Making the Most of - FEBRUARY 1991 A McGRAW-HILL PUBLICATION TOMORROW'S NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS RATED FOR: Size and Weight Battery Life Display Quality Data Storage Keyboards Durability Expandability PAGE 148 • PEN, VOICE, TOUCH INP) • NEW DISPLAYS • NEW C • NEW STORAGE DEVICES • NEW VISIONS J Xerox PARC's Newest GUI: The Information Visualizer IBM's XGA Graphics The New ARCnet Plus Queuing Analysi: PLUS: Excel 3.0 OS/2 "Lite" Adobe Illustrate Stacker OOP Libraries Sparcstation l n ' Raster olorboar ffiaH ^W^n -°^1^ uV,ot $3.50 U.S.A./$4.50 IN CANADA 0360-5 THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 433TE 33 MH: EISA i486"" • i486 microprocessor running at 33 MHz wirh 128 KB external cache. ^Commercial Lease Plan. Lea.se for as low as $377/month. 330MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) $10,499 Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM* 80, 100, 190 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. . iK£3nW THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 425TE 25 MHz EISA i486. • i486 microprocessor running at 25 MH:. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $278/month. 190 M B Super VGA Color System (800x600) $7,499 Price listed includes 4 MBot'RAM* 80, 100, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE DELL SYSTEM 433E 33 MHz EISA i486. • i486 microprocessor running at 33 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $307/moi\th. 100 MB Super VGA Color System (800x600) $8,499 Price listed includes 4 MBot'RAM* 80, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE DELL SYSTEM 42 5 E ,M 2 5 MHz EISA i486. • i486 microprocessor running at 25 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $235fmonth. 100 MB SuperVGA Color System (800x600) 56,499 Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM* 80, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 325D 25MHz386. ,M • Intel 80386 microprocessor naming at 25 MHz with 32 KB external cache. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $H2/month. 40 M B VGA Color Plus System 52,999 Price listed includes I MBot'RAM* 80, 100, 190, 3 30 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE DELL SYSTEM 316SX 16 MH: 386SX. • Intel 80386SXmicroprocessorninning at 16 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $79/month. 40 MB VGA Color Plus System 52 ,099 Price listed includes 1 MBot'RAM* 20,80, 100 and 190 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE DELL SYSTEM 320LX 20 MHz 386SX. • Intel 80386SX microprocessor running at 20 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $W4/month. 40 M B VGA Color P Ills System $2 , 799 Price listed includes 1 MBot'RAM* 80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE DELL SYSTEM 210 12.5 MHz 286. • 80286 microprocessor running at 12.5 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $59/month. 20 MB VGA Monochrome System $1,549 Price listed includes 1 MBot'RAM* 20, 80 and 100 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 320LT 20 MHz 386SX. • Intel 80386SX microprocessor ninning at 20 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $13 l/month. 20 MB, I MB RAM* $3,599 40 MB hard drive configurations also available. THE DELL SYSTEM 316 LT 16 MHz 386SX. • Intel 80386SX microprocessor running at 16 MHz. Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as low as $ll2/monih. 20 MB, 1MB RAM* $2,999 40 MB hard drive configurations also available. TheDell System 433TEand425TE Ore class Adevices sold for use in COmmerciaienvironmentsonly.*Pei'formonceEnhoncerrenls:Wilhinlhefirslmegobylea( memary,128KB(3l6SX.320lT,316LTond210)96KB(333Dond325D)or384KB(320LX,425E,433E,425TE ond 433TE) of memory is reserved far use by the system lo enhance performance. Con be optionollydisabled on 333D,325D,316SXond 210. All systemsarepfvorogfophedwtrhaptional extras. All pficesandspeokotionsaresubiect to chonge without notice Del cannot be responsiblefor errors in typography or pha;cigraphy tSource From Compaq October 15, 1990 press release ttSource: From Compaq July 23. 1990 press release. "'Payment based on 36-monih.apen-end tease. Oleasmgorranged by Leas/ng Group, Inc. In Conado, configurations ond prices may vary Dell ond DEI L 5YSFEM are registered trademarks, <12SE and SmartVu ore trodemorks of Dell Computer Corporation Intel is o registered iro demork ond 386, 486, and i486 ore trademarks of Intel Corporation, Other trademarks and trade names ore used to Identity the entities cloimmg rne marks and names or their products Dell Computer Corporation disdoims any proprvtoiy interest in trodemorks ond trade nomes other thon its own. On-site service may not be available n cerrom remote lacottons Shipping, hondlmg and applicable soles :ox nat included m the price For information on ond o copy of Dell's 30 c'oy Total Satisfaction Guorcniee. limited warranty, and Xerox's Service Contract, plecse write la Dell USA Corporation. 9505 Arboretum Boulevard, Austin, Texas 78759-7299. ATTN; Warranty © 1990 Dell Computer Ccxpcxafion All rights reserved TOP OF THE MARK. So what do you get by paying the extra mark-up for a Compaq? Not a better computer. DelPs new 386" systems are as fast, expandable and compatible as Compaq's. Not better service. In 8 straight PC Week polls of corporate customers, Dells service rated much higher than everyone else's. Not better personal attention. From the moment you first call TO ORDER, CALL 800-365-1460 HOURS:7AM-9PMCTM-F 8 AM-4 PMCfSAT In CanaJa 800-387-5752. In the UK. 0800 4H535. In France (1) 30.60.68.00. In Germany 061 03/701-0. In Sweden 0760-7 13 50. with you custom configuring your computer and answering any questions— no matter how small —whether it be technical, sales or service related. In fact, the only thing extra you get from Compaq is, well, mark-up. Our new 386's pull a fast one on pricier computers. Both the 33 MHz Dell System® 333D and 25 MHz Dell System 325D are faster and more expandable than most higher priced systems. The new Dell®325D is a fast, reliable machine with up to 16 MB of RAM on the The new Dell 33 MHz and 25 MHz 386 computers. System includes: VGA Color Plus Monitor, 100 MB Iwrd drive, 4 MB RAM. system board and a 32 KB cache designed into a compact footprint. The new Dell 333D is as good as a 386 PC can get. Not only is it 33% faster than the Dell 325D, it has a 64 KB cache for an extra kick in performance. We design every machine to our specs, then build it to yours. We design our computers; we know them inside out. So when you call us, we can talk to you about what you need a computer us, and for as long as you own your computer, well work THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 333D 33 MHz 386 AND THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 325D 25 MH: 386. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel® 80386 microprocessor running at 33MH:(333D)or25MH:(325D). • P.ige mode interleaved memory architecture. •Standard 1 MB of RAM* optional 2 MB or 4 MB of RAM expandable to 16MB on system board. • Integrated VGA controller with 1024 x 768 support. • Integrated bard drive and disketre drive interface. 6 industry standard expansion slots (live 16-bit, one 8-bit). High-performance IDE (40 MB, SO MB, 100 MB, 190 MB) and ESDI (330 MB, 650 MB) hard disk drives. 1 parallel port. 2 serial ports, PS/2 compatible mouse port, all inregrated. 177 watr power supply. 12-month Xerox ' OivSite Service Contract. 333D 32 5 D 40 MB VGA Color Plus 64KB (333D)or32 KB (325D) SRAM cache. System $3,599 $2,999 SmartVu-AdvancedSystem Diagnostic Display. Prices listed include 1 MB ot RAM.* 80, 100, c , .■ . \0niQ7 \wci-rcir 71^7 1 190, 330 and 650 MB Iwd drive configurations Socket tor Intel 80387 or wElTEK 3167 math , ., _ LI coprocessor. • 5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive. also available. ADCODE11EB1 TOP OF THE MARK-UPS. But, for the sake of Compaq's 33 MHz and 25 MHz 386 computers. System includes: VGA Color Monitor, 120 MB hard drive, 4 MB RAM. for, and then put together the most efficient, economical package for you. We take you through all the choices you have in memory sizes, monitors, storage devices, high performance controllers and accessories. Once you agree about exactly what you need, we immediately begin custom configuring your computer, perform a completed system test, then send it off. Then you get 30 days to use it. If you aren't satisfied, send it back. Well return your money, no questions asked. Even if something goes wrong, it worit wreck your day. Actually, one of the nice things about our service is that you'll rarely need it. Another PC Week poll category we dominate is the one called "reliability — due in no small measure to our extensive burn-in testing on each computer before it goes out the door. Circle 69 on Reader Service Card argument, lets suppose something does go wrong with your Dell computer. Both the Dell 333D and 325D come with our SmartVu,™ the built-in diagnostic display that ingeniously identifies problems even if the monitor goes down. If you still need help, our Dell toll-free technical support hotline solves 90% of all problems over the phone, often within 4 or 5 minutes. Or, if you use our new Dell TechFaxlineatl-800-9504329,we'llfaxback technical information immediately. If we still haven't solved the problem, we'll send trained technicians from the Xerox Corporation* to your desk the next business day with the solution in hand. For sale, for lease? for less. Call us. Talk to a computer expert whose only job is to give you exactly what you want in computers, service, software, printers and financing. You'll get solid information that could save you time and money on computers with high marks, not high mark-ups. DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION HERE'S OUR NEW STORE, SO YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO GO TO THEIR STORE AGAIN. When you buy a computer from a typical computer store, here's what you get: * A beefy retail mark-up. Pressure to buy things you don't want. That crummy feeling of not knowing what you're getting, because the salesman isn't sure what he's selling. And, when there's a problem, some guy with a screwdriver taking your computer apart. When you call Dell, on the other hand, here's what you get: A frank talk with computer experts about what you need, and a recommenda- tion about the best overall package for you. Custom configuration, with options including monitors, memory sizes, software, TO ORDER, CALL 800^365^1460 HOURS: 7 AM-9 PM CT M -F 8 AM-4 PM CT SAT. In Canada SOO-3S7-5752. In the U.K. 0800 414535. In France (I) 30.60.66.00. In Gennany 06103/70UO. lnSweJen0760-713 50. accessories and peripherals. Service — 4/ < f f r ia'C-.i^-tf:;;jbuf r i r n^v:e\ . \ \ \ THE NEW DELL SYSTEM® 333D 33 MHz 386. STANDARD FEATURES: • Intel " 80386 microprocessor running at 33 MH:. • Hi«e mode interleaved memory architecmre. • Standard 1 MRof RAM*. optional 2 MR or 4 MR of RAM expandable to 16 MR on system hoard. • Integrated VGA controller with 1024 x 768 support. •64 KRhigh-spml SRAM. • Socket for Intel 80387 or WEITEK 3167 math coprocessor. • 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3. 5" 1.44 MR diskette drive. • 6 industry standard expansion slots (five 16-bit, one S-hit ). • Hijdvperfbrnrance IDE (40 MR. SO MB, 100 MB. 190 MB) and USUI (330 MB. 650 MB) haul disk drives. • 1 parallel port, 2 serial ports, PS/2 compatible mouse port, all integrated. • Smart Vu"* -Advanced System Diagnostic Display. • 12-month On-Site Service Contract provided by Xerox: 40 MB VGA Color Plus System $3, 599 Price listed includes I MR of RAM. SO. 100, 190. 330. and 650 hard drive conjurations also available. ADCODE11EB1 consistently voted the best in the industry— by computer experts who know our computers inside and out. A variety of financing and leasing options. A firm promise to perform a fully configured systems test, and ship by two-day air standard. A 30-day, no questions asked, money back guarantee. A one -year limited warranty. And a great price. Call us now. Why waste a trip when everything you need is right in front of you? There's An Double Your Introducing The ALR POWERPRO Strapping two traditional PCs together won't give you the dual processing power you need to keep pace with today's growing networks and multi- user environments, but the new ALR®POWERPRO will. It's the affordable, high-perform- ance alternative to the COMPAQ® SYSTEMPRO™. Whether you need a system for single or multiple users, CAD/CAM, office automation, manufacturing manage- ment systems, shared databases or a host of other applications, there's a POWERPRO that delivers. Choose be- tween one or two 33-MHZ i486 processors and up to 1-MB of cache for per- formance ranging from 14.7 to 40 VAX™ MIPS. Single CPU models can be quickly and easily upgraded to dual processing. With the POWERPRO's advanced modular system architecture, the choices you make today won't limit your options tommorrow. Additionally, all models will be able to accommodate future, faster, processors. With 49-MBs of possible RAM, twelve expan- sion slots, and accommoda- tions for up to SS^fe* 2.5-GB of internal stor- age (up to 10-GB of total storage utilizing an external ALR expansion chassis), the POWERPRO has the expandability needed to keep pace with your future needs. The POWERPRO also incorporates a 32-bit EISA bus, so you'll have maximum com- patibil- ity with cutting- edge enhance- ment products while enjoying the affordabil- ity of today's AT" compat- Just Upgrade the CPU!™ low-cost ible hardware. SUPERIOR CACHE The POWERPRO uses . ALR's proprietary h ' ; I F - '■■ i ■ 1 Easier Way To Processing Power. Single or Dual Processing Performance with Prices Starting at $7495 SMP512 Single 33-MHz i486 1 2 32-bit EISA 512-KB 17-MB 330-MB <1 8ms 12 $14,495 PROCACHE scalable cache memory architecture. This mainframe-like read-and- write-back design is more efficient than the standard write- through architec- ture found on the SYSTEMPRO. Compaq SYSTEMPRO 486/33 Single 33-MHz i486 1 2 32-bit EISA 512-KB 8-MB 240-MB <1 9ms 11 $20,995 More importantly, this scalable archi- tecture allows you to equip the POWERPRO with up to 1-MB of cache. ADVANCED DISK PERFORMANCE AND SECURITY Yet the POWERPROs performance edge doesn't stop there. Selected models use ALR's SCSI SDA (Soft- ware Disk Array) to provide the capabilities of hardware disk arrays — including disk strip- ing, spanning and mirroring — with greater flexibility and higher performance. ALR's SDA protects your data while helping to eliminate hard disk bottlenecks. OFF THE SHELF COMPATIBILITY The SYSTEMPRO-compatible ALR POWERPRO runs off the shelf dual-processing versions of SCO® UNIX™ with SCO MPX as well as Banyan® Vines™ SMP. And it's positioned for use with future dual process- ing versions of Novell® NetWare™, OS/ 2™ and LAN Manager 2.0™. Only ALR can deliver a dual- processing system that's more powerful than the COMPAQ SYSTEMPRO for a price that's up to 30% less. For more information call ALR now; 1-800-444-4ALR -Advanced Logic Research. Inc. 9401 Jeronimo Irvine, CA 92718 (714) 581-6770 FAX: (714) 581-9240 Available at these selected resellers I alr power Partner Resellers Connecting Point "£25T @jggp £*=*TCBC COMPUTER CENTERS ^BMHHB^ Prices based on U.S. Dollars. Prices and conliguradons subject to change without notice - please verily competitive prices with manufacturer System shown with optional monitor ALR is a registered trademark of Advanced Logic Research. Inc All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. 1990 by Advanced Logic Research. Inc Circle 12 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 13) BVTE Contents February 1991 Volume 16, Number 2 COVER STORY > The Point of the Pen PAGE 211 Laptop Technologies/200 GO's new PenPoint operating system brings handwriting recognition to the laptop. n e ws 19 MICROBYTES The new MS-DOS 5.0 is almost ready, and fractal compression technology comes to market. 44 WHAT'S NEW Kodak prints computer color, a look at the most miniature modem, Smalltalk does Windows, and more. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 136 143 127 SHORT TAKES Fax-O-Matic and FaxConnection, fax machines that use a laser printer for output from Tall Tree Systems and Extended Systems Mathematica for Windows 3.0, Wolfram Research 's great addition Storyboard Live! , IBM 's multimedia software FileMaker Pro, Claris gives a face-lift to its database Stacker, Stac Electronics lets you double your hard disk space instantly New Extras for Excel Microsoft's new version can do spreadsheet outlining. OS/2 Goes on a Diet OS/2 1.3: leaner, meaner, faster. REVIEWS 148 PRODUCT FOCUS Perfectly Portable These 15 notebook-size computers mix PC power with state-of-the-art portability. 164 Libraries with Class A handful of C++ libraries. 169 The Littlest SPARC Sun's Sparcstation IPC squeezes RISC power onto even the smallest desk. 176 PS/2 Blues Disappear with First 16.7-Million-Color MCA Adapter RasterOps releases the first true-color, 24-bit display adapter for PS/2s. 178 An Artist's Old Tool Learns New Tricks Adobe's Illustrator 3.0 offers improved text handling and a new graphing capability. 183 Statistical Analysis for the Executive KnowledgeSeeker provides an analytical statistical tool for executive decision making that nearly works like magic. 186 Concern for the Editing Environment The Iliad Group's PIEdit creates an integrated development environment for cross-platform programmers. 190 Reviewer's Notebook Arche and Club 386s performed admirably during a six-month stint in the BYTE lab. STATE OF THE A RT 200 LAPTOP TECHNOLOGIES Introduction 203 Dynabook Revisited with Alan Kay From Xerox PARC to Apple, Alan Kay's most enduring contribution may be a machine that has not yet been built. 223 Touch-and-Feel Interfaces Laptops of the near future will have to include built-in pointingdevices to support GUIs. 229 LCDs and Beyond Nick Baran reviews the state of the art of display technologies and describes some fascinating alternatives. 239 Destination Laptop Squeezing the components of an AT-class machine onto a single chip will have a great impact on the portable computers of the future. 251 Memories in My Pocket Solid-state memory cards provide the size, weight, and capacity necessary to be practical in a notebook computer. 260 Resource Guide: Portable Sources A who's who in portable computers. 4 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: MEL LINDSTROM © 1991 REGIONAL SECTION begins after page 72 Network Operating Systems/268 Macinations/101 EXPERT ADVICE 73 COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR A Pack of Laptops by Jerry Pourne lie Jerry picks the ideal portable computer. 89 DOWN TO BUSINESS Corporate Style Wayne Rash Jr. How consistent is the language of your business documents? FEATURES 268 The Future of Network Operating Systems What lies ahead for network operating systems? Major players :he^eld-maRSTheif^Fe4i An Easier Interface An innovative new user interface from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center makes use of color and3-D graphics. _ XGA: A New Graphics Standard The Extended Graphics Array offers full graphics functionality as well as bus mastering. HA NDS ON 293 Making Windows Work Here's help if you're experiencing pains with Windows 3.0. 301 UNDER THE HOOD Fax Facts The little-known digital secrets tucked inside every fax device. 309 SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED A Practical Guide to Queuing Analysis William Stallings, an authority on data communications, presents some simple tools for analyzing many kinds of problems. DEPART MENTS 6 Spotlight Your answers and comments help shape our test procedures. 10 Editorial Facing Hard Times? 33 Letters, Ask BYTE, and Fixes Readers debate DTP. PERSPECTIVES 356 CHAOS MANOR MAIL 358 PRINT QUEUE Never-Never Land Science and lunacy collide in a fascinating book about experiments over the edge. 360 STOP BIT Great Expectations Advice on how not to get burned the next time you buy a system for your business. 95 BEYOND DOS: WINDOWS AND OS/2 Whither Windows? by Jon Udell Putting Windows 3.0 and OS/2 2.0 on the scales. 101 MACINATIONS Macintosh: The Next Generation by Don Crabb Don converses with MacFolk to determine new directions for Mac evolution. 107 THE UNIX /bin Heed the Standards by David Fiedler A look at some current standards battles and how they could affect Unix users. READER SERVICE 346 Editorial Index by Company 348 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers 350 Index to Advertisers by Product Category Inquiry Reply Cards: after 352 PROGRAM LISTINGS From BIX: Call (800) 227-2985 FromBYTEnet: Call (617) 861-9764 On disk: See card after 280 119 NETWORKS The Return of ARCnet by Brett Glass ARCnet Plus is a fast alternative to Ethernet and Token Ring hardware, and it's downward- compatible with ARCnet. BYTE {ISSN 0360-5280/91) is published monthly with an additional issue in October by McGraw-Hill. Inc. U.S. subscriber rate $29 95 per year. In Canada and Mexico, $34.95 per year. Single copies $3.50 in the U.S.. $4 50 in Canada. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Of- fices: One Phoenix Mill Lane. Peterborough. NH 03458. Second-class postage paid at Peterborough. NH. and additional mailing offices Post- age paid at Winnipeg. Manitoba Registration number 9321 . Registered as McGraw-Hill. I nc . for GST #R 123075673 Printed in the United States ol America, Postmaster: Send address changes. USPS Form 3579, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions, P.O. Box 551. Hightstown. N J 08520. COVER SCREEN SHOT PROVIDED BY GO CORP. FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 5 Circle 34 on Reader Service Card UNLEASH TURBO SPEED The fastest way to 7 create powerful programs with Turbo Pascal S3, Turbo C 2.0 and Turbo C++! POWER TOOLS PLUS T 75.1 - $149 - lightning-fast routines to help you: ♦ Add easy-to-use integrated mouse support for windows and menus ♦ Generate context sensitive help screens ♦ Resize and move windows and use drop shadows for that professional look ♦ Let users choose from window-oriented pick lists ♦ Create and access "huge" data structures ♦ Use multiple-line edit fields with fully configurable edit keys ♦ Add EMS support ♦ Write TSRs and ISRs easily ♦ Create powerful programs in Turbo Pascal 4.0, 5.0 & 5.5! Turbo C TOOLS T 72.0 - $149 -fast, high quality functions to help you: ♦ Add easy-to-use integrated mouse support for windows and menus ♦ Quickly include virtual windows and menus ♦ Integrate your windows and menus with Turbo C's text windows ♦ Create context-sensitive help screens ♦ Provide multiple-line edit fields with fully configurable edit keys ♦ Write TSRs and ISRs easily ♦ Create powerful programs in Turbo C 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and Turbo C++! FREE with these products! All source code, complete sample programs, and a comprehensive manual are included. We offer free technical support and a bulletin board dedicated to technical issues. Unleash your potential! We offer programming tools that are fast, flexible and affordable. Call now to order, or to ask for a free brochure on our full line of products for C and Pascal. Put Blaise tools to the test! If during the first 30 days you are not satisfied, we'll refund your money. Call (800) 333-8087 today! BLAISE COMPUTING INC. 2560 Ninth Street, Suite 316 Berkeley, C A 94710 (415) 540-5441 J ^^ FAX (415) 540-1938 Trademarks are property of respective holders. H We Pick Your Brain to Make Our Picks Monthly surveys help the BYTE Lab fine-tune the Product Focus to suit your needs The next piece of mail you get from BYTE might be a question- naire seeking your thoughts on a product category. Starting this month, the BYTE Lab is surveying a ran- dom sampling of BYTE subscribers in an effort to better hone our Product Focus section to suit your needs. BYTE has always consulted its read- ers and other industry experts in prepa- ration for product comparisons. The BIX (BYTE Information Exchange) confer- encing system, in particular, has been in- valuable to us in this regard. The survey allows us to get a timely, statistically ac- curate snapshot of both your interest and requirements for a given product type. The survey for this month's Product Focus on notebook PCs, for instance, told us which brands of notebook PCs you use (see above right) , which features are important to you (see below), and what applications you intend to use (see below right). The results were mostly in sync with our expectations, but there were surprises. For example, over half of you want both a hard disk drive and SELECTION CRITERIA BYTE readers' most important criteria for selecting a notebook PC. Portability - 64% I I Hard and floppy disk drives - 53% I 1 Long battery life - 52% Low weight - 51% i : Low price -43% I TOP PICKS Top notebook PC brands among BYTE readers. Toshiba - 51% I . Compaq - 34% L Zenith -16% I Tandy -11% a floppy disk drive, rating this feature higher than either performance or price. Your answers and comments helped shape our test procedures. Our new ap- plication benchmark suite for notebook and laptop PCs, premiering in this issue, owes much to your responses. When it came time to make recommendations to you about which notebook PC to buy, we knew what you were looking for. These days, you need much more than benchmark scores to make intelligent purchasing decisions. You also need the perspective that comes from knowing both the market and its customers— the perspective that the BYTE Lab is com- mitted to provide to you. ■ —Michael Nadeau INTENDED APPLICATIONS Applications BYTE readers intend to use on notebook PCs. Word Processing - 80% ( I Spreadsheets - 58% I I Telecommunications - 50% t ~1 Scientific/Engineering I I 39% Database Managemen I - 37% L_ I 6 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 dTruth Comes Out. TSSgf 6 ^^^ss-C, The new dBASE IV® version 1.1 has been rated the #1 Multiuser Database by Software Digest Ratings Report (Volume 7 Number 3, October, 1990). Because Software Digest accepts no advertising whatsoever, subscribers pay hundreds of dollars a year to receive their reviews— which are considered highly unbiased and objective. In summation, their 75-page report says: 'Among the top ranking programs, dBASE IV (version 1.1) is the most well rounded, with solid performance, versatility, and usability" Commenting on speed, Software Digest points out that "dBASE IV produces all three test reports as fast as or faster than FoxPro/LAN." As for Ease of Use/Ease of Learning, dBASE IV scored as many times in the Excellent range as any other database product tested. Of course, Software Digest is definitely not alone in its conclusions. Because consumers have already made dBASE IV version 1.1 the #1 best-selling PC database in the world. Call 1-800-437-4329 ext. 1407 for more information. Better yet, call 1-800-2ASHTON now to upgrade. The truth is, no other QataDase can «*«wa««rt»«*»ow l do so much to improve ■■ productivity. M dBASE IV A AshtonTate* Trademark/owner: dHASE ]V, Ashion-Tate, AshtonTate logo/Ashton-Tate Corp. Other company or product names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 25 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 26) Ashton-Tate Corporation. All Rights Reserved. e only pan ^^■^■■m HH^H As the people responsible for the Mcrosoff Windows" graphical en- vironment, we believe were in a good position to offer some very sound advice on Windows computing. And that, as you've probably guessed by now, is the Microsoft Mouse. You see, the Mouse allows you to navigate the Windows environment and applications with untold ease, as For more information in the 50 United States, call (800) 541-1261, Dept. M29. In Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call (206) 936-8661. © 1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and ter yatfll need s Computing. Visit a dealer and check it out for yourself We think you'll see our point Microsoft Making it all make sense" the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Making it all make sense, the Microsoft Mouse desifti and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Microsoft Mouse design isprotectedby U.S. Design Patent #302,426. well as unparalleled precision. Furthermore, we've made the decision to buy a Mouse even easier. Now ife available either with software, or on its own for the purist. EDITORIAL ■ Fred Langa Facing Hard Times? Don't overlook some powerful tools to help you stretch your computing dollars As I write this, the Bush admin- istration keeps dancing around the "R" word— recession. It's not official yet because the pol- iticians prefer silly euphemisms like "a meaningful downturn in the economy." On top of the economic doubts, there's the whole mess in the Middle East. Per- haps the situation there will have re- solved itself by the time you read these words, but it doesn't seem likely. No one can predict what the overall ef- fects will be, but at least in BYTE's topic areas, the reaction to these uncertainties is clear, consistent, and conservative: Through our reader mail, focus groups, and other means, you're telling us that this year you'll have to be more careful than ever in spending your (or your com- pany's) computing dollars. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to supplement product reviews. But there are obvious limitations to word of mouth. The on-line variant— would you call it word of modem?— gets around the limi- tations. With one question, you can tap into the collective wisdom of people from around the world. The odds are good that you can find someone who has personal experience in solving almost exactly the same problem you're trying to solve, or who has very recently dealt with the company you're considering doing business with. It's an unmatchable resource when you're making every dol- lar count. Almost any of the large on-line sys- tems can serve, although some of the largest systems can cost a fortune to ac- cess and suffer from content dilution- large numbers of subscribers who cannot meaningfully answer your questions. Paying premium rates to get uninformed answers is hardly the way to stretch your computing dollars. But if you pick your system carefully, there's a wealth of information to be had at low cost. Naturally, I'm BlX-biased, and you should decide which on-line sys- tem to use for yourself. But, just by way of example, here's a small part of a thread of messages taken from the "compatibility" topic of the ibm.pc conference on BIX. See how one BlXen— concerned about spending money with a mail-order vendor— got a flood of excellent, firsthand advice: ibm.pc I compatibility #227, from rmstutz, Title: CompuAdd clones Who has had experience with Compu- Add clones? General opinions? Any likes or dislikes? Quality? Support? I'm in the market for a clone, and they are close by. Any good-quality mail-order clone manufacturers to recommend? Thanks all, Rich ibm.pc /compatibility #228, from barryn CompuAdd sells pretty good computers, I understand. I've bought a number of pe- ripherals from them over the years (mon- itors, modems) and have been happy with the equipment. However, the computer I use most right now is from Gateway 2000. ibm.pc/ compatibility #229, from bkep We buy all our computers from Com- puAdd. I don't particularly like the mon- itors (GoldStar), the keyboards are pretty good, we haven't had any hardware prob- lems that weren't our fault, and the tech- nical support is first-rate. They even have on-site service. They were at our place the next day when we asked for help with a disk problem. ibm.pc I compatibility #230, from jndunlap I've read good things about CompuAdd 's machines and support. I've had good luck with my Gateway 386— seems it was one of the last with a motherboard they discontinued, so they did a lot of phone diagnosis, real knowledgeable people, patient. I'd also look closely at Austin Computer Systems— I read a review of one of their machines that fairly glowed about its craftsmanship and fit.— arky ibm.pc/ compatibility #231, from bstrauss CompuAdd' s advantage is that they also run retail stores, so you can see the box. Most of the big mail-order names are also good, provided you use your head. This means: Ask questions about exactly what you are getting. Put it in writing when you place the order (fax it to them if you are in a hurry). Use a credit card— it gives you some protection. ibm.pc I compatibility #234, from vic.sobranie I can vouch for the quality of the Austin computers. I have a 286/16 that I bought from them going on two years ago. It's a great machine. I used to know several of the people there, since our offices were all but next door to each other in Austin, and they're all very nice. Hopefully, their technical staff has improved since I dealt with them last, but the machines are so good you should never need to talk to them. . . .Vic And so on. Almost every conference has similar threads: No matter what your question, there's an army of helpful souls out there, on-line, who are willing to share their personal experiences with you— and who'd appreciate hearing your experiences, too. No matter what the economic future holds, you can find the help you need to stretch your computing dollars to the ut- most: It's as near as your telephone. — Fred Langa Editor in Chief (BIX name "f langa") 10 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Don't miss the Borland Languages Conference. April 28 through May 1, 1991, San Francisco, CA. For information, call 1-800-942-TURBO / / / SPEED LIMIT Borland's Turbo Pascal 6.0 is the Fastest Way from Inspiration to Application Jump-Start Your Application When you're inspired to write a program, you want to spend your time developing code that solves your problems. Not hours and hours writing common routines for event handling, data manage- ment or user interface. Now, you can jump-start your applications development by pro- gramming with the latest release of the World's #1 Pascal Compiler, Turbo Pascal® 6.0 with Turbo Vision.™ Now with Turbo Vision With Turbo Vision, the first object-oriented application framework for DOS, you get a giant head start on creating better applications in far less time. Use a Turbo Vision object and your program auto- matically inherits a hot program architecture that includes overlap- ping windows, pull-down menus and mouse support. Turbo Vision makes it fast and easy-setting you free to develop the parts of your applications that solve your problem. And Turbo Pascal 6.0 comes loaded with Turbo Vision applica- tions including a calendar, a calculator, an editor, a clock, a direc- tory browser and forms. New Turbo-Charged Environment The new Turbo Integrated Development Environment (IDE) fea- tures a multi-file editor, overlapping windows and mouse support. And Turbo Help lets you copy, compile and run an example program for every standard Pascal Horary routine so you can use it in your code. Pro Version with Turbo Drive M Turbo Pascal® Professional 6.0 also includes: a professional version of the compiler with Turbo Drive,t for compiling big appli- cations in extended memory; Turbo Debugger® 2.0, for killing the toughest bugs; Turbo Profiler™ 1.0, for eliminating bottlenecks; and Turbo Assembler® 2.0, the world's fastest, 100% MASM- compatible assembler. An Inspiring Offer REGISTERED TURBO PASCAL OWNERS: You can upgrade to Turbo Pascal 6.0 for only $69 95 * or to Turbo Pascal® Professional 6.0 for only $99 95 * direct from Borland. The suggested retail price for Turbo Pascal 6.0 is $14995, and $299^ for Turbo Pascal Professional 6.0. TURBO PASCAL I TURBO PASCAL PROFESSIONAL i "■ I ffl " ' !— !-! B..=J To order, see your dealer To upgrade, call now: 1-800-331-0877 Circle 37 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 38) B OR LA N D The Leader in Object-Oriented Programming CODE:MA98 "*dd SiOOO Icr shipping and handling Oiler expires August 31. 1991 Oiler good in U S and Canada only Mail orders lo Borland International. Inc. P Box 660001. Scolts Valley, CA 95067-0001 Residents in CA. CT GA, IL. MA. Ml. NY. OH. PA. TX. VA and WA, please add appropriate sa'es tax for orders oulside lt:e US, call (4081 43B-5300 f Turbo Drive compiler reqn.res 1Mb extended memory Hard disk recommended Copyright ©1990 Borland All Borland products arc Iradenarks cl Borland International. Inc Corporate Headquarters 1800 Green Hills Road. PO Box 660001. Scotls Valley CA 95067-0001. (-108) 438-5300 Ollices In Australia, Denmark. France. Germany. Italy. Japan. Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom Porsche is a registered trademark of Porsche Bl 13918 Compaq introduces ar^'xir awesome display of power. One look at our powerful new notebook PC, and you'll see why more FORTUNE 500 and FORTUNE Service 500 companies choose COMPAQ portables and laptops over all others* Now see it in person at your Authorized COMPAQ Computer Dealer. Call 1-800-231-0900, Operator 138 for the location nearest you. In Canada, 1-800-263-5868, Operator 138. comPAa It simply works better. ACTUAL SIZE YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE NEW COMPAQ LTE 386s/20 PERSONAL COMPUTER. THE MOST POWERFUL NOTEBOOK PC ON THE PLANET. YES, IT'S SMALL, BUT ■ VGA DISPLAYS RAZOR-SHARP GRAPHICS IN 16 GRAY SHADES. I LOOK HOW BIG IT IS ON THE INSIDE. ■ STORES UP TO 30,000 PAGES. THE ONLY NOTEBOOK PC THAT OFFERS A 60-MB FIXED DISK DRIVE. ■ MORE THAN 3 HOURS' BATTERY LIFE PLUS INTERNAL FAST CHARGE. ■ ADD A DESKTOP EXPANSION BASE FOR MORE OFFICE CAPABILITY. ■ TRAVEL MUCH? OUR WORLDWIDE WARRANTY ASSURES SERVICE IN OVER 60 COUNTRIES. ■ THE 20-MHz INTEL 386SX PROCESSOR WITH CACHE SETS YOUR PRODUCTIVITY ON FIRE. ■ AT A MERE 7.5 LB. WITH BATTERY, IT TRAVELS LIGHT. ■ THE 2-MB HIGH-SPEED RAM IS EXPANDABLE TO 10 MB. ♦Based on a Gallup Organization p«11 concluded for Computer Reseller News Benchmark Magazine. COMPAQ, Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product names mentioned herein maybe trademarks and'or registered trademarks of other companies. © 1990 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. EVTE EDITOR IN CHIEF Frederic S. Langa MANAGING EDITOR Anne Fischer Lent NEWS New York: Managing Editor: Rich Malloy Associate News Editor: Andrew Reinhardt Peterborough: Senior Editor. Microbytes: D. Barker, Senior Editor, New Products: Stan Miastkowski Associate News Editors. What's New: David Andrews, Martha Hicks, Carol Swartz Editorial Assistant: Amanda Waterfield San Francisco: News Editor: Owen Linderholm Associate News Editor: Jeffrey Bertolucci London: Senior Editor: Colin Barker BYTELAB Managing Editor: Michael Nadeau Technical Director: Rick Grehan Senior Editor: Dennis Allen Technical Editors: Alan Joch, Robert Mitchell, Tom Yager Testing Editors/Engineers: Stephen Apiki, Stanford Diehl, Howard Eglowstein, Stanley Wszola STATE OFTHE ART Senior Editor: Jane Morrill Tazelaar Technical Editor: Robert M. Ryan FEATURES Senior Editor: Kenneth M. Sheldon Technical Editors: Janet J. 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BYTE is avail- able in microform from U niversity Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Dept. PR, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 or 18 Bedford Row, Dept. PR, London WC1R 4EJ, England. OFFICERS OF MCGRAW-HILL, INC: Joseph L. Dionne, Chairman, Presidentand Chief Executive Officer; Robert N. Landes, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Walter D. Serwatka, Executive Vice President; Frank D. Penglase, Senior Vice President, Treasury Operations; Robert J. Bahash, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Thomas J. Sullivan, Executive Vice President, Administration; Mary A. Cooper, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and Executive Assistant to the Chairman; Ralph R. Schulz, Senior Vice President, Editorial. Founder: James H. McGraw(1860-1948). r^itfl Copyright © 1991 by McGraw-Hill, l.nil Inc. All rights reserved. BYTE and BVHi are registered trademarks of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. ^ Member Audit Bureau of Circulation 14 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Perfection on display. THE IBM 8515 DISPLAY. When you're looking for the perfect display to complement your IBM Personal System/2? the 8515 is clearly the one you should choose. VGA NOW. XGA ON DEMAND. can the 8515. In fact, this display can easily handle picture 'perfect high* resolution (1,024 x 768) graphics, either through XGA or an 8514/A Adapter card, depending on what suits your needs best. QUALITY BY ~~ DESIGN. Right now you may only need VGA, but as your needs change so DON'T se JUST ONE. VGA The 8515 is an afford* able 14" display that was designed to be more XGA '-' ■ ' .-. ' "•-..,: reliable. It has fewer parts and that leads to fewer problems^it's that simple. Add to that a striking contrast-enhancing background and you'll experience clarity and color richness like you've never seen. Plus, you'll also be looking at almost 50% more viewing area in about the same footprint as our popular 12" display. The IBM 8515 Display: now all the reasons to choose it are perfectly clear. Find out more. Contact your IBM Authorized Remarketer or marketing representative. For a remarketer near you, call 1 800 1BM-2468,ext.913, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinii ■ft I (Actual unretouched screen. IBM and Personal System/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. ©1991 IBM Corp. Circle 99 on Reader Service Card HowYour Data Feels Without OurTef Ion Coating. Let's face it. If you're a bit of data, it can be a pretty terrifying world out there. Especially when an object as tiny as a particle of stray dust can zap you out of existence. Or when a mere pencil shaving has the power to 'Ibflon* is a •uPont registered trademark. send you spinning into oblivion. When something is that delicate, it needs all the protection it can get. Which is why so many people are switching to Verbatim's DataLifePlus®disks. Our disks are the only disks in the world protected HowYour Data Feels With OurTef Ion Coating. by an exclusive Tfeflon®coating That means you can actually wipe fingerprints, dust, even pencil shavings off the recording sur- face. Without wiping out your data. And like all of our disks, every DataLifePlus floppy is certified 100 percent error-free and backed by a complete lifetime warranty So next time, insist on Verbatim®disks. After all, you wouldn't want someone to expose you to the cold, cruel world without proper protection. Why do that to your valuable data? DataLifePlus t Circle 261 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 262) One of the Most Important Components Built Into our Computers. You're looking at the strongest cus- tomer assurance program in the industry - Tri-Star's Customer Assurance Program. A customer assurance program that's second to none. No one else stands behind their product with as much confidence as Tri-Star. No one, A lot of com- panies talk about service - but with Tri-Star you get it in writing. Tri-Star's confidence in the quality, work- manship and reliability of the Flash Cache is reflected by these five comprehensive guar- antees : 2 Years Parts & Labor Warranty 60 Day Money Back Guarantee 1 Year On- Site Service Overnight Parts Replacement Life-time Toll Free Tech Support Another Tri-Star exclusive ensures your new Flash Cache computer is fully prepared, extensively tested, and thoroughly inspected before delivery. In addition you will receive MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, and a 400 DPI mouse completely installed and custom con- figured. Tri-Star Service, it is without peer. Circle 254 on Reader Service Card Flash Cache Features Include: ♦ Intel 386/486 25MHz or 33 MHz Processor ♦ 4MB of High Speed 32-bit DRAM ♦ 64K of Read/Write-Back SRAM Cache ♦ 104MB (386) or 200MB (486) Hard Drive ♦ 1 .2MB 5.25-inch Floppy Drive ♦ 1.44MB 3.5-inch Floppy Drive ♦ 1 6-bit SVGA Graphics Card w/1 MB DRAM ♦ 14" Non-interlaced 1024 x 768 Color Monitor ♦ Microsoft DOS 4.01 8c Windows 3.0 ♦ High Res 400 DPI Three Button Mouse * Quality 1 01 Enhanced Tactile Keyboard ♦ Two Serial Ports & One Parallel Port ♦ Fully DOS, Unix Sc OS/2 Compatible 386/25 486/25 $2695 $3995 386/33 486/33 $2995 $4695 A ...THE BEST MIX OF SUPPORT, SERVICE, AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION POLICES OF ALL THE COMPUTERS IN THIS REVIEW. PC MAGAZINE July 1990 IIOMOKAIllI IBM ! "t»Ii« W IS-sS? Q COMPUTER CORPORATION 1800.678-2799 707 West Geneva Tempe, Arizona 85282 Tech Support 1.800.688-TECH Telephone 602.829-0584 Fax 602345.01 10 Monday - Friday 7:00am-7:00pm MST Saturday 9:00am-4:00pm MST All prices and speciiications subject to change with- out notice. Money Back guarantee does not include shipping charges. On-Site service available in most U.S. locations. 2 Year Warranty includes system and keyboard. All systems have been verified or certified to comply with part 1 5 of the FCC rules. MlCROBYTES Research news and industry developments shaping the world of desktop computing Edited by D. Barker Users Will Have More Room for Applications Under New DOS; 5.0 Due Soon The next version of MS-DOS will soon be in the hands of users, say sources involved in the beta-testing program. According to people who've gotten a look at preliminary versions of the new operating system, Microsoft has developed a DOS that's stouter in terms of capabilities but is leaner in size. Some of the biggest changes to DOS will involve memory management, changes perhaps inspired by the innovative memory manager in Digital Research's DR DOS 5.0. MS-DOS 5.0 will come with a new utility that loads most of the operating system into the high-memory area of extended memory, yielding more room for running application programs. Current versions run in the low-memory zone, taking up RAM that could otherwise go to applications. But most of DOS 5.0 (which is about 60K bytes, beta testers say) can reside above that, in the first 64K-byte block above 1 MB. As a result, users of DOS 5.0 will have about 45K bytes of RAM that they don't have now. This improved efficiency will be possible with 286, 386, and 486 systems equipped with extended memory; due to processor design, it won't work with older PCs. On 386 and 486 machines, DOS 5.0 can save even more memory by loading TSR programs, device drivers, and other programs into the upper-memory block ( between 640K bytes and 1 MB), sources say. This is similar to what Quarterdeck's LOADHI utility does in QRAM and QEMM products. Like DOS 4.0, the new edition has a graphical shell for file and directory operations, but it looks more like Windows 3.0 than DOS 4.0, said sources who've seen preliminary versions. Files and directories are presented as icons in a tree structure. As with a real graphical interface, you can navigate this shell, issue commands, and launch applications by pointing and clicking, sources say. The shell includes one of the most significant enhance- ments to MS-DOS: a task switcher for bouncing between programs without having to shut one down and start another up. Microsoft has confirmed that DOS 5.0 will support the Virtual Control Program Interface. The new operating system will come with a sophisticated help system, which calls to the screen a brief summary of any DOS command (done by typing /? after a command) or explanation of certain features, such as task switching. DOS 5.0 will also come with several BYTE's Comdex poll continues to reflect an expectation that Extended DOS — DOS enhanced with Windows or Desqview, for example — will be the dominant desktop operating system by 1995. Results at fall Comdex were essentially the same as in pre- vious polls, except that Extended DOS picked up about 10 points, a significant shift in opinion. A record 41 percent said they be- lieve Extended DOS will domi- nate the desktop by 1995. That increase in votes might have come from OS/2, which continues to slide in the poll. In 1 988, more than one-third of those surveyed said OS/2 would be the dominant operating system by 1995; now, OS PIE BY '95? Mac about 12 percent say that. Eighteen percent said plain DOS will continue its current reign. Unix fell to its lowest vote since the polls debut in 1988, coming in at 17 percent. The Mac OS continued to hold at about 3 percent, while 10 per- cent envision a democratic world in which no one system dominates. NANOBYTES At a Comdex breakfast for 1500 of its closest friends and dealers, IBM offered a glimpse of a 3 '/2-inch mag- neto-optical floppy disk capable of holding about 120 MB. Or, as Personal Systems Division vice president James Cannavino calcu- lated it, up to 85 disks' worth of data, 12,000 graphics displays, or a 5- minute multimedia presentation. Company officials pointed out that this was not a product announcement but one of those "technology demonstrations" — which IBM watchers know generally precede a product announcement by six months to a year. Buying one of the new Mac Classics has been like trying to buy a Mazda Miata when they first arrived: good luck finding a dealer who has one. According to dealers and other sources speaking to Microbytes Daily, there were about 100,000 of the machines on back order as the end of 1990 approached. Corporate customers as well as individuals are buying the new "Cheap Mac." Stores in the New York City area — where the basic Classic ($999 list) is selling for as low as $699 — said that they couldn't fill the orders. Most dealers would not even hazard a guess as to when a machine that was paid for today would be delivered, but one store representative said that it could be between three and five weeks. Apple officials wouldn't comment on shipment numbers, but one spokesperson did confirm that sales have been higher than expected. The Classics "went out of warehouses like they had wheels on them," he said. Advanced Logic Research (Irvine, CA) plans to come out with a com- petitor to Compaq Computer's 7 Im- pound LTE 386s/20 computer soon. It'll be comparable to Compaq's 20- MHz SX system but will cost less, said ALR vice president Dave Kirkey. The little Compaq lists for around $6000. FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 19 MICROBYTES NANOBYTES DVI coming to the Mac: New Video Corp. (Venice, CA) plans to bring Digital Video Interactive technology to the Macintosh, using Intel's up- coming i750 "multimedia" chips. New Video's DVI products will let users capture video and create productions on the Mac and also play them back on the PC under DOS and Windows, New Video officials say. The company is currently prototyp- ing delivery boards for software developers and plans commercial products for this quarter. Among these products will be a NuBus board for the Mac II (probably around $2500) that will come with 2 MB of video RAM, built-in special effects, and other features yet to be deter- mined; the board will offer real-time, full-motion video and audio capture and playback, New Video says. In a recent demonstration for BYTE, the DVI board was in fact two separate boards; company officials admit that they've got a lot of engineering work left to do when it comes to whittling the components down to fit on a single board. Motorola's 68040 microprocessor, which will be the brain of several new computers expected this year, is Anally available in a production ver- sion. Plagued by technical difficul- ties, particularly with the multi- processor functions of the chip, the million-transistor 68040 has been delayed almost a year. (Motorola had initially expected to ship the 68040, which was announced right before Intel's i486, last January.) While the 68040 's arrival is good news for Next and other vendors, such as Hewlett-Packard, who plan to release 68040-based machines, supplies will be limited for the first half of the year. According to a Motorola repre- sentative, the company will initially deliver the 68040 in "lots of several hundred per week" but has a backlog of "250,000 to 500,000" orders, which won't be filled until summer. Matsushita Electric (of Japan) plans to build Unix systems around Sun's SPARC architecture. These RISC systems, expected in desktop and laptop models, will conform to SPARC Compliance Definition 1.0 and run Sun's version of Unix and the Open Look graphical interface. utilities for restoring files accidentally deleted and for rebuilding disks. According to sources, Microsoft has licensed Central Point Software's Mirror program and incorporated it in DOS 5.0; Mirror captures an image of the file allocation table, which you can then use to restore a disk that's been damaged or mistakenly formatted. Microsoft has replaced DOS's GWBASIC with an interpreter and debugger extracted from the company's QuickBASIC. However, GWBASIC programs will work with the new interpreter, one source said. The minimalist EDLIN program has bowed out to a full-screen ASCII editor that is complete with pull-down menus, a change applauded by several beta testers. Some sources pointed out one addition that won't be appreciated until hardware designers implement the necessary device: support for 2.8-MB floppy disks. And as Digital Research does with DR DOS, Microsoft plans to offer OEMs a ROM version of DOS 5.0, according to a source inside the company. When the new DOS will be ready was still up in the air at press time. A Microsoft staff member said that the company was putting DOS 5.0 through a rigorous testing program and would release it when "it's stable." March or April are likely, according to some reports. As for the cost, some sources said that the retail price could be as low as $99; one analyst said that it probably won't be more than $199, the price of DR DOS 5.0. — D. Barker New Blues Will Mean Better Color Displays While color LCDs continue to ap- pear in more and more portable PCs, full-color electroluminescent dis- plays remain confined to the laboratory. The reason? The lack of a good blue phosphor to match the b ightness of the green and red phosphors, according to Jonathan Gilbert, marketing manager at Planar Systems (Beaverton, OR), the larg- est U.S. maker of EL displays. ButPlanar,aleadingresearcher in color EL technology, has high hopes for a new blue phosphor that the company has been working with for the past year. "We've succeeded in increasing its brightness by a factor of about 1 5 in the last nine months," Gilbert says. "And we only have a factor of about 2 to go. Once we get to that stage, it' 11 be bright enough to match the existing green and red phosphors. Then we can begin putting together a full-color dis- play." EL displays account for less than 2 per- cent of the flat-panel displays sold today, according to Stanford Resources figures quoted by Planar Systems. Although EL displays of fer better contrast and a broader viewing angle than LCD orplasma screens, their high-power consumption and lack of color have limited their use in portable PCs. — Jeffrey Bertolucci Object Links Coming to Windows Applications As pa t of its plan to provide dynamic connections between different kinds of applications, Micro- soft has released to developers a beta version of its Object Linking and Embedding technology for Windows. Applications that implement these links will be able to swap and update infor- mation easily, through a collective effort that will yield sort of a universal Clipboard on steroids. OLE objects are "opaque," Microsoft says, meaning the target application doesn't have to understand the format of the data in the object. OLE will initially show up in Windows programs, but it's designed to work across platforms. Microsoft says the developer tools for OS/2 and Macintosh will be ready soon. Linking allows many applications to reference a single block of data, and it puts the mechanism in place to update all the referents when the original data changes. The downside: the fragility of the link. Embedding allows one application to store data from another application within a single document; the embedded data automatically moves if the document moves. The downside: Each copy of the data is private, and there is no mechanism for updating it automatically if the source data changes. According to Microsoft's Viktor Grabner, the first OLE applications should ship in the first quarter of this year. "The current OLE libraries are stable enough for developing code, but we wouldn't want applications shipped with the current code — there will undoubtedly be bugs we'll want to fix in the libraries. However, the application 20 BYTE • FEBRUARY 1991 w Still writing code with the same old tools? You're only as good as the tools you use. An excellent reason to acquire the new Microsoft* Windows™ Software Development Kit. Tools tailo r-made to build applications for " . the huge new Windows market. Including a specially made CodeView 19 debugger for ; Windows that easily debugs | even the largest applications. And all the "how to" help you'll ever need — from the extensive hard copy and online documentation to the sample source code to the comprehensive IBM" CUA style guide. Plus some sophisticated analysis tools and improved resource editors. All of which suggests that if you're not using our SDK, then you're trying to write tomor- row's programs with yesterday's tools. But that's a situation you can easily fix with the following official code numbers: (800) 323-3577 Dept.M24. Call now to update your old kit with the Windows version 3.0 SDK at $150 per kit Or call us just to answer your questions. The sooner you dial, the sooner you can really go to work on Windows apps. Instead of just toying around with them. (800) 323-3577 Microsoft Making it all make sense" Offer good otily in the 50 Urn ted States. Payment in U.S. funds (plus a $7.50 shippingand handling fee and applicable sales tax). Please allow tiw to four weeks for delivery. © 1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Mi rosoft, CWcKjYw and Die Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Making it a 1 1 make sense and Window's are truunnarks of Mi rosoft Corporation. IBM is a registered troth ark of International business Machines Corporation. CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT is the registered trademark ofSamoz Nutrition Corporation which does not endorse the Windows SDK and is not affiliated with Microsoft. Any rese to a desktop purely in 386SX Power VGA Display | tilt t<il j>1lrry f.l.afl I um.al Maui) Wmdim Removable Hard Drive CAPITAL EXPENDITURES 3.5" Floppy Drive .omiortably-Sized Keyboard [EPSON to^;' : ' _W " , . a/' ; ' •V' ** li> *> */ *> tty .Tt- - Kfc, 1 386 is a trademark of Intel Corp. Windows 3.0 is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. Conner is a registered trademark of Conner Peripherals, Inc. Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. mblance computer is tentional. Introducing the Epson 386SX Notebook Computer. Until now, opting for a portable computer has removable 40MB or 20MB Conner® hard drives, typically meant settling for less computer. This 5.8 pound package even includes a re- The new 5.8 pound Epson® NB3s notebook changes all that. In a big way. Inside this stunningly compact package lies the computing power equal to that of a 386™SX desktop. With more than enough memory— up to 5MB of RAM — to run all the leading business applications, such as Windows ,M 3.0. Here is where the resemblance ends: the NB3s weighs just 5.8 pounds and measures 8 .4 x 11.8 x 1.7 inches. chargeable battery, plus room for such options as an internal modem and math coprocessor. And with its optional portable expansion unit, you gain two standard card slots and the ability to add a 120MB hard drive for true desktop expandability. By any measure of performance, the Epson NB3s The backlit LCD screen produces crystal-clear is a giant among notebooks. In fact, you could say it VGA graphics. And the NB3s comes with a standard is the perfect computer for the portable user who 3.5 inch floppy drive, plus the innovative choice of wants everything. Except compromise. Engineered For The Way Yo u Work'" 1PSON gti'wm— © 1991 Epson America, Inc., 20770 Madrona Ave., Tsrrance, CA 90509. (800) 922-8911. MICROBYTES NANOBYTES Europe has become a major market for American software, according to a new report from the Software Publisher's Association. The trade group said that European sales of American software grew by nearly two-thirds in the third quarter of 1 990 to $228 million. Combined software sales for DOS and Win- dows were up over half, the SPA re- ported, with Macintosh program sales in Europe up by a staggering 83 percent. The SPA report is based on figures provided by 32 software houses, including Lotus, WordPer- fect, Microsoft, and Ashton-Tate. An SPA research assistant said the inter- national market now accounts for nearly a third of total sales of the companies in the survey. Apple Computer is now willing to license its Apple Terminal Services protocols to developers and corpo- rate MIS departments. ATS proto- cols pass between a mainframe computer and a personal computer. Programs can thus retrieve informa- tion from a mainframe or minicom- puter and display it on a graphical terminal — a Mac, an IBM PC running Windows, or a Unix work- station running X Window System. Before, ATS protocols could be used only to display the retrieved data on a Mac. Apple says that ATS differs from terminal screen protocols because it lets a mainframe program- mer control the microcomputer's user interface and desktop. If the U.S. government doesn't do something soon, its computer records will be inaccessible and unusable, a Congressional committee has warned. A new study by the House Committee on Government Operations warns of increased difficulty in preserving and accessing old computer records housed in the various federal archiving systems. Problems will be caused by changes in hardware and software, lack of documentation, nonstandard data-file formats, and deterioration of storage media, the report said. The commit- tee advocates an overhaul of the way the government stores data files and information, recommending that standard record-keeping rules and procedures be built into federal elec- tronic information systems. programming interfaces have been frozen, so developers will not have to change their own code when the final libraries are released." Grabner esti- mates that a developer will need 8 to 1 weeks to add embedding and linking to an application. OLE, which builds on Microsoft's Extensible Compound Document Architecture specification, provides developers with libraries and examples to help them implement Bill Gates's vision of "document-centric," as opposed to "application-centric," computing. The idea is to make it easy for users to construct seamless docu- ments containing data and other elements (e.g., graphics and charts) from multiple and disparate sources. Beta libraries for OS/2 and the Macintosh should be available early this year, he said. "The push is coming from the applications side: Microsoft is committed to adding OLE capabilities to all its Windows applications, and if you look at those programs, they're all supported on multiple platforms. We want the same capabilities to be available no matter what platform the program is running on." Some of what Microsoft hopes to accomplish with OLE is similar to what Hewlett-Packard is doing with NewWave. "Microsoft is moving in the same direction we are, telling develop- ers they should write applications that work with each other," said HP's Bill Crow, chief architect of NewWave. OLE, however, "is a less ambitious approach than NewWave," he said. "By working within the limitations of the existing file system, it sacrifices some capabilities. In OLE, as in today's hot links, linking depends on one applica- tion remembering the location of a file. That link can be broken easily if the file moves: There is no mechanism for tracking the file location and updating the name. NewWave, by contrast, has an intelligent object manager that takes care of mapping objects to files." Crow and Grabner agree that New- Wave and OLE can coexist. "OLE and NewWave are philosophically similar," Crow said. "Once a developer has structured his application to support OLE, it shouldn't be that difficult to modify it to support NewWave. We'd like to see applications work in both environments, and we're thinking about ways to make that easy, or even auto- matic." According to Grabner, "There should be some way for NewWave to provide a wrapper to interface with OLE to make everything work together transparently." — Martin Heller Hitachi Neural Prototype Thinks, Learns Quickly Hitachi Ltd. has developed a prototype neurocomputer that dem- onstrates the promise of this emerging technology. The device is built on a single semiconductor wafer and contains more than 1 100 neural circuits. It can perform 2.3 billion learning operations per second, more than 10 times the speed of a Hitachi supercom- puter running a neural-network simula- tion, company officials said during a recent demonstration of the machine. Neurocomputers mimic the learning ability of the human brain, thus making them better suited than traditional computer architectures to tasks such as recognition, pattern matching, and optimization, proponents say. Hitachi doesn't currently plan to distribute its general-purpose neuro- computer as a product, but the technol- ogy in it will surface in commercial systems. "It will be commercialized in about two years, first in Japan," a company official said. Because of the computation speeds and learning capabilities, this technology will probably find its first applications in financial and security systems. The Hitachi neurocomputer is based on large-scale integration neural compo- nents originally made public in 1989. The components, built in 0.8-micron CMOS technology, each contain 576 interconnected neural circuits. Eight of these chips are connected on a single semiconductor, using wafer-scale integration, to form the neurocomputer. The device shown was housed in a beige box (12 by 9 by 8/3 inches) attached to a Hitachi Unix workstation. The workstation served as a windowing front end, while the neurocomputer ran sample software applications. One demonstration involved handwriting verification: The system "learned" the pattern of a signature based on the pressure and direction the user applied to the stylus and was later able to recognize the signature with near 90 percent certainty. In another example, the system made stock price predictions. Hitachi says that it is "generally accepted" that a neurocomputer will need at least 1 000 interconnections to be practical. The system that the 24 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1 99 1 ^laiow^ to MM. ■ one math coprocessor is a I ' That's Intel's. And our new family of Math Coprocessors is faster — up to 5096 for the 287XL. In fact, working side by side with the Intel microprocessor already inside your computer, an Intel Math Coprocessor can increase the speed of your spreadsheet, graphics, CAD and database programs by as much as 50096. That's good to know. And the fact that it's made by Intel is also good to know. Because Intel developed the first Math Coprocessor in 1982, and we've shipped millions since then. Each one is manufactured by Intel in the world's most advanced logic facility, and then tested and retested against an exacting set of criteria. And we can guarantee that every Intel Math Coprocessor lives up to the industry hardware standards we helped develop, delivering the same results regardless of what type of computer you're doing calculations on. So call Intel at (800)538-3373. Ask for Literature Packet #F6 on Intel's new and im- proved Math Coprocessors. And put an Intel Math Coprocessor inside your computer. It's the only one with the Intel name to live up to. The Computer Inside: ©1990 Intel Corporation. 386 and 387 are trademarks of Intel Corporation. Circle 106 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 107) MICROBYTES NANOBYTES Next is now focusing on the consid- erable networking and communica- tions capabilities of its computers, judging by new things on the horizon and recent comments made by company chairman Steve Jobs. By next summer, Next computers will support Novell NetWare clients and links to AppleTalk via Ether- Talk. The NetWare client support will let Next users access Novell files easily, and the AppleTalk connection will eliminate having to use a $4000 Cayman Gatorbox to hook Next machines to Macs, Jobs said. At a meeting of the Boston Computer Society, Jobs demon- strated a sample Next E-mail doc- ument that could contain elements such as sound, graphics, text, and data in one message just by cutting and pasting. By summer, the company hopes to add the capability of storing live, full-motion video in that E-mail message. The Association of PC Users Groups will expand its Globalnet telecommunications network for users group officers this year. The organization plans to operate new BBSes in Australia, England, France, and Japan. The BBS in France will operate in English, French, German, and Spanish. The language the user operates in will be determined by the telephone number called. The individual user must provide transla- tion services. Messages on the four overseas BBSes and the main APCUG BBS (in Scotts Valley, CA) will be exchanged every four days. Paul Curtis, system operator of Globalnet, said that the system serves the 155 member users groups of APCUG and other interested persons who call into the system. The first company to market a word processor for OS/2 now plans to de- velop one for Windows 3.0. De- Scribe (Sacramento, CA) hopes to ship its new program sometime during the second quarter, said mar- keting vice president Clif Whalen. "We'll port the entire technology set of our OS/2 program to Windows," Whalen said, but "we're still arguing about what part of the market we're going to enter." The company hopes to develop a Unix word processor "sometime down the road," he said. company showed had 1 152 connections, and more will likely be possible as the technology matures. Engineers were able to construct a network this large because they crammed the neural components onto a single wafer and used a bus-type interconnection scheme, which Hitachi calls time-sharing, to link the neurons. Multiplexing neural circuits by way of an address bus permits a high level of logical complex- ity while greatly reducing the number of physical circuits needed to connect the neurons. While dismissed by some critics as far-out technology, major chip makers like Intel are now involved in neural processors. — Andy Reinhardt What Will Apple Do with New RISC Chip? Apple Computer i s investing about $3 million in a joint $10 million effort with VLSI Technology and Acorn Computer to develop a new RISC processor. The chip will be designed by a new Acorn spin-off called ARM Ltd. (Cambridge, England). It' s not clear yet what Apple will do with ARM's RISC processor, but some observers speculate the chip could be the basis of a future Apple computer — most likely a notebook or hand-held. An Apple U.K. official would say only that it's part of the company's program of "strategic external investments in strongly differentiated technologies." Apple is working on a RISC-based system, but the assumption around the industry has been that the machine would use Motorola's 88000 chip. It's possible that Apple will use ARM's low-power processor in either a workstation or, more likely, a portable system. Apple vice president Larry Tesler said that the company doesn't intend to replace any of the processors in existing products with the ARM chip. "It' s a strong technology for the coming years, and we think it will make a lot of money for us," Tesler said. "This is primarily an investment announcement at this point. We won't be replacing any Mac components with ARM technology." Barbara Kalkis of VLSI, which will fabricate the chips, said that her company was attracted by certain aspects of ARM's processor design. "It's a very small-die chip that indicates a product trend for the nineties," she said. "We're looking toward battery op- eration and hand-held operation as being some of the factors that we like about ARM." The chip could show up in graphics boards (Radius has plans for one, she said), modems, and LAN adapters, as well as in digital signal processors, scanners, laser printers, and tape drives, according to Kalkis. "The key thing for us is that the RISC die that we have can be used as an application specific integrated circuit or as a standard product," Kalkis said. "It will be perfect for a notebook computer or laptop where the size of the chip becomes important, as well as battery operation." Indeed, Active Book Co. of the U.K. has already announced that it will develop a notebook computer based on the ARM RISC chip. Apple CEO John Sculley has often noted that Apple is interested in "miniaturization and mobility." — Larry Loeb System Uses Fractals to Compress Images Research into fractals, mathematical descriptions of pictures, has yielded a new compression system that drastically reduces the amount of space that image files consume. Iterated Systems (Norcross, GA), founded by two Georgia Institute of Technology professors, has developed a hardware/ software combo for compressing and playing full-motion images on a standard AT computer with a VGA screen. What' s most unique about Iterated' s system is that its compression scheme is based on fractal transforms. This process, put very simply, turns an image into a mathematical formula. These fractal formulas are much smaller, and thus occupy less space, than the images they represent. A straight line on a VGA screen, for example, requires about 38K bytes of data, said Iterated copresident Alan Sloan; but fractal code to depict that line requires only 4 bytes, he said. Iterated 's approach focuses not on compression ratio but file size. Sloan and partner Michael Barnsley have been working on fractal-based compression for several years (they wrote about it in the January 1 988 28 BYTE • FEBRUARY 1991 Now you can use the incredible power of Windows 3.0 to goof off The New Microsoft 8 Entertainment Pack for Windows™ gives you seven spiffy games. Each one designed for pure, unproduc- tive fun. And all accessible in seconds from any other Windows product. Which means you can go right from juggling numbers, to juggling those funny little blocks in TETRIS.™ Another clickofthe mouse, and you can go from typing a letter to testing your nerves on Minesweeper. Or honing your skills onTicTactics. Or becoming seriously addicted to one of two new kinds of solitaire. Equally entertaining is Idle Wild, the screensaver with seven radical selections. From a race through space, to a pattern that slices, dices, and scrambles your screen. Nowget to work. Call us at (800) 541-1261, Dept. Pll, and ask us all about the Entertain- ment Pack. We'll do our best to give you a com- pletely frivolous answer. Microsoft Making it all make sense' For mom information, call (800) 541-1261, Detit. Pll. Customers in Canada, call (41 ' ■ A SI I ' ' ' ' • ' I i " ' rights reserved V nd&e Microsoft logo arc registered trademarks and Making it ;ill mrtkc sense and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. TETRIS is a trademark of V/O Electronorgtcchnica (Eling). All Rights AV.-r? red. if you've read all the way to this sentence, you obviously have enough spare time to really enjoy the Entertainment Pack. SUN PROUDIY ANNOUNCES THE UUTMArE MACHINE SPARCstation™ 2. If you think limits were made to be exceeded, this is your kind of machine. After all, it exceeds all our own limits. Last year, SPARC- station 1 broke every record for price and performance. And became the best-selling work- station in history By far. But we went right back to the drawing board. And created the entire SPARCstation21ine. POWER YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE. To begin with, you get twice the performance. For about the same price. 28.5 MIPS. 21 SPECmarks. And 4.2 MFLOPS. You can even have up to 96MB of RAM. And as much as 7.6GB of mass storage. But more than just a hot engine, you get everything else you need to do your job. Unbelievably real graphics. Easy networking. A huge selection of software. And complete expandability Put all that together, and you get the kind of power you can actually use. THE WHOLE LINE IS AWESOME. THEPRICES AREN'T Just look at SPARCstation 2GX. It gives you ultra-high speed at no extra cost. And brings a whole new level of performance to X- window applications. So it's ideal for electronic publishing. Financial analysis. And for anyone who has to work with 2-D and 3-D wireframe applications. And that's just the most basic color model. We've also built SPARCstation 2GS. It lets © 1990 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun Microsystems and the Sun logo are registered trademarks, and Sun, SunOS, OpenWindows, DeskSet and Computers that network people are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARCstation and SPARCware [ F J 1 r] r J \ in- J [ FrocJ {R.*a" ( C j ( s--r- j ( flhs J ( chs j fi^ CDCDBG™ IDCDCD^ ' rrzlV " .I.J filter; Ipr/e SPARCsfaHon 2 | you create 3-D solid images in 24 -bit true color. It's the kind of machine you hate to share. And from now on, you won't have to. At the high end, there's SPARCstation 2GT. It does all the above, but it's been tuned especially for PHIGS, which is the highest standard for 3-D graphics on the planet. So it runs five times faster than the GS. With all this, it gives you a level of image quality you've never seen at anywhere close to its price. THE WHOLE THING MAKES PERFECT STRATEGIC SENSE. At Sun, we make a full line of SPARC-based systems. From the lowest-cost RISC/UNIX* workstation in the world to servers that support hundreds of users. They're all binary compatible. And they're built to run the most widely accepted standards for workstations. On the subject of software, there are more than 2100 SPARC ware™ applications. In- cluding all the most popular solids modeling programs. And the most popular PC soft- ware. And with our OPEN LOOK® interface, you'll spend less time learning the system. And more time on your real job. If you'd like to know more, callusat 1-800-821-4643. (From California, 1-800-821-4642.) And we'll give you a better machine to strive with. #siin ^3> microsystems Computers that network people!" are trademarksof SPARC International, Inc., licensed exclusively toSun Microsystems, Inc. SPARC products are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEN LOOK and UNlXare registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Circle 220 on Reader Service Card MICROBYTES NANOBYTES Echelon (Palo Alto, CA), started by Apple's Mike Markkula, has intro- duced a new chip and protocols for controlling a wide array of devices, from office lighting systems to factory machines to home appli- ances. The technology is based on a new chip called the Neuron, which contains three 8-bit processors connected in pipeline fashion, 10K bytes of ROM, 1 K byte of RAM, and 512 bytes of EEPROM. The ROM contains the code for a complete seven-layer communications network protocol. According to Echelon CEO Kenneth Oshman, Neurons have been designed to be simple low-cost devices "that can find out if some- thing is on, off, or in-between, and turn something on, off, or in-be- tween." For example, a network of Neurons in your office connected to a motion detector and an ambient light sensor can ensure that the lights in your office are on only when you are there and it is dark outside. Neurons will be connected in what Echelon calls a Local Operating Network. Poqet Computer (Sunnyvale, CA), maker of the 1 -pound DOS-compat- ible Poqet PC, and Inf onet Services (El Segundo, CA) plan to jointly develop products and services for a worldwide messaging and commu- nications network. Their first product is called The Personal Com- municator ($1995), which basically is a Poqet PC, WorldPort 2400 modem, and Infonet's Notice Note- book software for using the Inf onet communications system. Infonet's services include E-mail, fax/telex features, and on-line news wires. PC users curious about the upcom- ing MS-DOS 5.0 can get a sneak preview from a new book published by Bantam. The new edition of The PC Configuration Handbook, by John Woram, has an appendix discussing some of the features of the upcoming DOS. The 729-page text, subtitled A Complete Guide to Troubleshooting, Enhancing, and Maintaining Your PC, spends 19 pages on DOS 5.0. "It's not meant as an extensive look at DOS 5.0 but covers what you need to know from a system-configuration standpoint," a Bantam editor said. BYTE). But now they're ready to commercialize their research. The company has developed a compressor board and decompressor software based on fractal-transform technology. The board uses eight fractal-transform ASICs and an Intel i960 RISC proces- sor. Decoding and playback, however, can be done on any 286-based system running Iterated' s decompression software module. The compression hardware can squeeze 1 .5 minutes of moving images on a regular 1 .4-MB floppy disk, the company says. The compressed material is just a DOS file. On a 40-MB hard disk drive, you can store up to 40 minutes of video. On a compact disc, the compressor can fit 10 hours of motion video, or almost the entire Rocky epic. Using Iterated 's system, you can store a video presentation on a floppy disk and send it to someone else, who can play it back, at 24 to 30 frames per second, without any special hardware; all they need is the decoding software. Iterated' s system can also be used for storing still images. On a 1 .4-MB floppy disk, the compressor can fit about 70 photo-quality color pictures, said vice president Rick Darby. So far, the highest ratio the company has achieved is 500-to-l, with a still-frame image. Images to be compressed can come from any digitizing device. Right now Iterated' s P.OEM (as in "pictures for OEMs") system is a $25,000 investment. But eventually the technology should come down in size and price. "It's reasonable to say that future generations of our compressor could exist in a chip, and at that point, you could see this on a PC mother- board," Darby said. Iterated officials say that fractal trans- formation offers the greatest compres- sion for your computation dollars. The fractal approach is superior not only because it uses compact code to describe pictures but because, unlike JPEG, for instance, it doesn't throw away important data. "Fractal transfor- mation throws away some information, because it's a lossy method, but it tends to throw away noise, rather than data you need," Darby said. — D. Barker New Material Could Yield Faster Circuits Anew silicon-on-insulator material has yielded CMOS transistors ca- pable of running three times faster than comparable pure silicon transistors, IBM reports. IBM researchers hope their SOI material could eventually lead to computer circuits that run faster and have fewer errors, says Ghavam Shahidi, a research staff member at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center (Yorktown Heights, NY). Silicon grown on top of an insulator offers several advantages for computer circuit designers. The insulator can help cut down on cuirent leakage from the semiconductor and make the chip run faster. And SOI can protect computer circuits from "soft errors" caused by ex- ternal radiation sources. The different properties of semicon- ductors and insulators have made it dif- ficult to produce SOI. But IBM researchers say they have developed a new method to grow silicon on an insulator, resulting in an almost defect- free material with qualities not unlike pure silicon. The researchers start with a silicon wafer as a base, heated to 1 800°F, which produces a layer of silicon dioxide (the insulating material) on top of the wafer. They cut thin lines in the oxide, which exposes the silicon base and then pump a gas over the wafer that causes silicon to grow in blobs on top of the lines. IBM researchers have used their SOI material to build experimental, high- speed transistors, Shahidi says. In tests, these CMOS transistors can conduct current through a ^-micron-thick channel. They have a switching speed of 33 picoseconds, making them three times faster than similar 1^-micron CMOS transistors built of pure silicon. — Jeffrey Bertolucci MAKE THE NEWS IN '91. If you, your company, or your research group is working on a new technology or developing products that will significantly affect the world of microcomputing, we 'd like to write about it. Phone the BYTE news department at (603) 924-928 J. Or send a fax to (603) 924-2552. Or write to us at One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Or send E-mail to "microbytes" on BIX or to "BYTE" on MCI Mail. An electronic version of Microbytes, offering a wider variety of computer-related news on a daily basis, is available on BIX. 32 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1 99 1 GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN... IN WORLAND, WYOMING. AND IN SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO... X * \ h People the World Over Everywhere you look these days you'll find Gateway 2000 computers. That's because people tttt o computers i n Qlf everywhere know a good — — ■ i 455 ^W value when they see \ one. In all 50 — \ ' ~ states and in over l | 70 foreign | countries, , "' thousands of ' people are compar- ing price, quality and service - and choosing Gateway 2000. In Gothenburg, Sweden Anders Bjemefors, a computer dealer and programmer, bought a Gateway 2000 25 MHz 486 system last April. "After many faxes and a lot of study, I selected Gateway 2000," said Anders. "I'm pleased with the machine. I received a very powerful, well-built computer for an AUK 'I'll * It Ml. and his Gateway 2000 25 MHz astonishingly lOW pilCC 4H6 u system. A , . , , Anders was so impressed by his system and by the people at Gateway that he contacted the company about becoming a Gateway 2000 reseller. "I telephoned my salesman," Anders remembered, "and he told me I'd have to visit the factory to make the arrangements. I was on the next plane out of Goteborg on my way to North Sioux City, South Dakota." In Worland, Wyoming Bob Borst, owner and operator of Cloud Peak Pest Control in Worland, spent two and a half months researching his computer i purchase. He fr t chose a Gateway 2000 386SX. "My final Bob Borst, owner and operator of Cloud Peak . . Pest Control, and his Gateway 2000 386SX. decision Was based on people, not hardware," said Bob. "The Gateway people make you feel like you're the most important person in the world. I didn't buy a computer - 1 bought Gateway." Bob was equally impressed by Gateway's service people. "One time I got into a file and couldn't get out of it," Bob related. "Even though it was a software problem, I called Gateway and they talked me through it." In Socorro, New Mexico Gordon Kane, Laboratory Associate at New Mexico Tech, runs a computer lab with 15 Gateway 2000 286 systems. "At first we bought Gateway's because of the good prices," said Gordon. "But now I buy them because of the technical support, which is very superior, and because the company is committed to improving its product line." NMT also uses Gateway computers in its research programs. "A Gateway 386 cache svstem will be used Gordon Kane, New Mexico leclu w\ Gateway 2000 286 lab computers.. Choose Gateway 2000! at Kennedy Space Center next summer," said Gordon, "as part of a large program of thunderstorm studies j being conducted there by NASA and the Air Force." PC Magazine's survey about service and reliability ^ confirms what these customers are saying: | "Gateway shared top billing with such heavy- ^ weights as Compaq, IBM, and HP for those who would buy their products again. ..Overall Gateway's high marks MAGAZINE! bode well for the company's future, as "We can't run that ad anymore," continued Ted, grinning, "because we built a new plant 14 miles -4 down the road in South Dakota. But the cows really worked for us. They made the phones h ring. From then on, though, we built ^ our business on value - good prices • £s§r on quality systems with old- " JS^S^ fashioned, personal service." . vx Ted mentioned another reason for Gateway's success. "We take a long-term does its commitment to customer service PC Magazine September 25, 1990 From the Heartland The combination of price, quality and service makes Gateway 2000 the best value in the industry. But value alone doesn't explain how a little company in the Midwest, just celebrating its fifth anniversary, managed to outdistance hundreds of other companies, selling more systems through the direct market channel than any other PC manufacturer in the country. re. " ^^^^^ approach to customer service." he said. "In the cZ5Sindustry, " When ^ bu y a com P uter from longevity should be measured in Gatewa y 2000 < y° u become P art dog years. ' ' of our family and we're going to be there for you as long as you own that machine." ind service As Ted talked about the company's fifth i the industry. anniversary, he laughed again. "In the computer little company industry, longevity should be measured in dog years," th anniversary, he chuckled, "because every- ther companies, thing's moving so fast. That :t market makes Gateway 35 vears old! But seriously, we've come a long way in five years. And I owe 9Mj#\ "It was the it all to the great people at laughed Ted Gateway 2000 President and CEO. "Of Gateway and tO Our Customers." Gateway 2000 will he therefor you f til the cows come home. When you add it all up, you'll understand why you've got a friend in the business at Gateway 2000. Computer magazine readers will remember the company's early ads featured a picture of the Waitt cattle farm with the headline, "Computers from Iowa? 8 0-523-2000 6IOGatewa • N. Sioux Citv. SD 57049 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 GATEWAY 2000 SYSTEMS 12MHZ 286VGA 80286-12 Processor 1 MB RAM 1.2 MB 5.25" Drivel 1.44 MB 3.5" Drive 40 MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache H6BitVGAwith512K 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports 101 Key Keyboard MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 GATEWAY 386SX $1495.00 64K Cache RAM 4 MB RAM 1.2 MB 5.25" Drive 1.44 MB 3.5" Drive 80 MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache 16 Bit VGA with 1MB 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports 101 Key Keyboard MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 MS WINDOWS 3.0 $2695.00 wc££S 3C 4 MB RAM 1.2 MB 5.25" Drive 1.44 MB 3.5" Drive 40 MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache 16 Bit VGA with 5 12K 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports 101 Key Keyboard MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 MS WINDOWS 3.0 $1895.00 25MHZ 386CACHEM 1 33MHZ 386VGA 64K Cache RAM jF^ 4 MB RAM IT J 1.2 MB 5.25" Drive nBffl 1.44 MB 3.5" Drive 200 MB 15ms IDE Drive with 64K Multi-Segmented Cache 16BitVGAwithlMB 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports .az-s*, ■ 101 Key Keyboard MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 ^ ■ MS WINDOWS 3.0 $3195.00 25MHZ 386VGA ■ 4 MB RAM 1.2 MB 5.25" Drive 1.44 MB 3.5" Drive 80 MB 17ms IDE Drive with 32K Cache 16 Bit VGA with 1 MB ■ 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports 101 Key Keyboard MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 MS WINDOWS 3.0 $2395.00 25MHZ 486VGA 64K Cache RAM 8 MB RAM ■ 1.2 MB 5.25" Drive 1.44 MB 3.5" Drive 200 MB 15ms IDE Drive with 64K Multi-Segmenled Cache ■ 16Bit VGAwith 1 MB ■ 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor 1 Parallel/2 Serial Ports 101 Key Keyboard MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 MS WINDOWS 3.0 $3995.00 BEST BUY Same features as our 33 MHz 386 VGA system except this machine has an 80 MB 17ms IDE Drive instead of the 200 MB 15ms IDE Drive. $2795.00 STANDARD FEATURES AND SERVICES • Microsoft® WINDOWS™ and Mouse with all 386 and 486 systems • 30-day money-back guarantee • One-year warranty on parts and labor • New leasing options now available • Toll-free technical support for the life of the machine • Free on-site service to most locations in the nation • Free overnight shipment of replacement parts • Free bulletin board technical support NEW SALES HOURS 7AM - 10PM CST Due to the volatility of the DRAM market, all prices are subject to change. vwumwiffl "You've .not a friend in the business,' 8 0-523-2000 610 Gateway Drive • N. Sioux City, SD 57049 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023 Letters and Ask BYTE DTP Debate As a professional desktop publisher, I read with great interest "Is the Typeset- ter Obsolete?" (October 1990), which compares DTP packages. While for the most part the review was informative, I must make a few comments, some relat- ing specifically to Ventura Publisher. First, the primary goal of desktop publishing is to communicate a message effectively, not just to "make your pages look pretty." The authors wonder why anyone would use Ventura's headers/footers feature, since the repeating frames are so easy to use. That's true, but the headers/footers provide valuable text functions with many preset values that can be easily cus- tomized. For example, headers/footers have an option to insert the first and last match of a given tag, allowing automatic placement of page references such as those found in dictionaries and telephone books. Ventura addresses tracking as either tighter or looser, but this does not limit it to "only two levels of tracking." You can numerically specify the amount of tight- ness or looseness in lOOths of ems. Moreover, tracking is not a feature de- signed for those "trying to do fancy things with type." It is a typographic ele- ment allowing precise control over letter and line spacing to improve readability. Kerning is not "an adjustment made to specific characters to account for their shape." The adjustment is made to the amount of space between specific pairs of characters, not to the characters them- selves. Given that Ventura, like most DTP software, is complex and requires time to learn adequately, I understand the re- viewers' misconceptions and omissions. I was particularly interested in their comments on FrameMaker, since I am looking to upgrade my system to the Unix platform. I was disappointed that they covered only the Macintosh version, especially since the cover announced "DTP Packages for Macs, PCs, and Unix." In that light, it seems a consider- able oversight and somewhat unfair not to address all available platforms, as you do with PageMaker. Ginny Ruths Imagigraphics Colorado Springs, CO If nothing else, we agree on one thing- desktop publishing software is complex and definitely takes some time to master. For that reason, we cut down our list of review candidates and spent our time learning each package, looking for tips and shortcuts. Except for a few specific goofs, we believe the article reads cor- rectly as is. For the review, we needed to reproduce pages from BYTE, laid out exactly as they appear in print. We chose to implement the page numbers as footers, and Ventu- ra 's inflexible placement of footers on the page made that difficult. Instead, we found that placing the page numbers as repeating frames made it much easier to get them exactly where we wanted them. Fortunately, Ventura offered us a way to get around one of its shortcomings. Also, we found Ventura 's tracking to be a bit lacking. Yes, you can individual- WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please double-space your letter on one side of the page and include your name and address. Letters two pages in length or under have a better chance of being published in their en- tirety. Address correspondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Pe- terborough, NH 03458. You can also send let- ters via BlXmail do "editors. " Your letter will be read, but because of the large volume of mail we receive, we cannot guarantee publication. We also reserve the right to edit letters. It takes about four months from the time we receive a letter until we pub- lish it. ly set the tracking amount by tag or selec- tion, but you get only one setting per se- lection. Having to change the setting throughout the document gets to be a bit tiresome. We greatly preferred Quark's full control or PageMaker 's five preset levels (in version 4.0). PageMaker's con- trols should give most users all the con- trol they need. Yes, Ventura can do it, but it 's clunky at best. Your point about kerning is well taken. Indeed, kerning involves adjusting the space between pairs of characters. We re- fer to that idea throughout the text, but somehow the phrase you quote slipped through. Thanks for pointing it out. As for the Unix coverage, our covers are designed as articles are being edited. Two products in the review (Interleaf and FrameMaker) are members of families of products that include Unix versions. We had hoped to get the latest incarnations of both products. For FrameMaker, that was the Mac version we tested; for Inter- leaf the latest version runs only under Unix. The Unix version didn 't arrive in time, so at the last minute we reverted to the PC version. The Mac FrameMaker we reviewed is a later version than the cur- rent Unix product. When the Unix version of Interleaf dropped out, the cover lines should have been changed. We 're sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Finally, I've been installing and work- ing with DTP software ever since the beta versions of both Ventura and PageMaker. In the wrong hands, DTP software simply makes it easier to design horrible-looking pages. I disagree that DTP was designed for professionals. While it is a powerful tool in the hands of professionals, it's equally at home in the hands of occasion- al users with a flair for good design. For these users, DTP software's ability to "make pretty pages " is the primary rea- son they buy it.— Howard Eglowstein Your October 1990 story "Is the Type- setter Obsolete?" seems to have com- pletely missed one of the premier DTP systems: the Commodore Amiga. I be- lieve the Amiga supported color DTP first and has certainly been the price/ performance leader since DTP was first available. BYTE is a fine magazine, but its blind- ness to the Amiga is a blemish on its rep- utation. It makes the informed reader FEBRUARY 1991 • B Y T E 33 LETTERS wonder: What else is getting short shrift? Stan Sieler Redwood City, CA I can understand your frustration. The Amiga is a very nice platform that pio- neered several key areas the rest of the microcomputing world is only now start- ing to address. That 's why BYTE covers the Amiga more than any other non- Amiga-specific magazine. For example, a quick search of the BYTE archives through October showed that we covered the Amiga 57 times in 1990, in ways ranging from splashy cover stories to ref- erences inside other articles (e.g. , our re- cent coverage of SCSI, in which we ac- knowledge the Amiga 's lead). The Amiga is regularly a part of "What's New," it 's been in our columns, and we reviewed the 3000 when it came out. It 's been in the State of the Art section and Fea- tures. And it figured in the 15 th Anniver- sary Summit (we even interviewed Jay Miner). This is not an Amiga-hostile magazine! I'm proud that we already cover the Amiga as much as we do. The rest is up to Commodore and third-party developers. If these companies give the Amiga the push it probably deserves, then we '11 in- crease our coverage even more. But that kind of push can ethically come only from Commodore— it 's not the job of editors to promote a product. We report; the com- panies promote. In any case, we '11 do our best to give the Amiga its due whenever and wherever appropriate. — Fred Langa Alternatives Explored Your article "Alternative Operating Sys- tems, Part 3, Theos: Serious Business" (October 1990) and its technical editor Tom Yager really did their duty by bring- ing good ideas from quiet companies like Theos Software to the public's attention. The Theos multiuser operating system, with its BASIC and C components and operating-system-supported data files, has built a following from professional doubters— programmers and developers who have taken the time, as your editor obviously did, to investigate the plat- form. My company no longer has any doubts. Working in the Theos environment has allowed us to create software without having to concern ourselves with alien data structures. Theos helps us make products that are easier to use and that are developed from the ground up for multiuser environments. I've read and reread the article. Each 34 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 time, I felt a charge, a positive stroke that has been missing for the last five years- mainstream acknowledgment! It's the bane of the artist and a bone for the busi- nessperson. Thanks for both bane and bone. Ron Gibbs, President Phase One Systems San Leandro, CA Ben Smith's article "Alternative Oper- ating Systems, Part 4, Pick: OS or DBMS?" (November 1990) provides some information about Pick but makes the following incorrect statement: "The way data is written and read is a weak- ness. Pick searches data using the unique item-IDs of a file, but the search is se- quential since there is no index." While Pick does store and retrieve data by unique item-ID, it does so by put- ting the ID through a hashing function, which is used to locate the data. The only time it is necessary to sequentially read the entire file is when searching for an item (record) by an attribute (field) that is not the unique ID. Nowhere in the arti- cle is the word hash used. Hashing is fundamental to the Pick filing system. To omit hashing from a description of Pick is to reduce its elegant filing system to nothing more than a delimited flat file. You simply cannot describe Pick without discussing hashing. Kevin M . Sproule Shrewsbury, MA You are quite right! Hashing is funda- mental to Pick 's organization of records based on their unique item-IDs. How- ever, if you are searching on any field other than the item-ID, you must resort to a sequential search. —Ben Smith From Inside the Beltway It is my great pleasure to congratulate the management and employees of BYTE as you celebrate your 15th anniversary. This is a milestone in the life of any business enterprise. It is a measure of your commitment and your success. As a businessman myself for more than 40 years, I know how much work and effort have gone into making this event possible. Take pride in your accomplishment and in the fact that, as you continue to work for the success of your organiza- tion, you are contributing to the prosperi- ty and well-being of our entire country. I wish you continued success. Robert A. Mosbacher Secretary of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce Washington, DC OS/2 Bashing? In your 1990 IBM Special Edition, the ar- ticle "Through a Window, Darkly" erro- neously states that OS/2 doesn't recog- nize any printer other than an IBM Proprinter. Version 1.2 of OS/2 (surely available to the author, since it has been around for nearly a year) supports not only the IBM printer family, but many Epson and Hewlett-Packard models, for a start. In practice, this means a great number of printers, because most manu- facturers choose to provide emulation for one of the above. A simple generic print- er driver and a PostScript driver are also included. I accept that this is still a small selection, but it's a good deal more than just a Proprinter. Another paragraph states that "a DOS application operating in the background with PM seems to run very slowly." This statement shows a worrying lack of re- search and familiarity with the system. For good technical reasons, the DOS emulator in OS/2 1 . x actually suspends operation when a switch is made from DOS to a PM window. In the same paragraph, it is stated that "you can't download from an on-line database in one session while doing word processing in another." Why on earth not? Run Kermit (or something similar) in one window and Microsoft Word in another— I do it frequently. R. D. Eager Kent, U.K. Regarding multitasking under Presenta- tion Manager, I wrote a Httle program that simply ran a loop that i cemented a number and reported it. Wh.** I know that Microsoft says that the DOS box is in suspended animation, I rarely if ever be- lieve claims that 1 don 't test. In this case, I noticed that the program had increment- ed a few ticks of the counter between the time I switched out and when I came back to it. It may be that these were simply caused by delays in screen reporting or that the processing continues briefly after the application leaves the screen but be- fore it's really packed away by PM. I don 't know, and neither (at the time) did Microsoft. That is why I said that it "seems" to run slowly. I didn't know for sure, and I still don 't. The printer support for PM is a differ- ent issue, because when you install the software, it does clearly offer such print- ers as the HP LaserJet as options. Unfor- tunately, they don't all work as they should, and the LaserJet driver is one of those that seems to have problems. The one you can really count on is the Pro- printer driver. continued We slash interface development time. (and we can prove it!) s - - , i ■irapur.i'Lj. 1 ■ ■ B . C-PROGRAMMERS: See for yourself how Vermont Views™ can help you create user interfaces the easy way. If you want to start saving a tre- mendous amount of time and effort, call for your free Vermont Views demo kit and put us to the test. Vermont Views is a powerful, menu - driven screen design- er that comes with a C li- brary of over 550 functions. Which means you can create user interfaces in just a fraction of the time it takes to write the code yourself! Why try to reinvent the wheel when Vermont Views lets you interactively create pull-down menus, window-based data-entry forms (with tickertape and memo fields), scrollable form regions, choice lists, context sensitive help, and a host of other interface objects. Vermont Views combines the convenience of a fourth genera- tion language with the power, flexibility, and blinding execution speed of native C code. Turn your prototype into the application. Let's face it. With most systems, you have to throw away your proto- type when coding begins. Which means you waste precious time and effort. With Vermont Views, things are a lot different. In fact, the prototype actually becomes the application. So menus and data-entry forms are usable in the final application without change. Names of functions for retrieving, processing, and storing data can all be specified as the proto- type is created. And that's just for starters. Here's a truly universal solution. When you create an inter- face with Vermont Views, you can port it among PC-DOS, OS/2, UNIX, XENIX, and VMS. Vermont Views can be used with any database that has a C-language in- terface (most do), and will create interfaces for any roman-based language. Our form-locking ver- sion lets you develop quickly and safely on networks and multi- user operating systems, too. If you need DOS graphics in your applications, we also have the answer. Vermont Views™ GraphEx allows all Vermont Views' windows, menus, and forms to work in CGA, EGA, VGA, and Hercules graphics modes. So you can use your favorite graphics package to create charts, graphs, and other images to enhance text displays. Pinnacle Meadows, Richford, VT 05476 Phone: (802) 848-7731 FAX: (802) 848-3502 <f* >qS xp. *$fi *&. .^ .- - xOft. *f* iff* 3p *sfe WE GUARANTEE YOUR SATISFACTION. FOREVER We're so sure you'll love Vermont Views that we make this iron-clad, money-back guarantee. If you're ever dissatisfied with Vermont Views, for any reason, return it for a prompt , no-questions- asked refund. (All you have to do is certify that you haven't incorporated our code into any ap- plication.) *±k sCfcfc <fck *£* *$te *±k jCfcfc sd>: sCfae *& <£* Call for your FREE demo kit! 800-848-1248 (Please mention "Offer 093") Don't take our word for it. Put Vermont Views to the test by calling for your personal, free demonstration kit. Or fax us at (802) 848-3502. ASK BYTE Regarding your statement about run- ning Kermit and Microsoft Word, what you say may be true if both applications are OS/2 versions (as I said at the begin- ning of the paragraph you 're question- ing), but if they are both DOS applica- tions, then you cannot. OS/2 will support only one DOS program at a time, and while you can switch in and out of it, you can 't multitask. —Wayne Rash Jr. OOP Redux I enthusiastically agree with Brad J. Cox ("There Is a Silver Bullet," October 1990) that the reusable, interchangeable component approach to software con- struction offers greater promise than any other of today's developments. Indeed, I argued that very point strongly in my 1986 paper "No Silver Bullet." Although we agree on approach, I must protest Cox's treatment of the argu- ment of my paper. First, the viewpoint is by no means pessimistic. I stated, and still believe, that an order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity can be achieved in 10 years by a variety of mod- ern approaches pursued together. I also stated, and still believe, that no one ap- proach will achieve a tenfold productivi- ty gain by itself in 10 years. Most of the many response papers I have seen take the form, "Oh yes, there is a silver bullet, and it is mine." I shall be most impressed by testimonials from users who are not technology developers and who say, "I have used this product/ technique that somebody else supplied, and it gave me a tenfold improvement be- tween 1986 and 1996." Observe that four of the 10 years have gone by since my November 1986 paper. I still see no single development that will by itself prove me wrong by 1996. Second, I most emphatically did not argue, as Cox asserts, that software dif- ficulties arise "from some deficiency in how programmers build software to- day." My argument was that the difficul- ties are inherent in the conceptual com- plexity of the software functions to be designed and built, at any time, by any method. The only way to avoid some layers of these conceptual complexities is not to design, build, and debug those layers at all, but to buy them— that is, to design and build at a higher conceptual level al- together. This is exactly what Cox advo- cates so eloquently. Frederick P. Brooks Jr. Kenan Professor of Computer Science Department of Computer Science University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC Computer Comrade When I wrote my letter to you two months ago, I did not suppose that you would answer me. Then our postman gave me four thick parcels from you. I jumped like a child. My wife could not believe that BYTE would send me four magazines. "They are capitalists," she said. "They count each pound in a pocket." But later she looked at all the BYTEs, and she said that you were not capitalists, but people with good souls. Most interesting for me in BYTE are the articles about the history of fonts and scripts, information from the BYTE Lab, news about peripherals, reports about new software for IBM-compatible com- puters, and, of course, prices of software and hardware. Thank you very much for your pres- ent, and remember that BYTE has a read- er and friend in the Soviet Union. Ignatenko I. Artem Moscow, U.S.S.R. Mac Magic I was heartened to see two articles that appeared back-to-back in the October 1990 issue: "Interface/Shplinterface" and "Spare Me the Details." They are complementary in their appeal for hard- ware/software systems that keep out of the way so that users can devote their at- tention and energy to doing the job at hand. Both writers recognize the Mac's progress in this direction and the poten- tial for progress in Windows 3.0. Per- haps they deplore, as I do, the fact that PC users need to waste much intellectual (and emotional) energy learning and Using many arcane commands and rou- tines to address the job at hand. The industry seems to be moving in the right direction, and these articles support that movement. I laud your print- ing them. I even think they deserve to be printed again, but next time in the front of the magazine, not on the last two pages. E. H. Gautier Pittsburgh, PA ASK BYTE Unix Student I will begin my computer studies in Aus- tralia next year, and I am very interested in joining the Unix community. Can you provide me with more information on Unix-related magazines, newsletters, and organizations? Also, I would very much like to know how to obtain free Unix software. Chow Keng Choon Singapore Although BYTE has a regular column de- voted to the Unix user and regularly runs features and reviews that are specific to Unix, you may find additional informa- tion in our sister publication, UNIX World (444 Castro St. , Mountain View, CA 94041, (415) 940-1500). The two most valuable organizations for the Unix community are USENIX (22672 Lambert St., Suite 613, El Toro, CA 92630) and UniForum (2901 Tasman Dr., if 201, Santa Clara, CA 95054, (408) 986-8840). Every nation seems to have its own Unix users group. Austra- lia 's is AUUG; contact Jim Roper, Lab- tam Melbourne, 10 Whitley Way, Sea- ford, Victoria 3198, Australia.— B. S. Affordable COBOL I need your help in finding a COBOL compiler. The only one I'm aware of is the very expensive Microsoft COBOL compiler that is out of my price range. Charles Igie Tallahassee, FL Try BOS National, Inc. (2607 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 200, Dallas, TX 75229, (214) 956-7722); it provides BOS Micro- COBOL. VisiCOBOL from Innovative Computers, Inc. (26400 Southfield, Suite F, Lathrup Village, MI 48076, (313) 569-7422) is an inexpensive ($100, last time we checked) COBOL interpreter that supports a subset of ANSI level 1 COBOL but might have what you need. Micro Focus, Inc. (2465 East Bay shore Rd., Suite 400, Palo Alto, CA 94303, (415) 856-4161) sells various COBOL com- pilers; call them for prices.— R. G. They're Coming As a biochemical research scientist, one of my traditional duties is to keep a note- book or daily log of my lab activities— a record of meetings, correspondence, measurements, experimental results, ob- servations, and so on. Your article "The Spoken Word" (July 1990) about voice interfaces and dictation devices gave me the idea that speech-to-text devices could greatly reduce the burden and improve the quality of laboratory record-keeping. What I envision as being useful (and fea- sible) is the following scenario: The scientist records on a small, voice-activated pocket cassette recorder (e.g., those commonly available at Radio Shack stores) the events of the day as they happen. At the close of the working day, 36 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 COREL0&M<// , The Overwhelming Choice Of PC Users! 1990 Publish Readers' Choice Awards December, 1990 CORElMW/ ■■■■■■■■ aiaillH' ■ ■■■■■■■■■■lH |l, ".,iii iiiiiiiiiiiv COR^^MSfl IMI'STS 1'199(|J From a cast of thousands of products, the 1 990 Readers' Choice Awards acknowl- edged CorelDRAW as the most popular PC program in any category. And, for the second year in a row, CorelDRAW won first place as the favorite product in the Draw category with a landslide victory - adding yet another award to this highly acclaimed program. CorelDRAW! - The World's Finest PC Graphics Software For EVERYONE! Circle 58 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 59) : v -L for more information on our CorelDRAW International Design Cont C COREL Tel: (613)728-8200 Fax: (613) 728-9790 On the left, the best-selling VGA monitor. On The MultiSync® 2A is one monitor that performs like two. On one hand, it's an uncompromised VGA monitor that works so well, VGA users have made it the best-selling 14" VGA color monitor in America. On the other hand, the MultiSync 2A is also an equally uncompromised SuperVGA monitor, providing the perfect upgrade path to a standard that, at 800 x 600, gives you 56% more resolution than VGA. CsG Computers and Communications the right, the best-selling SuperVGA monitor. It's even available in a gray-scale version — the MultiSync GS2A — which delivers everything the 2A does, in glorious shades of gray. The MultiSync 2A. It's two of the best monitors you've ever seen. For technical information or for the location of the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-FONE-NEC. For product literature, call 1-800-826-2255. In Canada, call 1-800-268-3997. Circle 149 on Reader Service Card NEC ASK BYTE the cassette recorder is connected via an interface board or stand-alone box to a lab PC. Software controls the cassette re- corder and translates voice data into ASCII text in an unattended batch mode. Given that science requires a special- ized vocabulary, memory requirements would inhibit the size of the program's starting lexicon and active vocabulary, but words could be added to the program dictionary or to a user dictionary accessi- ble on an external hard disk. The pro- gram need recognize only one voice and work with discrete words. Fast response times are not necessary. The program has the ability to rewind and replay the cassette in order to check its work and has the entire night to accomplish the task. Words that are not understood can be "played back" for the scientist's audi- tion directly from the cassette recorder. Alternatively, a digitized version of the unknown word could be played while the user checks the fidelity of the translation with a word processor's spelling check- er. The resulting ASCII file is incorpo- rated into the lab notebook. Is this just a dream, or does this tech- nology currently exist at a reasonable price? If not, could available technology be adapted to accomplish this task? Paul Wilson Department of Chemistry University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC Your scenario of a computerized amanu- ensis is not a dream, but you have to de- fine "reasonable cost. " The list of prod- ucts included in the article you mention shows that systems that have a large vo- cabulary are very expensive, while more reasonable systems just can 't cope with extensive vocabularies, let alone every- day speech. Currently available systems for translating real-time speech to text are prohibitively expensive and won 't soon be found on the average desktop. But be patient, they 're coming . — S . W . Computerized Graphic Equalizer I have a 386SX with 4 megabytes of RAM, a 70-MB hard disk drive, and a VGA multisync monitor with a 512K- byte video card. I use the system mainly for technical applications and am very satisfied with it. I am also involved in hi- fi and am very disappointed with ordi- nary graphic equalizers because of the inadequate displays they incorporate. I think that I could convert my com- puter into an efficient real-time analyzer if only I knew the right interface and software. What I'd like is a pink-noise analyzer to handle the range of from 25 Hz to somewhere around 16 kHz, with l £ octave resolution and an accuracy of from 0.5 to 1.0 decibel up to 90 to 100 dB. I already have the pink-noise source and a good electrostatic mike. What kind of data acquisition board should I buy? Is there any commercial software for this kind of application? I know that all hi-fi manufacturers and many independent sound labs have this kind of software running on 386s and maybe even ATs, but as far as I know it is usually custom-made. I'd like to spend about $2000 on this. Is it possible? J. M. Salietti Barcelona, Spain Most commercial audio manufacturers use dedicated instruments that are spe- cialized and expensive. If you want to build a sound analyzer system, a good source for parts is Keithley Metrabyte/ Asyst/DAC (440 Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton, MA 02780, (508)880-3000). In Spain, you can order products via Pacisa SA (01-402-7060); it has a wide variety of analog-to-digital boards and analysis software. You may be able to assemble a system for under $2000. — S. W . The Best of Both Worlds lama DOS user and would like to install OS/2 1.2 on my hard disk as well. I recall that a BYTE article stated that there is an undocumented trick for installing OS/2 at the end of the existing DOS partitions without having to reformat the entire hard disk, but I can't find the article. Antonio Lam Hong Kong You 're probably referring to Mark J. Min- asi's column, "A First Look at HPFS" (January 1990). The question was, "Will I have to reformat my hard disk to use HPFS (the High Performance File Sys- tem)?" The answer was "Yes, if you've only got a single file allocation table (FAT) partition, otherwise no." But you 're really asking a more basic question: "Can DOS and OS/2 coexist? " Yes, they can. All versions of OS/2 1.2 I've seen recently offer a dual-boot facil- ity. You install OS/2 (using FAT, not HPFS) on top of DOS. Then, when you boot, you can pick the operating system you want to use. This works because OS/2 can read and write FAT partitions just like DOS — specifically, the C partition, from which both systems boot. So, if you 've got enough space on C for OS/2 and DOS, you 're all set. If not, OS/2 's in- stallation program will tell you so, and you can trim accordingly. Of course, OS/2 's new file system, HPFS, is pretty nifty, and you may want to try it out. If you 've got several FAT par- titions to work with— a primary C and an extended partition with logical drive D— you might want to convert the extended partition to HPFS. Note that you '11 have to back up D 's data, and when you re- store it, only OS/2 will be able to read it. (DOS programs can get at the data but only when running in OS/2 's DOS ses- sion.) OS/2 and DOS will now share the use of C (the FAT partition), and OS/2 alone will use D (the HPFS partition). The command to do the trick is format D: /fsihpfs. On the other hand, if you're asking "Can I install OS/2 on logical drive D and boot from there?" the answer is no. Like DOS, OS/2 has to boot from the pri- mary partition. And you can 't have two of those. Or can you ? According to BIX user Jim Gilliland ("jgilliland"), a dual- primary-partition machine can be created as follows: Wipe the partition table, boot DOS from a floppy disk, use FDISKto define a primary partition, and install OS/2 with HPFS (which uses that partition), and then install DOS, which won 't recognize the HPFS partition and so will create its own. Now you can use FDISK to toggle between OS/2's HPFS- based C partition and DOS 's FAT-based one. Whew! I haven 't tried this myself, and of course you have to start with a fresh disk to implement the scheme. My advice: Stick with dual-boot. — J. U. FIXES • The correct price for Carpenter's Dream 3.0 from Workhorses, Inc. (Janu- ary, page 88) is $74.50. • The correct phone number for Ad- vanced Matrix Technology (December^ 1990 Product Focus, page 168B) is (800)' 992-2264. • The current address and phone number for Future Domain (November 1990 Product Focus, page 188) are 2801 McGaw Ave., Irvine, CA 92714, (714) 253-0400. • The correct processor for the IBM XT included in the chart on page 76 of the 1990 IBM Special Edition is the 8088. • In "FPU Face-Off (November 1990), we inadvertently referred to an 80387- class chip manufactured by Cyrix as the FastMath 83D87. The correct name of this chip is FasMath. Winkel Engineer- ing manufactures software that performs arithmetic calculations under the regis- tered trademark FastMath. ■ 40 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 C++/ Views for Microsoft Windows ..'"V-,. The Microsoft Wdndows 3.0 Development Tool Itovr Deiivers From Start To Femsh. C++/V16WS is a development tool for C++ programmers that- not only reduces the complexity of Microsoft V Windows 3.0. but also slashes development time b^up to 75%. Delivers on the promise ofObject-Orietited PrograinMing (OOP) . Encapsulates more MS Windows 3.0 functionality than any other tooLon the market today. Get MS Windows applications off to a fast- start with a framework of over 65 tested and ready-to-go C++ classes. Pays for itself on even the smallest project' Only ^495.00 with no royalties. Comes complete with source code. Has the most complete C++ class library for MS. Windows Development. Get started with graphical user interface classes such as windows, views, bitmaps, dialog boxes, menus, popup menus, graphics, regions, pens, brushes, controls, buttons, listboxes, valuators, editors, printers and much - • ^^+/i/#A|4/Q more. Qrganize your data with foundation classes such, : as containers, collections, sets, dictionaries, files, strings, * streams and so-on. Use other classes to manage die persistance of objects across files, to perform serial communications, and tcractivate timed events. Provides suppoHfor the entire project Comes with -4 complete OOP development environment including the first fully functional C++ class hierarchy Browser. Also includes an Interface Generator for building C++ dialog classes and a Docwmewtor for. automatically producing high quality documentation of your classes. Works with Zortech C++. Combine C++/Views with the Zortech C++ compiler for a cost-effective and highly- productive development envronment for building your next generation software systems. from CMS, Inc. CMS, Inc., Software Products Dept. 7090 Shady Oak Road, Minneapolis, MN 55344 (61 2)-944-01 70 • FAX" (61 2)-944-0923 © Copyright 1990 CNS, Inc. All rights reserved. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft: WtNDOWS. \fa5i3n apConpeMr Pm&rt Circle 51 on Reader Service Card Freedom of Choice. At Jameco, you have the freedom to choose from a complete line of starter, mid-range, and full powered computer kits. You also have the freedom to build and expand these kits by choosing the major components that best suit your individual needs: from memory, monitors, and disk drives; to scanners, mice, and trackballs; to cables, power protectors, and more. Take a look at two of our 80386 and 80386SX expandable computer kits: Jameco 25MHz 80386 Computer Kit Includes: • 80386 25MHz Motherboard, 4MB RAM (expandable to 8MB) • 101-key enhanced keyboard • Multi I/O Card • Toshiba 1.44MB, 3.5" DSHD floppy disk drive • Desktop computer case • 200 Watt power supply • DR DOS 5.0 by Digital Research and Diagsoft's QAPlus diagnostic software $1899.' 95 monitor extra JE3825 Jameco 16MHz 80386SX Computer Kit Includes: • 80386SX 16MHz Motherboard, 2MB RAM (expandable to 8MB) • 101-key enhanced keyboard • Multi I/O Card • Toshiba 1.44MB, 3.5" DSHD floppy disk drive • Desktop computer case • 200 Watt power supply • DR DOS 5.0 by Digital Research and Diagsoft's QAPlus diagnostic software $1199 JE3816 95 monitor extra Gall us for our new 1991 catalog. In it you'll find an extensive offering of quality computer products and electronic components. You have the freedom to order 24 hours a day and if you need assistance, expert technicians are available from 7 am to 4 pm (PST) to help you with all your computing needs. Enjoy the freedom of choice. Gall Jameco today at (415) 592-8097. order, c^ut JAMECO \^P COMPUTER PRODUCTS 1355 Shoreway Rd., Belmont, CA 94002 (415) 592-8097 FAX: (415) 592-2503 "" „,tofco<V«> e ^ 592-8097. «,(4S5>W- vm Please refer lo Mall Key 1 ordering £Q Terms: Prices are subject to change without notice. Items subject to availability and prior sale. Complete list of terms/warrantries is available upon request. All trade names are registered trademarks of their respective companies. © 2/91 Jameco Computer Products Circle 114 on Reader Service Card 24 Hours a Day. je What's New HARDWARE • SYSTEMS A Forward-Looking 486-25 Machine The Dasher/486-25 is an AT compatible with Novell and Unix flexibility in its expansion slots. Run- ning at 25 MHz, the Dasher/ 486-25 accommodates up to five half -height 5 14 -inch drives for fault-redundant Novell networking. The system's 32-bit mem- ory expansion lets you work in such environments as SCO/Xenix, Interactive 386/ix, and DOS. It comes with 4 MB of memory on a 32-bit 25-MHz controller. For more than 16 MB of mem- ory, you add a second mem- ory controller for a total of 32 MB of system RAM. The unit incorporates 8K bytes of cache and a floating-point processor. In addition to eight expan- sion slots, the Dasher/486-25 includes a 16-bit VGA con- The Dasher/ 486-25 's expandability lets you configure it to meet your computing needs. troller card, two RS-232C serial ports, and mouse and printer ports. It supports Windows 3.0. Price: $7995 and up. Contact: Data General Corp. , 3400 Computer Dr., Westborough, MA 01580, (508)898-4051. Inquiry 1289. A Laptop of Options Dauphin Technology has introduced the 1000 series modular laptop. Weighing from 4 to 7 l h pounds, depending on your combination of modules, the 1000 is easily customized. The laptop's modularity lies in its detachable screen, network-ready architecture, diskless design, and upgrada- ble CPU. You can configure it at 12 MHz with a 286 chip, at 20 MHz with a 386SX chip, or at 25 MHz with a 386 chip and built-in RAM cache. Price: $3295 to $5795. Contact: Dauphin Technol- ogy, Inc., 1125 East St. Charles Rd., Lombard, IL 60148, (708) 627-4004; fax (708)627-7618. Inquiry 1290. Modular in design, the Dauphin 1000 offers a customized approach to portable computing. Expansion Is the Game The Super-3 86SE from Hyundai is expandable from its clock speed to its functionality. An 8-MHz unit (switchable to 16 MHz), the system comes with 2 MB of RAM (expandable to 16 MB). You can mix 256K-byte and 1-MB single in-line mem- ory module chips, which lets you add memory without re- moving any installed 256K- byte chips. Built-in ROM is 64K bytes (expandable to 128K bytes). The Super-386SE supports EMS 4.0 and has one 8-bit and four 16-bit expansion slots. It includes one parallel and two serial ports, a system diag- nostic floppy disk, a 135-W power supply, and a socket for an 80387SX math copro- cessor. Options include 40- MB, 100-MB, and 200-MB hard disk drives. Price: $1595 to $3295. Contact: Hyundai Electron- ics America, 166 Baypointe Pkwy., San Jose, CA 95134, (408) 473-9200. Inquiry 1291. A Workstation 386SX New in the PC market, Cumulus has introduced its GLC/SBS 386SX all-in- one workstation. Running at 16 or 20 MHz, the GLC/SBS is geared toward small and medium-size businesses. Each model of the GLC/SBS includes a fax/ modem, telephone answering system, a 3 /2-inch floppy disk drive, 1 MB of RAM, a 16- bit VGA graphics adapter and VGA monitor, and a mouse. The top-of-the-line model also has a color monitor and a 3 y2-inch hard disk drive. Price: $1395 to $2095. Contact: Cumulus Corp., 23500 Mercantile Rd., Cleve- land, OH 44122, (216) 464- 2211; fax (216) 464-2483. Inquiry 1292. 44 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 HARDWARE • PERIPHERALS Puma Plus A digitizer with a 16-but- ton cursor option, 100 percent compatibility with AutoCAD, a Windows 3.0 driver, and a mouse emulator is available from Hitachi America. The Puma Plus runs on PCs, the Sparcstation, and the DECstation. Puma Plus features a 12- by 12-inch tablet with a resolu- tion of 1016 lines per inch that works with a stylus or a 4-, 12-, or 16-button cursor. According to Hitachi, Puma Plus supports more than 250 CAD/CAM/CAE and graphics packages. You install and operate Puma Plus by placing the color-coded menu on the tab- let, pointing to the operating mode you need, and clicking a cursor button. After you con- figure it, Puma Plus stores all setup parameters in nonvol- atile memory. Puma Plus is available in three models. Each includes a template from Promontory Systems that is compatible with AutoCAD, VersaCAD, CAD- Key, and Windows 3.0. The tablet carries a 10-year war- ranty; the cursors and stylus have five-year warranties. Price: $549. Contact: Hitachi America, Ltd., 950 Benicia Ave., Sunny- vale, CA 94086, (408) 773-8833; fax (408) 773-9806. Inquiry 1293. Monitors for Different Tastes Three monitors that address different spheres of compatibil- ity are the MultiVision 795, the M24LMAX, and the Vi- king 3 1/72 C24. The Puma Plus digitizer gives you a choice of four pointing devices and a wide range of applications. Taxan's MultiVision 795 Trinitron color monitor is the latest in its Trinitron series. The 14-inch auto-scan- ning monitor is PC or Macin- tosh compatible. Its 70-Hz re- fresh rate has a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels in noninter- laced mode and a 0.26-mm pitch-black Trinitron tube. Economically designed with all controls up front, the MultiVision 795 uses an ap- erture grille screen and a one- gun, three-beam system. It has a tilt-and-swivel base. Price: $1095. Contact: Taxan Corp., 161 Nor tech Pkwy., San Jose, CA 95134,(408)946-3400. Inquiry 1294. The M24LMAX 24-inch monochrome/gray-scale monitor from Image Systems works with the Apollo 2500 workstation and other termi- nals with 1024- by 768-pixel and higher resolutions. You can view two complete facing pages, a full B-size drawing, or multiple applications. The monitor automatically adjusts to horizontal scanning frequencies of from 48 to 96 kHz and frame rates of from 60 to 80 Hz. It is economi- cally designed, with paper- white phosphor, a tilt-and- swivel base, and front-panel brightness and contrast controls. Price: $1995. Contact: Image Systems Corp., 1 1543 K-Tel Dr. , Hop- kins, MN 55343, (612) 935- 1171; fax (612) 935-1386. Inquiry 1295. The Viking 31/72 C24 is a 20-inch Trinitron color monitor. It has a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels at 72 dpi, 16.8 million colors, a 75-Hz refresh rate, an antiglare OCLI filter, and a controller for Mac II computers. In addition, it has pan and zoom capabili- ties and rests on a tilt- and-swivel base. Price: $7890. Contact: Moniterm Corp., 5740 Green Circle Dr. , Min- netonka, MN 55343, (800) 933-5740 or (612) 935-4151; fax (612) 933-5701. Inquiry 1296. A Color Printer with Pizzazz The Kodak Diconix color 4 printer runs at speeds as high as 150 cps in draft mode in DOS and Macintosh ver- sions. It prints color text and graphics at resolutions of up to 192 by 192 dpi. Able to print on plain paper or ink- jet transparency material, the color printer automatically feeds as many as 60 cut-sheet pages from a built-in tray. It also handles continuous-form tractor-feed paper. The four print heads use nonsmearing non-water-based inks. Each cartridge holds an ink supply for printing up to 500 pages. Featuring draft, near-let- ter-quality, and letter-quality printing modes, the Kodak Diconix color 4 printer has three built-in fonts— Prestige 10 and 12 and Gothic 18. The printer measures 4 by 13 7 / by 20 inches and weighs 13 pounds. Price: $1495. Contact: Eastman Kodak Co.,901ElmgroveRd., Rochester, NY 14653, (800) 344-0006. Inquiry 1297. Kodak 's Diconix color 4 printer uses plain paper or ink- jet transparency material. FEBRUARY 1991 • B Y T E 45 WHAT'S NEW HARDWARE A D D - I N S Multimedia at Home Super Video Windows, a digital video/audio board for PC and Micro Channel systems, may be the answer to your wish for multimedia ca- pability at home. Enabling you to play full-motion video and stereo audio from a TV cam- era, VCR, videodisk player, or cable TV in any size win- dow, Super Video Windows stores individual frames on disk or ports them to other applications. Super Video Windows runs under Windows 3.0 or New- Wave 3.0. An optional soft- ware developer's toolkit pro- vides a library of C function calls. Price: $695; developer's toolkit, $295. Contact: New Media Graph- ics Corp., 780 Boston Rd., Bil- lerica, MA 01821, (508) 663- 0666; fax (508) 663-6678. Inquiry 1298. A One-Slot Deal The DTC6290E EISA bus-master disk drive con- troller from Data Technology fits into a single PC slot. It uses a custom 32-bit RISC microprocessor that supports as many as four 15-Mbps ESDI drives and up to three floppy disk drives. According to the manufacturer, the con- troller accesses most disks in less than 0.5 ms. Using its on-board bus- master interface processor, the DTC6290E transfers data di- rectly at a rate of 33 MBps. A Super VideoWindows lets you store individual video frames or port them to other applications, such as DTP or CAD/CAM. special feature of the board is a proprietary cache memory controller that can handle up to 4 MB of cache memory. The custom circuitry on the board anticipates the most likely area of the disk drive you would access; it then preloads the files in that area into cache memory. Price: Vi MB, $845; 1 MB, $895; 2 MB, $995; 4MB, $1195; OEM prices on request. Contact: Data Technology, a division of Qume Corp., 500 Yosemite Dr. , Milpitas, CA 95035, (408) 262-7700; fax (408) 942-4052. Inquiry 1299. Double-Duty Amiga Card The AdSCSI 2080, an ex- pansion card with 8 MB of RAM combined with a hard disk drive controller, is avail- able for all Amiga 2000, 2500, and 3000 computers. With a flexible configura- tion, the AdSCSI 2080 adds Fast RAM in 2-MB incre- ments and controls as many as seven internal, external, and removable hard disk drives. Price: $279.95. Contact: ICD, Inc., 1220 Rock St., Rockford, IL 61101, (815) 968-2228; fax (815) 968-6888. Inquiry 1300. VGA Boards by Boca An entry-level 16-bit VGA board that supports .a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels with 16 simultaneous colors has been introduced by Boca Research. The Basic VGA by Boca board also sup- ports EGA, CGA, MDA, and Hercules standards and comes configured with 256K bytes of video RAM. The Basic VGA by Boca board's 15-pin analog connec- tor attaches to VGA or multi- ple-frequency monitors. The board includes automatic rec- ognition of monitor type and a diagnostic test program. The 16-bit Super VGA by Boca board supports a resolu- tion of 1024 by 768 pixels with a display of 256 colors. It uses the Tseng Laboratories single graphics chip and is available with 5 12K bytes or 1MB of video RAM. Price: Basic VGA by Boca, $98; Super VGA by Boca: 512K, $195; 1 MB, $245. Contact: Boca Research, Inc., 6401 Congress Ave., Boca Raton, FL 33487, (407) 997-6227; fax (407) 997-0918. Inquiry 1301. Book a Date with a ThinCard The Databook ThinCard Drive Model TMB-200- 03 lets you transfer IC mem- ory cards from your palmtop computer to a desktop DOS system. The drive emulates a floppy disk drive and in- cludes a half-length PC board, a 3 1 /2-inch disk-drive-size unit for the memory card, and an interconnect cable. The software supports the Poqet file format and Microsoft Flash file system. Price: $489. Contact: Databook, 10 Al- der Bush, Rochester, NY 14624, (716) 889-4204; fax (716) 889-2593. Inquiry 1302. A Bus on a Different Route BusTek's EISA 32-bit Bus Master SCSI host adapter works with Unix, Xenix, NetWare, and OS/2 systems. Called the BT-742A and based on a proprietary Bus Master application-specific IC, the product works at transfer rates of 33 MBps with direct access to more than 4 gigabytes of host -system main memory. The BT-742A can handle asynchronous and synchronous SCSI data transfers at rates of up to 5 MBps. Its on-board ROM BIOS lets you work as a single user in DOS and Win- dows and provides more than 1 gigabyte of storage capacity per drive. It incorporates an independent floppy disk drive controller chip for on-board control of one or two 3 Vi- or 5 14 -inch floppy disk drives. Price: $499. Contact: BusTek Corp. , 2255G Martin Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95050, (408) 492- 9090; fax (408) 492-1542. Inquiry 1303. 46 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 db VISTA III for Windows 3.0 Th£ DBMS That MICROSOFT. WINDOWS,. \feraon 30 Compatible CroAict Get High Performance Under Microsoft Windows 3.0™ With db VISTA III DBMS. Develop Windows applications that are better, faster, and more profitable. db_VISTAm combines speed, flexibility, and productivity into one DBMS tool for C and Windows programmers. Add db_VISTA Ill's high-speed SQL retrieval to your application and watch your users enjoy power they've never experienced before. Built For Windows. db_VISTA m for Windows 3.0 follows all of the Microsoft db_VISTAin Database Management System guidelines for memory use. Dynamic linked libraries (DLL), multi-tasking, and multi-user environments are all supported. For even faster development, use db_VISTA m with products like ToolBook®, Windowcraft®, or Actor®. No Other DBMS Opens Windows Like db VISTA III! • Speed. Benchmarks show db_VISTA III significantly outperforms any DBMS under Windows. • No Royalties. Increase your profits; decrease your overhead. • C Source Code Available. For total programming flexibility. • Portability. db_VISTAIII supports most environments. r Specifications: Single & multi-user. Automatic recovery. Automatic referential integrity. Relational and network data models supported. Relational SQL query and report writer. Complete revision capability. C source code is available. No royalties. Supports: MS Windows, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, UNIX, BSD, QNX, SunOS, Macintosh. Special $195 Developer's Edition For a limited time only, you can get our dbJVISTA database engine for Windows for only $195. Call today and ask about our Developer's Edition and experience how dbJVISTA HI can open Windows for you. Developer license only; not for distribution. Call 1-800-db-RAIMA (1-800-327-2462) In Washington State call: (206) 747-5570 Ask for extension 109. Full Raima Support Services - Including Training. Develop your applications even faster with Raima Training Classes: Feb. 4-8, 1991 Feb. 6-7, 1991 Feb. 25-Mar. 1,1991 Mar. 6-7, 1991 Mar. 18-22, 1991 Switzerland United Kingdom Boston, MA United Kingdom Bellevue,WA fa RAIMA LlL^ corporation Raima Corporation 3245 146th Place S.E., Bellevue, WA 98007 USA (206)747-5570 Fax:(206)747-1991 Telex: 6503018237 MCI UW International Distributors: Australia: 61 2 419 7177 Austria: 43 022 43 81861 Belgium: 3202 734 9818 Brazil: 55 1 1 829 1687 Central America: 506 28 07 64 Denmark: 45 42 887249 Finland: 358 042 05 1 cvi France: 33 1 46092784 Italy: 39 045 58471 ! Japan: 81 03 865 2140 Mexico: 52 83 49 53 00 The Netherlands: 31 2503 263 12 Norway: 47 244 8855 Sweden: 46 013 1 1 1588 Switzerland: 41 064 517475 £ Taiwan: 886 02 552 3277 Turkey: 90 1 152 0516 United Kingdom: 44 0992 500919 Uruguay: 598 292 0959 USSR: 01 22 35 9907; 812 292 7210; 0142 437952 West Germany: 4907022 34077 CD Copyright ©l ( J ( JI Raima Corporation. All rights reserved. db_ is registered in the U.S.Patcnt and Trademark 0JJicc. Windows 3.0. ToolBook, Windowcraft, and Actor arc trademarks of their respective companies. Circle 188 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW HARDWARE OTHER Power-Line Tester By using Tasco's Com- puter Power Monitor to test the power line supplying your computer, you can avoid damage to your system. The unit monitors line voltage and indicates power-line fluctu- ations. The monitor measures true RMS voltage going into your computer. On detecting a power variation, it recom- mends typical solutions for the indicated problem and checks wiring polarity. If a power failure occurs, the unit stores prior alarms that were not manually reset for up to 48 hours without power. The solid-state moni- tor doesn't require batteries or maintenance. Price: $538. Contact: Tasco, Ltd., 2875 West Oxford Ave., Suite 5, En- glewood, CO 80110, (800) 999-9952 or (303) 762-9952; fax (303) 762-1205. Inquiry 1304. Three Cubs in the Den Square D Company has expanded its line of Topaz uninterruptible power supply products. Available in three configurations, the Cub pro- vides as much as 10 minutes of backup power for your PC, Macintosh, file server, or workstation. COMPUTER POWER MONITOR LINE TO NEUTRAL -] • HIGH TRUE RMS VOLTAGE (>130V| ACCEPTABLE • LOW TRUE RMS VOLTAGE (<103V) — >W4 HZ DROP OUT • (NOTCH) A >2HZ • POWER FAIL ^ >5 V PEAK HIGH • FREQUENCY NOISE > 400 V SPIKE NEUTRAL TO GROUND 1 • >3 VOLTS AC AVG >.5 VOLTS AVG A <.5 VOLTS AVG w (ACCEPTABLE) ~ >3 V PEAK HIGH • FREQUENCY NOISE >100 V SPIKE — WIRING CHECK 1 A LINE TO NEUTRAL w REVERSED • NO GROUND DIAGNOSIS • ALL TESTS OK. ^ A LOW IMPEDANCE TRANSFORMER BASED 9 POWER CONDITIONER REQUIRED ^ A TRANSFORMER BASED UPS OR SPS w REQUIRED Q A LICENSED ElECTRlClANREQUjRED PUSH TO RESET MODEL CPM120 TASCO LTD. Tasco 's Computer Power Monitor measures power, warns of problems, tests the power line, and offers solutions. The Cub 250 is designed to protect 286, 386, and Macin- tosh systems; the Cub 350 works with high-end worksta- tions and low-end file servers; and the Cub 550 is compatible with LANs, high- end file servers, and multiuser workstations. Each model uses a sealed, maintenance- free internal lead-acid bat- tery, is fully automatic, has an audible and visual alarm, and recharges in 2 to 3 hours. Other features include surge suppression, noise filter- ing, and overload protection. The Cubs work with Novell, Banyan, Santa Cruz Opera- tion, Apple, and Xenix networks. Price: Cub 250, $249; Cub 350, $349; Cub 550, $589. Contact: Square D Com- pany, Power Protection Sys- tems, 9192 Topaz Way, San Diego, CA 92123, (800) 344- 0570 or (619) 279-0111; fax (619) 549-8427. Inquiry 1305. Keep One Eye on the Camera Proxima Cyclops, an in- teractive presentation pointer system that acts as a remote-control mouse, consists of a camera and a pointer with an LED. It is used in con- junction with any Proxima Data Display that has the Cyclops connector. An op- tional laser pointer works at up to 20 feet from the screen. Cyclops is PC and Macin- tosh compatible. It attaches to the serial port of your PC; with an optional Mouse Trap, it can share the port with a mouse. Used with a Mac, it op- erates as a second mouse. Price: $1195 to $4795. Contact: Computer Accesso- ries Corp., 6610 Nancy Ridge Dr., San Diego, CA 92121, (800) 582-2580 or (800) 582- 0852 in California; fax (619) 457-9647. Inquiry 1306. Mac Connections for the Disabled If you're physically dis- abled, you can now access a Mac by using Ke:nx (pro- nounced connects). A key- board and mouse emulator with input setups that you cus- tomize according to your physical, cognitive, or visual- perceptual needs, Ke:nx is a 3- by 5-inch box that plugs into the ADB port. To use Ke:nx, you point and click with a mouse or your own special- ized input device. Ke:nx requires a Macin- tosh with 1 MB of RAM, a hard disk drive, System soft- ware 6.0 or higher, and an ADB keyboard. Price: $780. Contact: Don Johnston De- velopmental Equipment, Inc., P.O. Box 639, 1000 North Rand Rd., Building 115, Wau- conda, IL 60084, (800) 999- 4660 or (708) 526-2682; fax (708) 526-4177. Inquiry 1307. Parallel Printing at a Distance Connect your printer to your parallel port and still position it 200 feet from your computer. With Hyper- Cable, such a setup is not just wishful thinking. Designed to work with PCs, minis, mainframes, print buffers, printer switch boxes, and LANs, HyperCable in- stalls like an ordinary paral- lel cable. Using its own pat- ented circuitry, it does not require an external power source, yet runs as fast as 200,000 bps. Price: $74 to $249. Contact: Autotime Corp. , 8950 Southwest Burnham, Tigard, OR 97223, (503) 639-2584. Inquiry 1308. 48 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 1-2-3 ivorks with either DOS'.- or Windows 3.0. You don't have tp'change tfiefvdy, ■ . you work -fa. work with , Release 3 J ^ : .- Enter (lata ivilh a keyboard; manipulate it with a mouse. .. Release 3.1 lets you work with either, vrboth. • ••< • m # • ft w A _ • • •• • MATERIAL COLLECTION Lolmistheonly.- ; . software company • •you can'catifof' :~Z; : -: support Mfwurs •! ,-' "■ a day, 7 days a weck.\ . : You can add words, freehand drawing and symbols td;makc your. graphs inorepersxiasive. r t combinations of typefaces let you create my thing from 2</> tall headlines to tiny footnotes. Only Release 3.1 lets you ' ' automatically map text £ ; ardundA'. ■ graph. A lign titles or text— left, right or ceniel—ivilh one '-command'. .Our unique. 3D design is ideal . for orgamzing data and creat- ing multi-page reports: Las: ywr was a goor yea- to lt» ccrepany WsCydu won yof.ijtis and nno «ey dose to aefrewg our flow w a very gnctKtain ecotwmc a^vJ rt>cycSna cfcmaie Ma««twse#t)ot» increased ovw H»e y«f. fVaCcscwitmicia Br.ng in !)» most rewtiuo twi pcsftt for mo (swipa^. Prjw-5 tor aitirotnun are scs very son ana **fia *e>e aintitioint) to rofioci mora (jiiss. e>arfaB*s ror fca r» w nateflal am stti in ins'r infancy. Q3 tsao irarss 1.33^.024 ^78307 y.wesiBa a.oaa.ieo 1.700,504 188S.135 1.669.430 2.6QO.KN B 032.753 1.146.86-1 viez.022 I.A03.4?! 1.601.763 5.WCIC90 W.73&173 SCS&lflQ S6.73T.2-W $7X».*30 J22.341032 to praon at tt*> rtgfn rjefefe ov inus b> «web malaria* >o* f» tour quartos ci 1$»0. Ttw nsronua 'ruraucg shiiw that cornmvirtvss t>e ousting their recycJlrifl programs t-sycsxj |w: cabling tr»* pro-ams haw jairsd wjUartfr. Eut. wore ft-: seor-c prce pasture at tlttsvopty c( •ttcyesota rpaSenab amenoej to enreed the aemano Wo need to took lor ways to erosrwj cur maimers an5 tr-ccasa ttw l-m nfrecycterj naterats. ColtactJona by District Plastics 1990 ! ^ A graphical , WKSWKG (whot-yowsee-is^what-you-pet) eiwironmeht shows yoii exactly what your output will look " like. It's easier Jo ivork with, and there's no guesswork? { , i#> 6o/r/, itaiws, underlines, \ Yoit can choose from over 200 colofs, and typefaees to create graph style'combinations— <•/ gverlOO text-style combinations— even display more than one ' • • nloraUum any other spreadsheet, graph per page: Since 1983, 7 out of 10 spreadsheet buyers have chosen 1-2-3! Now wdre mm after the other 3. Over 10 million business people are more productive and more insightful because of Lotus 1-2-3. Now Lttus introduces 1-2-3 Release 3.1. And if you're currently using 1-2-3, you'll find it offers the features you've been wishing for. Like the ability to see, on screen, exactly what your printed output will look like. Our unique 3D approach to organizing and consolidating spreadsheet data. And the most profes- sional and persuasive printed reports you've ever created on your computer. Or if you're one of the holdouts not using 1-2-3, you'll find it offers an inter- active, graphical environment. Plus it works with Windows 3.0. And supports both a keyboard aid a moiiae. We've prepared a free demo disk to show you what 1-2-3 can do for you. First time buyers should visit their local Lotus Reseller. Or to request a Release 3.1 Auto Demo, call 1-800-TRADEUP, ext. 673. And see why 7 out of 10 spreadsheet buyers chose 1-2-3. And the other 3 may not be far behind. a acjuuuu in a mouse, may not be tar uciunci. h Introducing Lotus 1-2-3 gjj © Copyright 1990 Lolus Development Corporal ion. Loins .mi! 1-2-3 are registered trademarks of Loins Development Corporation. Windows * As reported liy Audits & Surveys. Inc.. measuring IBM-Compatible spreadsheet sales among computer and software dealers nationwide. Circle 130 on Reader Service Card a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WHAT'S NEW CONNECTIVITY Drive Across Your System . . . CorelDriver, an interface based on a RAM-resident device driver, comes as a kit designed to provide compati- bility between optical disk drives and DOS, OS/2, Macin- tosh, or NetWare systems. Said by its manufacturer to be compatible with most WORM (write once, read many times) and erasable op- tical disk drives on the market, CorelDriver supports the ISO erasable optical cartridge for- mat. This lets users of ISO- compatible drives exchange cartridges across their operating systems. Running with EMS mem- ory installed, CorelDriver can use as little as 3K bytes of RAM. Without EMS memory, the driver will use up to 50K bytes of RAM. All kits include the soft- ware device driver; utilities, including diagnostics and for- matting; and cabling. DOS, OS/2, and NetWare kits also include a SCSI connection. Price: $495 to $1795. Contact: Corel Systems Corp., 1600 Carling Ave., Ot- tawa, Ontario, Canada K1Z 8R7, (613) 728-8200; fax (613) 728-9790. Inquiry 1309. . . .or Talk Across It Crosstalk Communicator, asynchronous communi- cations software for the PC, is a terminal emulator de- signed for easy installation and use. Accessing dial-up in- formation services is as easy as dialing the telephone, ac- cording to the company. Its interface is based on Crosstalk Mk.4andRemote2. During installation of Crosstalk Communicator, the program queries your PC to The CorelDriver interface kit is fully compatible with most optical drives. determine the number of serial ports available. It then asks which port your modem is con- nected to, after which it gives you a list of modem types from which you select the kind you are using. To access a system or ser- vice, you supply information such as your telephone num- ber, account number, and pass- word. Crosstalk Communica- tor retains this information, letting you subsequently ac- cess the system with one keystroke. You use the program's point-and-shoot dialing direc- tory to access information systems and BBSes. File trans- fer protocols include XMO- DEM, YMODEM, ZMO- DEM, Kermit, and Compu- Serve B + . Price: $99. Contact: Digital Communi- cations Associates, Inc., 1000 Alderman Dr. , Alpharetta, GA 30202, (404) 442-3210. Inquiry 1310 Asante Supports New Macs The MacCon+30i, an Ethernet card for the Mac Ilsi, is described by Asante as the smallest Ethernet card for any Mac. The card fits in the machine's Direct Slot 030 bus, eliminating the need for an extender card. You have a choice of two versions oftheMacCon+ 30i: one with thick and thin ports, the other with thick and twisted- pair ports. The MacCon+30i is register-level compatible with Apple's EtherTalk card and uses a 32-bit data bus. An optional 64K-byte buffer is available. TheEN/SC external SCSI box provides Ethernet support for the Macintosh Classic. Its standard configuration in- cludes thick, thin, and twisted-pair connections, as well as two SCSI ports. You connect it to the Macintosh Classic's SCSI port. Price: MacCon+30i, $495; 64K-byte buffer, $50; EN/SC, $595. Contact: Asante Technol- ogies, Inc., 405 Tasman Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94089, (408) 734-4844; fax (408) 734-4864. Inquiry 1311. Automated Group Editing You can now use For- Comment Document Re- view Groupware on VAX/ VMS computers and on PCs connected to a Novell LAN. Access Technology's solution to workgroup documentation disarray, ForComment speeds up document review by automating inherent proce- dures previously managed by the author. ForComment automati- cally routes your document to selected reviewers. After the reviewers comment on-line, ForComment collates the comments and enters them into the document, letting every- one with access immediately see what other reviewers have said. The program maintains a record of the development of the document for an audit trail of the decisions that led to the finished product. In addition to working with such applications as WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, and WPS-Plus, For- Comment is compatible with leading E-mail systems, ac- cording to the manufacturer. Price: VAX/VMS and All- in-1 versions, $375 to $9900; basic PC LAN version for 10 users, $1295 ($100 for each user above that). Contact: Access Technol- ogy, Inc., 2 Natick Executive Park, Natick, MA 01760, (508) 655-9191; fax (508) 651-3788. Inquiry 1312. Asante 's MacCon +30i Ethernet card is small but reliable and easy to install. 50 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 "My Dolch 486™ is awesome. . ." "Hey, I now own the perfect portable that lets me get my work done anywhere. Not just a few files . . .everything I had on my desktop!" "Powerful? You bet! After I downloaded all my desktop stuff, on it's 200 MB HD, I still had plenty of room left and it screamed through everything at 11 MlPSr "My Dolch P. A.C. is setting new 'rules'. It's portable, fast and I still can add 4 full-size internal expansion cards* Wow!" "You have to see the brilliant display — I mean really see it. TFT'xs the latest color technology, that's fully VGA compatible." "Hey! Don't take my word for it. Experts like PC Magazine judged my Dolch P.A.C. to\ . . outclass all other portables' and picked Dolch three years in a row as Editors' Choice!" 1989 mm EDITORS- CHOI GE 1990 "Get a Dolch today, choose a 286™, 386SX™, 386DX™ or a 486™ like mine. . . clearly the best PC you can buy today, and it happens to have a handle. Get a lot more work done — where and when you want." Why Wait?. . .Call today. (800)538-7506 US; (800) 233-2077 CA In Canada call Laptech 1-800-561-4527 Dolch. ROAD-POWER FOR THE BEST OF US Dolch Computer Systems 372 Turquoise Street • Milpiras, CA 95035 • Tel: 408-957-6575 • Fax: 408-263-6305 ™ 286, 386SX, 386DX, and 486 arc registered trademarks of Intel Corporation Circle 76 on Reader Service Card The Joneses. VdlMl Checkout the benchmarks. When it j^S comes to speed, pure and simple, main- BBm frames are no longer the main attraction Introducing the Everex STEP 486/33 and STEP 486/25. Along with the STEP 486/5, they give you desktop perform- ance that was previously unheard of. There are two reasons. The first, of course, is the 486™chip.The other is AMMA™ Everex's proprietary Advanced Memory Management Architecture. STEP486/33 CRAY-X-MP/48 IBM 3083 34,000 Dhrystones (19.4 MIPS) 17.857 Dhrystones 16,666Dhrystones AMMA uses "write-back" cache technology instead of the "write-through" technologies used in most PC's. The write-back cache was developed for mainframes. Everex was the pioneer in developing it for the PC. And in doing so, opened a whole new dimension in desktop performance. With AMMA, you can write directly to the STEP 486's cache in nearly all cases. With write- through techniques, on the other hand, you lose most of the performance benefit of the cache. 'Inquiries from outside the U.S. call 415-498-1111. EVER for Excellence is a registered trademark and Everex, STEP STEP 486/j, AMMA and PDS are trademarks of Everex Systems, Inc.486 is a trademark of Intel Corp. And howto keep up with them. That's because write-through forces you to write to main memory much more often. And main memory is slower than the cache. This is especially important in 486 computing, where the CPU performs as many as four times the write operations as in 386. Which makes AMMA's write-back architecture, combined with the 486's embedded cache, a powerful combination indeed. But the STEP 486 machines give you more than just speed. They come with Programmable Drive Select. If your drive isn't listed on the set- up table, PDS™lets you custom-configure the BIOS. It's good for virtually any hard drive. What's more, all STEP systems come with a one- year extendable warranty and a one year renewable on-site service contract that also covers all Everex peripherals in the system. To find out more, call 1-800-368-STEP* for the name of your nearest Authorized Everex Reseller- every one a high performance expert Then you can let the Joneses try keeping up for a change. £VFrt lor Excellence' © 1990 Everex Systems, Inc. For more inf onnation on how the above benchmarks were derived, please write the Everex Performance Test Center.48431 Milmont Drive, Fremont, CA 94538. Circle 80 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW MJMMMiHB A Miniature Modem Available for PC or Mac- intosh use, the Practical Peripherals Pocket Modem operates at 2400 bps in a credit-card-size box. It is compatible with the Hayes 2400 Smartmodem and in- cludes an automatic answer mode and pulse or Touch- Tone dialing. The PC version, which doesn't require batteries or a power supply, plugs into your PC s serial port. It weighs 4 ounces and mea- sures 2 X A by 3 by 3 A inches. The Macintosh version re- quires a 9-V battery adapter. It includes cables and a com- munications software package. Price: PC version, $159; Mac version, $199. Contact: Practical Periph- erals, 3 1245 La Baya Dr., Westlake Vilage, CA 91362, (818) 706-0333; fax (818) 706-2474. Inquiry 1313. Next, DoveFax DoveFax Next lets you transmit and receive fax text and graphics using your Next computer. With the op- tional OCR Servant Software The credit-card-size, 2400-bps Modem accepts pulse or Touch- Practical Peripherals Pocket Tone dialing. from HSD Microcomputer U.S., you can also edit re- ceived faxes on-screen. Com- patible with all Next ma- chines, DoveFax Next runs at 9600-bps fax speed and 2400 bps for the data modem. Once the DoveFax Next modem is connected to your Next system, you can fax any document that you can print. Since PostScript is used in imaging the pages, the faxes you send are clearer than or- dinary fax transmissions, ac- cording to Dove. Features in- clude automatic answering and redialing capabilities. Price: Basic unit, $499; with OCR Servant Software, $899. Contact: Dove Computer Corp., 1200 North 23rd St., Wilmington, NC 28405, (800) 622-7627 or (919) 763- 7918; fax (919) 251-9441. Inquiry 1314. SCSI Bus Extender A fiber-optic modem that connects directly to stan- dard SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 in- terface adapters and periph- erals has been introduced by Applied Concepts. The Lazer Link II SCSI Bus Extender lets you increase the working distance of your SCSI bus in- terface from the present maxi- mum of 19 feet to 3000 feet. It supports 5-MBps data trans- fer rates in asynchronous and synchronous modes. Price: $950. Contact: Applied Concepts, Inc. , 5350-H Eastgate Mall, San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 453-0090; fax (619) 453-6715. Inquiry 1315. A Plug-in Line Sharer The Easy-Connect Line Sharer from VSI lets you connect a fax, a phone, and answering machine to an ordi- nary phone line without any prewiring. An electronic cir- cuit detects when other phones on the same line go off- hook and responds to their remote Touch-Tone or dial commands. A microproces- sor controller provides such features as voice alert, hold, line request, and interna- tional ring count. Price: $159.95. Contact: VSI Telecommuni- cations, Inc., 9329 Douglas Dr., Riverside, CA 92503, (800) 999-8232 or (714) 687- 2492; fax (800) 444-8232 or (714)687-2513. Inquiry 1316. The Lazer Link II lets you place your SCSI-linked peripherals up to 3000 feet from your controller. A Small but Mighty UPS An off-line power system compatible with Novell, 3Com, Banyan, SCO Xenix, Apple, Convergent, and Prime networks has been intro- duced by Upsonic. The PC Might 35 provides up to 20 minutes of battery backup power during a power surge, spike, line noise, or blackout. With a rating of 350 V, the PC Might 35 has a mainte- nance-free battery, overcur- rent protector, overload and short-circuit protector, and line filtering. It weighs 13 7 / l0 pounds and measures 5 9 / by 3% by 12 inches. Price: $275. Contact: Upsonic, 1 Park Plaza, Suite 600, Irvine, CA 92714, (800) 877-6642 or (714) 833-7161; fax (714) 833-7164. Inquiry 1317. 54 B Y T E • FEBRUARY 1991 IDEK- THE FIRST COMPLETE FAMILY OF FST COLOR MONITORS IDEKs MULTIFLAT Series of 21-Inch Color Monitors IDEK's MULTIFLAT Series of 21-inch Color Monitors take full advantage of the remarkable properties of their Flat Square Tubes (FST) to deliver superior resolution and a sharper Image that is easier on your eyes. A glimpse at our 21" Color Monitors reveals their matchless over- scanning capability that delivers a crisp, distortion-free display across the entire screen. In addition, Automatic Frequency Scanning realizes outstanding performance for business graphics, CAD/ CAM applications as well as desk top publishing on your Mac or IBM compatible system. As you can see below, whether your requirements are simple or complex, IDEK has the Flat Screen Color Monitor that's just right for you. And priced right, too! See for yourself what a difference a Flat Screen Monitor from IDEK can make. MULTIFLAT Series (21" Flat CRT Monitors) Model H. Frequency Dot Resolution MF-5021 15 to 38kHz 0.31 1024 x 768 MF-5121 21 to 50kHz 0.31 1024 x 768 MF-5221 30 to 80kHz 0.31 1280^1280 MF-5321 (A.R.Panel) 30 to 80kHz 0.31 1280 x 1280 MF-5421 (A.R.Panel) 30 to 80kHz 0.26 1600x1280 IDEK also offers its new Model MF-5H7 17" Flat Screen Color Monitor that delivers the same superior resolution and performance as the other members of the IDEK lineup. KY&ma IIYAMA ELECTRIC CO., LTD. Overseas Division 7th FL, US Hanzomon Bldg., 2-13, Hayabusa-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102, Japan Phone: (81) 03-3265-6081 Fax: (81) 03-3265-6083 IDEK Europe (Germany) Neumannstrasse 38, 6000 Frankfurt a.M. 50, West Germany Phone: (49) 69-521 922 Fax: (49) 69-521 927 IDEK North America Inc 650 Louis Drive, Suite 120, Warminster, PA 18974 U.S.A. Phone: (1) 215-957-6543 Fax: (1) 215-957-6551 Circle 100 on Reader Service Card ier system can be a real challenge. That's where we come in. We have the knowledge, experience and the best value packed computer systems available. So, pick up the phone and check us out. Ask us about our quality Our service. And especially our prices. You'll like what you hear. Let's Talk Features. Then ask us about our new 386/25 and 386/33 systems. The list of standard features includes the latest that high technology has to offer. Like a 128 KB memory cache for the 386/25 and the 386/33, both expandable to 256 KB. Then there's the integrated VGA controller supporting 1024 x 768 resolution, with 256 vibrant colors and a 50% performance increase all made possible by 1 MB of 32-bit video memory Plus support for interlaced and non-interlaced monitors. When it comes to features, we set the standard. Compare Our New High Performance 386 Cache Systems. □ 128K cache memory expandable to 256K □ 4MB of 32-bit high speed memory (Expandable to 16MB on-board) □ High performance 1024 x 768 VGA with 256 colors including 1MB of 32-bit video memory □ 14" Super Hi-Res. 28mm dot pitch VGA color monitor with tilt/swivel base □ lOOMB 17ms IDE hard drive with 64K "look-ahead" cache buffer □ 1.2MB 5.25" and 1.44MB 3.5" floppy drives □ 1 parallel and 2 serial ports □ 101-key enhanced keyboard □ MS DOS 4.01 □ Microsoft Windows 3.0 □ Hi-Resolution mouse Free one year on-site service 386^33 With Cache 386 25 With Cache $2895 $2595 How About Flexibility? No one can beat our flexibility either. An integrated floppy controller and hard disk interface that support up to three floppy drives and two hard drives. Up to 16 MB of RAM on board using the new industry standard 32-bit memory modules leave all six expansion slots available. 2^ All of these fully-loaded systems include: □ 2MB of 32-bit high speed memory (Expandable to 8MB on-board) □ High performance 1024 x 768 VGA with 256 colors including 1MB of 32-bit video memory □ 14" Super Hi-Res .28mm dot pitch VGA color monitor with tilt/swivel base □ 40MB IDE Hard Disk Drive □ 1.2MB 5.25" & 1.44MB 3.5" floppy drives □ 1 parallel and 2 serial ports □ 101-key enhanced keyboard □ MS DOS 4.01 □ Microsoft Windows 3.0 & Hi-Res mouse □ Free one year on-site service 386TSX-16 Only $1795.00 386TSX-20 Only $1895.00 Our small footprint chassis includes both 5.25 " and 3.5 " floppy drives and 1 parallel and 2 serial ports. And consider this feature, our new 386/25 and 386/33 systems come standard with 5 drive bays to hold up to one additional floppy drive or tape backup and 2 hard drives. So, we can help you add on and update to your heart's content. We're Made In The US A Since 1984 our R&D center has been designing our products, and all system boards are manufactured right here in the U.S. The latest surface mount and VLSI technology is utilized for the ultimate in product reliability and space saving design. If it's performance and quality you seek, we're the standard to beat. Shown with optional tape drive. 386 is a trademark of Intel Corporation. We Stand Behind Uur Systems And Our Customers. At Standard Computer, we manufacture everything from high performance 486™ and 386™ systems to low cost 386/SX and 286 systems. And our total customer satisfaction program begins with a 30 day money-back guarantee. If you're dissatisfied, simply return your system within 30 days for a full refund. No questions asked. You're also covered by our complete one-year parts and labor warranty And when you have a question, just call our customer service hotline. It's available to you toll-free for as long as you own your system. If you need help, we'll see that you get it. If you need a part, we'll express ship it. We'll even include one year of on-site service at no extra charge. We provide you with a complete system. Ready to use the minute you open the carton. Everything is loaded, 800/662-6111 tested, burned in, and ready to go. And, to help you easily handle the new multi-tasking, multi-screen programs, we preload MS DOS 4.01 and Microsoft Windows 3.0, and then throw in a high resolution mouse to boot. How's that for commitment! Value That's Easy To Afiford. We make it easy to own and use our products. Our Standard urchasing programs are designed to fit your needs. Qualified company purchase orders, personal checks and most major credit cards are accepted. So, go ahead. Call us. Right now. Find out why we take so much pride in our exceptional products and services. Why our repeat ▼ customer rate is one of the highest in our industry. And why our product reliability is so good. For us, it's just the Standard thing. STANDARD COMPUTER 12803 Schabarum Avenue, Irwindale, CA 91706, phone: 818/3377711, FAX 818/3372626. Circle 215 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE PROGRAMM C++ and C on Unix Saber's dual C++ and C language development system is designed for pro- grammers looking to make an incremental transition to ob- ject programming. Saber-C+H- supports both languages in one integrated environment. It includes a C++ interpreter for prototyping and run-time error checking, plus class, cross-reference, and data browsers. An interactive workspace lets you enter C++ and C code, evaluating and testing functions as you code them. Saber-C+H- works with stan- dard Unix programming tools such as make, vi, and emacs, letting you develop C++ pro- grams without leaving the Sa- ber-C++ environment. Saber-C++ runs on Sun, DEC, and Hewlett-Packard Unix workstations. Price: $3995. Contact: Saber Software, Inc., 185 Alewife Brook Pkwy. , Cambridge, MA 02138, (617) 876-7636; fax (617)547-9011. Inquiry 1271. Four Tools from WallSoft WallSoft Systems, known for its line of automated development tools, has new products for C, dBASE, Clipper, and BASIC programmers. The company has updated its UI2 Developer's Release and UI2 Touch & Go tem- plate-driven application gener- ator. The program can now generate code that's optimized for Clipper 5.0, including <rtlo»<fcd& circlet eurer SftirMjulHi/diunr-trc. surec a/B*M«hlf»//Atr3ih*fcM »ur« © Melt. diyj/.Wt*f«iwic» > omet ft ttKVftchifilMtrHihrtc • < Htree tS /nriflJK*B.'i//dn,'Hfcrf c • « I fJ lottrce & irtttAKbUiri&Kiibm • • S .'nrH Khl'iMn tubei c . • Q AKt/Tichift/ZdiTftiitirtet t rr^ ;w^, fCTWfi iB^t iffCT ii«!!«ii*:;rjHi!mir!ffi.^ *1*m Sh ipet in Or«Sh«f.e <1js»ll«t«igt»r 'V.ni() A llttltntfe- Httuntiirl} fc—rM Dr*i>jtlrSh»(ic: bounce ' ; -"• voW Sh*ptliM.:»riV«mrO r EE3EH23I' 1 1 Pi nufeli ^=» — Oi-oMtiloSlJIJe— ^^ Iiar-t4tM|l« j Closed CImim MmiMtSU CJrtfr 1 D Or»«MttrSh»(Hf | loil/rua inn Im» Cl4i Moul) r .-.-l-utar 0™r»WtS»U|w<P«W»leplr«) I ,:,;:;::;:;: , ; ! '-^:::v':;; A 1 T : t'rcrirctrd Saber's C++ environment lets you use standard Unix tools for development in one integrated environment. The Source Panel at top right provides interactive debugging of C++ and C code. arrays, code blocks, nested GETs, and static and local variables. UI2 supports dBASE IV 1 . 1 and the windowing and mouse capabilities of FoxPro. UI2 for C lets you build scrolling browse boxes, re- ports, memo fields, rela- tional data handling, scrolling lookup windows, and other features into your C applica- tion without writing any code, the company says. UI2 for C is bundled with A11C, Village Software's C template system. By turning on UI2's multiuser switch, A11C gener- ates multiuser code automati- cally. UI2 for C runs on DOS- based platforms. It also includes Sequiter's CodeBase 4.2, a multiuser C library, for handling dBASE data and index files. With BasicAge (developed by Omicron for WallSoft), you can generate Microsoft BASIC 7.0 and 7. 1 code for pull-down menus, stackable windows, reports, and other functions. Version 1.5 of the Docu- mentor, which makes sense of dBASE code, produces out- put detailing system structure and logic flow. It supports all the commands and functions found in dBASE IV and FoxPro. Price: UI2 for C, $695; BasicAge, $595; UI2 Develop- er's Edition, $595; Docu- mentor, $295. If you already have UI2, two C templates are $299. Contact: WallSoft Systems, 233 Broadway, Suite 869, New York, NY 10279, (800) 233- 3569 or (212) 406-7026; fax (212)693-0979. Inquiry 1272. C + + for Unix/386 Computer Innovations' C++ for Unix System V-based 386/486 systems contains both Super-C and ob- ject features of the C++ lan- guage. Super-C extensions in- clude default function arguments, in-line methods and functions, type-safe link- age, and call by reference or value, the company reports. Object features of C++ in- clude class/method organiza- tion, overloaded operators, inheritance, polymorphism, constructors and destructors, and virtual functions. It also has standard C++ class li- braries for streams and com- plex arithmetic. The program works with the company's Debug-2000 full-screen, multiwindow, source-level debugger. Price: $495. Contact: Computer Innova- tions, Inc., 980 Shrewsbury Ave., Tinton Falls, NJ 07724,(201)542-5920. Inquiry 1273. Smalltalk for Windows Digital k's new Windows version of its Small- talk/V programming lan- guage combines a prototype- to-delivery development style while integrating with the host Windows 3.0 envi- ronment. The environment simplifies the complex maze of subsystems in graphical environments such as the Macintosh, OS/2 Presenta- tion Manager, and Win- dows, Digitalk says. You can use browsers, inspectors, and push-button debuggers to navigate Smalltalk/V code and the Windows envi- ronment. The interface to Dynamic Data Exchange lets you share information be- tween Smalltalk/V and other programs, while dy- namic link libraries provide a way to call applications outside Smalltalk/V. The Smalltalk/V Windows source code is compatible with the Smalltalk/V PM environment, allowing you to choose either system as a development platform and deliver applications for both . Price: $499.95. Contact: Digitalk, Inc., 9841 AirportBlvd.,Los An- geles, CA90045, (213) 645- 1082; fax (213) 645-1306. Inquiry 1274. 58 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 Instant workstation. Just Add Open desktop. Take a look at the vast majority of graphical workstations developed over the past decade and you'll see something they all have in common: An integrated UNIX® System environment. Now take a look at the vast majority of businesses that have put computing power directly onto their office desktops over the past decade, andyouil see something they all have in common: Industry-standard personal computers. It doesn't take a computer to forecast the platform that's going to put graphical workstations on the vast majority of business and engineering desktops in the next decade: An integrated UNIX System environment for industry-standard personal computers. And that's what Open Desktop™ is all about. Open Desktop is the complete graphical operating system that's built on the most popular UNIX System platform of all time— SCO". And it lets you create your own networked, icon-driven workstation environment using the industry- standard 386 or 486 computers and peripherals of your choice. i n a single, easy-to-use, fully supported— and completely integrated— package, Open Desktop delivers: • the full 32-bit, multitasking computing power of SCO UNIX System V/386 • compliance with POSIX™ and X/Open® standards • an OSR / Motif™-based, Presentation Manager-compatible, graphical user interface • distributed SQL database management services • compatibility with existing DOS, XENIX®, and UNIX System applications and data files • NFS™, TCP/IP, and LAN Manager networking facilities And all at an unbelievably affordable price. Discover the complete graphical operating system that leading companies worldwide are choosing as their devel- opment platform for the '90s— and using to turn their 386 and 486 PCs into instant workstations today. Open Desktop from SCO. r-|||| OPEN ^JJ.DESKTOR The Complete Graphical Ofiemling System SEE US AT UNIFORUM, BOOTH # 1005! SCO THE SANTA CRUZ OPERATION For more information, call SCO today and ask for ext. 8400 (800) SCO-UNIX (726-8649) (408) 425-7222 FAX: (408) 458-4227 E-MAIL: . . . !uunet!sco!info info@sco.COM SCO, llit SCO Iokk, Open Desktop, and Ihi' Open Desktop logo art trademarks of TheSant;t Cruz Operation, Inc. UNIX is a rcgisteri-d trademark of AT&T in the I'SA and otlitrcounlries. POSIX is a tradeniarkofl'he Insliluteof Electrical and Electronics Engineers (I EEE). X/Open is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Ud. OSF/Motif is a trademark of The Open Software Foundation. Inc. X UNIX is a registered trademark of MicrosoflCorporation. NFS is a trademark of Sou Microsystems, Inc. I0/K9 ©l')S9 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The- Santa Cru7, Operation. Inc.. 400 Encinal Street, P.O. liox 1900, Santa Cruz, California 9S0dl USA The Santa Cru/.Operatlon, Ud„ Crox ley Centre'. Matters Lane, Watford WDI KYN, (ireat Hritain, +ii (OW2.4 KI6.V14, FAX: +•<■< WHS KI77KI. TIIEX: 917372 SCOHM <i Circle 203 on Reader Service Card Nowyou can afford to • Suggested U.S. list price. For Macintosh interf ace,add $125. © 1990 Hewlett-Packard Company PE12033 show your true colors. No longer does your world have to be black and white. With millions of different color shades produced by high-quality inkjet tech- nology, the HP PaintJet printer family makes it easy for you to look brilliant. Better yet, it doesn't take much green to get this kind of color. Only $1,395* for the PaintJet. Or for even faster printing, larger formats, and more font capabilities, only $2,495* for the PaintJet XL. Of course, HP Paint Jets are DOS and Macintosh compatible. Work with all your favorite graphics soft- ware. And print on trans- parencies as well as paper. So call 1-800-752-0900, Ext. 1632 for your nearest authorized HP dealer. And get a firsthand demonstra- tion of what the PaintJet family can do for your business communications. You'll be surprised how high you can fly with color. ra HEWLETT PACKARD WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE • CAD AND GRAPHICS Drive Your Business by the Dashboard In the business world, you need up-to-the-minute re- ports. However, with so many incompatible systems and programs, getting this instant information can be dif- ficult. Channel Computing's Windows and NewWave ver- sions of its executive infor- mation system Forest & Trees lets you monitor the vital signs of your business or de- partments. Forest & Trees, also available in a DOS ver- sion, resides on an IBM PC and collects data from spread- sheets, local and LAN data- bases, minicomputers, and mainframes, combining data into useful information, the company says. The program presents information and moni- tors vital signs as frequently as you wish— minute by min- ute, hourly, quarterly, or longer— and provides an elec- tronic dashboard that visual- ly alerts you when a defined condition is met. Forest & Trees presents 12 main views, each of which can have more information un- derneath. You can build data- base queries in Structured Query Language commands and display information in graphs, reports, or a history of past query results. The standard version in- cludes interfaces to dBASE, R:base, Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, Paradox, and DataEase. Op- tional interfaces for SQL Server and SQLBase, Oracle, DB2, and ASCII flat files are also available. It runs over Novell, 3Com, Banyan Vines, and other LANs. Price: Windows versions, $495; NewWave version, $595; SQL Server and SQLBase in- terfaces, $1250 each; Oracle and IBM AS/400 interfaces, $2995. Contact: Channel Comput- With Forest & Trees, you can monitor the vital signs of your business without relying on MIS involvement. ing, Inc., 53 Main St., New- market, NH 03857, (800) 289-0053 or (603) 659-2832; fax (603) 659-7590. Inquiry 1275. Spreadsheet Optimizer Evolves to Excel Evolver, the program that does what-if analysis to the max, is now available for Microsoft Excel on the Macin- tosh and Windows, in addi- tion to the original version for Informix's WingZ. Instead of you doing all the work in trying different what-if sce- narios, Evolver does it for you, working in the background on your spreadsheets to opti- mize a value in a given cell. You enter the cells Evolver is allowed to adjust, as well as the cell Evolver should mini- mize or maximize, and iden- tify constraints. Evolver does the rest. You can add any num- ber of constraints and give them different priorities. Evolver can optimize spread- sheets with linear, nonlinear, and stochastic (random) functions, Axcelis says. Price: $145. Contact: Axcelis, Inc., 1406 Western Ave., Seattle, WA 98101, (800) 292-3547 or (206) 624-2446. Inquiry 1276. Three Business Analysis Programs Business Resource Soft- ware designed its expert system to help you assess the potential risks and rewards of your business ideas. The knowledge base and rules in Business Insight, which runs on the IBM PC, are based on the years of experience of the company's founders, as well as research on launching new businesses and product lines, the company says. Business Insight starts by asking a series of questions about the proposed business. Using the responses to these questions, the program be- gins to build a financial model of the business and reports on how likely the business is to succeed or fail. A spread- sheet lets you build business projections. The program will also let you do what-if analysis, comparing results of different pricing and mar- keting schemes. Hundreds of questions deal with such issues as the current state of the proposed market, pricing and marketing strategies, market life cycle, and competitors. The program offers direct criticism, which can be an ad- vantage because you expose plans to the program in private and needn't fear brutal pub- lic comment about any failings they might have. Price: $495. Contact: Business Resource Software, 2013 Wells Branch Pkwy., Suite 305, Austin, TX 78728, (800) 423-1228 or (512) 251-7541. Inquiry 1277. Business Profiles 1.4, a program for financial and insurance professionals who need to analyze business strat- egies and financial goals for their business-owning clients, can now export data from any of its 10 modules to Har- vard Graphics. Each module is designed to maximize busi- ness performance in a partic- ular area such as key financial ratios, valuation, continua- tion, owner's retirement in- come, key employee valua- tion, or business priorities and concerns. Price: $1495. Contact: Financial Profiles, Inc., 5964 La Place Court, Suite 100, Carlsbad, CA 92008, (800) 237-6335, (800) 822-8302 in CA, or (619) 431-9400; fax (619) 431-9497. Inquiry 1278. Automate Your Business Plan, for the IBM PC, takes the approach developed in the book Anatomy of a Business Plan and combines it with a text editor and spreadsheet program with predefined planning outlines, spreadsheets, templates, and instructions. Its developer says the program automates many of the steps necessary for de- veloping a business plan. With the spreadsheet, you can perform budgeting and fi- nancial analysis. Price: $79; book and soft- ware, $95. Contact: Out of Your Mind . . . and Into the Marketplace, 13381 White Sand Dr., Tus- tin, CA 92680, (714) 544-0248. Inquiry 1279. 62 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 Buy BORLAND'S Best at _^ _, © URBO PASCAL Turbo Pascal® takes you easily from inspiration to application. Turbo Pascal 6.0 with Turbo Vision represents a break- through in Pascal program- ming, in object-oriented programming, and in pro- gramming for DOS. Turbo Vision is the first object- oriented application frame- work for DOS, bringing home the power of OOP, and allowing programmers to easily develop sophisticated applications with advanced user interfaces. Turbo Pascal 6.0 is just as significant today as Turbo Pascal 1 .0 was in 1 983. And just as version 1 .0 helped spearhead the popularity of structured programming, Turbo Pascal 6.0 with Turbo Vision will lead the way in OOP. © © Turbo Pascal 6.0 Turbo Pascal Pro 6.0 $ 99 $199 ARADOX Paradox 3.5 brings new levels of power, performance and connectiv- ity to Paradox-the #1 rated PC relational database. Paradox,® provides immedi- ate database power. VROOMM™ with Turbo Drive™ makes Paradox faster, more powerful and easier to use than any other PC database. And Paradox is the ideal front end in SQL client/server applications. It allows you to ask complex, ad hoc questions about your data without the need for programming. Contains PAL, a full-featured development language. Excellent network capabilities. Paradox 3.5 $549 TRY IT! GET A FREE 3-disk trial program that you can use to run queries; create forms, reports, and graphs; and solve real bus- iness problems with the data provided. Call today! While supplies last. URBO C++ TURBO C TURBO C Borland's new Turbo C++ supports the de facto industry standard for object-oriented programming (OOP) in C; AT&T's C++ 2.0 specification. Turbo C++ is the first Turbo-charged native code compiler and also compiles your existing ANSI C code. The new Programmer's Platform allows you to integrate the tools of your choice. Its user interface has multiple overlapping win- dows and mouse support. You can also take advantage of VROOMM, Virtual Runtime Object-Oriented Memory Manager, to write programs that break the 640K barrier. Turbo C++ $139 Turbo C++ Professional $205 800-445-7899 FAX: (908) 389-9227 BORLAND'S Best Sellers in Stock at Great Prices! LIST OURS Paradox 3.5 795 549 Paradox Engine (C Version) 495 349 Quattro Professional 2.0 495 329 Turbo C 99 69 Turbo C++ 200 139 Turbo C++ Professional 300 205 Turbo Debugger & Tools 2.0 1 50 1 05 Turbo Pascal 6.0 1 50 99 Turbo Pascal Professional 6.0 300 1 99 COMPETITIVE UPGRADES SPECIAL 162 95 139 Paradox 3.5 Quattro Pro 2.0 Turbo C++ Professional * Prices are subject to change without notice. ♦ All brand/product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. ♦ UPGRADES: Proof-of -ownership required: original disk or manual page; while supplies last. Programmer's Paradise ® • •• We'll Beat The Competition's Advertised Prices LIST OURS 386 CONTROL PROGRAMS DESQview 386 w/QEMM 220 169 Microsoft Windows 3.0 150 99 VM/386 245 209 VM/386 Multiuser 895 839 VM/386 Multiuser Starter 395 339 386 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS 386 ASM/LinkLoc 1295 1159 386/DOS Extender 495 439 C Windows Toolkit/386 200 179 C-Terp 386 398 315 Lahey F77L-EM/32 (w/ OS/386) 1290 1035 MetaWare High C 386 895 849 Novell C Network Compiler/386 995 799 PC-lint 386 239 179 WATCOM C 8.0/386 Prof. 1295 1099 w/ 386/DOS Extender 1790 1399 WATCOM C 8.0/386 Standard 895 719 WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386 1095 CALL Zortech C++ 386 995 849 ADA Academic InteerAda Ada Scope Debugger 249 225 495 445 Ada Training Environment 895 805 Adagraphics 695 629 IntegrAda 795 719 Meridian Ada Developer's Kit 1195 1095 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE Advantage Disassembler 295 279 ASMFIow Professional 200 179 MS Macro Assembler 150 105 OPTASM 150 129 Resource 150 129 Sourcer w/ Pre-Processor 170 149 SpontaneousAssembly 395 189 Turbo Debugger & Tools 150 105 Visible Computer: 80286 100 89 BASIC COMPILERS MS BASIC Prof. Devel. System 495 349 Power Basic 1 29 89 QuickBASIC 99 69 BASIC LIBS/UTILITIES GraphPak Professional 1 49 1 29 P.D.Q. 129 115 ProBas 159 149 ProBas Toolkit 99 94 QBase 149 125 QuickComm 1 49 119 QuickPak Professional 169 149 QuickWindows Advanced 149 119 C COMPILERS Lattice C 6.0 250 155 Microsoft C 6.0 495 339 w/Objective-C 699 539 MS QuickC 2.5 99 69 MS QuickC w/QuickAssemblcr 199 139 Turbo C 2.0 99 69 WATCOM C 8.0 Professional 495 419 WATCOM C 8.0 Standard 395 335 C++ C++/Views Data++Windows NDP C++ Rogue Wnve Math.h++ Rogue Wave Tools. h++ Turbo C++ Turbo C++ Professional Competitive Upgrade Zinc Library Zortech C++ Zortech C++ Database Zortech C++ Developer's Edition Zortech C++ Video Course C-COMMUNICATIONS Breakout II C Asynch Manager 3.0 C Communications Toolkit Essential Communications Greenleaf CommLib Greenleaf ViewComm SilverComm "C" Async Library View-232 C-FILE MANAGEMENT AccSys fordBASE or Paradox Btrieve Devel. System Codebase IV c-tree Plus dBC III Plus db.FILE Bundle Essential B-Tree w/ source Paradox Engine The Toolbox - Prof. Edition The Toolbox - Special C-GENERAL LIBRARIES C Function Library C TOOLS PLUS/6.0 C Utility Library Greenleaf Functions Greenleaf SuperFunctions Turbo C TOOLS/2.0 C SCREENS C-Worthy Greenleaf Data Windows Vermont Views Vitamin C VC Screen C-UTILITIES/OTHER Bar Code Library "C" EMM Library Clear for C C Shroud GrafPrint Plus Developer's License Heap Expander MKS LEX & YACC Objectivc-C PC-lint PCYACC Professional TimeSlicer 495 419 189 169 495 479 200 179 200 179 200 139 300 205 150 139 200 179 200 165 300 255 450 399 500 449 249 189 189 139 150 129 329 259 359 287 399 319 249 209 189 149 395 349 595 449 295 219 595 475 500 439 295 249 198 149 495 349 1295 1035 795 635 99 79 149 109 249 199 229 179 299 239 149 109 399 CALL 395 315 495 395 395 289 149 125 389 319 149 119 200 169 198 149 150 119 300 239 80 70 249 197 249 225 139 105 495 459 295 279 CASE TOOLS EasyCASE Plus Professional Pack Personal CASE COBOL LANGUAGE Micro Focus: COB0172 w/ Toolset Personal COBOL MS COBOL Realia COBOL DATABASE DEVELOPMEN Clarion 2.1 Clipper 5.0 Data Junction Advanced dBASE IV dBFast/PLUS dGE Dr. Switch-ASE Facelt FlashTools! Flipper Force 2.1 FoxPro FUNCKy Library R&R Code Generator R&R Report Writer Say What?! SilverComm "C" Interface SilverComm Library 2.0 The Documentor Tom Rettig's Library UI2 Version 2 DEBUGGERS (DOS) MultiScope Periscope Debuggers Trapper w/ optional cable Turbo Debugger & Tools DOCUMENTING/ FLOWCHARTING allCLEAR Clear for Cor dBASE C-Clearly Flowcharting 3 Interactive Easyflow Source Print Tree Diagrammer EDITORS BRIEF 3.0 EDT+ EMACS Epsilon KEDIT 4.0 MKSVi PI Editor Sage Professional Editor SLICK Editor Speed Edit SPF/PC SYNDIC VEDIT PLUS EMBEDDED SYSTEMS C6toPROM Link & Locate ++ Link & Locate ++ Extended FORTRAN LANGUAGE Grafmatic Lahey F77L Lahey Personal FORTRAN 77 MS FORTRAN Plotmatic GRAPHICS LIBRARIES Baby Driver Essential Graphics Font-Tools Graf/Drive Plus Developer's Graphic 5.0 GSS Graphics Devel. Toolkit GX Graphics HALO HALO Professional HALO Window Toolkit Icon-Tools/Plus Menuet MetaWindow MctaWindow Plus PCX Effects PCX Programmer's Toolkit PCX Text SilvcrPaint Slate w/graphics Turbo Geometry Library LINKERS/LIBRARIANS Overlay Toolkit Plink86+ Plink/LTO PolyLibrarian .RTLink .RTLink/Plus 295 265 395 355 199 179 1800 1499 149 129 900 629 995 849 ENI 895 539 795 521 299 269 795 495 345 295 295 249 180 149 99 90 89 79 195 169 695 589 795 489 195 179 150 129 150 129 50 39 99 89 249 209 295 245 100 80 595 479 179 139 CALL CALL 200 179 240 219 150 105 300 229 200 169 130 115 250 199 150 125 99 74 99 74 249 CALL 295 269 395 315 195 159 150 125 149 129 195 175 295 249 195 154 295 275 245 199 495 399 185 CALL 149 119 395 349 479 395 135 119 595 535 99 89 450 299 135 119 250 199 399 319 150 119 299 269 395 319 795 685 149 135 395 279 595 419 595 419 150 119 325 279 295 209 395 289 99 89 195 175 149 135 129 109 448 399 200 179 395 369 395 335 495 419 249 209 295 265 495 359 LIST OURS OBJECT-ORIENTED TOOLS Objective-C Smalltalk/V Smalltalk/V 286 OS/2 TOOLS Brief CASE:PM for C or C++ Epsilon MKS LEX & YACC MS OS/2 Pres. Manager Toolkit MultiScope for OS/2 PCYACC PI Editor Smalltalk/V PM Vitamin C (OS/2) Zortech C++ OS/2 Devel. Ed. PASCAL LANGUAGE Asynch PLUS B-tree Filer MS QuickPASCAL Object Professional Obejct Vision PowerTools PLUS/5.0 Topaz Topaz Multi-user Turbo Analyst TurboMAGIC Turbo Pascal 6.0 Turbo Pascal 6.0 Professional Turbo-Plus 5.5 Turbo Professional 5.0 SOURCE MAINTENANCE Cod an CodeCheck MKS Make MKSRCS MKS Software Mgmt. Team PolyMake PVCS Professional SMS Sourcerer's Apprentice: Personal Professional TLIB 5 Station LAN WINDOWS (MS) TOOLS Actor 3.0 Asymetrix Toolbook Bridge Toolkit Case:W C-Talk/Views DialogCoder Drover's Toolbox for Windows w/ source MS Windows Development Kit MultiScope for Windows ObjectGraphics ProtoView Resource Workshop Smalltalk V Windows Spinnaker Plus WindowsMAKER WinTrieve WNDX GUI Toolbox ULb 249 225 100 85 200 169 249 CALL 1995 1799 195 159 349 279 500 349 449 345 695 625 249 225 495 369 345 279 600 509 149 115 125 109 99 69 189 109 400 CALL 149 109 99 89 149 135 129 99 199 179 150 105 300 205 199 159 125 109 E 395 345 495 469 149 119 249 199 299 239 179 149 495 419 495 399 199 159 499 399 139 109 419 339 s 895 719 39S CALL 695 659 995 CALL 450 375 499 435 295 269 885 799 500 349 379 289 445 365 695 625 300 269 500 395 495 349 795 635 395 339 499 449 NEW RELEASES Smalltalk/V Windows by Digit alk Provides complete access to all Windows objects, including windows, menus, dialog boxes and scroll bars. Source code is portable to DOS, OS/2 and Mac versions of Smalltalk/V- Ability tocallanyDLL. Supports DDE. More than 150 classes and 3500 methods. List: $500 Ours: $395 ESIX System Vby ESI X Systems UNIX System 3.2 operating system with 100% SVVS and SVID conformance and XENIX binary compatibility. Includes TCP/IP, Sendmail, RFS, TLI, STREAMS, and kernal support for DOS under UNIX applications. 2-user List: $399 Ours: $349 Unlimited List: $665 Ours: $589 DERIVE, A Mathematical Assistant Version 2 Productivity tool for scientists, engineers, educators, and students. Intelligently uses the rules of algebra, trig., calculus, vector and matrices to solve a wide range of math problems. Over 200 functions and variables. List: $250 Ours: $219 Guaranteed Best Prices! (800) 445-7899 FAXcetera Want more product information on the items in the gold box to the right? Try F AXcetera!! Just pick up yourFAX phone and dial 201-389-8173. Enter the F AXcetera product code listed below each product description-information will be faxed back to you instantly! LIST OURS XENIX/UNIX BLAST Epsilon ESIX/386 (2 user) Unlimited ESIX/386 w/ Extensions Unlimited Informix Products Interactive Products MetaWare High C Microport Products MKS Trilogy Norton Utilities PI Editor RM/COBOL 85 SCO Products SVSC SVS FORTRAN SVS Pascal VEDIT PLUS Vermont Views Zortech C++ Compiler 495 195 399 665 595 825 395 169 349 589 535 745 CALL CALL CALL CALL 895 849 CALL CALL 119 105 295 235 349 319 2250 1895 CALL CALL 725 689 825 795 725 689 285 249 1795 1489 500 425 ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS APL'PLUS 695 549 Baler XE 795 579 DanBricklin'sDemoll 199 159 Dan Bricklin's Page Garden 100 69 dBx/dBPort 600 459 DR DOS 5.0 199 169 Guido 249 189 Lattice RPG 1600 1285 MKS AWK 99 79 Opt-Tech Sort/Merge 1 49 119 PC Scheme 95 79 Personal Rexx 150 139 APPLICATION SOFTWARE COMMUNICATIONS BLAST II 250 225 Carbon Copy Plus 199 129 Laplink III 150 99 PC Anywhere 111 145 99 Procomm Plus 99 63 SideTalk 120 99 DESKTOP PUBLISHING Adobe Products CALL CALL Corel Draw! 595 399 HALODPE 195 139 PageMaker 795 509 Ventura Publisher 895 589 MATHEMATICS Derive 250 219 MathCAD 495 315 Mathematica 386 695 625 Our Guarantee... > Products listed here are backed by the following guarantee*: Should you see one of these products listed at a lower price in another ad in this magazine, CALL US! We'll beat the price, and still offer our same quality service and support. Terms of Offer: • Offer good through February 28, 1991. • Applicable to pricing on current versions of software listed; Feb. issue prices only. • Offer does not apply towards obvious errors in competitors' ads. * Subject to same terms and conditions. SCIENCE & ENGINEERING AutoCAD Release 10 AutoSketch ChiWriter DADiSP Design CAD 3-D Drafix Windows CAD EXACT Generic CADD Level 3 LABTECH Acquire LABTECH Notebook MICRO-CAP III Oread PCB PC-MATLAB PC TEX SCHEMA III Systat w/ Sygraph TECH*GRAPH*PAD T 3 SPREADSHEETS Lotus 1-2-3 3.1 Microsoft Excel Quattro Professional SuperCalc5 UTILITIES 386MAX5.0 above DISC AboveMEM Blinker Bootcon Cache 86 Central Point Backup FASTBACK Plus Grasp 4.0 HeadRoom 2.0 Hijaak2.0 Hold Everything HyperPAD InfoSpotter MACE 1 990 MKS Toolkit MOVE'EM Norton Commander Norton Utilities 5.0 Paginate PC Tools Deluxe 6.0 Pizazz Plus PreCursor Sidekick Plus Sit Back SpinRite II Squish Plus Switch-It Tree 86 Turbo EMS 5.0 UpShot XTreePro Gold ZENO WORD PROCESSING Ami Microsoft Word for Windows WordPerfect 5.1 Programmer's Policies Phone Orders Hours Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-7 PM EST, Sat 9:30-2:30 EST. We accept MQVisa, AMEX. Domestic shipments, please add $5 per item for shipping/handling by UPS ground. For domestic COD shipments, please add $3. Rush service available. Mail or FAX Orders POs are welcome. Please include phone number. International Service Phone number required with order. Call or FAX for additional information. Dealers Welcome! Call for information. Corporate Accounts Calf CORSOFT, our corporate sales division at (800) 422-6507. Ask about volume purchase agreements. Returns Subject to $25 processing charge. * All prices subject to change without notice. 3000 CALL 150 95 150 129 895 759 400 292 695 CALL 475 380 350 289 195 179 995 799 1495 1269 1495 CALL 695 659 249 229 495 449 895 759 395 319 595 479 595 389 495 319 495 329 495 319 130 114 119 64 80 75 189 185 60 55 50 39 99 69 189 119 349 235 130 89 199 149 199 159 150 CALL 80 69 149 105 249 199 89 79 149 99 179 129 100 79 149 95 149 79 96 79 200 139 99 90 89 75 100 75 100 89 90 69 100 89 95 89 129 89 269 239 199 129 495 349 495 CALL Sourcerer's Apprentice Version Control for the Professional The company that brings you BRIEF now unleashes your programming creativity with Sourcerer's Apprentice. Sourcerer's Apprentice keeps track of all changes to code, who madethem, when, and why. Especially useful in networked, multi-developer programming environments, Sourcerer's Apprentice prevents simultaneous updates to the same files. Experimentation becomes risk-free because Sourcerer's Apprentice can always bring you back. Accessible from BRIEF with a single keystroke. _>. - Special Competitive Upgrade: $149 (Call for details.) ^DOlUtlOO List: $499 Ours: $399 VAXcetem #1271-0004 <Z>USt6niS Demo II v3. NEW VERSION!! Demo II v3.0 is the most effective way to communicate your program designs. Over 30,000 people worldwide use Demo ii to demonstrate commercial software to customers; produce tutorials that interactively teach products; prototype complex applications to communicate concepts effectively; and inexpensively create computer based training. New features include mouse support, text overlay on bitmap graphics, VGA support, extended-keyboard support, expanded and easier-to-use documentation, and functions and templates for IBM CUA prototyping. Is file compatible with previous versions of Demo II. List: $199 Ours: $159 ¥ AXcetera #1418-0010 SpontaneousAssembly bdSGtWO This professional assembly language library lets d E V E LO P M E NT you produce the fastest, tightest possible programs with the same ease you'd expect from a high level language. It includes an impressive collection of over 700 functions and macros for high-speed text windowing, heap management, array searching and sorting, critical error management, 32/64 bit integer math, and much more! Comprehensive 750+ page manual. Full source code. No royalties. Easy integration with C. "if you program inassembiy language, you gotta have SpontaneousAssembly.'' - Michael Abrash S O F T W A RE List: $395 Ours: $189 ¥ AXcetera #2614-0001 Lahey F77L-EM/32 (w/ OS/386) A fast and powerful 32-bit FORTRAN compiler that enables users to write and port programs as large as 96 Megabytes on 80386/486's. New version 4.0 includes Fortran 90 features: Allocatable arrays, CASE constructs, CYCLE and EXIT, Block Names, and many other new features. Package comes complete with Editor, Make Utility, Full 77 Standard support, VAX & IBM VS mainframe extensions, fast compilation, excellent diagnostics and a powerful debugger. New OS/386 includes virtual memory support, DESQview support, and free unlimited runtime licenses. List: $1,290 Ours: $1,035 ¥AXcttera§ 1476-0004 Lahey International: 201-389-9228 Customer Service: 201-389-9229 Fax: 201-389-9227 Corporate: 800-422-6507 Canada: 800-445-7899 ¥ AXcetera: 201 -389-81 73 Call or Write for Latest Free Catalog! 1-800-445-7899 A Division of Voyager Software Corp 1 1 63 Shrewsbury Ave., Shrewsbury, N] 0770'2> Circle 180 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE CAD AND GRAPHICS 3-D Wire-Frame, NURBS, Solids Under DOS Micro Cadam 3D pro- vides 3-D wire-frame, NURBS (nonuniform rela- tional B-spline) surfaces, solids, and parametric design in a single module on a 386- or i486-based machine running DOS. Multiple viewports let you see an object in top, front, isometric, or true view. By using the integrated 3-D display technology of Ithaca Software's HOOPS, Micro Cadam 3D can display shaded, high-definition images of surfaces and solids without requiring a separate rendering application, Cadam says. The program can organize individ- ual design components into an assembly so that you can separate the items. You can also create, use, and save 3-D details of a drawing. You can associate copies of the details and text with a master file. With these associations, changes to the master are re- flected in the detail drawings. Price: Micro Cadam Plus (required), $3900; Micro Cadam 3D, $1200. Contact: Cadam, 1935 North Buena Vista St. , Bur- bank, CA 91504, (818) 841- 9470; fax (818) 840-8428. Inquiry 1280. Integrated Site Planning for AutoCAD 1 1 The latest version of Landcadd 's modules for Site Planning & Landscape Design, Irrigation Design, Quadrangle, and Plant Speci- fier run on AutoCAD release 1 1 , providing a way to inte- grate all your third-party ap- plications on a network, the company says. New features to the modules include network Micro Cadam 3D lets you view this automobile fender comprising several 3-D splines in four different views, each of which is a shaded rendering of the object. compatibility, over 800 sym- bols, new Lisp routines, un- limited control points for creating a grid terrain model, and automatic elevation adjust- ments of blocks onto the ter- rain. The modules offer com- plete compatibility with any other AutoCAD applications from companies such as ASG and DCA. Landcadd can act as a link between products from other vendors. Features of release 1 1 include automatic layering without forcing a layering convention on you, open ACAD.LSP files, the ability to run the program from any drive or directory regardless of what the ACAD variable is set to, and the ability to use any type of unit. Price: Modules range from $295 to $995; complete set, $3695. Contact: Landcadd, Inc., 7519 East Highway 86, Frank- town, CO 80116, (303) 688- 8160; fax (303) 688-8178. Inquiry 1281. 3-D Conceptual Modeling on the Mac Alias developed Upfront for architects, interior de- signers, and facility planners who need a natural way to create 3-D drawings during the concept phase of design. The program can export drawings to the Clipboard or in DXF, PICT II, bit-map, EPS, or Excel format. The program supports in- teractive 3-D perspective sketching and drawing. It in- cludes automatic shading in full color with hidden-sur- face removal. You can also use Upfront to view shadows as they would fall on a building. You can program the sun to appear as it would in real life. Upfront runs on any Mac- intosh with 1 MB of RAM. Price: $895. Contact: Alias Research, Inc., 110 Richmond St. E, Toronto, Canada M5C 1P1, (416) 362-9181; fax (416) 362-0630. Inquiry 1282. A perspective view created in Landcadd' s Site Planning & Landscape Design module. Take a Walk in Your Computer Bechtel has ported its Walkthru design anima- tion program to Silicon Graphics' Iris Vision board, bringing real-time animation technology from high-end Unix workstations to the IBM PC. With Walkthru, you can view 3-D computer models as if you were inside them, viewing shaded images and moving through the model. The program can simulate head and body movement and the operation of objects in the model, and, when used with equipment from StereoGraph- ics, can produce images with full-depth perception. The program requires an Iris Vision 24-bit graphics board on the IBM PC. Walk- thru is also available for the IBM RISC System/6000 and Silicon Graphics' Iris 4D. Price: $3995. Contact: Bechtel Software, Inc., 289 Great Rd., Acton, MA 01720, (508)635-0580. Inquiry 1283. 66 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 WHAT MAKES A BEST SELLER A BEST SELLER? A great plot begins witha great idea, easily translated through every phase oj design with Generic CADD 5.0. QPBMTFffli 6WW OPEflHTOfi ADJUSTMENTS Suction Cuoi .( Horn* pwMon Exchange your DXF files with other CAD systems or insert designs into desktop publishing programs to create technical illustrations. No matter the complexity, symbols keep your workjlowing uninter- rupted. Tap our professional libraries or create your own symbols. t^^TfW*™* 11 Need to fit a conventional design in a nonconventional space? Revise and improvise in less time with Generic CADD's one-stop convenience. ili A GREAT PLOT. v»°° Ask any of over 250,000 users of Generic CADD™ They've discovered CADD that's powerful without being complicated. And professional without being pricey. Our latest version, Generic CADD 5.0, is just $395. It's a complete i world j, design anc j drafting program backed by a support team that's drawing | ;■" j rave reviews. Call us at 1-800-228-3601 for our free full-color CADDalog® and portfolio of CADD drawings. You'll see every plot has a great ending. INFO I iA/ORLDL V BEST IN ITS CLASS Vlay SB. 1SSO - ^ •:,fji Generic S F T W A R E y An Autodesk Company IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER. © 1990 Generic Software. Inc.. 11911 North Creek Parkway South, Bothell, WA 98011, FAX 206-483-6969. Generic CADD is a trademark and CADDalog a registered trademark of Generic Software. Inc. Circle 88 on Reader Service Card CompuAdd *M 'Power User's Dream Machine" — PC Magazine, December 25, 1990 CompuAdcTs Hot Slots Boost 333T Performance PC Magazine picked the CompuAdd 333T as Editors' Choice in a December 25, 1990 review of 45 leading 33MHz 386 computers! "CompuAdd wins Editors' Choice for its superb combination of performance, expandability, and service. ... For the best value in an intelligently designed PC, CompuAdd is worth the investment." —PCMagazine, December 25, 1990 CompuAdd's innovative engineering design team produced the fastest 33MHz 386 computer you can buy — as measured by top scores on seven of nine PC Labs benchmarks, including the 386 Instruction Mix test. PC Magazine calls the CompuAdd 333T "a speed demon" and "a power user's dream machine. " Our engineers designed two of the system's 16-bit expansion slots to maximize perform- ance of the CompuAdd HardCache/ESDI controller card and CompuAdd Hi-Rez VGA card. We call them "hot slots." Each slot still works perfectly with a standard 16-bit ex- pansion card, should you choose that op- MAGAZINE EDITORS' CHOICE December 25, 1990 CompuAdd 333T fflESSSSHi 333 Monitor and Hard Drive Options MGA CVGA* 3331" 80MB 66658 - $3575 66659 -$4175 333T 200MB 66661-53975 66662- $4575 333IT 80MB 66667 - $3395 66668 - $3995 333IP 200MB 66670 - $3795 66671 -$4395 • Super VGA 1024x768 monitor with CompuAdd Hi-Rez VGA controller. tion. Plus CompuAdd designed the mother- board to take maximum advantage of the optional SRAM board. With the CompuAdd 333T or desktop 333 at the heart of your network, you'll have all the power, speed and expandability you need. Speed to keep your work flowing. ( G(T\Q P U f\M Power to run today's — and tomorrow's 32-bit software. Expandability to grow with your business. And the CompuAdd commitment to quality and service. 19 9 -FINALIST- PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence PCS CompuAdd 333 and 333T CompuAdd Corp. Addit hnal drives and monitor optional. Get Ahead with 386 Power. Stay Ahead with CompuAdd Value! Call 800-999-7103 Circle 52 on Reader Service Card Customer driven, by desiga Award-Winning Notebook! CompuAdd Companion™ $ 2895 Byte Award of Excellence, January 1991 CompuAdd Companion™ Exceeds Expectations "The critical test for any notebook computer is in the balance between size and processing power/' —PC Computing, December 1989 CompuAdd has what the editor expects in a portable computer. At 4.4 pounds and 1.4" thin, the new CompuAdd Companion notebook computer is what portables ought to be — light, slim and fully featured. "Storage media may be the biggest challenge for notebook computers/' The CompuAdd Companion sports a fast, built-in 20MB (23ms) hard disk drive. You'll never have to buy volatile, expensive, hard to find RAM disk memory cards. You'll have all the reliable storage you need for applications and data files. And using the pre-loaded LapLink II software, you can quickly and easily exchange files with your desktop system. "...toda/ s notebook screens all offer CGA resolution or better and enough contrast to allow you to work on them for hours../' Why settle for less than a VGA display with the highest resolution and best contrast? The CompuAdd Companion has a bright, 640 by 480 pixel, 10-inch, sidelit LCD screen. 'The PC must be large and powerful enough to do useful work but small enough to fit into a briefcase. " The CompuAdd Companion uses the Intel™ 80C286 microprocessor running at 12MHz, and can handle sophisticated software applications, like Windows 3.0, Lotus 1-2-3™ and WordPerfect™ 5.1. It's compatible with MS-DOS and OS/2. The standard 1MB DRAM is expandable to 3MB. Call TODAY or visit your CompuAdd Superstore for these sa ingsl Key Code 814 800-456-6008 Hours: Monday - Friday 7:00am to 9:00pm CSV Saturday 9:00am to 5:00pm CST Customer-Driven Company! CompuAdd Gives You More. Value And Service Direct To You! ■ 89 CompuAdd retail Superstores, each a complete sales and service facility ■ 30-day, money-back guarantee ■ Toll-free telephone support direct from the manufacturer ■ On-site service through Memorex/Telex ■ Local corporate sales representatives ■ Major Accounts Erogram ■ Government/Educational sales CompuAdd gives you more, with our superior, exclusive method of product delivery and after-sale support that sets us apart from other manufacturers. Only CompuAdd — and no other major competitor in the industry — owns the entire product delivery system. Our corporate structure eliminates the multiple layers of franchise management and the middleman overhead you encounter at other large computer manufacturers. When you deal with CompuAdd, you deal with the boss and bypass the middleman. CompuAdd's unique corporate structure and delivery system means we maintain low overhead and delivery channel efficiency to bring you the best price/performance ratio in the industry. The bottom line is CompuAdd's direct-supplier relationship and local, face-to- face contact. No other computer manufacturer has made a service commitment equal to CompuAdd. CompuAdd Companion Features: I 80C286 microprocessor running at 6,7.16, or 12MHz I Standard 1MB high speed dynamic RAM expandable to 3MB I 1 wait-state page-mode memory I Dedicated 80C287 math coprocessor socket I Built-in serial, parallel printer, numeric keypad, and modular expansion ports can be used for external CVGA monitor or modem/fax interface modules I High-resolution 640x480 VGA display I 20MB hard disk drive with 23ms access time I 79-key keyboard with 101-key emulation I MS-DOS 4.01 and LapLink II in ROM I Rechargeable/removeable internal battery pack I Modular AC adapter I Dimensions: 8. 5"xll"xl. 4" I System Price: $2895 (62280) Compufldd Customer driven, by design,™ 12303 Technology Boulevard, Austin, TX 78727 We acccpi MasterCard, VISA, money orders certified checks and personal checks (please allow 10 days for processing). COD* ($50 minimum order), company and institutional purchase orders (minimum inilia! purchase $500, thereafter $50), and wire transfers. Please add 2% to ail purchases for shipping and handling (minimum $3, shipping outside the continental United States will increase cost). Add 8% for shipping and handling to APO/FFO addresses (minimum 510). AZ, CO, CT. DC, FL. GA, IL. IN, KS. LA, MA, MD, MI. MN, MO. NC, NE. NJ, NM, NY. OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN. TX, UT, VA. and Wt residents, please add appropriate local sales tax. Thirty-day money-bade guarantee does not include return freight or shipping and handling. Opened software, videotapes and other consumables are nonrefundable. All return items must be accompanied by a rciurn merchandise authorization (RMA) number. Prices and product descriptions are subject to change without notice. CompuAdd is not liable for damage due to omissions or typographical error. Call R00-66fi-l872 for a copy of CompuAdd's complete wnrr.miv Circle 53 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW SOFTWARE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING Three Science Word Processors Design Science's Math- Type is an intelligent mathematical equation editor for Windows or the Mac that lets you construct equations by clicking on symbols and templates from menus and typing in details. The program is designed to work with an- other word processor. MathType automatically sizes, spaces, and positions symbols and uses the correct typeface for standard function abbreviations such as log and sin. Once you create an equa- tion in the Windows version, you can save it in EPS, TIFF, WMF, or Aldus Placeable Metafile format and place it in the document. MathType for Windows also supports Dy- namic Data Exchange for Microsoft Word for Windows and Ami Professional. Price: MathType for Win- dows, $249; Macintosh ver- sion, $149. Contact: Design Science, Inc., 6475-B East Pacific Coast Hwy., Suite 392, Long Beach, CA 90803, (213) 433- 0685; fax (213) 433-6969. Inquiry 1284. MathWriter 2.0, the Sci- entific Word Processing Program for the Macintosh, includes features standard to a general word processing pro- gram such as a spelling check- er, thesaurus, and automatic hyphenation, Brooks/Cole re- ports. With MathWriter, you can create documents in WYSIWYG mode, editing text and mathematical expres- sions in the same document without leaving the program. The program automati- cally sizes and centers math symbols, italicizes variables, formats tables and matrices, and shows on-screen renum- bering of both equations and references to equations. A re- vision feature lets you track in- i ■ rr ( dii View tust.fl I'ununl Uiilili.-. M.i.ru V/iwInw hfejp; ■'' • ! l_l bU ^ "!i w BP - - \mi~ 13' J ■•■'• I - ■ J ■■■■■■■ t » i !*• I fc --i-~i A* t whole, wt ku :>■ ifa tl ui wv f tbi ■ :• m : • . ■ •■ :; • .-...: by tin* lilc I ilil Math rypciacc '.I-. I ..mi...! Cr. t. n ■ii..--. I'«| n: Vi'-i i Programs such as MathType let you do mathematical and scientific word processing without resorting to special key combinations and codes. sertions and deletions while you retain the original version. You accept or reject changes individually or globally. Price: $395; student version, $99. Contact: Brooks/Cole Pub- lishing Co. ,511 Forest Lodge Rd., Pacific Grove, CA 93950, (408) 373-0728; fax (408) 375-6414. Inquiry 1285. ChiWriter combines a word processor and WYSIWYG equation editor running on the IBM PC under DOS. Version 4.0 lets you select symbols from a menu and place them in your docu- ment without requiring special modes or encoding. The pro- gram lets you undo and redo up to 100 keystrokes. With ChiWriter you can edit up to 10 documents at once and cut and paste among them. Documents can be as long as you like; if the docu- ment exceeds available mem- ory, the excess is swapped to disk. ChiWriter supports split footnotes, variable head- ers and footers, and auto- matic paragraph formatting. Price: $349.95. Contact: Horstmann Soft- ware Design Corp., Four North Second St., Suite 500, P.O. Box 1807, San Jose, CA 95109, (800) 736-8886 or (408) 298-0828; fax (408) 298-6157. Inquiry 1286. Unit Conversion Program Units on Hand, available as a TSR or Windows ap- plication, lets you convert units between the English and metric systems. The program also performs unit consistency checks to prevent you from converting a volume to an area or other unit. Price: $49.95. Contact: NovaComp Engi- neering, Inc., P.O. Box 95137, Seattle, WA 98145, (206) 634-9016; fax (206) 634-9017. Inquiry 1287. SPREAD THE WORD Your new product is important to us. Please address information to New Products Editors, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peter- borough, NH 03458. Better yet, use your modem and mail new product information to the microbytes.hw or microbytes.sw conferences on BIX. Please send the product description, price, ship date, and an address and telephone number where readers can get more information. Numerical Methods, Engineering Packs for MathCAD MathSoft's Numerical Methods and Civil Engi- neering Applications Packs for the IBM PC, Macintosh, and Unix platforms contain a number of applications for fre- quently performed tasks in each area, the company re- ports. The packs work with MathCAD, the company's pro- gram for equation editing, calculating, and plotting. The 26 applications in the Numerical Methods Pack cover such topics as partial differential equations, polyno- mials, applications of contour integration, ordinary differen- tial equations, integral equa- tions, iterated mappings, and testing for primes. The Civil Engineering Packs are divided into two sep- arate packs, one for struc- tures and materials and the other for soil mechanics and hydraulics. Key topics in the first pack include area of ten- sion steel required for symmet- rical T-beams, determination of settlement of foundations, structural design for footings (working stress design), and the design of retaining walls. The second pack includes ap- plications for flow classifica- tion and critical depth for open rectangular channel flow, design of f locculators, deter- mination of soil permeability from pumping test results, and soil consolidation ratio. The application packs use MathCAD' s complex arith- metic, matrix operators, equation-solving power, and plotting capabilities. Price: $99 each. Contact: MathSoft, Inc., 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139, (617)577-1017; fax (617) 577-8829. Inquiry 1288. 72 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 Ask the questions, discuss the issues and learn the answers at the only independent conference and exposition focusing on Windows and OS/2 issues and applications. . . created especially for the corporate information manager. . .featuring more than 40 sessions and 250 exhibitors. WEEK ZffT=-DAV» Publishing Co. 800 Boylston vStxect Boston, MA 02199 Dear Computer Professional, We're proud to be sponsoring the Windows & OS/2 Conference with CM Ven- tures. We see it as a visionary event with a strong future. Today, computing under Windows or OS/2 is the quintes- sence of corporate computing. All of us at PC Week looR forward to a long, mutually beneficial associa- tion with CM Ventures, and with you, the Windows & OS/2 Conference attendee. There are cnany trade shows out there, but none more important to in- creasing corporate productivity through the use of innovative technologies than this one. See you there. Sincerely, Sam Whitmore Editor-in-Chief PC Week 0N& © r=^TW Registration Conference sessions and exhibits: $495, if registration and payment is received on or before February 18, 1991. On-site registration, if available, is $545. Complete conference and registration information Phone:415-601-5000 Fax: 415-601-5075 Write: CM Ventures, Inc. 5720 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA 94608 Sponsored by: Presented by: -WEEK Co-sponsored by: OS/2 & Windows magazine • Windows & Presentation Manager Assoc. ® OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation PC WEEK & CM VENTURES PROUDLY PRESENT A MAJOR INDUSTRY EVENT Windows&OS/2 MARCH 5-7, 1991 • SAN JOSE CONVENTION CENTER • SAN JOSE, CA TRACKS 9-10am CORPORATE PRODUCT PROMISES END-USER ISSUES & REALITY CONNECTIVITY INDUSTRY ISSUES WINDOWS & OS/2 NEW TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT & MEDIA 10:30- Noon 2-3 pm 1-5:30 pm 9-10:30 am TUESDAY, MARCH 5 KEYNOTE from Mainframes & Minicomputers Beyond Politics— DOS/ Windows vs.0S/2 PM-lhe User's Perspective A Day in rhe Life of oUNftarager Window Dressing Directions in Multimedia Cost-Justifying the Graphical User Interface Facts & Rgures: Graphical Spreadsheets The Future of GUI Workstation Connectivity TMingGUI Digitized Video Stole of the Channel Development of Portable Software Corporate Education 8 Multimedia 11-12:30 pm 2-3:30 pm 4-5:30 pm WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 PLENARY SESSION Word Processing Solutions Global Connectivity Under OS/2: Is the Pockaae Deal a Better Deaf? Can Windows Win the GUI War? Windows or OS/2 - Which is for You? Authoring Tools Everything You Always Wonted to Know About Windows But Were Afraid to Ask! Security Concerns Presenting... PM& Windows Presentation Programs What's Hot & What's Not in Windows Development Using Windows Macro Languages Distributing Multimedia Applications THURSDAY, MARCH7 9-10 am DEVELOPER'S KEYNOTE 10:30- Noon End User Development Programming for the Network Management Managing the Rest of lis Under Windows & OS/2 Migration Development Using High Productivity Programming Languages 2-3:30 pm Database Server Inquisition Visual Representation Marketing Windows of Data in the USA & Europe Windows/PM Development Using the SDK Sounds MIDI KEYNOTE PLENARY Session: Windows 3.0- theSecondYear Chair: Stewart Alsop Editor/ Publisher, PC. Letter Panelists: Don Casey, VP, Spreadsheet DEVELOPER'S KEYNOTE Directions for the Decade Cheryl Currid, Director, Applied Informa- tion Technology, Coca Cola Foods Division, Lotus Deuel opment Cotp. Paul Grayson, President, Micro- grafx, Inc. Brad A. Siiverberg, VP, Systems Division Microsoft Cotp. Me; ltrends in Software Development Slid Moliamniadioun President, Samna Corp. 8 sessions on installing and configuring Windows • Word for Windows templating • Desktop Publishing with Windows • Automat- ing document searches with SmartText • Network installation P, Meet the Money: a VC Summit! CORPORATE SOUmONS ROOM (for Conference registrants only) Windows applications suites developed by or for major corporations, focusing on: Document Management • Heterogeneous Database Inte- gration • IBM Host Connectivity • We will identify the re- sources needed by corporate MIS directors to effectively establish and maintain Windows or OS/2-based LANs. GET ACQUAINTED RECEPTION (for conference attendees and exhibitors) Monday evening, March 4, 7-9pm, sponsored by PC Week and CM Ventures. Circle 610 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 611) SPECIAL EXHIBIT FLOOR ATTRACTIONS PC Week Labs Shoot-Out Watch the heated compe- tition live, on-stage as vendors compete at creating spe- cific solutions to typical business tasks. Windows Connection (Hasted by Computer Currents) Connect with developers, distributors, resellers, or find your new Windows or OS/2 career opportunity. Hands-on Training Sign up for free hands-on training workshops presented by a leading corporatetraining compony. GUI Test Drive Center Take the latest Windows and OS/2 applications for a test drive in an informal, no- pressure environment. Seminars (or Programmers A series of special semi- nars for programmers developing Windows and OS/2 applications will be held throughout the 3-day event. The Great Software Giveaway Over 325,000 in soft- ware and other prizes will be given away in special drawings FEBRUARY 1991 • BYTE 72PC-1 WHAT'S NEW TAX PREPARATION Softview's Tax Family Softview's Taxview Pro- fessional Series, previous- ly available for the Mac, is now available for Windows 3.0. Also new from the com- pany are Client Organizer, Cli- ent Write-Up, new federal forms, and six new state supplements. The Client Organizer mod- ule, included with Taxview 1040, helps clients gather and summarize tax data. New forms included with Taxview 1040 are 2210F Farmers Un- derpayment of Estimated Tax, 3903F Foreign Moving Expenses, 8822 Change of Address, and TDF90-22.1 Report of Foreign Bank Accounts. Taxview 1120, 1120-S, and 1065 include more depre- ciable assets and support for short year and fiscal year re- turns. Taxview 1065 and 1120-S automatically calculate sharing percentages and in- clude many new forms. Forms, schedules, state- ments, and worksheets are available for 14 states. Client Write-Up, also for the Mac or Windows, an ac- counting package for auto- mated bookkeeping that pro- vides unlimited customized reports through access to Microsoft Excel, is inte- grated with Taxview and avail- able for $495 for Taxview users. The if:X Personal Tax An- alyst, included free with Tax- view 1065, 1 120, and 1 120- S, lets you compare the five- year cumulative results of as many as five different tax sce- narios within a single study. It also calculates W-4 and 1040ES forms. MacInTax for Windows and the Mac include a Forms Guide, a question-and- answer interview that helps ,1040 wiX^\:»-;c\T^:;\; ■ uvr - 1990 •rtiidtnlli ..nn[Mi S |fi ;: :• ED , ,,.;:> I imiPmrwerk R*duellun flt.t Nolle*, rtt MacInTax for Windows displays and prints exact replicas of IRS forms, complete with data, without requiring additional fonts. you determine which forms to complete. The program in- cludes many forms, includ- ing 1040EZ, 1040X, 1040ES, and 4868, and built-in elec- tronic filing. Price: Taxview 1040, $495; Taxview 1065, 1 120, and 1120-S, $395 each; state sup- plements, $69 each; Taxview/ Speed>S module, $199; if:X Personal Tax Analyst, $79; MacInTax, $99. Contact: Softview, Inc., 1721 Pacific Ave., Suite 100, Oxnard, CA 93033, (800) 622-6829 or (805) 385-5000, fax (805) 385-5001. Inquiry 1172. TaxCut for the IBM PC Meca Software says that its TaxCut program in- cludes 55 forms and sched- ules, 10 worksheets, and its Expert Advisor for walking you through the tax-prepara- tion process step by step. TaxCut calculates and prints any IRS-acceptable 1040 on any type of printer, the com- pany says. The program is also available in versions for 10 states. Meca says the personal version of TaxCut is certified by a Big Six accounting firm with guaranteed accurate cal- culations, or Meca pays the penalty. Price: $89.95; state versions, $39.95 each. Contact: Meca Software, Inc., 327 Riverside Ave., Westport, CT 06880, (203) 222-9150 or (203) 226-2400, fax (203) 226-2480. Inquiry 1174. RapidTax for the IBM PC Sylvia Porter's RapidTax includes built-in elec- tronic filing software and an IRS Audit Detector that alerts you any time a deduction ex- ceeds IRS limits (based on his- torical data from the IRS), which could prompt an audit. If you 're married, RapidTax can determine if filing sepa- rately is your best option. The program includes a tutor, Form Help, and an inter- view/input mode for collecting your financial information. A professional version, which has client write-up, billing, and other modules, is available for 1040 preparation. DacEasy, publisher of the program, is offering 38 state versions in five regional packages. When you buy a Re- gional State Tax Filer, which interfaces with RapidTax, you get up to nine individual states. RapidTax also includes Light Checkbook Account- ing, a checkbook and financial management program. Price: $79.95; Regional State Tax Filer, $49.95 each; professional version, $399. Contact: DacEasy, Inc., 17950 Preston Rd., Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75252, (800) 877-8088 or (214) 248-0205, fax (214) 250-3752. Inquiry 1175. TurboTax for the PC and Mac The Logical Next Step feature of TurboTax walks you through each step as you prepare your tax return, ChipSof t says. In addition to an interview for getting a han- dle on what to do, the pro- gram includes a "file cabinet" for entering data by subject, and a forms finder. TurboTax offers more than 60 forms, schedules, and worksheets, and it can print all forms in a graphical format on dot-matrix and laser printers without requiring spe- cial font cartridges. Turbo- Tax for the IBM PC has 44 state versions; the Mac ver- sion supports 1 1 state returns. Both versions support tax planning, for tracking your 1991 finances after you file the return. ChipSof t also offers a Pro- Series of programs for 1040, 1041, 1065, and 1120-1120S returns. Price: Personal 1040 for the IBM PC, $75; Personal States, $40 each. Personal 1040 for the Mac, $89; Personal States, $49 each. ProSeries: 1040, $395; 1041, $395; 1065, $295; 1120- 11 20S, $395; state ver- sions, $250 each. Contact: ChipSof t, Inc., P.O. Box 85709, San Diego, CA 92 186, (619)453-4446, fax (800) 755-1040 or (800) 366-5538. Inquiry 1173. 72PC-2 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 Tangent 386SX/20 Tangent Computer, Inc., 303 Beach Rd. Burlingame, C A 94010; (800)223-6677, (415)342-9388. List Price: With 1 MB RAM, 1 .2MB 5.25-inch or 1 .44MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, one parallel and two serial ports, VGA monitor, $1 ,644; with 2MB RAM, 60MB hard disk, DOS 4.01, $2,278; with 105MB hard disk, $2,384. In Short: An excellent contender with above- average electronics and hard-working peripherals, the Tangent 386SX/20 adds an FCC Class B certification to the pile to make it an extremely attractive computer for either home or office. Standard Configuration: •Intel 20 MHz 80386SX CPU; *2 MB of Memory (to 8 MB) . • 105MB 17ms Quantum Hard Disk 1 Orchid ProDesigner lie SuperVGA Card •; 14" SuperVGA Color Monitor • Small Footprint Case w/200W Power Supply • 5.25"or 3.5"High Density' Floppy Drive ' • Coprocessor Socket • One Parallel; Two Serial, One Game Port • 101-key Enhanced Keytronics Keyboard • One-year Warranty with On-site Service EDITORS 5 CHOICE November 27,1 990 ■ Tangent 320S% "The 20 MHz 8Q386SXismnm business system of choice, starting right now. " , PC Magazine Best choice of the best choices. 1 Here's how PC Magazine summedup the Tangent 1 386™SX/20 (Tangent's Model 320s}:; "The Tangent 386SX packs outstanding video, expandability to 8 MB, and plenty of free slots into a nicely reduced-size case.' The price is right too. This PC offers a 105 MB hard disk and Orchid's ProDesigner II Super VGA card for a mere . $2295. Add in clear documentation and on-site service (with Tangent's one-year warranty) and you have a solid winner." "The Tangent 386SX/20 is the best of the show; it garnered top scores in all of our video tests/ 1 A system with a future. The Tangent;386SX/20 runs; all of yesterday's programs. All of today's. And most / V. important; tomorrow's. Because it implements the full Intel 80386 feature set "■'.: .; Circle 623 on Reader Service Card Why buy their computer, when well build yours? High performance. Low price, Tangent offers you a complete line of high performance systems; 20 MHz 80386/25 and 33 MHz 80386SD, and award winning 25- and 33 MHz 80486. AH, at what some people think is the ; best price-to-performance ratio in the business. Built your way, Dealing with Tangent is like owning your own computer factory . Tell us exactly how you ' want your system configured, we'll build it, test it, and ship it Your way. And even though it's, your configuration, it carries bur one-year warranty. PC Magazine's windup: "Add an FCC Class B rating > and a one-year warranty on parts and labor that includes on- site, service into the bargain, and you .begin to suspect that the Tangent 386SX/2Q is a winner. Consider the price/ performance ratio of the computer and that suspicion starts to l00knkea certm y-" Bill O'Brien, PC Magazine, 11/27/90 Thanks Bill. We couldn't have said it better. Order now, Toll Free: 1-800-223^6677 TANGENT 197 Airport Blvd. Burlingame, CA 94010 : Phone: 415/342-9388 FAX; 415/342-9380 *A11 pricing subject to change without notice. ©1990 Tangent Computer. Tangent is a registered trademark of Tangent Computer, Inc/386 is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Other product names may be, the trademarks or registered trademarks or their respective.companies. IbstScript for peanuts At last, low-cost, high performance PostScript® printing! This complete solution for PC publishers is yours for peanuts — from The Printer Works. For as little as $995.* That's all it takes to command this powerful system consisting of a Canon CX™ printer for superb print quality. Plus a QMS JetScript™ controller which adds true Adobe PostScript, in 35 different fonts, for trouble-free compatibility with all your favorite applications. Now, for only $995, you can easily produce stunning type and graphics that will make you look like a desktop wizard And you can do it faster than with PostScript cartridges because JetScript has its own high speed processor and 3 megabytes of RAM. JetScript was developed jointly by Adobe Systems, QMS and Hewlett-Packard to bring the power of PostScript to the HP LaserJet™ Series II. If you already have an HP LaserJet II, or an original LaserJet, you can get the JetScript controller separately for as low as $495. That's a whopping 80% below the list price! Don't delay, call The Printer Works. 1-800-225-6116. And get PostScript for peanuts! * JetScript with refurbished Canon CX printer, $995 JetScript with NEW Canon CX printer, $1295 JetScript for original HP LaserJet or LaserJet Plus, $695 JetScript for OEM CX (Cordata Etc.), $595 JetScript for HP LaserJet II, $495 Prices subject to change, quantities limited. Dealer Inquiries Welcome THE PRINTER 3481 Arden Road, Hayward, CA 94545 PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. JetScript is a trademark of QMS. Inc. Canon CX is a trademark of Canon, Inc. LaserJet is a trademark of the Hewlett-Packard Company, t? 1990 The Printer Works Circle 624 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 625) WHAT'S NEW GRAPHICS Making Movies on the Mac Animation Works is a 1- to 8-bit color program for combining graphics, text, and sound into animations without making a giant com- mitment to training or hard- ware, Gold Disk says. You can use the program to create animated storyboards, simu- lations, sales presenta- tions, and low-end video productions. With the program's eel editor, you create and edit ani- mated characters (i.e., eels). The movie editor lets you com- bine the animation with static or scrolling backgrounds that you've made with the back- ground editor. The eel editor includes tools for creating the different eels that make up the anima- tion. An onion skin feature en- ables you to see the previous or next eel while creating the current eel. The movie editor lets you define the motion or movement of the animated objects by creating paths. On-screen tools like line and elliptical paths with horizontal or vertical ac- celerations help you create smooth, realistic motion, the company says. You can de- fine the path one frame at a time or register the motion Gold Disk's Animation Works lets you put color, sound, text, and graphics in motion on the Mac. selectively, as on a hand or foot. Within the movie edi- tor, you can add sound, add coloring effects, and use a variety of wipes. Animation Works imports standard audio files (e.g., MacRecorder, PICS, and PICT). Also included is a run- time player and external commands and functions for use from within HyperCard. Length of the movie is limited only by available memory. You can play a movie from the program or through HyperCard. Price: $199.95. Contact: Gold Disk, 5155 Spectrum Way, Unit 5, Missis- sauga, Ontario, Canada L4W 5A1, (416) 602-4000, fax (416) 602-4001. Inquiry 1177. In addition to its perspective, extrude, and blend features, CorelDraw 2. lets you design your own typefaces. Corel Steps Out with CorelDraw 2.0 CorelDraw 2.0 adds a suite of special effects and the ability to convert its 153 typefaces to Adobe's Type 1 format. By using Corel- Draw as a font editor and the WFNBOSS conversion util- ity, you can create new display fonts and print them on any PostScript laser printer. Special effects include an envelope feature for distorting any graphics object by ma- nipulating the bounding box of that image. The perspective feature gives objects a sense of depth by moving some of the edges farther away than the others. Other new effects create three-dimensional ap- pearances and blend objects to create an effect similar to tweening. CorelDraw 2.0' s new vi- sual file manager, Mosaic, supports batch printing and exporting. The CorelTrace auto-trac- ing utility can now trace color and gray-scale bit maps. Price: $695. Contact: Corel Systems Corp., Corel Building, 1600 Carling Ave., Ottawa, On- tario, Canada K1Z 8R7, (613) 728-8200, fax (613) 728-9790. Inquiry 1179. ZSoft Puts Pixel Editing on the PC Publisher's Paintbrush 2.0 includes new paint tools, editing and enhance- ment features, and multiple open windows. With the multiple windows, you can zoom in for precise pixel editing and see how the changes look in normal view in another window. You can also zoom out to edit larger- than-screen-size images. New paint tools include an adjustable airbrush, gradient fills, and tiling for creating three-dimensional effects and other textures. An eyedrop- per feature lets you lift color from a single pixel and place it in the program's color pal- ette. New editing features let you sharpen, blend, tint, smudge, or adjust brightness and contrast of any image portion. Price: $495. Contact: ZSoft Corp., 450 Franklin Rd., Suite 100, Marietta, GA 30067, (404) 428-0008. Inquiry 1178. Portfolio for the Bubble-Jet Portfolio, the integrated software package for creating presentation graph- ics, video, and electronic pre- press, is now available for the Canon Bubble- Jet printer. Portfolio offers raster- and vector-based capabilities in the same package, along with graphing, fonts, drafting, and image editing on a 386-based machine. Price: $3000. Contact: Wasatch Computer Technology, 123 East 200 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84111,(801)575-8043, fax (801) 575-8075. Inquiry 1180. 72PC-6 B Y T E • FEBRUARY 1991 SRrISE* MetaWare Delivers The Essential Tool For c Way back in 1986, MetaWare delivered the first 32-bit protected- mode DOS compiler for the 386. Our High C compiler set the standard for professional software developers. High C DOS 386/486, Version 2.3, brings important features to extended DOS that our UNIX C customers have come to rely on for creating lightning-fast executable code: In an ever-changing, puzzling, multi-platform world, it's reassur- ing to know that: True Globally Optimizing Technology y Global Optimizations that increase speed of code execution include: constant and copy propagation, constant expression folding, local and global common subexpression elimination removal of invariant expressions from loops, live/ dead analysis, dead code elimination, global register allocation, and tail merging. WeVe also included faster libraries with ANSI conformance and greater Micro- soft compatibility. These optimizations make Version 2.3 generate 46% better Whetstone code and 1 5% better Dhrystone code than our previous version. But one piece was still missing: True 32-Bit Source-Level Debugging Our customers really needed a MetaWare-quality 32-bit, source- level debugger. It had to offer a friendly user interface with color or monochrome windows, featuring pull-down and pop-up menus. They needed to watch or edit data, registers, and breakpoints through windows that displayed: flags, memory in any format, variables, stack data, 387 registers, locals, globals, structs, pointers, modules, and more! We've delivered! Meta Ware's 386 protected-mode debugger features source-level symbolic debug capabilities. High C users can tackle even the largest DOS C programs and debug code on the host or a remote DOS machine, via a standard serial port. 32-Bit Source-Level Debugger \ Your Code is Portable to Other Platforms Many professional programmers are delighted to discover that their existing High C programs may be easily ported to many other popular platforms, including MS-DOS, FlexOS, OS/2, UNIX Sys- tem V 386/486, Sun 386/, Sun-3,Sun-4, SPARC, and IBM AIX on PS/ 2, RT, i860, and 370, IBM AOS 4.3 on RT and 370, Am29K, Motorola 680x0, and Intel i860. And we're already talk- ing with several of our OEMs about porting the debugger to these and other new platforms. '? Our customers who are already using the combi- nation of High C and the new debugger all agree that the new, 32-bit source-level debugger is the essential tool for the only compiler you need. MetaWare INCORPORATED ® Compiler Products for Professional Software Developers High C @ • Professional Pascal @ 2161 Delaware Ave. • Santa Cruz, CA • 95060-5706 • 408/429-6382 • Fax 408/429-9273 MetaWare, High C. and Professional Pascal are registered trademarks of MetaWare Incorporated. Other names are trademarks of their respective companies. © Copyright 1990 MetaWare Incorporated Circle 619 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW icftjimiicftosia New Systat Integrates Graphics and Analysis Systat 5.0 integrates graphics and analysis pro- cedures. New graphing capa- bilities include spherical map- ping, dot plots for displaying densities, arrow or vector plots for fluid flow and other prob- lems, and weather-vane plots. A new spinning procedure lets you view data in three dimensions. Enhancements to model estimation and the Multivariate General Linear Hypothesis testing capabilities include sup- port for the means model for designs that have missing cells or cells with unequal n values that reflect population differences. Additional hy- pothesis tests include new post hoc methods (e.g., Scheffe, Dunnett one- and two-sided, and Bonferroni). The pro- gram also has a variety of other statistical procedures. Price: $895. Contact: Systat, Inc., 1800 Sherman Ave. , Suite 80 1 , Evanston,IL 60201, (708) 864-5670. Inquiry 1182. Exact Testing Goes Small With StatXact, you can compute exact p- values and exact confidence inter- vals for small sample sizes, discrete categorical data, and imbalanced data. Cytel Soft- ware says that the program eliminates the uncertainty as- sociated with using the as- ymptotic approach for these kinds of data sets. The program runs on the IBM PC with 640K bytes of RAM and a math co- processor. Price: $495. Systat 5. Ofor DOS lets you analyze data and graph it in color. Contact: Cytel Software Corp., 137 Erie St., Cam- bridge, MA 02139, (617) 661-2011, fax (617) 661-4405. Inquiry 1184. Economic Analysis on OS/2, Mac Economists who need to do econometric analysis on Mac, DOS, OS/2, or Pre- sentation Manager can use Shazam 6.2, which supports Heteroskedastic and ARCH (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic) models. In addition to those functions normally found in statistical packages, Shazam 6.2 calcu- lates auto-correlation consis- tent covariance matrices and hypergeometric distributions, and it solves nonlinear simultaneous equations. Price: OS/2 version, $395; other versions, $295. Contact: Shazam, University of British Columbia, Depart- ment of Economics, #997- 1873 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1W5, (604) 228-2876, fax (604) 228-5915. Inquiry 1185. Al Stats Program Forecasts Thousands of Items Forecast Pro, the program that uses AI to help you choose the correct method- ology for historical-data fore- casting, can now forecast hundreds or thousands of items automatically. The Forecast Pro Batch Version uses a vari- ety of univariate methods and can interface with databases and production planning sys- tems, according to Business Forecast Systems. You can choose from tech- niques like simple moving average, exponential smooth- ing, and Box-Jenkins, or let the program choose them for you. For tracking forecast ac- curacy, the program provides exception reports, monitoring for forecast bias, and a built- in forecast evaluation system. Both DOS and OS/2 versions are available. Price: $3995. Contact: Business Forecast Systems, 68 Leonard St., Belmont, MA 02178, (617) 484-5050. Inquiry 1183. Two Stat Packages from SPSS SPSS restructured its pricing policy and added features to version 4.0 of its statistical analysis package for DOS systems. Another pack- age, SPSS for OS/2 4.1, takes advantage of the High Perfor- mance File System and Dy- namic Data Exchange and has direct links to Microsoft Excel and Structured Query Language databases. The base module of the IBM PC version contains data and file management facili- ties, several basic statistical procedures, a report writer, and network support. Graph- in-the-Box, New England Software's TSR graphing pro- gram, is included. From the base SPSS/PC + 4.0 module, you can add other modules for your purposes, including a new mapping option from Maplnfo for creating thematic maps. Other modules are available for additional statisti- cal procedures, forecasting, and graphics. The OS/2 version is a full port of SPSS 4.0 for main- frames and runs under Pre- sentation Manager. It includes a logistic regression com- mand and support for matrix commands. The OS/2 base system lets you extract data directly from Oracle, SQL Server, and IBM Database Manager and read it directly into SPSS for OS/2. Price: SPSS/PC + 4.0, $195; add-on modules start at $295 when purchased with the base, $395 if purchased later. SPSS for OS/2 4.1, $995. Contact: SPSS, Inc., 444 North Michigan Ave., Chi- cago, IL 60611, (312) 329-2400. Inquiry 1181. 72PC-8 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 fid i** :•■■■ b *> IE SAVINGS m A>r ^ 1 . , 6 ert*:*eSS« V*f llO** Seatf^ -pMO ftto\*« ot» -, -f^> ...«*■ ft^J ^r>i j* 999 1 atttf* »^ te %%200 C ° G? U 32* 08^ Jfr $& } xCS^- •£&*• e ^e< ftfftff W»S*** ;{e eO s?«* lSf oa N *no< \0& Ktft* 6<W e jjiaatf**^ • fee cas e :'•' tv* fc^> s a M ■ill 499 ^PTOP BARGa" M ■ 6/12 MHZ Clock Speed ■ EGA Gas Plasma d isp| ay ■1MB installed 4 MB MAX " 40 MB (28 m s) hard drive ■Twoseria,/lp ar a„ e(CR T ■ ^e e carrying C ase m «w° d * -ftflor ***» $2 995 »* ... soft" 3 ••->K Kj ca/^a for Price SSSfe I Intel u "de, » f^ 2400 BPS^ 'Sfe, } f7lu sgr 2Me tco '«A*Fft re \ ? ^ '<QMB IDs l D '^ ~4 2 f er ' a,/ ' P ^ate (/ : 3 button ^ftr. . „ ame Porr Uae, I!*** fca// »eo '.Aft Sc ao n , 4 o% scree 3.5' tf/ Sflfe /ay b ackn "9h( °Ption t for key Price) k eyb ( Sterne l °ara 'Ports 3S, vy-55 -^££ AfYODA 1053 Shore Road, Naperville, IL 60563 1-800-562-1071 Tech Support: (708) 369-5331 No surcharge on MasterCard or Visa • One year warranty on parts and labor • Positive technical support • Custom configuration • All systems tested and approved • 100% Compatability: DOS. OS/2. Novell, UNIX, XENIX, & L1M 4.0 • 15 Day money back guarantee • RMA required • Price and availability subject to change without notice Circle 621 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 622) & e> WHAT'S NEW PROGRAMMING TOOLS Design Tool for Motif Interfaces Integrated Computer Solu- tions developed Builder Xcessory to help reduce the development time needed for creating OSF/Motif-based user interfaces for the X Win- dow System. You can use Builder Xcessory, a paint-like tool for building, prototyp- ing, and testing interfaces, by clicking icons and moving them within the interface. Builder Xcessory lets you test and modify the interface without compiling, according to the company. Because you're manipulat- ing Motif objects, output code exactly matches what you see, the company says. Builder Xcessory outputs C, Motif/ User Interface Language, make files, and X Resource files. Because the Builder can read in UIL files, you can use it to modify existing programs. Price: $2500. Contact: Integrated Com- puter Solutions, Inc., 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139,(617)547-0510, fax (617) 547-0758. Inquiry 1189. Programmer's Editor for Windows CView 1.0 lets you write your Windows application in the Microsoft Windows 3.0 environment and includes the entire C source code. Eastern Language Systems says that CView features auto- matic reformatting of files to standard C style, search and replace, and access to Win- dows SDK help. Price: $99. Contact: Eastern Language Systems, 39 West 300 North, Provo, UT 84601, (801) 377- 4558, fax (801) 377-2200. Inquiry 1188. The Builder Xcessory resource editor lets you view and modify the resources of any Motif widget. The browser lets you navigate the interface hierarchy. Build GUIs for Windows, Mac, Sun With the Tigre Program- ming Environment, you can develop color graphical user interfaces that run without modification on Windows 3.0, the Mac II family, and a host of Unix workstations. Written in and based on Ob- jectworks\ Smalltalk, the ob- ject system comprises the Tigre Interface Designer and the Tigris multiuser object data- base system. With the environment, you can develop applications with full-motion video and sound running over a mixed network. Supported workstations in- clude the Sun-3, Sparcstation, IBM RISC System/6000, Digital DECstation, Hewlett- Packard 9000 series, and Apollo Series 2500, 3500, and 4500. Once you select an inter- face object that you need and place it on the screen, you can visually control character- istics like position, border weight, and shape. You can graphically set and change the connections between the interface and logic, the com- pany reports. The interface designer includes a library of user interface object classes. Price: $3495. Contact: Tigre Object Sys- tems, Inc., 364 1C Soquel Dr., Soquel, CA 95073, (408) 476-1854, fax (408) 479-4196. Inquiry 1187. One-Step Mixed Make in Brief Turbo Brief enhances So- lution Systems' Brief pro- gramming editor by letting you choose from two key maps: Turbo Briefs key as- signments that are consistent with Borland's Turbo De- bugger and Power Brief, a key set that enhances the original Brief key assignments. Turbo Briefs integrated make util- ity for mixed languages com- bines warnings from several assemble/compiles into one error window, OurSof t says. Turbo Brief can jump from one error to the next in differ- ent source files and lan- guages like Pascal, C, and as- sembly without exiting the environment. By a single step with a hot key, you can go right to the offending line. The program lets you edit, make, debug, compile, and run from within Brief using your favorite debugger. Price: $199.50. Contact: OurSoft, P.O. Box 6396, Bellevue, WA 98008, (206) 643-0204. Inquiry 1190. Object Programming in C For those wanting to add object functionality to a C program without taking the deep plunge into C++ , Bogie Hardware says that its OOC Libraries add message passing, methods, and classes to C programs without special pre- processors. The OOC Librar- ies do this in several ways. According to Bogie Hard- ware, you describe data struc- tures in a program as objects and the functionality of the program in terms of routines, or methods, that operate on those objects. Messages to methods replace subroutine calls. In this case, the librar- ies replace the use of a com- piled object language like C++ . You can also use the li- braries to create a stand- alone TR prototyping develop- ment environment. TR is an interpreted object language that is accessible through OOC Library func- tion calls. It supports a full compiler and byte-code inter- preter and interoperability be- tween C and TR. You can use the libraries to create a hybrid application pro- gram consisting of object C and TR components, creating an application that's partially compiled and partially inter- preted, the company says. The OOC Libraries are the first step in the development of a portable, persistent object storage system, the company says. Programs that use the libraries are portable to the Mac, IBM PC, DEC VAX, and Sun Unix. Price: Single-user license, $150; network platform starts at $450. Contact: Bogie Hardware, Inc., 502 Berlin Rd., Pitts- burgh, PA 15221, (412) 371- 9449, fax (412) 371-0737. Inquiry 1186. 72PC-10 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 ,r*Sf* y WE'VE RESHAPED THE POWER!" LANMASTER WORKSTATION . . . is merely one-f ifth the s i ze of an I BM AT™ desk-top MWM ■£■■■ Rl ^ r--/ -/■■ mm m n ?3 system but with all the power and features of a full fledged system! □ This incredible space saving design makes it easy to mount under a desk or counter. itLL_d;T D Its chassis design ensures superior ventila- tion to reduce the operating temperature, thereby giving you a computer that is durable and reliable. D The La n master Workstation includes 1 6 bit expansion slot, 1MB Ram, 1.44 MB floppy, monochrome monitor and keyboard all for only $595. Also VGA model available. It's the ideal solution for today's office, school and home use. Also in TPS's fine line of computer products is TPS Notebook, the uncompromising solution for travel- ( ing executives. Weighing only 7 lbs., the ultra- crisp, paperwhite VGA LCD display with fluorescent back-lighting, 20 MB hard drive and 1.44 MB floppy make TPS Notebook the perfect office-on-the move. ■JTT. Trans Pc System 1 1849 E. Firestone Blvd. • Norwalk, CA 90650 (213) 868-6930 • (800) 876-91 61 • Fax (213) 864-2249 Circle 626 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 627) WHAT'S NEW WORD JMJMJHem Windows Word Processing for the World World View 1 .0 is the latest in a series of mul- tilingual word processing programs from Eastern Lan- guage Systems. It runs under Windows 3.0 and comes with a customization utility that lets you place any character in any font at any location on the keyboard. The program comes standard with support for the Latin alphabet. You can add layouts for Greek, Russian, Hebrew, and other languages. Price: $249; each additional language, $100 each. Contact: Eastern Language Systems, 39 West 300 North, Provo, UT 84601, (801) 377- 4558, fax (801) 377-2200. Inquiry 1195. Up and Down the Volkswriter Line V oiks writer's new word processors share a com- mon user interface and iden- tical keystroke commands. Each version is targeted for a different level of use, letting you jump up and down the line without having to learn a new command set. Volkswriter 2 is designed for entry-level users. Volks- writer 4 version 2.0, for ex- ecutives, includes page pre- view, macros, a 310,000- word thesaurus, and integrated Grammatik IV, Reference Software's grammar checker. Volkswriter 6 has all the fea- tures of Volkswriter 4 version 2.0, plus Inset Graphics* technology, for importing, processing, and printing desktop publishing graphics; integrated HP AutoFont sup- port and AGFA; and Compu- graphics' Intellifont scaling technology. Volkswriter 4 version 2.0 is available now. Volkswriter 2 file Fifit Search Formal Foal ■t-ii«imnv— — Mi >tyiir CottecOon " )iJ ♦ i*tf ■■■-!' ■■■■** ^ ■ ■ 1 V i gait g«y*)e jMtr ^LJI^WI ,=L:tiH5i-Jl Jy\}\ ^KJI J>^ ^Jl ,-UiJ f$k 1 t^ ^ ■ ^Of^r> Ui**, W^ 1-Lfe; 1^>* »>^' ^ ""-?•■* c^-^l J-«, L J>A»i jjjAaJI ^UiJI lito Joj*z •jJ^:*<H I «»■•** JtA J«»..t* ^»tj^ r «-»3j^ >t^'-> jJ^;-ft<H fH-fc ^ ■ ,^c_a=J.i j=j=. /JpJJ _5l<y|- ^>Jf *Axz~M H *' :■)}.- \ , l»Mi Wfrr/d K/ew 1.0 displays Greek, Hebrew, Russian, and Latin fonts in WYSIWYG mode. should ship by the end of March, and Volkswriter 6 should ship in the second quarter of this year. Price: Volkswriter 2, $149; Volkswriter 4 version 2.0, $249; Volkswriter 6, $499. Contact: Volkswriter, Inc., One Lower Ragsdale Dr. , Building 2, Suite 100, Mon- terey, C A 93940, (408) 648- 3000, fax (408) 648-3016. Inquiry 1193. Dictionary/ Thesaurus for Windows The Windows version of Language Master, an electronic dictionary/ thesaurus/ speller, is now available for site licensing. Franklin's Language Master provides complete dictionary definitions for 80,000 words and 40,000 entries from Mer- riam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus. The program is also available for DOS and the Macintosh. Price: $79.95. Contact: Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., 122 Burrs Rd.,Mt. Holly, NJ 08060, (609) 261-4800, fax (609) 261-1631. Inquiry 1191. Shared Word Processing in OS/2 The new version of De- Scribe Word Publisher for OS/2 is available in a float- ing-license network version. It can act as a server or client in Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) conversations, the com- pany says. You can assign any text or graphics a tag name for DDE conversations. Through the DDE tags, you can link num- bers in DeScribe text to a spreadsheet template with a de- fined formula that calculates a solution from the numbers, which DeScribe retrieves and positions in text. If you change a tagged number, it will auto- matically be updated to the correct value. Version 2.0 lets an admin- istrator define system dictio- naries, layouts, and macros for shared use by all users on the network. Twenty-three dictionary options (e.g., medi- cal, legal, and scientific) are available. Price: Server, $595; client, $250; dictionaries, $149.95 each. Contact: DeScribe, Inc., 4047 North Freeway Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834, (916) 646-1111, fax (916) 923-3447. Inquiry 1194. Word Processor for Laptops Laptop display technology has come a long way since the days of the barely read- able screen, but when you're working in murky light on the road, you may still find yourself straining to see your screen. SkiSof t, publisher of Eye Relief: The Large Type Word Processor for the visu- ally impaired, has developed a program for laptops that lets you work with normal-size text or magnify that text by two, three, or four times on the screen. Eye Relief for Laptops of- fers automatic word wrap, margins, headers, footers, and page numbers. Although text appears larger on-screen, it will print normally. Eye Re- lief for Laptops occupies just 80K bytes of RAM and runs on a single floppy disk drive. And for those exasperating moments when the only way you can find an invisible cur- sor is by hitting the Home key, SkiSoft has No-Squint II, which gives your cursor a big and bold appearance on the screen. You can use it to adjust the blink rate of the cursor from very fast to no blink at all, important for epileptics who've found that a blinking cursor can spark a seizure. No-Squint II supports any laptop PC or desktop PC and any character-based program except for Microsoft Word, SkiSoft says. Supported word processors include XyWrite, WordPerfect, and Microsoft Works. Price: Eye Relief for Lap- tops, $129.95; No-Squint II, $49.95. Contact: SkiSoft Publishing Corp., 1644 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 79, Lexington, MA 02173, (800) 622-3622 or (617) 863-1876, fax (617) 861-0086. Inquiry 1192. 72PC-12 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 486 Performance... 386 Price! Adtech's wide variety of IBM compatible computers will maxi- mize the power of your system while minimizing the cost. Adtech can customize a computer for any application, including 486 systems. All Adtech products undergo rig- orous testing and diagnostics prior to shipping and are burned-in for at least 24 hours. Adtech's customer support staff is available to answer any questions. 115 MHz* 486 *1599 ♦ 80486-25 CPU with 8K Cache ♦ Cache expandable to 512K ♦ 1MB expandable to 16 MB ♦ Built-in numeric coprocessor ♦ 486-33 Available! 25 MHz* 386SX 699 ♦ 80386 SX CPU running at 20 MHz ♦ 1MB expandable to 8 MB on board ♦ 80387 SX coprocessor socket ♦ Shadow RAM Enable ♦ True 20 MHz SX w/cache available! 33 MHz* 386 ♦ 80386-25S2C.P.U. 899 ♦ 1MB expandable to 8 MB on board ♦ 80387 coprocessor socket ♦ Shadow RAM Enable 549 25 MHz* 286 ♦ 80286-20 C.P.U. ♦ 1MB expandable to 5 MB on board ♦ 80287 coprocessor socket ♦ Shadow RAM Enable ♦ True 286-25 CPU available! One year parts and labor warranty on all Adtech systems! Adtech systems utilize components that are designed and produced by the industries most respected manu- facturers. Adtech systems include: ♦ Space saving AT style minicase ♦ 200 watt power supply ♦ 1.2 MB floppy drive ♦ 1 Parallel, 2 serial, ♦ 1:1 Dual floppy/hard disk controller ♦ Keytronics 101 keyboard SYSTEM UPGRADES 1:1 RLL 75 1:1 MFM 50 Full Size Case 25 Full Size Vertical Case 100 Mini- Vertical Case 35 MONITORS Includes Monitor & Adapter Card Monographics 14" (Hi-Res) 129 VGA (Mono) 16 bit 229 SuperVGA (1024 x 768) 499 MOTHER BOARDS 25 MHz* 386 SX 399 25 MHz* 286 (w/ lmeg., 1:1, I/O) 399 33 MHz* 386 699 115MHz* 486 1399 HARD DRIVES 40 Meg - Seagate ST-157A (28ms) 259 40 Meg - Seagate ST-251-1 (28ms) 259 66 Meg - Toshiba (23ms) 379 106 Meg - Toshiba (23ms) 499 MISCELLANEOUS 5.25" 1.2 MB Floppy 79 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy 79 Logitech Hi-res Mouse (New) 89 2400 Baud Modem (4800 Send FAX) 99 16 bit VGA (1024 x 768) (512K) 129 16 bit VGA (800) x 600 (256K) 99 Adtech (408) 954-8038 (800) 326-6548 2007 O'Toole Ave., San Jose, California 951 31 Terms and conditions. Returns subject to 20% restocking fee. Prices and availability subject to change without notice. RMA # is requiresd for all returns. CA residents add 6.25% sales tax. No surcharge MasterCharge and VISA. "Landmark speed test. 386, 387 and SX are trademarks of Intel Corporation. Circle 605 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 606) WHAT'S NEW CONTACT MANAGEMENT Security, New Budgets in Timeslips Version 4.0 of the Time- slips III time tracking, billing, and productivity re- porting program includes sys- tem security. A systems ad- ministrator can define up to eight user groups, each with its own password and rights to 27 secured operations, the company says. The program has four new reports: User-Defined Client reports, Client Budget Work- sheet, Client Hold report, and User History report. User- Defined Client reports can contain any of the data on the Client Information or History screens. Through a mail- merge file, you can export data to a spreadsheet for further analysis. The Client Budget Work- sheet lets you compare histori- cal amount billed and amount of work in progress versus budgeted amount. The Client Hold report lets you de- lay client billing or bill only a portion of an account. The User History report automati- cally accumulates billable and unbillable hours and fees. The program runs on DOS systems. The network version requires DOS 3 . 1 or higher. f- Prospect Managenent 1 - Prospect Maintenance 2 - Reports 3 - Telenarketing 4 - Sys ten Setup 5 - Systen Maintenance c - Changs Conpany ■Jci conpany Data Code, Incorporated <c) Copyright, 1998 'rospfict Management Systen Professional tl Client [2 Activity [3 Discussion uith Jc full page, four-ct campaign to legin Reference I Date £86/81/98 1 N Jones 188 1 Atlantic Inc I Tele Coif iel Smith concerning tl* 88 =183.61 <0>ill by i placeneni of their -• Snith requested the - tie est! netted [ 8:881881 ne spent C 1:82: IB ] ) lor advert isewent. Mr with the December issut ] T thru [86/81/981 T Slip 881 of 2103 i actiue BILLABLE mmam 1 ► MAIN ttMJ A Go to slip [ ] Fl H F2 Bdit/delete/undelete it Scan slips F3 Create slip F4 Define names Esc Quit F5 lisjer an/off 16 Get active i.lifs F7 firii a slip FB Last actiue slips F9 SUmary F18 All slips off Timeslips ' TSTimer feature lets you search user, client, and activity name lists, detailing activities such as phone calls. Price: $299.95; network ver- sion, $699.95. Contact: Timeslips Corp., 239 Western Ave., Essex, MA 01929, (508) 768-6100, fax (508) 768-7660. Inquiry 1197. LAN Contact Management at Low Cost Diamond Data Manage- ment's Prospector pro- gram for lead tracking and prospect qualification offers full network compatibility for under $200. 4 - Systen Setup b - Advertising c - Business Types d - Interests e - Action Codes f - Prospect Types g - Objectives i - Salespersons j - Defaults n - More Setup p - Print Setup Data Code 's Prospect Management System for sales, prospect tracking, and telemarketing is written in Informix-4GL. Prospector is designed to manage sales prospects or any other kind of list. It supports up to eight prospect lists, with up to 20 form letters per list. You can use the program for mass mailings as a reminder of follow-up calls and mail- ings. You can define up to five user categories and 10 items per prospect. Prospector is NetBIOS- compatible and requires DOS 3 . 1 or higher. Price: $195. Contact: Diamond Data Management, Inc., 740 Pil- grim Pkwy., Elm Grove, WI 53122,(414)786-9000. Inquiry 1199. Unix Contact Management The Prospect Manage- ment System is a sales, telemarketing, prospect tracking, and analysis program that integrates with other Unix applications. The program features sales forecasting, on-line prospect history, automatic form-let- ter generation, and support for multiple sales campaigns and contacts and addresses. You can use the program to track a prospect's interests, demo- graphics, and advertising, the company says. The program uses Struc- tured Query Language for its information access, but these commands are transparent to the end user. Price: Starts at $3800. Contact: Data Code, Inc., 7208 Sand Lake Rd., Suite 202, Orlando, FL 32819, (407) 351-3441, fax (407) 351-5019. Inquiry 1200. Stay in Touch with Ease The new version of Con- tact Ease, a direct mail and telemarketing program for the Mac, has been opti- mized to run twice as fast as the previous version and sup- ports multiline searching, WestWare says. As you set up a marketing plan in Contact Ease 1 .2, you can add any number of cli- ents, prospects, or associates to the plan, and the program automatically generates mail- ing pieces and schedules phone calls according to the time frames you specify. You can test several marketing plans for a target group of contacts and compare the re- sults for each campaign. The program includes a word processor, Postnet print- ing capabilities, a telephone dialer, and a call timer. With multiline searching, you can narrow a search for prospects by area code, ZIP code, state, or any other criteria. The program runs on TOPS, Novell, and AppleShare networks. Price: $395 for a five-user license. Contact: WestWare, Inc., 10148 Diamond Head Court, Spring Valley, CA 92077, (800) 869-0871 or (619) 660-0356. Inquiry 1198. 72PC-14 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 it . TAIPEI m COMPUTEX'91 June 4-10, 1991 Instant access to the world of computers. Featuring — ♦— — Computers — • — Peripherals Software — •— Office automation systems Data communications Applications Mass storage — • - Components Organizers: CHlhW EXTERNAL TR/1DE DE/ELOPyVIEMT COUNCIL Sponsor: UVTC* TAIPEI COMPUTER ASSOCIATION WEI U/ORLD TTWDE CENTER Venues: twtc exhibition hall CETRA EXHIBITION HALL Contact: twtc exhibition hall 5 Hsinyi Road, Section 5, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China Tel: (02)725-1111 Fax: 886-2-725-1314 Telex: 28094 TPEWTC TAIPEI COMPUTER ASSOCIATION 3FL, No. 2 Pa Teh Rd., Sec. 3, Taipei, Taiwan Tel: (02)7764249 Fax: (02)7764410 Branch Offices: • New York-CETDC, Inc. Tel: (212)532-7055 Fax; (212)213-4189 • San Francisco-Far East Trade Service, Inc. Tel: (4 1 5)788-4304 Fax: (4 1 5)788-0468 • Chicago-Far East Trade Service, Inc. Tel: (312)819-7373 Fax: (312)819-7377 Circle 609 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW USERS GROUPS AND OTHER NOTES Paradox 3.5: SQL Without the Syntax At the September general meeting of the Triangle Computer Society (NC), a representative of Borland In- ternational (Scotts Valley, CA) discussed the latest ver- sion of Paradox (3 .5) and the company's aim for a database that insulates you from the complexities of Structured Query Language (SQL). Speaking to a crowd of about 50, David Luvinson demonstrated how the pro- gram lets you use the Paradox interface to work with data on a SQL server and the pro- gram's Query by Example (QBE) method of forming rela- tions between data. Paradox 3.5 's SQL Link automatically translates Paradox com- mands into SQL and sends them to the server, doing all the syntax work so you don't have to. During the presentation, Luvinson stressed Paradox's ability to manipulate tabular views of data, multi-table forms, and table bands in tabular reports. He also pro- vided examples of QBE methods of obtaining and sum- marizing data from various tables. For the finale, he showed the graphing capabil- ities of Paradox. Future meeting topics of the Triangle Computer Society (contact Robert Bean at (919) 932-9635) include printers in February, Unix in March, faxes in April, networking in May, and the Amiga and Arexx in June. —Robert Bean GeoWorks Unveils Less-Filling GUI Microsoft has been riding the crest of the Windows 3.0 wave for the past few months, but with the public unveiling of GeoWorks En- semble, GeoWorks brings a new surfboard to the graphi- cal-user-interface party. At the October meeting of the Boston Computer Society's IBM PC Users Group, four GeoWorks representatives (Berkeley, CA) traveled to Wellesley, Massachusetts, for the first public showing of the environment that offers most of OS/2's benefits and all the windowing management of Windows and Presentation Manager, while still running on an 8088-based PC. To prove this point, the company set up a table that showed the program running a Hercules-equipped 640K- byte IBM XT on the low end, and a 386 on the high end. For the actual demonstration of the product, the company used a 286. Lee Llevano, vice president of marketing, said, " Most people were pretty amazed that you could get that kind of performance on an XT." The demonstration focused on GeoWorks Ensemble's abil- ity to run on all levels of hardware, GeoManager (the graphical file manager), its preemptive multitasking capa- bility, and the WYSIWYG word processor. GeoWorks Ensemble is small, requiring only 100K bytes of RAM. —Dave Andrews VIDEO INPUT • Video Camera • Camcorder • Broadcast Television • Video Cassette Recorder • Electronic Still Photography Camera VIMAGER MAKES YOUR CREATIVITY I J *b (& y i % A Complete Video Imaging Solution for Your VGA Publishing & Presentation Environment ENDLESS APPLICATIONS ■ Animation • Desktop Publishing ■ Education • Graphics Presentation • Industrial Inspection • Insurance • Merchandising • Newsletters • Portraits • Real Estate, • Security • Sports REAL TIME IMAGE CAPTURE • 1/60 Second Per Field • 1/30 Second Per Frame • Software Programmable Image Brightness and Contrast IMAGE EDITING SOFTWARE • Grab The Image • Crop The Image • Store Images in Various File Formats For Desktop Publishing & Graphics Presentation Programs • Extensive Image Enhancement Programs 408/946-3291 800/882-8184 408/946-6901 (FAX) AITech 1574 Centre Pointe Drive Milpitas, California 95035 DEALER AND DISTRIBUTOR INQUIRIES WELCOME 72PC-16 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 607 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 608) H. Co. Computer Products Your #1 Source For All RC. Memory Upgrades Call Toll Free 1-800-RAM-CHPS Ext- 200 FULL TECHNICAL SUPPORT • LIFETIME WARRANTY ON ALL MODULES BUY DIRECT * BEST PRICES • BEST SERVICE TW=f comPAa = ^="= J = J"^ All ■ I #% Model Memory Added Part if EQ PRICE Part #EQ Works With CALL Us DESKPRO 386/33486/25 2MB MODULE 115144-001 $ 199.00 30F5348 (512K) 30F5360 (2MB) 6450375 (1MB) 6450379 (2MB) 30-286 30-286 80041 80-111,311 $ 46.00 $ 145.00 $ 125.00 $ 209.00 for ALL DESKPRO 386/20-25 286e DESKPRO 1MB MODULE 4MB MODULE 1MB BOARD 113131-001 113132-001 113644-001 $ 120.00 $ 280.00 $ 189.00 6451060 (4MB) 6450603 (1MB) 6450604 (2MB) B0A21.A31, 111,311 502, 55SX, 70E61, 70-121, P-70 502, 55SX, 70-E61, 70-121, P-70 S 509.00 $ 75.00 $ 149.00 your drive needs! 386/20e-25e 4MB BOARD 1MB MODULE 4MB MODULE 113645-001 113131-001 113132-001 $ 479.00 $ 120.00 $ 280.00 6450608 (2MB) 70-A21, A61, B-21, B61 $ 152.00 # DESKPRO 1MB BOARD 113633-001 $ 189.00 78X8955 (128K) 25 $ 16.00 386s 4MB BOARD 113634-001 $ 479.00 34F2933(4MB) 55SX.65SX 6450605 (2--8MB) All 70's and 80's (Board) 6450609 (2-16MB) 50, 502, 55SX, 60, 65SX (Board) S 349.00 $ 409.00 $ 569.00 Teac 1.44/1.2 PORTABLE 1MB MODULE 4MB MODULE 512K KIT 113646001 112534001 107331-001 $ 120.00 $ 339.00 $ 70.00 1039136 (1MB) Laser Printer 4019, 4019e $ 175.00 41*. ^^ ^* III 2MB KIT 107332-001 $ 165.00 1039137 (2MB) 1038675 (3.5MB) Laser Printer 4019, 4019e Laser Printer 4019, 4019e Call for Other IBM Upgrades $ 305.00 $ 399.00 $6S LOO DESKPRO 386/16 DESKPRO 386 PORTABLE 1MB BOARD 2MB BOARD 4MB BOARD 8MB BOARD 1MB KIT 4MB BOARD 1 08069-001 108069-W/71 108070-001 108072-001 107651-001 107653-001 $ 325.00 $ 449.00 $ 669.00 $ 999.00 $ 229.00 $ 769.00 *AppIc' /isr SLT/286 LTE/286 1MB MODULE 1MB BOARD 2MB BOARD 110235-001 117081-001 117081-002 $ 209.00 $ 159.00 $ 249.00 Model MACII, llx; Ilex Ilex & SE/30 Memory Added Part # EQ 1MB KIT M0218 2MB KIT M0219 4MB KIT MO2707 16MB KIT PRICE $ 80.00 $ 115.00 $ 225.00 $1199.00 Model BRAVO/286 PREMIUM/28 Memory Added 128K KIT Parr # EQ 500510011 500510-010 500510-002 500510-008 500510-001 PRICE $ 40.00 Ask About Other Compaq Upgrades 512K KIT 2MB KIT 4MB KIT 3 512KKIT $ 55.00 $ 150.00 $ 300.00 $ 55.00 TOSHIBA Model Memory Added PartHEQ PRICE MACIIci 4MB KIT M0292LL-/ $ 225.00 ADVANCED 1MB KIT 500510007 $ 100.00 Portable T1 000SE 1MB KIT PC14-PA831 1 U $ 239.00 16MB KIT $1199.00 2MB KIT 500510-002 $ 150.00 &XE 2MB KIT PC14-PA8312U $ 349.00 1MB KIT M0218 $ 80.00 4MB KIT 500510008 $ 300.00 Portable T1200XE 2MB KIT PC13-PA8306U $ 199.00 &PLUS 2MB KIT M0219 $ 115.00 FASTBOARD 1MB KIT 4MB KIT 500510-007 $ 100.00 $ 300.00 Portable T1600 2MB KIT PC-PA8302U $ 199.00 4MB KIT MO2707 $ 225.00 /386 500510-008 Portable T3100c 512KKIT PC-PA8340U $ 135.00 MAC PORTABLE 1MB KIT M0248 2MB KIT N/A $ 249.00 $ 729.00 PREMIUM WKST/286 512KKIT 2MB KIT 500510-010 500510-002 $ 55.00 $ 150.00 Portable T3100SX 2MB KIT 2MB KIT PC-PA8341U PC15-PA8308U $ 199.00 $ 199.00 3MB KIT N/A 4MB KIT N/A $ 999.00 $1399.00 PREMIUM 512KKIT 500510-010 $ 55.00 4MB KIT PC15PA8310U $ 539.00 WKST 386/SX 1MB KIT 2MB KIT 500510007 500510-002 $ 100.00 $ 150.00 Portable T3200sx 2MB KIT PC-PA8307U $ 199.00 MACIIfx 4MB KIT M0292LL-/ $ 279.00 4MB KIT 500510-008 $ 300.00 Portable T3200 3MB KIT PC-PA7137U $ 329.00 16MB KIT N/A $1299.00 PREMIUM 1MB KIT 500510-007 $ 100.00 Portable T5100 2MB KIT PC-PA8301U $ 199.00 386/16 4MB KIT 500510-008 $ 300.00 Portable T5200 2MB KIT PC-PA8304U $ 199.00 LASER WRITER ll/NTX 1MB KIT M6005 4MB KIT M6006 $ 85.00 $ 289.00 PREMIUM 1MB KIT 500510-003 $ 140.00 DESKTOP T8500 2MB KIT PC-PA8301LI $ 199.00 386 4MB KIT 500510-004 $ 320.00 Ask About Other Toshiba Upgrades PREMIUM 386c 1MB KIT 4MB KIT 500510-007 500510-008 $ 100.00 $ 300.00 NEC 0+ ♦ PREMIUM 386/25/16SX PREMIUM 1MB SIMM 500718-001 $ 69.00 Ask for oiner iveu upgrades LjVriX Math Co-Processor 1MB SIMM 500718-002 $ 69.00 Model Memory Added Part it EQ PRICE W ^^ Up to 200% Faster Than 386/33 Power Mate SX Plus 1MB Board 2MB Board APC-H850E N/A $ 275.00 $ 475.00 Intel Math Co-Processor 4MB Board 8MB Board APC-852E N/A $ 699.00 $1325.00 100% Compatible — 5 Year Warranty STANDARD SIMMS DRAM mum ,,_ . Willi 11 IITiy 11,111,1 Co-proces Part* PRICE Part § PRICE Parti PRICE Part# PRICE intJ lath 83D87-16 83D87-20 Call 83D87-33 $ 309.00 83D87SX-16 $ 469.00 $ 259.00 256 X 8-12 $ 17,00 1 X 1-100 $ 5.50 ii iiqi sors 83D87-25 $ 369,00 83D87SX-20 Call 256X8-10 256 X 8-80 $ 18.00 $ 19.00 1 X 1-80 1 X 1-70 $ 5.75 $ 6.25 Parf# PRICE Part if EQ PRICE 256X9-12 $ 17.00 256-150 Call 8087-3 Call 2C87-8 $ 175.00 256X9-10 $ 17.00 256-120 $ 1.85 8087-2 Call 2C87-10 $ 185.00 [2S1 HEWLETT mLlLM PACKARD 256 X 9-80 256 X 9-70 258 X 9-60 $ 18.00 $ 21.00 $ 26.00 256-100 25680 256-70 $ 1.90 $ 2.00 $ 2.30 8087-1 80287-8 80287-8 Call Call Call 2C87-12 2C87-20 3C87-16 $ 215.00 $ 255.00 Call Model USER JET Memory Added Part # EQ 1MB MODULE H33443B PRICE $ 89.00 1 X8-10 1 X8-80 1 X 6 70 $ 50.00 $ 51.00 $ 60.00 25660 256X4-10 256X4-80 $ 3.00 $ 5.75 $ 6.00 80287-10 80287XL (12.5 MHz) B0287XLT (12.5 MHz 80387-16 Call $ 229.00 Call 3C87SX-16 3C87-20 3C87-25 Call $ 325.00 $ 385.00 ll&IID 2MB MODULE H33444B $ 149.00 1X9-10 $ 55.00 4464-10 S 2.20 $ 305.00 3C87-33 $ 485.00 4MB MODULE H33445B $ 249.00 1X9-80 $ 56.00 4464-80 $ 2.40 80387SX-16 $ 290.00 IIP&III 1MB MODULE H33474A 2MB MODULE H33475A 3MB MODULE N/A $ 89.00 $ 149.00 $ 199.00 1 X 9 70 4X8-80 4 X 9-80 $ 57.00 $ 299.00 $ 329.00 4164-15 4164-12 4164-10 $ 1.40 $ 1.85 $ 2.00 80387SX-20 80387-20 80387-25 $ 315.00 $ 350.00 $ 450.00 4MB MODULE N/A $ 249.00 EPROM/CPU/SRAM/VRAM Also Available 80387-33 $ 550.00 We will meet or beat any advertised price. We also carry memory upgrades for ACER • AT&T • DELL • DTK • EPSON • ZENITH • EVEREX • HP Vectra • SAMSUNG • SUN • Canon Printer • SILICON GRAPHICS • WYSE • and other AT & XT clones 1228 Village Way, Unit D • Santa Ana, CA 92714 • (714) 542-8292 • FAX (714) 542-8648 • Hours 8:00 AM-5:00 PM PST DEALER'S INQUIRIES WELCOME Trademarks are registered with their respective companies. Prices are subject to change Circle 617 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 618) WHAT'S NEW OTHER Nutrition Analysis for Windows Dine Windows II, a nutri- tional-analysis and diet- improvement program that runs under Microsoft Win- dows, includes a database of more than 5600 foods and 24 food components, as well as a database of almost 200 activ- ities and exercises. The new version lets you expand the database. An optional statistics/ graphics program analyzes data using line and bar charts, scatter plots, and statistical analyses. As you enter your meals, the program can pro- vide a rating on a scale of from 1 to 10 that compares the ac- tual diet with dietary guidelines. The statistics module for Dine Windows II lets you analyze data using a variety of charts. Price: $295; statistics mod- ule, $50. Contact: Dine Systems, Inc., 586 North French Rd.. Suite 2, Amherst, NY 14228,(716)688-2492, fax (716) 688-2505. Inquiry 1201. Make Your Windows Display Big Aristocad's new Windows 3.0 utility, More Win- dows, increases the applica- tion area of VGA and EGA screens, providing a virtual screen that lets you pan past the normal borders of your application. The company says that the program is an alter- native to buying larger and more expensive display sys- tems when you need to view several applications. Price: $99. Contact: Aristocad, Inc., 6920 Koll Center Pkwy., Suite 211, Pleasanton, CA 94566, (800) 338-2629, (800) 426- 8288, or (415) 426-5355, fax (415)426-6703. Inquiry 1202. ■&/■ Calcomp ^S^ AH Models, / CALL for Swings Summagraphics Sketch II 12x12, 4-But 340 Sketch II 12x12, 16-But 427 Sketch Pro II 12x18, 16-But 585 Large Formats Call Digitizers Kurta 12x1 2. 4 Puck Stylus 345 12 x 12, 12-But Corded 435 12x17, Corded Puck 585 30x36, 16-But 2015 36x48, 16-But 2394 GTCO Sketch Master 12 x 12 319 SL 24 x 36 Super Pricing SL36 x 48 Super Pricing Hitachi Puma 12x12, 4 or 12-But ...375 Tiger 12x12, 12-But 648 Complete CAD Workstations Each system fully configured including 2 Serial Ports, 1 Parallel Port, corresponding Math Coprocessor, Enhanced "AT" 101 Keyboard, 1.2MB Floppy, DOS 3.3, GW-Basic, SUMMAGRAPHICS SUMMASKETCH PLUS, EVEREX VGA GRAPHICS CARD and EVEREX MODEL 300-01 (15-35KHz) MULTISCAN COLOR MONITOR. Each system thoroughly tested prior to shipment and supplied with a Full One Year On-Site Warranty III System Configuration EverexStep 486/33 W/8MB Everex Step 486/25 W/8MB EverexStep 386/33 W/4MB Everex Step 386/25 W/4MB Everex Step 386/20 W/4MB Cache 44MB 80MB 92MB 150MB Memory MFM MFM ESDI ESDI 128Kb $7595 $7795 128Kb 6595 6795 64Kb 5495 5595 6095 6295 64Kb 4695 4895 5295 5495 64Kb 4295 4495 4895 5095 Monitor & Card Combos Graphic* Card Metheus1228 Metheus 1224 #9 GX Level 2 #9 GX Level 4 Rendition IU16VGA Rendition IU256VGA VMI Cobra 16HS Video 7 VRAM 512 Monitor Only Only w/Mrtsu19" Hitachi 21" Hitachi 20" HL6905 4320-21 AP CM2085M $1690 3689 4300 3585 1260 3259 3870 3155 785 2784 3395 2680 1295 3294 3905 3190 1130 3129 3740 3025 1505 3504 4115 3400 1350 3349 3960 3080 380 2379 3039 2275 1999 2610 1895 Nanao16" Nanao 9070S 9070U 1760 1862 2105 2207 2480 2582 2325 2427 1374 1457 975 1077 We Carry a Complete Line of Modems, Network Boards & Accessories, Math & Memory Chips, Surge Protection The abova b a partial toting of our product line. Please Inquire if you're frrterestod In a product not listed. Al names are trade- marks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. • Quoted prices reflect a 2% cash tfacount. 1 Prices subject to change without notice. 1 All manufacturers* warranties apply. INVENTORY REDUCTION 5% Discount on All Purchases thru f 2/31/90 Plotters-All Models Calcomp HP Houston Instuments loline Roland Baled companies call for terms. C.O.D., Lease, VISA, Mastercard & Amex. Member Better Business Bureau. CAD Buster $12,500.°° EVEREXSTEP 386/33 W/8MB* SIMM, 150MB ESDIHardDrtv* Indudea Renaissance Rendition II 16" Color with VGA Module, Hitachi CM-2065M or Mitsubishi HL-6905 10" Color Monitor, AthruOB-Pen Plotter, 1 2 x 12 Diglttzeryourchoice of three. *5MB minimum require- ment for AutoCAD/386. Delivery limited to continental U.SA 1-800-289-1650 6760 Miller Road ■ Breclcsville, Ohio 44141 CADWAREHOUSE This ad copyright November 1 990, ESI Auk iWffl.IHffll.-ffl 1 EE 72PC-18 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 615 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 616) Microcom Computers A HRW Technologies Company Standard System Features: * Teac 5.25' 1.2 MB or 3.5' 1.44 MB Diskette Drive * 1:1 Interleaved Hard/Floppy Drive Controller * Enhanced 101 -key Keyboard * 2 Serial & 1 Parallel Port & Real Time Clock/Calendar w/Battery * High Capacity 20Q Watt System Power Supply Our Commitment to Service and Quality k 1 Year Warranty on Parts & Labor * Toll-free Technical Service & Support * No Surcharge on Credit Card Purchases (VISA/MasterCard) * Comprehensive 72 Hour Burn-In Testing on All Systems * All Systems Made with pride In the USA * Small Footprint Case(14.875' W x 16.25" D x 6.75' H) * Tower Case w/230 Watt Power Supply (386/25C, 386/33C & 486/25C) Microcom Mouse (Great for Windows) $29.99 Hi-Resolution 3-Button Microsoft-compatible Mouse (up to 432 dpi) Microcom 286/12 Systems (1 MB RAM) Standard System, Hard Drive, Monitor & Video Card 286/12 Hires Package (w/1 MB RAM) $1, 199 * 286/1 2 System w/42 MB 25 ms IDE Hard Disk * 5.25" 1.2 MB Drive & 3.5' 1.44 MB Drive * 14" Color Hires Monitor (1024 x 768) * 1 6-bit Hires 1 024 x 768 VGA Graphics Card * Microsoft Windows 3.0 & DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Hard Drives: MB/Ms IDE 42/25 IDE 80/16 IDE 105/16 IDE 205/16 ESDI 340/16 Mono $749 $949 $999 $1,349 $2,149 VGA-Mono $899 $1,099 $1,149 $1,499 $2,299 VGA Hires $1,149 $1,349 $1,399 $1,749 $2,549 Microcom 386SX/16 Systems (l Standard System, Hard Drive, Monitor £ IMBRAMj * Video Card ) 386SX/16 Hires Package (w/4 MB RAM) $1,799 * 386SX/1 6 System w/42 MB 25 ms IDE Hard Disk * 5.25' 1 .2 MB Drive & 3.5' 1.44 MB Drive * 14" Color Hires Monitor (1024 x 768) * 1 6-bit Hires 1 024 x 768 VGA Graphics Card * Microsoft Windows 3.0 & DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Hard Drives: MB/Ms IDE 42/25 IDE 80/16 IDE 105/16 IDE 205/16 ESDI 340/16 Mono $1,049 $1,249 $1,299 $1,649 $2,449 VGA- Mono $1,199 $1,399 $1,449 $1,799 $2,599 VGA Hires $1,449 $1,649 $1,699 '$2,049 $2,849 Microcom 386/25 Systems (1 M for 64 KB Cache (in Tower Case), add I Standard System, Hard Drive, Monitor I BRAM) J200 lc Video Card 386/25 Hires Package (w/4 MB RAM) $2,299 386/25C Hires Package (w/4 MB RAM) $2,499 * 386/25 or 386/25C System w/1 05 MB 1 6 ms IDE Hard Disk * 5.25' 1.2 MB Drive & 3.5" 1.44 MB Drive * 14" Color Hires Monitor (1024 x 768) * 1 6-bit Hires 1 024 x 768 VGA Graphics Card * Microsoft Windows 3.0 & DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Hard Drives: MB/Ms IDE 42/25 IDE 80/16 IDE 105/16 IDE 205/16 ESDI 340/16 Mono $1,299 $1,499 $1,549 $1,899 $2,699 VGA- Mono $1,449 $1,649 $1,699 $2,049 $2,849 VGA Hires $1,699 $1,899 $1,949 $2,299 $3,099 Microcom 386/33C Tower Systems (1 MB Standard System, Tower Case, Hard Drive, Monitor RAM/64 KB Cache) & Video Card 386/33C Hires Tower Package (w/4 MB RAM) $2,999 * 386/33C System w/205 MB 16 ms IDE Hard Disk * 5.25' 1.2 MB Drive & 3.5' 1.44 MB Drive * 14' Color Hires Monitor (1024 x 768) * 1 6-bit Hires 1 024 x 768 VGA Graphics Card * Microsoft Windows 3.0 & DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Hard Drives: MB/Ms IDE 42/25 IDE 80/16 IDE 105/16 IDE 205/16 ESDI 340/16 VGA- Mono $1,749 $1,949 $1,999 $2,349 $3,149 VGA Hires $1,999 $2,199 $2,249 $2,599 $3,399 I Microcom 486/25C Tower Systems (4 MB RAM/128 KB Cache Standard System .Tower Case, Hard Drive, Monitor & Video Card 486/25C Hires Tower Package (w/8 MB RAM) $3,999 * 486/25C System w/205 MB 16 ms IDE Hard Disk * 5.25' 1.2 MB Drive & 3.5' 1.44 MB Drive * 14" Color Hires Monitor (1024 x 768) * 1 6-bit Hires 1 024 x 768 VGA Graphics Card * Microsoft Windows 3.0 & DOS 3.30 or 4.01 Hard Drives: MB/Ms IDE 105/16 ESDI 150/16 IDE 205/16 ESDI 340/16 ESDI 650/16 VGA-Mono $2,949 $3,299 $3,299 $4,099 $5,049 VGA Hires $3,199 $3,549 $3,549 $4,349 $5,299 Introducing the Revolutionary New Microcom Palm-size Desktop 286/16 Computer. (Just 9.4 u x7.3 u x 1.8") $1,999 Its so small that It fits in the palm of your handsl * 9" Color Monitor w/Hires VGA Graphics Card (up to 1 024 x 768) * Powerful 16 MHz 80286 Microprocessor * One expansion slot, One parrallel and Two Serial Ports * 3.5' 1 .44 MB Diskette Drive * Ethernet LAN Network Adapter Built-in *42 MB 25 ms IDE Hard Disk (80, 1 00 & 200 MB Hard Disks Optional) * 82-key Mini Keyboard, Carrying Bag and Mini Tower Stands Wait, w&re not finished yet! Also Introducing the Powerful New Microcom 486/33C Tower System $5,699 20 MIPS (million Instructions per second) at your fingertips! * 5.25' 1 .2 MB Drive & 3.5 1 1.44 MB Drive * Based on Intel's Powerful J80486-33 CPU * 1 4" Hires Monitor w/1 6-bit Hires VGA Graphics Card (1 024 x 768) * 4 MB RAM Standard with Advanced 1 28 KB Cache * Tower Case w/230 Watt Power Supply * 205 MB 1 6 ms IDE Hard Disk (340 & 650 MB ESDI Hard Disks Optional) * Microsoft Windows 3.0 & DOS 3.30 or 4.01 And coming soon... Microcom Palm-size Desktop 386/33 Computer and Microcom Lightweight Notebook Portables Microcom Computers' Customers Include: Xerox, GTE, Motorola, Raychem, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Eastman Kodak, SEGA of America, Toshiba, Genetech, Bechtel, Siemens, Holiday Inn, Pacific Gas & Electric, Pacific Bell, Wells Fargo Bank, NASA U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, U.S. Dept. of Energy, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Francisco, Stanford University, Princeton University, University of Pittsburg, University of Vermont, Lawrence Uvermore National Laboratories, John Muir Medical Center and many, many more. To Order - Call Toll Free 1-800-248-3398 Open from 9:00 AM. to 6:00 PM. PST, Monday-Friday 48890 Miimont 'Drive, Suite 103<D, Jremont, CA 34537 - 3650-18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 - 7&K} (4l5)6Z3-3628 Prices are aubjad to change wlhojut notice. N&t rosponsfcte tor typographical errors. CA residents please add 7 25% sales tax. No surcharge on credit card purchases.- Personal and company cti acknowledged. Tower Is a raftered trademark of N6R Corporation. Microcom Computers reserves the right to substitute any and atl Items wlh 'equivalent or better parte. All bencnma/Jci and so vary from system to system. Prices do not Include shipping arid handling. Circle 620 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW OTHER Automatic Document Indexing for the PC Many word processors let you create an index as you prepare a document, but this often involves marking each word and phrase that you want included. Help Soft- ware's PC-Index creates an index automatically from any WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, WordStar, or ASCII document. Although the program creates the index automati- cally, you control which words are included. You can create a list of words or phrases to include or a list of words to discard. The stan- dard discard list that comes with the program contains 1000 of the most commonly used words in the English language. The standard dis- card list is customizable. If you like to work in chap- ters, PC-Index can create an index from a group of related files. The program requires an IBM PC with 640K bytes of RAM. Price: $79. Contact: Help Software, 16706 Bradley Court, Belton, MO 64012, (816) 331-5809. Inquiry 1203. Speak English Like a Native Nonnative English speak- ers who wish to improve their pronunciation and ac- quire an American accent can now use Speak Easy. Using a microphone, speaker or ear- phones, and a digital sound card, you speak into the IBM PC, which digitally captures what you say. You can then re- play what you said and com- pare it to a digitally recorded American voice. You can re- record and compare to this voice as often as necessary. The program comes in two versions: Professional, with 22 MB of speech, or Per- sonal, with 12 MB. Both ver- sions include a sound card, microphone, speaker, headset, and software. Price: Professional, $995; Personal, $595. Contact: Speak Easy Lan- guage Learning Software, 1914 Corinth Ave., Suite 211, Los Angeles, CA 90025, (213) 479-3274, fax (213) 478-6875. Inquiry 1204. Best Price Hardware Database For bargain hunters and businesses alike, the Com- puter Buyer's Best Price Database provides information on hardware vendors and the prices of their wares. The pro- gram provides multiple tele- phone numbers for each vendor and technical information. The program requires 512K bytes of RAM on a DOS system. Price: Before June 1, $150 for a 12-month subscription (12 monthly updates); after June 1, $300. Contact: Business Computer Systems, 4990 Poplar, Suite 324, Memphis, TN 38117, (901)753-1196. Inquiry 1205. Attention U.S. BYTE Subscribers Watch for the next BYTE DECK mailing that will be arriving in your mailbox soon! Use this as a fast, convenient tool to purchase computer products and services. It's loaded with essential hardware and software products that you should be aware of when making your buying decisions. . .and it's absolutely FREE! If you have a computer product or service, and would like to reach 275,000 influential BYTE magazine subscribers, please give Ed Ware a call today at (603) 924-2596. BYTE m Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say: ' Ten years ago we advertised in the very first BYTE Deck— the number of sales leads we received was enormous! The BYTE Deck was so successfid for us, that we have continued to use it over the past ten years! ' * Lisa Tarpoff, Marketing Manager, Heath Company, Benton Harbor, MI 72PC-20 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 DATAWARE and NEC WORKING FOR YOUR FUTURE NEC Desktop Systems: Powermate Systems Buslnessmate Systems Powermate Portables 286V 286 SX/20 CSX NEC Monitors: MCGA VGA Super VGA Multlscan Macintosh II Video IBM 851 4/ A 'Pinuniter SiCenirumter CoCormaU. Service and Supplies: NEC's Premier Northeast Service Center Full support and service on all NEC Technologies products Complete stock of all NEC Printer Supplies 286 386SX 386 486 NEC Laptop Systems: Ultralite Notebook Prospeed QS2A 2A XD 4<D 5V NEC Printers: Dot Matrix Laser Thermal Transfer Color Postscript NEC Graphics and Optical Media Cables Graphics Boards CD-ROM Drives NEC DATAWARE PRODUCTS, INC. 295 University Ave Westwood, MA. 02090 dP W (617) 461-1160 / 800-242-4DPI; Fax: (617) 461-0083 Circle 612 on Reader Service Card WHAT'S NEW USERS GROUPS AND OTHER NOTES Borland Reveals Turbo Pascal for Windows The listing in the Boston Computer Society's Up- date newsmagazine said that Borland International would introduce a "new program- ming language," but company representatives ended up dis- closing much more. At a special event held at the Copley Westin Hotel, a company official revealed Borland is at work on a version of Turbo Pascal that will run under Microsoft Windows and produce true Windows applications. Borland official Gene Wang came to the Boston Computer Society meeting to introduce Turbo Pascal 6.0, but in the course of answer- ing questions about the new program, he confirmed work on the Windows version. "I'm glad you asked that question," Wang said to the BCS member who asked about Turbo Pascal's compati- bility with Windows and Quarterdeck's Desqview. "We were going to wait until Comdex, next week, to show some of our early work on this," Wang said, "but we de- cided to give the Boston Computer Society members the first glimpse at Turbo Pascal for Windows." Wang's colleagues then started an obviously scripted demonstration of the new product. "As you can see on the screen, Turbo Pascal for Windows is a hosted graphical interface for Windows [in other words, Windows pro- vides the user interface] ; it uses the MDI, or Multiple Document Interface, for han- dling multiple files," Wang said. "Notice that the dialog box for compiler options has the usual check boxes, radio but- tons, and input fields ... but it also has these awesome-look- ing three-dimensional push buttons." Wang demonstrated com- piling and running a simple demonstration program; while the first program was still running, Wang compiled and ran a Pascal adaptation of Charles Petzold's Hex Calcu- lator application. "Turbo Pascal for Win- dows is the beginning of a whole new product line for Windows applications develop- ment. What you saw here was a look at some research-and- development efforts at Borland." The company will deliver Turbo Pascal for Windows sometime in the first half of this year, Wang said. [Editor's note: For more information on Turbo Pascal 6. Ofor Win- dows, see the January BYTE, page 126. ] Wang stressed that Bor- land's DOS program line will continue, and that Turbo Pas- cal's Turbo Vision application is a good introduction to ob- ject-oriented, message-passing architectures like Windows and Presentation Manager. Wang declined to answer further questions on Borland's Windows product line; how- ever, developers attending the meeting said they are work- ing with alpha-test versions of Turbo C++ for Windows. —Martin Heller PUT YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER ON BIX I BIX is more than just a great on-line information service. It's a community made up of thousands of the most serious computer users in the world; people like your customers, who are always on the look-out for the latest innovations and information regarding both hardware and software. Now you can set up shop in this electronic neighborhood with your own BIX Technical Support Conference. That way, you can give your customers all the prod- uct information and technical support they need. Use it to post updates or fixes for your customers to download at any time. If your company doesn't operate an 800 number, a BIX conference is an inexpensive alternative. Or it can back up an existing 800 line. And when you establish a BIX confer- ence you'll enhance your product's value because you'll be able to offer your customers special rates on BIX subscriptions. For all the details, call Customer Service at: 1-800-227-2983 (in NH, call 603-924-7681). BIX 72PC-22 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 New EasyCAD 2.60 Tops the #1 Rated C Number 1 in user satisfaction-PC Week poll. In competition against other top CAD software for performance, hardware compatibility, ease of use and value, EasyCAD 2.05 handily won the award that counts most-User Satisfaction. Now the best is even better. You Pay Only $169.95 for the Program CAD Users Rate Number 1. PC WORLD said it best, "This easy- to-leam program is blindingly fast, and its flexibility, wealth of features and excellent user interface match those of professional programs costing thousands of dollars more." In fact, because it is written entirely in assembly language experts say new EasyCAD 2.60's speed rivals CAD pack- ages costing up to twenty times more. So why spend well over $2000 to get what EasyCAD 2.60 can deliver for just $169.95? Expanded, productivity- boosting associative dimensioning. EasyCAD 2.60's associative dimen- sioning feature allows you to rotate, stretch or change the scale factor of a drawing and all dimensions are instantly updated to reflect the change. This includes ordinate, angle, radius and diameter as well as other dimen- sion formats. You never have to erase or re-enter dimensions. Whisk through even the largest drawings. An enhanced memoiy manager lets you work through the largest drawings faster than ever. Ennma oftware Plot to file means you can store draw- ings on disk now and send it to the printer later. And version 2.60 supports PostSciiptpiinter fonts and line weight controls. More features, less money- guaranteed. No other CAD software gives you so many features for so little money (and a 30-day money back guarantee) : Customizeable pull-down menus, script and macro capabilities that automate complex^ or repetitive tasks, DXF for exchang- ing drawings and files with other CAD programs and spread sheets. The list goes on. Call (602) 967-8633 now for more infonnation, plus the name of your nearest dealer. If you already own EasyCAD, ask about our special 2.60 upgrade offer. EVOLUTION CAD 2 COMPUTING 437 S. 48th St., Ste. 106 Tempe, AZ 85281-9936 1(800)874-4028 Circle 628 on Reader Service Card © 1991 Evolution Computing EasyCAD2 is a regstcred trademark of Evolution Computing BET ON A DERBY WINNER. . . 486/25C-200PRO Intel 80486-25, 32-bit 8MB RAM, 64K Cache 200MB Hard Drive 15ms 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $4,295.00 386/33C-200PRO Intel 80386-33, 32-bit ■ 4MB RAM, 64K Cache 200MB Hard Drive 15ms 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1 MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi . Mid-size Tower Case $3,295-00 386/33C-100PRO Intel 80386-33, 32-bit 4MB RAM, 64K Cache 100MB Hard Drive 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $2,895.00 386/25-100 PRO Intel 80386-25, 32-bit 4MB RAM 100MB Hard Drive ■ 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1 MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $2,595.00 ERBY DELIVE One Year Warranty 72 Hour Burn-in Test! [1 Systems built in the UL Toll Free Technical Suppoi Life Time Technical Suppo 30 Day Money Back Guarant (Less any shipping charges] , Hours: 9:00 to 6:00 Mon-Sa Shipping & Handling: $4* n 386/25-65 PRy Intel 80386-25, 32-bit 4MB RAM 65 MB Hard Drive 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1 MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $2,495.00 [-lOOPRO Intel 80386 SX ' 2MB RAM 100 MB Hard Drive 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1 MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $1,995.00 386/SX-65PRO Intel 80386 SX 2MB RAM 65MB Hard Drive 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1 MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.0 1 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $1,895.00 286/12-40 PRO Intel 80286-12 16-bit 2MB RAM 40MB Hard Drive 1.2MB 5 1/4" Drive 1.44MB 3 1/2" Drive 1024X768 16-bit VGA, 1 MB Color Super VGA Monitor 2 Serial, Parallel, Game Ports DOS 4.01 & MS Windows 3.0 Microsoft Mouse, 400 dpi Mid-size Tower Case $1,495.00 °mput0f > Ini 1-800-24-DERBY 718 - 15th Avenue / East Moline / Illinois / 61244 / (309) 755-2662 Circle 613 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 614) J *«ipu-re r Ini EXPERT ADVICE COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR Jerry Pournelle A Pack of Laptops Getting away from it all to write takes more computers than you might think One amusing way to spend an af- ternoon: try setting up a Desq- view system without manuals. Of course, a story goes with it. We have recently acquired use of a beach house. Even I don't know the phone number here. The idea of having a place to write is working, too; I've done two chapters of the sequel to The Mote in God 's Eye and caught up on a bunch of other stuff. I can even work on this col- umn down here. This is possible because computers are now small enough that I can travel and still keep my computing environment. The basic idea is sound: carry not only your work, but your favorite environ- ment: Desqview, Windows, Tornado, Norton Commander, your word proces- sor, MathCAD— whatever you like, as well as what you can't do without. In my case, I brought the Zenith Su- persPort SX, a smaller Zenith MinisPort HD with a hard disk drive (for taking around to the beach and in my bicycle backpack), the TravelMate 2000 note- book computer from Texas Instruments, and the Ergo Brick, which is a 386SX that's smaller and lighter than the Mini- sPort HD. (The Brick doesn't have bat- teries, the power supply is external, and there's no screen.) I also brought down a Northgate Com- puter Systems OmniKey Plus keyboard in the "Pournelle" layout (the oversize Backspace key is to the right of the P, where God intended it to be) and an Ul- tra- 14 monitor from Princeton Graphic Systems, which, in the words of a col- league, is "some kind of monitor." Both work with either the Brick or the Super- sPort SX; that is, the SupersPort SX has both keyboard and VGA ports as well as the built-in keyboard and supertwist screen. The keyboard and the monitor work just fine with the SupersPort SX. You do have to remove the computer's battery before you can plug in the exter- nal monitor, which means that you're not able to use the battery as an uninterrupti- ble power supply, but that's only annoy- ing, not fatal. The neat part about this setup is that when I'm done, I simply unplug the ex- ternal keyboard and monitor and leave them behind; all my work has been saved onto the SupersPort SX (and on a floppy disk for backup), so I am carrying it with me wherever I go next. The SupersPort SX is plenty powerful enough for anything I'm likely to do here. It runs Desqview just fine, and even though it doesn't have as much ex- tended/expanded memory as the Brick, it has enough to keep my word processor, Norton Commander, and a communica- tions program going simultaneously. It runs Microsoft QuickBASIC, so I can work on Mrs. Pournelle's Reading Pro- gram if I'm inclined to. It will run Win- dows 3.0 if you attach a mouse. Antici- pating that, I brought a Logitech Track- Man trackball, but any serial mouse would do. All told, the SupersPort SX is a lot more machine than I had at Chaos Manor three years ago. The only problem with the SupersPort SX/Ultra-14/OmniKey Plus combination is that many programs have to be told whether they're being used by a color or monochrome setup, generally through command-line switches; thus, switching from monochrome to color can be a bit tedious if you're using Desqview. You can use batch files for programs that use a command-line switch. An example is Q&A Write, which uses various docu- mented switches to change over to mono- chrome—and an undocumented switch, QW -a, to restore it to full VGA color. I can, therefore, recommend the Su- persPort SX not only as a portable, but as one's only machine. My fellow science fiction writer Norman Spinrad has for several years used a previous Zenith por- table as his only machine. He's worked in locations from Hollywood to Moscow and done several books with it, and he has no complaints. The SupersPort SX is blooming heavy to lug around— but I like it enough that I do lug it. It is, in a word, good enough. Again the Brick My other alternative is the Ergo Brick, which I wrote about last month; this is a machine with a footprint the size of a sheet of paper. It stands 4 inches high and is as powerful as any 386SX. Mine has a 220-megabyte hard disk drive, two serial ports, and a bunch of features, in- cluding a built-in 2400-bps modem. You can't have everything: if the mo- dem is active, you can have only one serial port; if you use the modem and a mouse, you don't have any. I discovered all this while using LapLink to transfer files from the SupersPort SX to the Brick: I could disable the modem and use the COM2 port, disconnect the mouse and use the COM1 port, or use the print- er ports. I finally did the latter. I found one serious problem with the Brick: the cursor control keys were al- most useless because the key repeat rate was set preposterously fast. If I used the Backspace key, I could either tap it one space at a time or risk losing half a page of text when the auto-repeat took over. Similarly, auto-repeat on the cursor keys would take you down a whole page before you could let go. Now if Ergo Computing had used DOS 4.01, that wouldn't be a problem, be- cause in DOS 4.0 and above the MODE command will let you set the key repeat rate. That feature will also be in DOS 5.0. However, Ergo has— wisely in my judgment, because I do not recommend DOS 4. x— used DOS 3 . 3 + f or the Brick, and the too-rapid key repeat was not FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 73 CHAOS MANOR merely an annoyance, but a major dif- ficulty. A call to Ergo technical support got me the information that they'd work on the problem. Next day I got another mes- sage: they had a fix. I could dial into their BBS, or they'd mail me a disk to do the job. I opted for the disk. What came was a bootable disk with files and control soft- ware in the AUTOEXEC.BAT; when I booted up, it offered the opportunity to revise my BIOS, also warning me to be sure that the process went to completion once it started, since any interruption would render my machine useless. There weren't any lightning storms going on, so I told it to go ahead: with the result that my BIOS electrically erasable programmable ROMs were rewritten. Ergo has thoughtfully put EEPROMs in the Brick for just this purpose. The pro- cess took about 10 minutes; when it was done, the key repeat rate wasn't too fast any longer. In fact, it's a tad slow, and I am going tosuggest they do it again, this time making it about twice as fast as it is now. This ability to change the BIOS on the fly is a neat feature of the Brick. Setting Up Desqview The Brick comes bundled with quite a bit of Desqview software, and Ergo has set things up so that many programs load on start-up. Ergo furnishes all the docu- mentation with any programs bundled in with their machine, but I didn't bring all that stuff to the beach house. I've always known that there is some way to make Desqview open windows on start-up, but I never knew how it was done. I'm sure it's somewhere in the Desqview manual, but a reasonably dili- gent search of the index and table of con- tents didn't find it the last time I looked. It didn't seem important. My normal practice is to open Norton Commander in window one, Q&A Write in a batch file that also loads Word Finder in window two, and leave everything else to be done as I need it. It doesn't take me 20 seconds to load those two programs, so I never really cared much. To start up the Brick, though, I had to wait for six programs to load, close each one's window, and go to the Desqview Rearrange command and set the screen back to 25 rows and 80 columns, since the Brick has Desqview shift it to 50 rows, and I don't want tiny letters when I'm writing. It took an hour to figure out what was going on, but by diligent use of Norton Commander's View File feature, I found it. The secret is in the script name. When you first start up Desqview, you begin building a macro— they call it a script- by doing whatever you want the system to do on start-up. When you're asked for the script name, begin it with an excla- mation point: !STARTUP will do, but in fact it could be ! f oo for all the system cares. The result will be a script named desqview.dvs, and it will run when you first invoke Desqview. You want to be careful about doing that, though: the usual way to change that script is to start over again. If you get at all confused redoing that macro (script), you can build a script that locks the ma- chine; at least I did. The simple remedy is to delete desqview.dvs and open your windows manually until you are com- pletely sure what you want Desqview to do on start-up, However, there's a better way: Note- pad, the mini editor utility that comes with Desqview, knows how to edit the WorldPort compatibility Toshiba™ portability •>^ e Sterns 1 now gives Toshiba's complete line of fo&$ag. ^ &#k . w dns^od-qS!qin!M nV|u37000UA 1 •»*****. hps HrVV vhvvvh ffi^Wi'A iff '/ajaftkuo^' with 2400 bps data or ■ ■■■■ ■ Touchbase Systems, Inc. 160 Laurel Avenue Northport, NY 11768 (516)261-0423 Fax (516) 754-3491 d 2400 bps with MNP® 5. Call Now For Details: 800-541-0345 © 1990 Touchbase Systems. Inc., MNP is a registered trademark of Microcom, Inc. WORLDPORT and TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS are trademarks of Touchbase Systems. Inc. Toshiba is a trademark ofToshibu America Information Systems, Inc.. Computer Systems Division 74 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 250 on Reader Service Card EverythingY)u Ever V&nted In UNIX. And Less. $99.95* OK. We know it's hard to believe. So just consider this. Coherent 1 " is a virtual clone of UNIX. But it was developed independently by Mark Williams Company. Which means we don't pay hundreds of dol- lars per copy in licensing fees. What's more, Coherent embod- ies the original tenet of UMX: small is beautiful. This simple fact leads to a whole host of both cost and perform- ance advantages for Coherent. So read on, because there's a lot more to Coherent than its price. SMALLER FASTER. . .BETTER. Everybody appreciates a good deal. But what is it that makes small so great? For one thing, Coherent gives you UNIX capabilities on a machine you can actually afford. Requiring only 10 megabytes of disk space, Coherent can reside with DOS. So you can keep all your DOS applica- tions and move up to Coherent. You can also have it running faster, learn it faster and get faster overall perform- ance. All because Coherent is small. Sounds beautiful, doesn't it? But small wouldn't be so great if it didn't do the job it was meant to do. LESS IS MORE! Coherent For the IBM-PC/AT and compatible 286 or 386 based machines. Santa Cruz Operation's XENIX 286, Version 2.3.2 No. of Manuals 1 8 No. of Disks 4 21 Kernel Size 64K 198K Install Time 20-30min. 3-4 hours Suggested Disk Space 10 meg 30 meg Min. Memory Required 640K 1-2 meg Performance* 38.7 sec 100.3 sec Price $99.95 $1495.00 ♦Byte Execl benchmark, 1000 iterations on 20 MHZ 386. Hardware requirements: 1.2 meg 5V4" or 1.4 meg 316" floppy, and hard disk. Does not run on MicroChannel machines. EVERYTHING UNIX WAS MEANT TO DO. Like the original UNIX, Coherent is a powerful multi-user, multi-tasking development system. With a complete UNIX-compatible kernel which makes a vast world of UNIX software available including over a gigabyte of public domain software. Coherent also comes with Lex and Yacc, a complete C compiler and a full set of nearly 200 UNIX commands including text processing, program development, administrative and maintenance commands plus UUCP CRITICS AGREE: rrs AN INCREDIBLE VALUE! "Mark Williams Co. seems to have mastered the art of illusion; Coherent comes so fully qualified as a UNIX clone, you find yourself thinking 7 can't believe it's not UNIX.' " -Sean Fulton, UNIX Today!, November 26, 1990 ". . . (Coherent) may be the best thing that has happened to UNIX yet." -William Zachmann, PC Week, November 5, 1990 "If you want to come as close as you can to real UNIX for a low price, COHERENT can't be beat." -Warren Keuff el, Computer Language Magazine, November 1990 "If you want a UNIX-like develop- ment and learning system for less than $100. . .1 don't see how you can go wrong with Coherent." -David Fiedler, BYTE Magazine, November 1990 EXPERIENCE, SUPPORT AND A 60-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Wondering how something as good as Coherent could come from NEW COHERENT RELEASE 3.1 NOW WITH... -elvis: vi editor clone -SCSI (Adaptec AHA 154x series and more on the way.) and ESDI support -UUCP Bulletin Board System -RAM disk support -And much, much more! OVER 10,000 SATISFIED USERS! nowhere? Well it didn't. It came from Mark Williams Company, people who've developed C compilers for DEC, Intel, Wang and thousands of professional programmers. We make all this experience avail- able to users through complete techni- cal support via telephone. And from the original system developers, too! Yes, we know $99.95 may still be hard to believe. But we've made it fool-proof to find out for yourself. With a 60-day money-back no-hassles guarantee. You have to be more than just a little curious about Coherent by now. So why not just do it? Pick up that phone and order today. You'll be on your way to having everything you ever wanted in UNIX. And for a lot less than you ever expected. 1-800-MARKWMS (1-800-627-5967 or 1-708-291-6700) FAX: 1-708-291-6750 60-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Mark Williams Company 60 Revere Drive Northbrook, IL 60062 •Plus shipping and handling. Coherent is a trademark of Mark Williams Company. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T. XENIX is a trademark of Microsoft. POWER DEBUGGING BOUNDS-CHECKER Finds out-of-bounds memory accesses — AUTOMATICALLY. Flush out those Nasty pointer problems and other out-of-bounds memory accesses — AUTOMATICALLY. Each time you make a change to a program, run BOUNDS-CHECKER while testing the new code. If you accidentally access out-of- bounds memory, BOUNDS-CHECKER will pop up displaying the offending SOURCE LINE. And your program runs at full speed. Ship Bug-Free Products You can run BOUNDS-CHECKER while testing your program. There are no additional steps to your testing cycle, but you can feel secure when the program has passed through BOUNDS- CHECKER with no reported problems. Many over-write problems and other out-of- bounds memory accesses do NOT show up during normal testing. An out-of-bounds memory location may be modified, but that particular location doesn't happen to be important at the time. Once the program is in the field and a certain network is loaded or a certain T&SR or device driver is loaded, that memory location suddenly becomes very important... AND THE SYSTEM CRASHES. You can prevent these problems by making BOUNDS-CHECKER a standard part of your testing procedure. Gives you the protection of a protected operating system under MS-DOS. BOUNDS-CHECKER uses the 386 virtual machine technology to provide real-time memory protection. In addition BOUNDS-CHECKER uses the symbolic information output by your compiler to differentiate CODE and DATA. When your program is running, BOUNDS-CHECKER protects the program's CODE and all memory outside your program. "BOUNDS-CHECKER and Soft-ICE make sophisticated use of the most powerful versions of Intel's processor family to track down some of DOS programming s most insidious bugs. If you're developing programs for DOS, these are essential tools." PC Magazine July, 1990 pg 48 Soft-ICE 2.5 New Version, New Features The only debugger specifically designed to solve those problems unique to MS-DOS that we call the DOS Nasties. Memory over-writes Hung programs Program too big to debug Debugging T&SRs and Loadable Drivers Multiple Symbol Tables Supports Microsoft C 6.0 & Turbo C++ Windows Developers Run CODEVIEW for Windows on a Single Monitor Nu-Mega has done it again! CV/l™ $ 129 Call Today, Have it Tomorrow Requires 386 PC. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. 386 is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. Nu-MEg a 'TECHNOLOGIES INC BOUNDS-CHECKER $ 249 Soft-ICE 2.5 $ 386 MagicCV 3.0 $ 199 CV/l™ $ 129 Special Offer... Buy BC & S-ICE Save $ 100 Buy S-ICE & MCV Save $ 86 Buy all three Save $ 186 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee CALL TODAY (603) 888-2386 or FAX (603) 888-2465 P.O. BOX 7780 ■ NASHUA, NH ■ 03060-7780 ■ U.S.A. Circle 158 on Header Service Cant CHAOS MANOR Desqview script files. Nothing else will do it, because the script files contain control characters and such; but Notepad translates those characters into some- thing you can read and lets you edit them as you like. The result is very powerful: you can make a highly complex Desq- view script. Anyway, it took me a while, but I got the Brick reconfigured to what I want; and it will now travel with me to the beach house and back. Notebooks and Laptops I brought several laptops with me in addi- tion to the Super sPort SX, which is in theory usable as a laptop— I've often used it in business class on airplanes— but is pretty heavy for that work. Actually, I brought four: that beach house had more computing power than the U.S. government did when I was an undergraduate. There was Toshiba-San, the faithful Toshiba T1000 that Roberta relies on; the Texas Instruments Travel- Mate (TM) 2000; the MinisPort HD; and the Poqet PC. The notion was to test which machines were up to being stuffed into my backpack and taken out for i he Ergo Brick will now travel with me to the beach house and back. walks, or bicycle rides, along the board- walk, with stops for note taking and gen- eral writing as the mood seized me— clearly not a task for the SupersPort SX, much as I like it. Each of the four has strengths and weaknesses. The Poqet is a DOS machine, with lots of extra features. My problem is that I can't write with it: the keyboard is just too small for me. It is not too small for someone who does two-finger typing; in- deed, the Poqet' s keyboard is somewhat better than the Atari Portfolio's, with large square keys that have a good feel. Alas, they're just too close together for me to get my fingers on the home keys. I have noticed, though, that touch-typists with very small hands are able to use it. The Poqet is a full computer, and you can get peripheral equipment like floppy disk drives. I'm not fond of it: I find the screen small and hard to read, the key- board small and hard to use, and the computer a bit underpowered for what I want to do. On the other hand, it really will fit in your pocket; it weighs about as much as the Z88 but is smaller. Some people like the Poqet a lot. The TM 2000 is about the size of the Z88, but it's a clamshell: it opens to re- veal a screen that is much larger than the Z88's. Indeed, it's nearly as large as the SupersPort SX's screen and much larger than the MinisPort HD's screen. Unlike with the Poqet, screen brightness and contrast are adjusted manually, rather than by tapping keys. I find manual con- trast adjustment much easier, and so has everyone else I have discussed it with. The MinisPort HD, like the TM 2000, has a small (20 or 40 MB) hard disk drive and no internal floppy disk drive. Each has an optional external V/i -inch floppy SAVE 30 MINUTES EVERY TIME YOU HAVE A PC PROBLEM! ® By using Checkt/lt to find out if the problem is Hardware or Software The second you suspect a problem with your PC, you should reach for Check*/lt, the world's most popular PC diagnostic software. Running Check^lt should be the first thing you do -- because confirming or eliminating your PC's hardware as the source of the problem can save you time, money, and unnecessary repair calls. Check^lt will test your PC's main system board, memory, hard disk drive and floppy disk drives, video subsystem, communication ports, printer, keyboard, mouse, or joystick. Check^lt will also display key software and setup data, including your PC's exact equipment configuration, current IRQ assignments, memory allocation, device drivers, and CMOS table. Take a minute to run Check^lt the next time you have a PC problem. Then you'll know the answer to these key questions: Should you back it up, pack it up, and send it out for repair? Should you fix a hardware problem yourself? Or, should you concentrate on the software and configuration problems that you can correct? The moment you suspect a PC problem, run Check^lt. It's about time! Look for Check^lt at leading Che c kl] retail stores everywhere, Or call Touchstone TODAY! (714) 969-7746 or (800) 531-0450 Touchstone Software Corporation 2130 Main Street, Suite 250,Huntington Beach, CA 92648 registered trademark of Touchstone Software Corporation. Copyright ©1990 Touchstone Software Corporation, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. "Basic PC Maintenance" Hands-On Video Ask for it '- TODAY! Send literature: Circle 251 Call me I'm interested: Circle 252 FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 77 Circle 92 on Reader Service Card Finally, a fast, powerful text editor that integrates your favorite programming tools and uses no memory! CHAOS MANOR *0S • Mouse support • Pull-down menus • Columnar blocks • 1000 Level Undo • Regular Expressions • Small 70K, super fast • DOS, UNIX/XENIX, FlexOS • Also VEDIT $69, VEDIT Jr. $29 FREE Evaluation Copy Call1-800-45-VEDIT The new VEDIT PLUS is the productivity breakthrough programmers have been looking for. Run not only popular com- pilers, but all of your favorite tools from within the editor. When shelling to DOS, VEDIT swaps itself and any desired TSRs out of memory to give you more memory than when you entered VEDIT. Only VEDIT gives you the advantages of a powerful and flexible editor without giving up the convenience of an integrated environment. VEDIT offers stunning performance, ver- satility and ease of use. Completely writ- ten in assembly language, it's small and lightning fast. Edit text and binary files of any size, even 1 00+ megabytes. Installa- tion is trivial; VEDIT.EXE and an optional help file are all you need - no overlays, no configuration files. Other features include multiple file editing, windows, unlimited keystroke macros, "hot keys", context sensitive help, word processing, automatic indenting and total configurability. VEDIT has been the choice of 1 00,000 programmers, writers and engineers since 1 980. VEDIT PLUS adds a powerful "off the cuff- macro programming language, complete with source level debugging. VEDIT PLUS - $185 for DOS, $285 for UNIX/XENIX. Call for a free demo today. Greenview P.O. Box 1586, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 (313) 996-1299 * Fax (313) 996-1308 78 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 disk drive. The TM 2000's floppy disk drive attaches directly to the machine, while the MinisPort HD's drive uses a cable. The TM 2000's screen is larger, and better, than that on the MinisPort HD. After working with the TM 2000, the other screen looks small and dull; in- deed, compared to the TM 2000's mono- chromatic VGA screen, the MinisPort HD's screen is small and dull. The TM 2000 has one exceedingly an- noying "feature": all its external con- nectors are equipped with small plastic covers. These are unattached to the ma- chine, so it's dreadfully easy to lose them; indeed, I got sick of keeping track of them and used duct tape to cover the openings. This isn't pretty, but it does keep the dust out. The MinisPort HD's port covers are hinged to the case, so the problem doesn't arise. The MinisPort HD has a handle; the TM 2000 does not. The TM 2000's screen is nicer, but the MinisPort HD's screen folds back more conveniently. And so forth. The acid test for these two machines was to take them out to the beach on a bright sunny day and try to write notes with them; and that produced a definitive result. Under those conditions, it was al- most impossible to see the TM 2000's screen. The MinisPort HD's screen, al- though smaller, was visible enough that I could write several pages of Grand View notes; I wasn't able to do anything very useful with the TM 2000. Mind you, as soon as we got inside, I preferred the TM 2000's screen to that of the MinisPort HD; but so long as we were out in the bright sunlight, the Mini- sPort HD was clearly better. Incidental- ly, both of these screens are visible in light that is dim enough to make the Z88 completely useless, and both are prefera- ble to the Z88's screen no matter what the light conditions. My One and Only I certainly won't be bringing a half dozen computers with me every trip, so I'm go- ing to have to make a decision. That will probably be the Brick for inside work and the MinisPort HD as my carry-around notebook. Note, however, that Roberta will hang onto the TM 2000, preferring thattotheTlOOO. If I were setting up an office and had to settle for one and only one computer, and that computer had to be portable, I'm pretty sure I'd still choose the Brick. The reason is simple: while the SupersPort SX will do everything the Brick will and can be a laptop to boot, it does not have slots; and in these days of universal fax, that may make all the difference. The Brick has three half-card slots, meaning that I can, if I like, stuff one of the small fax boards in there. On the gripping hand, you can send both fax and teletypes through MCI Mail. Spinrad has used a Zenith laptop as his only machine for years, and he's plenty happy; and I have very good rea- son to know that Zenith makes these ma- chines rugged. Info Select Last time, I mentioned Tornado, the free-form notepad and database that some people can't live without. Info Se- lect is Micro Logic's update to Tornado. Real improvements include the ability to insert blank spaces at the beginnings of lines, a whole bunch of housekeeping improvements and minor bug fixes, and the capability to use EMS memory. There is a decided improvement to the manual: it's larger, and everything is ex- plained in more detail. Alas, sometimes the details can get tedious, but stick with it; an hour spent browsing through the manual may save you a hundred hours a year. Tornado certainly had the capabil- ity for saving a lot of time, and this is an improved Tornado. It takes two dense pages to explain how to convert from Tornado to Info Select format, and when you've finished reading that, you don't know a lot more than when you started. However, the conversion itself isn't hard. One warn- ing: if you're one of those who can't live without any notes you've made, be sure that you copy your old piles (now called stacks) before trying the conversion. One improvement is the ability to dial your phone (assuming you have a mo- dem): this means that Info Select can take your Tornado phone file and use that to call numbers. I confess I don't myself use this; I find it's about as easy to punch in the numbers myself. Some people swear by it, though. Dubious improvements over Tornado include a hard-to-use HyperCard genera- tor, and something I don't think is an im- provement at all: the notes now tile rather than stack, so that notes never overlap. This has the effect of making things mar- ginally neater while giving less informa- tion per screen. I liked the old system a lot better. I also liked the older name. "Info Select" sounds like a bad TV quiz show. "Tornado" had class. Like Tornado, Info Select is capable of changing your life; it really is easy to use, it works fine with Desqview and MIMUTE.MAN UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLIES ® TOTAL POWER PROTECTION • BLACKOUTS • UNDERVOLTAGE • BROWNOUTS * SURGES • OVERVOLTAGE • SPIKES • EMI/RFI STANDBY UPS MODELS • 250 VA To 2300 VA • Sinewave output - 1 millisecond transfer time • Communications interface and external battery packs available for extended run times ON-LINE UPS MODELS • 500 VA To 5,000 VA • Static By-pass Standard • True On-Line - Sinewave outputs • Communications Interface and external battery packs available LISTED for extended run time NETWORK MANAGER • Shutdown software for unattended operation • Only software to communicate with LANs and WANs • Novell 286 VAP and 386 NLM • SCO Xenix SLIMLINE & UPRIGHT MODELS tti tt 1 - ) \ I ac mum PARA SYSTEMS, INC 1455 LeMay Drive Carrollton. TX 75007 FAX: (214) 446-9011 TELEX: 140275 OMEGA 1-800-238-7272 Q 2 MINUTE WARNING Telephone: (214)446-7363 NOVELL LABS TESTED and APPROVED NetWore Compatible 'Distributed in over eighty countries Circle 166 on Reader Service Card CHAOS MANOR Windows (or as a TSR program under your word processor), and it will, once you're in the habit of using it, take care of much of the stuff that's now kept on Post- it Notes and the backs of old envelopes. Recommended, even with the wimpy new name. Trilogy I don't know if a new language can make a place for itself in the microcomputer world, but if one can, it might be Trilogy. There are now two implementations. One is from the original group headed by Dr. Voda; the other is from another of the language's designers and published by Vertical Software (VS), a division of AI Software— which, in fact, turns out to be a set of pretentious names for a com- pany whose only product is Trilogy. They have, however, done a pretty good job of packaging, and the Trilogy envi- ronment they have developed is neat. Trilogy is interesting: it combines fea- For the Ctrl you've been waiting to \JM_ in DEC terminal emulation, Select] the PowerStation keyboard. &!&. ar 1*3- < |. : '•:j;:JU zl:.tk r | f ? ' 5 c HI! 1 i : : (~ ,. t - Q W E R T V u i;i opt j ^ A 3 D F G r j ,;"k l ; ; ^ : - 1 «? ) I * « * $ ? B g^ _ 5 a ' e -"'""7" The PowerStation keyboard gives you the control you need [or key-by-key emulation of a DEC terminal. The PowerStation is an exact VT200/VT300 layout keyboard that plugs into your PC. The PowerStation brings VAX applications to your PC without having to hunt for re-mapped keys. Mere's the opportunity to standardize on one keyboard throughout your organization. The PowerStation keyboard has been designed to work on PCs, XTs, ATs, PS/2s, and the AT&T PC You can switch effortlessly between real VTs and the PowerStation. The PowerStation lets you run PC versions of your favorite VAX applications, including EDT+, WPS-PC, WPS-PLUS/DOS, and nu/TPU. And the keyboard can be used with regular DOS applications. The PowerStation keyboard comes with ZSTEM 240 or ZSTEM 220 terminal emulation software for connecting to your VAX. ZSTEM 240 includes full VT241 emulation and complete VT340 16 color ReGIS & sixel graphics. If you only need text, ZSTEM 220 will give you fast, accurate and complete VT220/320 emulation. ZSTEM includes file transfer protocols, as well as extensive network capability, with support for Novell, 3COM, Ungermann-Bass, Excelan, Wollongong, FIT, Sun and DEC's CTERM and LAT. With KEA's top-notch technical support and documentation, plus a solid warranty, you can be assured of quality products backed by quality people. KEA Systems Lid. 3738 North Fraser Way, Unit Burnaby, B.C, Canada V5J 5G1 Telephone: [604] 431-0727 Fax: [604] 431-0818 [Do] it! Call Today! 0rte \J]-mmi-\MMi-\ElM2i tered Iriidcniurksofllitir respective holder tures of Prolog, a logic interpreter lan- guage in which you make statements and ask questions and let the language solve the problem for you, and Pascal, a proce- dural language in which you have to tell the computer what to do in tedious detail. Prolog has no variable typing. Trilogy isn't as strongly typed as Pascal, but it does have type declarations and type checking during compilation. Trilogy has graphics capabilities; I haven't yet decided whether they're good enough to use for games, but I think they are: and if so, Trilogy would be an excel- lent language for game designers. VS Trilogy produces stand-alone com- piled code, although that's not obvious from the manual. The marketing man- ager tells me there's no attempt at obtain- ing licensing fees or royalties on pro- grams written in VS Trilogy, although the "licensing agreement" on the disk envelope implies the opposite; they say they will change that immediately and are notifying everyone that they never in- tended to require anyone to get their per- mission to sell compiled products. I've written just enough code in Tril- ogy to become intrigued by it. I do not know the language's future; Vertical Software is putting considerable effort into marketing it, but it's very hard for new languages to break in. I certainly would not recommend that major com- panies use Trilogy for writing a new spreadsheet or database, although it might produce a better one than the more customary languages do. On the other hand, I can recommend Trilogy to those who like to experiment with computer languages and program- mers who are looking for an edge in writ- ing programs with complex logic, such as strategy games. It would also be my language of choice for experimenting with programs to build expert systems. The Xy Write Experience It all started when my collaborator Steve Stirling sent me eight or nine chapters of our new Falkenberg novel, Tell the Spar- tans: he'd saved them into one big Word- Perfect file. Jim Baen, our publisher, is anxious to get this book, so he undertook to convert from WordPerfect to ASCII so that I could read and comment on what Steve had done. Alas, he merely ran the file through Word for Word, and the re- sult was a 330K-byte file. Q&A Write, my word processor, couldn't handle that large a file on its best day; so I was stuck with finding a word processor/text editor that I could live with. For several years, Baen has been tell- ing me that I ought to try XyWrite III 80 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 117 on Reader Service Card Tobecome the hottest name in dot matrix printers HnTSmml one teriific Jt 4 ' Aa\: ! Panasonic BOIHP1I1ldi4 saw mum-mam f - - - mm f ggzZStml "' •• a ■i lii > ■ '■■ j -■ MKiflBHBf i ■ '•'. . . ■» iBMEsai[ . . '/.- ;•!"••''• •■•"!•• :•■"' '•'"•'■" " ' ' r <> '"_ ' " ' i '!'' 11 " after another, Panasonic ! Panasonic Panasonic !KI*Hr1i1i 24 PIN Mulli-Mofie Pernor Panasonic am ■ m ^B Panasonic ; ':'''' :: ' ■'■;' ■' ; ' , Vfir^---'jj> b^pw muiii-mo** f ■'gg y 1 ' 1 ^ 1 after another. If you want the same features as the 1124, but with a wide carriage. If you want high speed, high volume for spread- sheets and financial. If you want near laser quality at dot matrix prices. A few years ago, we redefined what people expect from a dot matrix printer. By creating a 24-pin as sophisticated as it is simple. And as affordable to buy as it is economical to own. 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Printers, Computers, Peripherals, Copiers, Typewriters and Facsimiles Panasonic, Office Automation^\A \Jr~i Engineered for the office. Designed for people. DMF-BY Circle 165 on Reader Service Card CHAOS MANOR ITEMS DISCUSSED American Heritage Keynotes for the PC. . . $79.95-$99.95 PoqetPC . $1995 Dictionary ...$89.95 Digital Learning Systems, Inc. Poqet Computer Corp. Houghton Mifflin Software 102 Headquarters Plaza N 650 North Mary Ave. One Memorial Dr. Morristown, NJ 07960 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Cambridge, MA 02142 (201)538-6640 (800) 624-8999 (800)633-4514 Inquiry 1155. (408) 737-8100 Inquiry 1150. Knowledge Acquisition fax: (408) 720-8221 Inquiry 1159. Desqview 2.3 ..$129.95 Series $49.95-$7 Desqview/3862.3 ..$219.95 Inductel Quotemaster Penncomp ....$89 Quarterdeck Office Systems 18661 McCoy Ave. 150 Pico Blvd. Saratoga, CA 95070 4660 Beechnut St., Suite 214 Santa Monica, CA 90405 (800) 367-4497 Houston, TX 77096 (213)392-9851 (408) 866-8016 (713)669-0965 fax:(213)399-3802 fax: (408) 243-1762 Inquiry 1160. Inquiry 1151. Inquiry 1156. Random House Encyclopedia . ...$119 Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus MicroMath Data Analysis and Microlytics, Inc. Toolkit £99 Graphics Software $149-$349 2 Tobey Village Office Park S&S International MicroMath Scientific Software Pittsford, NY 14534 Berkley Court 2469 East Fort Union Blvd., (716)248-9150 Mill St. Suite 200 Inquiry 1161. Berkhamsted Salt Lake City, UT 84121 Hertfordshire HP4 2HB, (800) 942-6284 TravelMate 2000 LT286 . $3999 U.K. (801) 943-0290 Texas Instruments, Inc. 44-442-877877 fax: (801) 943-0299 P.O. Box 2022230 fax: 44-442-877882 Inquiry 1157. Austin, TX 78720 Inquiry 1152. (800) 527-3500 MinisPort HD . $2399 (512)250-7984 Ergo Brick ....$2495 SupersPort SX Inquiry 1162. Ergo Computing, Inc. with 40-MB hard disk drive . . ,$5499 One Intercontinental Way with 120-MB hard disk drive . . $6499 Trilogy ...$395 Peabody, MA 01960 Zenith Data Systems Vertical Software, Ltd. (800) 633-1925 1501 Feehanville Dr. 636 Clyde Ave. W, Suite 14 (508)535-7510 Mt. Prospect, IL 60056 West Vancouver, BC, Inquiry 1153. (800) 553-0331 (708) 699-4800 Canada V7T IE 1 (604)925-0321 Info Select ...$99.95 Inquiry 1158. Inquiry 1163. Tornado ...$79.95 Micro Logic Corp. XyWrite III Plus 3.56 ...$445 P.O. Box 70 XyQuest, Inc. Hackensack, NJ 07602 44 Manning Rd. (800) 342-5930 Billerica, MA 01821 (201)342-6518 (508)671-0888 Inquiry 1154. fax:(508)671-0858 Inquiry 1164. Plus; indeed, he has become something of a religious fanatic on the subject. "It's the One True Word Processor," he says. Others have told me the same thing: it's tough to learn, but once learned you will, they say, never change to anything else. So, I figured, I'm reasonably experi- enced with computers. I've got to use something to break up this file. I could get out Brief, but I haven't used that in a couple of years, because while Brief is a good candidate for the world's best pro- gramming editor, it's far too complex and touchy for creative writers; and, I thought, it would take me about as long to relearn Brief as it would to learn Xy- Write. I mean, thought I, how hard can it be to learn a word processor? So I tried it. I very nearly wentout of my mind. Clearly it is possible to learn XyWrite, for many have done it; but I guarantee you that while you are learning it, you will get very little else done. In particu- lar, don't even think of learning XyWrite while trying to work under a deadline. XyWrite just out of the box has a com- pletely arcane command scheme, an ac- tively user-hostile interface, and help files thatare part of the problem. Item: although Electric Pencil, which I used for many years, had no on-screen margins, Q&A Write does, and I have become accustomed to 60-column (on average) lines with a left margin. Xy- Write out of the box fills the screen; it even automatically hyphenates words, so if you work on a paragraph inserting and deleting text, the lines jump around as XyWrite inserts and deletes hyphens. I have always been taught that you never put a hyphen into a manuscript unless you want that hyphen set in type; thus, the first thing to do was to turn off the hyphenation. XyWrite has on-line help, of course, 84 BYTE- FEBRUARY 199 1 Programming Books** ...ready to use Computing Know How- with diskettes BASIC Programming Inside & Out In-depth coverage for all BASIC, QuickBASIC, G W-B ASIC, and Turbo BASIC programmers. Explains sound and graphics, creating help screens, pulldown menus, managing windows in BASIC, using ML with BASIC, business presentation graphics, printing multiple col- umns and sideways for professional results, programming serial and parallel interfaces. Dozens of demo programs and routines you can easily adapt to your own programs. 600 pages with companion disk. #B084 ISBN 1-55755-084-0 $34.95 PC Assembly Language Step by Step Teaches you PC assembly and machine lan- guage from the ground up. You'll learn at your own pace using the unique simulator which shows you how each instruction works as the PC executes it. 420 pages with 2 companion disks. Also includes evaluation versions of A86 Assembler and D86 Debugger. #15096 ISBN 1-55755-096-4 $34.95 Programming VGA Graphics VGA is becoming the standard display mode for PC applications. Learn techniques for writing using the flexible and powerful VGAhardware and software. Includes new, unique DOS commands to perform dozens of VGA functions. TurboPascal and BASIC extensions for VGA display modes. 670 pages with 2 companion disks. #B099 ISBN 1-55755-099-9 $39.95 QuickBASIC Toolbox Packed with powerful, ready-to-use programs and routines to write your own programs faster and better. Topics include: complete routines for SAA interfacing; pull-down menus; windows; dialog boxes and file requestors; descriptions of QuickBASIC routines and a BASIC Scanner program for printing completed project listings. Includes companion disk. Available January. #B104 ISBN 1-55755-104-9 $34.95 Available at B Dalton Booksellers, Waldensoftware, and Software Etc. and at other bookstores nationwide. In the UK contact Computer Bookshops 021-706-1 1BB. In Canada contact Addison Wesley 41 6-447-5101. Abacus! iwmimi IP Dept. B2, 5370 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49512 Orders: 1-800-451-4319 ■ Phone: (616) 698-0330 • Fax: (616) 698-0325 In US and Canada add $4.00 Postage and Handling. Foreign orders add $1 2.00 postage per book. We accept Visa, Master Card or American Express. Call or Write for your free catalog of PC Books. Circle 8 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 9) Batch File Powertools Boost your computing productivity with this package for making truly powerful batch files. Includes dozens of new batch commands for writing time-saving, easy-to-use "power" batch files. Book with companion disk containing powerful "Batch BASIC" commands for writ- ing even more useful batch programs. Includes companion disk. Available January. #B102 ISBN 1-55755-102-2 $34.95 PC System Programming An encyclopedia of PC technical and programming knowledge. Features parallel working examples written in Pascal, C, assembly and BASIC. Explains memory layout, DOS operations, using extended and expanded memory, writing device drivers, hard disks, PCports, mouse drivers, fundamentals of BIOS, graphics and sound, TSRprograms and complete appendices. 920 p ages and 2 companion disks with over I meg. of programs. #B036 ISBN 1-55755-036-0 $59.95 Turbo Pascal Internals Gives you "know how" to program faster, easier, tighter and better. Find out how to use Turbo for system programming tasks- writing TSRs, performing multi-tasking, using SAA windowing, implementing expanded and ex- tended memory. Learn how Turbo generates machine code, handles the mouse, scans the keyboard, uses UNITS and OOPS, performs fast screen display and more. 750 pages with 2 disks of more than 800K of source code #B080 ISBN 1-55755-080-8 $49.95 In US & Canada Order Toll Free 1-800-451-4319 ext. 22 ' For fast delivery Order Toll Free 1-800-451-4319 ext. 22 or FAX (616) 698-0325 ' □ Yes, please rush the following items □ Yes, please rush your free PC catalog Apply to my: □ Visa □ Master Card □ Am. Express / □ I have enclosed a check/ M.O. Assembly Language Step by Step $34.95 Programming VGA Graphics $39.95 BASIC Programming Inside & Out $34.95 Turbo Pascal Internals $49.95 Batch File Powertools $34.95 Quick BASIC Toolbox $34.95 PC System Programming $59.95 In US and Canada add $4.00 Postage and Handling. Foreign orders add $1 2.00 postage per book. Card# Expires Signaure Name_ Address_ City State .Zip- Phone* Dept. B2 Circle 45 on Reader Service Card CHAOS MANOR PS/2-1' MEMiRl /JMLJ1'" I Introducing OS/RAM8". Works with all of your programs. Run DOS or OS/2 effortlessly. Fast and simple switchless installation. Auto-configuration for all operating systems. Works in all Micro Channel™ computers. Expanded memory 10 times faster than Intel. Risk free guarantee. Two year warranty. IBM approved ID. Best price. Fast delivery. Call today 617-273-1818 or 1-800-234-4CEC Capital Equipment Corp. Burlington, MA. 01803 PS/2 and Micro Channel are trademarks of IBM and one help feature is that you can look up topics and words. Wonderful. Look up "hyphenation." 'This key word is not in the help vocabulary. Is there some other way to phrase what you need to know?" "Hyphen." 'This key word is not in the help vocabulary. . . . " All right, what about setting the mar- gins? Ask about " margin." "This key word " Indeed, I have yet to find a key word that does me any good. How- ever, the help file will also give you a list of commands. Well, not really: it's a list of about 100 abbreviations of commands. One of them was LM, which, I thought, just might stand for left margin, and in- deed did so. To set the left margin, go to the top of the text, go to the command line, and do "CMLM 8" to set the mar- gin to 8. This seemed simple enough. Of course, you don't type "CMLM 8," al- though that's what help tells you to do. You type in "LM 8"; the "CM" is there largely to confuse you. And on. It's also inconsistent. Some- times the Escape key will undo what you last did; but when in the command mode, it takes you successively back until Xy- Write is ready to accept a command— and then it starts putting escape characters into the command string. Since Xy Write can't execute any command that begins with an escape character, this has the re- sult of confusing the hell out of you, since even if you type a legal command after the escape character, you get an "il- legal command" error message. XyWrite's error messages are arrogant and unhelpful. The result was that after an hour or so, I was so upset I had lost all interest in editing Tell the Spartans and just wanted to get away from this hateful program. The next day there arrived a reconfig- uration of Xy Write as done by Baen. It is, I have to say, enormously preferable to Xy Write out of the box; indeed, it's al- most usable. XyWrite really is reconf ig- urable, with a flexibility not found in any other editor except Borland's Sprint. On the other hand, while it's easy to recon- figure XyWrite, unless you have one whack of a better memory than I have, you must either write down what you have done or edit the XyWrite help file to reflect your changes. The bottom line is this: XyWrite doesn't so much have a steep learning curve as an initial high cliff you must climb almost unaided. Once over that cliff, you have a very powerful editor, one that will do, albeit often with diffi- culties, things that no other text editor will do at all. XyWrite will handle enor- mous files and do global searches on them with amazing speed. Unlike with WordStar, the output from XyWrite is straight ASCII, so you can send XyWrite files through BIX or MCI Mail and still preserve all the formatting and typo- graphical information. It has weird idiosyncrasies— the way to change the screen colors is to put state- ments in the printer file!— and often in- sists on doing things its own way despite your wishes. But for people who must deal with lots of text and are more con- cerned with copyediting and typesetting than with creative writing, XyWrite may well be the best thing around. Whether it's all that hot for creative writers is something else again. In my case, no. A Minor Retraction Last December, I said that AHED was an electronic version of the American Heri- tage Dictionary in all its glory. That wasn't quite true. AHED is the desktop version, which is considerably abridged. I found this out in an embarrassing way: someone in a BIX conversation used the word burke as a verb, and someone else asked what it meant. In an effort to show off, I used Desqview to load the AHED program into a window and told it to look up burke. It didn't find it, and I reported that the word (which is British) hadn't made it over here; whereupon someone looked it up in a paper copy of the American Heri- tage Dictionary and found it. {Burke means to suppress something quietly; the origin is the name of a Scottish murderer who suffocated his victims so that they appeared to have died of natural causes.) I'd sure like the complete American Heritage Dictionary on-line. Maybe someone will make a CD-ROM of it. Random House Encyclopedia Hard disk drives are getting larger and cheaper. Most of mine are now multiple hundred megabytes, and even small ones are 40 MB and more. Controllers are get- ting faster: the big race, in my judgment, is between a new company, Perceptive Solutions, and the older and larger Dis- tributed Processing Technology, but there are plenty of other contenders, and several make hard disk drives about as fast as memory access was in the early PC days. As a result, there's a lot of software being written to take advantage of the new disk capacity and access speed. I've written about much of it. Some of the early efforts were plain useless. Others, like Inductel's Knowl- edge Acquisition Series, have wonderful databases— theirs has all the McGraw- Hill science dictionaries, as well as ways to translate words into 31 languages— but 86 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 46 on Reader Service Card CHAOS MANOR an awkward user interface. (I sure wish they'd fix that, since the programs are nearly indispensable.) Some, like Mike Wiener's Microlytics Word Finder, were both easy to use and had great databases. Thus, when I got the new Random House Encyclopedia using a Microlytics engine, I was prepared to love it. Alas, it didn't quite work out that way. First, installation: the program comes on 16 floppy disks. Apparently, Micro- lytics has never heard of data-compres- sion programs: many programs, includ- ing the Norton Utilities and Norton Commander, come packed with ARC, PKZIP, or some such, and the installa- tion program unpacks and explodes them. I'd have thought that system ideal for this encyclopedia, and it would save money as well. Anyway, there's nothing like swapping disks 16 times to sour you on a program. Second, program transfer: I put the Random House Encyclopedia up on the Arche Legacy 386/33, which has an ex- perimental copy of DOS 5.0 and one log- ical drive of 300+ MB. (DOS 5.0 so far runs fine; you'll love it.) I decided that I'd like to have it over on another ma- chine, the Cheetah 486, which is still using Compaq clone DOS and thus has its hard disk partitioned into 20 33-MB logi- cal drives. I keep word-related stuff in the D drive, so I used LapLink to trans- fer the INFODESK subdirectory from the Arche's C: \INFODESK drive to the Cheetah's D:\INFODESK drive. Even with LapLink in parallel mode it took a while, but it got done. I couldn't access the file. It claimed there was something wrong with the con- figuration. Well, OK, so I tried to run the Setup program. It won't let you change the configuration file. OK, I got out the original floppy disks and tried to run Setup. That won't do it either. Even- tually I said, what the hell, and started the installation procedure; but since I sure didn't want to swap 16 disks, I stopped it after the first disk in the hopes that this would let me run Setup. Not only didn't it run Setup after that, but the machine began making "fire en- gine" noises, and a big red message ap- peared on the screen demanding that I re- boot my computer, which indeed I had to do with the hardware switch since it was all locked up. At that point, I concluded that any company that paranoid about copies was capable of anything and got out Dr. Solomon's Anti- Virus Toolkit (which I highly recommend; if you have any suspicions about viruses, this kit tells you a great deal about them and can detect and eliminate most) . Introducing OSIRAM32 1 ,.0S/RA«3, „,«'•_». , ►,,.* *'', \ . 111 Mriifrpifniraiir I* 8 Mbytes of fast 32 bit memory. Works in all Micro Channel™ computers. Fast LIM 4.0 driver included. Provides extended and expanded memory. Easy switchless installation. Automatic configuration for DOS, OS/2 or UNIX. Risk free guarantee. Two year warranty. Accepted under IBM service contracts. From $299 to $998 with 8 Megabytes. "Best price performance", says PC Week . Call today 617-273-1818 or 1-800-234-4CEC oec Capital Equipment Corp. Burlington, MA. 01803 PS/2 and Micro Channel are trademarks of IBM Now, I suppose at one level I knew that Mike Wiener, whom I have known for years, isn't going to do something awful to my machine; but at the same time, I am not accustomed to software that not only locks up my system to hardware re- set level, but makes noises guaranteed to scare you into cardiac arrest. This got me angry enough that I began looking at the installation on the Arche (which works). I found that the installa- tion had, without saying anything about it, put a file called INFODESK. CFG into the root directory. I copied that over to the root directory on the Cheetah, but of course it told INFODESK that its files are on the C drive, so that didn't work. Attempts to edit the INFODESK. CFG file with an ASCII editor were not suc- cessful, because the file contains an end- of-file mark at the beginning. However, the editor in Norton Commander 3.0 will edit it. It's tedious, because the file is one long file with no linefeeds, but it can be done, so I went through and changed every instance of C: \ to D:\; and lo!, it works. And no, I don't feel at all bad about having copies on two different ma- chines: nobody is going to use them both at the same time. The retrieval software, as with every- thing Microlytics does, works wonder- fully: it's fast and reasonably intuitive, although you do have to poke about a bit since there are features you won't sus- pect without playing with it. The engine they use would work for any book a cou- ple of inches thick, and the compression/ retrieval/sort software is really marvel- ous. Wiener's index and search algo- rithms, which he developed from work done at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, are the best in the business. The Random House Encyclopedia it- self is better described as an expanded dictionary than an encyclopedia: despite the 16 disks, there's far less information here than on the Grolier Encyclopedia Americana CD-ROM— but of course that shouldn't surprise you. I find it woefully inadequate. For instance, the short my- thology section on Achilles tells you he was the son of Peleus and Thetis, but nei- ther of his parents is mentioned anywhere else; while the section on Frederick Bar- barossa tells almost nothing of real inter- est about him. Quotemaster and Keynotes These are two more programs making use of big databases on fast hard disk drives. I haven't space to do justice to either: they're both very useful. Quote- master has about 3000 quotations; the re- trieval software is good, although the de- fault mode is not. You have to poke about to see how to use it right, but then, you can find quotes on fools, courage, or any FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 87 CHAOS MANOR subject you like; these can be displayed on-screen, printed, or squirted directly into your word processor. If you write much, this isn't Bartlett 's Familiar Quo- tations on-line— you need a CD-ROM drive and Microsoft Bookshelf for that— but it can sparkle up your letters. Recommended. Keynotes for the PC is just that: a sys- tem of notes that can be accessed quickly and easily, either as a stand-alone pro- gram or as a TSR pop-up. If you use Desqview or Windows, it will work fine in its own window. I have the following Keynotes: Writer's Handbook, which I don't use, but beginners and editors will like it; the Complete Secretary's Hand- book, which I do use; the Financial Mathematics Handbook; and the Associ- ated Press Stylebook. The latter two are very good. The retrieval software is fast and efficient, and everything works as it should. Recommended. MicroMath This one makes me feel guilty: I have had some of this company's plotting and numerical calculation programs around here for a year, and I haven't written about them. They're quite good: the cost is reasonable, they do about what you think they will, and they're simple enough to use provided you know what you're doing in the first place; that is, I wouldn't try to learn LaPlace transforms from the MicroMath LaPlace program. I used to be reluctant to write about MicroMath, despite the quality and use- fulness of the software, because they wouldn't guarantee the software once the package was opened. They have now changed that to 'Try it, you'll like it, or your money back." I doubt they've had to refund anyone's money. If you do much mathematical work, you should be aware of MicroMath. Recommended. Winding Down I'm off on another trip tomorrow. The game of the month is Origin's Wing Commander: I liked this so much that I Went out and bought— bought— a Thun- derstick joystick to play it with. I never believed I'd get hooked on an arcade shoot- 'em-up, but this one did it to me. The best thing I can say is that it almost weaned me from Railroad Tycoon. The computer books of the month are the Que Quick Reference Series: they have them on the Norton Utilities, PC Tools, Q&A, and a lot of other subjects, and I've found them uniformly good. The book of the month is Convictions (Prometheus Books, 1989), the posthu- mous collection of essays by Sidney Hook. He was one of the important peo- ple of our century. I am proud to have de- bated him several times; debating Hook, like debating Norman Thomas, was an experience one did not soon forget. Now to pay the bills, then I'm off to the Hackers' Conference, which I'll tell you about next month. ■ Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy- chology and is a science fiction writer who also earns a comfortable living writ- ing about computers present and future. Jerry welcomes readers' comments and opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Please put your address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guarantee a personal reply. You can also contact him on BIX as "jerry p. " ABC Flowcharter for Windows "Simply the easiest way to document procedures!' ABC Flowcharter™ makes drawing and editing flowcharts easier than ever. It's loaded with features that help you make and edit charts in a fraction of the time needed with other flowcharting or drawing programs. ABC Flowcharter's advanced link feature lets you break complicated procedures into smaller, more manageable steps. Just click on a shape to display a sub-chart or procedure. It's that easy. Ask your dealer for a demonstration or call 1-800-227-0847 for more information. See for yourself why ABC Flowcharter is quickly becoming the standard flowcharting tool for the Fortune 1000. Retail price 5295. Roykore 2215 Filbert St. San Francisco, CA 94123 415-563-9175 88 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 196 on Reader Service Card for Roykore Circle 234 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 235) It Has Been Brought To Our Attention That Not Everyone Believes Portable PCs Can Be As Functional As Desktop PCs. This Should I TOSHIBA I PORTABLE DESKTOP PCs This may be hard t . to believe, but Some people can't imagine squeezing a 40,100 or even a 200MB hard disk into a portable PC. But when they take advantage of all that storage capacity, they find it hard to imagine life without it. there really is such a thing as a portable PC that can do everything a conven- [\J tional desktop can. In fact, there's not just one, but an entire line of them. They're called Toshiba Portable Desktops" and they'll forever change the way your company looks at power and productivity. True, some business people may have trouble grasping the notion of desktop power in a portable, but when you give it some thought, it's the next logical step in computers. With 386™ and 386 W SX mi- croprocessors, our Portable Desk- To get more information or a free Portable Desktop productivity survey call 1-800-477-1616. There once was a day when microprocessors this powerful were unheard of in a port- able. Luckily for people who crave raw power and computing speed, that day is over: For those who think a PC just isn't fully functional without a color display, we developed our second-generation LCD color screen. For those who think basic is better; our VGA gas plasma systems have the perfect displays. Remove All Doubt. To anybody who doesn't expect a portable PC to have IBM*-compatible expansion slots, we have just one thing to say. Raise your expectations. tops run all of the same applications as your com- pany's conventional PCs. With hard disk drives from 40 to 200MB, you have all the flex- i ipiiijin a >§■■■ " TTQ7J rJjL i± ii. ibility to configure a system the way you want it. XJ^C^^S^l** a Toshiba.We use standard-size keys and standardized key With the connectivity of our multiple ex- •«*««»«'«*«-'-*«•'»* pansion slots and ports, our Portable Desktops fit right in with your existing system and grow as your company grows. And to remove the last possible barrier between your needs and our portables, we've 1 i -.1 i • i Theysayyou can't squeeze much memory eVeil designed One With a high- into a portable PC .But considering that our dedicated memory expansion slots let you add up to 12MB of RAM as your need for power resolution VGA color screen. g rows ' jt looks like " the y" were wron g a a ain - In other words, it really is possible to have all the capabilities of a conventional desktop in a portable. With an expansion slot for a LAN card, you get complete networking freedom without giving aii i , i • , A 1 1 1 • upaiiyourotherexpansionsiots All you have to do is try one. And believe. • T^vi' S,TSSBi" is \ * - : - T: T : - | || ;T?8w3fc' JfTSBsT T5200. 386 microprocessor; 40, 100 or 200MB HDD,2 to 14MB RAM, 2 IBM-compatible expansion slots (in addition to dedicated memory slots),VGA plasma display. T5200C. 386 microprocessor; 200MB HDD, 2 to 14MB RAM, 2 IBM-compatible expansion slots (in addition to dedicated memory slots), VGA passive matrix color LCD display T3200SX. 386SX microprocessor; 40 or 120MB HDD, 1 to 13MB RAM, 2 IBM-compatible expansion slots (in addition to dedicated modem and memory slots),VGA plasma display. Now That You're Convinced, TOSHIBA I PORTABLE DESKTOP PCs ' Okay, let's suppose you t . suddenly discover your company filled with powerful Toshiba Portable Desktops. Now what? First of all, your people can do everything around the office they've been doing with their desktop computers. Then your key employ- ees can turn after-hours time I* into productive time, since their dining room tables and break- fast nooks can serve as off- site workstations. Your top people can add impact to their Giving your people instant access to vital information can keep them doing what they do best. Working smart. . Employees can even improve their productivity in the familiar surroundings of their own office. Only presentations with a now tne y" nave more desk s P ace to work witn - To get more information or a free Portable Desktop productivity survey, call 1-800-477-1616. wealth of information and computing power at their fingertips. And the story can repeat itself— with equally impressive results— everywhere from an office 3,000 miles away to a conference room that's a mere 30 feet down the hall ■ , " , ::". , . , . , :::::::ii!!r iff' Where Do You Go From Here? Giving your key employees a Portable Desktop means they'll have the flexibility to work when they need to, where they want to. When people have access to computing power outside their office, presentationsaremore powerful and groups are more productive. ■JIHI'Hiiimi. And yes, all that pro- ductivity can even take place within the confines of your own office desk (while using up con- siderably less of your desk space, we might add). All of which leads us to one very powerful observation. Now all of your best people can be doing a better job than they ever could when they were chained to conventional desktop PCs. Better yet, they can do it without sacrificing power, func- tionability or expandability. Or anything else, for that matter. Three Powerful Arguments Why Your Next I TOSHIBA I PORTABLE | DESKTOP •' PCs far People said it was just a matter of time before someone built a line of port- v able PCs this powerful. They just didn't know it would happen so soon. With our Portable Desktops, we've successfully combined the power and functionality of desktop PCs into slim, T5200 18.7 pounds, 20MHz 80386 with 80387-20 coprocessor socket, 2 internal IBM-compatible expansion slots, 40MB hard disk with 25msec access or 100MB hard disk with 25msec access or 200MB hard disk with 16msec access, 2MB RAM expandable to 14MB, gas plasma VGA display with 1 6 gray scales, 1 .44MB 3V2" diskette drive. portable packages that give you every- thing you need to get ahead in business. T5200C 18.9 pounds, 20MHz, 80386 with 80387-20 coprocessor socket, 2 internal IBM-compatible expansion slots, 200MB hard disk with 16msec access, 2MB RAM expandable to 14MB, passive matrix VGA full-colorscreen, 1.44MB 3W diskette drive. Desktop PC Shouldn't Be A Desktop PC. So you get the same power. The same functionality. And the same expandability it takes to keep pace with your company's needs. The big difference is that with a Toshiba Portable Desktop, you can easily To get more information or a free Portable Desktop productivity survey call 1-800-477-1616. turn all that power into increased productivity. All thanks to something no desktop PC could ever hope to offer. The freedom to take it with you. T3200SX 17.0 pounds, 16M Hz 80386SX with 80387SX-16 coprocessor socket, 2 internal IBM-compatible expansion slots, 1 dedicated modem slot, 5 built-in ports, 40MB hard disk with 25msec access or 120MB hard disk with 19msec access, 1MB RAM expandable to 13MB, gas plasma VGA display with 1 6 gray scales, 1 .44MB 3V2" diskette drive. Dont Take Our Word For It. Get A Second Opinion. To get more information or a free Portable Desktop productivity survey, call 1-800-477-1616. Toshiba Portable Desktops. They're no longer a matter of convenience, they're a matter of survival. °n al Co,, ,fl **fe, If^^l What do other companies know about our Portable Desktop PCs I DESKTOP | PCs Lffr ' V that you don't? If you had a copy of our free productivity survey, you'd know. For example, you'd know that 93 percent of portable users said that they'd never go back to using a conventional desktop. You'd know they've reported sub- stantial increases in productivity. And you'd know why they place ) so much value on the flex- ibility and freedom their /j portables have to offer. In Touch with Tomorrow TOSHIBA Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.. Computer Systems Division. E 8 3 i I I EXPERT ADVICE DOWN TO BUSINESS Wayne Rash Jr. ♦ Corporate Style In business communication, it's important for everyone to speak the same language As I write this, I'm also prepar- ing for a few days in a federal courtroom as an expert wit- ness, explaining how the small computer industry actually works. I can't discuss any details of the case, but at least part of the problem stems from differences in the way companies inter- preted a statement in a federal contract- ing document. Part of the reason for the trouble is that people can read the same words and ascribe different meanings to them. This trouble that can come from vary- ing understandings of written material can be confusing enough when the only problem is the differing usage that can exist among companies. When a com- pany has no standard way of expressing itself, the result can be chaos. To prevent this, most companies end up developing their own corporate style. They do this by having managers edit the documents of the more junior people until those peo- ple learn to write in the company style. While managers will probably always check the documents of those who work for them, spending more time than is necessary on this task is a significant waste of management time and talent. This is especially the case when auto- mated tools exist to check documents that companies and organizations create to ensure that they meet standards. That way, while managers will still have to check to make sure that people don't say anything that is wrong, at least they won't have to spend hours correcting word usage, grammar, and style. Targeted Approach As you probably know, grammar- and style-checking programs have been with us for some time. Two of them, Gram- matik IV and RightWriter, have been hot sellers since they were introduced. The problem with these packages is that while they do an excellent job of checking ge- neric English, they don't really help you when it comes to developing a corporate writing style or usage guide. Most com- panies use either their own style or the style of a particular customer, especially if that customer is the government. Governments in general, and the U.S. government in particular, have unique characteristics in their writing. In gov- ernment writing, for example, you will often see the word inclosure where the rest of us would write enclosure. There are also special usage requirements, such as the proper use of the words shall and will, in writing proposals to the gov- ernment. In some cases, even a small misuse can be very costly, so companies expend great effort making sure that the documents they send out are correct. One way that companies can expend less effort, while retaining or even im- proving their accuracy in checking docu- ments, is to use a specialized grammar or style checker. Two of these, Gramma- tik IV Government Edition from Refer- ence Software and Corporate Voice from Scandinavian PC Systems, are designed specifically for use in specialized envi- ronments. Corporate Voice allows you to match your company's standard writing style to a specified ideal. Grammatik IV Government Edition, on the other hand, is designed to be used by the government and companies that deal with the govern- ment. These products take fundamentally different approaches to the problems of providing consistency in writing. Cor- porate Voice compares your writing with a specific document or group of ILLUSTRATION: LINDA WEILBLAD © 1991 FEBRUARY 1991 • B Y T E 89 DOWN TO BUSINESS ITEMS DISCUSSED Corporate Voice $119 Scandinavian PC Systems, Inc. 51 Monroe St., Suite 1101 Rockville, MD 20850 (800) 288-7226 (301) 294-7450 fax:(301)251-1053 Inquiry 1223. Grammatik IV Government Edition $99 (GSA pricing is available from qualified vendors) Reference Software International 330 Townsend St., Suite 123 San Francisco, CA 94107 (800) 872-9933 (415) 541-0222 fax:(415)541-0509 Inquiry 1222. documents and shows you how you fit the style. Grammatik IV Government Edi- tion, meanwhile, incorporates style and usage guidelines that the government al- ready uses, and compares your document against them, suggesting changes where appropriate. Neither package requires you to abandon your creativity in writ- ing, although they both encourage you to modify the style of a specific document to meet the standard. A Voice for Change Corporate Voice looks at documents as a whole and analyzes them in their entire- ty. This makes it easy to see how your document compares with whatever is considered the standard. Because it lets you select the standard, you don't have to worry about being forced to fit a stan- dard that really doesn't meet your needs. In addition, it includes some standards, such as generic technical, news, and magazine writing, as well as fiction from Ian Fleming, John Gardner, and Tom Clancy. If you want to create your own standard, you can tell Corporate Voice to read documents that you consider repre- sentative of the style you want to use for a particular purpose. Once Corporate Voice has read the material you select, you can then call that a new style, and from then on, you can have Corporate Voice compare other documents to that style. It makes heavy use of graphics in the comparison, creat- ing a teardrop shape on the screen that represents the standard text. The text be- ing checked appears as colored areas su- perimposed on the same screen. If the text being checked falls within the stan- dard text's teardrop shape, and if other parameters such as sentence length and word usage check out as being close to the same, the document is consistent in style. This does not mean, of course, that it's factually correct or that it's necessarily well written. For a more detailed analy- sis, the document being analyzed still needs to be read or checked by a program that handles proofreading. Finally, there is still no substitute for reading to con- firm that the document reflects the com- pany's position and that it's factual. Government Certified While it's nice to be able to run your company's documents through a style checker such as Corporate Voice, it isn't always possible. Sometimes the amount of written material is far too great, and sometimes the rules are far too diverse to The DGIS™ SDK and a Tl 34010-based High-Performance Graphics Boardfor one amazing price. High performance, high resolu- tion graphics are the wave of the future. With the DGIS Software Developer's Kit™ (SDK), qualified software developers can write for the future today. The DGIS Developer's Kit pro- vides everything needed to develop applications and driversf orDGIS- compatible34010graphics boards— boardsfrom companies such as Compaq, Dell, Hewlett- Packard, NCR, NEC, Tl and more than 30 others worldwide. Software developed with this kit can access the full powerof the 34010, support- ing the greatestnumberof high reso- lution graphics boards atthe nighest levels of performance, resolution and color. DGIS, the premierand most widely-shipped interface for the Tl 340X0 family of graphics coproces- 90 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1991 THE POWER OF HIGH RESOLUTION GRAPH CS CAN BE REACHED WITH ONE EASY NUMBER: sors, provides an outstanding feature-rich programming model with 100 + grapnicsfunctions. The DGIS SDK includes documentation and language bindingsforthe DGIS interface, device drivers for Win- dows 3.0, utilities, and the GSS AT1050™ 1024X768 34010graph- ics board (which normally sells for $1295alone). The DGIS SDK is compatible with mostCcompilersand supports the XMS standard as well as DOS Extenders from Rational and Phar- Lap. Stepping uptothe big screen has never been easier^ or more attrac- tive. Call today. Graphic Software Systems SP6CTRAQRAPMICS Call (503) 641 -2455. Ask for Dept. DGIS- 1. All prices subject to changewithout notice. GSS, DGIS, The DGISSoflwareDeveSoper'sKit GSSAT1050ore trademarks of Graphics Software Systems I nc. All other trademarks belongtotheirrespectiveowners. Circle 283 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 284) The power to plot! The power to cut! Plotting Power. ..Signmaking Power... Professional-quality desktop plotting and signmaking for your home, office or school using your personal computer. Combined in one Intelligent Graphics Machine for $695. 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SketchMate Intelligent Graphics Machine TM For more infonnation, call us at (714) 975-0560 today, or write for a catalog of the complete Roland line — the broadest collection of computer output peripherals in the world. 1961 McGaw Avenue/Irvine, CA 92714 Telephone (714) 975-0560/Fax (714) 975-0569 Circle 193 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 194) Roland DIGITAL GROUP DOWN TO BUSINESS make creating your own rules practica- ble. This is especially the case with an organization as immense as the U.S. government. To further complicate matters, thou- sands of private companies must use the government's style when they deal with the government, regardless of what they might want. This isn't an area in which a company has a great deal of choice. If your proposal doesn't have the proper word usage, for example, it may never have a chance. Likewise, other docu- ments written for government customers must reflect government usage or the government may require that they be re- written. To cover all bases, Grammatik IV Government Edition incorporates rules from the Government Printing Office's style manual, the National Labor Rela- tions Board's style manual, and writing guides from the Air Force and other agencies. It also uses the Internal Reve- nue Service instructions for the 1040EZ form as a comparison document. So that the Government Edition can be used by companies that work outside the govern- ment, it keeps all the comparison infor- mation and the rules from the regular edition of Grammatik IV. Working with Style How do they work? Both are easy to use, both support files from all major word processing packages, and both will print out more information than most writers will want to see, although it's valuable information for many. I ran early versions of Down to Busi- ness through both packages. I also had them analyze the texts from two books: The Novell Connection— which Peter Stephenson and I wrote earlier this year and which has since been published by Brady Books— and a novel that I'm writ- ing. I agreed with the analysis in both cases, and was pleased to see positive comments. The packages made appropri- ate suggestions about the use of passive voice, gender specificity, and other com- mon problems. I was particularly pleased when I compared my novel with the work of Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming. Of course, neither package will turn a bad writer into a Pulitzer winner, but they can help inexperienced writers get better, and they can help develop a con- sistent style, which can be extremely im- portant in businesses that generate writ- ten material for external consumption. What's important is that when used cor- rectly, both packages give managers an- other tool to escape the drudgery of edit- ing words, allowing them to work with the ideas that the words contain. It is, after all, the ideas that they are really trying to communicate. ■ Editor's note: This is the final install- ment of Down to Business. Next month marks the beginning of Wayne 's new col- umn, The Business Connection. Wayne Rash Jr. is a contributing editor for BYTE and technical director of the Network Integration Group of American Management Systems, Inc. (Arlington, VA). He consults with the federal govern- ment on microcomputers and communi- cations. You can contact him on BIX as "waynerash," or in the to.wayne con- ference. Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. 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Circle 189 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 190) EXPERT ADVICE BEYOND DOS: WINDOWS AND OS/2 Jon Udell Whither Windows? 1990's glamorous graphical user interface still needs a solid foundation If you think Windows 3 . i s just an- other pretty face, think again. No other software product so radically expands the horizons of DOS-based computing. One day recently while edit- ing an article, I stopped and marveled at the amount of work Windows lets me do with my 4-megabyte 386 PC. I don't usu- ally do article layouts, but sometimes I find it helpful to drop rough text and art- work into a desktop publishing package for a quick thumbnail sketch of the final result. If you've done some DTP, you know that its software works best when surrounded by many supporting tools. Windows can make that synergy happen. In this case, Ventura Publisher was the layout tool. I kept Corel Draw running in another window and used it to sketch a few figures. With Windows Paintbrush, which ran in yet another window, I re- sized, cleaned up, and added captions to other figures that the article's author had shipped to me as .PCX files. Word for Windows occupied a fourth window. I don't write and edit much with Word, but the article required a compli- cated table, and I'm a big fan of Word's table editor. Meanwhile, Terminal, Win- dows' modest but useful telecommunica- tions utility, was running as an icon, re- ceiving revised text from the author. Clock, Calendar, Print Manager, and a few Notepads rounded out the collection of Windows applications helping me get through the day. Of course, you can't get by without some good old DOS programs, too— at least I can't, not yet. So I had a few vir- tual DOS sessions going at the same time: Epsilon, the DOS text editor I use for all my writing and programming, and FoxPro, my data management ally. My thumbnail layout took shape quickly. Interruptions weren't the an- noyance they used to be. When a copy editor wandered in with a question about a previous month's article, I located the file, brought it up, and found the an- swer—without breaking stride or losing context. With four major Windows applica- tions, as many minor ones, and a pair of DOS programs all running at once, my machine showed only moderate signs of strain. That's Windows computing at its best: a pretty face, to be sure, but also a multitasking engine that pulls more use- ful work out of a 4-MB PC than you ever thought possible. A Walk on the Wild Side A few days later I had my worst Windows catastrophe. I received a beta copy of a networking utility for which I thought (erroneously, it turned out) that I'd need to load Novell's NetBIOS emulator. Nor- mally, I boot DOS, run the NetWare IPX/NET4 substrate without the optional NetBIOS, and start Windows. That makes network services available to Windows itself, and to any virtual DOS sessions I launch from Windows. Now, you don't have to load TSR pro- grams from the original DOS session, and in the case of an optional utility like Novell's NetBIOS, you don't want to. I figured I'd just load it into the virtual DOS session in which I'd be running the program that required the NetBIOS inter- face. Wrong move. When the dust settled, I surveyed the damage: My machine was still bootable, but CHKDSK reported hundreds of cross-linked clusters. Recovery was painless, since I had a fresh backup tape at hand. And I have never reproduced that particular crash; it may have been the fault of the beta NetWare shell I was ILLUSTRATION: PAUL COZZOLINO © 1991 FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 95 BEYOND DOS running at the time. Nevertheless, it was a rude reminder that Windows rests on a shaky foundation. Windows 3.0 has two different modes of failure: There are Windows crashes, and then there are DOS crashes. Win- dows announces a failure of the first type with the message "Unrecoverable Appli- cation Error." Despite the ominous tone, UAEs are frequently benign. When a Windows program runs in protected mode (i.e., when Windows itself runs in either standard or 386-enhanced mode) and tries to write outside its authorized area in memory, Windows simply shuts the program down. It's just like a general protection fault under OS/2: The rogue task gets clobbered, but the rest of the system stays healthy. UAE messages were common months ago when I ran lots of beta Windows 3.0 software. Now I rarely see such errors— unless I'm writing Windows programs myself, in which case they're a boon. Programmers like OS/2 because it takes the sting out of wild pointers; Windows 3.0 does much the same. It's not the UAE that I dread, but rather the second sort of failure: errors w, indows 3. has two modes of failure: Windows and DOS crashes. that crash DOS and require the "three- fingered salute" (Ctrl-Alt-Del) or a hard reset. These are even more rare than UAEs, fortunately, but they can be very destructive. Windows usually gets the blame, but it's not really Windows' fault. DOS is the weak link in the chain. Windows, like other DOS multitask- ers, merely raises your expectations and encourages you to try to squeeze more work out of DOS. Because the 386/486 architecture enshrines a virtual 8086 processor in silicon, Windows' DOS multitasking usually works well. But V86 DOS sessions under Windows 3.0 's 386-enhanced mode aren't isolated 1- MB partitions, as they are under, say, IGC's VM/386. Instead, the original real-mode DOS session supports all V86 sessions spawned under Windows. The shared-DOS approach saves a lot of memory. It's the reason I can comfort- ably run two or three DOS sessions along with four or five beefy Windows applica- tions, all in 4 MB. But it's also a source of fragility. You don't have to crash and burn to see what I mean. Go to the Settings dialog box in a windowed DOS session and choose Ter- minate. (While I'm happy to have the op- tion to end a hung DOS session, it's a far cry from Unix's kill command.) Before you pull the trigger, Windows warns you to "close all applications, exit Windows, and reboot." And you had better take its advice, because Terminate will almost certainly hose the original DOS session on which the whole show depends. The Once and Future DOS How can you patch up the DOS/Windows relationship? One way might be to offer an optional "VM/386" mode. If you're willing to trade memory (cheap) for sta- bility (precious), you might, in some fu- ture version of Windows, allocate a full This is what it will cost you to write your own Windows" applications. 4 A complete LISP programming environment including a LISP- aware program editor. 4 Supports Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) at a higher level than the SDK. 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The Optical Zone. © (800) 553-7070 PlNNAaE^ICRO 15265 Alton Parkway • Irvine, CA 92718 • In CA (714) 727-3300 • FAX (714) 727-1913 Circle 176 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 177) BEYOND DOS megabyte for each DOS task and keep them all separate from one another. Or, you can simply avoid DOS appli- cations. That's not as farfetched as it sounds. To the extent that Windows ap- plications meet your needs, Windows works like a charm. You can bet that every vendor of big-name DOS applica- tions is contemplating, if not developing, Windows 3.0 versions of its products. Never mind the graphical user interface: Windows is a potent DOS extender that makes the 640K-byte barrier seem like a bad dream. If 1991 brings me Windows 3.0 ver- sions of all my bread-and-butter applica- tions, will I be satisfied? Nope. I have said that Windows expands the horizons of DOS-based computing. But strapping multiple copies of DOS into a preemp- tive-multitasking harness, and then yoking that ungainly contraption to the cooperative-multitasking Windows envi- ronment, can't be more than a stopgap IT'LL KICK YOUR Power Problems Aside. Sola Sidekick" is the economical UPS that'll make light of even the most serious blackout. State-of-the-art design keeps your sensitive electron- ic equipment fully functional through every type of power line disturbance. That means no more loss of valuable data, or damage to v*. u , your system's components. ~ : !:_ UL Listed and CSA Certified, Sidekick is only one of a full line of network compatible Sola UPS products NOVELL* 3Com, l *"*"^ Microsoft® 1717 Busse Rd., Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 708/439-2800 800/BUY-SOLA SOLA solution. Windows deserves better than the archaic real-mode single-tasking disk operating system that now supports it. Will Microsoft improve DOS or super- sede it? Both, apparently. A new DOS, version 5.0, should be available soon— a kinder, gentler DOS that will manage memory more intelligently than current versions. That will be a big help to DOS users, and to users of Windows, Desq- view, and other DOS multitaskers. (But it won't bear much resemblance to the first DOS 5.0— an operating system now known as OS/2.) There's plenty of speculation about DOS 5.0's successor, too. Perhaps it will be a SuperDOS featuring the High Per- formance File System, dynamic link li- braries, improved video and communi- cation application programming inter- faces, and the DOS protected-mode in- terface. I'm sure all these things can, and probably should, be added to DOS. But wait, there's already a system that does all this and more: OS/2 2.0. It has great DOS support, it will run Windows applications by way of a mapping layer (or, depending on who you talk to, di- rectly), and, most of all, it's an industri- al-strength multitasker with a future. Unfortunately, it's a political football right now. IBM and Microsoft are mak- ing lateral passes but not advancing to- ward the goal line. That's a shame. With version 2.0, the two companies finally have a product that offers useful back- ward compatibility with the all-impor- tant DOS (and increasingly important Windows) software base, puts a solid foundation under those programs, and rolls out the red carpet for a new genera- tion of software. OS/2 2.0 isn't for everyone. Many, and perhaps most, of today's DOS/ Win- dows users don't need more in the way of multitasking than the ability to do a background 2400-bps download. Win- dows handles that just fine (but don't count on 9600 bps). On the other hand, there's a reason why the phrase "mis- sion-critical applications" always crops up in discussions of OS/2. It's rock solid. Why should network operating systems and server-based applications be the sole beneficiaries of that stability? I could use a healthy dose of it myself. My mission is critical, too. ■ Jon Udell is a senior editor at large for BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as "judell. " Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. 98 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 2 13 on Reader Service Card Introducing an inexpensive solution toAmericas savings crisis. Yodve always wanted to own a tape drive. Unfortunately, one small thing has always stood in your way. %ur savings account Well, now you can buy a complete tape system that can back up from 40 -120 mega- bytes for as little as $419. Our Irwin SX Series™ Tape Backup Systems are ready to go right out of the box. Unlike others, they're complete systems— with all the hardware and software you need —as well as a tape cartridge. The Irwin SX Series also includes a model that can back up 80 to a whopping 250 megabytes. But that's not all. Every Irwin SX drive comes bundled with Central Point Backup™ software. This award- winning program works with a wide array of IBM AT PS/2 and compatibles. Whether you choose an internal or an exter- nal system, you can back up a 40 megabyte i\ C CUC3U ■ hard drive in less than 12 minutes. Visual file selection, unattended backup and mouse support are just a few of the fea- tures that makes this the favorite backup utility of over one million PC users. To save you even more money, we also include a coupon to let you buy Central Point PC Tools Deluxe™ for just $50. A $99 savings from its usual $149 price tag. So if you want to back up I «~^L~ on tape without emptying your bank account, pick up an SX Series system at your nearest Irwin dealer. If you don't know an Irwin dealer, call 800-BACKUP1 and we'll put you in touch with one who can end your savings crisis. In more ways than one. IRWIN An ^^ Archive* Company ©1990, Irwin Magnetic Systems, a subsidiary of Archive Corporation. 2101 Commonwealth llvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105-1561. Irwin, the Irwin logo and EzTape are registered trademarks and the Irwin SX Series is a trademark of Irwin Magnetic Systems, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Circle 112 on Reader Service Card Whan You Buy ALTEC, You buy POWER, PERFORMANCE, QUALITY and SERVICE I SERVICE ALTEC offers fast, friendly service -our trained sales staff will help you make the right selection for your needs. GUARANTEE ALTEC offers a 30-day money back guarantee and a two- year warranty on parts and labor! High quality design and Hi-Res VGA monitor - all at a low price! 486/33 ISA VGA $5/595 64K Cache, exp to 256K • 4 Meg RAM • 1 .2 MG 5.25" drive • 1 .44 MB 3.5" drive • 1 50 MB 1 8ms ESDI hard drive • ESDI controller w/32K cache • 16 bit VGA card •14" VGA monitor (1024 x 768) • 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports • 101 -key Keyboard • Microsoft Window 3.0 • Hi-Res serial Mouse -MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 CALL FOR EISA 486 CONFIGURATION 386/33 VGA $2,795 64K Cache • 4 Meg RAM • 1.2MG 5.25" drive • 1 .44 MB 3.5" drive • 1 04 MB IDE hard drive • 1 6 bit VGA cord •14" VGA monitor { 1 024 x 768) • 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports • 101-key Keyboard • Microsoft Window 3.0 •Hi-Res serial Mouse -MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 386/25 VGA $2,595 4MegRAM» 1.2 M8 5.25" drive • 1.44 MB 3.5 "drive • 104 MB IDE hard drive • 16-bit VGA cord • 14" VGA monitor (1024 x 768) • 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports • 101-key Keyboard • Microsoft Window 3.0 • Hi-Res serial Mouse • MS- DOS 3.3 or 4.01 386/SXVGA $1,895 2 Meg RAM • 1 .2 MB 5.25" drive • 1 .44 MB 3.5" drive • 40 MB IDE hard drive • 1 6-bit VGA card • 1 4" VGA monitor (1 024 x 768) • 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports • 101 -key Keyboard • Microsoft Window 3.0 • Hi-Res serial Mouse • MS- DOS 3.3 or 4.01 • {20 Mhz version add $150) VGA COMBO $ 1 ,595 1 Meg RAM • 1 .2 MB 5.25" drive • 1 .44 MB 3.5" drive • 40 MB IDE hard drive • 1 6-bit VGA card • 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480) • 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports • 101 -key Keyboard • Serial Mouse -MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 -Panasonic 1180 printer w/cable • Surge Protector ALTEC'S GUARANTEE: • 30-day money-back guarantee • 2-year warranty for parts and labor • FREE 4 month on-site service • Lifetime toll-free technical support Policy: Same day shipping with standard configuration for orders before 3 p.m. E.S.T. Shipping and handling are extra. P.O.s are welcome. Personal and company checks require 10 days to clear. Prices and specs ore subject to change. Software, shipping and printer ore not refundable. No surcharge for VISA & Mastercard. 2% American Express. A ALTEC Technology Corp. To Order: 7-500-255-9977 Technical Support: 1 -800-255-9968 18555 East Gale Avenue • Industry, CA 91748 (818)912-8688 • FAX: (818) 91 2-8048 Circle 14 on Reader Service Card EXPERT ADVICE MACINATIONS ■ Don Crabb ♦ Macintosh: The Next Generation Newer Macs need revolutionary designs to jump ahead ofthePCpack Congratulations, Apple. You've got your new Macs out the door and they're winners. Amazing- ly enough, they're winners we can afford. The Mac LC and Ilsi pack more punch (if a little less expandability) than the SE and Ilex they replace, and the monetary hit you take when buying them is also way down. Let's not forget the Mac Classic. I know I won't. Especially since I begged you to build this machine (and even named it the Macintosh Clas- sic) way back in the August 1989 BYTE. A real Mac for less than $ 1 1 00 (discount- ed, of course), with 2 megabytes of RAM and a 40-MB hard disk drive. Nice job. With the new machines, Apple stands to regain market share. But is the job done? No way. While the situation might be true re- garding market share, Apple couldn't be further from the truth in thinking the job is done. The most important thing about the Classic, LC, and Ilsi isn't what they cost or what they do. It's the philosophy they represent. These machines prove to us that Apple can respond positively to its customers once it makes a decision. And they prove that the engineering realiza- tion of a new Mac doesn't have to take forever. Unfortunately, they also prove that Apple still takes too bloody long to make those realizations. The Classic, LC, and Ilsi should have been agreed on long be- fore they were finally being designed in 1990. Apple has to fix its marketing soon, or it won't make any difference how many versions of the future its engi- neers can invent. These fixes have got to start at the top. Apple needs a new, stable management that cuts the bull and ham- mers home its strengths. In short, Apple needs Bill Campbell, the president of Claris, to run its show. That's not just my view. It's the view of the MacFolk I've been polling infor- mally over the last two months. They see Campbell as the only Apple executive with the intelligence and moxie to make Apple invent the future we need. Here's what the MacFolk and I see as Apple's short-term agenda, should Campbell get the job: • Apple should introduce a 40- to 50- MHz 68040 machine this year, priced to compete against the newest Sun Sparc- stations. While the Mac Ilfx is plenty powerful, Apple must regain the price/ performance high ground from Sun. • Apple must get System 7.0 out the door before this summer, with all its an- nounced parts intact. We've all waited too long for this. • Apple must put together a realistic vi- sion of System 8.0 that includes preemp- tive multitasking and a dynamic memory map. System 8.0 must debut no later than the fourth quarter of 1992. Windows 3.0 isn't sitting still. • Apple should make whatever alliances are necessary with Sony or Toshiba or Sharp to get a line of sub-7-pound Mac laptops on the market before the end of this year. The 16-pound Mac Portable is something of a joke. In the long term, the MacFolk want Ap- ple to invent, by 1994, a new Macintosh that's still software-compatible with the current generation, yet oriented around the three-dimensional universe, not just a two-dimensional screen. This new Mac should have built-in high-resolution sound input and output (no less than the reproduction capabilities of the new 16- bit A/D converters found in the top-of- the-line compact disc players). It must ILLUSTRATION: LAUREN SCHEUER © 1991 FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 101 Space-Saver Keyboard MACINATIONS ./^ w ^ ^ MJ^ Jh Save an amazing 60% of the desk or counter space now taken by a standard keyboard and enjoy improved functionality at the same time. Actual size is 273 x 152mm (10.75" x 6.0"). The new MICROTYPE Keyboard is rapidly gaining acceptance as a truly advanced alternative to the original IBM layout for many applica- tions. Reliability of the MICROTYPE has been amply proven through extensive use in trading areas of several major stock exchanges as well as in many banks, brokerages, stores and at factory work stations. Space is saved by compressing rows (not columns) and eliminating wide borders. Re-arranging and elevating the auxiliary key clusters also saves space while improving accessibility with reduced eyescan and head movement. Keys have full travel with a light tactilly responsive touch. All standard features such as auto-repeat, caps, num and scroll lock are included on the MICROTYPE. PC XT/AT, PS/2 IBM and clone compatibility. Available in US and most European language versions. Made in USA with 1 year warranty. Order direct from stock with 15 day 1 charges and COD accepted. USA 1-800-DATALUX EUROPE 44+306-76718 CANADA 514-694-0870 return privileges. VISA, MasterCard, Eurocard Fax 703-662-1682 Fax 44+306-76742 Fax 514-694-0871 $124.50 + 6.00 s/h £99.00 + VAT + P&P $189.00 Cdn + s/h OEM and reseller volume discounts available. Keytop legend and color customization offered. '.' . . beautifully sensitive and handles both typists with light touch and those who really bang away. . . " COMPUTER BUYER'S GUIDE ". . This could be the perfect layout for an enhanced keyboard that must fit into a small area ...'.' COMPUMAG Wm A new Space-saver product from DATALUX — Microtype keyboard and LCD monitor combination. VGA resolution, backlit, supplied with adaptor card. Call for price and availability. datalux Corporation 2836 Cessna Drive Winchester, Virginia 22601 DATALUX INTERNATIONAL LTD. Euro House Curtis Road, 77 Old Water Road Dorking, Surrey, UK ITEMS DISCUSSED Lotus Marketplace: Business $695 for initial 5000-name usage license; $150 for one year's worth of quarterly updates; $400 for each additional 5000-name usage license; discounts available at the 25,000-name level. Lotus Development Corp. 55 Cambridge Pkwy. Cambridge, MA 02142 (800) 343-5414 (617) 577-8500 fax: (617) 693-3981 Inquiry 1224. have a very high resolution 19-inch color screen with 16.8 million colors standard and the ability to show multiple levels of color depth. In other words, the screen should offer resolution no less than what the new high- definition TV standards specify, a first step toward a 3-D Mac. This new Mac must have prodigious real memory (at least 32 MB), with growth into the hundreds of megabytes easily possible. It must in- clude a standard thin-film hard disk drive of at least 1 gigabyte. It also needs a built-in optical read/write archival disk drive that can back up the hard disk drive several times over (3 to 5 gigabytes). This new Mac must have an operating system and Finder that fully incorporates sound input and output and the use of de- tailed visuals to communicate. Given the proper voice-recognition algorithms, a mouse might not even be necessary, or it might be replaced by a more accurate cursor positioner, like an x,y digitizing wand or infrared drawing stylus. What 1994 should hold, say the Mac- Folk, is not just more of the same with the Mac. They all agree that the tenth an- niversary of the Mac must again show that Apple can invent the future. Finder twiddling, new font architectures, and improved virtual memory are fine, but they just don't go far enough. I hope Apple can take on the future Mac with the same dedication that it took on the 1984 version, which we're still using today. Software of the Month I get a lot of software sent to me each month. To many people, that would be nirvana, and it used to be for me, too. But having just celebrated my twelfth an- niversary as a published computer writ- er, my attitude has changed a bit. I just can't take an in-depth look at all the 102 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 66 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 67) Lease a Macintosh System for as little as $43. 43 /month. Why You Should Buy Your Mac from CD A. Over the last ten years CDA has worked hard to create something unique in the field of computer mailorder — a company that could provide customers with the support they would expect from a local computer dealer, along with the convenience and economy of direct-order, by mail, fax or phone. Thus CDA has grown with the computer industry and, in the process, has earned a rock-solid reputation for pro- viding superior-quality service and support. To insure you're 100% satisfied with your purchase, CDA offers a 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee as well as a full One Year Performance Guarantee on all orders. IBM/Macintosh Hardware Orange 386 $1699 DaynaFile Dual 5.25/1. 2Mb $699 Dayna Translation Software $89 AccessPCbyDayna $85 Soft PC by Insignia $129 Printers (cables included) Apple LaserWriter IINT $3395 w . , ^ . n Personal LaserWriter NT $2475 Macintosh Classic System QMS PS 410 $2199 • Macintosh Classic w/40 Mb Scanners A Apple Hard Drive, Apple Microtek MSF 300GS w/SCSl .. $1559 SuperDrive, Keyboard, Mouse, nun i. *o™ & 2 Megabytes of RAM Doveta Desktop $279 TI ^ a a ™ wt- a DataLink Mac Internal (Mac II) $ 199 # HyperCard and MultiFinder Monitors * ^ irex (anti-virus) Software Mega Graphics 19" Rival $1199 * Adobe T YP e Manager Magnavox 14" Color RGB $459 • 6 Outlet Surge Protector E-Machines T-16 w/card $2149 • 10 Diskettes Ikegami 20" Trinitron w/card $2799 • Diskette Storage Box RasterOps 19" Trin w/card ....$4569 • Mouse Pad Please call for our complete list of Ask for Package #9101 Macintosh hardware & software. CDA p rice $1539 Purchase Orders Welcome. _ , A/OJ >, ' , , Fax: (908) 832-9740 Ad#50-01 0n| y $43 «/month* In NJ/Outside US (908) 832-9004 * Based on 48 monlh FMV leilse US/Canada 800-526-5313 Macintosh Ilsi System • Macintosh Ilsi CPU w/40 Mb Apple HD, Apple SuperDrive, and 2 Megabytes of RAM • Microphone • DataDesk Switchboard • Magnavox 14" RGB Monitor • HyperCard and MultiFinder • Virex (anti-virus) Software • Adobe Type Manager • 6 Outlet Surge Protector • Mouse Pad • 10 Diskettes • Disk Storage Box Ask for Package #91 10 CDA Price $3,769 Only$90. 23 /month* *Based on 60 month FMV lease CDA Computer Sales Macintosh Ed System • Macintosh llci CPU w/built in Video Card, Microtech Nova 105 Mb HD Apple SuperDrive, & 4 Megabytes of RAM • Magnavox 14" Color Monitor • DataDesk SwitchBoard • HyperCard & MultiFinder • Virex (anti-virus) Software • Adobe Type Manager Software • Norton Utilities Software • Total Recall Software • Demo of Microsoft Excel • 10 Diskettes • Disk Storage Box • Mouse Pad • 6 Outlet Surge Protector Ask for Package #9 107 CDA Price $5,969 Only$l42. 4, /month* *Based on 60 month FMV lease 1 CDA Plaza, P.O. Box 533 Califon, NJ 07830 Apple Macintosh & LaserWriter are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Circle 47 on Reader Service Card Circle 39 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 40) MACINATIONS Guaranteed Lowest Prices! U.S. HISTORY ON CD-ROM Full text of 107 U.S. History books with 1,000 images, tobies & maps ! U.S. History on CD-ROM disc $395 CD-ROM BUNDLE ! Get The New Philips CM-50 CD-ROM Drive Kit And 6 Discs -Only $689 •""SAVE OVER $1200*"" Microsoft Bookshelf bestseller U.S. History on CD-ROM 107 books Sherlock Holmes on Disc 221 BakerSt. fans Shakespeare on Disc "compleat" Birds of Amenco pictures and sounds Software Potpourri -King James Bible Movie Database CD-ROM Drives (ready to run) Hitachi Drives- all models, PC and Mac From $599 NEC CDR-73 or 83 or 36 CD-ROM Drive From $499 Sun Moon Star CD-ROM Drive Bundle with 7 discs Cal Pioneer Minichanger CD-ROM Drive complete kit cal 800 MEGABYTE WORM less than $0. 1 8 per MB! 3495 Abo: Denon, Chinon, & Sony drives, Best Price - Call ! Business CUbcary or Ada or Shareware Grab Bog $89 CIA Workj Fact Book perfect for intemationa) 'bi^nes" 99 World Atlas colormcps and statBtics throughout wortd Cal Microsoft Bookshelf dtime best seingCCHOV! disc 199 PC-Sig library new edfoa version 8 465 Countries Of the Worfd over 1 00 reference books 495 Telephone Directory East orWest 995 Libraries and Science Birds Of Americo includes pictures and sound $99 Grafter's Encyclopedia 2 1 volumes. VGA piciures Call Medical Year Book on Disc fuitextof i989Year Books 195 McGfOW-HiH Ref. Set 100,000 terms; 7.300 artiaes 245 Wordcruncher DiSC entire works of 8 authors 249 Pediatries On DiSC 5 yearsof journal Pediatrics, 1983^89 395 MommoiS includes pictures 81 text Call Ubrary Of the Future Over 50 Authors. 450 titles Call Oxford Textbook Of Meo5Cftegeoerdme<Jccl reference 595 Oxford English Dictionary over250.oaoheodwords! 889 Compton's Multi-MeaTo Encyctopeaio rave reviews 895 Miscellaneous Movie Directory Database/Software Potpourri $49 Between Heaven & Hell TJ even stranger 99 Sherlock Hofrnes or Shakespeare on Disc "compieor 99 Sporting News Baseball CD a sports fansdream 149 Guiness Book of World Records Mufti-media pc & Mac CaJi ** MORE! Over 300 different titles available ** Free CD-ROM Product Guide with every order Money bock guarantee Free tech support CALL - Bureau On-Line CD-ROM Library, FREE access to 12 different CD-ROM Discs Bureau of Electronic Publishing, Inc. Dept. P. 141 New Road Parsippany, NJ 07054 Fax #201 -608^2676 Cal: 1-800-828-4766 orders only (201) 808-2700 hfoimation 104 BYTE* FEBRUARY 199 1 dozens of packages sent to me each week, even though I really want to. Therefore, with the help of some of my colleagues and grad students, I've worked up a tri- age system to make sure every piece of software I receive each week gets looked at by a knowledgeable person who will report impressions back to me. Having this first cut will let me pick more care- fully the stuff I want to emphasize in these pages. With this new system in mind, I'm fashioning a new section in Macinations, which I'll call the Software of the Month. Each month, I'll look at one outstanding new Mac program. This month, I give kudos to Lotus Marketplace: Business. Marketplace is a CD-ROM filled with information on over 7 million U.S. businesses. It in- cludes the basic stuff, like names and ad- dresses (for direct mail campaigns), and a slew of criteria that let you pick and choose the businesses you want to re- trieve from the disk. You can search by business Standard Industry Code (SIC), by number of employees, and even by an- nual sales. With this information re- trieved, you can create mailing lists, market research reports, or telemarket- ing call reports. Marketplace combines huge prospect lists with target marketing software, all on the same CD-ROM. With this combi- nation, you can find new customers with- out having to subscribe to more expen- sive on-line services that cater to this kind of direct marketing information niche. Marketplace is not cheap, of course, but the data you receive (it's up- dated with a new CD-ROM each quarter at a yearly subscription price of $150) is accurate and detailed. The basic pack- age, which lets you retrieve the informa- tion of every company on the disk (all 7 million), costs $695. But the license limits your use to 5000 businesses. Each additional 5000 costs another $400. Vol- ume discounts start to kick in after you buy over 25,000 names. Marketplace includes all the software needed to do all this fancy market re- search and analysis (mostly HyperCard stacks and copies of HyperCard to work with any System from 6.0.2 to the cur- rent release). You'll also need a Mac with at least 4 MB of RAM (8 MB is bet- ter), a hard disk drive, and an AppleCD SC CD-ROM drive (or 100 percent com- patible) to make it happen. The only real problem with Market- place is speed. Accessing a mountain of data from a CD-ROM disk is slow, slow, slow, even with the fastest Ilf x as your search engine. However, compared to pulling similar data from a 2400-bps modem data link, Marketplace seems like a speed demon. And it's so much easier to use. Tip of the Month: BIX It's easy to forget the most obvious stuff. I guess I do it all the time. But it's time for me to redress a glaring omission in this column: my failure to discuss the BIX Macintosh Exchange. Whether you are a Mac fan or not, you should be on BIX. I suppose that sounds self-serving, coming as it does here in BYTE. But the point is, of all the on-line services out there in on-line-services land, BIX con- sistently offers the most high-quality in- formation, especially for MacFolk. The real strength of BIX is its mem- bership. The people who contribute their expertise and souls to the on-line confer- ences are among the luminaries of the computing business. If you had to pay the consulting tabs these folks charge for their services while not on BIX, you'd be broke in a New York second. If you're a Mac person, you are simply missing out if you aren't on BIX hanging out regularly in all the Macintosh Ex- change conferences. In addition to get- ting tough technical questions answered (often by many experts), you can get to Apple's press releases and follow various threads that cover technology trends and specific implementation issues. And if you like to flame on every once in a while (hey, it's good for you!), the Macintosh Exchange on BIX offers just the forum for you. BIX isn't as flashy as America Online or AppleLink, and, at least for the time being, it lacks CompuServe's automated front-end graphical-user-interface soft- ware (Navigator). Fortunately, though, its signal-to-noise ratio is much higher than that of any of these competitors. Of course, if you can afford it, you should live on as many services as possible. But if you're looking for a lot of Mac-spe- cific information from real Mac experts, you should check out the BIX Macintosh Exchange. ■ Don Crabb is the director of laboratories and a senior lecturer for the computer science department at the University of Chicago. He is the author of a new book, Using Filemaker Pro (Simon & Schuster/ Brady Books). He is also a contributing editor for BYTE. He can be reached on BlXas "decrabb." Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. LAMastic'stiny RAM now has more cards to play with, If the presence of Micro Channel machines has ever stood between you and the joy of running the award-winning LANtastic PC Network, this is your jjaasii lucky day. Artisoft has just added three new Micro Channel adapters to its compliment of AE-2 Ethernet, 2Mbps and Voice adapters. LANtastic AE-2 MC Ethernet for Micro Channel, a 16-bit adapter that can be used in either a 16-bit or a 32-bit slot, is in 100% compliance with IEEE 802.3 and Ethernet standards, and comes with on-board 16K RAM that is user expandable to 64K. Since AE-2 MC Ethernet is software compatible with Novell's NE/2000 hardware, you can run Novell "out of the box." LANtastic 2Mbps MC adapters n March 28. 1 989 are the perfect way to economically network small or midsize businesses with Micro Channel computers. Each card includes a lOMhz coprocessor and 32K of on-board dual-ported RAM, along with software- selectable IRQ and RAMBASE address settings. Artisoft's version of the NetBIOS standard can be loaded into and executed within the adapter. This plunges the NetBIOS draw on a PC's base RAM down to just 2K and off loads the network processing onto the adapter. The cards are easy to install and use inexpensive dual-twisted pair cable. LANtastic Voice MC adapters -_— — let you save sound and speech | pg| | onto disk for playback later on |g=J| Micro Channel machines. Use them with LANtastic NOS 3.0 or above, and T1MB w you can send voice messages [[AN1 across your LANtastic network. KM Just pick up the telephone handset provided with each Voice Adapter, bring up a handy on-screen menu, and talk. Use Voice Chat to carry on a real time conversation, or save the message for playback later in your own voice - either through the handset or through the Micro Channel machine's internal speaker. Now it's easier than ever to run LANtastic's award-winning Network Operating System on Micro Channel machines. Call 602-293-6363 or fax 602-293-8065. X: ARTISOFT Revolutionizing Connectivity (£1990 ARTISOFT. LANtastic is a trademark of Artisoft. Micro Channel Architecture is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Circle 24 on Reader Service Card . iih» w Fh\ ECIAL OFFER FOR CURRENT C TREE* USERS! Take advantage of the exciting features offered by c-tree Plus, at lecia! introductory price reserved just for you — call for details! e4reeP ■ Develop on over 100 platforms — without reprogramming! Forget the tedious, time consuming and expensive reprogram- ming required to move from one environment to another. With c-tree Plus" you don't change source code at all — just recompile, link and you're running on platforms ranging from Cray supercom- puters to Zenith laptops! Over 100 environments are supported, including: ■ Windows 3 ■ DOS ■ UNIX ■ OS/2 ■ VAX/VMS ■ Mac ■ SUN ■ RS-6000 Forget byte order, memory model, integer size or data alignment hassles — c-tree Plus manages it all automatically, regardless of processor architecture. And c-tree Plus even provides a utility to port your pre-existing data files in place. ■ Whether you need single, multi-user, client/server or LAN configurations, c-tree Plus supports them all! Now you don't have to make a choice between configurations — c-tree Plus supports them all. The same application can use c-tree Plus as a powerful data management engine or as a client front-end to the FairCom Servers. ■ Put the latest data management technology to work in your applications! Outstanding new features make c-tree Plus the developer's "product of choice!' Features include: ■ True transaction processing* ■ Superfiles ■ Resources ■ Full ANSI-standard SQL functionality* ■ Batched operations ■ Ultra-high speed data & index cache ■ Row & key level locking ■ FREE FairCom" Server (Developer's Version) ■ No run-time royalties ■ Full source code ■ Extensive tech support. ■ Order your copy of c-tree plus today! Start putting the power of new c-tree Plus to work in your applications right now — call FairCom today! (800)234-8180, Ext. 1 * — when used in conjunction with the FairCom Servers Circle 81 on Reader Service Card & FAIRCOM 4006 WEST BROADWAY COLUMBIA, M0 65203 PHONE 314.445.6833 EXPERT ADVICE THE UNIX /bin ■ David Fiedler Heed the Standards Love them or hate them, standards are something you have to deal with Serving on a standards committee can be excruciatingly dull, yet it can turn into high drama when a controversial detail is debated. But the standards most people have to deal with are the ones that govern the software or hardware they're intending to buy. At such a point of decision, stan- dards become very interesting, because failure to heed them may affect your job in a negative way. Less dramatically, there's always the problem of a standard that's not quite standard yet, which makes you scratch your head for days be- fore finally making that big decision. Unlike a stand-alone PC in an isolated office, Unix installations generally are designed with regard to company poli- cies, history, and network connections. That's why it's a good idea to be aware of standards that may affect you. Perhaps more important, every new system in- stalled that complies to a de facto stan- dard means less work in the future to get that standard accepted. Going Worldwide The most important thing about the next few years will be the realization that computers exist as part of a worldwide market. I'm not talking about whether Asian companies control the U.S. com- puter market, but about computer users who are much the same everywhere. That is, it's not just Americans who like to see good software and hardware de- sign and who insist on prompts and cur- rency representation that correspond to their local language and customs. In some ways, the computer industry is more fortunate than other industries. Power supplies that work on any world- wide voltage are commonplace, and many standards that started in one coun- try (e.g., RS-232, Ethernet, and the myr- iad sizes of floppy disks) have been ac- cepted in other lands as well. Some Real Characters Some languages (such as kanji and Ara- bic) need more than ASCII to represent them, and any new international stan- dards must address this problem (see "Around the World in Text Displays," May 1990 BYTE). That's why newer releases of Unix (starting with System V release 3.2) support so-called 8-bit ASCII, which allows extensions to larger character sets as well as to distinctly non- ASCII representations. Only 7 bits are needed for all the characters in the U.S. The eighth bit is used in two ways inter- nationally: to expand the 128-character ASCII set to a full 255 different charac- ters (useful for European and other lan- guages, such as Greek and Cyrillic) or to signal that another byte of character data will follow. Future releases of Unix will support character widths of up to 32 bits, which presumably will be enough until the Alpha Centaurians land. The problem has been that Unix was not originally designed to be the interna- tional commercial operating system it has now become. The standard Unix shell, before Unix System V.3, used the eighth bit to mark literal strings inter- nally. The basic Unix text editor, ed, wouldn't even accept a file that contained 8-bit characters, while vi would simply strip off the eighth bit silently. Numerous internal changes, invisible to the average user or programmer, have been made in Unix to allow the full in- ternationalization that is complete in Unix System V.4. The result will be an environment that can be easily custom- ized for local variations in date, time, currency, and numeric formats, as well ILLUSTRATION: TOM CENTOLA © 1991 FEBRUARY 1991 • B Y T E 107 THE UNIX /bin as language and collating sequence. All this has been made possible by the set- locale function defined in the standard C language by ANSI X3J11. Interestingly enough, much of the movement to internationalize and stan- dardize Unix has come from the U.S. Apart from the X3J11 standard for C (which was defined by ANSI), we have the NIST's FIPS standard and AT&T's S VID standard. The POSIX standard has been issued by IEEE, an international organization based in New York, and the X/Open standard comes from San Fran- cisco. Americans are not as insular as some people like to believe. Of course, the most important move toward standardization is that of AT&T's Unix System V.4, which brings together previous versions of AT&T Unix, SCO/ Microsoft Xenix, BSD Unix, and Sun- OS. This gives users one admittedly large Unix that can deal with programs from any of these once-separate environ- £Mf ichard Fink, President ^# of RainTree Computer W a Systems, writes, "...What m m it [Periscope] offers is F v probably the most compre- hensive debugging capability on the market today. And for you and me, that means getting to market sooner. Getting to market with a cleaner product. That's an objective we all know about." Periscope Whether you're handles the developing appli- level of debug- cations written in ging you need, a high-level Ian- % guage, doing " low-level system development, or something in be- tween, Periscope can help you find the bugs. Randy Brukardt, a developer of the Janus Ada com- piler, writes, "1 couldn't imagine using anything else...It is just as useful debugging my Ada code at the source level as it is for finding bugs in assembler code, even TSRs and device drivers." There's just not For example, you much you can't can debug device debug with drivers and Periscope. TSRs, child pro- cesses, and soft- "ware interrupts. You can trace DOS and debug foreground and background programs in the same session. Large programs are no problem. Periscope supports Plink and .RTLink overlays, and Windows ; expensi Can you , afford them?- Periscope Model U includes a breakout switch and the new Version 5 software. 'Hie new software, included with all models, features a menu system that makes Periscope easier than ever to learn and use. Start saving money today. Call Toil-Free: 800-722-7006 Overseas, call: UK - Roundhil) Computer Systems, 0672 84 535; Germany - H+B EDV. 07542 635$ Com Food. 02534 7093; Sweden - UnSoft, 013 124780; Denmark - Rwcnholm Computing, 02 88 72 49; Australia - B.1K Enter- prises. 02 858 5GU. 3.0 programs in real mode. You can monitor software running on another system. And you can debug the boot process, hardware interrupts, and real-time code. 'Hie Periscope software runs on 8088 through 80486 machines, supports 80386/80486 debug registers, and runs with 386 control programs in the system. There's a Prices start at Periscope model $ 1 95 for sof t- for every budget, ware-only Model II-X. Model II with its handy break-out switch is $225. Model 1 with 512K of write-protected RAM is $595 for PCs and $695 for PS/2s. Model IV with its real-time hardware trace buffer and breakpoints is $1895 to $2395, depending on your processor and its speed. We'll be happy to help you decide which model you need. Periscope Company, Inc. 1197 Pr --" 30361, USA • 404/875-8080 FAX 404/872-1973 ments. Open Software Foundation's re- lease of its OSF/1 operating system will provide a second alternative for manu- facturers and users alike. If both these competing systems prevail, at least there will be two main Unix standards to deal with, rather than four or five. Hoisting Those Standards People should look toward standards as rules that transcend traditional views of "where things belong." For instance, the traditional view is that IBM PCs and clones use LaserJet-compatible printers, and Macintosh computers use Laser- Writers and other PostScript printers. My view is that PostScript is too impor- tant a standard to be relegated merely to Apple computers, because using Post- Script also lets you access other devices such as typesetting machines and even windowing systems (e.g., the Next com- puters and the News system) that rely on Display PostScript. So I applaud makers of IBM PC software that support Post- Script, and I doubly applaud recent de- velopments, such as The Santa Cruz Op- eration's direct support of PostScript printers in its SCO Unix. The more Post- Script is used as a mainstream Unix stan- dard, the more you will see new hard- ware and software that support it. Even saying things like "IBM PCs and clones" is now nonstandard. There's a new, Politically Correct way of saying the same thing: Industry Standard Ar- chitecture. That brings to mind the Ex- tended ISA bus, which many manufac- turers are attempting to make a de facto standard while flying in the face of IBM's own Micro Channel architecture bus. This is a perfect example of how un- settling standards wars can become. At this writing, there is no clear winner, so investors in either bus must lay down their money and take their chances. In workstations, as I've discussed in previous columns, SPARC technology is becoming more popular. Now that Sun has relinquished licensing control of SPARC, it may become an industry-stan- dard architecture of its own. Unlike PC- based computers, many workstations are becoming single-board computers, with expansion capabilities limited to the 64 or so megabytes of RAM that you can add to the system board or to what pe- ripherals you can hook up to the SCSI port. In practice, that's not too limiting, since the server will have its own litany of expansion board capabilities. What about Unix windows? The X Window System is about the closest thing to a standard you can find in this area. Once you've decided on that, you can 108 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 230 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 231) Effectivity in developing MS Windows or OS/2 Presentation Manager programs If you are building sophisticated C++ applications for MS Windows or OS/2 PM, you could benefit from • A toolbox with standardized Graphical User Interface(GUI) parts • An Interface Builder which constructs the standard parts of your program for you • A Browser so that you can examine and edit the numerous pieces of code of your application We introduce our GUi_Master (CLASS-TREE for C++) which we originally developed for our own use to lessen the burden of writing programs so that one can focus on the application parts and not on the GUI part Q Q3 I ntgo PiPBPi n Kg o You don't really want to invest your valuable time in reinventing the GUI-wheel • Neither do we, so we included over 85 classes containing a wide range of GUI building blocks. Anything that could be accomplished through "normal" programming can be done if you use our product. It's just a lot easier • Many of the things you might not include in your application because they're too complex or time-consuming to program, are easy to make with our GUl_M aster (CLASS-TREE for C++) • We provide the Interface Builder, with which you specify all properties of the visual objects of your program. The interface builder then generates the necessary source code, the resource specifications and even the make file • The Browser enables you to examine your own code and code made by others, and to understand the class structure of that code. From the Browser you can launch the editor of your choice to modify a C++ program You may want detailed reference documentation • We supply nearly 1200 pages of detailed class descriptions, method reference etc. An index is included, of course You may need a cookbook and example programs • We provide 7 functional example programs and a cookbook explaining the "how to's" From our experience developers want to use products from someone who knows what he is talking about • Vleermuis Software Research (VSR) is an independent R&D organization, which, over the past 3 years, spent over 40 person- years on OO development on a broad spectrum of commercial workstations To use our GUI_M aster (CLASS-TREE for C++) you must have • A C++2.X compiler, as we do not supply a compiler with our product. We suggest using the Zortech compiler, but we have also tested most of the others. Write for details File Edit Make Object Type We try to keep our prices reasonable $495.= OS/2 PM version $ 545.= MS WINDOWS 3.0 version Prices include airmail delivery (may take three weeks) Add $ 50.= for courier service General availability in January 1991 for the OS/2 version MS Windows version in May 1991 Write or fax your order details to: Vleermuis Software Research bv P.O. Box 2584 3500 GN Utrecht The Netherlands Fax: Intl. + 31 30 310426 Use Mastercard (number and expiration date) or certified cheque Circle 264 on Reader Service Card VOb|ect:GetClassName VApplicatiorv.:GetClassName VArchrve::GetClassName VCIipArchfve:: GetaassName VRIeArchlve::GetaassName VRes Archive:: Get Class Name VCB Format: GetaassName VDictionary:: Get Class Name VObjDIct-GetClassName VStr Dictionary.: GetaassName VLisfc:GetClassNarne THE UNIX /bin choose graphical user interfaces such as Open Look and OSF/Motif, with the de- cided nod to Motif right now. Of course, the standard for LAN con- nections is still Ethernet and TCP/IP protocols, whether you're dealing with workstations, PCs, or Macs. In the fu- ture, you can look forward to even more connectivity as Open Systems Intercon- nection, fiber-optic and wide-area cable networks, and X.400 mail systems be- come more popular. People like talking to other people, and the easier it is, the better. Right now, I can send ASCII- based E-mail messages from my Unix machine on UUCP-Net to people on the Internet, MCI Mail, and CompuServe, but faxes, binaries, or image files wouldn't work. I expect that these kinds of problems will be solved in the next few years when machine brand and operating system are too petty to stand in the way of simple interpersonal communications. Getting the Message Across Here's an example of how standards have helped information exchange. Floppy disks, as mentioned above, have under- gone many changes since the early days, but there are still enough standards that Apples, IBMs, Unix systems, and even Ataris can generally exchange disks using suitable software. Manufacturers learned from this, so hard disks and tapes now generally use one of a few standard interfaces and formats (e.g., SCSI, MFM, RLL, IDE, and QIC-24). This lets you buy a disk now for one sys- tem and use it later on a different archi- tecture, or bring data from a Sun to a 386-based Unix system via cartridge tape. SCSI deserves special mention; it transcends a device type and allows great flexibility, although there are some po- tential security concerns with certain SCSI devices on Unix systems. The most important standards you'll see will be developing now for the next decade. As with communications, the growth of true universal multimedia data and applications will only come when standards that cross operating systems and machine architectures arrive. This will allow all participating machines to exchange image, text, sound, and video data, using whatever hardware exists on the target machine to speed things up. This is especially important for video data compression and decompression, which itself will be standardized in the next few months. At this writing, a standard called Mac- romedia has been proposed, and there will be others, perhaps based on the work already done by Next, in the same vein. I can only hope that a consensus is reached soon, so we can all benefit from this. Imagine getting E-mail with a verbal an- notation that you can listen to and a 15- second video message that automatically pops up in a window on your screen. That's available now on several Unix platforms. But when you won't know or care what kind of machine the original message was created on, then standards will have finally done their job. ■ David Fiedler is executive producer of Unix Video Quarterly and coauthor of the book Unix System Administration. He has helped start several Unix-related publications. You can reach him on BIX as "fiedler. " Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. POWER MONITORING PACKAGE Available Now!! Complete Power Support For Unix and Novell! PowerMon software and UPS to support most Unix and Novell systems. ex: AT&T, DEC, HP, IBM, SCO, SUN, and Others For software package and UPS contact: CIC Distributors 314-537-0305 FAX: 314-536-2535 CIC Distributors is an Authorized Reseller of PowerMon- . Reseller pricing available. . IT'S 11:35 p.m. SOMEONE TWO THOUSAND x MILES AWAY JUST SAW YOUR AD... AND WANTS V MORE INFORMATION, NOW . HOW DO YOU SATISFY THIS POTENTIAL CUSTOMER? 1. Pick up the phone connected to your FAX machine and dial: USA: 708-924-7465 UK: (+44) 672 84242 2. Follow the simple voice instructions, using the phone keypad to respond. 3. You will be asked to press in the code number for FaxFactsT USA— Press: 889812# UK— Press: 201# 4. Continue to follow instructions being given over the phone. 5. Once all steps are completed, you will be asked to press the "START" or "RECEIVE" button on your FAX. 6. Within seconds, after pressing this button, you will be given information on this instantaneous literature delivery system. FaxFacts is a product of Copia International, Inc. USA: (708) 682-8898 UK: (+44) 672 84535 USA FAX: (708) 665-9841 110 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 Circle 48 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 49) I • N • T • R* O • D • uT- C • I • N • ;,Coax- CLEO's 3270LINKix™pro- vides complete, cost-effective mainframe connectivity for your UNIX systems. You just plug in a coax board (our own or any IBM advanced coax adapter or com- patible), load the software, and link to your mainframe through a remote or channel-attached IBM 3174/3274 controller. With 3270- LINKix, you get full emulation of IBM 3278 monochrome display terminals (models 2-5) and 3279 color ter- minals (models 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B),inCUTorDFTmode. You also get full IBM 3287 printer emulation (LU Types 1 and 3) for your UNIX-attached ASCII printers. UNIX systems supported include SCO's UNIX System V 3.2, AT&T's UNIX System V/386, Interactive Systems' 386/ix, and others. Features include: ■ Application Program Interface (HLLAPI 3.0, plus CLEO's own API) ■ INDSFILE file transfer for CMS, TSO, and CICS ■ Up to five sessions, with sup- port for SNA or channel-attached non-SNA communications, in DFT ■ User-configurable keyboard mapping ■ Easy menu-driven interface I 5 sessions, for SNA or channel- attached non-SNA, in DFT To learn more, call us today at 1-800-233-2536. Or write to us at 3796 Plaza Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108. FAX: 313/662-1965. CLEO CLEO Communications A Division of Interface Systems, Inc. See us at UniForum '91, Dallas Infomart, January 22-24, Booth #1213. AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE! In Europe call Sintec Peripherals Ltd. in Slough, England, at 0753-81 1888 (FAX: 0753-81 1666). Call me a lyre. (Or, how we wrote the book on PC mail order.) Truth tends to be stranger than fiction in the telltail town of Marlow, NH (pop. 564). That's why you'll often find the local color gathered 'round the ancient sage as he recounts in vivid detail how our forest glade was transformed into a PC paradise. For, in days of yore, buying software and peripherals by mail was a perilous task, fraught with danger and uncertainty. Only those well versed in the black arts dared risk such unpredictable delivery and uncertain compatibility. Then one day the enlightened Order of the Connection appeared majestically on the scene, bringing the classic virtues of toll-free tech support, prompt shipping, and way-under-retail prices to the brave new world of the IBM PC Since that glorious day bur humble home has served as a beacon of light to noble users in cottages, condos, and corporations throughout America. That'll be the day. It's not every day of the week you get offered your very own 1991 PC Connection Calendar. This very timely offer includes 13 classic illustrations of our legendary mascots, all your favorite holidays, and fascinating historical facts about the fiefdom of Marlow, NH. This wondrous wall calendar is free to everyone who places an order of $750 or more between now and February 28. Mark time with the PC Connection Calendar featuring our very own day-tripping mascots. Offer not available to accounts on net terms. One per customer. ©COPYRIGHT PC CONNECTION, INC.. 1990, PC CONNECTION AND THE RACCOON CHARACTERS) ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION, INC., MARLOW, NH. Greetings from the 1990 World Class Award for Best Mail-Order Company PCWftKLD 1990 WORLD CLASS AWARD D 3V2" format available from us. Specify when ordering. a package includes both 5W and 3V2" disks. e 3V2" format available from manufacturer by request. Call us for details. CP— copy-protected; NCP— not copy-protected. The four-digit number next to each product is the product's ITEM NUMBER. Please refer to this number when ordering. Thank you. SOFTWARE We only carry the latest versions of products. Version numbers in our ads are current at press time. Products listed here in red are Microsoft Windows Applications. 7547 8367 7392 1332 5104 1214 Adobe Systems ... NCP HAdobe Type Manager for Windows $59. HATM & Plus Pack Bundle 169. HAdobe PostScript Cartridge 289. (Entire Adobe Type Library, from 1 to 133 is available. Call for more information.) Aldus ... NCP □ PageMaker 3.01 499. Alpha Software ... NCP HAIpha Four 1.1 319. Application Techniques ... NCP HPizazz Plus 2.0 69. ^SSEfer Chipsoft ... NCP 6221 Hl&rtoEx 8.0 61 Quicken Bwtdk-A complete financial solution. With these two industry leading programs ; you can quickly and easily transfer information for planning and preparing your taxes $79. Ashton-Tate ... NCP 4450 DdBASE IV 1.1 $499. Asymetrix ... NCP 7384 HToolbook 1.0 for Windows 309. Avery ... NCP 6006 HLabel Pro 1 .0 (Laser) 49. 7336 HLabel Pro 1 .0 for Dot Matrix 49. Bitstream ... NCP 7568 BFaceLift 1.0 for Windows 2.X/3.0 . 59. 8040 BFaceLift for WordPerfect 5.0/5.1.. 59. H Typeface Packages each 89. Bloc Publishing ... NCP 1447 HFormTool Gold 3.0 55. 6245 HPop Drop Plus 1.0 59. Borland International ... NCP 7357 DTurbo C+ + 1 .0 Professional 209. 7356 DTurbo Pascal Professional 2nd Ed. 179. 6242 HQuattro Pro 2.0 339. 1514 HParadox 3.5 529. Broderbund ... NCP 1434 HNew Print Shop 39. ButtonWare ... NCP 6419 HPC-File 5.0 89. Adobe Systems ... NCP 7547 HAdobe Type Manager for Windows- Automatically cleans up the jagged or stick figure type displayed on your screen ; as well as text printed from dot matrix printers. Includes 13 scalable fonts $59. Caere ... NCP 6004 HOmnipage386 2.1 599. Central Point ... NCP 5039 HPC Tools Deluxe 6.0 95. 8114 HBackup 6.0 65. Chipsoft ... NCP 1663 HTurboTax 8.0 for 1990 Taxes 45. HState Packages each 34. 6221 HTurboTax 8.0 & Quicken Bundle . . 79. CompuServe 7546 DOS Membership Kit 23. Concentric Data Systems ... NCP 6575 HR&R Relational Report Writer 4.0 159. Corel Systems ... NCP 5506 DCorelDRAW! 2.0 389. Data Storm ... NCP 4798 EPROCOMM PLUS 1.1 65. DCA ... NCP 7936 HCrosstalk Communicator 1.0 59. 2908 DCrosstalkXVI 3.71 119. 5611 DCrosstalk for Windows 1.1 129. Ill ■€, Delrina Technology ... NCP 4325 BPerFORMl -/-Get the same award winning form generating software for GEM at a fantastically different, and low, price. Limited time offer $95. Delrina Technology ... NCP 4325 DPerFORM2.1 for GEM 95. 7351 HPerFORMPRO 1 .0 for Windows . 299. Fifth Generation Systems ... NCP 7725 HDirect Access 5.0 65. 7795 HDisklockl.O 109, 3950 HFastback Plus 2.1 119. FormWorx ... NCP 5810 DFormWorx with Fill & File 2.5 .... 85. 7311 EFormPublisherfor Windows 1.2. 139. Fox Software ... NCP 6188 ElFoxPro 1 .02 459. Franklin Software ... NCP 7071 Slanguage Master 3.0 49. 7416 HLanguage Master 3.0 for Windows 59. Funk Software ... NCP 7380 HP.D. Queue 1.0 (print spooler) ... 52. 2228 DSideways3.3 59. Great American Software ... NCP 4880 DOne Write Plus Acct.Sys. 2.06. . 189. 5825 HMoney Matters 2.0 42. Corel Systems ... NCP 5506 nCordDRAWlLO-Thc PC graphics software that's f ast ; fun and powerful. CorelDRAW! 2.0 now comes with more drawing power ; more type control ; and more value... and it's still easy to use . $389. .®: Icebox of Cheshire Co. WealthStarter Reality Technologies ... NCP 7891 S WealthStarter 10-Tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Use WealthStarter to create a budgeting savings and investing system that really makes the most of the money you make $49. Hayes ... NCP 7983 HSmartcom Exec 2.0 79. hDC Computer Corp. ... NCP 7389 aWindows Express 3.0 52. 7383 HFirst Apps 1.0 52. Hilgraeve ... NCP 2323 HHyperACCESS/5 2.0 (DOS & OS/2) 115. IBM ... NCP 6599 DCurrent1.1 239. Individual Software ... NCP 6222 HResume Maker 1.3 29. Inset Systems ... NCP 7298 HHijaak 2.0 99. 7300 Hlnset Plus Hijaak 125. Insight Development ... NCP 8320 HPrinTools 1 .0 85. 8687 DPrint-a-Plot2.0 189. Intuit ... NCP 2426 HQuicken 4.0 39. Isogon ... NCP 7478 HFontSpace 2.0 59. Qualitas ... NCP 386MAX & BlueMAXlet you run your 386 & Windows to the MAX! New! BlueMAX is the ultimate memory manager for 386 PS/2s! 7539U586MAX5.1 $75. 7967 BlueMAX 5.1 W only) 85. Laser Go ... NCP 7635 □Go Script Plus 3.0 LaserTools ... NCP . $189 6882 BPrintCache 2.3 ... 99. 5191 Lord Publishing ... NCP HRonstadt's Financials 1 .02 . . Lotus ... NCP ... 75 5417 □ 1-2-3 3.1 .. 429 5653 □ 1-2-3 2.2 . . 349 5134 HMagellan 2.0 MECA ... NCP . . . 109 4603 HAndrew Tobias' Tax Cut-1990 Taxes 49 2798 □Managing Your Money 7.0. . Microcom ... NCP . . . 135 7649 aVirex1.1 ... 79 6234 6787 □CarbonCopy Plus 5.2 Micro Logic ... NCP alnfo Select 1.1 . .. 119 ... 55 Inset Systems ... NCP 7298 SH/'/^2.(9-Capture screens and convert graphics files with Hijaak release 2.0. New features include 5K pop-up ; many new raster and vector formats and support for 16 fax devices $99. 7010 7388 7387 2904 2901 6195 2856 2853 8137 4925 2982 5902 5900 Microsoft ... NCP □Windows 3.0 99. aProject for Windows 1 .0 459. aPowerPoint for Windows 1.0. . . . 329. □Works 2.0 99. □Word 5.0 209. H Word for Windows 1.1 329. aExcel2.1 329. aCCompiler6.0 329. aOffice for Windows (includes Excel, Word fa Windows, and PowerPoint) 659. Multisoft ... NCP □PC-Kwik Power Pak 1 .5 75. Nolo Press ... NCP □WillMaker4.0 39. PC Globe ... NCP □PCGIobe4.0 39. □PCUSA2.0 39. 1-800/776-7777 MMC 810B PC Connection 6 Mill Street Marlow, NH 03456 SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791 9 m Bitstream ... NCP Fast and easy-to-use, FaceLif t scales printer fonts to any size. Includes 13 typefaces to give you professional documents instantly. 7568®FaceLift 1.0 for Windows Z.x/5.0 . $59. 8040 ®FaceLift 1.0 for WordPerfect 5-0/5. 1 . 59. Personics ... NCP 4384 aUitravision 2.0 79. 7048 aMonarch 1 .0 (Data Mgmt. Tool) . 319. Powerlip ... NCP 7860 BCalendar Creator Plus 3.0 45. 7858 aExpress Publisher 2.0 89, Precision Software ... NCP 6600 aSuperbase 4 for Windows 1.2 .. 429. Qualitas ... NCP 7539 n386MAX5.1 75. 7967 BlueMAX 5.1 (3V 2 " only) 85. Quarterdeck ... NCP 6422 QQRAM1.0 49. 3221 ^Expanded Memory Mgr. 386 5.1 . 59. 3220 QDESQView 2.3 75. 4586 QDESQViewSSe 2.3 125. Reality Technologies ... NCP 7891 aWealthStarter 1.0 49. 6572 aWealthBuilder 1.1 145. Reference Software ... NCP 4396 aGrammatik IV 1 .0 52. 7483 aGrammatik for Windows 1.0 52. Revolution Software ... NCP 4480 aVGA Dimmer 2.01 (screen saver) . 29. RightSoft ... NCP 4155 aRightWriter 4.0 54. RoyKore ... NCP 8162 a ABC Flowcharter 1.1 189. Samna ... NCP 5799 aAmiPro1.2 309. Sitka/TOPS ... NCP 6675 QTOPS Network Bundle 3.0 159. 3720 Flashcard2.1 (AppleTalk ntwrk. card) 155. Softlogic Solutions ... NCP 3542 ^Software Carousel 4.01 55. Software Publishing ... NCP 3499 QPFSiFirst Publisher 3.0 99. 3478 QPFSiFirst Choice 3.1 105. 3496 □ProfessionalWrite2.2 169. 3482 QHarvard Graphics 2.3 329. Solution Systems ... NCP 7977 aBrief 3.0 (Programmer's Editor) . 189. Spinnaker ... NCP 7604 aPLUSfor Windows 1.0 289. ®: The colder it gets Solution Systems ... NCP 7977SBri6/3.(9-The programmer's editor. Gives you unmatched editing power and flexibility. Completely reconfigurable keyboard ; multi-level Undo ; C-like macro language ; source level debugger and more $ 189. West Lake Data Corp. ... NCP 7577 □PC-FullBak+ 1.12 $52. 7574 BJPathMinder+ 1.0 79. Wolf ram Research ... NCP 8281 HMathematica386 599. WordPerfect Corp. ... NCP 7781 HLetterPerfect 1.0 129. 3804 DWordPerfect 5.1 265. 6685 HDrawPerfect 1.1 279. WordStar International ... NCP 6791 DWordStarProf. 6.0 279. XTREE ... NCP 6161 SXTreePro Gold 1 .4 85. RECREATIONAL/EDUCATIONAL Broderbund ... CP 8068 HWhere in the World is Carmen Sandiego Deluxe Edition 52. 5851 HSimCity 33. Symantec ... NCP 3152 HThe Norton Commander 3.0 ... 105. 6397 ETheNorton Backup 1.1 105. 3146 EThe Norton Utilities 5.0 119. 3425 DQ&A3.0 229. 7999 BNorton Anti-Virus 1 .0 89. Systems Compatibility ... NCP 8215 HOutsideln 1 .0 65. 6564 DSoftware Bridge 4.1 79. TIMESLIPS ... NCP 2987 DTimeslips III 4.0 195. 6994 DPercentEdge 1 .0 69. Timeworks ... NCP 6253 HPublish-lt! 1.1 115. Touchstone Software ... NCP 8516 HPC Test 1 .01 (with free VHS tape) . 45. 7420 EChecklt3.0 89. Traveling Software ... NCP 5179 HLapLinklll 3.0 95. Ventura Software (Xerox) ... NCP 7796 HVentura Publisher for Windows 3.0 569. Quarterdeck ... NCP 4586 UDESQView 586 2.3-Put DESQ View and Expanded Memory Manager 386 together and you've got DESQ View 386. It can now work in conjunction with Windows3.0 $125. TIMESLIPS ... NCP 2987 UTimeslips ///4.0-Perfect for service professionals (ie. accountants ; lawyers ; etc.) who need to track & bill their time . . $ 195. 6994 DPercentEdge 1. (9— Calculates mortgages ; loans ; annuities ; present values ; & more 69. 6436 7865 2324 7881 8270 2858 8126 8129 8136 5106 7972 5993 7602 Electronic Arts ... NCP EHuntfor Red October 20. □PGA Golf 39. Harvard Associates ... NCP ePC Logo 3.0 59. Microsoft ... NCP □Entertainment Pk for Windows 1 .0 29. EAircraft and Scenery Designer 1 .0 (req.FS4.0) 29. □Flight Simulator 4.0 39. Microsoft Press (Books) Running with DOS 4th Edition 20. Running Windows (2nd Edition) ... 22. Running Microsoft Excel 22. Penton Overseas ... NCP HVocabuLearn/ce Levels I & II (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew and Japanese) each 39. Sierra On-Line ... CP SSpace Quest III 39. □King'sQuestV 45. Spectrum Holobyte ... NCP SWelltris 22. HFaces 27. p r ® ♦ y- fltt Samna ... NCP 5799 H Am Pro 1. 2-Windows-based word processor for high-powered office automation tasks. Includes mailmerge ; macros ; thesaurus ; style sheets ; and integrated drawing and charting capabilities $309. Software Toolworks ... NCP 4659 HChessmaster 2100 (CP) 35. 7372 QWorldAtlas 42. Stone & Assoc. ... NCP 5231 HPhonics Plus 22. 3433 HAIgebra Plus Vol 1 (ages 13+) ... 27. Toyogo ... NCP 7676 HNemesis Go Master Deluxe 88. True BASIC, Inc. ... NCP ElKemeny/Kurtz Math Series, each 45. HARDWARE Manufacturer's standard limited warranty period for items shown is listed after each company name. Some products in their line may have different warranty periods. American Power ... 2 years 7108 Smart UPS 400 339. 6811 360SX (stand-by power source). . . 219. 7106 520ES (stand-by power source). . . 329. AST Research ... 5 years 1299 SixPakPlus 384k C/S/P 179. 8041 SixPak286 0k 99. Boca Research ... 5 years 7001 BOCARAM/AT PLUS (0-8 Meo) (LI M 4.0 extended) 125. 7061 BOCARAM/XT OK (0-2 Meg, /_//W4.Q) 99. 6998 l/OBoardforAT 59. 8380 BasicVGA (256K 640x480) 79. 8381 SuperVGA (1 Meg 1024 x 768) . . . 145. Bravo Communications ... 2 years 7400 2 Pos. Laser Compatible Switch Box 109. Brown-Wagh ... 1 year 8578 Creative Labs Sound Blaster 179. Canon ... 1 year 7894 BJ-10e BubbleJet Printer^. 6 lb.). 349. 7897 BubbleJet Ink Cartridge 23. 7896 Sheetfeederfor BJ-10e 75. CH Products ... 1 year 8119 FlightStick w/Falcon & GameCard III . 79. 7345 Rollermouse(Tac/cDa//Jser/'a/ 85. bus 99. ®: the faster we ship. Intel ... 5 years 7880 96OOEX Modem-Provides ultra-fast data communications without sacrificing compat- ibility. Supports V.32 & V.42bis 9600 bps operation as well as MNP Level/5 and Hayes compatible 2400/1200/300 bps modes . $549. 1704 1708 7358 6901 1906 1904 5183 1930 1917 5184 7775 7774 2307 8049 7391 6754 6582 6421 4696 2352 5119 6420 7880 2346 5336 5342 7782 7385 4750 2371 2372 4121 2582 7899 Curtis ... lifetime Universal Printer Stand PS-1 18. Ruby-Plus SPF-2 Plus 65. Command Center 89. Glass Filter Plus (specify size) . . ea. 65. Datadesk ... 3 years Switchboard 175. Epson ... 2 years We are an authorized Epson Service Center. FX-850 (80 col., 264 cps, 9 pin) . . . call FX-1050 (736 col., 264 cps, 9 pin). . call LQ-510 (80 co/., 180 cps, 24 pin). . 289. LQ-850 (80 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) . . call LQ-1050 (736 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) call LX-810 (80 col., 180cps, 9pin) . . . 185. Equity LT-286e Laptop (1 yr wrrty) . 1995. Equity LT-386SX Laptop (1 yr wrrty) 3069. Hayes ... 2 years Smartmodem 2400 349. JTFax 9600B 499. Ultra 9600 Modem 799. Hewlett-Packard ... 1 year LaserJet III (w/toner) 1699. LaserJet IIP (w/toner) 1069. Intel ... 5 years 2400B MNP Internal Modem 199. 2400B Internal Modem 159. 2400B Internal Modem 2 (for PS/2) 249. 2400 Baud External Modem 179. 2400EX MNP Modem 229. 9600EX Modem 549. Inboard 386/PC w/1 Meg 495. Above Board Plus 8 2 Meg 599. Above Board Plus 8 I/O 2 Meg . . . 629. SatisFAXtion (fax board) 399. MATH COPROCESSORS 80287X1(16 MHz 80286 CPU's) . . 199. 80387SX (76 MHz 80386SX CPU's) 309. 80387 (76 MHz 80386 CPU's) .... 349. 80387-20(20 MHz 80386 CPU's).. 399. 80387-25 (25 MHz 80386 CPU's). . 499. Kensington Microware ... 1 year Master Piece Plus 109. Expert Mouse serial. . 119. bus. . 129. 4518 5800 5813 7862 7768 6029 4297 7975 8694 7595 7012 7597 2897 2898 Keytronic ... 3 years 101 Plus Keyboard $99. Kraft ... 5 years 3 button Thunder Joystick 29. Game Card/Thunderstick Bundle . . 55. TopTrack (Laptop Trackball) 79. Logitech ... limited lifetime C9 Mouse with Windows 149. Trackman (Trackball) serial 85. bus 89. ScanMan Plus (hand scanner) . . . 179. ScanMan256 319. MouseMan 69. Micron Technology ... 2 years 2 Meg Expansion for HP LaserJet IIP or III 119. Beyond Memory Board for PS/2 Model 70 (2 Meg; 149. Microsoft ... lifetime Microsoft Mouse 89. Mouse with Paintbrush 105. Mouse with Windows 3.0 149. Micron Technology ... 2 years 7595 HP LaserJet IIP/Ill I MegMemory Vpgrade- A simple and inexpensive way for you to get the most of your laser printer. A must for desktop publishing or for printing full-page graphics $119. 6007 7271 5997 7878 4799 5085 7512 3203 MicroSpeed ... 1 year PC-TRAC Trackball serial 75. 6008 bus 89. Inport 79. 6330PS/2 79. Mouse Systems ... lifetime Trackball (1 yr. wrnty.) serial 65. bus 69. PC Mouse III 89. NEC ... 2 years Multisync 2A (VGA Monitor) 499. Multisync 3D Monitor 689. Orchid Technologies ... 4 years ProDesigner VGA II (1024 x 768) . . 299. PC Power & Cooling ... 1 year REPLACEMENT POWER SUPPLIES Turbo Cool 200 159. 1-800/776-7777 MMC 810B PC Connection 6 Mill Street Marlow, NH 03456 SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791 The Intel SatisFAXtkm Board j adds a fax I ami a modem | tovourPC Intel ... 5 years 7782 SatisFAXtion-Scnd and receive faxes from within most applications using the print command. Built-in 2400 bps MNP modem standard. Includes coupons for free PC Tools and Fax-It software $399. 7915 3200 7053 6779 7054 7758 7158 6834 3103 3102 5286 5285 4542 8132 7934 7086 Turbo Cool 300 165. Silencer 150 (84% noise reduction) 115. lnnerSource2210 399. Pacific Data Products ... 1 year 25 Cartridges in One! (for U II, IIP, III) 275. Memory upgrade for LaserJet IIP/Ill 1 Meg . . . 149. 7055 2 Meg . . . 199. 3 Meg . . . 269. 7759 4 Meg . . . 329. Pacific Page 4.0 (for LaserJet IIP/Ill) 379. Pacific Page with free 2 Meg Memory Board (for LaserJet II) . . . 379. Practical Peripherals ... 5 years 2400 Baud Internal Modem 129. 2400 Baud External Modem 179. 2400 Baud Int. MNP Modem (Lev. 5) 169. 2400 Baud Ext. MNP Modem (Lev. 5) 209. 2400 Baud Internal Modem for PS/2 . 229. PM2400 Pocket Modem 109. PM9600SA Modem 489. PSION .. 1 year MC600 Mobile Computer 2149. Canon ... lyear 7894 BJ-10e BubbleJetPrinter-light weight ; excellent print quality and a great price make this 4.6 lb. printer a winner. Choice of black or white. Optional sheet feeder $349. Call 1-800/776-7777. Reflection Technology .. 1 year 7127 Private Eye (virtual display) $499. SAFE Power Systems ... 2 years 7913 Safe 650W 459. Targus ... lifetime 6037 Premier Leather Carrying Case. . . 199. TheComplete PC ... 2 years 8082 TheComplete Half Page Scanner/400 w/ReadRight Personal OCR Software 289. 6797 TheComplete Fax Portable 319. 5828 TheComplete Communicator .... 449. Tripp Lite ... 2 years 6199 Isobar 4-6 (4 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 49. 6200 Isobar 6-6 ( 6 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 59. 6624 BC450 (450W Battery Backup).. . 269. Video 7 ... 7 years 5883 1024i VGA (includes 512k) 199. 4931 VRAMVGA512k 369. & ^/J* V Logitech ... limited lifetime New! ScanMan 256 offers 256 real shades of gray. MouseMan has the ultimate shape for comfort and fit. 7975SconMmiZ56 $319. Z694 MouseMan 69. DRIVES IOMEGA ... 1year 5116 Bernoulli II 44 Meg Internal 995. 7551 Bernoulli II Transportable 44 Meg . 997. 5113 44 Meg Cartridge Tripak (5W) . . . 249. 2500 PC2B Controller 229. Mountain Computer ... 2 years 2917 40-60 Meg Internal Tape Drive . . . 259. 5500 80-152M Int. Tape Drive 629. 5190 DC2000 Pre-formatted Cartridges ea. 35. 6153 DC2120 Tape Cartridge (5 pack) . . 149. Pacific Rim ... 1 year 5010 1 .2 Meg External (for PS/2's) 215. 6602 1 .44 Meg External (for PC/XT/AT) . 239. Plus Development ... 2 years 6424 Hardcard II 80 Meg (19 ms) 599. 8304 Hardcard II XL 50 Meg (9 ms).... 399. 8287 Hardcard II XL 105 Meg (9ms) . . . 689. Seagate ... 1 year 2285 20 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST225 (w/controller and cables, 65 ms) . . 255. 2286 30 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST238R (w/controller and cables, 65 ms) . . 269. 4554 40 Meg Int. HD ST251 -1 (28 ms) . . 329. TEAC ... 1 year 4670 1 .44 Meg Drive for PC/XT (3W) . . $89. 4326 1 .44 Meg Drive for AT 109. DISKS Maxell ... lifetime 2789 5V4" MD2-D 360k Disks (Qty. 10) .... 12. 2792 3V 2 "DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty 10).. 14. 2793 3V2" DS/HD 1 ,44Mb Diskettes (Qty. 10) 27. Hayes ... 2 years W49 JTFax 9600B-Good, solid fax board from the company who wrote the book on communications. TSRfax software, print capture and one-step convert and send are just a few of the features $499. Insight Development ... NCP 8320 mPnnlook 1. 0-LMities for the HP Laser]et ; DeskJet & compatibiles. Includes Spooler; Screen Dump, Screen Capture, SetUp, Plot with HPGL/2 support, and Help utilities $85. Sony ... lifetime 3291 5V4" DS/DD 360k Disks (Qty. 10) . . . . 10. 3297 3V 2 " DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. 10) . . 13. 3298 3Vs" DS/HD 1 .44Mb Diskettes (Qty. 10) 22. 8185 QD 2040 Tape Cartridge 19. MEMORY 6556 256k DRAMs ( 100 ns, set of 9) .... call 5510 1 Meg x 9 SIMMs (80 nanosecond) call 5746 1 Meg Chips (80 ns, set of 9) call OUR POLICY > We accept VISA and MASTERCARD only. > No surcharge added for credit card orders. > Your card is not charged until we ship. > If we must ship a partial order; we never charge freight on the shipment(s) that complete the order (in the U.S.). > No salestax, except Ohio residents (please add applicable tax). > All U.S. shipments insured; no additional charge. > APO/FPO orders shipped 1 st Class Mail. > International orders U.S. $250 minimum. > Upon receipt and approval, personal and company checks clear the same day for immediate shipment of your order: > COD max. $1000. Cash, cashier's check, or money order: > 120 day limited warranty on all products. Defective software replaced immediately. Defective hardware repaired or replaced at our discretion. All items subject to availability. Prices and promotions subject to change without notice. > To order, call us Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 1 :00AM, or Saturday 9:00AM to 5:30 PM. You can call our business offices at 603/446-3383 Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. j I Practical Peripherals ... 5 years 7934 PM96OOSA AJafem-Practical Peripherals does it again by making communications affordable with their newest modem featuring the data compression & error correction of 9600bps V.32 & V42bis operation . . . $489. SHIPPING Note: Accounts on net terms pay actual shipping. Continental US: § For heavy hardware itemssuch as printers, monitors, Bernoulli Boxes, etc. pay actual charges. Call for UPS 2nd-Day & Next-Day-Air: § For all other items, add $3 per order to cover UPS Shipping. For such items, we automatically use Airborne Express at no extra charge if you are more than 2 days from us by UPS ground. Hawaii: § For monitors, printers, Bernoulli Boxes, computers, hard drives, and power backups, actual UPS Blue charge will be added. For all other items, add $3 per order Alaska and outside Continental US: • Call 603/446-7721 for information. ®: © COPYRIGHT PC CONNECTION. INC., 1990. PC CONNECTION, PCTV AND THE RACCOON CHARACIER(S) ARE REGISTERED TRADCMAflKS OF PC CONNECTION, INC., MARLOW, NH. ALL OTHER TRADEMARKS REMAIN 1 H E PROPERTY OFTHBR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES. One Word About Your Hard Disk Controller SLOW One Word About the PSI hyper STORE Controllers Intelligent Mass Storage Controllers Virtually all applications are disk bound. Today's PCs have over 60 times the power of their ancestors of just ten years ago, while hard disk performance has only just tripled. This makes mass storage the PCs worst bottleneck. PSI has eliminated this bottleneck with the hyperSTORE Caching Disk Controller, a sort of mass storage co-processor. The hyperSTORE does for disk-intensive programs what a math co-processor does for number-crunching software. Databases, f ileservers, multiuser systems, and other disk-hungry applications start screaming . . . frustrated users stop screaming! Call (800)486-FASTnow to find out more about PSI's line of intelligent controllers. All you have to gain is time. hyperSTORE FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS ■ Data access in 0.28ms or less at 3-4MB/sec ■ Works in any 286, 386, or i486 system ■ Simultaneously control any drive interface: MFM, RLL ESDI, SCSI or AT/IDE • Controls up to 28 physical disk drives ■ 0KB to 20MB of SIMM-based cache memory ■ Supports all PC-based operating systems: DOS, Windows. UNIX/Xenix, Netware, etc. * Data mirroring option for fault tolerance ■ NO DEVICE DRIVERS REQUIRED Perceptive Solutions, Inc. 2700 Flora Street • Dallas, Texas 75201 800-486-FAST • 214-954-1774 • Fax: 953-1774 European Inquiries: 415-284-9505 ©1990 by PSi. All rights reserved. hyperSTORE and the PSI logo are trademarks of Perceptive Solutions, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications are subject to change. Ad Code: BY1090, "Normally, it's a bit hard to pick the most impressive item at Comdex [Spring 1990], . . . This time it was easy, ... the hyperSTORE/ 1600." -)erry Pournelle, Byte Magazine, September 1990 "PSI has created the power user's ultimate Lego set for disk controllers: the hyperSTORE/ 1600" -Alfred Poor, PC Magazine, June 12, 1990 "The real-world result will be blazing record handling from within a data file as well as unstoppably fast program loads." -Bill O'Brien, PC Magazine, February 13, 1990 RapidFACTS™ 1 -900-776-3344 • Doc#81 04 Detailed specifications faxed directly to you 24 hours/day • $4.95 billed to your phone Circle 1 71 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 1 72) EXPERT ADVICE NETWORKS ■ Brett Glass ^ The Return of ARCnet The new 20-Mbps ARCnet specification is fast and downward- compatible ARCnet, one of the oldest and most robust LAN architec- tures, is about to be turbo- charged. While ARCnet trans- fers data at 2.5 megabits per second- significantly slower than Ethernet or Token Ring— the soon-to-be-released ARCnet Plus will leapfrog both, turning in transfer rates of 20 Mbps. What's more, unlike any other LAN standard that's undergone a speedup, ARCnet Plus will be downward-compatible with older ARCnet equipment. Most people think of Ethernet as the first commercial LAN standard, but that's not the case. Introduced by Data- point in 1977, ARCnet (which stands for Attached Resource Computing Network) was doing an excellent job integrating clusters of business workstations and in- telligent terminals when Ethernet was still an experiment at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. ARCnet's Slow Start Although it was first to market, ARCnet fell behind Ethernet for several reasons. First, Datapoint kept the technology pro- prietary for several years, implementing it only on its own business computing systems. The first publicly available ARCnet chips were not sold until 1982, by which time Ethernet had already be- come popular. In addition, Datapoint— unlike Xerox, DEC, and Intel— didn't participate in the IEEE 802 committee meetings, which made Ethernet and Token Ring international standards. Fi- nally, the fact that Datapoint was not an industry giant with the clout of these other companies may have kept the word from getting out. Nonetheless, ARCnet is still an attrac- tive standard, and many LAN managers have embraced it. One of ARCnet's main draws is that it uses 92-ohm coaxial ca- ble, which is the same kind used with IBM 3270 terminals and which typically costs half as much per foot as the 50-ohm coaxial cable used with Ethernet. This means that many existing structures, such as airports and older office build- ings, may not need to be rewired for ARCnet, since it can run over the web of existing cable that was installed (often at great expense) for mainframe terminals. Other implementations run over twisted- pair and fiber-optic cable, and you can use ARCnet on the IBM Cabling System with 92-ohm baluns. Another ARCnet advantage is its ro- bustness. ARCnet was so heavily over- designed that it works amazingly well even when connectors are loose, cable runs are too long or out of spec, or grounds are faulty or absent. An ARCnet that's built around "active" hubs— which is the recommended configuration— won't go down if you disconnect a node or forget to terminate a cable. And ARC- net's "modified token-passing" proto- col, which requires that the hardware ac- knowledge every transaction, including passage of the token, provides a high de- gree of confidence that a message has been delivered. Token passing in an ARCnet makes the network deterministic. That is, there is a fixed upper bound on the amount of time a station must wait before transmit- ting, so no one station can hog all the bandwidth. ARCnet has a small minimum packet size, which makes it especially good at dealing with applications, such as data entry and terminal emulation, that in- volve the exchange of many small pack- ets. Finally, there's price. ARCnet re- mains the low-cost leader. PC adapters ILLUSTRATION: LINDA BLECK©1991 FEBRUARY 1991 -BYTE 119 NETWORKS ITEMS DISCUSSED ARCnet ARCnet Plus Datapoint Corp. 9725 Datapoint Dr. San Antonio, TX 78229 (800) 334-9968 (512) 699-7000 fax: (512) 699-7920 Inquiry 1227. can be had for as little as $75; typical low-end Ethernet cards cost twice as much. Revving Up the Standard Despite ARCnet's many advantages, published benchmarks show it lagging far behind other standards in overall throughput. ARCnet proponents realized that they faced the spectre of dwindling market share unless bit rates also kept up with the competition. They also realized that not allowing the new, faster equip- ment to interoperate with existing units— as was the case when Ethernet and Token Ring moved to higher speeds— might cause users to switch to another stan- dard. Finally, they sought to overcome some other ARCnet limitations, includ- ing the 255-node maximum per network and the low 508-byte ceiling on the amount of data per packet. Datapoint's engineers set a challeng- ing technical task for themselves when they decided to increase ARCnet' s speed by a factor of eight and retain downward compatibility with 2.5-Mbps ARCnet. How they achieved this goal is extremely clever. The figure shows how ARCnet Plus works. Nodes on a standard ARCnet sig- nal a " 1" bit by sending a 200-nanosec- ond pulse (consisting of a single cycle of a 5-MHz sine wave) followed by a silence of equal length. Two intervals of silence represent a "0" bit. (To make sure the re- ceiver keeps pace with the transmitter, ARCnet precedes each byte with a 3-bit calibration pattern that consists of two Is and a 0. This makes the actual data rate */ u of 2.5 Mbps, or 1.82 Mbps.) As you can see, a lot of slack time can be elimi- nated from this scheme: The periods of silence are wasteful, and the calibration pulses take up 27 percent of the available bandwidth. ARCnet Plus, like ARCnet, assumes that the base bandwidth of the cable is 5 MHz, but it uses that bandwidth more ef- ficiently. It cuts out the silent period be- tween bits, packing them back-to-back instead. It sends a calibration pattern only once for every 8 bytes, reducing the THE EVOLUTION OF ARCNET 1 6 possible combinations of amplitude and polarity encode 4 bits at once Both periods used for data ARCnet Plus Presence or absence of sine pulse determines bit value ARCnet Mandatory silence 200 400 Time (nanoseconds) The original 2.5-Mbps ARCnet signals bit values by determining the presense or absence of a sine pulse. Here, ARCnet signals a "1 " bit by sending a 200-ns pulse, followed by a silence of equal length. The 20-Mbps ARCnet Plus specification makes more efficient use of the bandwidth by using both periods for data and by using amplitude modulation to encode 4 bits into every pulse. ARCnet Plus also sends a calibration pattern once for every 8 bytes, further reducing overhead. 120 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 1 YEAR FOR $42>€Q! yd/mud Off*,! tH K/ Save over 40% off the single copy price by subscribing now to BYTE! Your paid subscription will include BYTE'S annual IBM PC Special Issue. □ Payment Enclosed □ Bill Me Later Name Company- Address _ City State Zip _ No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 1 00% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. BYTE IW12011 BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 42 HIGHTSTOWN, NJ POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE: BYTE Subscription Department P.O. Box 558 Hightstown, NJ. 08520-9409 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES I...I..ImI.Ih.I.III.mI.Im.ImIII.mLI.m.II,I Our Printer Sharing Unit Does Networking! An Integrated Solution Take our Master Switch 1M , a sophisticated sharing device, combine it with MasterNet™ networking software for PCs, and you've got an integrated solution for printer and plottersharing, file transfer, electronic mail, and a lot more. Of course you can also share modems, minis, and mainframes or access the network remotely. Installation and operation is very simple. Versatile Or you can use the Master Switch to link any computer or peripheral with a serial or parallel interface. The switch accepts over 20 commands for controlling the flow of data. It may be operated automatically, by command, or with interactive menus. Its buffer is expandable to one megabyte and holds up to 64 simultaneous jobs. The MasterLink™ utility diskette for PCs comes with every unit and unleashes the power of the switch with its memory-resident access to the commands and menus. Other Products We have a full line of connectivity solutions. If you just want printer sharing, we've got it. We also have automatic switches, code- activated switches, buffers, converters, cables, protocol converters, multiplexers, line drivers, and other products. Commitment to Excellence At Rose Electronics, we're not satisfied until you're satisfied. That's why we have thousands of customers around the world including large, medium, and small businesses, factories, stores, educational institutions, and Federal, state, and local governments. We back our products with full technical support, a one-year warranty, and a thirty-day money-back guarantee. Call now for literature or more information. (800) 333-9343 (five, a, 1R<*4e to- €f&un comfauten . P.O. Box 742571 • Houston, Texas 77274 • Tel (713) 933-7673 • FAX (713) 933-0044 • Telex 4948886 Circle 195 on Reader Service Card Circle 192 on Reader Service Card OCR SOFTWARE, RELEASE 1.1 RECo®MIUPLUS SPEED, ACCURACY AND FLEXIBILITY! NETWORKS _ - ^k V* n *t$k The fastest omnifont OCR Software operating in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows environment Dealers are welcome Call for your demo diskette today: (1-800-255-4-OCR), P.O. Box 0218 Los Angeles, CA 90048 Tel: (408) 749-9935 Fax: (408) 730-1180 Distributors: AUSTRALIA •Dataserv Tel: 61-2/957-2066 AUSTRIA •Artaker Tel: 43-222/588-05-0 BELGIUM •Maxcom Tel: 32-2/526 9411 •Tritech Tel: 32-2/466-7535 CZECHOSLOVAKIA •IV-Agency Tel: 42-2/840970 DENMARK •Torsana-dtp data Tel: 45-43/43-35-99 FINLAND •CommNec Tel: 358-0/493100 FRANCE •Apsylog Tel: 33-1/40 26 22 32 GERMANY •Computer 2000 Tel: 49-89/780-40-0 •Frank Audiodata Tel: 49-7254/4091 •Macrotron Tel: 49-89/42-08-0 •Recognita Buroautomatisierung Tel: 37-41/7957-256 GREECE •Electel Tel: 30-1/3607-521 ICELAND •Hbfudlausn Tel: 354-1/687033 IRELAND •Saunders Acquisition Systems Tel: 353-1/366-522 ITALY •Vecomp Tel: 39-45/577500 JAPAN •Suehiro Koeki Kaisha, Ltd. Tel: 81-52/251-3721 LUXEMBOURG •Burovision Tel: 352-470951 MEXICO •Misermi Tel: 52-5/207-05-02 NORWAY •ICT Databolin Tel: 47-2/79-58-80 POLAND •FX Przeds. Inf. Tel: 48-12/56 57-76 SPAIN •Computer 2000 Espana Tel: 34-3-473-16-60 •CSEI SA Tel: 34-3/336-33-62 •STI Tel: 34-1/45-869-45 SWEDEN •Isogon AB Tel: 46-8/732-87-37 SWITZERLAND •ScanSet Tel: 41-56/96-49-83 TURKEY •EKSPA Tel: 90-4-139-66-11 UNITED KINGDOM •Intac Data Systems Tel: 44-709/547-177 •MSL Dynamics {lor Africa) Tel: 44-293/547-788 YUGOSLAVIA 'ITS Tel: 38-11/190-572 OEM Partners: 'Accret SWEDEN Tel: 46-766/355-30 •Deutsche Nichimen GERMANY Tel: 49-211/3551-202 •EHG GERMANY Tel: 49-7451/7051-2 •Future Technology AUSTRIA Tel: 43-222/866350 •Getronics HOLLAND Tel: 31-20-5861509 • Hewlett-Packard AUSTRIA Tel: 43-222/25-00-0 •Microtek Electronics Europe GERMANY Tel: 49-211/52607-0 •Microtek International TAIWAN Tel: 886-35/772155 •Mitsubishi Electric Europe GERMANY Tel: 49-2102/486359 •Pentax Europe BELGIUM Tel: 32-2725 0570 •Ricoh Europe GERMANY Tel: 49-211/5285-0 u Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS are trademarks of Microsoft Corp. 122 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1991 sers with an investment in ARCnet can upgrade their networks on an as-needed basis, without having to throw out valuable equipment or run new cable. overhead to about 16 percent. Finally— and most novel— it uses amplitude modu- lation to squeeze 4 bits of data into every pulse. A pulse can be either a positive- or negative-going sine wave and can have one of eight possible amplitudes from to 12 volts. This yields a total of 16 com- binations, enough to represent a nibble of information. That adds up to 4 bits per pulse X 5 million pulses per second, to yield a 20-Mbps data rate, excluding overhead. When you subtract the time spent sending calibration pulses, the result is an effective data rate of 16.84 Mbps— significantly faster than Ethernet and a shade faster than 16-Mbps Token Ring. However, since an ARCnet Plus adapter is much simpler than a Token Ring board, and the per-packet overhead is much lower than for either Ethernet or Token Ring, ARCnet Plus should have a big edge in benchmark tests. Downward Compatibility Every ARCnet Plus adapter will be capa- ble of communicating with regular ARC- net nodes. This, plus the token-passing scheme, is the key to downward compati- bility. When the network starts up, each node "sounds off" in turn and lets the others know if it's capable of handling high-speed transmissions. Thereafter, whenever an ARCnet Plus node passes the token, it signals its capabilities again. Therefore, communications between two ARCnet Plus nodes can occur at 20 Mbps, but the network steps down grace- fully to 2.5 Mbps whenever a slower node is involved. In many cases, no old equipment need be removed from an ARCnet network to run ARCnet Plus. But even in the worst case, you must replace only the hubs if you're looking to mix old and new nodes. ARCnet 's star topology uses active hubs that amplify and distribute the signals to all nodes— in much the same way that a cable TV system uses amplified signal splitters. However, since the old hubs don't expect the new, high-speed sig- nals, they will filter them out instead of amplifying them. There are two solutions to this prob- lem. You can simply buy new hubs, or you can make sure that you don't put two high-speed nodes on opposite sides of an old hub. There's one other restriction: ARCnet Plus interfaces can't attach di- rectly to a "high-impedance" (i.e., bus- based) ARCnet. However, they can com- municate with such a network through a hub. Bigger Packets ARCnet Plus offers other advantages to users with large networks or with high throughput needs. The new standard al- lows packet lengths of up to 4096 bytes instead of the current 508 bytes. This means that certain file-server and data- base transactions will get a boost under the new standard. There's also a provi- sion for more nodes: up to 2047, com- pared to ARCnet's 255. And 802.2 or IP addressing can be added to make it easy to connect ARCnet Plus networks to Eth- ernet, Token Ring, or TCP/IP networks using a bridge, router, or gateway. All in all, ARCnet Plus offers an op- portunity for users with an investment in ARCnet to upgrade their networks on an as-needed basis, without having to throw out valuable equipment or run new cable. It may also attract a lot of first-time buy- ers looking for a fast, reliable, efficient LAN standard. When will ARCnet Plus be ready for prime time? Datapoint and other manu- facturers will not say for sure, but indus- try observers estimate that commercial products will begin shipping in the sec- ond quarter of this year. In any case, users should cheer Datapoint 's ARCnet Plus as a first in the world of LANs: a new standard that doesn't require that users throw away perfectly good equip- ment to achieve a higher level of per- formance. ■ Brett Glass, a frequent contributor to BYTE, is a programmer, hardware de- signer, author, and consultant in Palo Alto, California. You can reach him on BlXas (t glass. " Your questions and comments are wel- come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. TOSHIBA TECHNOLOGY UPDATE Toshiba's New Disk Medium Is No Small Accomplishment M M There's 13 "fears Of Extra-High Density D In this age of information, the voracious appetite for magnetic data storage capac- ity is never satisfied. Each new generation of computers brings higher performance and demand for more and more memory. In personal computers and work- stations, new applications like desktop publishing, computer-aided design and medical imaging are stretching the limits of conventional floppy disk and disk drive technology. And new technologies like digital audio tape and high definition tele- vision are placing unprecedented demands on recording techniques and media. Toshiba Corporation anticipated this developing logjam in storage capacity as long ago as 1978, when it began research and development activity into a promising alter- native to conventional longitudinal magnetic recording technology. That alternative— perpendicular recording— if perfected and made producible, promised to increase the recording density of mag- netic media by at least an order of magnitude. Today, in 1990, Toshiba's intensive research and development, led by Dr. T Fujiwara, has resulted in the perfection of media that are optimized for perpendicular recording, and the production of commercially available 3.5 inch floppy disks with the remarkable capacity of 4 MB unformatted. New Perpendicular Recording Technology Today's conventional, longitudinal recording is reaching its limits for high density data storage. Using longitudi- nal recording, data is written into the Every 4 MB Extra-High Density disk you buy will carry the symbol ED— ED tells you you're buying Toshiba technology. magnetic medium by magnetizing adjacent cells parallel to the plane of the medium's surface. In perpendicular recording, magnetization of the individual cells occurs in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium. To take advantage of perpendicular recording, Toshiba perfected the use of a new magnetic medium. This new medium is Barium Ferrite. Disk And Drive Technology Toshiba has ushered in the era of high density record- ing with the development of the new 3.5 inch extra- high density floppy disk utilizing the barium ferrite medium, and new associated floppy disk drive. The double-sided disk has an extraordinarily high recording density of 35 kilobits per inch— more than four times higher than conventional floppy disks. Yet the disks have a track density of 135 tracks per inch, the same as in conventional 3.5 inch floppies. The bar- ium ferrite disks feature extremely high reliability- dependable performance for more than 10 million revolutions. For high density recording and playback using this new barium ferrite 3.5 inch disk, Toshiba made certain modifications to disk drive head and drive mechan- ical designs. This new Toshiba disk drive technology, licensed to companies around the world, pre- serves downward read-write compatibility with conventional 3.5 inch 1 MB and 2 MB disks. Under license from Toshiba, many firms in the U.S. and Japan are proceeding to exploit barium ferrite technology and several have introduced commercial Toshiba's development of the barium ferrite medium began in 1978, led by Dr. T. Fujiwara. Today, Toshiba holds the patents for barium ferrite as a recording medium. A Chronology Of Important Milestones In The Development Of Barium Ferrite Media For Perpendicular Recording. 1978 12/82 7/85 1/86 4/87 9/87 4/88 Researchers at Bariumferrite Toshiba displays Toshiba Toshiba Toshiba At Comdex, Toshiba and Toshiba R&D tape demon- and demon- Ba-Ferrite announces announces a Data Technology TE AC announce Center establish strated for the strates first 3.5" floppy disk development of a commercial announces a a Ba-Ferrite 3.5" concept of first time in the floppy disk and selected as one of Ba-Ferrite 3.5" version of 5.25" 20 MB 4 MB FDD that bariumferrite world at Toshiba drive at National the top new 16MB Ba-Ferrite 3.5" FD/FDD is 1 " high and as a medium f§r Private Show.. Computer products of 1985 technology 4MBFDD product utilizing downward read! perpendicular Conference. by Nikkan and available Ba-Ferrite write compatible recording Kogyo Shinbun. licensing of FDI FDD technology. media. withl&2MB disks. M Extra Effort In Every isk We Make. products. Currently, standard- ization of the 4 MB technology has been progressing world- wide led by Toshiba and other manufacturers. In addition to Toshiba, other companies are also extending the recording density of bar- ium ferrite above the 20 MB range on 3.5 inch disks, by utilizing the superior charac- teristics of barium ferrite and new schemes for recording and tracking. When you see this symbol on an Extra-High Density disk, that s your assurance that you re buying not only Toshiba technology— but Toshiba quality as well. Other Applications Of Barium Ferrite Technology Toshiba's barium ferrite technology shows equal promise for other high density applications such as computer data tapes, 8mm VCR tapes, DAT tapes and future high definition television VCR tapes. The use of barium ferrite also allows high speed contact duplication of pre-recorded tape. The speed of duplication can be several hundred times higher than can be accomplished in machine-to-machine real time duplication. All told, the enhancement of recording media embodied in Toshiba's barium ferrite technology applied to per- pendicular recording promises to extend the density of today's magnetic storage products well beyond that available today. And the technology will certainly give rise to new media applica- tions where high density, high performance and extremely high reliability are required. For additional information about barium ferrite Extra-High Density disks, ask the company that devel- oped the technology— Toshiba. Telephone 1-800-843-2108. Micro Floppy Disk PMF-2ED" 11/88 Ba-Ferrite prod- ucts at Comdex: Iomega 5.25" 44 MB, Brier 3.5" 21&43MB, Insite3.5"21 MB&Qume/ Kodak 525" 20 MBFD/FDDs 12/88 Toshiba introduces the JW53Q a Japanese word processor employing a Ba-Ferrite 3.5" 4 MB FD/ FDD. 2/89 Logitec announces the LFD-302, an add-on sub- system for the PC 98 series using a Ba-Ferrite 3.5" 4 MB FD I FDD. 3/89 Sharp introduces theDP-300Qa desktop publish- ingsystem using a Ba-Ferrite 3.5" 4 MB FD I FDD. WhaVs Barium Ferrite? The particl s used in conventional recording media are shaped like needles, and therefore difficulties arise in maintain- ing perpendicular orientation throughout the manufacturing process. Barium ferrite par- ticles, on the other hand, are tiny flat plate- lets, hexagonal in shape, that can be readily arranged to have their easy axis of magne- tization perpendicular to the platelet plane. Barium ferrite has long been %sedasa permanentmagnet material, bid the parti- cles for 'permanent magnets have grain sizgs too targe ; to tie suitable far high-density mag- netic recording. However, Dr Fujiwara and Toshiba^ researchers-ham developed ultra- fine barium ferrite particles with optim\ shape, size and magnetic properties. The Toshiba researchers also perfected a glass crystallization et hod for the man- ufacture of the ultra-fine barium ferrite particles. The process begins by mixing glass, bar- ium ferrite components and the ion substitu- tion components and melting them at high temperature. The mixture is poured between rotating nip rollers for rapid quenching and forms glass flakes. These are heated again to crystallize them. The crystallized barium ferrite particles are extracted by dissolving the remaining compounds with acid, then rinsed and dried. This process produces very fine, separate particles of uniform size with excellent magnetization properties. In the next step, a magnetic paint is made by mixing the barium ferrite particles in a mixture of binder resin and solvents and other ingredients. The magnetic paint then can be coated onto base polyester films and dried, and the surface smoothness enhanced by rolling After curing, the films can be cut to form tapes, or punched out in the form of flexible disks. I "' 2/90 Canon intro- duces a desktop publishing system using a Ba-Ferrite 3.5" 4 MB FD/FDD. In Touch with Tomorrow TOSHIBA TOSHIBA AMERICA ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS, INC. Circle 237 on Reader Service Card © 1990 Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. MMOD-90-010 Where can you get every font you'll ever need for your LaserJet III? Try the Library Our Complete Font Library Cartridge™ for the LaserJet III has 51 different typestyles, each scalable to virtually any size, so that you can make your point like never before. Just as a library has books on every topic, our Complete Font Library Cartridge has a typeface for every kind of document you create. Choose from classic typefaces for proposals, letters, and presentations. Or from designer styles for flyers, invitations and advertising materials. You see, each of your documents has a different message. And, the way that message is perceived depends greatly on the typeface and point size you choose. A CG Century Schoolbook means business. A CG Bodoni says style. While Cooper Black expresses creativity. Messages like this are difficult to portray on printed pages when you only have access to the one or two typefaces resident in your laser printer. Our cartridge is unique. In fact, it's unlike any other cartridge for your LaserJet III. That's because our break- through windowing technology has allowed us to put what was previously in two separate cartridges, into a single cartridge. The result? Inexpensive and convenient access to every font you'll ever need for your LaserJet III. For directions to the Library, call your nearest dealer or contact: Pacific Data Products, 9125 Rehco Road, San Diego, CA 92121, (619) 597-4643, Fax (619) 552-0889. PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS Complete Font Library Cartridge is a trademark of Pacific Data Products, Inc. LaserJet is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company. Scalable type outlines are licensed from Agfa Corporation. CG Century Schooibook and CG Bodoni are products of Agfa Corporation. © Copyright 1990 Pacific Data Products, Inc. Short Takes BYTE editors 1 hands-on views of new and developing products Fax-O-Matic and FaxConnection Mathematica for Windows 3.0 Storyboard Live! FileMaker Pro Stacker Fax Boxes Keep Your Laser Printer Busy Unless your laser printer is hooked up to a print server in a large LAN, it probably spends most of its time twid- dling its electronic thumbs, pa- tiently waiting for the next printjobwhilehappily running up your electric bill. Two new products are de- signed to keep your laser printer much busier by using it to print faxes as they're received. Fax-O-Matic from Tall Tree Systems and Fax- Connection from Extended Systems are both essentially receive-only fax machines that use a laser printer for output. Just having faxes on plain paper instead of that curly thermal paper that standard fax machines use is reason enough to go right out and buy one of these units. OK, the name "Fax-O- Matic" does indeed conjure up images of, "It dices, it slices, it prints faxes." And it's ugly, too: a true black box. But Fax- O-Matic works perfectly. And at $399, it's by far the most in- expensive fax box available. Setup is simple: I plugged the printer cable from my computer into Fax-O-Matic, plugged an included cable from the unit to my laser printer, and hooked up AC power and my fax line. Off I went. (There's also a jack for hooking up a standard fax machine for sending faxes.) Fax-O-Matic works with any laser printer that's compat- ible with the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet. And you don't need gobs of RAM, either. If your laser printer has more than 25 6 K bytes and less than a megabyte of memory, Fax-O- Matic prints faxes at 150- by 150-dot-per-inch resolution. On the other hand, if your printer has a megabyte or more, you can run a utility that tells Fax-O-Matic to print at 300 by 300 dpi. Of course, the high-resolution mode is truly useful only if the sending fax is using the "fine" mode. This product is full of thoughtful touches. It auto- matically scales legal-size faxes to fit on an 8/2- by 11- inch page. And if your printer is busy doing other things when a fax comes in, Fax-O- Matic stores up to 30 pages in its internal 512K-byte buffer. As soon as the printer is free, it prints the fax. FaxConnection is a slightly different beast. It comes in an THE FACTS Fax-O-Matic FaxConnection $399 $595; external version, $695 Requirements: Requirements: Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Hewlett-Packard LaserJet or compatible printer. IID or III; external version, LaserJet or compatible Tall Tree Systems printer. 2585 East Bayshore Rd. Palo Alto, CA 94303 Extended Systems (415)493-1980 6 1 23 North Meeker Ave. fax:(415)493-7639 Boise, ID 83704 Inquiry 1165. (208) 322-7575 fax:(208)377-1906 Inquiry 1166. external version like Fax-O- Matic, but the unit I tested is an internal add-in board de- signed specifically for the LaserJet IID or III. It plugs into the printer's "optional I/O slot." This precludes using it with LaserJet compatibles, but it makes for a much more ele- gant installation. FaxConnec- tion has a parallel port, a jack for your fax line, and another jack for hooking up a standard fax machine for sending. Although it may look ele- gant, FaxConnection is con- siderably more of a pain to use than Fax-O-Matic. It has only a 256K-byte buffer for storing faxes (about 12 pages) if your printer is busy. In addition, it doesn't do automatic scaling of legal- to letter-size faxes. Receiving legal-size faxes requires legal-size paper, and you have to send a command to FaxConnection to tell it to receive a legal-size fax. The same holds true for telling the unit to print in fine mode. I had to use the DOS COPY com- mand to send commands to FaxConnection. FaxConnection has two other major disadvantages. First, it requires a laser printer with at least a megabyte of RAM. Second, it's considera- bly more expensive than Fax- O-Matic. Both units, of course, don't require that your computer be turned on in order to receive and print faxes. The idea of using your la- ser printer for receiving faxes isn't new, but Fax-O-Matic and FaxConnection are the first units to break the $1000 price barrier. Of the two, I've become quite fond of Fax-O- Matic. It beats FaxConnection on features and ease of use hands down. Fax-O-Matic does its job — and does it flawlessly. And at $399, it's a real steal. — Stan Miastkowski FEBRUARY 1991 •BYTE 127 SHORT TAKES Mathematica Does Windows Many people originally thought of computers as wonderful tools for mathema- ticians, and they have turned out that way. But desktop PCs were useless for mathematics until the advent of programs that could perform symbolic mathematics rather than just crunch numbers. The best known is Mathematica, be- cause it is visually more excit- ing and available on a wide range of hardware platforms. Mathematica has one big disadvantage, however. It is an enormous and powerful pro- gram that requires consider- able computing horsepower. It first showed up on Unix sys- tems and has rapidly spread to many of these. It then appeared on the Mac and also on 386- based PCs. But not all versions of Mathematica are created equal. Two in particular, the Next version and the Mac version, include "notebooks" as part of the interface. Notebooks are part of a sophisticated inter- face onto Mathematica docu- ments that combines features of outlining packages with features of word processors and hooks these up to the ba- sic Mathematica tools. Thus, Mathematica notebooks be- come a powerful way to cre- ate, view, edit, and work with mathematically oriented docu- ments of any kind. Notebooks are particularly useful as a way to distribute mathematical ideas or for teaching. THE FACTS Mathematica Wolfram Research, Inc. for Windows 3.0 100 Trade Center Dr. $995 Champaign, IL 6 1820 (217)398-0700 Requirements: fax: (217) 398-0747 A 386-based PC with at Inquiry 1167. least 2 MB of RAM (preferably 4 MB) and a hard disk drive. Wolfram Research has now added notebooks to a new version, Mathematica for Windows 3.0. This is a clean conversion of other versions of Mathematica to the Windows environment, but the pro- gram's processing demands do limit the kind of systems on which it will run under Win- dows. To run Mathematica for Windows, you need a 386- based system with at least 2 megabytes of RAM. Doing any significant amount of work will require a system with at least 4 MB. I found Mathematica for Windows much more friendly than the version for 386-based DOS systems. However, there is no change in what you can do. One useful feature of this version is the ability to run only the interface portion of Mathematica on the local Windows system and use net- work features built into Mathe- matica to connect to a remote system that is running the Mathematica kernel. Mathematica for Windows 3.0 is one of the first Windows 3.0 programs to require the use of a 386-based system, and it runs 386-specific code in its kernel. It also makes more intelligent use of the task- switching capabilities of Win- dows than other programs, since the interface and kernel run independently. This means that you can open a notebook, edit some equations, ask the kernel to evaluate them, and go on to other work while the kernel calculates the results, rather than being forced to wait for the answer. Mathematica for Windows includes all the powerful ca- pabilities of the other versions, including the ability to rapidly perform numerical calcula- tions of all kinds to any desired precision, to manipulate a wide range of symbolic mathe- matical expressions and to plot and graph sophisticated two- and three-dimensional graphs of all kinds. Mathematica also includes a powerful structured programming language geared for use with mathematics. There is some overhead to working with Windows for Mathematica, and as a result, Mathematica can be a little slower in the Windows envi- ronment than it is running under DOS. Overall, Mathematica for Windows is a great addition to both the Windows application lineup and to Wolfram Re- search's lineup of versions of Mathematica. It should be of particular interest to the edu- cational market, especially in areas where institutions rely on PC systems rather than Unix workstations. — Owen Linderholm Live, from IBM— It's Storyboard! According to the "experts," desktop multimedia is a reality, and everybody needs it. But not many have been able to afford it — until now. Storyboard Live! is IBM's multimedia software, and it runs on everything from a 640K-byte XT to fully loaded 386 and 486 systems. It does a lot — still and animated com- puter-generated graphics and text, still and moving digitized video, and high-quality au- dio — but with some severe drawbacks. Each function — such as storyboard editing, playback, and animation (sprite) edit- ing — is housed in a separate executable file. A menu pro- gram puts up a graphic of huge buttons, and it lets you use the mouse to select the module of your choice. This is a waste; I thought it much easier to type the two-character program name from the command line. The menu program is sig- nificant, however, because it is the first evidence of Story- board Live!'s most serious flaw: its cheesy graphical interface. IBM, the famed long-winded proponent of cross-platform sameness in interfaces, has failed to enforce its own law in one program that cries out for it. Interface aside, Storyboard Live! is capable of some nifty things. Even with the limited video and audio capabilities in my system, the software let me 128 BYTE- FEBRUARY 1 99 1 They Left out Features.... We Left out the COMMA!! The only thing missing... is the comma in the price. If you look at the chart on the right you will seepricescharged by our com- petition. All but one contain a comma. DesignCAD 3D sells for $399.00. Period. No Comma! In order to draw the complex pic- tures shown below it is desirable to have the following 3D features: Interactive design with 3D cursor Blending of surfaces Boolean operations such as add, subtract, and intersection Complex extrusions Cross sectioning Block scaling On screen shading Shaded outputto printers and plotters All of these competitors left out one or more of these desirablefeatures in their standard package. They didn'tforgetthe most horrible fea- ture -the comma. DesignCAD 3D offers ALL the listed features plus many more! If DesignCAD 3D has the power to create the 3D objects shown below, imagine how it could help with your design project! DesignCAD 3D sells for $399. We left outthecomma. We didn't think you would mind! PC MAGAZINE SAYS... DesignCAD 3D, the latest feature- packed, low-cost CADD package from American Small Business Computers, delivers more bang per buck than any of its low-cost competitors and threat- ens programs costing ten times as much. For a low-cost, self-contained 3D package... DesignCAD's range of features steals the show. " $399 AutoCAD rel. 10 CADKEY3.12 DataCAD with DC Modeler AutoCAD AEC $1 ,000.00 AutoShade $500.00 Solids $995.00 IGES translator $1 ,995.00 DataCAD Velocity $2,000.00 DesignCAD 3D Ver. 2.0 $ 399.00 NO expensive options! IGES Free, Shading Free Maxxf CAD 1.02 Mega Model MlcroStation PC 3.0 ModelMate Plus 2.8 VersaCAD Design 5.4 $995.00 $3 ,300.QQ $1,499-00 MegaDraw $1 95, List $295, MegaShade $395 I Customer Support Libraries $1 ,000.00 Source: Byte Magazine BYTE MAGAZINE SAYS... "At $399, DesignCAD 3D was the least expensive package we saw, yet it was one of the more powerful. ..Don't be fooled by the remarkably low price, this program can really perform. " May 1989, page 178 Complete 3-Dimensional design fea- tures make it easy for you to construct realistic 3-D models, With full solid- object modeling capabilities you can analyze your drawing to determine the volume, surface area or even center of gravity! DesignCAD 3-D even permits you to check for interference between objects! Aeronautical Engi- neers can now find the center of grav- ity for a new airplane design with a couple of keystrokes. The Architect can determine the surface area of a roof for decking in a matter of minutes. The Civil Engineer can calculate the volume of a lake or dam in seconds. The Mechanical Engineer will know for sure if certain parts fit together without interference. The uses for DesignCAD 3-D are only limited by YOUR imagina- tion! HOW DO I GET ONE? DesignCAD3-D and DesignCAD 2D are available from most retail computer stores, or you may order directly from us. If you have questions about which program to purchase please give us a call. All you need to run DesignCAD 3-D is an IBM PC or compatible com- puter with 640 K RAM memory and a hard disk. Both products support most graphics cards, printers, plotters and digitizers. Free Information and a demo disk are available by faxing (918) 825- 6359 or telephoning: 1 -(91 8) 825-4844 American Small Business Computers • 327 South Mill Street • Pryor, OK 74361 U.S.A. Circle 17 on Reader Service Card SHORT TAKES create presentations with pre- cisely timed transitions and smooth motion of small gra- phical elements. It also was able to produce sound and music of surprising quality (but insufficient volume) from the system's internal speaker. This isn't new; a number of PC packages let you combine computer-generated graphics and sound. The motion video, which I've seen demonstrated, plays back a slightly jerky series of captured video images. The colors are muted to squeeze into the limited palette of VGA or 8514/A, but the effect is impressive at first viewing. Computer-generated ani- mation is created in the sprite editor, which lets you create flip-book animations that can be played back in a rectangu- lar area during a presentation. Still images can be generated with the Picture Maker or imported in a variety of popu- lar formats. IBM supplies a library of 800 images and 1 1 [% elec pros pic maker r sprite editor icon chart PresvntatiQn I ll "-.. BJtmfl Rvif .SjEor-a- &%££%& THE FACTS Storyboard Live! IBM Corp. $495 Product Information Center P.O. Box 2150 Requirements: Atlanta, GA 30301 IBM AT, PS/2, or (800) 426-7699 compatible with DOS Inquiry 1168. 3.3 or higher, an EGA or better color display, and a hard disk drive. fonts that you can use in your presentation screens. Sound, graphics, sprites, and live video are knitted to- gether in the Story Editor, which builds scripts in a multi- media programming language. The concept and approach of the editor are sound, and the capacity for the creation of powerful presentations, even interactive ones, is evident. But, despite all this power and potential, IBM has saddled its flagship multimedia soft- ware package with an interface that is worse than lame. That's not to say you can't get used to it and get some real work done, but why should you have to battle with a cumbersome interface when other presenta- tion programs don't require such sacrifices? If multimedia is to become standard on ev- ery desk, it won't be done with something like Storyboard Live! If this is the best IBM can do with desktop multime- dia, my money's on Apple. — Tom Yager FileMaker Pro Gives the Old a New Look FileMaker from Claris has long held a reputation in the Macintosh market for being a reliable nonrelational database. It's also a favorite among novices because of its clean interface and forgiving performance. In fact, it's ex- tremely hard to corrupt data within a file, even if you inad- vertently power down during operations. FileMaker always tries to recover when you start it up again. There are a number of sig- nificant changes in FileMaker Pro from the preceding File- Maker II. Most notable of these are the addition of a pop- up menu that changes between the layout views available for a database, improved import/ export of information (i.e., it now handles comma-delimited text, Lotus 1-2-3, and DIF files), interactive buttons that are able to perform actions, en- hanced layout tools, better data-entry checking functions, and multiuser support. All these improvements are worthy and welcome, but the FileMaker database engine underneath remains basically unchanged. The face-lift that Claris has given the program removes some of the annoying quirks present in previous versions (e.g., the inability to change how you tab to fields once a layout is done) and re- tains others (e.g., date fields must include a day, even if you only want a month and year to be in there). Although the promotional literature trumpets the script- ing available in FileMaker Pro, I found it to be seriously lack- ing in scope. You must first perform the actions for a l File Edit Select Lisymit .flmrncje Format Scripts UJindoiu rcr- I jpJjuEntni ~| I Lead Tracking B new record COMPANY: f_ ADOflESS;! (FSENDf- i Dale Con verted w Cust :! CONTACT HAfcE: j 1^ CQHTACTDATE. i in 3/90 I CONTACTTME: 2 30 07 PM FOUOW-UPDATE: ! FOUOW-UPTfcE: j F«UOW-UP ACTION: j PRIORITY: j j DISCUSSION NOTES: i E3BEL333 "re- script — limited to switching layouts, finding records, sort- ing records, restoring page setup options and printing, or previewing a report — before you can set it up. Editing the script is crudely possible only through the THE FACTS FileMaker Pro $299; $99 upgrade for FileMaker II users Requirements: A Mac Plus or better with two 800K-byte floppy disk drives (a hard disk drive is recommended) and System 6.0 or higher. Claris Corp. P.O. Box 58168 Santa Clara, CA 95052 (408) 987-7000 fax: (408) 987-7440 Inquiry 1169. 130 BYTE* FEBRUARY 1 99 1 Developers: Lock Up Your Prof its The ProTech key for protecting your software profits and your copyright. Software piracy's a crime! What it can do to a developers profit margin