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Computer Connections March 1998 3

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PUBLISHER Note Russ Salter EDITOR Nancy Salter One of my favorite cartoons when I was growing up was OFFICE MANAGER The Jetsons. I mean who wouldn't love to just stumble out of Carrie Nicole bed and onto a conveyor belt which would carry you throughgetting ADVERTISING the necessities (getting showered, dressed and fed) of Nancy Salter ready every day. Plus what a neat house with the greatest LAYOUT & DESIGN view imaginable. Beyond that, I could really go for zipping Media Productions my own space mobile through the cosmos. Unfortunatelyodem age quite I them DISTRIBUTION towards itl Hank Heighton don't think I'll live long enough to see inching Distributech as I envisioned it as a kid...but we are Jo's Delivery Service The Wending of technologies into one "all-purpose" s convergence. Jeff Evans (page FLORIDA PUBLISHING & DIST. Dan Harman multimedia26) investigates app "the current state of convergence and what still needs to be done". The day will come when the TV, Computer Connections magazine is VCR, phone, fax, stereo system, computer and more will be published monthly by Sunset Com- munications, Inc. All rights re- fully integrated into one unit; the closest thing we have to a served. Reproduction in whole or multi purpose media unit right now is, of course, a part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Pub- uter. 9) to get multimedia comp lisher does not assume any respon- Be sure to read "Talking to your Computer" (pageThe idea sibility for the claims of its commer- the latest dictation and voice command havingsoftware. something cial advertisers or the expressed onr computer and actually opinions of contributing writers. Pub- talking lisher is not associated with any of talking to you productive come outf ofits ireat; g computer I've been for years and it's other business with similar name or rts. purpose. (sometimes screaming) at my comp vocal effo for my Deadline for all advertising is the never given me anything in return 15th of each month and is subject to current rate card. Publisher reserves the right not to accept an ad- vertiser's order. Be Safe & Well, Send all inquiries, subscription requests, editorial submissions to RussComments Salter to [email protected] Computer Connections, 1920 Cen- terville Tpke. #125, Virginia Beach, VA 23464. Not responsible for unso- licited material. For more information, call M-F, 10-5, (757) 548-3079 or FAX inquiries to (757) 548-3283.

4 March 1998 Computer Connections Your Local Guide to Computers and Communications Since 1994 March 1998 Keeping

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UP 9 Talking to Your Computer Graeme Bennett In The 12 Information Overload William Van Winkle 17 The Stop Bit Leon Schwarzbaum

22 PC Tuneup Lawrence J. Magid

C=0 26 All Together Now...Convergence Jeff Evans

30 New 56K Modem Standard Jonathon Marshall

41 How I Learned to Stop Worrying Charles Arnold

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6 March 1998 Computer Connections PC Life.... CyberSpuSpuSputters JUST FOR LAUGHS But the spokesman told Jack that he shouldn't get excited; someone important wanted to speak to him. Suddenly a wall-sized The Year 2000 projection screen displayed the image of a man that looked very There was once a COBOL programmer in the mid to late 1990s. much like Bill Gates. This man was Prime Minister of Earth. He For the sake of this story, we'll call him Jack. After years of being told Jack not to be upset, that this was a wonderful time to be alive. taken for granted and There was world peace and no more starvation. The space program treated as a techno- had been reinstated and there were colonies on the moon and on logical dinosaur by Mars. He said technology had advanced to such a degree that all the UNIX pro- everyone had virtual reality interfaces which allowed them to con- grammers and Cli- tact anyone else on the planet, to watch any entertainment, or to hear ent /S ery er any music recorded anywhere. programmers and "That sounds terrific," said Jack. "But I'm curious. Why is website developers, everybody so interested in me?" The Prime Minister said, "Well, Jack was finally get- the year 10000 is just around the corner, and it says in your files that ting some respect. you know COBOL". He'd become a pri- The "Down-Home" Guide to Computer Lingo vate consultant spe- by Rick LeBlanc & friends cializing in Year Modem: What you did to the lawn 2000 conversions. Keyboard: Where you hang your keys Jack was working Windows: What to shut when it's 30 Below short-term assign- Logon: Makes the wood stove hotter ments for prestigious Hard Drive: Getting home during rush hour companies, traveling Microchips: what are left in the bag after you ate all the big chips all over the world on different assignments. He was working 70 to Download: Getting the firewood off the pickup 80 hour weeks, but it was worth it. Several years of this relentless, Megahertz: What you get when you're not careful downloading + mind-numbing work had taken its toll on Jack. He had problems sleeping and began having anxiety dreams about the Year 2000. It had reached a point where even the thought of the Year 2000 made MarketPro 'IBM Compatible Merchandise him nearly violent. He must have suffered some sort of breakdown, because all he could think about was how he could avoid the Year 2000 and all that came with it. COMPUTER Jack decided to contact a company that specialized in cryogen- ics. He made a deal to have himself frozen until March 15th, 2000. SHOWS & SALES This was a very expensive process and-totally automated. He was SAVE UP TO 90% • Largest Shows In The Area! thrilled! The next thing he would know would be waking up in the Show Hrs. 9:30 am 4 pm Year 2000; after the New Year celebrations and computer debacles; Over 100 Locations after the leap day. There would then be nothing else for Jack to worry Across the U.S. Upcoming Shows about except getting on with his life. He was put into his cryogenic receptacle, the technicians set the 100's OF TABLES SAT. MAR. 14 - HAMPTON, VA revive-date, he was given injections to slow his heartbeat to a bare Hampton Coliseum NEW Hardware • Software minimum, and that was that. SUN. MAR. 15 - NORFOLK, VA The next thing that Jack saw was an enormous and very modern •Accessories • Upgades Norfolk Scope room filled with excited people. They were all shouting "I can't • CD ROMs • Multimeda •CPUs • Memory believe it!" and "It's a miracle!" and "He's alive!". There were SAT. MAR. 21 - RICHMOND, VA cameras (unlike any he'd ever seen) and equipment that looked like The Showplace it came out of a science fiction movie. Someone who was obviously And MUCH a spokesperson for the group stepped forward. Jack couldn't contain MORE! SUN. MAR. 22 - ROANOKE, VA his enthusiasm! "It is over?" he asked. "Is 2000 already here? Are Roanoke Civic Center all the millennial parties and promotions and crises all over and done Any 1 Show SUN. APR. 5 - VA BEACH, VA with?" $ I OFF Listed Above Virginia Beach Pavilion The spokesman explained that there had been a problem with the .( Up to 2 Adm. per coupon ) programming of the timer on Jack's cryogenic receptacle — it hadn't Regular Admission $6 For Info.: (301)984-5950 been Year 2000 compliant. It was actually eight thousand years later, INTERNET: http//marketpro.com not the year 2000. SAVE UP TO 90% SUPER BARGAINS! Computer Connections March 1998 7 comillaxx http://www.commaxx.com email: [email protected]

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8 March 1998 Computer Connections Talking to Your Computer by Graeme Bennett A look at dictation and voice command software technology from Lemont & Hauspie, a Belgian company specializ- Realize Software's InteractiVoice for Win95/NT4 is the first ing in speech recognition. L&H also owns Kurzweil, one of the voice command software for Win95/NT we've seen that uses Mi- pioneers of voice recognition. Somlo says L&H is not involved with crosoft's Whisper speech recognition engine. It's very, very good InteractiVoice in any form whatsoever. (although it is not a voice dictation system like IBM's $99 Via- According to Somlo, Microsoft has a bunch of developers that Voice). You don't need to train InteractiVoice, although those with have been working on speech recognition for several years together. accents or speech impediments can train the software to improve Most of them, Somlo says, had been at Carnegie Mellon University, accuracy. It can open, close and switch windows, click OK or where they had done some leading research on speech recognition. Cancel, open your Address book or email—even learn to open and Microsoft hired them and brought them out to Redmond, Wash., to close apps or documents you specify. Best of all, it's freely down- work on their stuff. Says Somlo, "Although MS licensed L&H's loadable from http://www.realizesoftware.com . It's $39 if you de- technology, I think that was relatively insignificant and probably cide you like the fully functional 10-day trial version. had a minor impact on this version of Whisper." He maintains that In a recent interview, Mike Somlo, president of Realize Software, Microsoft's more recent venture, investing in L&H (eight percent) discussed why the product doesn't work properly with menu com- and the Flanders group in Belgium, is a much more significant event, mands in Office 97 or Internet Explorer 4.0. Somlo says, "Floating and shows that Microsoft is counting on L&H and their technology menu bars present a real challenge, since they are not real menus. for speech recognition features in its upcoming operating systems. The only way to access the info in them is through a new Windows For those who want their computer to handle dictation tasks API layer that is very hard to use and extremely slow. We're at the today, several new titles are worth checking out: point where we are doing heavy duty Windows tricks to speed this Dragon NaturallySpeaking Personal Edition ($359), IBM's up (by injecting code into the different application's process space, ViaVoice ($138), ViaVoice Gold ($149),and Lotus SmartSuite 97 for example), but the performance may not be acceptable on slow (the latest update uses ViaVoice technology in WordPro 97). machines." Of these, NaturallySpeaking gave us by far the best results, both Somlo says his company licensed the Whisper speech recognition in terms of accuracy and speed. It also offered better correction engine from Microsoft for the technology behind the product. options for those inevitable errors that produce such non sequiturs Similar speech technology is also expected to be provided in as the word "lettuce" instead of "let us." Windows 98. In May, 1997, Microsoft licensed voice recognition (Continued on page 10)

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Computer Connections March 1998 9 (Talking to Your Computer - Continued from page 9) tably, ViaVoice Gold provides voice correction capabilities missing To correct a word in Natural lySpeaking, we simply said, "correct from the basic version. Gold offers compatibility with Word version lettuce." A list of alternate spellings showed up, which listed "let 6.0c and 7 to the Word 8 support offered by ViaVoice and adds the us" as number two. We said "select two" followed by "click OK" ability to speak into any application. It also provides voice naviga- and the change was made. You can say "click File...Save" to save tion for the Internet via Internet Explorer. It's all so Star Trekky, files, as you can command the system to click virtually any button isn't it? or menu item in almost any program. It worked remarkably well, An interesting option in ViaVoice is the ability for the computer even when speaking in a normal voice at regular conversational to read back existing text files in your choice of voice, complete speeds. No...longer...do...you...have...to...talk...1 ike...this. with an on-screen "agent" of your choice. The package includes NaturallySpeaking also allows you to navigate and issue menu male and female cartoon heads, a talking pencil, robot and a very commands, by giving orders like "click OK" or "click Monty Pythonesque talking baby's head. Our favorite was an in- File...Save." NaturallySpeaking is our recommended solution for nocuous circuit board with a pulsing round light in the center, Windows 95 voice dictation. strongly reminiscent of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. IBM's ViaVoice, which also offers continuous speech, had some I found ViaVoice's feature that allowed dictation inside Mi- attractive features, but proved less accurate at dictation tasks than crosoft Word 97 greatly slowed down that program and seemingly NaturallySpeaking, even after several sessions of training. (Via- decreased its reliability. We found the "WordPad"—based editors Voice requires no "enrollment" training, although training will supplied by both IBM and Dragon to be better for dictating into. improve accuracy in virtually any speech recognition product.) At The Lotus WordPro 97 update offers ViaVoice dictation features approximately one-third the price of NaturallySpeaking, perhaps inside that program, through a runtime engine. The integration of less should be expected. At any rate, IBM touts a better than 90 the two seems to be more elegant than with ViaVoice and MS Word. percent accuracy level before enrollment, with recognition accuracy Both ViaVoice and NaturallySpeaking run under Windows NT climbing to 95 percent after enrollment training. 4.0 as well as Win95. Both products include a high-quality headset, There are several others reasons to consider ViaVoice, however. microphone. Most importantly, it allows multiple users; NaturallySpeaking Per- ViaVoice specifies minimum system requirements of a Pentium sonal is limited to a single user. 166 MHz or 150 MHz processor with MMX and 32 MB of RAM. ViaVoice Gold, a deluxe US$149 version of the program, ex- To run ViaVoice under NT 4.0, 48 MB of RAM is required. pands the capabilities of ViaVoice in several important areas (details NaturallySpeaking specifies a Pentium 133 MHz processor with 32 at http .//www.software.ibm.comfis/voicetype/us_compa.html). No- MB RAM (48 MB for NT) as its minimum requirement. + 5 irm,..,,J,,,„_ ,,,J,,,,,,,,,,,,,..2...,,JR,R,,,,a,,,,,,,RioRi...... 0...... orai..,.....0.0,2,0, R ss TIDEWATER El NET 1 ■ 1 ■ 2 E-mail Accounts New! Ouake Servers!!! v" S ■ 18000+ Newsgroups ■ Fastest Possible Internet Access i • 4MB Personal Website ■ Tech Support from 10am to llpm S - I - , ■ 100% 56K Flex Modems ■ All Digital for the Most Reliable Connections E.

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Computer Connections March 1998 11 Information Overload hy William Van Winkle Fighting data asphyxiation is difficult but possible ... memos, manuals, Web research. The list goes on. Far from bringing Data is like food. A good meal is served in reasonably-sized about the anticipated "paperless office" and reduced work load, portions from several food groups. It leaves you satisfied but not technological innovations have increased both areas. stuffed. Likewise with information, we're best served when we can David Shenk, in his book Data Smog, reports that between 1980 partake of reasonable, useful portions, exercising discretion in what and 1990, paper consumption in the U.S. tripled to 1,800 pounds data we digest and how often we seek it out. per person. Sixty percent of the average office worker's time is spent Unfortunately, we often do the opposite, ingesting information processing paper documents. Additionally, "the typical business constantly to the point of choking on it. The risk of information manager is said to read one millio words per week." That's the asphyxiation touches all of us — managers, Web surfers, even lazy equivalent of one and a half full-length novels per day. couch tubers. Diminishing Efficiency The most obvious locus of information inundation is the office: Information technology, in fact, often diminishes workplace e-mail, voice mail, phone calls, meetings, business journals, faxes, efficiency. Scientific American ("Taking Computers to Task," July 1997) pointed out that despite the Sl trillion spent annually across the globe, "productivity growth measured in the seven richest nations has instead fallen precipitously in the last 30 years ... Most QwickNet of the economic growth can be explained by increased employment, trade and production capacity. Computers' contributions, in con- FREE On-Site setup* trast, nearly vanish in the noise." Blame can be pinned on everything from sound cards to solitaire, QwickNet will setup the PC in your home to that numbing front-desk babysitter. ensure proper operation of your internet Also at fault, however, is the medium and people's lack of connection. Guaranteed! This plan includes 3 training in how to effectively use it. When employees use e-mail to months of unlimited access for just $48.95. communicate with someone 50 feet away, there's a problem. Saving customer quotes in a general "user" directory is just asking for the document to become lost among hundreds of other files. Inefficient 852-9991 http://www.qwick.net (Continued on page 14) Cyber Exchange new a recycled computers//software

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4 igfiegthtin mow 866E l. E (Information Overload - Continued from page 12) David Shenk sites psychological studies spanning thirty years inventory software yields frustration where a simple list on paper and lists several symptoms which accompany information overload: would do the trick. • Increased cardiovascular stress, due to a rise in blood pressure Outside the Office • Weakened vision, siting a Japanese study which predicts a nearly The problem continues even outside the office. A Sunday edition universal near-sightedness in the close future of the New York Times carries more information than the average • Confusion (see below) and frustration 19th-century citizen accessed in his entire life. Billboards smother • Impaired judgement based upon overconfidence our roadways and buildings. In some cities, advertising is even stuck • Decreased benevolence to others due to an environmental input to the sides of police vehicles. (Imagine a patrol car advertising a glut (which may very well account for part of the "brusqueness" "run for the border.") Cable and satellite TV offer dozens of which is commonly attributed to big-city dwellers). channels of meaningless drivel. The check-out line at the supermar- There is a common piece of wisdom which holds that any given ket proffers a host of magazines "educating" the reader on such fact can be twisted to fit one's needs. Based on recent reports, is wide-ranging issues as "10 Ways to the Big 0" and new photos of milk good or bad for us? The answer, of course, depends on whose a biblical ark discovered on Mars. report you read. There are so many conflicting reports emerging We accept all this input with a tired, sometimes curious, smile. constantly that one is left not knowing what to believe, a condition Information Fatigue sometimes referred to as "paralysis by analysis." David Lewis of the International Stress Management Association This phenomenon may account for some of the decline in Ameri- originated the phrase "information fatigue syndrome." The barrage can health. Angelo A. Alonzo, a professor of medical sociology at of data to which we are constantly exposed carries a cost, both Ohio State University, told USA Today Magazine (October 1994), physically and mentally. "Health educators may well face a significantly desensitized popu- In many ways, it is a bona fide addiction. I can live without the lation, segments of which are immobilized by fear, indecision, and Web for a week, but I start getting antsy after a single day without confusion." When there is no clear method for improving our checking my e-mail. At night, I read constantly from the dozen or lifestyles, many adopt the course recommended most often by our so periodicals to which I subscribe while my wife channel surfs. mass media: fast food, aterial consumerism, and apathy. This is our relaxation time? My spotty memory and short atten- On a society-wide level, the dangers of information overload are tion span are notorious to all who know me. I feel tired constantly, enormous. The engendered feelings of helplessness, confusion, and despite regular exercise, yet continue thinking about the day's anger will erode work efficiency, family functioning, and most information load all the way to unconsciousness. likely increase crime rates. We will lack the information-processing skills needed to elect responsible leaders or counter the myriad waves of propaganda pushing our dollars this way and that. (Of ISDN BRI PRI CENTREX course, the argument could be made that this has already happened.) DEDICATED INTERNET CONNECTIONS If an individual's consciousness is formed by the information and Video Conferencing Telecommuting (56k modems) LAN-to-LAN Connectivity stimuli he experiences, then the influence of data glut on our thinking is undeniable. Buy our food, says the McDonald's ad, "it's not your fault you had to get up this morning." In accepting this, a A comprehensive @Bell Atlantic service by media-programmed individual gives up responsibility for his independent actions and is more susceptible to suggestion. Registered Dealer What To Do CICAT So what is to be done? The situation is not at all hopeless. Just as we require food, we similarly need information. The critical thing to remember is that we still have control over the information in our J Network Engineering lives. Following are some suggestions on how to exercise that control in the different areas of our day. Overall, the maxim to live J Line Provisioning ASCEND J Discount Hardware Sales

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Showroom Grand Opening 30 Mar 98. See next mth ad for address. 757.422.8667 www.cicat.com vnsw.exis.net/dialtone 14 March 1998 Computer Connections . y is, "decrease quantity, increase quality." infrequently as possible since correspondence tends to increase 1. At the office exponentially. Finally, take 30 minutes to download and install a Be careful with your phone time. Don't tolerate sitting on perma- good spam filter from Tucows. old, listening to elevator music and even more stupid radio com- Newsgroups can consume your life. I used to lurk and contribute mercials. Leave a short, efficient message which indicates precisely in half a dozen groups. Today, I only visit Usenet for research, what action you want taken and move on. Remember: when in targeting specific answers and ignoring all other conversation doubt, hit 0 for the operator. A recent Reuters survey found that 20% threads. of all voice-mail time is spent fumbling through menus. Beware getting stuck in that tangled Web. The inescapable ban- Reduce paper. An old boss of mine told me to touch a piece of ner advertising is bad enough, but with 70+ million pages to muddle paper only once. Either use and file it or toss it in the recycle bin. through, every Web user should master effective search techniques. To help facilitate this, switch to a fax/modem instead of a regular I recommend www.metacrawler.com . Take ten minutes and learn fax machine. There is no paper involved, and the "delete" key really the Boolean search terms. 10,000 hits may sound like a gold mine, can be your best friend. but odds are that with a narrowed search you'll find your best Get organized. CoreICENTRAL or Microsoft's Outlook are nuggets in the first 10. good examples of utilities which will structure your time, clear your Remember the library! When doing research, you may save desk of neon sticky notes, and maybe even consolidate your fax and innumerable hours forsaking the Web altogether and logging into e-mail functions. Also check out 3M's electronic Post-It program, your local library's server. Many counties provide free access to a jewel which will do wonders to clean your desk. Keep meetings Magazines Online (MO), a searchable, up-to-date database of hun- short, sweet, and focused. Make it known from the outset what your dreds of periodical articles. MO often alleviates the need for costly time limitations are and confirm beforehand the agenda. magazine subscriptions, endless Web searches, and, at the very least, a lot of photocopying. 2. At home Use your printer. I know this conflicts with my earlier statements Kill your television —or at least make it hard to use. Some families about saving paper, but it's so easy to become distracted by enticing keep just one TV and leave it in the closet except for occasional link after link. When you find information that you need, print it. viewing. Before sitcom stupor sets in, ask yourself, "Is this a good This saves both on reading time and the need to find the page again use of my time?" Even television news is mostly fluff designed later + more to sell commercials than to educate the public. Weather and Having accidentally adopted a career in computer sales, Mr. Van Winkle only commercials now account for half of each hour's broadcast. The wishes he had time to sleep 20 years. U.S. Department of Health and Human services has published findings that TV might actually cause learning disorders (really?!), so try instating a family reading time instead. Keep your phone number unlisted to reduce solicitation calls. Sick ofjunk mail? Contact the Direct Marketing Association (P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale NY 11735) with your exact home address along with all the permutations on your name currently in use by junk mailers. Ask to be removed from all the direct mail lists with which they are associated. Prioritize your phone time. It's taken years, but friends and family grapa- 11-12n4Plim 714 East Little Creek Rd. have learned to call me with planned discussion items and then not 9pireprn Phone: (757)531-9512 take it personally when I shove the call to a conclusion. Develop a hobby. Many of us feel that we don't have the time or 6 Meg talent for a hobby, or maybe that was something our parents did — tiftntr,,'As,„6.0r,,,af 25.P.el and God knows we don't want to be like them. A hobby, however, 72 PIN NON 4-3"0 besides having its own inherent rewards (not to mention a second 142 4Meg $15 / $12 possible source of income) will take time from otherwise wasteful 242 8Meg $25 / $18 brain drains like TV. Exercise can be viewed as a hobby. It may take 4x32 16Meg $40 / $35 an hour out of your nightly rerun ritual, but think of the extra 20 8x32 32Meg $89 / $69 years of health gained. , 3. On the Net 30 N E-mail can be a virus in its own right. Only drop your address 14 1Meg $6 4x3 4Meg $15 4x9 4Meg $19 (especially on Usenet) when essential, because software robots will 1x9 1Meg $8 see it and automatically add you to marketing lists. Respond to junk e-mail messages indicating that you wish to be removed from the CUSTOM SYSTEMS mailing list or else you will contact the sender's Internet provider www.comp-u-trend.com (usually [email protected] ). Also, you can usually tell which messages are worth your time just by scanning the header. Motherboards • Hard Drives • CD-ROM's Dump the extraneous ones. Respond to non-important messages as Speakers • Cases • Software

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16 March 1998 Computer Connections The Stop Bit by Leon Schwarzbaum From packing cases to the command center ... Finally, I aha'ed and exclamation-pointed, "Aha! These people My first contact with the cyberworld came sometime in the mid '80s. use COMPUTERS WITHOUT CABLES!" Not even a power cord! Two guys installed an outlet box in the wall next to my desk and the Clean, uncluttered and free-standing desks! Modular "islands"! No next day brought in a 14-inch monochrome monitor and a keyboard. unsightly connectors between the computers and peripherals. No "The keyboard goes on your desk," one of them said, "Where do need for electrical receptacles! you want the monitor?" I was being "connected" to our company's I looked at my computer station with different eyes. From my mainframe computer. non-ergonomic typist's chair, I could see power cords, feeding my The monitor perched on the corner of my already crowded desk, desk lamp, electric pencil sharpener, radio, speaker transformer and and I learned to input and access data that was organized by the MIS parallel-port tape drive. staff, placing almost limitless (and sometimes useless) information Below, a "dedicated" circuit with a direct ground supplies power at my fingertips. to my UPS (uninterruptible power supply). Cables run back and A year later, another crew arrived and put a box on my desk. The forth between my trackball, keyboard, printer, speakers, monitor monitor was put on top of the grayish metal box, and I was told I and telephone lines, selectively connected to a "master control now had a workstation — my own computer. Not only could I enter panel" and grouped in related bundles with cable ties. and access information, but I could now create documents and Fortunately, nobody looks back there, except me. Did I mention spreadsheets and share a printer with one other workstation, right the dust balls? Not impressive at all. there in the office. One of these days, I'm going to contact that furniture manufac- One problem existed, though. I needed more desk space. So a turer and buy one of his desks — but I'm going to make a "tie-in" table was brought in and jammed between the wall and my desk. purchase. I want one of those "wireless" computer systems. No The computer was put on the table and I could work more efficiently. power cords, no cables. You know, like the ones in the ads. The keyboard, however, remained on my desk, tied to the computer What do you bet there's a long wait for delivery on, those? + with a relatively short cable, crowding my desktop. Someone Leon Schwarzbaum has been entertaining corporate real estate executives brought in a typewriter table (you remember typewriters, don't with his More Random Thoughts" column and writing for publications you?) and I found myself spending more time at the keyboard as my here and abroad for more than 10 years. scope expanded. Today, when computers are as common in the workplace as adding machines used to be, a whole genre of furniture has been created to accommodate these electronic wonders. Ranging from The So tware Choice pre-cut desks and consoles, assembled by the user, to custom-made command posts reminiscent of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, • Custom Computers Teachers & these furnishings are a convenience never contemplated back when E • Hardware College Students the IBM XT sat in my spare room. • Upgrades Save Big $$$ on Academic Almost daily, I am assailed by offers of "computer furniture" in 0 • Repairs Priced Microsoft & Corel newspaper advertising and catalogs. For readers thinking of buying • Accessories Software a specifically-designed unit for their computers, I offer some sug- • Software gestions: ci; • CD ROM Rentals FE.F.. TUCSDAY • Consignment Sales Rent l C.D &et l free! Measure your computer components before shopping. Check • Networking supplies your printer size and the location of the paper feed, as well as where the paper is ejected. 0 Need to get your business on the VIE43? If you have a full- or mid-size tower, measure it. Look at your Budget V■lee, Space Hosting monitor and speakers, if any, and check the length of the cables $5.00 month/SID Setup connecting everything together. U • www.tschoice.com/yourname • 5t413. Space • Unlimited F1 ? access for site updates Sounds obvious, no? Let me tell you about the marvelous stand • i E-mail forwarding address I bought for my wife. After I assembled it, I discovered the desig- ■ • Other pakages available* nated slot was too short for the mid-sized tower. 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Computer Connections March 1998 17 Va. Beach Newport News compwsktms 4001 Va. Beach Blvd 12638 Jefferson Ave. Collins Square Turnberry Crossing coAtpurgas 431-1144 Phone 898-1798 Phone 431-1411 Fax 898-1586 Fax Two Tidewater Locations! Millenia MX-E --QDI Titanium TX M/B with 512K Pipeline Burst Cache --33.6K Fax Modem with Voice and Speakerphone --M2 CPU with MMX Technology --104 Win95 Keyboard and Serial Mouse --16MB SDRAM 1Ons --Microsoft Windows 95 --1.44MB Floppy Drive --14" .28 DP SVGA Monitor 1024x768 Digital Controls --2100MB (2.1GB) EIDE Hard Drive 10ms --STB Nitro 3D With 2MB SGRAM IBM 166MX. $1139 --Mini Tower Case 5 Drive Bays IBM 200MX...... $1159 --24X EIDE CD ROM Drive 150ms Access --Wavetable Stereo Sound Card IBM 233MX...... $1219 --80 Watt Stereo Speaker System Free Color Inkjet Printer! Millenia TX-E MARCH ~MSS —QDI Titanium TX Pentium/Pentium MMX Motherboard —512k Pipeline Burst Cache MMX SPECIALS —32MB SDRAM 1Ons MMX CPU with QDI TX Chipset Jumperless --1.44MB Floppy Drive Motherboard and CPU Cooling Fan --4300MB (4.3GB) EIDE Hard Drive 10ms IBM or CYRIX 166MX ..$219 —4 MB 3D Graphics Accelerator IBM or CYRIX 200MX $239 --Enlight Tower Case 6 Drive Bays IBM or CYRIX 233MX ,,,A,0 $299 --32X EIDE CD-ROM Drive AMD K6-166MMXAW $269 --Wavetable Sound Card AMD K6-200 —120 watt stereo speakers W.' $299 MMX —56K Fax Modem with VoiceMail and SpeakerPhone AMD K6- $329 --104 Key Windows 95 Keyboard INT $269 for —Genius NetMouse with Center Scroll Button IN MMX $289 —Microsoft Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 4.0 INTEL 233 MMX $369 Less! IBM 200MX $1039 IBM 233MX $1099 PENTIUM 11 MMX AMD K6 166 MMX $1069 SPECIALS AMD K6 200 MMX $1099 -- INTEL PENTIUM II MMX CPU AMD K6 233 MMX $1129 --ASUS P2L97 LX CHIPSET M/B Pentium 166 MMX $1069 --STB Velocity 128 4MB AGP A --32 MB IONS SDRAM (MN Pentium 200 MMX $1089 --High Quality Ball Bear D1Fan Pentium 233 MMX $1169 --Enllght ATX Sup wer Case Options: --14" SVGA .28DP Monitor $169 233 MHka), $769 --15" SVGA .28DP Monitor $239 --17" SVGA .26DP Monitor $419 266 le.‘' $869 Upgrade RAM To 64 MB $79 3 $1089 3 YEAR PARTS AND LA9OR WARRANTY 33 MHZ $1289 1404.0 See us on the Internet for shopping or tech support at www.hroads.netfolfili

18 March 1998 Computer Connections

Packard Bell Owner's Special #1 Packard Bell Owner's Special #2 Packard Bell Owner's Special #3 MARCH IBM M2 200 MHZ MMX CPU, QDI CX Media GX 180 MHZ MMX CX Media GX 200 MHZ MMX CPU TX MB, 4 MB SVGA Video, Mini CPU, 2 MB SVGA Video, Mini Tower Mini Tower. 2 MB SVGA Video UPGRADE Tower, Stereo Sound, 32 MB SDRAM Case, Stereo Sound, 16MB EDO Stereo Sound, 16 MB EDO RAM SPECIALS! $399.00 $229.00 $279.00 Free le..t. ∎ 11.1tme! ram Inatsitationt Free Installation! Memory Millenia 2LX-V Motherboards 1X9 3 CHIP 1MB $8 --QDI Pentium II LX Chipset Legend V Cyrix MediaGX 180MHZ MMX $179 4X9 3 CHIP 4 MB $15 Motherboard With Ultra EIDE 1X32 4MB 72 PIN $15 2 MB OnBoard SVGA Video, Stereo Sound --PC Power & Cooling K-1 CPU Fan with CPU and CPU Fan 2X32 8MB 72 PIN $25 --32 MB SDRAM Memory 1Ons 2X32 8MB EDO $25 --1.44 MB Floppy Drive Cyrix MediaGX 200MHZ MMX $199 4X32 16MB 72 PIN $45 --4.3 GB Ultra EIDE Hard Drive 2 MB OnBoard SVGA Video, Stereo Sound 4X32 16MB EDO $45 --4MB AGP Graphics Accelerator with CPU and CPU Fan 8X32 32MB EDO $79 --ATX Midtower Case QDI Intel 430TX 512K Baby AT 2X64 16MB SDRAM 1Ons $45 $99 --32X Ultra EIDE CDROM Drive 4X64 32MB SDRAM 1Ons $79 TX400 Jumpered, up to 233MMX --Ensoniq PCI Soundcard wlWavetable 8x64 64MB SDRAM 1Ons $189 QDI INTEL 430TX 512K BABY AT $109 --MLI-170 120 W Speakers Jumperless 4 PCI 3 ISA, EIDE/10 DMA/33 CPU's --56K Fax Modem with Speaker Phone VAN TITAN AT-2 TX CHIPSET $139 --PS/2 Keyboard and Genius Net Mouse INTEL/AMDICYRIX MMX SUPPORT IBM 166MX with MMX $89 --Microsoft Windows 95-B, OSR 2 512K PB CACHE, UP TO 256MB, 5 PCI --Microsoft Works, Microsoft Money, IBM or CYRIX 200MX with MMX $109 4 ISA SLOTS IBM or CYRIX 233MX with MMX $169 --Microsoft Encarta and Assorted CD INTEL 166 $129 Titles by Microsoft TX97 Pentium $159 INTEL 200 $199 MB 75-233MHZ, AMD K6 ALSO, ATX OR AT, 512K, INTEL 166 MMX $139 233 MMX $1329 QDI PENTIUM PRO 440FX $129 INTEL 200 MMX $159 266 MMX $1429 4 PCI, 4 ISA, EIDE/10150-200 MHZ INTEL 233 MMX $239 300 MMX $1599 QDI Pentium II LX Chipset, AGP $169 AMD K6166 MMX $139 333 MMX $1799 ATX, Ultra EIDEIDMA33, SDRAM AMD K6 200 MMX $169 Support Built In AMD K6 233 MMX $199 Options: Pentium II LX Chipset, AGP $199 INTEL PENTIUM II MMX 233 $329 -17" .26 Goldstar $419 ATX, Ultra EIDE DMA133, SDRAM INTEL PENTIUM II MMX 266 $429 - 17" .25 CTX $589 INTEL PENTIUM II MMX 300 $599 Support Built In - 19" .22 Hitachi $1149 INTEL PENTIUM II MMX 333 $799 tak Pentium II LX 2L97-S $299 3 YEAR WARRANTY Built In UW SCSI-3 Controller Hard Drives Dual Pentium II LX $479 PARTS AND LABOR Built In UW SCS1.3 Controller 1.2 GB EIDE W. DIGITAL $139 2.1 GB UL EIDE FUJ..or WD $149 2.5 GB EIDE W. DIGITAL $169 Millenia GX CD-ROM Drives 2.6 GB ULTRA EIDE FUJ $179 CX MediaGX Motherboard with MMX CPU 16X Mitsumi EIDE CD ROM $69 3.2 GB EIDE W. DIGITAL $209 16 MB EDO Memory 24X EIDE CD ROM Drive $79 3.2 GB UL EIDE Fujitsu $199 1.44 MB Floppy Drive 24X Toshiba CD ROM Drive $89 4.3 GB UL EIDE Fujitsu $239 2100 MB (2.1 GB) Ultra EIDE Hard Drive 32X Toshiba Ultra DMA/33 $99 4.3 GB UL EIDE Quantum $249 SVGA Graphics Accelerator 16X SCSI-2 CD ROM Drive 99ms $99 4.3 GB UL EIDE W.DIGITAL $249 Minitower or Desktop Case 24X SCSI-2 NEC CD ROM Drive $119 5.2 GB UL EIDE Fujitsu $259 16 Bit Stereo Sound with Speakers 32X SCSI.2 CD ROM Drive 90ms $139 5.1 GB UL EIDE W.DIGITAL $269 33.6K Fax Modem 6.4 GB UL EIDE W. DIGITAL $299 Plextor 12/20 20X SCSI-2 $219 6.4 GB UL EIDE QUANTUM $289 24X EIDE CD ROM Drive Plextor Ultraplex 14/32X Ultra SCSI.... $269 14" .28 NI SVGA Monitor Plextor Recorder 4X Write 112X Read $499 2.1 GB SCSI.2 QUANTUM $249 133 MMX....$799 6.4 GB UL SCSI QUANTUM $499 1 Year Warranty Philips Omni CD ReWritable $539 180 MMX....$869 Parallel Port or SCSI-2 External 4.5 GB UW SCSI-3 CHEETAH $899 200 MMX....$949 9.1 GB UW SCSI-3 QUANTUM..$949

Computer Connections March 1998 19

„ipin,,,„ COMPUTER MEMORY HARD DRIVES CPU'S /586 1X9X60 1M 30P SIMM $ 5 Seagate 1.2 Gig S129 Intel P-75..$110 P-100....$99 Seagate 2.5 Gig $189 ro 4X9X60 4M 30P SIMM $26 Intel P-133..$112 P-150..$118 1X32 4M 72P SIMM(NP) $16 Western Digital 1.2 Gig $139 Intel Pentium 166 $119 t?. PTIONS, INC. 1X32 4M 72P SIMM(EDO) $16 Western Digital 1.6 Gig $159 Intel Pentium 200 $179 LYNNHAVEN CROSSING SHOPPING CENTER Western Digital 2.1 Gig $169 . 20\9 829 LYNNHAVEN PARKWAY, SUITE #117 1X36 4M 72P SIMM(PAR) $27 Intel Pentium 166 "MMX" $139 VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23452 2X32 8M 72P SIMM(NP) $25 Western Digital 2.5 Gig $179 Intel Pentium 200 "MMX" $159 We are next to Gold's Gym, facing the Hecht' s Men store and JC Penney outside Lynnhaven Ale0 2X32 8M 72P SIMM(EDO) $25 Western Digital 4.0 Gig $225 Intel Pentium 233 "MMX" $239 wwww_ dm cm Irsa co nil _ 01111 2X36 8M 72P SIMM(PAR) $39 Western Digital 4.3 Gig $239 AMD-K5 P-100 $99 P-133 $106 341E11 - BBS 4X32 16M 72P SIMM(NP) $41 Western Digital 5.1 Gig $269 AMD-K5 P-150 mhz $107 z 4X32 16M 72P SIMM(ED0) $42 Western Digital 6.4g'UDMA.$299 WWII Intel ir MONDAY • FRIDAY 10110am TO 7:00pm AMD-K6 P-166 mhz $139 SATURDAY 10:00am TO 5,00ptn 4X36 16M 72P SIMM(PAR) $46 Maxtor 2.1G $179 AMD-K6 P-200 mhz $182 ro Ho urs Sto SUNDAY 12:00am. TO 4:. 00pm 8X32 32M 72P SIMM(NP) $71 Maxtor 2.5G $189 AMD-K6 P-233 mhz $199 Maxtor 3.2G $209 YEAR WARRANTY 8X32 32M 72P SIMM(ED0) $74 P11-233...$329 P11-266 $439 i its 8X36 32M 72P SIMM(PAR) $82 Maxtor 4.0G..$249 4.3G..$259 P11-300...$589 P11-333 $825 PARTS LABOR Maxtor 5.1 Gig $299 DATA/FAJUV MODEMS SPEAKERS ON NEW SYSTEMS CD-ROM DRIVES 14.4k D/F Modem Internal $29 80 Watt w/AC-adpt $25 r 32 Megs EDO RAM Exp. to 128M131 Visit 430TX MOTHERBOARD w1512K Level 2 SRAM Cachisi 33.6k Modem Internal $55 8x CD ROM Internal $69 120 Watt w/AC odpt $30 u s at Dual Channel Integrated EIDEI 33.6k "SVD" Modem Internal $65 16x CD-ROM Internal $69 240 Watt w/AC-adpt $45 11104" 24X EIDE CD-ROM DRIVE: 33.6k U.S.R. Modem Ext $129 18x CD ROM Internal $100 300 Watt w/AC-adpt $55 www.compoptions.com 33.6k Modem Internal PNP $89 20x CD-ROM Internal $79 500 Watt S-Woofer Kit $79 Find the PC Products 2.5 GB EIDE HARD DRIVE 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Once 56k D/F Modem Internal $85 24x CD-ROM Internal $85 you've been looking for . NEW or Pre-Owned 53/3D VIrge 4 Megs Video Card To Make any CD-ROM Drive OTHER ACCESORIES OPTION e 1 PENTIUM PRICES 30 SOUND CARD w132•OICE WAVE TABLE:, SOUND CARDS External, Just add $95 3D / 300 WATTS SURROUND SPEAKERS for External Kit. Microsoft Mouse $29 AMD K6 166 $1250 16 bit 3D Sound Card $22 Parallel Interface 3 Button Serial Mouse $10 AMD K6 200 $1290 14" NI 1024 x 768 65Hz .26 Color Monitor 32 Wave Table Sound Card $39 OTC Keyboard 1104 KEYS & Microsoft Mouse Dos/W3.1/W95/NT Drivers PS-2 Mitsumi Mouse $19 AMD K6 233 $1320 Sound Blaster 16 OEM $59 33.6K ASVD Voice Mail/Fax/Answering Modem PS-2 Mouse Conn./AI types $8 Sound Blast. OEM Awe64 $89 Intel MMX 166 $1250 Microsoft Windows 95 Rev. 8, Word 97, Works 4.0 CASES Univ. Serial Bus 2-Conn $25 Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Sound Blast. Value Awe64..$115 Intel MMX 200 $1290 Netscape Communicator 1.03 for WIIS Mini Case $45 Mini-Mid Case$52 Speakers extension cable 6'....$8 Intel MMX 233 $1350 Microsoft Fonts. Clip An & More Sound Blast. Gold Awe64....$199 W95 Emergency Recovery Utilities, Norton AntiVirus 3.0 Mid Tower Case $58 Anti-static wrist strap $10 AOL, AT&T WorldNet and Compuserve Online Full Tower Case $79'1 IDE Cable 3-C $5 VIDEO CARDS Floppy Cable 5-C $7 The On•Line f 64 Megs D1MM IONS RAM Exp. to 128418 ATX Mid Case for Pent.II $95 430TX MOTHERBOARD w/512K Level 2 SRAM Cache Matrox Millenn. 2M (up4M)..$129 Universal Audio Cable $8 I* Site of Choice Dual Channel Integrated EIDE Matrox Millenn.-114M (16M).$199 CPU'S /486 I1P CD Writer 2XW 6XR $390 24X EIDE CD-ROM DRIVE Millenium 2M Upg $69 Network Card "ISA" $29 Links to fine manufacture sites AMD 486 DX2-66 $40 5.0 GB WESTERN DIGITAL "Udrns" HARD DRIVE Mystique 2M...$99 4M $125 Network Card "PCI" $35 Our latest price lists on-line! AMD 486 DX2-80 $45 If you can't find it, email-us 3 r 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE Mystique 2M Upg $59 Net. Starter Kit 2-Nics/25'C...$115 [email protected] AMD DX4-100 $49 4 Megs VIDEO CARD I MATROX / MYST 220 Matrox Mystique-220 4M $139 Tape Backup 3.2G Internal...$199 AMD DX4-120 $55 OPTION 02 PENTIUM PRICES Trident PCI 9680 1M (up2M)..$28 PC Power Supply 230w/UL $39 AWE64 SOUND BLASTER GOLD CARD AMD 5x86 133 $55 Trident PCI 9680 2M , $34 EIDE ISA Controller w/BIOS $34 AMD K6 166 $1850 3D / 500 WATTS SURROUND SPEAKERS Intel 486 SX-25 $15 Trident PCI 9685 TV 2M $69 EIDE VLB Controller 2S/1P$ $30 AMD K6 200 $1890 17" NI 1014 x 768 6514z .28Color Intel 486 DX-25 $15 Monitor S3 PCI P-411/3D 2M(up4M) $54 2H/2F ISA Controller $16 AMD K6 233 $1920 Intel 486 SX-33 $25 56K ASV() Voice MailtFaxlAnswering Modem Ati PCI "Wonder" 3D 4M $249 2H/2F/2S/1P/1G Controller $17 SIC Keyboard 1105 KEYS & Microsoft Intellimouse Mous* Intel 486 DX-33 $25 Intel MMX 166 $1850 Diamond II-S220 PCI 4M $124 2S/1P/1G Multi-I0 Card $17 Microsoft Windows 95 Rey B & Nest Intel 486 DX2-50 $45 Intel MMX 200 $1890 Microsoft Internet Explorer 4,0 Diam. 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FEET' 486/5x86 PCI 4-72p $99 AXSL MOTHERBOARD w1512K Level 2 SRAM Cache' MONITORS Floppy Disk Drive Mount.Kit $9 RETAIL STORE Dual Channel Integrated EIDE Pentium 512Kc 75 266NX..$110 Vga/KB/Mouse A&B Switch....$35 24X EIDE CD-ROM DRIVE 14" Vision Graphic "Digital" $169 Pentium 512Kc 75-233/TX..$135 DB25 A&B Data Switch $24 We mantain an 15" Vision Graphic Monitor $199 Pentium-II ATX w/AGP $225 Inventory which 6.4 GB UDISA WESTERN DIGITAL EIDE HARD DRIVE Power Supply FAN 3.1" $15 3.5" 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE 15" Acer 54e Monitor $249 ranges from the latest 3.6v NICAD Battery 2-Pins $10 1 to the older technology . Diamond II VIDEO CARD w/444 RAM 15" Acer 56c Monitor $269 PRINTERS OPTION 413 PENTIUM PRICES 17" Vision Graphic Monitor $399 Canon 250 AWE64 SOUND BLASTER GOLD CARD $159 SCANNERS PENTIUM II 17" Acer 76e .27 Monitor $449 Canon 620 $299 3D / 500 WATTS SURROUND SPEAKERS Acer 310S1310PR $149 1 17" Acer 76c .27 Monitor $469 Epson 400 $199 Acer 610-Plus $229 1 233 MMX $2100 17" Ni 1024 x 768 65H0.28 Color Monitor 17" Accr 78ic .20 Monitor $430 Epson 600 $279 266 MMX $2200 Acer Elux-3D $1791 56K ASVD Voice Mail/FaeJAnswering Modem All Prices and Offers subject to change without notice. Computer Options, Inc. is Not responsible for typographical errors. 300 MMX $2400 8TC Keyboard 1 105 KEYS & Microsoft IntellImouse Mouse ■ 333 MMX $2600 Microsoft Windows 95 Rev. B & Plus( .11u.•• ••11171.11110. Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 40116111 WE WILL TRY TO BEAT Netscape Communicator 403 for W93 ,0 W95 Emergency Recovery Utilities, Norton AntiVIrus 3.0 era OR MATCH ANY PRICE AOL AT&T WrifIdalet and Compuserve Onlin& 1)/VTA RECOVERY Computer Options, Inc. has made special arrangements with . If NA, Cant Recover- Your Data . AOuickNET, one of Tidewaters fastest growing Internet You Pay Nothing! A QuikN service providers, to provide you with 30 days of FREE Internet HARD DISK ONLY access a value added fe ture on your new Computer I There is no other `V'ek''''' Options a r: ,C. r new PC configured to connect to place you can buy the best parts, the best professional service, the best support I AOuickNET. All you have to do is point & click on the Intemet Explorer icon on your desktop to begin your and the best knowledge for all your computer needs. We take all of the necessary precautions to internet adventure. 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20 March 1998 Computer Connections The Scoop on SCSI... Q. I'm just starting to learn about SCSI, but I find all of the terms THE COMPUTER GUY to be terribly confusing. What's the difference between SCSI-1, and DASP and Drive Jumpers... SCSI-2? What do those "Fast", "Wide", and "Ultra" terms mean? Q. 1 inherited a hard drive recently, and the person I got the drive from said it doesn't need to A. I'm not surprised that you're confused. First, SCSI means "Small be configured as a "master" or "slave" drive. Computer System Interface". It began life in 1979 when Shugart Also, the drive has three jumpers marked "DS", Associates released their "Shugart Associates Systems Interface" "SP", and "CS". What do these jumpers do? (or SASI) standard, later renamed SCSI. The first SCSI drives and interfaces were known as SCSI-1. SCSI-2 overcome many of the A. I think you're referring to a DASP-type hard speed and compatibility problems encountered with SCSI-1. SCSI- drive. DASP means "Drive Active/Slave Pre- 2 was designed to be backwardly compatible with SCSI-1, but sent", and it is a signal (actually pin 39 of the IDE signal cable) that SCSI-2 also provided for several variations — "Fast SCSI" (or Fast hard drive manufacturers use to indicate the presence of a "slave" SCSI-2) and "Wide SCSI" (or Wide SCSI-2). Wide SCSI uses a drive on the IDE cable. You STILL have to configure the drives as 68-pin cable instead of a 50-pin cable. Wide SCSI can also support "master" and "slave", but when a drive is configured as a "slave", it up to 16 SCSI devices. SCSI-3 is designed to be backward compat- will use the DASP signal line to identify itself to the drive controller. ible with SCSI-2 and SCSI-1 devices. Although SCSI-3 is still not You'd see this problem crop up when you can't get a new slave drive finalized, there are many SCSI devices and controllers that are to be recognized. In practice, all current EIDE hard drives are DASP making use of the advances offered by SCSI-3. These early SCSI-3 compliant. ' devices are generally known as "Ultra SCSI" (or Ultra SCSI-3, also However, if a drive is NOT DASP compliant, you'll need to use termed "Fast-20 SCSI"). Ultra SCSI uses a 20MHz SCSI bus clock your "master" drive to tell the drive controller that there IS a "slave" with an 8-bit data bus to achieve 20MB/s data transfers. By using a drive present—that's what the "SP" (or "Slave Present") jumper is 16-bit data bus, SCSI-3 offers "Wide Ultra SCSI" (or Wide Ultra for. You'd set the master drive, then set the "SP" jumper on the SCSI-3, also termed "Wide Fast-20 SCSI") which handles 40MB/s "master" drive as well so that the system will specifically know to data transfers. Whenever you see references to "Ultra", "Fast-20", look for the "slave" drive. "Ultra2", or "Fast-40", you're faced with a SCSI-3 setup. You can As for your other jumpers, "DS" is usually taken to mean "Drive learn a lot more about SCSI http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hy- Select" which means the "master" or boot drive. By setting the "DS" pertext/faq/usenet/scsi-faq/top.html. jumper, you're making that drive the "master" drive. If the jumper is left open, the drive would likely be identified as a "slave" device Stephen Bigelow is a PC author of more than 9 PC and peripheral service hooks with McGraw-Hill. Questions, e-mail can he sent tosbigelow@cerfnetcom. (unless there is a specific "slave" jumper on the drive). The "CS" jumper is the "Cable Select" control, and defines the drive's "master/slave" relationship based on the drive's position on the IDE signal cable. Hampton Roads A Sticky CMOS Setting... Q. I've been studying the available options under my CMOS Setup, and I found an entry called "Speculative Lead Off" which I simply don't understand. I've checked everything I can think of-even the system's documentation just says to keep it enabled. I figured I see Family Net if The Computer Guy can enlighten me. A. According to the information that I've been able to dig up, the "Speculative Lead Off' entry is a memory performance feature that Internet Access first gained BIOS support with Intel's 430HX chipset. The 430HX and other compatible chipsets allow DRAM read requests to be sent just before the memory address has been fully decoded. In other 874•HRFN words, the CPU will issue a read request, and included in this request is the place (address) in memory where the desired data is to be Local Call for GTE and att of Tidewater! found. This request is received by the DRAM controller, which will http://www.hrfn.net issue the read command slightly before it has finished determining No Gimmicks! the address. No Contracts! As you might imagine, this requires a bit of "speculation" on the part of the DRAM controller, but when accomplished correctly, can Extra E-mail Acct! reduce the wait between the time a read address is decoded, and the Free 5MB Web Page! time data is available to be read. In actual practice, such "Speculative Lead Off' may shave a few nanoseconds off each read cycle, but can improve overall system performance by several percent. If the FROM $9.95 - Sf6.95 K5, feature is enabled, leave it enabled. If the feature is disabled by default, leave it disabled. Best Buy in Tidewater Access!

Computer Connections March 1998 21 PC Tuneup: RpvitalizeI Your Current Equipment by Lawrence J. Magid Now is as good a time as that temporary folder and, if nothing goes wrong after a few days any to take stock of your of usage, you can safely delete them. computer systems to see Also take a look at the programs installed on your machine. If what needs to be replaced, you have software you never use, you may as well delete it to free upgraded or put on a fitness up disk space. If possible, avoid deleting programs by simply program. erasing them or their directories from your hard drive. A regular With PC prices falling deletion will get rid of the program files but won't purge your system through the floor and new of other files and resources that the operating system uses to keep models arriving every track of programs. month, it's tempting to re- Most Windows 95 programs come with an "uninstall" option, place your equipment with which you can usually access by clicking on the add/remove icon the latest and greatest. It in the Windows control panel. Although this works OK with pro- might make more sense in- grams designed specifically for Windows 95, it's not as reliable as stead to revitalize some of third-party uninstall programs that tend to free up even more disk your current equipment for space. These include CleanSweep Deluxe 3.0 (Windows 95) from today's tasks. Quarterdeck ([800] 683-6696), Uninstall Deluxe Windows 95) PCs don't get heavier as from Symantec ([800] 441-7234), Unlnstaller 4.5 (Windows 95) they age, but their hard disks do tend to get full. So put your system from CyberMedia ([800] 721-7824) and SpringCleaning (Mac) on a diet by deleting files and programs you no longer need. The from Aladdin Systems ([800] 732-8881). first thing you should do is delete all those temporary files. If you're Windows 95 comes with two programs you can use to tune up using Windows 95, click on the start menu, select "Find," make your hard drive. ScanDisk checks the drive for problems with files sure the "Look In" box says C: and then type in *.tmp in the and, in some cases, the disk itself. Another program, Disk Defrag- "Named" box. Click On "Find Now"; Chances are, you'll see a long mentor, improves the performance of your machine by rearranging list of files that end in tmp. In almost every case, those files can be the data so the drive's read/write head doesn't move as far when erased with no harm to your machine, e§pecially if they're in a folder accessing data, thereby giving you faster access to programs and called C:WINDOWSTEMP. If you have any doubt, move them to (Continued on page 24)

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Computer Connections March 1998 23 (PC Tuneup - Continued from page 22) cient. When a new version is released, the company usually places data files. Both programs can be found by clicking on the Start menu it on its Web site. From time to time, you can check out the Web and selecting Programs/Accessories/System Tools. sites of the companies that make the equipment you need, or you There are several third-party programs you can purchase that do can subscribe to CyberMedia's Oil Change program. A $39 fee buys even more to improve overall performance and prevent and fix you a copy of Oil Change and a year's subscription to the upgrade problems. Norton Utilities from Symafitec is the leading PC utility service. Quarterdeck offers a similar product, called TuneUp ($35), program. The newest Windows 95 version, 3.0, not only checks your which keeps you up-to-date with more than 3,000 products and also disk for errors, it also helps improve overall system performance by provides updated virus protection. optimizing the Windows registry, which results in faster starting of Although software utility programs can sometimes improve a Windows and Windows programs. The software has other features PC's performance, there are limits to what you can do with old such as Crash Guard, which runs in the background to detect and equipment. Ultimately, you ha've to think about upgrading your "unfreeze" programs that stop running. CyberMedia offers First hardware. Before swapping your old machine for a shiny new one, Aid 98, a utility that checks for hardware and software conflicts as find out what it would take to improve the system you have. If you well as potential hard disk failures. First Aid 98 works on Windows have less than 16 megabytes of memory, for example, you can 95, but there is also a version for Windows 3.1. inexpensively turbocharge your machine by adding more memory. Although your machines might be working fine, there's a good In some situations, a machine with 16 megabytes of memory will chance that some of your software is out of date. That doesn't work better if you upgrade to 32 MB. necessarily mean you need to upgrade, especially if it requires If you're still low on hard disk space after deleting all the files spending money, installing new software or learning how to use new you can do without, consider getting a higher-capacity hard disk features. Unless you have a compelling reason to buy the newest drive. Most PCs can accommodate a second hard drive without any version of whatever it is you're using, you may as well stick with other hardware modification. If you want more space than you what's working. But sometimes manufacturers issue free interim probably know what to do with, consider Western Digital's 6.4-gi- versions of programs just to fix bugs or add a feature or two. This gabyte Caviar IDE drive (about $310). It's fast, it stores tons of data, is especially true with "drivers," which are free programs that come and it can coexist with standard IDE drives installed on most with printers, scanners and other devices to help them communicate IBM-compatible PCs. + with your PC. Lawrence J. Magid is a syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times. You It's not uncommon for equipment manufacturers to issue a new may write to him at [email protected] device with drivers that are later found to be buggy or a bit ineffi- I niternat caleke email ftp telnet chat web hosting isdn newsgroups web design

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SORRY, NO RETURNS AFTE 30 DAYS I ' E Due To The Volatile Market, Prices Are Subject To Change Without Notice. Camps-Zoo Cannot Be Held Responsible For Typographical Errors We Accept All Major Credit Cards NA Comps-Zoo Reserves The Right To Substitute Some Parts With Equal Value Counterparts . Computer Connections March 1998 25 All Together Now...Convergence by Jeff Evan 'Convergence' has been a buzz word in the computer fieldfor years. ofmodern life has arisen. We increasingly have the option of immersi It refers to the trend of modern media evolving into a digital format, ourselves in a truly interactive but non-physical information sea, whe which can be easily manipulated with low-cost computing 'appli- tens of millions of people can now lead a kind of life that is ve ances. ' The TV, the phone, and the computer will become as one, different from what has ever gone before. according to this vision. As every mass medium goes digital, will the Why we are going digital PC become the focal point of daily life in the 21st century? Or will The old pre-computer electronic technologies are "analog." The the future be more complicated, and maybe more interesting, than consist of traces of light recorded on film, magnetic recordings of audi that? and video waveforms on tape, or waveforms broadcast over the air o Throughout most of human history, people have relied on face-to- transmitted through a metal wire. Analog media tend to be very distin b face contact with other people for most of their information. Even from each other, and are not immediately compatible with each other something as basic as mass literacy was relatively sporadic and rare You need a different "playback" device for each analog medium ( until the last 200 years. movie theatre, a TV set, a radio). Also, every time you copy a photo The Industrial Revolution 200 years ago helped create, and was dub a videotape, or transfer a film onto videotape, you lose a significan created by, what we now regard as the traditional mass media: books, amount of the original information. Analog media are imprecise, an ' magazines, newspapers, advertising, and popular music. These media, "leaky": they lose quality when they are transmitted or reproduced. relying on new technologies and new systems of economic production To be a commercial quality media creator, you typically neede and distribution, inevitably tended to fall outside the control of tradi- fairly expensive production equipment (movie cameras, recording stu tional religious and political structures of belief, and helped provoke dios, video editing suites). To be a consumer, you had to fill your hous the constant change that is a feature of our modern daily life. with gadgets: TVs, record players, tape cassette players, radios, phones, The last 100 years have seen a proliferation of still more new forms answering machines, tape recorders, VCRs, and so on. The bother and of visual or electronic mass media: radio, film, sound recordings, and expense of buying and then learning how to use and maintain all o TV. This proliferation of information technologies has helped spur the these devices is considerable. growth of our modern shopaholic, global consumer society. It has also Digital technology offers a fundamentally different way to create meant that an increasing part of our understanding of the world, our and access media. Digital information is simply "bits." The number "mental landscape," is defined not by direct contact with other people zero, and the number one, "on" and "off," arranged in infinite patterns or with the physical world, but second'econd or third hand, through commer- that can describe a word from a book, as easily as a painting by Vincent cial mass media. Van Gogh, or a live telephone call, or a 3D space for Duke Nukem to With the appearance of the personal computer, a whole new element run around in.

The !rte r eye of Arty gamic & Internet Media 7:00pm, March 19, 1998 at the Virginia Beach Pavilion Tickets $15 Available at Contemporary Art Center of Va. 425-0000 SCHEDULED TO APPEAR: Falstaff • Ripdizzy ■ Bobby Massano R R&B All Stars ■ Lewis McGehee SI H.M. Johnson III B.J. Leiderman Laura Martier ■ Chrystal Laury • John Burford and George Bell (formerly The Squares) 111 Liana Ramerez ■ Eddie Williams 26 March 1998 Computer Connections Once you take information from the world and record it digitally, it allow the user to enter text, do email, and edit a variety of different otentially ceases to be part of one or another separate medium. When kinds of files. formation is digital, it can be mixed and matched, one form of The perfect convergence appliance would come with connections to formation with any other: photos can be integrated with sound, 3D all sources of media: cable TV line, phone line, high-speed networking aces can be moved through interactively by a person playing a game. cable, input devices (like scanners and video framegrabbers), and he efficiency of inefficiency output devices, (such as printers and speakers). It would have to be The great benefit of the personal computer is that it is such an untidy, cheap (preferably well under $1,000), and "smart""-so well designed finished, but flexible device. The PC is digital: it eats up any kind of that it would be a snap for even a novice to hook up and use. nformation in bits and bytes, lets the user slosh it around, and spits it This device doesn't exist. The closest thing to it that does exist is... ut as printer hard copy, audio, or a visual display on the computer a modern multimedia PC. creen. Over the last 15 years, end-user demand for PCs that can TV vs. PC imulate traditional media, such as telephone and television, plus offer People love their TVs. In many ways, the ideal convergence device he interactivity of computer games and the World Wide Web, has would seem to be a big TV screen, with the smart convergence appli- riven the rapid evolution of the PC. ance tucked away either in the TV set's chassis, or a set-top box of some In analog-media days, nobody thought of using a record player for sort. atching TV, or using a phone for making movies, yet a PC can, Users could relax in the living room in proper couch potato mode, admittedly with some trouble and expense, be made to function as and control all the proceedings via a wireless clicker, and perhaps voice almost any kind of information device. Plug a video capture card into recognition or wireless keyboard and mouse. Unfortunately, the vision your PC, and hook it up to a video camera, and you can use a PC as a of the TV-centric convergence appliance tends to fall down quickly in still or movie camera, or a videophone. Attach a microphone and load reality. voice recognition software, and you have a hands-free typewriter, where you can write a term paper just by speaking it aloud. Want to The road to Flopville write and publish a book, either on paper or on the Web? A PC can help TVs are great for watching TV (obviously) and for playing video you do that. File your taxes and pay your bills electronically? A PC can games, but they turn out to be lousy for some other, very important do that too. Want to reserve an airline ticket, look for a prospective convergence functions that phones and computers do. The most impor- mate, start a business, or take a college course? A PC can be used for tant is reading large amounts of text. Here's why: any of those things. The standard NTSC television signal is 15.75 kHz, interlaced. This The Futz Factor: there ain't no such thing as a free produces a shaky, fuzzy, jumpy text display, which is further degraded lunch by the average TV's very coarse dot pitch or phosphor dot size. (Continued on page 28) The price you pay for trying to achieve a convergence of TV and phone functions on a PC is partly monetary: the more you want to do, the more you have to spend on the latest PC hardware, add-in cards and software. More than that, however, you have to become a bit of a computer expert, and spend endless time reading manuals, and fiddling with SUBSCRIBE TODAY! computer products that don't work the way the manual said they would. HAVE The technical term for this is "futzing around." Admittedly, when most people want to watch TV, they turn on a TV set, rather than feed a video signal into a special card installed in their PC. Watching TV on your PC can be a charming novelty, for example Computer viewing the X-Files in a window on the monitor screen, while at the Connections same time answering one's email in another window on the monitor. Delivered To Your Door PER YEAR However, the charm quickly wears off. For Only... The current multimedia home PC, circa 1998, offers a tantalizing Sub -tion Form sense of being "almost there" as the ultimate convergence device, but in fact it isn't there yet. What is the state of "convergence," and what ❑ YES, I .'cant to subscribe! Please enter my one year still needs to be done? subscription (12 issues) to Computer Connections The quest for the perfect convergence appliance In order for people for just $15. Check ❑ Money Order to be induced to toss out every consumer electronics or computing Payment Method: ❑ ❑ VISA ❑ MasterCard gadget but one, that remaining device, the mythical holy grail of convergence, would have to meet a host of user needs. It would have Card # to be compatible with analog, commercial TV signals (including regular Exp. Date broadcast TV and videotapes, plus possibly cable and satellite feeds). It would have to be compatible with standard audio formats, mainly CD Signature audio, but also AM/FM radio. It would have to have full telephone Name functions, including basic voice phone and answering machine, with bells and whistles such as speakerphone, fax, low-cost long distance Address voice access via the Internet, and even videophone capability. City State Zip It would also require PC-style features. These include the ability to : Mail to Computer Connections, 1224 Executive Blvd., Suite 101, run business, education and games software (probably MS Windows Chesapeake, VA 23320 FAX to 757-548-3283 (credit card orders only) compatible, but also Java), save and print files, connect to networks Subscriptions are mailed via First Class mail by the 1st of each month. (including the Internet and business LANs or even home networks), and Computer Connections March 1998 27 (Convergence - Continued from page 27) will allow the user to do email as well as voice phone calls and faxe If you watch the TV screen from typical family room distance of An elegant product from Uniden is one of the most promising of thes 1.8-3.6 m (6-12 ft.), text is hard to make out. If you move closer to the "email phones." screen, the text is very blocky and unstable. In any case, the result is The main drawback of this approach is that, essentially, the vendo eyestrain, fatigue, and headache. is trying to get people to buy and use a very stripped down, limite Also, you need to interact a fair amount with a convergence device pseudo-PC. The user soon finds that he or she would like more of th to tell it what to do (load some software, surf through pages on the Web, functions of a "real" computer: a color screen to browse the Web, send an email). To navigate through a host of options, you need a storage device like a hard drive, a keyboard for entering text, etc. Thi pointing device such as a mouse, and a text input device such as a will likely keep the email phone in a fairly specialized category, rathe keyboard (even with voice recognition, a mouse and keyboard are than make it a true convergence solution. essential for making corrections, additions and menu choices effi- Convergence to go ciently). Also, if you have a printer/scanner/fax hooked up, you need Notebook PCs have acquired most of the features of multimedi to be close enough to operate these devices, putting in and taking out desktop PCs, and their mobility would seem to make them ideal sheets of paper. Finally, it's likely that you'll need to frequently change convergence appliances, able to be moved from room to room in a disks or cartridges (CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, removable storage car- house, or to the classroom, or out on the road for mobile business. tridges or floppy disks), which would mean getting up from the comfy However, although the top of the line notebooks are indeed impressive, couch all the time. they are extremely expensive, and about as complex to use as a regular Ergonomically, a full-function, interactive convergence device desktop PC. The small size and clever multimedia integration of seems to demand that the user be within arm's reach in order to get the notebooks do place them on the leading edge of ergonomic design and most simple and productive use from it. All this makes the traditional efficient use of space. big TV only a partly adequate solution for converged applications. At Fall Comdex '97 in Las Vegas, IBM treated the public to the sight A large numbers of vendors of set-top box/CD-ROM player products of a Network Vehicle, a family van wired to the gills with satellite (Commodore's CDTV and CD-32, Tandy's VIS, Philips CD-I, and communications gear, display screens in front of every passenger seat, Apple's Peanut), have found, to their cost, that adding a clumsy-to-use voice activated email for the driver, and a host of other high-end semi-PC to a television set doesn't light the average consumer's fire. capabilities. This, however, was "concept car," blue sky stuff The extremely smart phone In the short term, we are likely to see many of the most interesting As number of manufacturers have tried to enhance the phone to moves towards convergence happen in the mobile computing field in integrate phone and some computer functions. One of the most prom- the form of less ambitious, less complete solutions, embodied in tiny ising approaches is to equip the phone with an LCD or LED screen and handheld PCs. Devices such as the 3Com Palm Pilot, and new versions the necessary custom processors, memory and built-in software, which of the Windows CE platform are attempting to cram as many functions as possible into the tiniest and lightest form factors. Wireless modems, digital camera cards, voice input options, multimedia business presen- tation capabilities, are all sprouting up on handheld devices on a daily basis. MPUTER It will be difficult to come up with a handheld that offers all the functions of PC/TV/phone in the near future. It will be possible to make handheld devices that offer a wide enough, useful enough convergence CTOR. feature set to attract millions of new users, and greatly stimulate continued rapid improvement. Convergence gadgets: we got a million of 'em "America's Ultimate Literally hundreds of vendors have rushed to market with add-in Mobile Computer cards and peripherals to facilitate convergence on the PC. Multifunction Repair Company" devices from Xerox and Brother (the latest Brother multifunction device has a video framegrabber built in), digital cameras, and the ATI All-In-Wonder graphics card, are all price examples of how awareness Repairs of convergence is driving manufacturers to supply the necessary build- Sales ing blocks leading to an ideal convergence appliance. How to get there from here Upgrades Don't let this happen At the end of the day, the best road map to convergence is being to you! Call and ask offered by the PC industry. No other platform, not phone, or TV or any Printer Repairs other consumer electronics or telecom technology, has been as progres- about our On-Site sive or visionary as the computer nerds. Over the next decade, we are Preventive Maintenance. likely to see convergence PC technology in a variety of formats, Cle,',,MPUTER D' um. including desktop and portable PCs, handhelds, and embedded computers buried in other devices. It may be that a PC will be anything running an operating system (probably Windows, less probably Java), and possessing a chipset that allows it to juggle all the media that users need, with a minimum of cost and hassle. For the moment, though, I MEI= ga 4664809Mon-Sat 9:00-5:00 would continue to put my bets on the desktop PC as the best hope for We Understand Small Business Needs one info appliance that does nearly everything, nearly satisfactorily. + Independently Owned and Operated 28 March 1998 Computer Connections

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March 1998 29 Computer Connections New 56K Modem Standard A QuikNET by Jonathan Marshall Major modem manufacturers endorsed a new 56K standard re- www.aquik.net cently, alleviating a major headache suffered by computer users who seek faster access to the Internet. The standard was hammered out Now Serving by the International Telecommunications Union, an arm of the United Nations, at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Williamsburg & Most industry players hailed the new standard, which ends a fierce marketing battle between two incompatible 56K technolo-

ItIOOLCO Surrounding Areas gies: X2, endorsed by 3Com Corp. (U.S. Robotics) and K56flex, backed by Rockwell International and Lucent Technologies. Until now, anyone who bought an X2 or K56flex modem could 56K* Internet Access only get fast service from an Internet provider who specifically Unlimited supported that technology. Some computer users held back from buying the modems, uncertain which technology would prevail. ** $ 12.95 per month! "People were hesitant to jump on the 56K bandwagon," said Karl Nordling, vice president for modem engineering at Cirrus Personal or Business Dial-up PPP and E-mail Access Logic in Fremont. "Now that there's one standard everyone will Program Total Due Monthly Fees Annual Fees Setup Savings adhere to, we think the market will take off quicker." Monthly $19.95 $19.95 $239.40 N/A 0 3Com and Rockwell have pledged to have new modems available by the end of March that adhere to the ITU standard, but Nordling 3 Month $54.00 $18.00 $216.00 N/A $23.40 said a more realistic time frame for products to hit the market would be several months. N/A $38.40 6 Month $100.50 $16.75 $201.00 Internet service providers can also breathe easier now that they 1 Year $155.40 $12.95 $155.40 N/A $84.00 won't have to buy two kinds of equipment to hedge their bets. "With this standard, the risk to ISPs has been eliminated," said Unlimited Access Ernie Raper, a modem analyst with VisionQuest in Moorpark 2 E-mail Accounts (Ventura County). "Now, even the smallest of ISPs should move quickly to add 56K modems in order to meet user demand and to 3MB Personal Web Space remain competitive with many others who have already made ewsgroup Access substantial investments in this technology." Included with Dial-upIJ Accounts 56K modems typically allow computer users to download data such as Web pages from the Net, at 40-50 kilobits per second. Inherent limitations of phone-line technology prevent sending 465-2611 today for fast, out data at more than about 33 kilobits per second. Not all phone Call lines work with 56K modems, and many older computers need reliable connections! upgrades to work with them. For users who already have 56K modems, many manufacturers $24.95 mo. have promised to offer free software upgrades to make them com- Web Site Hosting patible with the new standard. $34.95 month with Dial-up access The vast majority of modems sold this year will be 56K compat- No Contracts ible, said Dean McCarron, an analyst at Mercury Research in $59.00 One time setup fee Scottsdale, Ariz. He projected total sales of about 74 million modem 10 E-mail accounts chipsets in 1998, up from 65 million last year. 15MB Storage space, additional available McCarron, however, questioned the conventional wisdom that Unlimited data transfer Daily back-ups the new industry standard will lead to sharply lower prices sharply Multiple T3/T1 connections, fast reliable access in the short run. Manufacturers who wanted their technology to We register your with 200+ search engines become the de facto standard have already been competing fiercely New domains registered (Internic fees apply) to win market share, he said. Domain transfers accepted But Nordling said manufacturers have another strong incentive to make the new 56K modems as attractive as possible to consumers: E-mail: [email protected] Hot on their heels are cable and digital subscriber line modems that Mo 11111 Fax: 757-465-2062 Id I i'M ',.._ I carry data more than 10 times as fast. A Quick Internet Service Provider *x2 products are capable of 56K downloads; however, due to FCC rules, "This is the one last improvement we can do to analog modems current download speeds are limited to 53kbps. before they get overtaken by other technologies," Nordling said. ** Based on prepaid annual subscription rate of $155.40 "If we don't do (create a market) soon, it will be a moot point." + 30 March 1998 Computer Connections We Computer & Gaming Pa deata

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Computer Connections March 1998 31 RAndY's RumOR RaG by Randall Ainswo NEWS IN YER FACE Outlook 98 will replace the Microsoft Fax component w Microsoft has purchased the free e-mail service Hotmail and is Symantec's WinFax Pro. The capabilities will remain on an alm expected to integrate it into MSN. Hotmail has more than 9 million feature-by-feature basis. The change is being made due to t subscribers. Internet-based configuration of Outlook 98. On Once again Microsoft has changed their mind. Initially they in Rumor has it that the 2G Jaz drives will slow down the SC were going to require NT 3.51 Qwners to upgrade to Version 4 bus if connected to the same cable as the hard drive. Iomega before bumping up to Version 5. Tow they've decided to provide recommending a separate SCSI card. Then what's the point if y a direct migration path. have to have 2 SCSI cards? risi>n . Next year Intel will release Pentium II chips with twice as many Nom This summer Sun is coming out with a card for their Darw MMX instructions. Intel is keeping specifics secret and there is the workstations that will run Windows applications as fast as the faste possibility of compatibility problems with non-Intel chips. PCs. Current boards for S-100 based systems only deliver perfon ance in the 70MHz-90MHz Pentium range. These boards will u AMD PC clone chips and Cyrix chips to get performance in the ar of the mid-range Pentium Hs. AUTO PC CHECK OUT Ever heard of the Auto PC? It's Microsoft's companion to th Palm PC. It's an in-dash device which goes in your car. You giv it voice commands (speaker independent) and it will retrieve info THE NEM mation and respond in a computer voice. They say that it wil www.hamptonroads.com recognize anyone's speech and even work in a noisy car. Beside functioning as an AM/FM/CD player, it contains an address boo Over 2,700 Web Sites and navigation software, and a bunch of other way kewl stuff. Th The Most Complete Directory of Hampton interface and operating system is Windows CE, of course. Roads' Web Sites. Visit the Hot Spot, Cool Tell the unit your starting point and destination and it will tal Contest, and list your Web Site for FREE! you through your route. If you get stuck in traffic, it will determin (Continued on page 34)

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Meetings are Contact: Paul Burgener 596-7573 or TAW TideWater AppleWorms held monthly at Mr.Cutchins home: E-mail peninsula©bigfoot.corn Contact: Rich McClintock, 468-8027, 6-10 PM [email protected] for directions. http://users.cnu.edu/-dstein/PAUG/ Meets 2nd Saturday, 9 AM - 1 PM Everyone is Welcome! Meets 3rd Saturday - mornings, at Heritage HS Norfolk Olympia Fest Hall, 3322 Sandy St. (behind the ARMCO on Military HVVY.), Norfolk SHRUG South Hampton Roads User Group PCUG Portsmouth Commodore User Group For the Macintosh & Apple II computer systems. Contact: Ted Dupuy, 483-1562 Contact: George Horton, 393-1081 Meets 2nd Saturday, 10 AM -12 noon Meets 4th Tuesday, 7:30 PM WIA Williamsburg Internet Association Tidewater Comm. College, Portsmouth campus, Ports. Catholic Elem. Sch. Library, call for direc. http://wia.widomakercom Rm. 404. Open to all. Use Commodore/Amiga. Contact: Dana Metheny, 565-8684 Meets third Wednesday, 7 P.M. TUG Tidewater User Group Hampton Roads DB & S.E.VA Fox Pro Users Group Williamsburg Regional Library Auditorium Contact: John Newenstyn Pres., 460-0963 Contact: Robert Munson, 466-1695 Everyone welcome. Meets 1st Saturday, 10:00 AM Meets 2nd Tuesday, 7:00 PM Virginia Beach Central Library CBN Corp. Support Ctr., 997 Cer erville Tpke., VB HRIA Hampton Roads Internet Association Further knowledge of computers, DOS, Windows. Open to anyone interested in databases Contact: Ann Harney, 622-5795 Meets 3rd Thursdays, 7:00 PM TROGLOBYTES TRS-80 Computer Users Group ACE Amiga Computing Enthusiasts Virginia Beach Central Library Auditorium, located Contact: Harry Winter, 464-0943. Meets 3rd Contact: William E. Boone, 485-3575 at 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd., next to Loehmanns Thursday, 8:01113M, Boys/Girls Club of Norfolk, 3401 Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesdays, 7:00 PM ECPI Bldg., Plaza. Open to all who wish to learn more about the Azalea Garden Rd. 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March 1998 33 Computer Connections (RA ndY's RumOR RaG - Continued from page 32) Utility will synchronize data with Schedule Plus, but Office 97 an alternate route. It will transfer to and from other handheld and doesn't like Schedule Plus. Office 97 wants to work with Outlook. laptops using an infrared port. You can even send data to your The people at PDA Direct have come up with a program called desktop computer by using the optional wireless support. Outlink which will synchronize Newton data with Outlook. Right Also optional is an interface to your cell phone. Just ask it to look now it's only available in a download version ($69.95) but packaged up someone, it will scan the address book and dial your cell phone copies will be available any day. for you. The operation is pretty simple. You'll need to install a special You can get current traffic reports, e-mail, news, and paging. It's Outlink package into the Newton in the same manner that other got an 8-color screen with a CD drive for data, program, and music packages are installed. Once that's done, just run the Outlink pro- CDs. The faceplate comes off to disable the unit and deter theft. gram on both the Newton and the PC and sit back and wait. There's even an optional Multi-CD changer and interface to a I can tell from experience that synchronization is faster with a GPS receiver. Mac. I routinely synchronize with Claris Organizer because it has Major car manufacturers have already pledged support. almost the same applications as those built into the Newton. Using Oh yeah, these things will sell in the $1200-$1300 range. Outlink to synchronize with Outlook does take a bit longer. PILOT UPDATE But not all of us have both platforms to work with. I'm not a real While we're talking about PDAs here, 3Com has plans to release fan of Outlook either but it's much better than Schedule Plus. a PalmPilot with 2MB of RAM (upgradeable to 4MB), use the Anyway, if you need to synchronize your Newton with Outlook, next generation Motorola chip that runs 25-50 percent faster than this is almost your only option (there's another program out there the current processor, and it will synch through a network. The unit, that will do it but I can't remember the name). Of course you can code-named Rocky, will ship in the first quarter find PDA Direct on the Internet at www.pdadirect.com . IBM will be marketing the same product under their banner FORCE FEEDBACK and add a Lotus Notes component. You've seen or heard about the Microsoft joysticks that give OUTLINK feedback when used with software that supports them? Surely I'm not the only one out there that interfaces a Newton For just $139 you can get a mouse that lets you feel the textures with a PC. The Newton does seem to talk better with it's own kind and surfaces of liquids, hills, and valleys when you drag the cursor (Apples) but there are a number of decent utilities for the PC over a scene. You can also experience icons with drag and snap. platform. For more information go to www.force-feedback.com . One of my complaints is that there has been no way to have the Opinions expressed are those of the author. Randall Ainsworth, 605 W Wishkah, Newton Communicate with Outlook. The Newton Connection Aberdeen, WA 98520-6031,(360) 533-6647 voice/fax, E-Mail: [email protected] Home Page: http://www.techline.com/--rag FTP: ftp.techline.com/pub/rag

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Services provided terminal style internet access. Or connect to our superfast T1 network include: message/mail areas and on-line games. Files available include with PPP/SLIP and experience the internet in full graphics. We host our games, programing, Dos/Windows, OS2 and CD-ROM file areas. In own local games servers (including Quake) as well as offer web hosting, operation for well over 2 years providing a place for the exchange of ideas mail and news services. Come join our community! Sign-up online or call without the usually annoying censorship. Looking for adult minded per- our support line at 420-2356. Free trials available! More info at sons to expand our ranks. With your help, we hope to grow in size. http://www.vabch.com or see display ad on page 6. 38 March 1998 Computer Connections Computer Connections

• oca Includes Bulletin Board Listings oodland Mini BBS 486-1097, FREE, 24 hours, 33.6400, 1 line. A Newport News ildCat designed system for all, but does contain some material for all The Golf Club BBS 874-3574, FREE, 24 hours, 56K, 1 line. A gen- mily members. Services provided include online messages/mail and eral/family oriented system. One of the best Windows BBS's available. at. File areas include games, GIFs, Anime, games, DOS/Windows, Download our Free software for easy access to Web type navigating. S2, Amiga and files on CD-ROM. This BBS has all the popular online Use any browser to point and click your way effortlessly to file areas, ames, huge filebase of over 60,000 files at a time. There is an adult messages, local golf courses and online golf lessons. We have the only ction requiring access form. Sysop is prompt at answering mail and Streaming video golf lessons around. Visit the club shack for the latest ry friendly. Technical support also. Operator has internet access and golf equipment. 98 models are in now. NOW AVAILABLE!!! ONE FREE an get you most any driver you need. A fun BBS. Very active. MEG OF SPACE FOR YOUR HTML PAGES!!! ultimedia Madness 460-9642, FREE & PAID, 28.800, 24 hours, 2 nes. An Adults only system designed with Power BBS for Windows. Suffolk raphics, sound and music abound on this system. Callers are invited Mind Games BBS 538-9001, FREE & PAID, 24 hours, 28.800 baud, 10 • download the software needed for Windows access. Easy point and lines. A local BBS with a friendly, clean cut atmosphere. Truly different! lick operation. Huge 17 Gig file areas of the Latest Shareware and Adult A place to pursue KNOWLEDGE, WONDER, and FRIENDS. Featuring les. Play sounds and music while previewing GIF's. Chat or play games Multi-User chat; high quality message bases with philosophy, politics, hile downloading files. Local interest forums and much more. Friendly poetry, plus lighter fare; 10 GBytes of files; Internet Email. Many games ersonalized service. New users welcome. featuring Circle MUD, MULTI PLAYER DOOM, and WordLink, a popular word game. Local call for all Bell Atlantic phones using any ANSI BBS ampton terminal program such as Hyperterm in Win95, COMIT, QMODEM, • dyssey 928-0030, FREE & PAID, 24 hours, 14.400, 12 lines. A PROCOMM, TELIX, TELEMATE, etc. Our 5th year! ajorBBS designed - general purpose, family oriented system. Features Notice: The information in our WEB/BBS listings is provided by each ajorNet and online messages/mail/chat/games. File libraries include sysop/webmaster and is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. DOS/Windows, games and files on CD. Specializing in online multiplayer If you are unsure as to how to connect to a BBS contact your computer games including MajorMUD, Trade Wars, Game Connections and more. dealer. Sysops/Webmasters: to add your listing, complete the form Large file libraries and game forums. Begin your joumey here! below and return it to us by the 15th of the month for our next issue.

EigsiwEgsiTE Ad F orm • New Listing ■ Correction/Change ■ Deletion Website Listing - 40 words (approx. 5 lines) - BBS Listing - 40 words (approx. 5 lines) - Deadline is the cost $10 per month. No adult sites accepted! cost $5 per month for 1-3 nodes, $1 each additional node 15th of each month Complete all that applies.

BBS/WEBSITE Name: Location (City): BBS# or URL: Max. Baud Rate: ❑ 9600 ❑ 14400 ❑ 28800 ❑ 33600 ❑ MajorBBS ❑ PCBoard ❑ WildCat ❑ WWIV ❑ Excalibur ❑ First Class ❑ Searchlight ❑ RoboFX ❑ Other Use an extra sheet of paper if necesary to Type of System: ❑ Free ❑ Paid ❑ Both Operational: ❑ 24 hours ❑ other Complete this form. Internet Services Provided: ❑ E-mail ❑ Newsgroups ❑ FTP ❑ Telnet Other Nets: ❑ Fidonet ❑ Rime ❑ Other

General Services Provided: ❑ Online Messages/Mail ❑ Chat ❑ Online Games ❑ Other

Files: ❑ None ❑ CD-ROMs ❑ Games ❑ GIFs ❑ Amiga ❑ Apple/Mac ❑ DOS/Windows ❑ 0S2 ❑ Other

Access (Circle): 1 - General/Family audiences; 2 - Teenage audiences; 3 - Adult audiences preferred; 4 - Adult audiences only Special Features/Interests: (What makes your BBS/WEBSITE different or special?)

The remaining information is not published and is kept confidential, but is necessary for verification.

Sysop/Webmaster Name: E-mail Address: Mailing Address: City/State/Zip: Voice Telephone: Authorizing Signature: Payment Method 0 Check 0 Visa/MasterCard Mail to: Computer Connections Card # 1920 Centerville Tpke., Suite 125, Va. Beach, VA 23464 or FAX to: 757 548-3283 Exp. Date / No. issues to run Due to the need for absolute accuracy, this form must be mailed or faxed.

March 1998 39 Computer Connections

■ • • •

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In addition to of View, Grrls in Gaming News and a vibrant Black History facts, Black Facts Online will also let you search for gamer community to shake your booty with Black-oriented web sites that satisfy search criteria that you enter. here and everywhere online where you can Black Facts Online is a collaborative project that needs your help to play games. We feature a reviews such as Jedi be a complete success. Knight in the Reviews section and Men in http://www.fitnessonline.com/ Black in GrrIzPOV! Not to mention archives & resources chock full of gaming goodness. Fitness Online - If staying in shape and improving your nutrition aren't good enough reasons to visit http://www.naturalhandyman.com/ fitnessonline, then go for the Arnold. Twenty pre- Natural Handyman - Home repair doesn't have to be all drudgery. viously unpublished photos of Schwarzenegger give The Natural Handyman offers to help you lighten up. You can never you something to work toward. be too rich, too thin, or have enough home repair info!! That's why we're here! Take your shoes off, put up your feet http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/ and enter HOME REPAIR HEAVEN..,! Just walk Nicely Useless - Some people spend their you trusty mouse over to the INDEX, and click online lives scouring the Web for valuable any item, and The Natural Handyman will lead information. Not these folks at the aptly you down the garden path to home repair sanity named Useless Information site. Now over 60 (if there is such a thing). A FEAST OF HOME fascinating true stories to choose from! Stuff REPAIR HELP, INFORMATION, HUMOR, you never needed to know but your life would AND ENCOURAGEMENT!! be incomplete without. 40 March 1998 Computer Connections owledge Worker's Guide more than an expensive stereo, you are in for some trouble. You see, with all the power of today's computers and hardware, one thing w I Learned to Stop Worrying has not changed. The instructions are more inscrutable than ever. and Love Microsoft For example, I was retrieving my on-line bank account informa- by Charles Arnold tion from a pleasant young fellow at the telephone help line (or is it support desk? I can't keep those details straight anymore). I asked Years ago, when I was a Peace him how he could deal with the flood of new users attempting to Corps volunteer in Afghanistan, operate these incredibly complex machines. my colleagues invented a way to Apparently, I had touched a raw nerve. I could sense the tears maintain their sanity after total welling up in is eyes. "You have no idea. I have spent an hour just immersion in a foreign culture. getting them to click on the 'My Computer' icon," he lamented. They organized "The Either/Or Perhaps this is how one such conversation went: Otter Corps." It's even funnier if "Hey, we got this disk from the bank, and we want to start you say it very fast. Believe me, I banking on-line." am not making this up. Reality is "Fine. Do you see My Computer?" much more bizarre than any fan- "Of course we can't see your computer, sonny. We're on the tasy. telephone." The philosophy behind this ad "No, no. I mean click on the My Computer icon." organization was the unusual choices. The restaurants served her rice or soup. To travel around town, you had either a bus or a "What's an icon. Some kind of religious picture? Right? i. By air, either a Yak 40 (a small Russian-made jet) or a Twin "No a little image you click with the mouse." er, ftom which the Otter Corps derived their name. "Is that what you call that thing? Well, what do you call that The computer business has always been a little goofy, in many sliding drink holder? Push a button, it slides right out. I should put ys like Afghanistan, where new rules apply in virtually every one of these in my Buick." uation. And computers are, after all, simply a way to deal with I can understand the frustration of both parties. "System and her "ls" or "Os". And, like Asia, even the simplest choices are Setup Info" I would understand. "My Computer" is just, well, too mplex and confusing. The metaphor may seem a bit strained, but cute for my tastes. Why did directories suddenly become folders? etect eerie similarities between that extremely low-tech country, What happened to sort? I was happy managing files. I didn't need here most cities have electricity for only a few hours in the to go exploring through disk files. Yes, this new generation of ening, and the most high-tech of businesses. computers is even more confusing than the last one. The computer business has reached a whole new level this year, But behind every difficulty is an opportunity. These folks who Id computers seem to be on the verge of becoming more and more are baffled by icons and setups today will be turning to their tertwined in our everyday lives. The signs are everywhere. Take computers for more and more tasks. They'll research medical infor- look inside any computer store. Folks of all sorts are picking up mation and give their doctors pains. They'll know more about the achines far more sophisticated than the ones that navigated the products and services they buy. If they can learn to operate these polio spaceship to the moon. And they are cleaning out the fancy new computers, they might even figure out how the federal Iventory. government has hoodwinked them. The specs on these powerful machines are enough to make even As for me, I just slip Mozart in my new CD and look forward to e hard-core hackers swoon The basic machine has a 200 MHz that fateful day. That's how I learned to stop worrying and love rocessor, a 56k modem with flex (whatever that is), a 2 GB hard Microsoft. rive, and a 24x CD that automatically knows the difference be- Charles Arnold is a copywriter and a technical writer in Sarasota, Florida. You can contact him via e-mail at [email protected] . ween music and a computer program. These machines operate irtually hands-free. Computers have become almost full-fledged ntertainment and information centers. That's hard for folks like me, who have known computers as just nother tool of the trade. I don't care if a computer has a cute little Great Bridge Internet animated on-screen assistant, or plays music. I just want it to function as promised. However, one of the endearing — and infuri- Call 482-1383 with any Internet Question!! ating — characteristics of personal computers is that they so easily Unlimited Multiple Hub Connections defy logic and good sense in their operating systems and applica- $ GU Multimedia Domain Email for Business tions. The clever little animated helper from Microsoft invariably Accounts Windows NT & UNIX Specialists returns incorrect and off-the-wall answers. The function that is FrontPage Server Extensions supposed to place a photo in one corner of your publication instead $180 per Year. Custom Network Engineering sends it 30 pages away. Unpredictable key combinations make the Get a full year of Full Technical Support screen freeze and your work disappear. email for only $60. Best In Chesapeake since 1995 The music and video CDs play automatically. But if you want www.gr8brdg.net [email protected]

March 1998 41 Computer Connections hitt Or Our Competitors Want your Money, corNiormoil, We Want Your Business! 5394 Kemps River Dr. Suite 109 509A North Military Hwy. Located at the Kemps River Shopping Center Norfolk. VA 23502 Va. Beach, VA 23464 Voice: (757) 486-9018 Voice: (757) 386-4434 FAX: (757) 486-9253 FAX: (757) 366-5187

March Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 9 to 7, Saturday 10 to 5, Closed Sundays 1998

Systea of the a4L.I v.v,, Intel Pentium Super System w/Color Printer Classic Pentium Upgrade Fit por 441111 Pri • Pentium H "LX" Chipset • Pentium Motherboard w/512K Motherboard • Pentium "TX" Motherboard CACHE 75-233MHz • 32Mb SDRAM • INTEL Pentium 166MHz MMX w/512Kb CACHE • 4.3Gb Ultra DMA Hard Drive CPU • Intel Pentium 200MMX • 32X EIDE CD-ROM • 32Mb SDRAM CPU • Mitsumi High Density Floppy • CPU Cooling Fan • 32Mb SDRAM • PCI Stereo Sound Card • 4.3Gb EIDE Hard Drive • S3 Virge 4Mb PCI Video • 56Kbps Internal Voice/FAX • Mitsumi High Density Floppy Card Modem • 24 Speed EIDE CD-ROM • AGP 4Mb Video Card • 56Kbps Voice/Fax Modem • ATX Mid-Tower Case • 6Mb Voodoo Rush 3DFX Video Only. . .$399 Installed • 17" Super VGA Monitor .28 • Sound Blaster AWE64 w/160Watt dpi Speakers • Windows 95 Keyboard PS2 • MiniMid-Tower Case • MS Compatible Mouse PS2 • 104 Key Enhanced Win95 /Holder & Pad Keyboard • Windows 95 Operating System • 160 Watt Speakers • Pentium II "LX" Rev. B • Mouse / Pad & Holder Motherboard • Microsoft Home Entertainment • Microsoft Windows 95® OSR2 • Intel Pentium PII 233MHz CD Bundle • 17" Super VGA Monitor .28dpi CPU • Altec ACS-45 Speakers w/ Sub • Microsoft® Home Entertainment • 32Mb SDRAM • Epson® Color Stylus 600 CD Bundle Printer • Epson® Color Stylus 600 Printer • 4Mb AGP Video Card • Cooling Fan w/Heatsink PH 233MHz $1549 Only $1829 PII 266MHz $1839 Only. .$679 PH 300MHz $2079 90 Days Same As Cash PII 333MHz $2759 VR7® Mffatim@®P With Credit Approvali

Due To Volatile Market Conditions, Prices and Design Specifications Subject to Change Without Notice / Not Responsible for Typographical Errors.

Motherboards Hard Drives Modems Cases Video Cards ASUS PII LX Model P2L97 $189 1.2Gb EIDE $125 33.6Kbps V/F Int. $49 Mini-Tower $25 Trident 9680 2Mb $35 SuperMicro PH LX Model P6SLA $185 1.6Gb EIDE $135 56Kbps V/F Int. $75 MiniMid-Tower $31 6Mb Voodoo Rush $205 ASUS Model TXP4 $125 2.1Gb EIDE $145 33.6Kbps Ext. $79 Mid-Tower $39 ASUS 4Mb AGP $149 ASUS Model SP97-V $95 2.5Gb EIDE $159 Pwr Supplies Full Tower $49 Diamond Fire GL1000 8Mb $219 QDI "TX" $105 3.5Gb UDMA $199 235 Watt $22 Enlite Mid-Tower $59 Viper V330 4Mb $179 TX-PRO $69 4.3Gb UDMA $219 250 Watt $25 ATX Mid-Tower $75 Diamond 3D 2000 4Mb $89 TX-PRO II $85 7.0Gh 1 'DMA S149 100 Watt $38 S1 Virge 4N4h $59

42 March 1998 Computer Connections LASSIFIEDS THAT WORK! To Place a Classified Al each Over 75,000 see Classifieds Ad uyers monthly claifss ied Ads Form on Page 45 ANNOUNCEMENTS Distributors Wanted! Earn $100 with COMPUTER SERVICES every sale. Distribute the 21Software- S. Navy Master Chief (Retired) John 0. Pak, a collection of money-making CS Computer Services Email: computer rmele, Jr. would appreciate your vote on "how-to" reports and ideas on one CD. [email protected] Service call $30 y 5, 1998 for Virginia Beach City Council Ask about the free Website and toll-free plus parts, Upgrades, Software/Hardware [strict 5). Thank You!! www.exis.net/hrrep/ order taking number. Call toll-free 1 installation and custom PC's. Free email mele (888) 526-7856 Ext. 4366 for more in- consultation. Call (757) 487-1557 in Deep formation. Creek. ed Money - Easy fundraising project for hools, churches, non-profit organizations, c...Call in Norfolk, 587-6503 for free infor- Perfect Home Business. 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CLASSIFIEDS THAT WORK' Classified Advertising Deadline for April Issue: March 15,1998 buOyveersr 7m5O0nly Classified Ad Info. Categories: Check one ❑ Announcements ❑ Computer Systems - New ❑ Miscellaneous Hardware ❑ Rentals ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ CLASSIFIED ADS: Beepers/Pagers Computer Systems - Used Modems Repair/Services ❑ ❑ Desktop Publishing ❑ Monitors ❑ Rates are $15 for 30 words or less, 50 cents per additional word. Business Opportunities Software ❑ ❑ ❑ Each word in CAPS - 50 cents per word extra. Each word in Bold - ❑ Cellular Phone/Services Disk Drives Networking Supplies ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ 50 cents per word extra. Each word in Italics - 50 cents per word Computer Consultants Help Wanted Positions Wanted Wanted To Buy ❑ ❑ ❑ extra. Any group .of words or line centered - $1 per line extra. A ❑ Computer Furniture Instruction Printers 900 Numbers ❑ ❑ border around ad is $5 extra. ❑ Computer Parts Miscellaneous Publications Ad Copy' MINI DISPLAY ADS: 1 column unit = 2 3/8"(w) x 1"(h). $58 per column unit for camera ready art. We also offer production and design services. Call for details.

CATEGORIES: See adjacent index to choose the classification that best describes your product or service, or create a category specific to your needs.

FREQUENCY DISCOUNTS: Cost of ad No. of times ad to run Amt. Enclosed offered for multiple insertions as follows - 3X = 5%, 6x = 10%, 12x = ❑ ChecklMoney Order ❑ Visa/MasterCard Payment 20%. OFFICE USE Account # Exp Date ONLY Payment: All classified ads are payable in advance of publication Signature' by check, money order, Visa or MasterCard, All classified ads, submissions, changes and/or cancellations must be received prior Name to deadline. Ads accepted via phone or FAX with credit card only. Company Address CitylStatelZip PHONE ORDERS: 757 548-3079 Phone FAX ORDERS: 757 548.3283 Mail to: Computer Connections Magazine, Attn: Classifieds, 1920 Centerville Tpke. #125, Virginia Beach, VA 23464.

March 1998 45 Computer Connections

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OPEN COMPUTERS Sundays SalemPE Crossing Shopping Ctr Kemps Corner Shopping Ctr 12-6 2029 Lynn haven Parkway &3 5 00 Kempsriver Dr Virginia Beach, VA 23456 Virginia Beach, VA 23464 Phone: 416-1997 Phone: 523-0127 Avalon Pegasus Navigator Pentium MBRD, 512K Cache Pentium MBRD, 512K Cache Pentium II LX MBRD 16MB EDO RAM 32MB EDO RAM 512K Cache 2.0GB Hard Drive 4.3GB Hard Drive 64MB SDRAM MEMORY 2MB PCI Video Accelerator 4MB PCI Video Accelerator 6.4GB HARD DRIVE 3.5 Floppy Drive 3.5 Floppy Drive 8MB AGP VIDEO 24X CDROM Drive 24X CDROM Drive 3.5 FLOPPY DRIVE 16 Bit 3D Sound Card 16 Bit 3D Sound Card 32X CDROM 60W Speakers 200W Speakers SB AWE64 SOUND CARD 33.6 Data/Fax/Voice Modem 56K Data/Fax/Voice Modem ALTEC LANSING ACS45 7-Bay Mid-Mini Tower Case 7-Bay Mid-Mini Tower Case SPEAKERS w/ Subwoofer Window's 95 Keyboard Window's 95 Keyboard 56K Data/Fax/Voice Modem Logitech Serial Mouse Logitech Serial Mouse ATX MID-MINI TOWER CASE Window's 95 Keyboard Cyrix 200 MX $ 729 Cyrix 200 MX $ 859 Logitech Serial Mouse Cyrix 233 MX 789 Cyrix 233 MX 919 Pentium II 233 $1599 AMD K6 200 MMX 789 AMD K6 200 MMX 919 Pentium II 266 1699 AMD K6 233 MMX 829 AMD K6 233 MMX 959 Pentium II 300 1879 Intel 200 MMX 789 Intel 200 MMX 919 Intel 233 MMX 859 Intel 233 MMX 989 Pentium II 333 2139

Options 3 Year Warranty 100MB Zip Drive S119 14" .28 SVGA All Systems Include: Microsoft Game Pad 29 Groilers Encylopedia 15" .28 Goldstar Suncom F-15E Joystick 39 The Animals 2.0 Trackman Marble 49 5" .28 Princeton E050 Chessmaster 4000 Turbo IBM Antivirus 39 Mavis Beacon Typing 17".28 Goldstar 399 Microsoft Office Pro 229 Word Perfect 8 Suite 89 US Atlas, World Atlas 17".28 Princeton E070 469 Microsoft Natural Keyboard 59 Microsoft Internet Explorer Surge Protector 19 Windows 95 OSR2 17".26 Goldstar 439 Students & Falculty Prices & Configuration Subject To Microsoft Office Pro 189 change. Not responible For Typo- Princeton E072 519 graphical Errors. 17".26 WordPerfect 8 Suite 39 okikaiedtagoaiiitaronamws.k... „6.6,.....

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