Price $2.00

North ------.------...-...--- ...... -~ ...-.~- -.-~ .... -- -.-...... --....• -- -.----_- ~ ------~------~-

North Texas PC Users Group, Inc.

September 1994 VOLUME 13 • NUMBER 9 Submitting Articles for Publication in North Texas PC NF\I\'S 1. Article Style. Type all copy flush the main menu. Your default fill' North Texas PC NEWS left without justification. This includes transfer protocol will be displayed. J f headings, bylines, and the first line of you want to change your defa u I t Published monthly by members of. North Texas Personal Computer Users Group for their uSe. Members each re­ each paragraph. Place a credit byline protocol, use the (P}rofile option. Once ceive a free subscription; for others, price of the NEWS is (author's name) between the title and you have set the file transfer protocol, $2 per copy. Members are requested to notify the Mem­ bership Director in writing of address changes. Send all first paragraph. Leave a blank line select the (A)rticle option from the editorial correspondence to: Editor, North Texas PC between paragraphs. upload menu. You will be prompted NEWS, 218 VJ!girua Ave., Waxahachie, TX, 75165-2418 for the filename to upload. Enter the Send address changes to: Membership Director, N'lPCUG, P.O. Box 780066, Dallas, TX 75373-0066. 2. Media. All copy exceeding 10 lines filename (don't use drive or path should be submitted via the NTPCUG name). The BBS will prompt you to Publisher Reagan' Andrews (Acting) BBS or on floppy diskette(s) - (5.25" or begin the file . transf~r. (Refer to your (214) 8~8-0699 3.5" .. DOS formatted). If you want the communicati~ms software manual for Editor Gerry Heine disk- returned please include a instructions on transferring files.) (214) 938-7266 self-addressed return-postage-paid After the file transfer has been Assistant Editors Alan lintel mailer. If you submit your article in completed, you will be prompted to, (214) 2.20-7829 hardcopy and expect us to transcribe "press any key to continue... " You will Doug McCoy it, bear in mind that we don't type so then be prompted for a one-line (214) 475-2610 well. Most times, hardcopy­ description of the file. Enter the Unda Moore only-articles get filed in the Void. description. To exit the Article Upload (214) 3G9-83n Menu press ENTER until you get back John Gburd 3. File Fonnats. ASCII text files are to the Main Menu. (OPTIONAL­ (214) 783-9629 preferred. Use .TXT extension for Send a BBS mail message to Gerry NewsleHer Exchange lewis Graber ASCII files. If formatting is crucial, Heine regarding your submitted Advertising Director Reagan Andrews, (Acting)­ Microsoft WORD and WordPerfect article.) (214) 828-0699 files will be accepted. Other word Mail all ;advertising material processor file formats may be b) Snail Mail (a.k.a. U.S. Postal and ad :payments to acceptable but only if the article is Service). Put the article on a floppy North Texas PC NEWS clo 3100 Uncaln Plaza accompanied by hardcopy and an diskette and mail it to: 218 Virginia 500 Noith Akard ASCII file version of the article. Word Ave., Waxahachie, TX 75165-2418 Dallas,1)( 75201-3320 processor files create a lot of extraneous work for the editors. If the c) SneakerNet. Track down one of the The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect thdse of the Group or its article can be ASCII-fied, please do so. editors at the monthly meeting and members. Copyright © 1994 by North Texas PC NEWS. give them a diskette with the article on (Articles without specific copyright notices may be repro­ duced unchanged by other not..fot-profit User Groups if 3. Submitting Articles. You may use it. credit is given to the author and the publication.) one of three methods. Deadline: a) NTPCUG BBS (Preferred). Log-on · . All advertising and other material for publication in to the BBS and select (U)pload from North Texas PC NEWS must be .received by the NEWS staff by the 10th of the month prior to publication. See deadline information below. Circulation:

North Texu PC NEWS circulation was 2,450 last month. Member distribution was 2,100; remaining copies were distributed In PC user groups around the country, and 10 Table of Contents advertisers, prospective memberS and others with com- mon intErests. '

The editors of North Texas PC NEws use Microsoft Word for Wirulows. This issue of Norm. Texas PC NE.WS was composed using Cm-tl Ventura 4.1. Corel Dmw 5.0, Arts b President's Message...... 2 Special Items: Letters 3.12 and HI' Scanjet Up. Repro was printed on a liP Andy Oliver LaserJet 4M. Principal typefaces include: Palatino, Helvetica, A&:L Cafe, French Vogue, Lithos and Mistral. Agenda, Meetings The Visual Basic Comer ...... 4 & Times .. 1 Jim Carter DEADLINE SIG Reports. . 15-24 Copy deadline for September Microsoft Office 4.3 - Part 3 (Review) 5-8 North Texas PC NEWS: Larry Linson New Disks from the Saturday, September 10th OOMSquad 25 Bringing Your Computer to Meetings . _ . . . .. 8 Mike Firth Volunteer Guide 26 Meeting Dates: Lotus Spreadsheet Contest Rules ...... 11 September 17, 1994 - 3rd Saturday Mark Gruner User-to-User 27-28 October 29,1994 - 5th Saturday Variety Store ...... 12-14 November 19, 1994 - 3rd Saturday Reagan Andrews BBS - On-line...... 24 Membership Fred Williams Application ... 28

Officers & People You should know . . . 29 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

• • •

9:00 AM - 9:55 AM Internet - What The Future Holds Network-1 Software and Technology, Inc. Bill Hancock, Ph.D., Executive Vice President Come hear Dr. Bill Hancock discuss how the "freeB Internet will be impacted by dramantic growth, reduced government funding, and a shortage of user addresses.. How will new technology and the cableltelephone battles and mergers affect your access options, and at what cost Will there be room for you? Dr. Hancock has served on various standards com­ mitte;es at the :IEEE and ANSI, is a former U.S. Delegation Network Expert to ·the International Organization for Stand­ ardization(ISO). and former chair of the Open System Interconnect (OSI) architecture standards committee at tt"le ISO. 10:00 AM - 10:55 AM WordPerfect Envoy for Document Management WordPerfect Corporation Envoy is a cross-platform, portable-document software system, just released. It supports Windows and Macintosh, and soon Unix and Power-Mac will be added. Envoy promiSes to ease paperless-document generation and management with scalable font substitution and group-collaboration tools. There will be a drawing for free products .•

11:00 AM - 11:30 AM NTPCUG Business Meeting

1:00 PM - 1:55 PM dBASE and Paradox 5.0 for Windows Borland International dBASE for Windows is the fastest way to buifd Windows database appfications. If you have ever written a line of dBASE or Xbase code, you'l find this an exciting new entry into the windows database market dBASE for Windows breaks new ground for developers. power-users and end-users alike. Paradox 5.0 extends the power of Paradox in the Wmdows environment. continuing Borfand's tradition of providing major advancements in PC database technofogy with its newest release of Paradox. The object~riented design of Paradox 5.0 combines ease of use and state-of-the-art productivity support with powerful relational data management. There wifl be a drawing for free products for all attendees.

• Tickets fOf' each drawing win be given out from 10 minutes before unti115 minutes after the start-time of the meeting to attencfmg NTPCUG members who show proof of membership.

8:00 - 8:55 10:00 - 10:55 (Cont.) 11:00 - 11:55 (Cont.) . 1:00 - 1:55 (Cont.) Microsoft Networking Fox Pro Database Spreadsheet Developers Business Apps.IDAC Easy VISual BASIC - Beginning Micrografx Windows Developers DATA FLEX Networking 9:00 - 9:55 Middle C PAF-Genealogy 11:30 - 11:55 Word for Windows BASIC Programming-Visual Paradox Orientation OS/2 Developers DOS Personal Users Personal Users General Genealogy 12:00 - 12:55 WordPerfectlWindows Alpha Four Spreadsheet Hardware Solutions UNIX Intemet C++/Advanced C 2:00 - 2:55 Personal Users 11:00 - 11:55 Communications Advanced Programmers Quicken BASIC Programming- Desktop Publishing Community Services Software Review -Begining Investors (Cont) North Texas FreeNet StarText Assembler OS/2 for End Users The Master Genealogist Visual BASIC Brother's Keeper Genealogy Personal Users Windows Applications CAD (Cont.) Roots IIIIIV (Cont.) Please consult the BBS WordPerfectIDOS Investors TI Pro and remember to check Micrografx (Cont.) the overhead display in 10:00 - 10:55 1:00 -1:55 MS Works the INFOMART lobby BASIC - Classic Access for latest SIG schedules OS/2-0 &A ACT! CAD and room locations Roots IIIIlV - Genealogy BBS

1 Remember the Professor I am proud to announce that the long-time OOM Chairperson, DOM Squad Leader, DOM Mom, Kathryn Loafman, has been selected to teach at North Texas State University. KL sadly must leave her volunteer job with NTPCUG behind. We will miss her, but she assures me that she will find ~e to drop in on us. ' . Thank 'you, Kathryn. Your assistance and your ' wit will be missed. OS/2 5IGs announcing the upcoming beta release Ii The Mailbox of an OS/2 communications program. Hey, that 1_1 i ! The Users Group maintains a post office box as might be exciting to an OS/2 person. i our official address. The main items that arrive in i A second shareware program tops the pile next. the P.O. Box are the new and renewal member­ This is the Buttonware personal database manager ships that people mail in. However, there are al­ for Windows titled buttonFile 1.0. Jim Button of ways other items that show up. Jim Hoisington Bellevue, Washington invented shareware in 1982. picks up the mail, because he lives close to the His company has always supported users groups box and because he inputs the memberships into and they make affordable, top-notch software. the database. He passes on the rest of the mail to Hopefully, this will get reviewed soon and make the current President to sort through. I pass on it into the OOM. mail pertaining to the SIG's to the SIG leaders and press releases to Reagan in case there is anything Borland sent us a couple of upgrade notices to of interest for the Variety Store column. Paradox 5.0 for Windows. I'll pass these along to Fred, 'cause I'm sure he hasn't received any of I will now tell you abouf the rest of the mail. these yet. First, here is a letter with a big $1 Canadian stamp on it. The letter contains a shareware disk with A request from Macromedia to come give a dem­ two programs on it. RETAIL PLUS, a sales and in­ onstration to the User's Group goes to Timothy ventory system and DMAIL, a professional mail­ Carmichael who coordinates the scheduling of ing list manager. Shareware goes to our Disk-of­ our Main Meeting presentations. I also received a the-Month group for review. After a member magazine from SciTech titled "Software for Sci­ takes it for a test drive and writes a short read-me ence" and since Timothy is a scientist, I gave it to file, the DOM group duplicates it and adds it to him. We don't have a Scientist's SIG, yet. the library for sale. If you are in the international trade business, Dal­ Next comes a press release from Microsoft Press las-based Medici Systems, Inc. mailed us a press telling us that they have a new book, Inside Visual release of their Windows database with Uvirtually C++. This is followed by a letter from Rhintek all of the data necessary to help you make in­ Computer Engineering of Columbia, MD, to the formed decisions about importing and dealing with U.S. Customs." An offer to test a beta version of a software pro­ fl The Law Offices of Kent H. Roberts gram that will run under the Chicago beta (you'd ,-j better backup often) will be forwarded to some­ '".1 one who I think is a Chicago beta tester. Ideas Are The Currency And last but certainly not least, a press release for Of The 21st Century TM Bayware, Inc. of San Mateo, CA, telling us about Power Spanish Interactive Multimedia CD-ROM­ based Learning System for the PC. 2626 Cole Avenue, Suite 400 Dallas, Texas 75204 And with that I say Adios for this month. 2148555353 Andy Oliver

2 dBASE developers: . it's everything YOllasked;lor 100% dBASE 'standard Ea$,-tO .Ulatnand Use ,, ' - '1 ~ . :/RA."'/': ..: . \ . \ . . ' SpeedMcnus~ ,Navig(Jtr;Jr for easy "RA,~l: 1/1 PLUS cnmpallble df-ltoS,E_"._:_D:: os _ _ '/ \ file viewtrtg ~se , inu1 Wtndows on ; I '. Q.ii.liniHeIP Interactive - ';lImi/ior Langungc 'same n.t!iw~rk ., Tutor,v'" uach Cota.IQg Wind~w /'n/rancements to organize ftl(!s YON, using your ~ own data- \'/IritIh'c _ I String - Hoping Arrays processing ,,~~- Visual1Wq-Wa.~TOOI$'" Open ArchileCIQre -...,.,..-...- Visual Quuy/ I " ' , - Visual~ ForJrl ,: i ._ -De$ig1i:er . De-signe~ : ,/ cu,'tom controls \ - VislltllMenu ,DLL~nnd / \ Desigher r call hacks Full Windows dBASE API acr;~~ , custom collfml.t VBX . ~ _ Inheritaz ____ ObJect .. OdQI)I~.d . ..

, p.. olymorphism-" /classes.Creat~ OJ:obJti:ts ner ',f . 'Preburlt '. ! objectS;"._. '\.,:.' .. .. ._ ... :._ ."\ •__ .' . .... AII.PllcallOIi\ Encapsulation {IT'e ready to ~e - Reu:table - coinponents slash _- " . 1. ' __ , time Ob!ectobjet!~lnspect~rs&f~r nwdi/icalfOfl, ef)SY •. . . . ",:. t!ey,. ;.'. ~10pment , . '. , -_. A.¥IQ :c.{J!1e ge'fl£ta~irin , m:a.~? (JOPi!t;lSY · f(J learn North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

Other Features in VBxtras Catalog Yet Another Visual Basic . VBxtras maintains a registry system for Visual Ba­ Tools Catalog... VBxtras sic Consultants. Their contact with many Visual In the March 1994 issue of the North Texas PC Basic programmers allows them to compile a list of Visual Basic consultants with specific capabili­ I News, this column addressed the extendibility of j Visual Basic and described a catalog entitled Com­ ties. VBxtras does not screen these consultants, it i merely compiles the list. The service of providing i ponent Objects and Companion Products for Visual Ba­ ! sic published by Fawcette Technical Publications a list of consultants with specific skills is free, how­ J ever. { (FTP). During July, I received a copy of a similar (but differenH) catalog for Visual Basic tools enti­ Of course, if you are a Visual Basic consultant, tled VBxtras-The Ultimate Visual Basic Tool Catalog you can apply to be added to their list by filling J ! from VBxtras, Inc. in Atlanta Georgia. out their forms. They will include you in their reg­ The VBxtras catalog differs from the FTP catalog istry. in two important ways. First, it contains reviews VBxtras also sells books (limited list at present) of each product by an experienced Visual Basic and Visual Basic training (in Atlanta or at your programmer at VBxtras or an independent expert site). Details are included in the VBxtras catalog. hired by VBxtras. Second, VBxtras sells the prod­ ucts at discounted prices. To Get Your Copy of VBxtras Independent Product Reviews in VBxtras Sixty-five copies of the VBxtras catalog were dis­ tributed at last month's meetings of the Visual Ba­ The current edition of VBxtras, Summer 1994, con­ sic SIGs. If you missed out, give them a call at 1- tains 25 reviews of Visual Basic add-on products. 800-788-4794 for your free copy. It is interesting The reviews include the popular VBAssist from and informative reading. Sheridan, the venerable Spyworks-VB from De­ saware, and the recent Visual Voice from Stylus Jim Carter Innovation. The review for VBAssist describes the situations a DOM VISIONARY programmer runs into that VBAssist can help out. The Disk Of the Month (DOM) leadership Visual Basic can be quite repetitive and VBAssist along with the Board of Directors are looking steps in to simplify these steps. The capabilities of for a creative, people-centric, visionary to take VBAssist are explained in terms that any Visual the DOM into the future. Like all jobs in the Basic programmer can understand. Similarly, the NTPCUG, this is a volunteer position. reviews for other products are couched in terms that a Visual Basic programmer will quickly under­ Kathryn Loa£ni.an, who administered (moth­ stand the value and application of those tools to ered) the DOM volunteers stepped-down in their needs. These reviews are easy reading and a August to take a new university role. way to quickly catch up on some of the best tools Some questions to be considered are: Is the cur­ for extending the capabilities of Visual Basic. rent DOM operation cost effective? Is there a VBx;tras Distributes These Products at Discounted better way to get the information to the mem­ Prices bers? All of the products reviewed in the VBxtras cata­ H you are interested, please contact Mark log are available at discounted prices ranging from Gruner or one of the board members (numbers 10% to 50% with an average of about 15%. They on the inside back cover) to discuss this further. have a toll-free number for ordering and they ac­ Andy Oliver cept VISA, Me, or AMEX.

4 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

Microsoft Office Professional 4.3 Part 3- Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0

By Larry Linson message and the message gets lost in an array of colors, formats, typestyles, and special effects. (Third Installment of Microsoft Office Pro The current release of PowerPoint goes one step 4.3 Review) further: it has an AutoContent Wizard that guides the user to include the appropriate information . PowerPoint 4.0 - The Easy Way to an Effective for several types of presentation - that's its Presentation . . "edge," however temporary that may be, in the PowerPoint 4.0 is the presentation graphics com­ presentation graphics software arena. ponent of Microsoft Office Professional 4.3. It's an Using The AutoContent Wizard easy-to-use, powerful package which, like all the latest releases of Microsoft's applications, has been H you're a llser who's neither a professional enhanced with additional user "assistance" - ex­ writer nor a professional speaker, PowerPoint's panded and revised on-line help, Wizards, Cue AutoContent Wizard guides you through structur­ Cards, templates, and tool tips that appear when ing a presentation to your needs; if you are, it your mouse pointer hesitates over an icon on the speeds you through basic steps, which you other­ toolbar. wise would have to perform manually, step-by­ step. Also, like other software in the Office suite, Power­ Point 4.0 is enabled for Object Linking and Embed­ Choosing the "New" option on the file menu will ding 2.0 (OLE 2.0) both as an OLE container or cli­ open a dialogue box listing as options the Auto­ ent and as a server. There is no "programming Content Wizard, the Pick a Look Wizard, Template, language," however, as found in each of the other and Blank Presentation (a final option, Current Pres­ software packages in Microsoft Office Pro 4.3. It's entation Format, isn't applicable, so its associated not a IImultimedia" presentation package - Mi­ option button is "grayed-out" and inoperable). A crosoft has other software for IItrue multimedia" text box displays a Tip for New Users, that will presentations or shows - but it does support in­ advise you, in a text box that "the AutoContent cluding video clips and playing sounds. Wizard is the quickest way to create a presenta­ tion." My advice is "new user or not, take that ad­ The exciting thing about this release is what gives vice" and choose the AutoContent Wizard - you PowerPoint an "edge" over just about every other can change the "look" or templates later, to suit presentation graphics package on the market: it your taste. helps you understand what information you need to include to express the message and support the The Wizard itself displays a welcoming dialogue, conclusions you want to get across to your audi­ the first of four screens in the Wizard - except ence. for the command buttons allowing you to cancel, proceed to the next dialogue, or finish, it would No matter how visually exciting a presentation more aptly be described as a monologue box. Pro­ may be, if it doesn't support the speaker's in­ ceeding to the next dialogue, you are prompted tended purpose, it is simply a waste - of the time spent in preparing it, the time spent in presenting for the information you wish to have shown on it, and the time spent by the audience. Every cur­ the title screen (the user name set when you in­ stalled PowerPoint is supplied for you, but you rent presentation package, and PowerPoint is no can change it, if you wish). exception, is packed with so many fea­ tures and effects that experienced pre­ senters dare not use nearly all of them The third dialogue is an important one, - listing as options for the type of presenta­ in a single presentation. Most pack­ tion: Recommending a Strategy, Selling a ages give good assistance and guid­ ance on how to implement those fea­ Product, Seroice, or Idea, Training, Report­ ing Progress, General, tures and effects in the presentation. and one that we The problem is that users may get so need all too often: Communicating Bad involved that the medium becomes the News. A text box to the left of the op­ tions displays major topic headings ap-

5 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

A "printer" is supplied to connect to the Geni­ graphics service via modem for sending presenta­ tions to be converted to overheads or slides - read the supplied information on this service care­

; I"i fully, because costs can mount quickly. You may I Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0... Ctd. prefer to deal with a local service bureau, so you propriate to the selected type of presentation. The can visit the business and conduct your business fourth and final dialogue contains a farewell mes­ in person. sage and advises you, that to change the look of You can also print your presentation on any sup-" your presentation, you can choose the Pick a Look ported Windows printer, in one of several forms: i Wizard under the format menu item. Clicking on j full-page slides, audience handouts with multiple the Finish command button terminates the Wiz­ slides per page, speaker notes, or outline. /-1 ard's operation and puts you in Outline View. l'i You can add, in slide sorter viewI special effects The outline contains a title slide (or screen) with II for transitions between slides. You can also spec­ 'I the information you provided to the Wizard, and 'I ify special effects for showing and hiding specific i slides for each of the topics recommended for lines or sections of information in each slide. 'I ,I your type of presentation, each with headings indi­ 'j cating the information you'll need to supply for Over 1,000 pieces of clip art, in varied categories, ~ i 1-; that topic in support of your message. Not only come with PowerPoint. Using them is as easy as N has it given you these suggestions, it's even clicking on an !'object frame" in a slide format or picked appropriate types of slide for the topic. clicking on the Add Click Art button on the tool­ l,'', ! You can change any of the information or selec­ bar. Clip art can be combined with pictures and f1 tions, add additional slides for any existing topic, shapes you draw in PowerPoint's draw mode or ~J insert one or more slides for a new topic, or delete used as is. Drawn pictures and shapes can, of I~ a topic if it seems unnecessary to you. course, also be used without clip art. fd :,j Add the information, switch back and forth be­ Toolbars appropriate to the task at hand automat­ tween different views, add supporting tables, ically appear and any of the toolbars can be cus­ graphs, charts, or embellish the slides with clip art tomized. Customization is as easy as chOOSing and you're on your way to a presentation. It icons from a dialogue box showing the available might not be a bad idea for your first draft to stay icons. withln the suggested topics and supporting infor­ You get a PowerPoint viewer, on a separate disk­ mation and then view the slides as a slide show ette, which you can copy and distribute, royalty­ before beginning to make changes. free, with your presentations. Your "users" or At the very least, you haven't had to sit and pon­ "viewers" don't have to have the PowerPoint der just what information you should use, the or­ product to see your show on their own computer. der in which you present it, and how to lead up to In Black And White your conclusion. At best, you will already have the information to fill in and will quickly create an The only printed documentation is a User's Guide, effective presentation. of 303 pages. It covers the major features of Pow­ erPoint, in clear, straightforward, and easy to fol­ Features And Functions low text and illustrations. There is a useful index At any time, you can use the Pick a Look Wizard to and appendices covering a range of topics from in­ apply one of the many supplied templates to stalling PowerPoint to keystroke shortcuts. Some change the look of your presentation. Separate features and add-ons, such as WordArt, however, sets of templates with designs and ~ _ are not covered or are only briefly sum­ color schemes are provided for presen­ marized. The text or index refers you to tations to be made as overheads in the on-line help for these. black and white or color, screen shows, This leads to an important point: the cur­ or 3Smm slides. If you wish, you can rent generation of Microsoft applications customize templates, or create your has on-line Help that is much expanded own.

iJ

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6 automate on-line sessions with ":,-,,, "," "'uP ':" services like CompuServe and Mer Mail. Our GIF viewer displays graphics as you whole new world ill download them, And in the intuitive PROCOMM PLUS tradition, everything eo In munications software. is extremely powerful and easy to use. PRO~ lMM PLUS for Windows 2.0 is here with new ft';llurt',\ which arc above and beyond all other Call us at 1.800.315.3282 cnrnrnllnicalions software programs. First up, you to upgrade for just $69. have access to complete fax capahilities including a fax viewer, To start fresh, visit your computer scheduling, hmadcast send, and the ability to receive faxes in the retailer. PROCOMM PLUS for Windows PROCOMM background; all from right within PROCOMM PLUS for Windows. 2.0 ... a whole world is waiting. PLUS. (or Wmd~- TOTALLY CONNECTED OAT A S TOR M • PO H,,. 1.171 • Columbia, MO 65205 • 314.443,3282 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

and improved. Microsoft has heard from the us­ ers of its software that they'd rather be able to get the information on-line, instead of having to lo­ least to the point where I could add buttons to al­ cate a manual and look it up. While that's not a low the user to make selections which would al­ universal attitude, it's sufficiently prevalent that it low different sequencing or selection of slides in a has led to Illajor changes in software documenta­ presenta~on. tion in recent years. If you prefer to have the . All my gripes, you see, are "sins of omission," printed information,. this ~ay be distressing. All and I expect t~at some or all of those omitted . is not lost for you: s·orne of the information can be items·will show up in the next release, or the next, purchased in printed form (but at extra cost), such or ... as the Language Reference man~als for those ap­ plications which have programming language ca­ Conclusion pability. I switched to PowerPoint for my presentation PowerPoint's on-line Help is, indeed, an impor­ graphics tool in its 3.0 incarnation and I was never tant and vital part of the documentation. Also, in sorry about making that switch. I'm delighted the Help menu, there's a brief overview presenta­ with the enhancements to release 4.0 of Power­ tion of PowerPoint that's a good starting point for Point, and even happier with it. There are other users new to the product. good presentation graphics packages, but purchas­ ers of Microsoft Office won't need to look further There is, apparently, only one printed PowerPoint than the one in the package. User's Guide for both the Windows and the MacIn­ tosh versions, so expect to have your train of Larry Linson thought interrupted occasionally by a section deal­ ing with the MacIntosh environment. Bringing Your Computer to Meetings ... Downside And Wish List I have taken my computers to user group meet­ Microsoft has included a IJvast array" of templates ings for as long as I have owned them, beginning - not many of which, I'll have to admit, appealed with a KIM-I in 1976. I even built a case for my to my aesthetic sensibilities - enough that I ha­ Apple n that turned into a rolling wheeled desk ven't yet felt compelled to design my own, but and resulted in my selling 6 or 7 at good retail not enough that I thought they'd really done their prices. artwork homework. My dislike of most was sim­ When I needed to upgrade from my 386DXj16 to ply a matter o( taste, I suppose, but some of those handle Windows Visual BASIC programming, I se­ included tend to the dark or the gaudy, just verg­ riously considered a laptop just to take to meet­ ing on distracting from the users message, and I'd ings. But the dollar cost was far too high; for just never consider using them in an important about the price of a low-end laptop I could get a presentation (and, of course, all my presentations tape backup, fast video, 16 Meg of RAM and a 345 are important to me). I'm hoping. Microsoft will Meg hard drive. The latter two couldn't even be apply some of their famous usability talents to the approached in laptops under three grand. templates in the next release. So what about meetings? I bought a mini-tower No doubt, some of your favorite topics may not case. Removing the cover~ I looked at how it was be in the AutoContent Wizard; there could be an attached to be sure it could take the stress of a almost infinite variation on the Jlthemes." Per­ handle in the top. After checking where the haps there will be more ~~ _ weight was in the case, I moved my handle back in the next release, but an inch when I found the back of the unit to be maybe Microsoft has heavier. Carefully checking the locations to be left this as an open mar­ sure the boltheads wouldn't hit anything inside, I ket for third-party carefully drilled two 1/4" holes 6.5 inches apart providers. (to provide space for my large hands.) I'd like to see some kind of control language, at ,I Mike Firth ;j 'I

8 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

Lotus Spreadsheet Application Timetable: Development Contest - Contest kick-off: August 1 Rules & -Regulations User group tour: Aug-Sep Applications due Provided by Mark Gruner to Lotus: October 17, 1994 Winners Announced: Fall Comdex Are you a spreadsheet genius? Lotus is giving Submitting Applications: you your chance to pr:ove you do rank among the All entries should be received at the above ad­ true spreadsheet ~'s. Your chance? It's the Lo­ dress by MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1994. Please ·tus Spreadsheets Applications Development Contest an- submit your applications on a ~1/2" diskette nounced at the August 20, 1994, NTPCUG Busi­ clearly labeled with the following information: ness Meeting. YOUR NAME Official Lotus contest rules printed here have been APPLICATION TITLE provided by Lotus Development Corporation via PRODUCT Mark Gruner, Spreadsheet & Spreadsheet Develop­ USER GROUP ers SIG Leader. That means the format, spelling and accuracy are a product of Lotus - or, Mark Winners and Prizes: Gruner. Lotus will judge the submitted spreadsheet appli­ Competition is national in scope, aimed primarily cations along with other entries from your particu­ at PC Users Groups members. Deadline for sub­ lar user group. You will be competing against missions is October 17, 1994 and winning entries other _members in your group. Assuming that we will be announced at Comdex/FALL '94. generate enough interest in the contest, Lotus will award THREE prizes to members of each user [Ed. Note: Lotus Improv is reported to be discon­ group: gold, silver, and bronze. The winners for tinued by Lotus Development Corporation.]. each group will be announced at Fall Comdex. The prizes are as follows: Contest Overview: GOLD - First Place Lotus Development Corporation is proud to spon­ sor a spreadsheet application development contest NEC CD-ROM drive (Full multimedia for user group members. The goal of the contest enablement hardware) including CD-ROM drive, is to encourage user group members to use and ex­ speakers, sound card, and copy of Lotus 1-2-3 perience some of the innovative features in the lat­ Release 5: Multimedia Edition) est release of Lotus spreadsheets, including, 1~2-3 for Windows, 1-2-3 for DOS, and Improv. SILVER .. Second Place Our goal [Lotus Development's goal] is to pro­ Copy of Lotus SmartSuite, OR 1-2-3/cc:Mail vide user group members with the unique oppor­ for DOS 1-2-3 R4/S0 SmartSheets tunity to demonstrate their technical expertise and showcase innovative ideas with the creation of BRONZE .. Third Place these new applications. The contest is open to all Sony WalkMan members of your user group. Lotus will award three prizes per user group. Products:

If you have any questions about this contest, User Group members may develop their app~ica­ please call Monisha Kumar at (617) 693-1870. to en­ tions with any of the following products: roll in the contest, simply return the attached en­ try form to: Loms 1-2-3 RELEASE 5 FOR WlNDOWS. Monisha Kumar This phenomenal new release is packed with inno­ User Group Relations vative new features that streamline the user's most common spreadsheet tasks. Integrated with Lotus Development Corporation 55 Cambridge Parkway SmartSuite and Notes, this product is the only Cambridge, MA 02142 FAX #: (617) 693-1779

9 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

Lotus 1 .. 2-3/ Improv Contest make even the most sophisticated spreadsheets Rules & Regulations ... Ctd. easy to read and understand. ALSO: Applications developed with the follow­ ing version will also be accepted: 1-2-3 For Win­ spreadsheet designed to increase the productivity dows Release 4 and 4.01, 1-2-3 for DOS Release 2.4 of individuals and workgroups. This product is and 3.4. fully compatible with earlier DOS versions of 1-2- . 3 to 'enable users to easily transition to 1-2-3 for Judging Criteria Windows. All applications submitted (123/DOS~, 123/Win­ LOTUS 1-2-3 RELEASE 4 FOR DOS. dows, and Improv) should have a uSer-driven in­ terface, be task-oriented, and increase automation. This product delivers increased speed, power, and The application design will be judged based on functibnality to previous DOS releases. Smartl­ technical merit in the following areas: cons, Worksheet Tabs, a Live Status Bar, dialog boxes) and scroll bars allow 005 QSers to reap the User Interface: Is the application easy for the cus­ benefits of working in a graphical environment tomer to use? Is the process straightforward? Is withoht leaving their familiar environment. True there a steep learning curve to get value from the 3-D tJchnology, Version Management and mail­ application? enabliing make 1-2-3 Release 4 the most powerful DOS spreadsheet on the market today. Features: Does the application exploit our technol­ ogy? Use of advanced functionality? Integration J;PROV. with other Lotus products? I The l~ading spreadsheet for data analysis, model- Cleverness: Does the design do anything clever to ing, ahd reporting delivers unprecedented ease get around application limitations? and ~ower for instant data -viewing and multidi­ In addition, the application must meet the prod­ mensional analysis. Unlike other spreadsheet, Im­ uct specific guidelines below. prov'~ Dynamic View technology lets you rear­ rangJ worksheet layouts with a click of the mouse 1-2-3 FOR WINDOWS (4, 4.01, 5). Applications for a Ifresh perspective of data. Additionally, Im­ must use custom menus and dialog boxes, on­ provk uses plain English-language formulas to sheet buttons, named Worksheet Tabs, and take - I advantage of at least two of the follOWing 1-2-3 features: SmartMasters Version Manager Version SPREADSHEET APPLICATIONS Manager with Notes Notes/FX Data Query Assis­ DEVELOPMENTCONTEST - tant External data access via DataLens technology ENTRY FORM Range Routing Integration with another Lotus Product (Improv, Approach, etc.) Charting/Maps. Generallnfonn&tion: 1-2-3/DOS (2.4, 3.4, 4). Applications must be NAME: ______macro-driven (each macro must be commented), USER GROUP:. ______~ ______use custom menus and take advantage of at least ADDRESS: ______~ __ two of the following features: SmartIcons Version Manager Live Graphs External data access via DataLens technology /Data commands (Regres­ Daytime Phone #: sion, Distribution, Table, or Parse) {FORM} macro FAX.: commands. Improv. Applications must use LotusScript, Im­ Product: prov API, and Lotus Dialog Editor to take advan­ 1-2-3JW Rei 4 _ 1-2-3NJ Rei 4.01 _ 1-2-31Win Rei 5 tage of at least two of the following Improv fea­ _ 1-2-3 DOS Rei 2.4 _ 1-2-3JDOS Rei 3.4 _ 1-2-3/00S Rei 4 tures: Browser Custom Icons Dialog Boxes Dy­ _ Improv namic Viewing Integration with 1-2-3 External data access through Q+E Extend Notes/FX Re­ Application Title: cord and playback utilities.

10 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

Improving the best·spreadsheet software · AVAILABLE was QUITE A CHALLENGE. Now here's YOURS.

INTRODUCING THE NEW RELEASES OF 1-2-3 FOR DOS AND WINDOWS.

Both versions are Worksheet Tabs an9 a live Status Bar. Making Lotus packed with power­ 1-2-3 better than ever. ful and innovative NOW SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO BY PARTICIPATING IN THE USER GROUP SPREADSHEET APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT CONTEST. new features which We've given you the tools to work with and now we'd allow you to easily like to see how the brightest minds in the industry can put create applications them to good use. The top applications developed with Lotus for any task. 1-2-3® Release 5 for Windows™ gives you 1-2-3, for each release, will receive prizes including an NEe'" even more ways to increase individual and group productiv­ CD-ROM, SmartSuite® or 1-2-3/cc:Mail® for DOS and SonyTl! ity with additional features such as SmartMasters~ Lotus® Walkman. So pick up your coupon to purchase the new 1-2-3 Maps, Approach® integration, SmartAssistants and for Windows or DOS for only $49 and contest details Range Routing. 1-2-3 Release 4 for DOS is also LOUIS, at your September user group meeting. We've given powered up with features such as Smartlcons,® Working Together you our best, now let's see you do the same.

1!:l1994 lotus Development Corporation, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02142. lotus, Working Together, 1-2-3, Approach, Smartlcons, SmartSuite and cc:Mail are registf:red trademar\(s and SmartMasters is a trademar\( of Lotus Development Corporation, Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Sony is a trademark of Sony Electronics Inc. NEC is a trademark of NEC Technologies, Inc.

11 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

Major NetworkIWindows/Communications Show Seeing Network Expo Makes Dallas September Exciting as Novell and Requires some planning Contined Bloody Price Wars Make Biggest News Best bet is NOT to go the show II cold" There will be a lot to The crystal ball is most .definitely murky this month see - and ask about at the Sep­ tember show. Do yourself a fa­ Novell was a big surprise in August - dropping Novell DOS, nam­ vor and make a list of those ing a new CEO as Noorda stepped down, and last (probably most products/ exhibitors you want important) making some peace with Microsoft. to visit most. At the Conven­ tion Center, spend a few min­ Hardware side is more of the same thing we've seen over the last utes going over the show guide year - the bloody PC wars continue with both Compaq and mM for their location(s) and plan a announcing further and deeper PC price cuts (at least on desktop strategy to get you to all. PC's) and other major vendors following suite rapidly. Intel is dropping the prices on Pentiums faster than marketing departments Allow at least twice as much can get new price sheets from the printer while mM ramps-up pro­ time as you think your plan duction of 486'5 and plans production of both NexGen and Cyrix will take. You'll.always see competitors to the Intel Pentium chips. something exciting that will take longer than you thought to with the technical people who Networks Expo Dallas examine and discuss with the Spurs September '94 - really do know their products exhibitors. May give glimpse of future - without the "Empty Suits" (folks from marketing) hanging Maybe we'll get some hints. Above all, have fun. If this be­ around or standing behind sooner - at the combind Net­ comes a frantic and frenzied them to make sure company se­ works Expo/Communications pursuit of knowledge or the lat­ crets (i.e., that "bugs" do exist '941WindowsWorld 194 show at est T-shirt, you'll miss the main in this version) aren't revealed. the Dallas Convention Center show. One really informative September 20 - 22. conversation with an exhibitor U you've never been to one of is worth more than all the show these shows, you're not only Combination of the three shows "Gimmies" you could carry missing a great news source, into one super show promises a back to your transportation. but a lot of fun and ability to lot of news, including Bill Gates participate in the people side of as WindowsWorld'94 main the PC business as well. There Display admission free speaker on September 21. are also a lot of vendor show - for NTPCUG Members give-aways available at the ex­ Check out the NTPCUG Infor­ Networks expo should be a nice position. (Where do think the mation Booth at the September lead in to Comdex/FALL '94 in N1PCUG January Business meeting at Infomart for compli­ Las Vegas, but without some of Meeting prizes come from?) mentary guest passes to the dis­ Comdex' overemphasis on mar­ play floor. Once you get inside keting at the expense of technol­ Unlike Comdex, you won't the display area, look for the ogy. I'm looking forward to at­ have to travel 1000+ miles to NTPCUG and say hello to the tending the Dallas show be­ volunteers helping out at the cause it's smaller, more inti­ get to NetWorks Expo - just to downtown Dallas. show. mate, and I'll be able to interact

12 you'll find IT at Networks ExposMDallas. Previously known as ,~etWorld®

The #1 Networking Event in the Industry Hundreds of vendor Exhibits, the latest networking products and thousands of live product demonstrations . • WINDOWS WORLDrM/Oalias and COMMUNICATIONS!M '94 Three powerhouse Exhibitions join together for an exciting forum where you can absorh technology and product offerings, from the desktop to the network and beyond to global communications. Attendees have access to all shows! Corporate Educational Program Seminars led hy the industry's top experts in the areas of Network Management, Client/Server, Internet, MobilefWireless, Enterprise, ATM, E-Mail, Reengineering, Desktop and Reseller/Channel Marketing. NPA Free Hands-on Labs 1§1*1 Training sessions in state-

Comr·any ------800-829-3976, ext. 318 A,tnn-." ______or mail/fax the coupon for more information. - - City ______S[",,· _____ Zip _____ BLENHEIM·..

1'e1ephnnp e-.(_--'--- ______HX -'-.( _-'--______Networks Expo is produced and man~ by Rnmo Blenheim, Inc. The International Powerhou!!e in Infonuation Technology , am interested in th(' following information: F"rt Lee E~""utive P.rk, One Executive Drive. Foot lH.. NJ 07()U 800..829-3976 20l,~46-I400 Flii 201-346-1602 n AUI',ull''' Inform"ri"n C l~xhibirlJr 1';(Qrmil,.i/m [] Cotdcr""rp Informa,hm

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13 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

Intel sources quoted reported that Intel intends to devote its development activities to the next-generation voice/ datal video modems that support In­ tel's ProShare video conferenc­ Novell makes striking strategy shifts, ing system. Drops Novell DOS & Corsair OS's , Chicago news,' rumors Mends fences, with Microsoft's Gates ·· Featured in massive 'August media assault August was quite a month for Novell. Bob Frankenberg took over Name the journal/maga­ reins of the giant networking firm and quickly left his imprint on zine/newsletter, and there's Novell's direction for the future. sure to be an "insider" lead

ll story on Chicago - complete Most impressive may have been his decision to "answer the phone with four-color screen shots, in­ and talk with Microsoft's CEO, Bill Gates, about developing a better timate details of the inner work­ NetWare - Windows mesh, including work on the 32-bit NetWare ings and massive amounts of requester for both Chicago and NT. Industry rumors/anecdotes de­ speculation. scribe Frankenberg's predecessor, Ray Noorda, as despising Mi­ crosoft and Gates so much that he refused to accept telephone calls So, what's real and what's from either. "chaff" in all this verbiage? I used "chaff" in its military Second shoe to drop was Novell's decision to stop development of sense. Was called IIWindow" by competing operating systems (OS's) to Microsoft's MS-DOS. This the British in WWII. was seen by most media sources as Novell's recognition of the "niche" quality of such efforts, and of the limited possibility for suf­ Grabbing Apple's ball? ficient profits to offset development costs. Future of Novell DOS and Corsair, the proposed, 32-bit alternative OS that included Linux, We'll start with the completely a ShareWare UNIX, was greatly foreshortened with Frankenberg's unsubstantiated rumor that Mi­ ascension at Novell. This also casts a shadow on UnixWare as well, crosoft is working on a Power although announcements about Novell's plans for UNIX were not PC port of Chicago. This has included in the releases indicating probable long-term demise of been vigorously denied by eve­ N oveIl DOS and Corsair. ryone at Microsoft - including members of the janitorial staff. Some users regret demise WEEK) hinted that Novell DOS , Sure will irritate Apple no end, of Novell DOS - is for sale, and Ray N oorda is a if it's real. Others won't cry a bit potential buyer. (Hmmmm... LlNoorda DOS?") If I were MS, I'd be headed that Loss of the DOS may have sig­ way myself. MS really doesn't nificant impact on Novell Dos care about the hardware under­ users who have incorporated Intel drops modem neath, they're only after the op­ the built-in security features of Lines in September erating system the customer 7.0 as a part of their corporate Seen some really great prices sees, uses - and periodically security systems. Other users on Intel FAX modems lately? spends money to upgrade. are saying they won't miss the Here's why - Intel announced it would discontinue its low­ DOS because of its problems. Might be a premptive strike at end desktop and PCMCIA fax Apple which has finally gotten modems. Included in the array Possible reprieve? the message that the big money of products due to be dropped Novell is expected to announce in PC's isn't in hardware any­ its future plans for Novell DOS by Intel was the two-month old more, it's in the OS and other PCMCIA cellular modem. at WindowsWorld in Septem­ software which is frequently up­ ber. (Here in Dallas.) All may graded by the user. not be lost for Novell DOS fans. The story in PC WEEK reported Intel will continue the SatisFAX­ At least one media source (PC Reagan Andrews tion fax board line.

14 September L994 North Texas PC NEWS

News and meeting notes of Special Interest Groups

(Material for this column should he sent to Alex, ~illey, SIG Coordinator, . I': \ . before the 10th day ofeach .. mdrith)

Access SIG ers in 1975, using machine lan­ guage (manually IIself-assem­ Mike Firth, leader of the bled" on paper) on a KIM-l sin­ NTPCUG Classic BASIC SIG and gle-board computer. Satisfy your MS Works SIG, responded to our curiosity about his subject matter, call for members to share their Ac­ which I assure you is germane to cess experience with the Access Access database development, by SIG. Mike will speak at our Sep­ attending his presentation in Sep­ tember meeting on the intriguing tember. topic of "Breaking Up a Glass Da­ tabase." Mike has been an inde­ Many thanks to our own Jack At­ pendent consultant and developer kinson, for taking us on a "Tour using BASIC since 1978 - his rep­ of Some Uncommon Types of ertoire includes a number of Queries" and explaining the other languages, including CO­ power of some less-understood BOL and FORTRAN. and less-used query types to en­ hance our Access applications. In 1961, Mike took one of the With this knowledge, we should very first undergraduate program­ be able to make ou! own lives eas­ ming courses ever taught. He be­ ier in developing Access applica- gan programming microcomput-

FROM THE SIG COORDINATOR As technology changes, so do our needs and therefore our SIGs. The following are changesladditions/needs/proposals that the NTPCUG has made to the SIG's. New SIGs: -OS/2 Q & A - Meets from 11 :00 until 11 :55 -North Texas FreeNet - Meets from 2:00 until 2:55 Name Change: - MS Word is now Word for Windows [Beverly Kurtin (817) 355-9594 H] New SIG Leaders: - auicken - W.L Harris ((214) 291-7616H, (214) 462-3676W] Phil Faulkner [(214) 239-0561H, (214) 819-4446W]

Groups Looking for Help in Leading their SIGs: -Personal Users - Leader [contact Alex Lilley @ (214) 517-7430] -Windows Applications - [Contact Rick Sivemell @ (214) 306-5422] -Genealogy - PAF [Contact AI Sanford @ (214) 278-7888] The requirements for forming a SIG are: Leadership - at least one individual willing to lead the SIG, and an assistant. Membership - at least eight individuals willing to attend the SIG fairly conSistently. If you have a group that meets these qualifications or would like help in finding oth­ ers who might share your interests, please contact me at (214) 517-7430 (H) or (214) 953-4970 (W)

15 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

tions and make life easier for the Application Developers users of those applications. Thanks to Jack also, for his long (OLE and ODBC) SIG and dedicated service as Assistant , 'Application developers interested Leader of the Access SIG and for -in using Microsoft's Compon~nt his willingness to step in and con­ Object Model, as supported by duct the meetings in July and Sep­ Object Linking and Embedding tember when Larry was unable to (OLE) and Open Data Base Con­ attend. nection (ODBC), met in August to organize a new SIG. We're hoping that Mike's exam­ ple will inspire other members of Other names being considered for the Access SIG to come forward the SIG are "Microsoft Applica­ with samples, examples, applica­ tion Developers" or "Microsoft tions, and explanations of interest Office Developers" because a to the attendees. We know number of applications from Mi­ you've done some interesting crosoft are among the first to pro­ things with Ollr favorite database vide significant support to the product, and we'd all like to bene­ new OLE 2.0 standard and OLE fit from your experience. You Automation. These may not be could present it at a SIG meeting appropriate, as many other soft­ in the months ahead, donate it to ware vendors have announced be included in an Access SIG that they, too, plan to support the DaM disk, or show it in our regu­ Component Object Model, and lar Questions and Answers and ODBC drivers exist for almost Tips and Hints segment. If you every current desktop database, need help preparing your contri­ most server databases, many mini­ bution, let us know and we'll try computer databases, and even to help. some mainframe databases.

Feel free to bring questions and Why did we need a new SIG? problems to the SIG meetings - Weren't there already SIGs for we've seen a great many solu­ Windows - Applications, Win­ tions from our attendees. Bring a dows - Developers, Advanced sample .MDB database and you Programmers, and many of the in­ can show the problem. Both Ac­ dividual software products that cess 1.1 and 2.0 are installed on would be used in a component ap­ the demo machine, so .MOBs plication? This SIG, unlike those, from either can be run. We'd be is oriented to the subject of using delighted for you to show, too, "components," different software brief samples of interesting things applications, applets (mini-appli­ you've discovered about Access. cations), OLE custom controls,

Don't be bashful - booing, hiss­ and ODBC to 1/ glue" together ap­ ing, and throwing rotten fruit is plications encompassing power prohibited in our SIG meetings. that already exists in applications built by others or available in the See you at the Access SIG on Sep­ marketplace (and often already tember 17! Share your experi­ available and familiar to the user, ences in the NTPCUG tradition of right on the user's desktop). II users helping users." The power that can be provided Larry Linson to application users far exceeds that which a single developer, or

16 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

a moderate-sized team, could time at preparing commercial ap­ build into an app~cation from plications. IJscratch." HoWever. component applications can easily, and rap­ We invite you to join us .at our idly, be prepared by that same next meeting as we "learn to­ single developer or team. gether" about developing compo­ nent applications. We invite everyone interested in the potential of component appli­ Larry Linson cations to join us in this en­ deavor. This will not be a begin­ Assembler SIG ning developers tutorial group, but because so many of us will At the August meetingl we took need an introduction to software another look at Abrash1s book, products that can be employed, Zen of Code Optimization. We dis­ we do expect to have some begin­ cussed the major points in the ner level sessions on software book and then shared program­ products, and, because this imple­ ming experiences that proved or mentation of the concept is new, disproved these points. Thanks to yes, we expec.t some' IJhow-to" ses­ all who participated. There cer­ sions, at rather elementary levels, tainly were some interesting on building component applica­ ideas presented! tions. (Larry Linson has kicked off the beginner level software At·the September meeting, we'll topics with his NTPCUG review, be talking about the unique fea­ still continuing in installments, _of tures of the Pentium processor the Microsoft Office Professional 4.3 and what they mean to the As­ office software suite.) sembler programmer. I'll present an overview of the chip itself and OUf plans are for a low-key SIG, then discuss some of the pro­ with occasional guest speakers, gramming details. but with high involvement by the attendees. This one's for IJseri­ Please come join us. Bring your ous" application developers and hardware or software program­ application and solution develop­ ming questions and plan to par­ ment will be the focus. No ticipate in the discussions. hoopla, no hullabaloo,. and no U do-it-my-way gurus," just II de­ Glynn Brooks velopers helping developers" in the best NTPCUG tradition. Beginners BASIC SIG Programming fundamentals in Don't be frightened away by the GWBasic and QBasic (both can be reference to serious developers - someone who develops stand­ compiled). alone applications for personal use but wants to take advantage August'S SIG meeting presented a of spreadsheets, text processors, continuation of the TimeClock graphing software, and the like in program set. These programs those applications can surely be sort and report accumulated time "serious" about development, just by employee number and job like the person who works full- number. In July we presented the

17 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

unexpected crashes. Mine is pre­ sented below.

I keep an emergency Boot disk with the current version of DOS, copies of my AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, and any necessary TimeClock data input program as em Bell will be present to de- driver files, and a few essential a way of demonstrating the use . ,'scribe what that means to you - tools. Among these are HIGH­ of INKEY$, and also to show the ' ,perfonnance, cost, availability, MEM:SYS; 'EMM386.EXE, use of variable size boxes, reverse etc., Plan on being there: FDISK.EXE; 'CHKDSK.EXE, FOR": color, and UpArrow and DownAr­ MAT.COM~ EDLIN.EXE, SCAN­ row routines. Doug Gome & BiTl Smith DISK.EXE and XCOPY.EXE from DOS. This disk also has several DOM #B46A, first released in Au­ DOS SIG shareware utilities I find valuable gust '93, covered all the SIG mate­ - DISK.COM, PKZIP.EXE and rial that was covered up to that September 005 SIG will try, once PKUNZIP.EXE, and Buerg's time. Watch for OOM #846B more, to actually address DOS LIST.EXE. which covers the material pre­ topics, i.e., operation, utilities and uundocumented features" sented from August '93 to August My second disk has QAPlus/FE di­ '94. (BUGS.) We did talk about one agnostics software. A third disk of the COPY family members, has the Adaptec (or Corel) SCSI Charles Jacobus XCOFY, last moth - for about diagnostic and repair utilities. two minutes. Since Jim Hois­ QA+/FE has a good IDE low­ ington, NTPCUG President-Elect, Communications SIG level format utility that "recog­ and I do use XCOPY quite a bit, nizes" all my IDE drives, the Our September speaker will-be this would be a good place for Adaptec and Corel SCSI utilities none other than our own Alan September's monthly focus. are capable of doing the same for Brosz. As an employee of MO, my SCSI drives, if necessary. Alan has gained a lot of expertise Think we may also spend some in modem concepts, so plans to time looking at loss of DR Fourth disk in the set has a copy hit the high points of bits versus DOS/Novell DOS at the meeting of Nortan Commander 4.0, and a baud, how they interrelate, what and speculate on what this may fifth disk has a copy of the appro­ a "baud generator" is and how it mean for SIG members who have priate backup software for either makes modem communications been operating with this DOS in disk or tape-based restoration op­ possible. What are all those preference to either MS-DOS or erations. (You would be sur­ funny tones you hear when the PC-DOS. One major question prised how many users relig­ modems connect? Here's your we'll address is alternatives to the iously make backups of their sys­ chance to find out. How can two -mainstream DOS OS's and tems, but forget to keep a copy of 57,600 bits/second be transmitted . where they may fit with users' the necessary software to do the current needs. from a modem having only restoration.) Last of the "emer­ 14,400 bits/second capability? gency" disks has a backup of Come see! Alan promises that it We11 end the meeting with the ALL the pertinent DOS and Win­ will be totally understandable to usual Q & A session devoted to dows .INI, .PWL and .DAT files. even a rank amateur. members' problems running DOS in day-to-day operations with par­ Reagan Andrews Our thanks to Metropolitan Com­ ticipation by all. It should be a puter and Intel for demonstrating lot of fun - plan to be with us. Genealogy SIG - General the Intel ProShare Video System in August. Very impressive. DOS ''First-Aid'' Kit - "Citing Sources and Document Attribution" was the topic for the In October, we're working on a For the last several months, I've 20 August program. The General presentation describing ISDN. talked about "emergency" disks, Genealogy SIG meets from 9 to 10 I've been told it is now available backups and other "crisis manage­ a.m. in Room 1059 with about 60 throughout Austin, San Antonio ment" techniques DOS users people present. The 16 July pro­ and Houston, with Dallas getting should consider. I feel that every gram was "How to use CD-ROMs it citywide in late October. H user should keep a personal DOS for research in genealogy" and thinks go as planned, Southwest- First-Aid kit on hand to deal with the program for 17 September

18 will be "The Internet and Geneal­ ogy".

The August program was brought by John Wylie, the leader of the Roots IV group and a local professional genealogist. It will be the first draft of a speech he will make at the Na­ pecially genealogical oriented independent of the Family Re- . tional Conference of FGS in Octo­ book stores. cords portion. You don't have to · ber in Richmond, Virginia. use RDF. It is a structured data- . Al Sanford base - any database or spread- . Citing of sources is the big theme sheet can be used and some gene­ at the present time in genealogy, Genealogy SIG -PAF alogy software programs furnish especially in the development of such a product with their pro- . new genealogy software. A ma­ The program for 16 July was on gram software. jor P AF genealogy program up­ uDocumentation of Your Geneal­ ogy Papers". This docum~tation grade is in the works ~d the em­ I have the following file catego­ phasis will be on making sure refers where you can phySIcally ries: correspondence, documents, you are listing your sources. One file a paper and computer file s~ and surnames. Consider each of of the most recent newcomers to that electronically it can appear m these categories as a file drawer. genealogy software, The Master numerous places. This is not ex­ RDF has document files and data Genealogist (TMG) has gone to actly the same thing as learning . files - consider document files as great lengths to give the user lee­ how to "Cite Your References" the individual folders in the file way in keeping track of all re­ that was the topic for the G~eral drawer and consider data files as search and including the sources Genealogy SIG in August. This individual pieces of information found and used in the research. documentation strictly refers to in the folders. . how to keep traCk of data (corre­ The citing of sources is important spondence, documents, .etc.) .~at For instance, the first correspon­ you send or receive. · It IS a filing for at least two major reasons. dence I get from anyone with a system in the purest sense. The first is that it is a given that surname of M, I label C-M001. not everything is known about That stands for correspondence any individual. All we know What sort of documentation do from the MOO1. My first M sur­ about an individual is what we you have to keep up with? Well name was from Gene Medford; have learned from our own expe­ one type of such documentation therefore MODI always refers to rience and research with the indi­ is the correspondence that I carry Gene Medford. The first corre­ vidual. Thus the more we re­ on with people during research. spondence (no matter how bulky) search and keep track of the For instance, I received one piece I call page 1. It then goes into a sources of the research the more of correspondence from one indi­ folder labeled C-MOOI-00l, the we can learn and build up more vidual I had asked about my next is put into a folder and la­ knowledge concerning an individ­ Dad. This one piece of correspon­ beled C-MOOI-002, etc. ual or family. dence was many pages and in­ cluded his courses, grades, class­ Starting this month there will be mates, etc. of his two years at The second is that when we pub­ the usual time for question and Sam Houston State Teacher's col­ lish, or otherwise pass on, our answers and the program will be lege (2 years to get a teaching de­ knowledge of a family tree, the . to go through Joan Lowrey's PAF gree in the 1889 time frame), and documentation of the sources will 2.2 User's Guide from beginning to several Texas county census for be a great help in preventing the end. next person from "follOWing the records on his eleven brothers, sis­ ters, father & mother, etc. I keep same trail" or reinventing the Al Sanford wheel, so to speak. this correspondence together and call it one sheet of correspon­ dence and file it accordingly. Genealogy - ROOTS IV One often quoted book that will help you get started is Cite Yo~r The August ROOTS IV SIG had Sources (A manual for documentIng My filing system is based on that John Wylie, Genealogy SIG Coor­ of Joan Lowrey who wrote a book family histories and genealogical r~- dinator, covering additional fea­ on P AF 2.2. It uses RDF (Re­ cords) by Richard S. Lackey, U~­ tures of version 1.1 of ROOTS IV. search Data Filer) which is a part versity Press of Mississippi. It IS available at most book stores, es- of the P AF software program but

19 excellent questions to be handled in depth in a future meeting.

August saw Bruce Wynn show­ casing Exchange (announced the previous month in the Informa­ tion Exchange Conference held in Seattle) with technical details on John is a beta tester for this free ously talking to someone by its usage. Exchange is still in tech­ upgrade that will be mailed to all phone ON THE SAME LINE. nical release stage at this writing. registered owners of R4 this fall. Southwestern Bell calls it DigiL­ ink, others may call it Basic Rate In September, John McCrae will The September R4 SIG will be Interface, but either way, our pre­ demo Chicago, also known as Win­ hosted by Marvin Imboden as senter will make it all come to­ dows 4.0, to be released in the Wylie will be out of town. gether. Come see why many of near future. This will be a good Marvin is a knowledgeable user the local Internet providers will opportunity if you have not seen of R4 and will share his view on be offering you ISDN access in the interface to familiarize your­ using this programs many fea­ the near future. self with it. tures. Tom O'Keefe & As we've mentioned before, the John Wylie Doug Gorrie focus is on technical details of how the various enterprise net­ Internet SIG Microsoft Networking SIG working products work (and with each other),inc1uding Windows In September, we will move the Quite a few great meetings have for Workgroups, Windows NT, 9:00 AM Internet SIG to the Audi­ gone by since, the last time the Mi­ Windows NT Server, MS LAN torium, where we will join Dr. crosoft Networking SIG was writ­ Manager, MS Mail. We have pre­ Bill Hancock as he describes the ten up. We have had Peter Shir­ viously discussed architectural is­ future of the Internet. Dr. Han­ ley of the Sales Office with a peek sues and protocols in depth, and cock provided the keynote ad­ at the previously unannounced welcome topics for future meet­ dress on the Internet at the recent Exchange product. Exchange is ings. Send me mail at debo­ Macworld Expo. This is a rare op­ messaging software that truly [email protected] if you have a portunity for us, and one that I will take advantage of Windows suggestion. encourage you to participate in. NT Server's client-server architec­ ture. Wendell Myers, Dallas Sys­ The meetings are held at 8:00 in tems Engineer, showed the bene­ Dr. Hancock is also Executive the morning, and surprisingly fits of the Microsoft Certification Vice President of Network-I, a enough, we always have a large Program in June. One can become New York firm with offices in the turnout (insomniacs who re­ a Product Specialist or Systems D/FW area, and specializing in _ mained awake all night in antici­ Engineer on various Microsoft network installation and trou­ pation?). Join us! bleshooting. Recent projects in­ products - good career move. clude installation of Network-1's Debbie Lenhart Internet firewall system in the In July, I discussed the domain White House! server strategy of Windows NT Server. Having all servers in one OS/2 Developer's SIG Our thanks to John Wisniewski domain allows for ease of admini­ The OS/2 Developer'S SIG meets for an excellent August presenta­ stration, as only set of accounts to discuss issues and products af­ tion on the advanced uses of In­ has to be maintained, with other fecting developers interested in ternet E-mail. John pointed out servers receiving a copy of the ac­ developing for OS/2. This ways to ftp files and review news counts for logon purposes. Multi­ month, the development tool VX­ groups that many folks don't ple domains can use "trust" rela­ REXX from Watcom will be dem­ know about. tionships which allow a user in onstrated at the SIG meeting. one domain to use resources in This tool is an end user tool, simi­ In October, I'm told that ISDN another without having to have lar in many ways to Visual Basic, should be available throughout an account created in the other do­ that allows both novice and expe­ Dallas (Ft. Worth gets theirs in main. Some questions came up in rienced programmers to develop early 1995). ISDN offers a spiffy the meeting about how the server way to access the Internet at 64k is administered, including setting bits / second, while simultane- permissions and security access-

20 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

The OS/2 Developer's SIG meets to discuss issues and products af­ fecting developers interested in developing for OS/2. This month, the development tool VX­ REXX from Watcom will be dem­ onstrated at the SIG meeting. Personal Users modification to the ship's LDOS­ This tool is an end user tool, simi­ based navigational system. Oops! lar in many ways to Visual Basic, September will be the second that allows both novice and expe­ group of personal users meeting Join us this month as we discUss rienced programmers to develop in the new series.' Woe are cur- , using container classes for' celes- sharp OS/2 Presentation Manager rently upgrading the series to tial navigation. ' programs easily. cover (in addition to the standard­ need-to-know subjects) both soft-' Spreadsheet and Spread­ A copy of VX-REXX, compli­ ware and hardware topics that ments of Watcom, will be raffled have recently received interest by sheet Developers SIG the general public. The Personal off aiter the demo. See you there ! At the September meeting, the Users SIG is designed to cover Spreadsheet SIG will continue to Joe McIntyre those topics that will give a nov­ ice some basic computer skills present and discuss version 4 of 1- 2-3 fOT DOS. This version was re­ Paradox SIG and vocabulary to understand some of today's technology. leased in early August and should be in a computer store What's with all these third party near you at the present time. tools lately? I have been trying to The topics to be covered this Since the new DOS version was work with Data Junction, "the ul­ month will be: also discussed in August, the ex­ timate data conversion tool", be­ act discussion of the product is cause a client needs to feed some ~ 9:00 Software for Personal not known. In fact as of the news­ Paradox table data into his RBase Computers letter deadline (8/10), Mark has system, eurp! .) 10:00 Word Processors just received the new version, but has not installed it yet. So far all I can do is convert from .:. 12:00 Spreadsheet Programs Pdox to the tool's internal format, .:. 1:00 Graphics for the PC The Spreadsheet Developers SIG then from there to the desired will continue to present and dis­ RBase. Trouble is, in attempting +> 2:00 Quicken Accounting cuss version 5 of 1-2-3 fOT Win­ to verify the conversion, by con­ Software dows. This version was released verting from RBase to dBASE III, in late July and should be in a "the ultimate data conversion As with all of the SIG meetings, computer store near you at the tool" hard locks the old CPU, re­ the meetings are open to all with present time. Since the new Win­ quiring a firm pressing of the re­ their only requirement being hav­ dows version was also discussed set button to restore sanity. ing an interest in computers. in August, the exact discussion of the product is not known. Too bad. Looks like another can­ Alex Lilley didate for a one way ticket back to Austin from whence it origi­ PRO SIG However, based on the spec nated. I've now decided, nothing sheets, both .versions look good. with less than a thirty-day money­ Several months ago a team of pro­ In conjunction with. the new re­ back guarantee will be considered. grammers from the PRO SIG set leases, Lotus is also having a out to find where the evil Vice spreadsheet contest for user groups and special user group up­ Drop on by the next Paradox SIG President of DFW Xchange Corpo­ grade pricing. Look for more de­ meeting to find out more about ration was holding Jim Hois­ tails on the contest in an adver­ things that do work, and more im­ ington prisoner. Rumor has it tisement in this issue (and on the portantly, things that don't! Tom that Jim is being made to work on BBS in the Spreadsheet confer­ is beginning to remind me of the a new release of a computer oper­ ating system. Not having much ence). Coupons should be avail­ e~ergizer bunny. Give him a po­ able at the September meeting if dIum, a copy of Pdox/Win and money, the team has spent the we did not run out in August.- he just keeps on going and going. last month on a tramp steamer working for passage to Hawaii. Things were going well until Mark Gruner & Fred Williams Chris Balthrop made a small Adam Peterson

21 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

Bring your questions on Begin­ ning Visual Basic to our meeting beginning at 8:00 AM in Septem­ ber. Check the lobby screens for the room assignment.

Jim Carter StarSIG this is not a StarText function. Address all comments and contri- , Visual Basic SIG StarSIG for July 16, 1994 was 'an butions to the Sysop. The tele­ open forum. Editor Christy Jeter phone numbers for the Sanctuary" : The September meeting of the Vis­ fielded questions, comments, and BBS are posted in several StarText " .. uru Basic SIG will include a pres­ complaints from the floor. There columns, like WOW, FL, and " entation of programming tech­ was good news from StarText, ac­ PCINFO. Also from the colum­ niques. Woody will describe the companied by sad tales from us­ nists, StarSIG welcomes the re­ advaI1tages of good programming ers and mixed input from colum­ turn of Marty Davis (NOTSO). practice and demonstrate with nists. sample code examples. Join us any User Group Saturday Good news! Gerry Barker's ambi­ at 9 AM. All are welcome. The NTPCUG User-To-User Pro­ tious INTERACT area. This addi­ gram is supported by both Visual tion to SO, POSTIT, the MAIL­ William L. Jones Basic SIGs to provide assistance PALS keywords, CONTEST, and to Visual Basic programmers. For other areas of StarText is another Visual Basic SIG.. Beginning details, see the listings for this opportunity for users to provide program near the back of this their own input on a variety of The September meeting of the Be­ newsletter. topics, as well as exchange ideas ginning Visual Basic SIG will fea­ with professionals. Also, the very ture the return of Gene Hamel­ In future months, Woody is con­ popular PR area was noted. This man to discuss the differences be­ sidering demonstrating the tech­ database of recent press releases tween procedural programming niques for developing Help files can be accessed with the three-let­ (as in QuickBasic) and event­ for specific applications. Is this a ter stock symbols, allowing users driven programming (as in Visual topic you would be interested in to read up on what the companies Basic). This is a basic change in hearing about? See Woody with are doing. programming concepts intro­ your comments. duced by Visual Basic and exem­ Sad tales! Users are less than plifies one of the real strengths of The Visual Basic SIG meets at thrilled with some aspects of the Visual Basic. Bring your ques­ 9:00 AM. Check the screens in StarText menu system. They tions on event-driven program­ the Infornart lobby for room as­ would like to be able to flag items ming to Gene this month. signment. on a menu for calling up. At pre­ sent, the items of interest must During the August meeting, we Jim Carter & either be memorized and accessed discussed topics of interest to be­ Woody Pewitt at the end of the menu readout, or ginning programmers Oust took the menu can be stopped by the off the shrink-wrap!). This pro­ Word for Windows SIG ESC key. Also, several features, gram is entitled "For Beginners such as INTERACT, have multi­ Only" and is repeated each Febru­ A good understanding of the "cul­ ple level menus with no shortcut ary and August to assist newcom­ tural differences" between Word path to the desired keyword for ers to Visual Basic. for Windows and WordPerfect experienced users. At present, the can make all the difference when best users can do is type 0 to re­ Several members have expressed converting to Word from WP. peat the last command and type 1 an interest in presenting exam­ The SIG's August presentation re­ to back up one level in a menu ples of their Visual Basic program­ volved around several conversion tree. ming efforts in response to my re­ issues faced by most former ' quest. Let me know if you are in­ W ordJ>erfect users. The lack of Columnists Jim Boughton terested and I will schedule "you . ureveal codesu in Word was eas­ (WOW), Jen:y Holmes (FREE­ into the program. Remember, the ily explained: they're not neede,d: LOADER), and Ed Rivers fundamental purpose of the Working in a graphical interface (PCINFO) are posting downloads NTPCUG is "members helping means being able to see'informa­ on the Sanctuary BBS, courtesy of members." tion formerly hidden such as un­ Sysop Doris Riggs. Remember, deriin1ng, boldmg, etc. If some­ thing is not hidden, what could

22 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS

most likely problem is that the printer driver (the printer you have selected in WordPerfect) doesn't exactly match the printer you're actually using. Another possibility is that the printer cable be the need to reveal it? But for lection of macros that ship with isn't tight in the port. those who still feel they must Word. November's topic is tenta­ have some kind of reveal code, tive, but the incredible database Using a dot matrix printer to Word has a help pointer that re­ toolbar in Word is· a leading con­ print labels. One label prints, then veals paragraph and format infor:- . .tender for November's meeting. sho9ts up:about 11 inches before mation. the se~ond label prints: It's be­ . Tip of the Month cause the label is set up as a 8- Trying to use columns in Word 1/2xll paper. The height of a sin­ for Windows instead of tables can Need to convert documents from gle row of labels should be set as lead to an exercise in frustration WordPerfect for Windows 6.0 to the height of the paper. Select for former WP users. While WP Word for Windows? Well, the Format, Page, Paper Size, and se­ for DOS offered three types of col­ needed converter has yet to be lect the Label to edit it. Make umns (newspaper, parallel, paral­ produced. But don't fret, the sure the paper size height is the lel with block protect) Word uses work around is simple. Just open height of the row, not 11". only a newspaper type of column. your document(s) in WP, then Using the suite of table features press F3 (or choose Save As from Do you get memory errors, par­ in Word gives the user the kind the File menu) and choose the ticularly when printing graphics of control they've always wished WordPerfect 5.1/5.2 format. and text? If you get beeped and for. Keep in mind that in both WP have to look in the control panel, and Word you can open up to a message displays telling you Creating what former WP users nine documents simultaneously. there's not enough memory to call the "F4 indent" is a simple print graphics. This refers to matter of creating hanging in­ If you've done a full installation available computer memory, not dents. Other indents, including you will have a macros subdirec­ printer memory. double-indents (WP's Shift-F4) tory in your WinWord directory. are readily available in Word. Open CONVERT. DOT, select Clear out the memory buffers Macro from the Tools menu and such as the move/ copy buffer, Turning off the WordPerfect Help you will find the batch converter the undelete buffer, exiting from feature in Word for Windows is that allows you to specify what document 2 (or more if in 6.0), necessary before Word will act you're converting from, source and using the Text Mode in 6.0 in­ completely as Word. While the and target directories, etc. Once stead of the Graphics mode.. The WP help and WP navigation keys you've got the macro running go quickest way to dear these buff­ are active Word will, in some in­ get a cup of coffee. Your files ers is to exit WordPerfect. Also stances, behave as though it was will be ready for use in Word! try printing the document direc­ WP! tory from List Files without hav­ Beverly Kurtin ing it on the screen. If you have And speaking about folks who tables in the document but no have missed the SIG, they might WordPerfect (DOS) SIG graphics, print the document with want to know that the consensus Graphics Quality set to Medium of the Word for Windows mem­ Mark the September SIG meeting or Draft. The end result doesn't bership is that the SIG should con­ on your calendar because we will make a difference for fonts or for tinue to meet at its current time. be using the mark feature to cre­ the Table lines but the printer file Trying to move the timing would ate table of contents, cross- refer­ is much smaller and it will also interfere attendance at other SIGs. ence and indexes. These features speed up printing. Hope to see y'all there! are similar in both 5.1 and 6.0 for DOS so we'll cover both versions If the printer displays a memory in the same hour. . See you there! ~extmonth:~acrosforrealpeo­ error (" Printer Overrun" or "Er­ pIe. No, you don't need to know ror 21 It), print just a page at time. how to program to get on the Tips of the Month If you have graphics in the docu~ road to automating your Word ment, print the document once sessions. In October we11 be Printing Problems? Here are with the Graphics Quality set to talking about "Things That go some solutions. H the document Bump in the Night," the rich col- prints, but it prints garbage, the

23 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

BBS Brouhahas Seems the latest brouhaha to break out on the BBS was over something that simply should not have caused the uproar it did. It is something I made passing .. tongue-in-cheek reference to in ... "last month's BBS column. It is the , cOIDmon practice of including seg­ ments of a message you are te­ sponding to in your message. This is done to aid the reader of your message in following the stream of thought.

Either through laziness or inexpe­ to many of our BBS conferences. nature of the E-mail resource. I firm in rience some BBS users do not do a This is done as a service, and of for one am a believer that course as an enticement for non­ view. very good job of trimming out the members to join the NTPCUG, 1/chaff" from this quoted text. and thereby gain full BBS access Thls practice is commonly re­ I consider myself to be a very dry­ ferred to as, lIexcessive quoting", as well as receive this excellent humored individual, with a sharp newsletter each month. which is considered ill-mannered point. I have had untold prob­ in E-mail circles. This practice not lems conveying messages with hu­ only wastes precious on-line re­ When posting a public message mor intended to others. I must as­ sources, it also makes a poster's on the BBS, I would like for you sume it is because they only know message difficult to read. What to keep uppermost in your mind me through my use of electronic the excessive quater does not that others will see your message media and not personally. Surely know is that once other users rec­ as a reflection of the NTPCUG. I it could not be because I really am ognize them as an excessive mean this in no way as an attempt what some have called me, as I quoter, other users tend to skip to suppress anyone's first amend­ have seen my parents' marriage over any messages posted by the ment rights. I only ask that you certificate. excessive quater. reflect on what you are saying and, very importanUy, how you I will in the future, endeavor to One thing to keep in mind when are saying it. continue my concentrated effort of using our BBS, is that the BBS is a noninterference in the free flow of very public place where anyone Running our BBS has been quite message traffic on our club's BBS. with a modem may connect. We an education for me, not so much But, from this last episode, I have supply the public read-only access in technology, but in (in?)human learned that to procrastinate on relations. Many others have ex­ one's duties can often be no better pressed the innate cold and brutal than overreacting. I also will no longer publicly respond to any BBS user who manages to stretch High (or Medium) and the Text the rubber band too tight. I will Quality set to None. Then rein­ definitely respond in private E­ sert the printed document (you'll mail. have only the graphic lines, table lines, clip art, etc.) into the printer. With the soon-to-be Internet con­ Print the document again, this . nection, our club has the opportu­ time with the Graphics Quality set nity to become even more interna­ to None and the Text Quality set tionally known. How others per­ to High. Laser printers are so pre­ ceive our dub will be a direct re­ cise, everything will line up ex­ flection of how they perceive our actly. member's publicly posted mes­ sages. This is something I hope Lori Quinn we all can remember.

Fred Williams

24 Kathryn Loafman Steps Down, DOM Squad Seeking New Leader With regret, I would like to announce that Kathryn Loaf­ man has stepped down as the leader of the DOM Squad. Kathryn's professional responsibilities have increased, making her continued leadership impossible. Kathryn has done an outstanding job with the OOM for many years and her input and leadership will be missed. Kathryn',s contributions have been sO 'valuable to the user group, that iii 1993 she was awarded Member Emeritus by the NTPCUG Board of Directors. Please join me in . wishing Kathryn well in her future endeavors. The DOM Squad is looking for a new leader to steer the organization into the future. The DOM has many volun­ teers in place to assist the new leader. If you are inter­ BENCH.RTF), and a Word for the screen to help navigate ested, please contact me or one of the members of the Wmdows 2.0a version (NET­ through the demo. NTPCUG Board of Directors. Your user group has a BENCH.DOC:). This software was donated by need, and you might be able to help. Downloaded from Com­ Lotus Development Corpora­ puserve by Kenneth Loafman. tion. Mark Gruner Readme prepared by Kathryn This reuiew prepared by Mark Loafman, edited by Kenneth Gruner, edited by Will Davis Disks of the Month (DOM) for August LoaJman (8/94), (8/94). Note: All of these disks are distributed on 1.44M disk only Disk 899. Improv FOT Win­ Disk 900. 1-2-3 For Windows Disk 898. NetBench 2.10, SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: dows 2.1, (6194) - DEMO of 5.0, (6/94) - DEMO of Latest 8/93 - PC Magazine Minimum configuration, a file Latest Release, Improv For Release, By Lotus Develop­ Network Benchmark server plus a computer to run Windows Version 2.1 Tour ment Corporation Ziff-Davis Benchmark the NetBench test station soft­ Improv is a different kind of The new release of 1-2-3 for Operation, One Copley ware, which accesses the file spreadsheet. Instead of con­ Wmdows version 5.0 is full of Parkway, Suite 510, server through a lOgical drive. ventional rows and columns, features, new and old. This Morrisville, NC 27560 GETTING STARTED: Im.prov has variables or in­ demo provides on overview puts that the user can move of the capabilities of the latest NetBench can be used to de­ The files are in a self-extract­ around the screen to get a dif­ release. termine what type of network ing archive named NET­ ferent view of the informa­ this to To install the program, place confi~ationismosteffective BEN.EXE. Copy file a tion. This demo provides an this disk in drive A:, start Wm­ for a simulated network load. subdirectory on your hard excellent overview of Improv dows, Select File Run, and disk, then type NETBEN. and its features. Ii you are TWo tests are run, the Net­ type A:INSTALL in the text looking for a spreadsheet al­ work Interface Card and I/O For infonnation about Net­ box. Then answer the ques­ ternative, or always want to Throughput, to measure Bench, read the file titled tions that appear on your view your spreadsheet in a throughput over time at the ABOUT. TXT. Read the file screen. network interface card or at named READ.TXT for installa­ different way, check out Im­ the file server disk I/O subsys­ tion instructions. The User provo The Demo walks you through the basic features of the new tem. These tests are influ­ Guide is available as an ASCII To install the program, place text (NETBENCH.TXT), a release and also specifically enced by the same items that this disk in drive A:, start Wm­ discusses Macros, Databases, influence performance of a Rich Text Format (NET- dows, Select File Run, and Drawing, Charts, and Hot Fea­ user application on a net­ type A:INSTALL in the text tures. The demo program is work: the operating system box. Then answer the ques­ very easy to use, buttons ap­ used by the network, mem­ tions that appear on your pear on the bottom of the ory, memory cache, CPU screen. types and speeds, server disk screen to help navigate speeds, and the Network In­ The Demo walks you through through the demo. the basic features of Improv terface Cards. This software was donated by and also specifically discusses Lotus Development Corpora­ Modifications to test parame­ Building a Simple Sheet, tion. ters (such as test duration and Meaningful Formulas, Ex­ This rroiew prepared by Mark file size, as well as modifica­ panding the Sheet, and Im­ Gruner, edited by Will Davis tions to the network system prov Potential. The demo pro­ (8/94). under examination) produce gram is very easy to use, but­ results which can be compara­ tons appear on the bottom of tively analyzed and evaluated.

25 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

intense discussion that takes place at the Infomart. Classy Computer Classes Some of our SIG leaders ae nationally recognized and Children of North Tex~ are signing up for their classes have been ,published in a number of other PCUG news­ at our many area'sChools, and 'tis the season of select­ letters and magazines. ing electives. There is the same sort of excitement at the NTPCUG now. The Special Interest Groups (SIGS) Be sure to thank your SIG leader this month. A lot of speak to our interest in new programs and hardware planiling made the computer, the overhead projector, but also to the desire to learn. There is even a Personal the curriculum, and also the room available to you. Users SIG for discovering the basics of computers. Your SIG leader is Special.

Our user group is fortunate to have an excellent team of The Volunteers from our July meeting are recognized SIG leaders who know their specialty. They attend sepa­ on this page. rate meetings on the subject, visit with software ven­ dors, and spend hours preparing for the hour or two of

Infomart Liaison Anchors: Rob Bender MPatHenley Al Aston Philip Bridges David Huckabee Stuart Yams Eteta Eta Wendy Bryson Jerry Stone Judy Griffiths William Farris Zach Loafman Vendor SetuplBreakdown Allan Harbaugh Charles Fernandez Kathryn Loa£man Hank Holt Judy Griffiths Inventory and Take-down Anchors: David Huckabee Kent Haven Crew: John Ivers Cinda Lovil Duane Martin Tom Jones Kenneth Berg David Martin Mac McKeethen Ron Parker Paul Williams Jan Parkhill Paul Prosek Crew: Booth Crew: Bob Post Ralph Smejkal Hank Coleman Ralph Beaver George Read Ross Jones Roger Bopp Ed Snuggs DOM Desk Scheduler: Paul Weathers TIm Foster Oscar lYler Charles Cashion Eugene Hamelman Solomon Woldesenbet Auditorium Presentations Cheryl Hunter Disks for Review Manager: Richard Kellerhouse With Special Thanks Howard Hamilton TImothy Carmichael Vrrginia Kerr to: ChrisJung Claude McClure Disk Production: Christopher Carmichael Martin Moomaw SetUp Crew: Kathryn Loa£man Carl Oehmann Mark Gruner Kenneth Loafrnan ~onnationfRe~sttation Raymond Reyes Kent Haven Booth . Richard Solomon Jean Waldrep VOLUNTEER INFORMATION Statistician: Gene Wuller Connie Andrews 1 Via BBS: (214)387-2751, (214)387-2752 or (214)263-9036 (metro). Sign up on the Volunteer Conference - make the sub· Disk of the Month ject matter your area of interest. (DOM) Scheduler: 2. Meeting day: Sign up at the Information Booth or DOM Bob Wuller Booth to worn those areas in a coming month. OOM Shift Supervisors: 3 By phone· Gene Carleton Auditorium Presentations Nonnan Dang Timothy Carmichael (214)661-4626 (w) James Donlon DOM Sooth Scheduler Kent Haven Charles Cashion (214)881-0952 (h) M. Pat Henley (double) (214)519-2583 (w) Kathryn Loafman DOM Software Review OOM Desk Crew: Frank Miller (214)231-1345 (h) Joe Allen Information Booth and Chris Balthrop General In'ormation Claude McClure (214)867-0978 (h)

26 September 1994 North Texas PC NEWS - To

NTPCUG USER-TO-USER PROGRAM These individuals are volunteering to assist NTPCUG members. NTPCUG is assisting in finding these Introducing the NTPCUG User-To-User program, volunteers for you, but cannot be responsible for composed of members who are willing to donate their unsatisfactory outcomes. Next to each subject, we will time to help others with software and hard ware list the person's name!. phone number and the times questions. Some of our helpers ..are pro~essional they are available. PI.ease honor the wishes of our consultants. All have joined · tllE~ Us~r-to-User Progr~ . helpers by seeking help o~y during those hours. because they want to share their :knowledge WIth others and help them. They agreed to answer Please try to res·olve your ·problem by reading the questions that they are comfort~bl~ handling over. the manual and anyon-line help BEFORE calling. phone, without charge, and Within reasonable time limits (at the volunteer's discretion).

SUBJECT HELPER PHONE DAYS/HOURS SUBJECT HELPER PHONE DAYSIHOURS Access HyperAccess Larry Linson ...... (817)487-2350 M-Sa 1300-1500 Woody Pewitt ...... (214)230-3485 M-F 0800-1800 Assembly Language LANs-Novell Frank Cavallito ...... (214)423-9221 7 1800-2200 Joseph Beasley ...... (214)225-8752 7 0800-2400 Glynn Brooks ...... (214)888-0625 M-F 0800-1600 - Lantastic BASIC Joseph Beasley ...... (214)410-3818 7 0900-2200 Mike Rrth ...... (214)8V-n34 7 0800-2200 Managing Your Money Beginner Problems Glynn Brooks ...... (214)888-0625 M-F 0800-1600 Jan Parkhill ...... (214)828-2216 M-Sa 0900-1700 MathCAD Shirley. Hudgens ...... (214)352-2800 7 0900-2000 Bob Adams ...... (214)328-1455 M-Sa 0900-1900 Brother's Keeper MIDI Neil Sunderfand ...... (214)272-2869 7 0900-2200 Glynn Brooks ...... (214)~25 M-F 0800-1600 C (the language) OS/2 Howard Harkness ...... (817)267-6227 Sun 0900-1200 Larry Truesdale ...... (214)442-7074 7 1000-2200 T&T 1800-2030 PC ToolSlWin C++ (the language) Glynn Brooks ...... (214)888-0625 M-F 0800-1600 Bob Adams ...... (214)328-1455 M-Sa 0900-1900 Howard Harkness ...... (817)267-6227 Sun 0900-1200 Paradox T&T 1800-2030 Fred Williams ...... (214)492-1315 7 1300-2100 Batch Files ProCommlProComm+ Cha~es Miller ...... (903)938-4220(*) 7 1900-2400 Doug Gorrie ...... (214) 464-7942 M-F 0800-1700 ...... (214) 618-8002 S-S 1000-1900 Borland C++ Bill Green ...... (817) 731-1308 Bob Adams ...... (214)328-1455 M-Sa 0900-1900 Joseph Beasley ...... (214)225-8752 7 0800-2400 Howard Harkness ...... (817)267-6227 Sun 0900-1200 Joseph Beasley ...... (214)410-3818 7 0900-2200 T&T 1800-2030 Quattro Pro/Win Comm S"ftware Glynn Brooks ...... (214)888-0625 M-F 0800-1600 Doug Gorrie ...... (214) ~7942 M-F 0800-1700 ...... (214) 618-8002 S-S 1000-1900 Quicken Billy Pitts ...... (817)430-8148 7 1830-2100 CompuServe Jim Hall ...... (214)348-7848 7 1000-2100 Bob Adams ...... (214)328-1455 M-Sa 0900-1900 Ouickbooks DOS (all MS versions) Jim Thompson ...... (214)953"()()S1 M-F 0800-1800 Rick Steffon ...... (214)327-2728 7 1000-2400 Hardware Help Charles Miller ...... {903)938-4220(*) 7 1900-2400

27 North Texas PC NEWS September 1994

L.J. Johnson ...... (214}495-9067 7 1700-2130 To- Gene Hamelman ...... (214)495-6342 7 1700-2130 Windows SUBJECT HELPER PHONE DAYSIHOURS Rick Sivemell ...... (214)306-5422 7 1830-2200 SPFPC Windows for Workgroups Doug Gorrie ...... (214) 464-7942 M.f 0800-1700 Joseph Beasley ...... (214)225-8752 7 0800-2400 ...... (214) 618-8002 S-S 1000-1900 Joseph Beasley ... :...... (214)410-3818 7 0900-2200 TurboVision Word for Windows Howard Harkness ...... (817)267-6227 Sun 09()().12oo ~. Beverly Kurtin .... ;.... ; ...... (817) 355-9594 7 T& T 1800-2030 WordPerfect 5.x /Win UNIX Georgene' Harkness ...... (817)267-6227 Sun Ogoo.1200 Doug Scott ...... :~ ... (817)261-4653 7 1830-2200 ...... , ...... M-F 1800-2030 Virus & XENIX Anti-Virus Doug Scott ...... (817)261-4653 7 1830-2200 Charles Miller ...... (903)938-4220(1 7 1900-2400 Visual Basic - Advanced Woody Pewitt ...... (214)230-3485 M-F 0800-1800 The subject areas below do not have a volunteer to answer questions. Hyou would like to assist or add possible categories for the future, Visual Basic: • Beginning please contact Bill Orissal at (214)264-9680 M-F 1830-2200 or Sa & Jim Carter ...... (214)235-5968 7 1700-2130 Su 0900-2200. BRI will send you a form on which you can list your qualifications and sign. Areas Needing Helpers: LEGEND: Beginners Norton Utilities 7 ...... All 7 days of each week M-F...... Monday through Friday $ & Sense OS/2 T& T .... Tuesday and Thursday M-Sa. . .. Monday through Saturday Borland Turbo C PAF CAD Pagemaker S&S .... Saturday and Sunday (-) ...... Caller should incur any Long Corel Draw PC Hookup Distance charges Dataflex Personal Tax dBase, dBase III+IIV Preparer DeskLink PKzipIPKUNzip North Texa~users Group, Inc. Desktop Publishing Portfolio Analyzer DOS tMS) Q&A Rle Membership Application DR DOS Q&A Easy Text QuietWrite 1lE NI.l'C1.X; is as non-profit independent organizaticn of individuals ~ to apply perscnal rompaters to practical problems. R:r additicnal iItonnaticn. call (214) 746-4699. RrstChoice Roots Member' ___ First Publisher Smart Name: (Last] ______(Firsll ______Fox Pro Smart Notes Address: ______Fund Watch Plus Sound Blaster Harvard Graphics Stacker It's Legal SuperCa/c City: ______State: ZIP: ____ LapUnk Symphony PHONE:(Check Preferred No.) Home _ ( __ ) ______Mathematica TurboTax Work _ ( __ ) ______(Ext) ____ Modems TurboVision

OccupallonIProfession:_-======------, Money Counts Corel Ventura ~ one from 8IICh coh ..... below Money Plans Publisher PayDHIt:. MeImership. Application Slatus: MicrosoftC Word (see Microsoft) Cash Oassification: NewMeJmer ~--- Regular ($24.00)_ Renewal ___ Microsoft Ct+ XTree ~t ~ Student ($12.00_ Address Change _ I ~------Microsoft Visual C++ Applications should be mailed to: North Texas PC Users Group, P.O. Box 780066, Dallas, TX 7537S.0066 (Make chew payable to NTPCUG.) Microsoft Word Please initial here_ if you do not wish to have your address included on member Microsoft Works lists sold for the NTPCUG's benefit to advertisers of IBM contpatible products. MKS products

28 North Texas PC Users Group, Inc.

P.O. Box 780066, Dallas, TX 75378-0066 Phone (214) 746-4699 for recorded information about the North Texas PC Users Group and scheduled meeting date times and locations. Please leave a message if you would like specific information about the Group.

The North Texas PC Users Group, Inc., is a non­ this newsletter, and send with $24 membership profit, independent group, not associated with dues to the Membership Director - address IBM or any other corporation. Membership is shown below. . Subscription to the newsletter is open to owners and others' interested in exchang­ included with each membership. The Group ing ideas, information, hardware, predictions, meets once each month, usually on the third or and other items related to IBM Personal and fourth Saturday. See inside front cover for date, compatible computers. To join the Group, com­ time and place of the next North Texas PC Users plete the application blank printed elsewhere in Group meeting.

North Texas PC Users Group, Inc. NTPCUG Bulletin Board Board of Directors NOTE: To access the BBS Metro line from outside Area Code 214, use Area Code 214. {This is NOT a toll call from Andy Oliver, Chainnan Fort Worth and the Mid-Cities area.} Reagan Andrews Timothy Carmichael Doug Gorrie Jim Hoisington Bulletin Board Settings: N - 8 - 1 Alex Lilley Fred Williams (No parity, .8 data bits, 1 stop bit)

NTPCUG BBS Telephone Numbers: ...... (214)387-2751 ...... (214)387-2752 ...... 1vIETRO (214)263-9036

SYSOP: ...... Fred Williams Assistant Sysop: ...... Tom Prickett Assistant Sysop: ...... Doug Gorrie Infonnation Mgt: ...... Lewis Graber User Relations: ...... Adam Peterson

Voice line for validation problems: (214)682-0725 ...... Ask for Adam

TI PRO BULLETIN BOARD...... (214)361-5275 SYSOP: ...... Tom Blackwell

Address Changes, etc ... Payment of dues, address changes, and inquiries about membership should be directed to: NTPCUG Membership Director P.O. Box 780066 Dallas, Texas 75378-0066 North Texas PC Users Group Non Profit Org. c..~ P.O. Box 780066 U. S. Postage Paid ~. Dallas, TX 75378-0066 Arlington, TX Permit No. 823 Address Correction Requested.

13.9

Member '# 2933 Expires 10/31/1994 Thom~s C. Browning 5923 Over Do~ns Clr Dallas, TX 75230 1I ... ltl ,11 .. 1,1,,11.111" 1111, t

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North Texas PC Users Group

INFOMART N

NEXT MEETING: TO DOWNTOWN DALLAS 17 September 1994 \\