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ZIP Magazine Volume 4 Issue 5
Ú-----------------------------------------------------------¿
| É------------------» |
| ±±±±±±±±± Editors: | Volume 4 Issue 5 | |
| ±± Ron Alcorn | September 1991 | |
| ±± W.H. Lambdin È------------------¼ |
| ±± |
| ±±± Heres A Peek At What's Inside! |
| ±± ------------------------------- |
| ±± |
| ±± MY EXPERIENCES WITH A VIRUS 6 |
| ±±±±±±±±± |
| INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL HORN . 8 |
| ±±±±±±±±±± |
| ±± NEC CD-73 INTERSECT CD-ROM . 10 |
| ±± |
| ±± BLUFF YOUR WAY IN COMPUTERS 12 |
| ±± |
| ±± SSORT VS SORTF ............. 16 |
| ±± |
| ±± |
| ±±±±±±±±±± |
| |
| ±±±±±±±±± |
| ±± ±± |
| ±± ±± |
| ±± ±± |
| ±±±±±±±±± |
| ±± |
| ±± Ú¿ Ú-¿ Ú-¿ Ú-¿ Ú-¿ -Â- ¿  Ú-¿ |
| ±± | | Ã-´ | ¿ Ã-´ / | |À¿| Ã- |
| ±± Á Á Á Á À-Ù Á Á À-Ù -Á- Á ÀÁ À-Ù |
| ----------------------------------- |
| "For Home MS-DOS users" |
| |
| /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ |
| \ "Be sure to read every section in all issues!" / |
| / We hope you enjoy this issue a lot. Thank you! \ |
| \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ |
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| Up coming reviews... |
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| Cardinal 700 VGA Graphics Adapter, NEC CD-ROM drive, |
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À-----------------------------------------------------------Ù
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| |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| |
| VOLUME 4 ISSUE 5 |
| |
Ì-----------------------------------------------------------¹
| |
| EDITORS CORNER .................................. Page 3 |
| FEEDBACK ........................................ Page 4 |
| TOM'S TIDBITS ................................... Page 5 |
| MY EXPERIENCES WITH A VIRUS ..................... Page 6 |
| INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL E. HORN ................... Page 8 |
| NEC CDR-73 INTERSECT CD-ROM READER .............. Page 10 |
| BLUFF YOUR WAY IN COMPUTERS ..................... Page 12 |
| SSORT VS SORTF .................................. Page 16 |
| SHORT CUTS ...................................... Page 18 |
| BBS LISTING ..................................... Page 20 |
| USERS GROUPS .................................... Page 23 |
| ZIP INFO ........................................ Page 24 |
| GREENLIEF ENTERPRISES AD ........................ Page 25 |
| |
È-----------------------------------------------------------¼
þþ EDITORS CORNER þþ
Do you find ZIP Magazine useful and if so would you like to
see ZIP Magazine continue?
I am asking this because interest has slacked off recently.
If you like ZIP Magazine. Please let us know about it, and
preferably write something for this small publication. If
interest continues to slack off. ZIP Magazine may go by the
way of the Dinosaur.
There has been several things going on that you may be
interested in.
There is now three ZIP Magazine conferences that I touch
bases with.
Assistive technologies (A BBS in Louisville, Kentucky. This
BBS caters to blind and other disabled people)
Intelec (International network of more than 250 BBSs)
Lite Link (A regional BBS network in the south east portion
of the U.S. Strawberry Patch is the Lite Link central
hub. Strawberry Patch has been supporting ZIP
Magazine since day one.
þþ FEEDBACK þþ
I recently discovered ZIP Magazine on a local BBS. WOW! what
a concept. A free magazine with useful information. Robert
A. McAllister
How long has ZIP Magazine been in production? I would like to
see what I have been missing. Peter Jons
EDITORS COMMENT: ZIP Magazine has been in production since
September 1988.
ZIP-1-?.ZIP ? = 1 - 2
ZIP-2-?.ZIP ? = 1 - 6
ZIP-3-?.ZIP ? = 1 - 6
ZIP-4-?.ZIP ? = 1 - 5 W.H. Lambdin
þþ TOM'S TIDBITS þþ
by Tom Croley
-------------
Box 188
Battle Ground, WA, 98604
-------------
Having trouble, throw out the windows. Computers, like cars,
clothes, and dances, are subject to fads. Right now, the
fad in hardware is to buy a 386SX 16mgz computer with a 3.5"
floppy disk drive, a 5.25" floppy disk drive, a 40 MB hard
disk drive, a mouse, and a VGA color monitor. One of the
current fads in software, is to equip all of the above with a
popular graphical interface that involves windows and little
picture that you shoot at with a mouse. As a programmer,
consultant, and long time computer user, I have a few
complaints to register.
1. Most of the people who call me complaining about software
problems are using the popular windowing software. When
the windows are disabled, their problems dissappear.
2. A lot of the people who call me complaining about
hardware problems are using the windowing software.
Again the problems disappear when the windows are thrown
out. Its, "My printer doesn't work right" or "My program
won't recognize all my expensive memory."
3. Graphical interfaces are cute and cozy but they can be
slow and they can be more confusing than a well planned
DOS menu system. When you take new users and set them
down at the keyboard, they still may not be able to
figure out what all those little pictures mean. What if
they think the trashcan is for shooting baskets, you
know, executive entertainment. Opps.
4. I find that the fad window software does not fit well
into the fad hardware listed above. At first everything
is OK but as you begin to acquire window oriented
application software, the hard disk space quickly
dissappears. Suddenly you are out of room and out of
luck. I have noticed a lot of USED 40 MB hard drives for
sale lately in the classified ads. They seem to be coming
from people who are hooked on windows and have run out of
room.
5. Some people complain saying that window software is
necessary to use all their memory. Hmmm. I use all of
my 5 MB of RAM with no problems without any windows. I
can run 12 programs at once in memory partitions, use
that elusive high memory, and spool my printer to the
disk with no hardware or software conflicts. All this
for less than $75.00 in Commercial software and
Shareware.
6. And then there is those aweful mice. I like rats, but
mice...ugh! If you are a good typist, it is a bothersome
slowdown and distraction to have to remove your hand
from the keyboard to drag a mouse around. Then half the
time you grab something and try to drag it across the
screen, you drop it and then who knows what happens. Once
again, a well designed DOS menu is superior and faster. I
only use a mouse with programs that draw or publish, and
occasionally for a game.
7. Multi-tasking. This is a nice feature of the windows
environment. But there are Shareware alternatives, and
besides, not many people really need true multitasking.
Most can get by with program swapping that is offered
with Dos 5.0 and by several other programs available.
Check past issues of ZIP for my review of Software
Carousel, one of the best such.
8. Of course there a some programs I can't run because they
REQUIRE a window environment. I don't buy those
programs. Dread the day that I ever NEED one.
9. One thing I can say about the window fad. It does make
an impressive display when you are trying to sell a
computer. Not only that, but it guarantees consultation
fees when the customer calls screaming for help, and
hardware sales when they want a bigger hard drive.
Oh well, so much for my opinion. If you want to take pot
shots at me or if you want to share some of your problems
drop me a line or leave me a message on the Idea Tree BBS
(206-573-7449).
TTFN
TC
þþ MY EXPERIENCES WITH A VIRUS þþ
by W.H. Lambdin
My review of Virucide in the recent issue of ZIP Magazine was
almost prophetic.
Two weeks ago I received some disks from a friend, and the
disks contained the Stoned -B virus.
There are 17 known variations of the Stoned virus (according
to SCAN80. Fortunately the virus I had could be removed from
the disk with Virucide.
The Stoned virus is a 500+ byte virus that infects the boot
sector, and attacks the FAT tables. It is also a TSR so after
you remove it from the drive, shut the system down, or press
the reset button. Pressing ALT-CTRL Delete may not wipe it
out completely.
McAfee's Scan will report the presence of the virus, but will
not remove it. However Virucide was able to remove the virus
in just a few seconds.
This is the first Virus I have ever seen, and I hope it is
the last.
I knew that my habit of scanning every thing I received was a
good idea. I could have lost all of my files, but I found
Stoned -b before it was activated.
þþ INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL E. HORN þþ
(Creator of Host3, 31, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and soon 50.
CSS versions 1.0 and 1.1)
<by: Inez Harrison>
I got to know Dan because of questions I had concerning
Host44 but during the time I never knew he was the creator
of the soft- ware. One day while using the program I saw his
name and was shocked and (quite frankly) embarrassed! Why
embarrassed, well because I questioned 1 or 2 of his
suggestions to correct my problems. Well, enough of this and
on with the interview.
Personal specs:
Full Name: Daniel Edward Horn
Location: San Diego, California
Status: Single
Age: 20
Q: What programs are you responsible for?
A: Well, there's all the versions of HOST3 (Ie HOST3, 31, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, and soon 50). CSS versions 1.0 and 1.1, soon
to be released (eventually) PPS 1.0 (script pre-processor,
with full #include, #define directives). And (eventually)
SDEDIT 1.0 (if I ever get around to finishing it) which
stands for SALT Deveolpers Editor, a fully integrated multi-
windowed editor with compiler, hypertext help system, full
help on all internal SALT functions, etc.
I actually have released right now, just HOST3 (latest 4.4,
called HOST44) and CSS 1.1.
Q: What inspired you to write these programs (Host/CSS)
A: Well, HOST started out more or less as a way to keep me
occupied. About five years back (during my sophmore year in
high school) I had major sugery (lower back) which kept me
bed ridden for many months. One day I decided I would improve
the script for Telix and make it the best around. HOST3 has
just kept growing due to both public interest and private
(myself) enjoyment.
CSS started out about a year ago, as a discussion between
myself and Jeff Woods (who works for Exis, Inc.). Jeff had
mentioned that the single complaint he heard the most, was
that the Telix script language was to difficult. Jeff and I
tossed the idea around about creating a program that would
take a English sentance based language (which was easy to use
and understand) and compile it into a Telix script. I got so
enthusiastic about the idea, that I spent the next week
writing the program.
Q: What is Host?
A: HOST is a Telix script which allows users to run a small
BBS system without the hassles and problems of the big BBS
software. Early versions of HOST (3, 3.1) were nothing more
then a simple host system which allowed callers to upload and
download files. Later versions (4.x) included a full single
message base system complete with full screen editor, and
private/public messages. Also included was a complete file
base section with password protection, file descriptions,
etc. Our latest version (5.0) currently in development is a
full BBS system with up to 999 different message bases, 999
different file bases, and support for doors from PCBoard
14.x, QBBS, RBBS, Remote Access, and WildCat!
Q: What made you configure Host for compability with Telix?
A: HOST is completely (with a few minor exceptions) written
in the Telix script language (SALT - Script Application
Language for Telix). This allows me to make use of both
Telix's speed, and power. At the time I started writing
HOST, Telix was the only shareware communications program
available with such a powerfull language (it still is by the
way). With access to both the fast communications routines,
and all of the internal protocols, I able to write a advanced
system without quite as many problems.
Q: Are you affiliated with Telix?
A: No, at this point I have no affiliation with Exis, Inc.
(Authors of Telix), other then my programs being written to
work with Telix.
Q: Is Telix interested in incorporating your programs with
theirs since your programs have been written to work with
Telix?
A: 'I can't comment on any future plans that Exis, Inc. might
(or might not) have.'
***********
þþ NEC CDR-73 INTERSECT CD-ROM READER þþ
by
Ron Alcorn
Entering the CD-ROM world seemed as if it would be an
exploration in to unknown territory. My venture turned out
to be a pleasant experience. The only frustrations
encountered were because of my insecure thoughts. I would
say, what if it blows up, or it's just not going to work if I
do this. I would rather be safe than sorry, so I took my
time with the installation.
Nearly all CD-ROM readers require a SCSI interface of one
type or another. Some readers may work with a few different
SCSI interfaces, while others may require a proprietary SCSI
controller card.
My NEC CD-ROM reader come with the NEC T-128 8 bit SCSI card.
The cards main purpose is to control a CD-ROM reader, but the
manual did say drivers were available for hard drives and
such.
Installing the card, setting the dip switches, and changing
the jumper settings, was a very simple task. Only switches 5
through 8 need to be changed.
Switch 5 will enable or disable the optional boot ROM
feature. This is just a chip upgrade that you can purchase,
that will allow you to boot a hard disk from device #0.
Switch 6 toggles the zero-wait-state option. Some computers,
such as PC's and XT's may be to slow to operate at a
zero-wait-state condition, so thus you may have to enable a
wait-state. Usually a 286 or higher level computer can
handle a zero-wait-state, thus the CD-ROM drive speed
increases.
Switches 7 and 8 in various combinations, allow you to select
an address. The addresses available are CC00, C800, DC00,
and D800. This option should keep you from having hardware
conflicts with other cards.
There is only one jumper block to change, and most likely,
you won't need to change it. It is used in case you use a
Novell or Xenix system instead of DOS.
On the back of the CD-ROM player, there are 6 switch
settings. The first 3 are used to change the SCSI device
number. The fourth switch is used for SCSI data bus parity
check, the fifth for arbitration system use, and the sixth
one is only used for factory testing.
Performance of this drive is very satisfactory. Specification
sheets give it transfer ratings of 150K per second, 300ms
access time, and 680MB of storage. Although these numbers
may appear bad compared to a hard drive, well for a CD-ROM
player they are top of the line. Also, drive performance is
no where near as slow as you would think. Finding
information on a CD is very quick, and displaying the found
data is quick also. Some of this speed is due to the 64K
byte buffer, and the 1.5Mbytes burst transfer mode. The rest
of the speed is obtained through the software on the CD disk
itself. Often a CD software company develops their own FAT
table and transfer methods that are more speed efficient than
DOS methods. I suppose this is one of the reasons why the
software driver (MSCDEX) is needed, to let the CD-ROM and DOS
communicate. Another reason is cause of the mass storage of
CD-ROM drives, and the 32 MEG barrier of DOS 3.3 and earlier.
Another driver is also required. It is a device driver to
let the SCSI card communicate with the system. Then in
conjunction, MSCDEX connects with that driver also. Although
all of this may seem complicated, everything works out really
well and fairly easy.
As far as compatibility goes, the drive supports High Sierra,
ISO 9660, and Apple Macintosh HFS disk formats. And as of
date my CD's, around 12, all work correctly.
The drive is also capable of playing music CD's. A very
limited software program is included that allows you to play
a music CD. The only functions it offers is play and stop.
Also once you stop, and start to play again, it does not
start off from where you started, it goes back to the
beginning. You would think that as much as CD-ROM players
cost, they would not send out limited software.
Anyway, as far as the drive goes, performance, reliability,
and ease of use are all superb. My only complaints is the
high price and the little limited music player program.
Before I forget, music is sent through 2 RCA jacks on the
back, or head phone jacks on the front of the player. A
volume adjustment is also available on the front for audio
output.
This drive is very sturdy, and made to be reliable, and has
near top of the line performance at this time. If it were
not for my two complaints, I would give the drive a five star
rating.
Rating: ****
þþ BLUFF YOUR WAY IN COMPUTERS þþ
(Buba Ozone's)
THE COMPLETE GUIDE ON HOW TO
BLUFF YOUR WAY IN COMPUTERS
---------------------------
(Chapter 2)
WHICH COMPUTER?
The first thing you have to decide is which computer you'll
be an expert on. There are computers of every size and
description, but you still have to be careful to pick one
that suits your image. Here's a rundown on the main types.
MAINFRAMES
Mainframes are the big, impressive computers that add
K-Mart's telephone bill to yours. They look like everyone's
idea of what computers should look like. They fill several
air-conditioned rooms. It is sad that there seem to be no
computers like the ones in movies - the ones with 15,000 red
lights that flash on and off constantly and make strange
buzzing noises. This state of affairs is largely due to the
fact that no one has yet thought up any purpose for the
15,000 flashing lights and that no one could afford the
electric bill anyway.
These days the computer that used to fill two rooms can be
contained in something about the size of a folded New York
Times Sunday edition. Miniaturization has now probably
reached its limit. In fact, work has had to stop on the
latest Japanese 32k game machines, since the designer put the
prototype down somewhere and can't find it again. It can
therefore be seen that the computers that still fill two
rooms are what those in the computer world call "pretty big."
Today the major area of development in mainframes is
thinking up new names for the numbers of calculations a
computer can do in a nanosecond (in technical terms, a
nanosecond is a "really short time"). They quickly
outstripped mere millions, billions, and trillions. Zillion
still comes in useful for the smaller machines, but the
really big ones nowadays have to talk in frillions and
squillions of calculations per nanosecond. Note that no one
ever asks who it is that has this number of calculations to
do. And why they want them done so quickly. Maby it's because
it might have something to do with the national debt and we
don't really want to know about it.
A great deal of time is given to thinking up names for the
amount of memory one of these computers has. When they
discovered that the faithful old gigabyte (one thousand
megabytes) wasn't enough, they had to rush and invent the
terabyte (one thousand gigabytes). To give you some idea how
big a terabyte is, it could probably contain all the
information from all the Rolodexes in the world (including
China). Unfortunately, any computer with a terabyte of
memory would fill a couple fo air-conditioned rooms the size
of Cleveland, but they're working on that. If you intend to
pass yourself off as a mainframe expert, you can make up your
own memory size for your computer, although it's best to
avoid a "beer and byte."
Before you rush off to become a mainframe expert, you have
to take into consideration one small problem. If computers
are good at doing a lot of boring things quickly, mainframes
are really good at doing an unimaginable number of very
boring things very quickly. They cost so much that only
insurance companies, banks, and television evangelists can
afford them. It's hard to be in the "in crowd" while
claiming to be in charge of computing Social Security
payments for the whole state of West Virginia.
There are only one or two areas of mainframe computing that
could be regarded as even vaguely romantic. The first area
is AI (Artificial Intelligence not Artificial Insemination -
don't try to impress a farmer by saying you're in AI, or
he'll ask you to do things that would turn your hair gray).
Originally, AI was the theory that a computer could be
developed that would effectively mimic human intelligence and
develop it's own identity and awareness. Why anyone would
want to build a computer that would probably demand over-time
pay for work in excess of eighty hours isn't known. The
general belief is that the idea originated with computer
programmers desperate to have someone to talk to who wouldn't
find them boring. Nonetheless, work began on this concept
largely because
(1) Government coughed up huge amounts of money for reserch.
(2) It employed all sorts of philosophers, psychologists,
mathematicians, and linguists who were otherwise
unemployable.
(3) There was always the chance that an AI machine could
predict the winner of the next Super Bowl.
The second possibly romantic area is the military, which
seemingly has World War III already on disk. The computers
will launch the missiles, aim the guns, plan the strategy,
polish the boots, and play the bugle first thing in the
morning. All that's needed is a general bright enough to
understand the manual.
TERMINALS
The next stage down from having a mainframe to play with is
having a terminal (a screen and keyboard which are connected
to a mainframe - nothing to do with a serious illness). This
piece of property can give you a real feeling of power,
knowing that you are tying up part of a multimillion-dollar
computer as you type out a letter to your mother using two
fingers. Apart from this, the terminals are not much fun. You
can get all the financial software to buy and sell shares at
the stock exchange, and that kind of thing, but they are
woefully short of good adventure games, and virtually none
have anywhere to attach a joystick or a mouse.
The best examples of the use of these machines are the
systems they have for laying out the pages in the new
"colored" newspapers like USA Today. Some newspapers have now
gone to the length of putting everything, including the air
conditioning, in the same computer - to such an extent that
when anyone turns on the central cooling system, the computer
misspells every name on the front page. The result is, of
course, a real technological advance. Until now, it has taken
up to ten reporters and four editors to misspell every name
on the front page.
MICROS/MINIS/PERSONAL COMPUTERS
This is where you came in. That Commodore 64 colecting dust
in thge closet makes you a micro user. Sadly, this
description covers about 95 percent of the population, so
don't make too much of it.
However, you can't ignore the fact that microcomputers have
provided the computer world with its longest standing and
most contentious controversy. Wherever you find two or three
computer buffs gathered together, it won't be long before the
fateful question is asked, "Do you spell it DISC or DISK?"
Disks (or discs) are strange creatures. Despite the name,
they are never round, although they can be square with a
round hole in the middle. They can vary in shape from dinky
little flat plastic things to massive boxes. Anything that is
not a massive box is called a floppy disk despite the fact
that they aren't floppy, and the big boxes are called hard
disks despite the fact they are usually square or
rectangular.
Floppies come in the sort of standard sizes you would expect
in a high-tech, modern industry: 3", 3 1/2", 5 1/4", and 8".
This state of affairs is all part of the computer industry's
goal of achieving one standard of incompatibility. You may be
able to run the same software on all computers, but you'll
never know because the disk won't fit in the disk drive you
own.
To complicate it further, some floppy disks can be used on
only one side and others can be used on both. The two-sided
ones are sometimes referred to as flippy-floppies. From this
example, make up your own. For example, corrupted disks that
lose part of their data could be "sloppy-floppies" or even
"jippy-flippies." Be careful though not to get ridiculous.
LAPTOP OR PORTABLE COMPUTERS
Laptops are the wave of the future
* not because they allow computer designers to show off how
well they can miniaturize equipment.
* not because they allow you to take your work with you
anywhere from the top of a mountain to the beach ("You must
be joking," you can tell anyone who suggests it).
* but because you can use them on a plane.
It is at this point that you discover the real ignorance of
the public about computers. People don't interrupt your work
to ask questions about baud rates or operating systems. All
they want to ask is the basic question "What are you doing?"
To anyone with half a brain the answer is obvious. There is
only one thing you can be doing using a computer on a plane -
you're showing off.
Laptops will be the major growth area in computers as more
and more people feel the need to show off in planes. It
certainly makes keeping your Rolodex up to date look pretty
mundane.
-------------------------------------------------------------
This concludes part 2 of HOW TO BLUFF YOUR WAY IN COMPUTERS.
þþ SSORT VS SORTF þþ
When I started with MS-DOS computers, I needed a program to
sort text files. I tried the SORT program in DOS, but was
less than impressed due to it's slowness in speed, and
limitations.
I went through so many sort programs over the years, that I
don't even remember half of them.
I finally found a good sort program SSORT. It had one major
drawback. Text lines longer than 80 characters were
truncated after the 80th character. SSORT was fast, and only
had the one limitation. I was happy with it; at least until
about a month ago when Ron and I started working on a series
of trivia games based on Star Trek The Next Generation. Then
SSORT bit me with a vengeance. I had forgotten about SSORT
truncating lines at the 80th character.
So I needed another sort program that was capable of handling
long lines of text, and reasonably fast in operation.
I went through 12 or so sort programs until I ran across
SORTF232.
SORTF was written by Vernon D. Buerg in February of 1989.
I started working with the program and was amazed by the
speed of the program. I was accustomed to the speed of SSORT,
but the speed of SORTF was of another magnitude.
In order to compare the speed of SSORT to SORTF, I needed to
find or create a fairly lengthy text file that was 80 columns
or less. I happened to think of the Star Trek quotations I
had included in Volume 4 Issue 1 of ZIP Magazine.
TNGQ4.TXT was 116,842 bytes or 114K. This text file has over
2,400 lines of text. So I thought this would be a good file
to use in my benchmark tests.
SSORT took 9.97 seconds to sort the file
SSORT took 7.25 seconds to sort the file on a RAM disk
SORTF took 3.72 seconds to sort the file
SORTK took 1.61 seconds to sort the file on a ram disk.
SORTF is far and above SSORT in speed a factor of 3 to one an
a hard drive. A factor of 4.5 to one when used on a ram
drive.
I kept testing ascii files between the two sort programs. I
even tried sorting a BBS file listing with the programs. This
list was over 900 K. SSORT choked on the attempt. SORTF was
able to sort the file list in only 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
After I completed all of my tests; I was very impressed, so I
compared the file sizes of SSORT to SORTF.
SSORT was 18 K
SORTF was only 3K.
SORTF was 3 to 5 times as fast as SSORT, and only 1/6th the
size.
If you are searching for a sort program. I can highly
recommend SORTF.
You don't have to have the newest programs to have good
programs.
You don't have to guess which sort routine I will be using.
þþ SHORTCUTS þþ
PROMPT IDEA
Do you often shell to DOS, and forget about it? Here is a
trick that may help you. It deals with the prompt. Put this
line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. Then you only need to look at the
prompt to to know if you are in the primary or secondary
shell.
PROMPT $c$z$f$s$p$g
Your prompt will have (0) when you are in the primary shell.
When you shell to DOS from a program you will see (1) in the
prompt and so on.
This would be a great trick for someone that multitasks under
Desqview or windows. Because your prompt will act as a
roadmap. --- James Lambdin
NEED A LARGER HARD DRIVE?
Do you you need a larger hard drive? In case this describes
your situation, Here is a trick that might help.
If you have a meg or two of extended memory that you aren't
using, use it for a Ram drive then use PKzip and compress the
programs you use. Then all you need to do is write a batch
file or 4DOS alias to extract the program to the Ram drive
and run it from there.
This will help you in several ways.
1. This will allow you to store more programs on the
hard drive.
2. This will save wear and tear on your hard drive.
3. With your programs in ZIP files, you won't have to
worry about them being infected by viruses
4. Backing up your hard drive will be much easier.
5. Your programs will run faster because loading data
files will loaded instantly.
Naturally there is a few drawbacks.
1. It takes longer to load the program because it has
has to be uncompressed first.
Here are a few load time comparisons. Your comparisons will
probably vary.
EZ Cosmos is 1.8 megabytes of astronomy program with .GIF
pictures of planets and objects to view.
Compressed 20.4 seconds to load
Normal 10.27 seconds to load
Telemate 2.11 is a terminal program written by Winfred Hu.
Compressed 7.59 seconds to load
Normal 3.23 seconds to load
SLMR 2.0 .QWK offline mail reader written by Greg Hewgill.
Compressed 3.5 seconds to load
Normal 3.21 seconds to load
2. It is hard to modify your programs.
Simply use PKzip -u the line after you load the program. With
this you can zip all changed files into the master .ZIP file
after you finish your session.
3. lost data if the power goes out.
You do not put the data files in the .ZIP files. Only the
program files.
This trick has really taken a load of work off of my hard
drive, and backup is as easy. --- W.H. Lambdin
þþ BBS LISTING þþ
201 471-6391 PASSAIC BBS. Baud 300 - 19,200 using Hayes
V-series. Storage unknown. Sysop James Roy.
207 374-2303 CELEBRATION SHOP. Baud 1200, soon to be 2400.
Storage unknown. Operates 24 hours a day, Sysop Paul
Stookey. #3 Neworld Square, Blue Hill Falls Maine, 04615.
Paul Stookey was Paul in the singing group {Peter, Paul,
and Mary.}
216 264-5116 <TRI>-<WAY> BBS. Baud 300 - 2400 24 hrs.
Running Wildcat 2.0 multinode. Storage 130 meg. Carrying
ZIP Magazine. Over 500 files. Located in Wooster, Oh.
Sysop Dann Way
314 774-2736 The Waynesville BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. Running
Wildcat 1.13. with 104 meg. Sysop Raynond Andrell.
Specializes in FUN!!!
318 352-8311 Genesis BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. operating 24
hours a day. 65 meg storage. Sysop James Pottorff.
Genesis BBS is located in Natchitoches, LA.
318 457-1538 Toepfer's Electronics BBS. Baud 300-2400 Running
M&M BBS on a C-64. 24 hours of operation. Free
Registration. Storage 2 meg. Files for C-64, and MS-DOS
computers. Member of KSAT QDP. Home BBS of Citizens
Aligned for Better Television. SYSOP Darrel Toepfer.
Located in Eunice, La.
409 362-2020 Almost Heaven BBS. running Remote Access on 386
with 65meg HD. A Zip Magazine dist. point & other news
files. Online Reading of Zip and others news ; Caller
can d/l these on first call with no u/l's . 24 hour a day
. SysOp Woody Angel in Chireno,Texas
416 751-6337 (Data on 20 Node RBBS Customized System) Operate
BBS under the name of THE TORUS SUPPORT NETWORK,
Division of PCanada Systems Inc. 3 Giabytes on-line
including 4 CD-ROM's and operate primary server under
Microsoft OS/2 base LAN Manager (330 megabyte Priam Main
Server on a 386 20 Mhz Acer platform). System Sysop is
Bob Eyer, and we are currently in our seventh year of
operation.
501 273-9257 THE CHICKEN COOP. Baud 300 - 2400.
501 273-0152 THE CHICKEN COOP. Baud 9600. FOR HST, and V.32
modems. Running TBBS 2.1m. 130 meg of storage. Has many
online features including ZIP Magazine, InfoMat, and USA
Today. A member of the Software Distribution Network
which supplies virus and trojan free software direct from
the author's. SysOp Don Chick.
501 422-8777 The Personal Resource System. Baud 300 - 2400
501 444-8080 USRobotics Dual Standard (HST/V.32). This BBS
has several online publications such as InfoMat, Business
Sence, ZIP Beep, NASA Press, Online Digital Music Review,
USA Today, Amy Info, C-News Letter, and ZIP Magazine.
24 hours of operataion with 260 MEG of storage.
606 432-0879 STRAWBERRY PATCH. Baud 300 - 9600. Running PC
Board on a 286 machine. storage 1000+ meg (with PC Sig
library on CD-ROM. Files for MS-DOS. No download ratio,
but uses a point system. 45 mins access on first call.
Sysop Terry West. Located in Pikeville, Ky.
606 789-3423 The AdventureComm BBS. Running ProLogon 1.0, and
ProDoor 3.2. Baud 300 - 9600 (HST). Storage 95 meg.
Sysop Charles Baldridge. Located in Paintsville, Ky.
606 878-9500 ZIP BBS. Baud 1200 - 9600 using USRobotics Dual
Standard (HST/V.32). Running Spit Fire 2.8 on 12 Mhz AT
machine. Storage 60 MEG. Files for MS-DOS. Download
ratio 25 to 1. Full access on first call, no
registration hassles. Operates from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M.
(EST) 7 days a week. Sysop's Ron Alcorn & W.H. Lambdin.
Located in London, Ky.
609 327-5553 UNION LAKE BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. Running PC
Board on an 8088 machine. Free Registration. Storage 94
meg. Sysop George Cuccia. Carries 29 mail conferences.
612 654-8372 G C B BBS. Baud 1200 - 9600 Using U.S. Robotics
HST. Storage 200 meg. Online 24 hours a day. SysOp
Christine Blount. 30 minutes access on first call. This
BBS is located in St. Cloud, Mn.
616 382-3555 BIOS. Baud 300 - 9600 HST. Running WWIV v4.10
on a 8 MHz 8088 Turbo XT Machine. Storage 100 Meg. WWIV
national network node 6650 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Large
MS-DOS file selection, interesting message base and many
on-line games. SysOp Scott Randall.
703 742-6279 CORVETTE DRIVERS. Baud 1200 - 19,200. Running PC
Board on a 386 machine. Storage unknown. Files for
MS-DOS Download ratio 25 to 1. 45 mins access on first
call. Sysop David Arline.
714 785-9176 THE SOLID ROCK (CACOL) BBS. Baud 1200 - 38400
HST Running Spitfire 3.0; 165 meg storage. Sysop Ron
Hossack. Christian oriented system and doors available.
Solid Rock is located in RIverside, CA.
818 961-7903 CALIFORNIA BUILDERS BOARD - (A MicroLink PCUG
SubBoard). Baud 300 - 2400. Running PCBoard 14.1/E3
919 383-8707 Bull City BBS. Baud 300 - 2400. Running Wildcat
1.13 on an 8088 machine. Storage unknown. 24 hrs
operation. Sysop Roy & Shirley Gurley. This BBS has over
55 doors.
If you would like to advertise your BBS in ZIP Magazine,
leave a message on either of the two home BBS's. If you have
access to the ZIP Magazine message conference (Part of the
Intelec network) you may leave you BBS ad's there. We would
allow you to leave a message on any support BBS, but they are
getting to numerous, and also the busy signal doesn't help us
any either.
þþ USERS GROUPS þþ
É-----------------------------------------------------------»
| |
| B.G.A.M.U.G. |
| The Bowling Green Area MS-Dos Users Group |
| |
| BGAMUG meets the 4th Tuesday of the month in the library |
| of Bowling Green High School at 7:00pm. Beginning Dos |
| classes are being planned and will be held in the |
| Computer Science classroom of Bowling Green High School |
| on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. |
| |
| For more information contact: |
| |
| BGAMUG |
| P.O.Box 20384 |
| Bowling Green, KY |
| 42102 |
| |
È-----------------------------------------------------------¼
P.A.C.E User's Group
(Prestonsburg Area Computer Enthusiasts). We meet at 7:00pm
each first and third Tuesday at the Prestonsburg Public
Library. All age groups are welcome. We provide guest
speakers, DOS instruction, and are preparing to start a Q&A
column in the Floyd County Times. The group also supports a
BBS, The PACE/Library BBS, 1200-2400 baud, 24hrs at (606)
886-8403.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Now in its second edition, THE MODEM REFERENCE is the
original guide to buying, setting up, and using modems and
communications software. Published by Brady Books/Simon &
Schuster, it includes complete guide to BBSs and all the
major online services. Get the original, definitive guide to
networking at your local bookstore (ISBN #0-13-589862-5), or
phone 800-624-0023 to order direct. (Retailers, call
800-223-4022.) THE MODEM REFERENCE: DON'T LOG ON WITHOUT IT!
þþ ZIP INFO þþ
by W.H. Lambdin & Ron Alcorn
This is ZIP Magazine, a paperless publication. All
submissions will be printed, unless you ask us not to. We
will not modify any text you submit except for spell checking
and delete foul language. So views expressed here do not
necessarily reflect views of editors.
If you want to send us a submission, upload it to one of
BBS's with a * beside it. You can also send them to ZIP BBS
at (606) 878-9500, or the Intelec BBS in New York. The phone
numbers are (516) 867-4446, 4447, and 4448. Upload material
to conference number 58, the ZIP Magazine conference. When
you upload a submission, use MAG as the extension. We would
appreciate it if all submissions were just ascii, and margins
set at 10 on left, and 10 on right. This isn't demanded, it
would just be easier on us. If you want to submit programs
you have written, send them along in an archive with your
text. We will check all programs and if they prove to be
unsuitable, we will reject them. (You know, trojans,
viruses, and other harmful programs).
If you submit a review, follow examples here. If you think
it is a very good program, rate it at 5 stars. If you think
it is of poor quality, then give it one star. If you think
it falls between grades, use a plus as this. ***+ This means
a rating of 3 1/2 stars, or a little better than average.
We will not make you run from place to place in order to read
one article. When we start an article, it will be printed in
it's entirety before another article will be started. All
advertisements will be found in back. I like to read articles
with as little trouble as necessary, and the same goes for
ad's. We will have advertisements, but the editors take no
responsibility in what you may see advertised, so buy at your
own risk.
With Volume 3 Issue 6 of ZIP Magazine, we are using Galaxy
Lite 1.6. It has all the features in Galaxy 2.43, but more
features have been added. Galaxy Lite is produced by Star
Lite Software. Omniverse has released version 3.0 of Galaxy.
I think they made a mistake!
In order for this magazine to survive, it will need help from
it's readers. If you wish to correct us on something, or
write an article or review for ZIP, please send us your
responses. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you
wish to reprint an article or review from ZIP, feel free to
use it any way you wish, we only request that you give author
credit, and report that the article appeared in ZIP.
þþ GREENLIEF ENTERPRISES AD þþ
12MHz 286 Bare Monochrome Color VGA Hi-Res SVGA
Ú-----------Â-----------Â-----------Â-----------¿
No HD/ctrl's| 409.58 | 515.94 | 740.49 | 830.00 |
Ã-----------Å-----------Å-----------Å-----------´
40MB HD | 624.44 | 730.74 | 955.38 | 1084.82 |
Ã-----------Å-----------Å-----------Å-----------´
89MB HD | 749.13 | 855.45 | 1080.07 | 1169.51 |
Ã-----------Å-----------Å-----------Å-----------´
130MB HD | 825.67 | 932.00 | 1156.61 | 1246.05 |
À-----------Á-----------Á-----------Á-----------Ù
16MHz 386SX Add $150
20MHz 386SX Add 200
25MHz 386 Add 260
33MHz 386/64K Cache Add 460
40MHz 386/64K Cache Add 560
Upgrades:
Extra Memory $ 50.00/Meg 2400 Baud Modem $61.00
256K Video upgrade 17.00 1.44 Meg Floppy 61.00
Delievery 10.00 Setup 10.00
Each system comes with 1 year parts and labor.
price update: Augest 15, 1991
GREENLIEF ENTERPRISES
HARD DRIVE PRICES
prices effective August 30, 1991
30 Meg Kalok (40ms) Bare $160.48
40 Meg IDE ST-157a Bare 190.08
40 Meg Kalok IDE Bare 191.33
40 Meg WD Caviar IDE Bare 227.12
42 Meg ST-251-1 (28ms) Bare 264.16
68 Meg Toshiba MK-134 (22ms) Bare (RLL) 234.54
80 Meg IDE WD Caviar Bare 327.13
80 Meg IDE Maxtor (18ms) 327.13
89 Meg Seagate IDE Bare 314.79
112 Meg Rodime IDE (19ms) Bare 456.74
130 Meg Seagate IDE Bare 391.28
145 Meg Seagate IDE Bare 459.21
150 Meg Nec ESDI Bare 691.28
200 Meg Rodime IDE Bare 604.87
200 Meg WD Pirhanna IDE Bare (15ms) 703.62
200 Meg Seagate IDE Bare 740.66
Marty Greenlief - Sysop: TRT BBS
voice (aft 6pm MST) (801) 566-4829
