inside printer
giant Hewlett-Packard is that the company is about to make a major plunge
into the sound card market. Two cards are reportedly under development for a
late '94 release. A 16-bit sound card which will sell for about $150 should
hit the stores in time for the holidays, while a 32-bit professional MIDI
card will follow shortly after with an MSRP of around $349.

...From the "Rotten to the Core" department: Apple's in-house BBS is reportedly
offering an online course called "Life After Layoffs". There's a catch to
getting access, though: you have to be unemployed to take it!

...From the Unsung Heroes department: One of the unmentioned innovations from
Comdex Fall '94 was a product called "DIP to SIMM". This a little circuit
board with DIP sockets for nine DIPs, and plugs into a SIMM socket. As most
oldtimers know, a *lot* of older motherboards used DIPs - many of them in the
acceptable 80ns range - and would still be good if you had a way to use them
when you upgraded to a new motherboard that uses SIMMs.  This here's a way to
keep those memory chips and save some money.

...The cards are produced by a company called Autotime, and retail for $8.50.
If you don't trust sockets, you can send your chips to the company and they'll
solder them for you for an additional $13.50. Like the ZSIMMs that came out
of Austin back in '92, the reborn SIMM is significantly taller than a regular
SIMM module, so you'll need to check whether the increased height will
interfere with any cards, the power supply, or whatever.

...Caveat Emptor: Don't try this with DIPs that are below 80ns unless your
motherboard can handle slower SIMM speeds. Quite a few motherboards refuse
to run SIMMS at speeds below 80ns, and some - particularly those produced
by CAF and CMOS - refuse to run anything below *70ns*!

...From the "Mazda's gonna *sue*!!!!" department: Intel is preparing to ship
their first software product, code-named Miata, in the first half of 1994.
Miata is reportedly an interactive file-sharing Windows application that lets
two users view the same file over a modem connection, and contains tools that
let users annotate a document or spreadsheet being discussed. A "chalkboard"
mode lets users jot notes that can be seen by both viewers. A utility known
as Jump Start will reportedly let Miata users show files to users who lack
the full version of the software.

...Beta testers have already been sent the first version of the product, and
have been told to expect to see support for voice and data communications via
the same connection provided both users are using an Intel digital modem.
Predicted MSRP for this product is $249, although reports are that the product
may be bundled in a "lite" version with a new Intel digital modem slated for
a 3Q '94 release.

...Finally, from the "Service with a Smile" department: Anyone bought a Boca
14.4 Bocamodem lately? WWIVnews suggests that you check out the BIOS revision
to make sure that it's not v1.21. Boca shipped out a large shipment of that
particular modem with a buggy BIOS that wouldn't connect to anything above
2400bd! While Boca will replace the modem if you ship it in, according to
several technicians it took calls to the Vice President of the company to
finally get someone to admit that a bad batch *did* exist!

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
               │ What's Hot in the world of WWIV Utilities?  │
               │        by King Lerxt (WWIVnet 1@8863)       │
               └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

WWIV SysOps are constantly looking for external programs to add to their BBS
to make them more useful, colorful, or more enjoyable for their users. This is
not an easy task. It can also be get quite expensive when the program you want
and need is a LD call away.

With so many programs out there it's hard to know what's good and what's junk.
Luckily for you, I have found a group of programmers who are dedicated to
creating new and exciting programs for WWIV SysOps and users.

The group is Datagen Software Designs, and is headed by it's President and
chief programmer, John Dailey. This group has been around for a while but
hasn't gotten the exposure they deserve.

Datagen offers a very complete line of programs for today's WWIV SysOp. Their
line of products are very versatile, very GRAPHICALLY pleasing to look at, and
they are enjoyable for users & SysOps to use.

The support is also GREAT. John is always receptive to comments & suggestions
and will go out of his way to put in features the SysOp's or users want or
think should be added. In this day and age, that is something you hardly ever
see any more (and that's sad indeed.)

Here's a brief overview on some of the programs Datagen Software has to offer:

1)   Melody Maker v3.0 - This is by far the BEST ANSI Music creating and
playing utility ever made. This newest version adds Soundblaster and mouse
support. You can easily create ANSI Music to be posted on your BBS or on any
one of the ANSI Music message subs in the nets (in particular : KLCC Radio
211.2 FM [ANSI Music], TerraNET subtype 10002 hosted by 8851)
This program can be used by users and SysOps alike... anyone who loves music
will enjoy this great program. Its completely graphical and its a joy to use.

2)   Vote-O-Rama v1.0 - Are you tired of that boring built-in voting booth that
WWIV comes with? If so, this is the program for you and your users. This
program is totally Sysop configurable. Your users can even add their OWN
questions for other users to vote on! Unlike WWIV's voting booth, users can ADD
additional responses to voting questions (a great feature since SysOps never
seem to be able to come up with a good set of possible answers.) The graphics
are incredible (as is the case with all of Datagen's products). If you and your
users HATE voting, this program will change you attitudes in a hurry!

3)   Starship Galactica v1.0 - One of Datagen's online door games. This game is
very similar to the classic games of "Battleship" or "Salvo" where you try to
destroy your opponents ships before they destroy yours. In this version, the
battle takes place in space. The twist is that sometimes you can find out where
your opponent (the computer) is hiding by disrupting their cloaking shields.
This game is very addictive and you can expect some fierce competition between
you and your users as you try to destroy the enemy in the least amount. of
moves or try to keep the majority of your ships from being destroyed.

4)   Dig Droid v2.0 - Another online door game. In this one, you navigate your
robot down into a planets core trying to collect as many treasures as you can
before your energy runs low, forcing you to return to the ship to replenish
your power packs. A very tough game to master, but lots of fun.

5)   The Graffiti Wall v5.2 - Sure there are a bunch of Graffiti Walls out
there but THIS one is the best. It's totally Sysop configurable. Allow or
disallow certain users. Restrict dirty words (if you want to). As always the
graphics are great. Let your users have fun adding comments or sayings to the
wall when they log on.

6)   Data Voice Switch v1.6 - Are you a Sysop who "tries" to run your BBS on

your voice line? Isn't it a HASSLE? Don't you wish you could afford one of

those switch boxes that would automatically take care of it all?  Now you

don't have to... this program is all you need to end your Voice Line/Data Line

blues!

7)   Message To Next Caller v2.1 - Let your users leave a message for whoever

logs onthe BBS after them.

And this is only a SMALL SAMPLE of the many programs Datagen has to offer
(almost 30 in all!).

If you would like more info. on Datagen Software Designs, feel free to send
E-mail to user 28 @ 8851 (TerraNET), or 28 @ 8863 (WWIVnet) and you will be
able to talk to the President, John Dailey himself!

There is also a >WWIVnet< sub for Datagen Support. It's Subtype 24701 hosted by
4701.

There are currently 4 Datagen Support Boards, which you may get access to the
Datagen Software Designs directory by logging on as "DATAGEN", with a password
of "DATAGEN", and the last 4 digits of the phone as 0000.

1) K.L.C.C. - TerraNET @8851 / WWIVnet @8863
   818-240-9915 (7pm-7am ONLY!)
   1200-14400

2) Blue Thunder - TerraNET @1 / WWIVnet @8861
   818-848-4101
   300-16800

3) The Lair of The Wolverine - WWIVnet @4701
   407-294-9446
   300-14400

4) Ten Forward! - WWIVnet @7112
   701-775-9057
   1200-16.8

If you've been looking for some new programs to spruce up your BBS, then I
HIGHLY suggest you check out Datagen Software Designs and their line of
products. You won't be sorry, and your users will LOVE you for it.

───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────
               │     Divine Sources for Mortal Curiosity     │
               │       A Review of The WWIVnet Oracle        │
               │      By Necromancer (WWIVnet 1@4079)        │
               └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

A few months ago, in late April I believe, I downloaded a file from a local
BBS called "Random Access Humor" (Editor: Dave Bealer) which is a monthly
publication for computer related humor. One article in particular caught my
attention, one concerning something called "The Usenet Oracle". The article
featured a few examples of the messages from the Oracle, and detailed how to
access it through Internet. Intrigued, I quickly logged on to the network at
school, and wrote to it. Literally within seconds I received the instruction
file, and was immediately captivated by what I found.

The Usenet Oracle is a program running at the University of Indiana, written
and hosted by Steve Kinzler. The way it works is this: Someone e-mails the
Oracle a question, and then in payment must answer a question, which is
e-mailed back to the user. Within a day or so, an answer is received in
e-mail, which is (hopefully) witty and humorous. Basically, everyone answers
each others questions. But since everyone takes the dual role of the
grovelling whimpering supplicant, and the omnipotent and omniscient Oracle,
everyone has an equal opportunity to show their creativity.

I was surprised by the creativity and writing ability many of the Oracle
users had. Many of them had a similar style of humor to my own, yet many
were also different. The diversity of styles, and the ease of use meshed
quite well to form this interactive and cooperative system for creative
humor.

One of my personal favorites from the collection of the "best of the best"
was this one where the supplicant asked a question about the existence of
magic. The Oracle, who was at a loss for a good answer, decided to run
a simulation to find out. He loaded up simulations of Merlin (for magic)
and Steven Hawking (for physics) and set them against one another in
a game-show format. Eventually Hawking wins because Merlin violates the
laws of the universe (temporal causality to be precise).

Additionally, there are two Usenet newsgroups (the equivalent of message
subs) in existence for the Oracle. One is used to post the best of the
Oracle responses (termed "Oracularities") as chosen by the "Oracle
Priesthood." The other is a discussion area for the readers. Also, an
anonymous FTP site is available from which you can obtain the back-issues
of the Oracularities, or copies of source code for other non-net oracles.
(FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is one of the most popular
systems for transferring files through the Internet. Anonymous FTP sites
allow the general public access to certain directories on those computers).

For a long time I had considered writing some software for WWIVnet, but
had no idea what to make. But after working with the Usenet Oracle for a
while, my path became quite clear. Within a few days, I had the basic
skeleton completed for the "WWIVnet Oracle," although debugging took
considerably longer. By the end of May I had most of the bugs sorted out,
and only one or two more features to add. I managed to test it on a
different computer than my actual BBS, but a few final tests through WWIVnet
itself proved it was working.

Very quickly I managed to get a small group interested in it, but I had
little at my disposal to get the word through the net. So I created a sub
called "The WWIVnet Oracle Discussion" upon which everyone can discuss
the Oracle, and read the best of the oracle responses (termed "Scrolls")
as chosen by the "Seers of the Oracle." I advertised on the "WWIVnet Subs
Yellow Pages" sub, and activity from remote systems started to pick up.
Some of the messages have been quite good, below are a few examples from
the first few months of the Oracle's lifetime.

One of the things I found the most enthralling about the Usenet Oracle
was the mythos that had evolved over time. The Oracle had a pretty well
established persona, as well as it's own history, all of which sprung
up virtually on it's own during the course of it's existence. While the
authors of the individual messages had free liscense to write whatever
they chose, writings that followed the mythos were accepted by the priests
and readers more enthusiastically.

Basically the Oracle is portrayed as an omnipotent being who only answers
questions as his day-job. He's arrogant, and very quick to "ZOT" anyone who
doesn't sufficiently grovel in their questions, or those who ask the dreaded
"woodchuck" question. Also, he lives on Mount Olympus, and has a girlfriend
named Lisa (although over-use of this is frowned upon to the extreme). In
his home he has access to every computer and commuications device known to
man (and in some cases, unkown to man as well), and can contact anyone
anywhere anytime.

Sometimes the Oracle is portrayed as an aging wise man, and other times
an immortal, yet naive, being who is irritated that his job has no fringe
benefits. At other times he's portrayed as an intelligent program running
in his own little directory at the University of Indiana, and is often
having difficulties with his author, Steve Kinzler, clipping his access
when he goes off on a tangent, and not sufficiently answering the questions.

It goes without question that I was happy to see a little bit of a mythos
starting to form on my Orcale as well. Much of the way the WWIVnet Oracle
thinks was borrowed from the Usenet Oracle, but some of it's own history is
starting to be created.

The WWIVnet Oracle is an entity who usually knows all the answers, but
isn't afraid to make one up when he is at a loss. Like the Usenet Oracle,
he is arrogant, taking great joy in the fact that he's not "one of you
lowly humans." He is fascinated by obscure information, and therefore gets
bored with the mundane "life" questions, but enjoys exposing government
conspiracies involving your socks that dissappear in the wash. While he
would be answering questions anyway, he is extremely frustrated at the
dragon that guards him and won't let him leave his room on Mt. Olympus,
a dragon that is old and weak, barely able to blow fire at all.

The most recent development in the WWIVnet Oracle is that it can now
be accessed across net gates. What this means is that it is accessible
from any network that is conencted to WWIVnet. For instance, if you wanted
to contact it from MageNet (my own small local net), you would use a
different e-mail address than "ORACLE@4079", specifically it would be
"WWIVnET ORACLE AT 4079 @705". To access it on other nets, you would simply
replace the "705" with whatever the node number is of the board in your net
that is connected to WWIVnet. As of this writing I am currently seeking
boards willing to carry the Oracle traffic into other nets, as well as the
Oracle Discussion Sub which is detailed towards the end of the article.

Below are several examples from the WWIVnet Oracle Scrolls, as promised.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Title: Oracle Response (OR00052)
From:  The Oracle (Chosen by: Keeper of the Scrolls)
Date:  12:28:58 P 05/30/93, Oracle Time.


You said unto the Oracle:

Title: Tell me

Oh tell me, the great, and wonderful, the one who wrote the great
and wonderful book, the one who's name is!  Yes you are the one
who wrote the book.  The knowledgeable, you wrote the BOOK!  Your
name is!               Oracle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, oh PLEASE tell me!!!

Why is it that the parts NEVER fit when one tries to put together
something that is unassembled?

I beg thee, oh wise Oracle for an answer!!!


Thus spake the Oracle:

Title: Ditto, ditto, ditto...[Random Title]
RE: The Oracle requires an answer (EORA000052)